Marriage P_r_e_p_a_r _a __t___i __o__n

The Colorado Springs diocese insists that engaged couples tell the priest one year in advance that they want to be married. During that year couples pray, attend classes, meet with the pastor, are trained in natural family planning--good activities to increase the success rate of marriages and avoid divorces.

One parish in the Colorado Springs diocese has published a 15-page guide that shows the year's activities:

Overview of the Marriage Preparation Process
1. Establish freedom to marry (pp. 3-5)
2. Begin the minimum six month preparation period (pp.5-6)
3. Paperwork (baptismal certificates, MA, MB forms, Covenant with the Parish,
dispensations, delegation,) (p.6)
4. Tentatively reserve the church (rehearsal and wedding time) (p.6)
5. FOCCUS inventory (p.6)
6. Engaged Couples Weekend (p.6)
7. Natural Family Planning (NFP) (p.7)
8. Meetings with FOCCUS couple (pp.6-7)
9. Formal Questions of the Pastor for both the bride and the groom (p.7)
10. Meetings with the Pastor (p.8)
11. Wedding planning session with the Pastor and Wedding Coordinator (p.8)
12. Payment Due to the Parish to lock in the firm date (p.8)
13. Rehearsal (p.8)
14. Wedding (pp.8-11)
15. Checklist (p.12)
16. Contact Information (p.13)
17. Covenant with the Parish (p.14)

I have several reservations about the lengthy time of one year required for couples to prepare for marriage. My first concern is an apparent conflict with the current Code of Canon Law. The oldest priests' magazine in the U.S. is Homiletic & Pastoral Review (HPR) that had an article back in the 1970s on Church-required long engagement periods (at that time from 3 to 6 months). I remember the article aroused a lot of interest and argument.

Fr. (Robert?) Kruse from Kansas City, MO argued strenuously in HPR that long waiting periods required by the Church for marriage were forbidden by Canon Law (the old one). [The current Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church became effective in 1983, and is a revision of the Codex juris canonici promulgated in 1917.]

Fr. Kruse reminded readers that Canon Law provided for marriages of Pacific islanders who were often without a priest for up to six months or more. The provision was that if a priest was not expected to visit the island for more than a reasonable amount of time, the couple could administer the sacrament to each other in a public ceremony. When the priest returned to the island, the marriage would be solemnized, blessed, and recorded.

In this regard, the current 1983 Code of Canon Law is similar to the 1917 edition. The length of time that a person must wait for a priest to officially witness a marriage is dealt with in Can. 1116, Sec. 1:

If one who is competent to assist, cannot be present or be approached without grave inconvenience, those who intend to enter a true marriage can validly and lawfully contract in the presence of witnesses only:

1. in danger of death;
2. apart from danger of death, provided it is prudently foreseen that this state of affairs will continue for a month.

Thus, Canon Law does not require an extended wait time to marry. One month is considered the maximum time to wait for a priest-witness. The above mentioned canon is prudent in allowing a man and a woman to be validly and lawfully married without a priest, but in the presence of witnesses (family, friends, civil authority) if the couple must wait more than a month.

My second reservation to an extended wait time for marriage is that even good couples trying to maintain the virtue of chastity will likely fail. How easy it is to say--we are going to be married and we simply can't wait THAT LONG! If the couple begins to sleep together (or maybe already are), then how do they respond to the NFP program? Seems like the bride would think--"I don't want to walk down the aisle while pregnant." So she may choose to practice NFP before marriage, or maybe she thinks that she'll continue with her current birth control method and wait to try NFP later. Or maybe she and her fiancee will decide on a civil marriage 'cause it's faster and cheaper. An extended wait time for marriage is a can of worms, and I haven't even gotten halfway to the bottom of the can.

It is the American Bishops that have decided to implement extended wait times to eliminate bad marriages and divorce. I think there is an alternative to a long marriage prep time that will virtually guarantee at least a 90 percent chance of a successful marriage. See future posts.

Nails in the Barn Door

A nun from a faraway time told this story to my grade-school class.

There was a farmer with a son whose sins had grown in number and in severity. The farmer's barn was new and like many in the neighborhood had vertical boards painted a nice bright red. Everyone agreed the barn was beautiful.

One day the son committed another transgression (you know, the serious kind where your son almost gets killed--and not in an accident!). The father had been unsuccessful in the past using verbal chastisement, spankings, and loss of privileges. The boy usually returned to his devilish ways within a day or two. Discipline seemed to have no effect.

After much prayer and thought, the father decided on another approach. Within a 24-hour period, a doll was badly damaged when the boy pulled the doll from his little sister. As the father finished calling his son to account for his meanness, he gave the boy a new punishment.

The boy was handed a hammer and told to drive a large nail into the barn door, leaving half the nail sticking out. Over the next few months , a large number of crooked, rusty nails had accumulated in the barn door and were a constant reminder to everyone of the boy's transgressions. The boy was embarrassed because his many sins were publicly represented on the barn door.

People can and do change, and the boy began to become a better boy. When he told his father he was sorry for having hurt the dog, his father forgave him and said he could pull out one of the nails in the barn door. The boy learned how to admit his past mistakes and sins, and each time he was sincerely sorry, his father forgave him and more nails came out of the barn door.

Finally the father, in loving words, told the boy all his transgressions were forgiven and he could remove the remaining nails. The boy used his hammer claw to pry loose the last two nails, but seemed unhappy. He explained to his father that even though all of the nails were gone, the door had ugly scars--the nail holes.

The father took the boy to the tool shed where he found a small sealed can. He explained to his son that the can had red wood filler to seal the nail holes. The boy was about ready to start sealing all the nail holes, but the father stopped his son. "Son, the damage that is done by sin cannot be repaired so quickly. Even though I forgive you, the damage of your sins is still there. Each time you do a good thing, you can seal one nail hole." The boy learned how to pray, practice virtues, chastise himself, and help others, and the nail holes finally disappeared.

The nun who told us that story used it as an illustration of the temporal punishment of sin. God forgives sin, but there is temporal punishment that remains to be satisfied. The Baltimore Catechism has three relevant questions:

Q. 629. What punishments are due to actual sins? A. Two punishments are due to actual sins: one, called the eternal, is inflicted in hell; and the other, called the temporal, is inflicted in this world or in purgatory. The Sacrament of Penance remits or frees us from the eternal punishment and generally only from part of the temporal. Prayer, good works and indulgences in this world and the sufferings of purgatory in the next remit the remainder of the temporal punishment.

Q. 804. Why does God require a temporal punishment as a satisfaction for sin? A. God requires a temporal punishment as a satisfaction for sin to teach us the great evil of sin and to prevent us from falling again.

Q. 805. Which are the chief means by which we satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to sin? A. The chief means by which we satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to sin are: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving; all spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and the patient suffering of the ills of life.

Council of Basle and Vatican Council II

The most recent general Council of the Catholic Church, Vatican Council II, is still disputed, especially as to whether a pastoral [as distinct from a doctrinal] council is protected by the Holy Spirit. Most agree Vatican II must be judged simply by Christ’s admonition in Matt 7:16, "By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?"

Typically, a general Council of the Church is judged by the manner of its convocation, its membership, and its results. Many councils are esteemed by the Church; others have questionable elements, as did the Council of Basle in the 15th century.

It's interesting to see if Vatican Council II had some of the same elements as the mostly forgettable Council of Basle, elements such as conciliarism and dissident Bishops. A time log is important for this analysis.

• 1378-1417: Great Western Schism with rival Popes
• 1414-1418: Council of Constance (the Council that resulted in withdrawal or deposition of the three rival popes)
• 1423-1424: Council of Pavia (later transferred to Sienna)
• 1431-1449: Council of Basle (transferred by the Pope to Ferrara-Florence in 1439 and then to Rome in 1443). Dissident bishops continued to meet at Basle-Lausanne.

The basis for both the Council of Pavia and the Council of Basle was the prior Council of Constance, which promulgated Frequens. Frequens specified an ecumenical council should be held no less than once every ten years to serve as a kind of religious parliament. The Council of Pavia was the first “frequent” council following the Council of Florence. It accomplished very little of note, except to decide that the next council would be held at Basle.

The purposes of the Council of Basle were to reform the Church in its "head and members," to combat heresies, to deal with the Hussite wars, to promote peace among European nations in the face of Islam, and to reunite the Western and Eastern Churches. Even though having excellent goals, the Council of Basle started out badly. Conciliarism was advanced in opposition to the absolute Papal monarchy of previous centuries, especially because conciliarism (bringing Bishops together to decide how to address an issue) had proved so useful in solving the problems of the antipopes of the Great Schism. Were the Bishops now to lead the church in the 15th century?

For example, Session 11 of the Council of Basle in 1433 clearly questioned Papal authority.

If the Roman pontiff or other above-mentioned persons fail to do this, or in any way take means to impede change, prorogue or dissolve the council, and shall not have repented with real satisfaction within four months, thereafter the pope will be automatically suspended from the papal administration and the other persons from the administration of their dignities; the papal administration will devolve by law upon the sacred council. If they persist with hardened hearts under the aforesaid penalties for a further two months after the said four months, then the general council shall proceed against both the Roman pontiff and the above-mentioned persons up to and including the penalty of deprivation.

This regrettable wrangling with the Pope led to three articles formulated by the Council of Basle:

• A general council is superior to a pope;
• The pope cannot dissolve such an assembly;
• Whoever denies these is a heretic.

Consequently, there was a serious split in 1439. The dissident Bishops in the Basle-Lausanne group continued to meet for another ten years, but their Council after 1439 is not accepted by the Catholic Church. Many, but not all, Church historians judge that the Council of Basle was a general Council only until the split. The decrees passed during that period are said to be legitimate, if they did not undermine the Apostolic See.

The work of the Council of Basle was transferred by the Pope in 1939 to Ferrara (Council of Ferrara), then Florence, then Rome. Formal agreements were reached with both the Byzantine emperor John VIII and the patriarch of Constantinople Joseph II. However, upon returning home, the Orthodox leaders were not able to win approval from their priests. The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 prevented any further work toward reunion. The Basle Council also negotiated reunion with the Armenian Church, Nestorian Church, Jacobite Church, and Eastern Rite Churches, but most of these efforts proved unsuccessful in the long term.

By their fruits you will know them.

Is a Clone a Unique Person?

A recent article published by the BBC summarizes a new study that investigates what a human clone would feel. UK and Austrian researchers interviewed identical twins to determine their uniqueness, as compared to their sameness. The study concludes that a cloned human being would probably consider himself to be an individual, because individual twins believe their genes play only a limited role in shaping their identity.

Identical twins share exactly the same genes because they are created when a single egg is fertilised by a single sperm, but splits into two separate, but genetically identical, embryos. The physical differences between twins and clones are the conception process, the separated times of births, and that lack of two parents.

In 1997, the PONTIFICIA ACADEMIA PRO VITA answered the question of whether cloning is permissable, and concludes cloning of a human being is immoral. The document declared a child must never be an industrial product. Cloning is "an asexual and agamic reproduction" producing an individual without two parents. Yet regardless of how the body is created, the Vatican reminds us the spiritual soul is created by God and "is the essential constituent of every subject belonging to the human species."

In section 3, the document firmly announces:

Human cloning belongs to the eugenics project and is thus subject to all the ethical and juridical observations that have amply condemned it. ... In the cloning process the basic relationships of the human person are perverted: filiation, consanguinity, kinship, parenthood. ... Halting the human cloning project is a moral duty which must also be translated into cultural, social and legislative terms.

WalMart's Ex-Nun

The Washington Post says that former nun Harriet Hentges has been hired by Wal-Mart to work with nonprofit organizations, academic groups and government agencies and to direct aspects of Wal-Mart policies on the environment, health care and labor relations. She comes to Wal-Mart from the United States Institute of Peace, where she led mediation and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and the Balkans. Ms. Hentges is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Between 1958 and 1972, Hentges was a member of the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Beginning in 1972, Hentges worked for the League of Women Voters (LWV), and served as chief operating officer of this pro-abortion group. For example, in 1972, the Massachusetts LWV's goals supported:

• treating abortion as a medical procedure to be decided upon by a woman and her physician
• public funding for birth control and abortion services for the poor

Other state LWVs also support abortion, including the California LWV.

The National Right to Life Committe has taken on the LWV because it lobbies

against restrictions on abortion - - even partial-birth abortion. On April 3, Ms. Cain [LWV President in 1998] herself signed a LWV letter to all senators, urging them to vote against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in the name of 'reproductive choice.'

Wal-Mart has made the wrong choice in selecting Harriet Hentges for this job.

The Honey Pot

The Latin High Mass is offered at Blessed Sacrament Church in Kansas City, KS on Sundays at 10:45 am. I usually don't attend this Mass, but did so this weekend.

The Gospel told of the miracle where Jesus fed thousands after they had followed him for three days and were hungry.
I tried to imagine the crowd following Jesus to listen to him. His messages on those three days must have been a supernatural "honey pot" that made them stay with Jesus, rather than return home where food and bed were available.

The parking lot at Blessed Sacrament Church was full of cars with licenses from different states and counties. Some people obviously spend a lot of time driving a long way to find the old Latin Mass. The reasons may be explained in the Latin Mass Community's Report, a post in Church Closings in Kansas.

The old Latin Mass is a "honey pot," too.

God's Generosity to Our Family

Some people learn by their own experience, some people learn by others' experience, and some people never learn, period! This post deals with our own experience as a family. My husband, our children, and I have been exceedingly blessed for over 40 years. Sometimes it seems God's generosity has no end.

We've learned God gives back a hundred times the little gifts you try to give him. When we were first married, we hung a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our living room and made Him our King--how easy can that be! Then we pray together every night--not difficult at all.

There used to be a saying, "Families that pray together, stay together." Many years ago, a popular secular magazine presented statistics on the frequency of divorce. It discovered that couples that prayed together every day had only a 1 in 500+ chance of being divorced.

A very important prayer we say is "For a healthy, happy, and holy family," followed by an Our Father and Hail Mary. I'm convinced this daily prayer is a key reason our family has been so blessed by God. Why don't you, the reader, try it?

International Trend for Islam?

A growing trend seems to be for other nations and NGOs to be more friendly to Islam.

1. Zenit quotes the rector of the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies: "Recognition of the State of Israel means to recognize the rights of Palestinians, not the contrary; it means to recognize the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, of Jordan and of Syria. I think we should contemplate the situation starting from these premises." Fr. Justo Lacunza Baldar said he was very worried because "now we have at least three great areas of war," Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East."

2. The Manila Standard Today Online reports that Philippino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will attempt to reach an agreement that will allow the Philippines to buy oil and petroleum products at “friendship prices.” Where is she going and who will she meet? To Libya to meet with its leader, Muammar Khadaffy.

3. Reuters reports that former President Clinton said Sudan should be pressured into accepting foreign peacekeepers from Muslim countries to help stem bloodshed in its troubled Darfur region.

4. Putin dominates the G8 summit meeting with world leaders. He has agreed to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme, but doesn't want the Security Council to force Iran to comply. Clearly, Putin is watching his southern borders, and militant Muslims within his own borders.

5. French President Jacques Chrac has called the mid-July Israeli offensive "totally disproportionate."

Pope Asks for Prayers

Zenit reports that Benedict XVI has appealed to all local Churches to pray for peace in the Holy Land and the Middle East. The Holy Father asked for peace through the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

This follows headlines of Hezbollah strikes against Haifa and Galilee, and Israeli strikes against Beirut, Baalbek, Tripoli and Gaza City. A larger war may be in the offing as Syria has mobilized some of its reserves. An Israeli invasion of south Lebanon is anticipated.

Women's Lib Movement

WolfTracker recently recommended the blog of Radical Catholic Mom who publishes mostly good posts--except one. I believe her post on "Gender Experience in Science" shows a lack of understanding of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM). Radical Catholic Mom comments:

While many Conservative Christians suspect Feminists, I have to say that I am thankful for the feminist movement. Women of my generation take all their hard fought rewards for granted, yet this article shows we have more work to do.

Radical Catholic Mom is obviously much younger than I and she seems unaware of the destruction accomplished in the past 40+ years by the WLM. The origin and history of the WLM is a compendium of hating men (divorce him, sister! You're better off without him), hating themselves even more (I'm powerless and so I want to be either a man or a lesbian loving a women), and hating children (contraception, abortion, and putting children into childcare while mothers work at a career). I really hate to see this kind of post that praises the WLM, because it ignores the fact that women's lib is responsible for many of the social problems of today.

Many years ago, I was part of a pro-family group that opposed the WLM. The WLM had been able to pressure Congress to pass "A Bill to direct the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975, to Organize and Convene a National Women's Conference."

With federal funding, conferences were first held in each state to generate local public support for abortion, homosexual rights, and government-sponsored daycare (to support divorced women, unmarried mothers, and mothers who wanted careers). The Kansas conference was held in Wichita and the WLM groups were in control. Church groups became organized once they found out the agenda. Busloads of good Catholic and Protestant woman came to the Wichita conference to vote for a slate of pro-family delegates to the National Women's Conference in Houston.

Thousands of women came to the conference in Wichita, more from the pro-family side than from the women's lib side. [Kansas was better organized than most states to support the pro-familiy positions.] We were able to elect a majority, but not all, of the delegates to the National Women's Conference. Why couldn't we elect all the delegates? Well, the women's libbers closed the doors claiming that the fire marshal had determined that the seating capacity of the convention center had been exceeded. Of course, who was in line waiting to enter? More Church women! I later checked with the real fire marshal whose capacity figure for the center was considerably beyond the number of votes cast. All the women who entered the building were allowed to vote.

Many other bad things happened in Wichita, but there were far worse things at the National Conference in Houston. I may tell you more in a future post. But for now, here's a funny story, of sorts. I was standing in line at a restaurant and a businessman behind me wanted to know what was going on with the women's convention. I told him there were a lot of Lesbians in attendance. He asked how could I know they were Lesbians. I responded, "Because they wear signs and buttons proclaiming their desires." I did see one other button worn by a pro-family delegate. It was the shortest verse in the Gospel, "Jesus wept."

During this same time, another pro-life mother decided to do some snooping to determine what the WLM was up to in KC. She attended a WLM meeting held in Missouri and was supposed to tell the rest of us what went on. Mrs. P. is one of the strongest fighters we had, ready to battle at the drop of a hat--yet she returned with little information. You see, Mrs. P. said she had never felt such a presence of evil as in that room where the WLM was planning its activities. She said she had to leave because Satan was there.

Postscript: Even though I work professionally in an area where men are the great majority, I have not been discriminated against by men, which is the big bug-a-boo of the WLM. My experience is that men treat and reward me better than their comrades for my talents and contributions. Yes, they do need to get to know me first, but that happens with men too.

I've suggested to Radical Catholic Mom that if she needs to emulate someone, she needs to review the life of Phyllis Schlafly, named one of the most important 100 women in the century.
Phyllis is American's best-known advocate of the dignity and honor that we as a society owe to fulltime homemakers. The mother of six children, she was the 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.

Demographics and Religion

The Adherents website has this interesting chart of major world religions. As shown there are approximately 33 Christians for every 21 Muslims. I decided to try a very simple projection. In the Christian group, assume 28 of 33 Christians (14 couples) reproduce with an average two children for each couple. Also assume 18 of the 21 Muslims have an average of five children for each of the nine couples.

Now let's assume all the Christians and Muslims parents are 20 years old and all of their children will be born within the next 20 years. Assume no one dies until they are at least 40 years old. [Demographic calculations are far more complex than this exercise.]

At the end of 20 years, there will be the original 33 Christians plus (14 x 2) children = 61 total Christians. There will be 66 Muslims, 21 original parents plus (9 x 5) children. Other factors not considered, this very simplistic calculation shows the Muslim population greater than the number of Christians within one generation.

Advice from a Protestant Pastor

Once a young Protestant pastor gave a talk at a pro-life conference I attended. When his speech ended, several people had questions. The pastor was asked how to find a church that was pro-life without compromise. His response was that to find a pro-life church, you must find a church with a pastor that preaches against sin. "If you find a church where the pastor doesn't preach against sin like Jesus did, then you won't find that church opposing abortion." The answer was one I will not forget.

Explosive Prayers !

Short indulgenced prayers were taught to us as children. They were called ejaculations, but that name has reasons for being changed. I suggest we call these short prayers EXPLOSIVE PRAYERS, ones that you can say in one expelled breath.

Many times my short prayers have more meaning than longer prayers. Often, explosive prayers are cries that tell God you need immediate help. I remember my Grandma discovering (over 50, no it was over 60 years ago) that I had misbehaved or again created some mess. As she looked upward to heaven (seriously!), her cry was a prayer--Mary, help me! Mary help me!-- and it was said in a foreign language. I knew she was calling on the Mother of God, but I didn't know the rest of it until years later. [Maybe her short, explosive prayers are the reason I have not yet been condemned to hell. Grandma, keep saying those prayers!]

Here are some of my favorite EXPLOSIVE PRAYERS.

• O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee. [my personal favorite]
• Sweetest Jesus, be to me not a judge, but a Saviour.
• Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying, set free the holy souls in purgatory.
• My God and my All!
• Jesus, Help me!
• My Jesus, mercy!
• Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
• By thy Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.
• Mary, have pity on me.
  

Shari'ah--Muslim Law

I first learned of "shari'ah" at a pro-life conference sponsored by Fr. Paul Marx. He invited a Muslim spokesman, a California doctor (if I remember correctly), to attend because Islam also opposes abortion. The Muslim doctor talked about Islamic opposition to abortion. His speech clearly promoted respectability for Islamic teachings.

A Catholic Bishop from Nigeria, Africa was visibly ill at ease. He peppered the Muslim doctor about why Muslims attacked Catholics in his diocese. The Bishop said Muslims were trying to impose Shari'ah--Muslim law--on non-Muslims. The doctor responded that this was not the way of Islam, that Islam allowed freedom of conscience. The Bishop pressed on, "There is no Islamic country where Christians have freedom of religion. What Islamic country follows the good principles that you have outlined in your talk?" The doctor seemed non-plussed and answered "Switzerland" and the room erupted in laughter at the ridiculous answer.

Some of the precepts and punishments of Shari'ah:
- The killing of the enemies of Islam is encouraged (fatwas and jihad)
- Theft is punished by cutting off hands
- The eating of pork is prohibited
- The legal status of women is minimized
- Husbands can divorce their wives by "I divorce you"
- Women may not be prominent in the public world
- Women must cover their hair
- Husbands may physically discipline their wives by beating them
- Females are genitally mutilated
- Conversion of a Muslim to Christianity is punished by death
- Freedom of speech is restricted
- Public practice of Christian religion is severely restricted, if not forbidden

Northern Nigeria is a good example of Islamic repression of non-Muslims. The harsh code of Shari'ah has resulted in brutal punishments for minor infringements. For example, a woman who rides a bicycle can earn a flogging. Many Christian women have been brought before Islamic courts charged with non-compliance of the Muslim dress code . Female students at the University must wear Islamic-approved dresses to sit for exams or they will be expelled. Female nurses have been fired for not changing their nurse uniforms for Islamic attire. Other Shari'ah approved discrimination occurs in education, freedom of speech, employment, access to the media, and in the provision of burial sites.

Russian Orthodox Church in Rome

The news site of the SSPX is dici.org. This week there is an article on the dedication of a Russian Orthodox Church in Rome (http://www.dici.org/actualite_read.php?id=873&loc.us). I highly recommend reading the comments by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, President of the Department of Exterior Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Kirill noted in his address that Pope Benedict XVI “ had made some very profound and important statements concerning perspectives of common initiatives between our two churches.” What is the main initiative? Human morality, which is under attack in most modern countries.

Kirill declared “The time has come when the two churches must work together” in order to ensure that “the Christian roots of Europe” prevail. For when “Europe decides not to recognize its Christian roots, this is the time when the Catholic and Orthodox churches must work together in order to be able once again to defend the values of the Christian life in Europe”.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 8: Conclusions

The Great Catholic Retreat can be interpreted as the fulfillment of the vision of Pope Leo XIII in 1884 when he saw Satan being given power over the church in the next century. In the Retreat, the Church actually retreated, but employed the “two steps forward, one step backward” approach. This strategy was used by Communists in the 20th century, with the one step backward a true retreat.

The step backward resulted in the trimming of many weak Catholics from the tree. [This historian believes the views of Fr. Origen Templeton of the Candlelight Society oversimplify the situation of that time. Fr. Templeton is well known for his belief that the Church should have issued and enforced strict edicts against heresy in the early 1970s when the rampages of Modernism became highly visible.]

The strategy of "two steps forward, one step backward" was employed successfully in the Great Catholic Retreat (although perhaps unintentionally). Previous condemnations and actions against Modernism, the synthesis of errors affecting Christian belief, were not effective. The defeat of Modernism came only after the 100-year reign by Satan when virtually all remaining Christians could finally recognize they were now living in the Belly of the Beast.

By all measures, Modernism was thoroughly defeated and no longer posed a threat to the Church after 2030. Secularism remains a threat to Catholic action in the U.S., but has been mitigated by the increasing threat of a all-out worldwide Jihad.

The reunion of the Western Church with the Eastern Churches slowly proceeds in 2098, and is being advanced by the new invigoration of the Western Church. Russia has been able to restore its population to levels of 2000, but remains at war with some of its southern neighbors.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 7: Residual Trials

Following Benedict XVI’s death, a seemingly more liberal Pope was subsequently elected, and his accidental death two years later is still being reviewed, although mostly as public entertainment. However, his short Papacy was unable to stop the swing of the Pendulum of the Church from modernism to traditionalism. The pendulum over-swing is now seen to have resulted in a renewed Jansenism in the Church that Pope Jeremiah addresses in his new encyclical, In Medio Stat Virtus (2097). This new encyclical has encountered the wrath of the reformed Jesuits who have declared it is inconsistent with prior Church teaching.

The SSPX remained fearful of a Vatican accord until 2020, when a Vatican conference clarified certain difficult theological issues initiated by Vatican II. Two new SSPX bishops were then approved by Rome. In 2024, the SSPX was fully approved to operate in most Catholic dioceses as an order of priests dedicated to evangelization of Muslims in the free world.

Death rattles by the last Kasparites continued until 2033, when no significant Modernist bishop remained active in the Catholic Church—either being retired because of old age and death, or being dismissed because of negligence of Church assets.

The destruction of seven Islamic cities and two Jewish cities led to the Time of Trial in 2022. For a 2-month period, worldwide terrorism disabled worldwide shipping and satellite transmission. This volatile situation was defused only by the strongest threats and two military thrusts from China (which desired continued economic and political growth in a peaceful world).

The world financial catastrophe of 2022-2026 and the growing spectre of Islam caused many families to conclude children were the only lifeline to their future. A high of 4.3 children per family in the U.S. was reached in 2065, and even larger Catholic families are now finally producing adequate numbers of priests for the U.S. Church in the 22^nd century.

The relations between the secular U.S. state and the Church became more difficult in the 2010s, especially as the science/moral/political differences became more pronounced. One of the thorniest problems for the Catholic Church was and is “Super Children” (designer children). Many parents chose to procreate/engineer only highly intelligent and personable children. Even though the particular procedure does not involve an abortion, it involves immoral means according to a definitive Papal statement issued in 2021.

As the 21^st century progressed, the Church welcomed increasing numbers into the Church, mostly by providing key leadership and witness to the Christian life of sacrifice, confronting the key errors of the day, and assisting the poor and other suffering peoples who became very numerous after the Time of Trial with its resulting financial catastrophe.

China's territory in the 1930's expanded by mostly bloodless intrusions into Vietnam, Korea, and several other southeast Asian countries. The Philippines, Japan, and Australia signed friendship pacts with China. Indonesia allied itself with Muslim countries that promised all-out war against China if China moved into Indonesia. India and Russia declined to sign a peace pact with China and incresing tensions led to the China-India-Russian War of 2047. The three countries signed a non-agression pact in 2049 that has been maintained until today (2098).

Democracy began to be viewed as unworkable in most countries. The European Union continued to fail throughout the first half of the 21st century. France expelled most Muslims in the 2020s, but not without much bloodshed. It now remains the only Christian country in Europe and has accepted many Christian immigrants from formerly Christian states. An intense revival of the Faith occurred during the Muslim attacks of the 2030s.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 6: New Growth

As the old traditional Church became young again, a relatively few Catholic families and communities exhibited a vigor beyond their numbers, and encouraged the growth of new religious orders and activities. [These communities provided the source of the “Martyr Bishops” of the Islamic Conflicts in the late 21^st century].

Traditional lay-run communities and enterprises dominated Catholic evangelical activity in the early decades of the 21^st century, with extensive expression on the Internet, TV, radio, and in several acclaimed movies beginning with The Passion of the Christ in 2004. This activity was severely restricted after a police state was implemented after the Great Trial of 2022 and during the severe financial disorder that immediately followed.

Pope Benedict XVI died in 2014 after a productive papacy, although statistics representing Catholic religious life did not begin to increase significantly until the next decade. He is remembered for his adroit establishment of control of the Curia and seminaries, significant revision of the Novus Ordo liturgy, and appointing mostly loyal and orthodox bishops.

Benedict XVI’s 2009 visit to China established the framework for a considerable growth of Catholicism in China. Even though the majority of Chinese has not been baptized [in 2098], they are mostly friendly to the Catholic Church and have assisted in critical peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.

Key results of the Papal visit were the official abandonment of the one-child family in 2010, a final agreement for the selection of new Chinese bishops and control of church property, and the partial freedom to evangelize including publishing Catholic newspapers. Perhaps most importantly, Pope Benedict and Premier PuLin Wao initiated regular communications on Islamic advances in Asia and other non-European countries.

In the U.S. and other countries of the Western Hemisphere, Catholicism did not grow much even during the Great Trial that began in 2022. Secularism remained very influential in people's lives. Protestant evangelical churches made large inroads into Catholic Latino populations beginning in the 1990s. This loss continued until 2030 when Latino Evangelical Churches in Mexico and Brazil agreed to meet the Pope and discuss a united front against the Muslim advance.

The results of that meeting were not foreseen. The first result was that key laymen within the evangelical congregations and the Catholic Church agreed to become co-leaders of the United Christian Front (UCF) within each country. This non-government organization (NGO) was responsible for insuring joint political actions that would adequately respond to increased Muslim agitation and advances.

The second result was that the UCF was populated with the Church's most energetic and personable Catholics who quickly brought several key Evangelical leaders into the Church. Others followed. [I will only summarize the story here because the full history of The Grand Alliance is described in my earlier book of the same title.] In short, the Pope and more than 20 important Evangelical leaders signed the Grand Alliance, a charter for the establishment of the New Catholic Evangelical Church in a 3-step program.

The Evangelicals insisted on keeping many of their own faith practices and church services, but agreed to institute reforms to bring their church services and teachings to minimum Catholic standards (Simple Catholicism: Essential Catholic teachings, which some say was based on Mere Christianity described by C.S. Lewis and an old Catholic Catechism used by the Church in the 20th century).

The Catholic Evangelical Church initially operated without properly ordained church ministers and were under the direct guidance, if not authority, of the Pope. Each evangelical congregation was instructed to study Simple Catholicism and worthily receive spiritual communion. This 'Communion of desire' wanted the grace of unity with God in Holy Communion. [The fruits of that desire are given to a good soul even before actually receiving Communion.] The ministers also encouraged the desire for perfect contrition among the souls under their care. A soul that has perfect contrition is absolved of all sin. Both of these activities prepared souls for the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance when the opportunity finally came.

The second step of the concord established a schedule for the training and priestly ordination of those ministers who agreed completely to Simple Catholicism, and who also agreed to study the full teachings of the Catholic Church under the personal direction of an advisor/director appointed by the Pope.

The third step was the priestly ordination of trained and loyal ministers who accepted the full teachings of the Catholic Church, followed by consecration of three bishops from the group. The zeal of the highly motivated new Catholic Evangelical Church led to almost half of South and Central American Latinos joining within the next 20 years. The evangelical churches who did not respond favorably were left on the fringe of the UCF which had become a critical factor in the preservation of all Christian populations.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 4: Pope John Paul II

John Paul II occupied the seat of Peter through the worst of the Great Catholic Retreat. Historians note that John Paul II was quite sympathetic to Modernism, especially in his appointment of many Modernist Bishops, his encouragement of false religions (e.g., Hinduism, Islam), and his particular reluctance to deal with Modernist seminaries, including their ordination of homosexual priests.

His positive legacy is considered to be (1) the acceptance of the Bishop of Rome as the recognized leader of virtually all Christians (even those not accepting all Church doctrines), (2) the prevention of a de jure schism in the Church, in spite of a de facto schism, and (3) skillful efforts to undermine Communism as a political force.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 5: The Wind Changes

The consecrations of the four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X and their excommunications in 1988 led to the formation of several new traditional Catholic communities approved by Rome. These communities (FSSP and others) were forbidden or discouraged by many local Bishops. Where allowed to be established, traditional priests provided great spiritual help to more and more Catholics who began to see vital differences between a traditional Catholic church and a local Novus Ordo church.

By the 1990s, young Catholic families began to find and encourage each other in pro-life activities, natural family planning interests, and especially home-schooling of children. Where a Latin Mass community was established, these Catholic families found each other and quickly and fervently embraced the traditional Church.

Also in that period, the Church had begun to ordain a few hidden Peter's, Paul's, James's, and John's who were called to enter Modernist-controlled seminaries, but somehow had the true faith through independent study and prayer. The prayers and sufferings of these loyal young priests were instrumental in the early, but partial, recovery of many local churches.

At the beginning of the 21^st century, the wind direction had changed, and Modernism became “old.” In contrast, Catholic Tradition became “new” and exciting. Thus, Modernism reached its apex and orthodox Catholicism began to reappear and grow in some local Novus Ordo churches.

The great debacle of homosexual priests in the U.S. Church in the early 2000s provided a setback from which the Modernist Bishops never recovered. The result was a serious loss of Church funds and property, the removal of certain high-level bishops, and (because of loss of operating funds) the consequent removal of many hired personnel who controlled Church offices and organizations. In its public humiliation, the Church and many priests found a humility that began to bring them closer to Christ and his Cross.

Historians now identify specific times of recovery of local churches in documents and addresses issued by bishops. The recovery in a particular diocese can often be pinpointed to the time that the local bishop no longer references Vatican II in his major documents.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 3: Running Backward

Following Vatican II, all the Popes voiced Catholic teaching (rhetoric) but did not implement or advance it (action). Moreover, all the Popes of that era were silent on many, if not most, of the grave problems afflicting the Church. Only in a few instances did the Popes exercise their authority. Consequently, most local bishops believed they were emancipated from Papal interference, and looked instead to Modernist-controlled Bishops' conferences for leadership.

By the late 1980s, only one or two U.S. bishops were willing to clearly confront Modernism. A favorite often-told story is of the much arrested (for pro-life demonstrations) Auxiliary Bishop Austin Vaughn of New York. He declared at a national Bishops’ meeting in 1988 that his fellow bishops were like a committee of foxes. And in response to gasps and boos, added “But of course you are all friendly foxes!”

Church life declined precipitously over the forty-year period from 1969 through 2008. One small book of that time documents the statistical freefall of the Church, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church since Vatican II

Following Vatican II, a few loyal Catholics found relatively safe havens where good and faithful pastors resisted many of the modernist innovations. Beginning in the 1970s, the Society of St. Pius X established unapproved chapels which provided sanctuaries where loyal Catholics could sustain and nourish the faith of their fathers. The FSSP and other traditional orders provided additional havens for orthodox Catholics beginning in about 1990.

Most periodicals were taken over by modernist editors. A few new Catholic journals and newspapers were founded to encourage faithful Catholics to reject errors that undermined the Catholic faith. These small publications placed particular emphasis on Catholic doctrine, morals, and history. Perhaps the most important result was that isolated Catholics were informed of the existence of others who were similarly concerned about the problems in the Church.

As in the 16^th Century, many older Catholics initially tried to follow the Faith of their Fathers in Vatican II Churches. Some saw no more reason for going to Mass as they saw decay after decay in their local Church and they died estranged from the Church. Older Catholics had been taught not to question local Bishops and priests. Consequently, they accepted faulty liturgical prayers and homilies, lack of reverence in the Mass, Communion in the hand and while standing, loss of Benediction and other devotions, etc.).

In contrast, the younger Catholic populaltion was dispossessed of good instruction in the faith. Modernist thought and activities led young Catholics to embrace a cafeteria approach to the Catholic faith--choosing which doctrine to believe and which dogma to reject. Alternatively, young Catholics left the Church because it no longer suited their interests and provided spiritual nourishment of poor quality.

By the 1980s, the cancer had metastasized so that the entire Church was overrun with modernism—overwhelming and countless malignancies that could not be excised by however skillfully a hierarchial knife could be applied.

The Great Catholic Retreat --Chapter 2: Vatican II

Typically, a general Council of the Church is judged by the manner of its convocation, its membership, and its results. Vatican Council II is still disputed among Church historians of the late 21st century, especially as to whether a pastoral [as distinct from a doctrinal] council is protected by the Holy Spirit. Most agree Vatican II must be judged simply by Christ’s admonition in Matt 7:16, "By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?"

Historians now compare Vatican Council II with the Council of Basle, a revolutionary conciliabulum. A time log is important for this analysis.

1378-1417: Great Western Schism with rival Popes
1414-1418: Council of Constance (the Council that resulted in withdrawal or deposition of the three rival popes)
1423-1424: Council of Pavia (later transferred to Sienna because of plague in Pavia)
1431-1449: Council of Basle

The basis for both the Council of Pavia and the Council of Basle was the Council of Constance , which promulgated Frequens. Frequens specified an ecumenical council should be held no less than once every ten years as a kind of religious parliament. The absolute Papal monarchy was to give way to a constitutional oligarcy. The governance of the Church was questioned. Was it to be the pope or the council?

The purposes of the Council of Basle were to reform the Church in its "head and members," to settle the Hussite wars, to promote peace among European nations, and to reunite the Western and Eastern Churches. The Council is questioned by historians on whether it should be regarded as a general council, especially during the period after Pope Eugene IV, in the Bull Doctoris Gentium of 9/18/1437, transferred the council to Ferrara. Dissident bishops continued to meet at Basle until 1449.

Church historians are mostly agreed that the Council of Basle was a legitimate Council until 1437, and that the decrees passed during that period, if they did not undermine the Apostolic See, are considered the decrees of a general council.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Chapter 1: Modernism

Modernism began to infect the Church in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The errors of modernism were condemned in clear documents issued by numerous Popes, especially Pius IX and Pius X. In the 1907 Encyclical "Pascendi", Pius X noted that modernism embraces every heresy. Other writers of that time correctly identified modernism with three spirits:

· Continual movement and change

· Complete personal emancipation

· Uncontrolled feelings of the heart

Detailed Papal condemnations did not destroy Modernism, but caused it to develop an imprecise language of mixed meanings. The new language was used to spread Modernist ideas, yet allowed Modernists to claim orthodox meanings. The most useful short history of Modernism is found in the 1981 edition of Christ Denied by Fr. Paul Wickens.

Modernists had enough influence by the early 1960s that they assumed control of Vatican II and almost all its implementation in local Churches. Consequently, the documents of Vatican II were written in the Modernist language of mixed meanings, and allowed Vatican II to be implemented as a Modernist council.

The Great Catholic Retreat is noted for departures from orthodoxy and Catholic practices, and by a significant loss of priests, religious, and laymen and women. The Retreat began during Vatican II, with the worst effects being felt in a 30-year period from the late 1960’s through the late 1990’s. Historians of today (2098) continue to explore how and why this council and its implementation resulted in severely declining statistics of Church religious members and a drastic weakening in religious belief and practice.

The Great Catholic Retreat--Preface

[dustiam presents this Catholic science fiction as one way to understand the Church's difficulties of the past 50 years, and possibly to foresee the history of the Church in the next 50 years. The Great Catholic Retreat is a 'work in progress.' Changes will likely be made when comments are received that say, "You are out of your mind to conceive this!" The book starts with this preface written by an unknown Church historian of the 22nd century.]

The Great Catholic Retreat was published by historian Pedro Maria Ruiz-Sanchez in the year 2098. Ruiz-Sanchez recounts the period in the 20th and early 21st centuries when the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was reluctant to battle the forces of Satan, and collaborated with them in several instances. He focuses on Church history in the U.S. which constituted a major force and population within the Church at that time.

Bad News for Movie Sanitizers

My grandchildren rarely turn on TV, except to see movies that are edited to remove profanity, sexual content, and other objectional materials. So they participate in programs where they pay a monthly fee to rent sanitized movies. The site Clean Edited Movies describes the different companies that offer sanitized DVDs.

The nasty movie industry includes the Directors Guild of America and eight studios (MGM, Time Warner, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Walt Disney, DreamWorks, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures). These organizations want no one to remove objectionable material so children (and adults) can watch a clean movie. Since 2002, they have spent tens of millions of dollars suing the companies that clean up movies for parents and their children. Yet all the movie sanitizer companies purchase an original DVD for every edited DVD they rent or sell.

Regardless, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch in Colorado has ruled (see news article) that he doesn't believe in choice. All movie clean-up companies were told they must immediately cease all production, sale, and rentals of edited videos. They have only five days to turn over all existing copies of the original and cleaned-up DVDs. What a loss for my grandchildren whose parents regularly use Clean Films to obtain sanitized movies. And they had just ordered the edited version of Pirates of the Carribean!

ClearPlay may be the only option. The 2005 Family Movie Act passed by Congress protects ClearPlay and other software-based filtering companies. The ClearPlay System is a DVD system sold by WalMart and other stores that lets you censor DVD movies yourself. The system provides customization controls to allow parents to block up to 14 levels of violence, sex, nudity and profanity. ClearPlay also produces the MaxPlay DVD system, where software filters remove objectionable content from the computer monitor.

Update: Clean Flicks has decided to appeal the decision of a federal court judge who has ruled that production of "sanitized" movies violates federal copyright law and hurts the Hollywood directors and studios who own the movie rights. See news.

Self Genocide in Spain

The PBS report on Catholicism in Spain began with interviews to show just how dramatically this former bastion and master evangelizer of the Catholic faith is proceeding to commit self genocide. Spain has been converted to a predominantly lay society in less than a generation. Eighty percent of Spaniards now call themselves Catholics, but only 42 percent believe in God and 20 percent go to Mass.

The spokesman of the Catholic Church in Spain, Fr. Leopoldo Vives Soto, noted Spain's very low birth rate, among the lowest in the world. His words are stark, scary, and worth repeating.

If families don't have children and don't communicate values to those children, well then society, bit by bit, gets weaker. It's like cancer. It's not violent. It's not an illness that kills with one blow, but you have a body that slowly decays.

Go back to 1492--you remember the year that Columbus flying the flag of Spain discovered the new world. Well, 1492 was also the date when the Spanish army, under Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, marched into the City of Granada. They finally reconquered the last of Spanish lands seized by Arab armies seven centuries earlier. Spain is the only country to have ever successfully repeled an occupying Muslim force.

I've read historical speculation that if Spain had not been able to reconquer its lands for Christianity, then all of the Latin American countries would have been Muslim. Because Spain was successful in the Reconquista, the new world became Catholic.

Are the Muslims still upset about the Reconquista? More than you can imagine. Muslims believe any land they conquered is always theirs, even if reconquered by the original non-Muslim people. To Muslims, their old land is now 'occupied' and they are called upon to wage a jihad to subjugate the non-Muslim inhabitants and once again impose the rule of Islam.

The PBS interviewer in Spain concluded his report by stating "In the Spanish capital, the largest house of worship built in recent years wasn't a church, but this mosque and Islamic cultural center".

Confirmation in the Faith

My Catholic faith in Jesus Christ is my most valuable possession. I don't remember much about being confirmed by the Bishop, except for the gentle slap on my face to remind me to be ready to suffer for Christ. I do remember another confirmation in my faith.

When I was about eleven years old, I began to hear about doubts to the faith. Is Jesus Christ really the second person of the Blessed Trinity? Is the Catholic Church really the one true Church? Is there really a God?

One night as I lay in bed, I began to think about these questions. The Baltimore Catechism, the Bible, and nature were my main resources. I reasoned, if Jesus were not God, then how could He bring dead people back to life at His command? Alternatively, if Jesus were God, then He obviously came to teach men the truth. Truth and goodness exist, so a good and true God must exist. If God did not exist, then the universe would not be so beautiful.

I remember pondering all the questions that I could muster. Hours passed as I examined the implications of believing and not believing. At about 2 o'clock in the morning, I slept. God gave me great grace that night to decide that I would never doubt Him again.

Great Grandma's Prayers--Enlarged Print

Mother keeps her prayers in a three-ring binder. Some years ago she could no longer read the many small prayer cards she had collected. The prayers were then keyed into a rich text file and the font made significantly larger. Mother says these enlarged print prayers every morning. If anyone would like to have Great Grandma's prayers, please email me.

You Can Change the World !

In my Catholic high school of the early 1950s, one of the nuns recommended that I read a book by Fr. James Keller, You Can Change the World. The original book sold half a million copies and told stories about individual Catholic men and women who had changed the world for the better. I was so enthusiastic about the book that when it came time to give an oral presentation in the classroom, it was very easy.

I became a firm believer that one person can change the way things work out in life, and can affect many others as well. The actions of a single individual can be compared to the butterfly effect. The Butterfly Effect proposes that a butterfly in China can alter weather in the United States. The notion is that very small initial conditions can produce large variations in long term effects.

Many years ago I heard that the Christophers organization had been taken over by very liberal elements in the Church. Now the Christophers are publishing a new version of Fr. Keller's book that has been revised by U.S. Representative, Jerry Costello. Rep. Costello is a Catholic Democrat, whose record shows he votes pro-life almost all the time.

Does Costello introduce new stories about modern-day Catholics? Are they mostly Democrats? Maybe a test of Costello's fairness would be to determine if any new stories contained in the book describe the life of the founder of Domino's Pizza.

Tom Monahan says he intends to die poor, so he has donated millions and millions of dollars for pro-life activities and Catholic philanthropy. He now is spending his money building a Florida campus for Ave Marie University and Law School, which he founded. A new Catholic town (planned for 20,000 residents) is also being built adjacent to the campus and is said to be open to anyone aspiring to live in communion with traditional values. As a conservative Catholic, Monahan has suffered the sting of public rebuke. See his interview with Katie Couric described at Media Matters.

Lucy and Kipling

Lucy was my spiritual Godmother. I adopted her in my late 20's because she quickly led me to a much fuller understanding of what a militant Catholic ought to be and do. She introduced me to The Wanderer and many other Catholic periodicals. She paid for me to attend a Catholic conference out of state. She sponsored several days of recollection led by good priests. She held a free banquet to celebrate Cardinal Mindszenty's anniversary. Lucy served the Church in ways too numerous to mention--many of which occurred after she turned 65.

Shortly before she died in her 80s, I knocked at her door. When she opened it, I gave her a bouquet of red roses. She looked puzzled and asked "Why?" I responded that she should receive roses before she died, not afterwards!

Lucy was the first one who spoke to me of the devilment coming to the Church after Vatican II. She knew her Church history and contemporary Churchmen, and predicted that a catastrophe was in the making. She said she would never see the restoration of the Church, and she was not sure that I would see it in my lifetime. Her death in the late 1970s was a great loss to Kansas City Catholics.

Lucy particularly liked the poems of Rudyard Kipling, an English poet of the early 20th century. One time we talked about the problem of "sexual freedom." She told me of The Ladies, a poem that continues to be remembered whenever I read or hear about men and women living together in sin.

Kipling's poem describes a British soldier who goes from woman to woman as he is stationed to different posts. The poem ends with the warning:

've taken my fun where I've found it,
An' now I must pay for my fun,
For the more you 'ave known o' the others
The less will you settle to one...

Hope, Hope, Even More Hope!

Fellow KC blogger, WolfTracker at http://kansascitycatholic.blogspot.com/, has quoted parts of a June 25 interview with the Sri Lanka Archbishop who was appointed late last year as secretary for the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship. As a member of the Roman Curia, Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don supports a new reform of the post Vatican II liturgy which he admits had "negative results." In a supplementary news article at Catholic Exchange, the Archbishop states the Pope "is reflecting and we are waiting for his indications" regarding the expanded use of the pre-conciliar liturgy [i.e., the old Latin Mass].

It is no secret the indult Latin Mass communities are growing in Kansas City. A 6-page report recently distributed by the Kansas City, Kansas community documents the well-attended and very reverent daily Masses, 15+ hours of confessions offered each week, weekly Benediction, frequent processions, three recent vocations, almost three infant Baptisms per month, Catholic action in multiple ways, and regular community social events. Most importantly the Latin Mass Community of St. Philippine Duchesne served by the Fraternity of St. Peter has now grown to 374 children and 357 adult members. Think of that! More children than adults in a Catholic church! See their web site at www.latin-mass.org.

Great things are also happening in Kansas City, Missouri where Bishop Robert Finn has assumed the role of pastor of the Latin Mass community in his diocese. The Institute of Christ the King assists the Bishop in serving Old St. Patrick Oratory. This downtown church is now being rebuilt at some expense and hopes to reopen in early 2007. See http://www.oldstpatrick.org/ for a lot more information on their lively parish life. In particular, their color bulletins published before March of this year were the most beautiful I've seen and are still available on their web site.

Soup and Slop

Growing up on a small farm has given insights into much of life. For example, my siblings and I learned the difference between soup and slop.

We kept a slop bucket on the back porch. If we couldn't finish our meal, the remainder went into the slop bucket. By the time the slop bucket was full, it contained potato peelings, greens from carrot tops, cabbage leaves with worm holes, leftovers from three days ago, and old milk from the cow. Quite nutritious for pigs, but none of us kids would dare to eat it.

My grandmother prepared very tasty soups for her grandchildren. Soups are very nutritious. They can have most colorful and tantalizing ingredients. Almost everyone likes to eat at a restaurant with a chef who can make delicious soups. A good soup is one of the joys of this world.

So what is the difference between slop and soup? Really not much as far as ingredients goes--a little bit of water, vegetables, cheese, a small amount of meat. But there is a big, big dissimilarity!

Here are some examples of soups and slops in the modern world. Remember, they all consist of the same ingredients. A good book versus a pornographic one. An intelligent opinion versus a stupid statement. A virtuous woman versus a promiscuous one. Yes, some people can't tell the difference between soup and slop.

Fireflys

Many years ago, a man in Lawrence used to pay children one penny each for fireflys. He wanted to find out what made a firefly blink. Fortunately, fireflies were not exterminated and we still have them. This evening after it stopped raining, I worked to stack wood branches. In the glade between the trees, the fireflys blinked and blinked.

A firefly blink is somewhat like a turn signal on a car, or a flashing light on your phone. Even though it is very faint and some distance away, the blink of a small firefly attracts attention. Who can ignore fireflies?

Over the past 60 years, I've known a few good Catholic fireflies. They're shy individuals who don't shine very strongly or for very long, but their humble faith turns their light on regularly--like a firefly.

Faces of Men - Part III

I met Mr. P. on Highway W several years ago. I said to him without thinking, "God wants you in heaven." [Seriously, I've never done anything like this before or since.] Whether Mr. P. was surprised or not is not clear. We talked a lot after that and somehow I believed (and still do) that God has destined Mr. P. for great things--and I told him so.

Mr. P. revealed he had no faith because he had been raised a communist. He described his Christian heritage, but it was from several generations ago. His great grandmother wanted her son to become an orthodox priest, and the son was ready to leave for the seminary when he changed his mind. Eventually he became Mr. P.'s grandfather.

Mr. P. said he became acquainted with the Catholic faith while living in Washington, D.C. and attending the Catholic University. He became good friends with one of priests who had a nearby office. Occasionally he would be very lonely and would go into the large Shrine dedicated to Mary. Mr. P. then moved to Kansas City with his wife.

Once Mr. P. saw me scrubbing stains from the carpet and said I reminded him of his mother. We became friends and talked almost daily. One day he told me he and his wife were extremely concerned over their daughter who was losing her hearing. He asked me to pray for her which I did. Then the other daughter, slightly older, began to lose her sight, and Mr. P. became frantic with worry.

After one weekend, Mr. P. revealed he had taken his two girls to an open Catholic church. There they lit candles. The younger daughter's hearing improved, but the older girl's eyesight became worse. Medical costs to identify and treat the problem reached thousands of dollars.

Mr. P. and I talked frequently because he was so distraught. One day the older daughter told her father she had promised to give up her eyesight if her younger sister's hearing was restored. Who the promise was made to was never discussed, but I assumed it was to God. When Mr. P. told me this, I immediately responded "Your daughters will both be fine. That kind of sacrifice will never be forgotten by God." And both daughters completely recovered their hearing and eyesight.

Mr. P. came to me crying one morning about four years ago. His wife had just told him she was going to divorce him. He had not observed certain signals that she was involved with another man. Mr. P. stayed with us for the first night after his wife got a court order preventing him from approaching their house.

The divorce was messy and expensive, much more so than others I've heard about. The two girls were quickly turned against their father by their mother, who had become pregnant with the other man's child. [No, this is NOT a soap opera!]

Mr. P. cried frequently and told me he thought he had lost his precious daughters forever. I assured him that his daughters, within a few years, would be very close to him. Young girls always love their father if he really cares for them, and Mr. P. cared very much for his two daughters.

Mr. P. kept asking why God was punishing him when he was really a good man. Even though I explained to him that he was a sinner like all men, he kept insisting he was a good man. His giant pride was also expressed in his relationships with others. This pride seemed to prevent Mr. P. from humbling himself and believing in God.

God took away almost all of Mr. P.'s pride over the next three years. About a year ago, I told him how much he had changed for the better. He now had a certain, very likable humility about himself. Mr. P. agreed that his personality had improved. He seemed to understand that the divorce and temporary loss of the affections of his children might have been God's way to change him. His daughters frequently tell Mr. P. they love him, which he relates to me with pride and joy.

Mr. P. has accepted a Bible (actually several, because a couple of other Christian people support him, too). I gave him a painting of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, that he seemed to like because it reminded him of his orthodox heritage. One day he came to church and was introduced to Fr. DM, but suddenly left before Mass began. I am not sure of the reason. Within the past couple of years, he has alternately attended Mass with a good friend of mind or alone (but not consistently). At times, he continues to argue with me that he is not a believer! Then he says something that indicates he does have a spark of faith.

Mr. P. looks for a new wife, but even though very handsome has not found one. Another friend and I tell him he is looking for a wife in the wrong places. He never takes his girls to church when he has custody of them. The mother is descended from Abraham and forbids the girls from entering a Catholic church.

What is Mr. P.'s destiny? Surely, God has plans for the great talents of Mr. P. More prayers are needed for Mr. P.'s future Christian life. Please pray now for the grace of full union of Mr. P. with the Triune God.

Faces of Men - Part II

I met Mr. S on Highway G several years ago. With the large crucifix around his neck I assumed Mr. S. was a Catholic. When we neared the end of Highway G, I asked him which parish he attended. He responded negatively. I sensed almost a horror in his response because I had mistakenly thought him to be a Catholic.

I explained that Catholics typically wore crucifixes, while Protestants wore crosses without the figure of Christ. He was eager to tell me why he was a Protestant who wore a crucifix. Mr. S. said he could not relate to the cross without the suffering Jesus. He said he too had suffered much pain in his life because of his sinful actions, and only after twenty years was trying to live a good life.

Our discussions continued for at least a half hour. We found common ground on a host of moral and faith issues. Mr. S. had many misconceptions about Catholicism, and virtually all of these misunderstandings were resolved. We were not to see each other again, but Mr. S. seemed well-disposed to future contacts with Catholics.

Faces of Men - Part I

I met Bill several months ago on Highway N when I was visiting Mrs. M. This week Bill seemed to be approaching death. He seemed thinner, his voice was difficult to hear, and his blue eyes had a hint of pearl in them. The room was very hot with the door closed, and no one seemed assigned to the other bed. Usually we talk about his hobby, butterflies, or other things, as I attempted to get to know him better.

Bill reads a lot, still using his mind as long as possible before his past life takes its ultimate revenge. He's always been honest, several times reminding me of the reason he has been reduced to such a condition. Perhaps he wants to make sure I know so that if I want to leave, I can.

This time I asked him about the one-piece wooden cross on the wall. His sister had given it to him. Further discussion led quickly to whether he was baptized. He had. To other questions, he added that a Protestant lady brought him communion. I explained that Catholics receive Jesus' body and blood in substance, but he could make a spiritual communion and that Jesus would hear him.

Dear Jesus, Who promised Dismas a place in heaven, please hear the prayers of Bill.

Pastoral Advice for Difficult Times

Many years ago I attended a Catholic conference in St. Louis. At that time, many of the parents in attendance were very concerned and even angry because their children in Catholic schools were receiving poor Christian instruction. Moreover, many of their parishes had poor liturgies and sponsored endeavors that were less than Catholic.

A Chancery official from the St. Louis Archdiocese was on the podium when a woman asked what people should do when they felt the Catholic faith of their family was in jeopardy. The Chancery official obviously was very leary of answering this question in the liberal heyday following Vatican II.

The priest hem-hawed around the question for several minutes--never answering it. The woman kept repeating her question, finally saying that she would not sit down until he answered her question. At this point, he reluctantly said to "Weigh all things and choose that which is good." That was very good pastoral advice and prepared me well to live through the next 35 years.

Curmudgeon's Controversies

I agree with Curmudgeon (see sidebar) when he says that everyone should play it straight with the Latin Mass people. Why NOT treat them in the same way as other churches in Wyandotte County?

The spiritual favors they have received surely results from God’s blessing on these good people and their chaplain. Are the originators of the anonymous posts criticizing Curmudgeon because he dares to defend his people? Or are they critical because they may have less to offer Kansas City Catholics than the priests who offer the Latin Mass?

Curmudgeon deleted some posts that included ad hominem attacks on past and current chaplains. The post-ers claimed that members of the the Latin Mass community are not entitled to be heard because the complaint file in the Chancery is so large. I’d like to know if the complainers that generated the file include the hundreds of people who attend the two Sunday Latin Masses and six weekday Masses? Or are they outsiders (both ultra-traditionalists and liberals) who are envious of the growth and vitality of the Latin Mass Community.

I understand Curmudgeon’s reasons for deleting the posts, but I think he should have left them for later readers. First, ad hominen posts give traditionalists a great opportunity to defend their own, and also to explain why this type of argument is fallacious. Second, blemished comments offer readers an insight into the minds of post-ers, information which is valuable.

For example, the originators of the deleted posts seem to believe the Latin Mass Community is a threat, if not their enemy. The originators of the deleted posts must want to avoid comparisons of church communities in Wyandotte County. Can they really ignore the well-developed sacramental and social life, daily opportunities for confessions, sermons based on the Gospel and especially lives of the saints, that have resulted in the high growth rate of the Community? Maybe they don't want to deal with their own problems. It’s always easier to focus on the perceived defects of someone else!

Curmudgeon, you charged ahead into the line of fire. (Are you sure you want to do this again?)

A Local Saintly Lady and $26

So many times the Church has canonized clergy and religious who had the support of their orders or dioceses for the canonization process. Now with blogs, perhaps we can initiate and support the canonization of more saintly laymen and women--which is what recent Popes have tried to emphasize.

This story was told to me many, many years ago by Mrs. Julia Cornish (deceased), mother of Fr. Ron Cornish. When Mrs. Cornish was raising her large family, she sometimes had a difficult time financially. Once she desperately needed $26 (an exact amount), and there appeared no source for this relatively large sum. She was washing clothes in her basement thinking of a saint she could entreat to obtain the necessary $26. Mrs. Cornish decided she had already asked many, many favors from her favorite saints, and wondered what new saint could she pray to. She then remembered Mrs. Wolf, who had recently died.

Mrs. Wolf's husband did not make or give his wife sufficient money to clothe and feed their many children, and so she accepted gifts of excess food donated to the Franciscan nuns who operated the orphanage at nearby St. John the Baptist parish. She had to conceal these necessary gifts because her husband was insistent that his family not accept charity. Mrs. Wolf had a very hard life, became quite ill while still relatively young, and died leaving many children.

So Mrs. Cornish, when faced with the critical need for $26, thought that she would pray to Mrs. Wolf. She knew Mrs. Wolf was a very good wife and mother, had suffered a great deal without complaining, offered those sufferings to God, and was certainly a saint in heaven. So while continuing to wash clothes, Mrs. Cornish asked Mrs. Wolf to beseech God for the favor of $26.

Almost immediately, said Mrs. Cornish, her doorbell rang upstairs and when she answered it, the postman handed her an envelope. He said that even though he didn't usually ring the doorbell when delivering the mail, he knew she would be eager to receive the letter from one of her sons who was on a Navy ship. When Mrs. Cornish opened the mail, it contained the exact $26 that she had prayed for to Mrs. Wolf. The Navy son explained that he had just received his pay, and that he was sending the extra money to his mother.

Stories about the Prayer to St. Michael

I've heard a number of stories over the years about the Prayer to St. Michael. On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII collapsed at the foot of the altar with a vision of the horrible future of the Church. When the Pope revived, he described a coming century when Satan’s power would virtually overcome the Church. He then composed the Prayer to St. Michael and required it to be recited at the end of all low Masses for protection from the devil. However, in 1964, one of the first changes of Vatican II (Instructio Prima) was to discard this powerful invocation to Archangel Michael.

The first story I remember was told to me by Sr. Mary Vincentine (deceased) of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. She described a pilgrimage to Rome in the mid-1960’s where she met some Germans. Sister stated that the German pilgrims were extremely concerned because the prayer to St. Michael also had been forbidden by Hitler at the time of World War II. Most readers understand the chaos and devastation that occurred in Germany because of that terrible war. And since 1964, has anyone in the Church not been affected by the disasters in the Church?

The second story was told to me a long time ago by a good priest. A newly assigned pastor learned that the women in the altar society fought with each other most of the time. At the first meeting, the pastor observed an unnatural disfunction and disorder among the women, and he resolved to do something about it. So at the start of the next meeting, he prayed and then blessed them in a moment of silence. It was during this time that he silently said a private prayer of exorcism--the prayer invoking St. Michael's help in defeating the devil. The altar society meeting that evening was totally different. Now the women behaved as good religious women should, worked together effectively, and accomplished a lot of good work. The new pastor continued to pray to St. Michael at subsequent meetings, and the altar society proved to be a great asset to the parish.

Hopefully, the Pope will reinstate the great prayer to St. Michael the Archangel so that this heavenly warrior will defend the Church against a multitude of enemies. In the meantime, we should say the prayer privately whenever (and before!) the need arises.

Beware the Church Pendulum

It's probably too early to remind Catholics of the pendulum (and what that instrument has to do with Catholic history). Let's start anyway by reviewing the characteristics of a pendulum. (1) it reverses direction slowly near the endpoints. 2. It swings rapidly back through the center position, never stopping in the middle of a swing. 3. The swing appears to change direction (but it really doesn't).

Foucault's Pendulum is famous because it demonstrates the earth rotates on its axis. A universal joint allows a pendulum to rotate freely around a top fixed point as it swings. A pendulum stops moving at the end of the swing when inertia is finally overcome by gravity.

For a few swings, the pendulum appears to swing back and forth in the same line, as traced on the floor. But as observed over the period of a day (at the north and south poles), the path of a pendulum rotates 360 degrees, corresponding to the rotation of the earth on its axis. If the earth were stationary, the pendulum at any location on earth would swing back and forth always in the same direction. And that doesn't happen, except at the equator where the earth does not rotate under the pendulum. In all locations, the pendulum always swings back and forth in exactly the same direction, and it only appears that the pendulum is changing direction.

History repeats itself in cycles resembling the swing of a pendulum. For example, modern heresies are really old heresies that develop slowly, flourish during a rapidly passing time, then decay slowly.

History has a certain inertia--an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Once an ideology or era begins to flourish, it is difficult to stop--similar to the midpoint of the pendulum swing.

History seems to stop and reverse itself only at the extremes of ideology or movement--the endpoints of a pendulum swing.

Finally, the direction of history appears to change at times--but that is dependent on where we stand.

For some time, I've been concerned that when the pendulum of the historical Church (not the eternal Church!) swings back from liberalism, that it will swing so hard that it will quickly pass a reasonable position. For example, the Church was too severe before about 1960 (in my opinion), and required one to abstain from drinking all water and eating no food after midnight if one wanted to receive Holy Communion. Consequently, only a handful of Catholics received Holy Communion at later Masses on Sunday morning.

The rules were changed about 1960 to forbid water within one hour and food within three hours of Holy Communion. The new moderate rules resulted in significantly more Communions at late morning Sunday Masses. Moreover, people who traveled a long distance to a Mass, especially in hot climates, were able to appropriately nourish themselves with water and food and still go to Holy Communion.

Within a very few years, the rules were changed again to require only one hour abstention from food, and water without limit, before reception of Holy Communion. The new rules completely abandoned any requirements for real sacrifices to receive Holy Communion.

As observed above, once the pendulum passed the reasonable middle position (between somewhat harsh laws and very liberal laws), it moved very quickly to a very liberal position where it has stayed for over 30 years. Now to the next problem--the return of the pendulum!

A small 'critical mass' is now available for a resurgence of traditionalism within the Church. It has now passed the pendulum endpoint and is swinging slowly back to the center. Frankly, history tells us the pendulum will begin to move more rapidly and won't stop at the reasonable middle. We can expect that it will now swing to the other extreme and remain there for a considerable period. The swing to the other side will take longer than the remainder of my lifetime, but my grandchildren will see it.

The Lumberjack and the Sacred Heart

The Lumberjack and the Sacred Heart was published in "Trésor d'Histoires sur le Sacré-Coeur" by Father Millot, 1914. This very interesting story was reprinted on June 22, 2006 at Ad Majorem Dei Gloria. I highly recommend reading it.

Stories are the best way to teach the Catholic Faith. Ask yourself==What do you remember from sermons--even recent ones? Or from school lessons of many years ago? Probably only two types of instruction--either stories or what was memorized.