Dei Verbum and Protestant Confusion

It has come to my attention that some Protestants in American have been writing about me and my conversion to the Catholic Church. Having been away from America for six plus years and news of my conversion being over ten months old, I find it odd that people are still seeing it as newsworthy and as something worthy of their attention. But, many live for this sort of blogger gossip and so I am happy to help them out in having something to write about. They'll be leaving some other poor soul alone then. What I find interesting is how ignorant many Protestants are about what Catholics believe and teach about Holy Scripture. One such comment about me was my 'having to throw out the authority of Scripture' in order to become a Catholic. How bizarre for "professors" of Protestant seminaries to write such things in light of how documents on Catholic teaching on Sacred Scripture are so easily googled and found. One such document being Dei Verbum and the authority of the Church in relationship to the authority of Scripture. Catholics don't give up the authority of Scripture and to make such a comment makes the commenter look quite foolish. Here is one point from Dei Verbum on this issue.

10. Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church. Holding fast to this deposit the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the common life, in the breaking of the bread and in prayers (see Acts 2, 42, Greek text), so that holding to, practicing and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort. (7)

But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, (8) has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, (9) whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.

Now, one can readily see that any accusation that Catholics give up the authority of Holy Scripture for the authority of the Church apart from the authority of the Bible are simply confused at best and may have other 'political' purposes at worst. The document goes on to say,

Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (5) for the sake of salvation. Therefore "all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text).

None of this document seems to say anything about throwing out the authority of Sacred Scripture but if anyone listens carefully to the Mass and participates in faith will see that all that we do is Catholics in our liturgy is a result from the Church being immersed in Sacred Scripture. To say that Catholics give up reformational and neo-reformational views of Sola scriptura would be more accurate since such concepts are found in the deposit of faith anyway. But, Catholics do not throw out the authority of Sacred Scripture. Quite the contrary really!

Archbishop Vincent Nichols' Chrism Mass

Today in the Westminster Diocese Archbishop Nichols gave a wonderful address to 300 priests in a congregation of 1,000. What an excellent exposition of the gift of Eucharistic ministry priests are able to have. God bless our priests and keep them safe in the loving prayers of Our Lady! What was also wonderful was Archbishop Nichols' last words touching on the abuse scandal. He does not hold back the pain and mistrust that this has caused but he is equally as clear that the media's implicating of the Holy Father is unfounded and UNTRUE! So, maybe the media will pick up on some facts now? I'll watch to see what happens. In the meantime give the homily a good read and below I put the final comments from the Archbishop on the scandal. Thank you Archbishop Nichols!

Just before we end Mass today, I would like to add a few words about the widespread reports of child abuse in the Catholic Church and all the accompanying comment.

First, and most importantly, we think of those who have been damaged by childhood abuse with all its lasting effects. We must readily express our sorrow and apologies. We are properly and shocked and shamed by each and all such acts which are a dreadful breaking of trust. We are also firmly resolved to continue all our work of safeguarding.

Secondly, attempts to implicate Pope Benedict are unworthy. Every time you read that the 2001 document from the Holy See imposed a duty on bishops to keep these things secret and hidden from public authorities, know that this is simply untrue.

There is nothing in that document to deter or hinder a bishop or a victim from reporting cases to the police. In fact since that time, when the Holy See directly called for greater vigilance and scrutiny, bishops have been urged to take that course of action.

Thirdly, please remember that in the last forty years the vast majority of priests in England and Wales – 99.6% to be precise – have never had such allegations made against them. But even one case is too many. Every single case is, and always will be, a sin and a scandal, damaging its victims and shaming us all. All of this we commit to the Lord in this Holy Week. From him alone, through his wounds, can come the healing we need.

There is a vivid phrase to recall: Trust comes on foot but leaves on horseback. It is on foot, through our daily actions, that trust is strengthened. We know that. That is what we do. And there is great trust among us – rightly given and received.

So, before the blessing, let me again thank all our priests here today for their goodness and hard work. I appreciate them and assure them of my love and support. I am sure you all do the same!

+ Vincent Nichols

Pope Benedict XVI on Palm Sunday

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Dear Young People!

The Gospel for the blessing of the palms that we have listened to together here in St. Peter's Square begins with the phrase: "Jesus went ahead of everyone going up to Jerusalem" (Luke 19:28). Immediately at the beginning of the liturgy this day, the Church anticipates her response to the Gospel, saying, "Let us follow the Lord." With that the theme of Palm Sunday is clearly expressed. It is about following. Being Christian means seeing the way of Jesus Christ as the right way of being human -- as that way that leads to the goal, to a humanity that is fully realized and authentic. In a special way, I would like to repeat to all the young men and women, on this 25th World Youth Day, that being Christian is a journey, or better: It is a pilgrimage, it is a going with Jesus Christ. A going in that direction that he has pointed out to us and is pointing out to us.

But what direction are we talking about? How do we find it? The line from our Gospel offers two indications in this connection. In the first place it says that it is a matter of an ascent. This has in the first place a very literal meaning. Jericho, where the last stage of Jesus's pilgrimage began, is 250 meters below sea-level while Jerusalem -- the goal of the journey -- is 740-780 meters above sea level: an ascent of almost 1,000 meters. But this external rout is above all an image of the interior movement of existence, which occurs in the following of Christ: It is an ascent to the true height of being human. Man can choose an easy path and avoid all toil. He can also descend to what is lower. He can sink into lies and dishonesty. Jesus goes ahead of us, and he goes up to what is above. He leads us to what is great, pure, he leads us to the healthy air of the heights: to life according to truth; to the courage that does not let itself be intimidated by the gossip of dominant opinions; to the patience that stands up for and supports the other. He leads us to availability to the suffering, to the abandoned; to the loyalty that stands with the other even when the situation makes it difficult.

He leads us to availability to bring help; to the goodness that does not let itself be disarmed not even by ingratitude. He leads us to love -- he leads us to God.

"Jesus went ahead of everyone going up to Jerusalem." If we read these words of the Gospel in the context of Jesus' way as a whole -- a way that, in fact, he travels to the end of time -- we can discover different meanings in the indication of "Jerusalem" as the goal. Naturally, first of all it must be simply understood as the place "Jerusalem:" It is the city in which one found God's Temple, the oneness of which was supposed to allude to the oneness of God himself. This place thus announces in the first place two things: On the one hand it says that there is only one God in all the world, who is completely beyond all our places and times; he is that God to whom all creation belongs. He is the God whom deep down all men seek and whom they all have knowledge of in some way. But this God has given himself a name. He has made himself known to us, he has launched a history with men; he chose a man -- Abram -- as the beginning of this history. The infinite God is at the same time the God who is near. He, who cannot be enclosed in any building, nevertheless wants to live among us, be completely with us.

If Jesus goes up to Jerusalem together with Israel on pilgrimage, he goes there to celebrate the Passover with Israel: the memorial of Israel's liberation -- a memorial that is always at the same time hope for the definitive liberation that God will give. And Jesus goes to this feast with the awareness that he himself is the Lamb spoken of in the Book of Exodus: a male lamb without blemish, which at twilight will be slaughtered before all of Israel "as a perpetual institution" (cf. Exodus 12:5-6, 14). And in the end Jesus knows that his way goes beyond this: It will not end in the cross. He knows that his way will tear away the veil between this world and God's world; that he will ascend to the throne of God and reconcile God and man in his body. He knows that his risen body will be the new sacrifice and the new Temple; that around him in the ranks of the angels and saints there will be formed the new Jerusalem that is in heaven and nevertheless also on earth. His way leads beyond the summit of the Temple mount to the height of God himself: This is the great ascent to which he calls all of us. He always remains with us on earth and has always already arrived [in heaven] with God; he leads us on earth and beyond the earth.

Thus in the breadth of Jesus' ascent the dimensions of our following of him become visible -- the goal to which he wants to lead us: to the heights of God, to communion with God, to being-with-God. This is the true goal, and communion with him is the way. Communion with Christ is being on a journey, a permanent ascent to the true height of our calling. Journeying together with Jesus is always at the same time a traveling together in the "we" of those who want to follow him. It brings us into this community. Because this journey to true life, to being men conformed to the model of the Son of God Jesus Christ is beyond our powers, this journeying is also always a state of being carried. We find ourselves, so to speak, in a "roped party" [1] with Jesus Christ -- together with him in the ascent to the heights of God. He pulls us and supports us. Letting oneself be part of a roped party is part of following Christ; we accept that we cannot do it on our own. The humble act of entering into the "we" of the Church is part of it -- holding on to the roped party, the responsibility of communion, not letting go of the rope because of our bullheadedness and conceit.

Humbly believing with the Church, like being bound together in a roped party ascending to God, is an essential condition for following Christ. Not acting as the owners of the Word of God, not chasing after a mistaken idea of emancipation -- this is also part of being together in the roped party. The humility of "being-with" is essential to the ascent. Letting the Lord take us by the hand through the sacraments is another part of it. We let ourselves be purified and strengthened by him, we let ourselves accept the discipline of the ascent, even if we are tired.

Finally, we must again say that the cross is part of the ascent toward the height of Jesus Christ, the ascent to the height of God. Just as in the affairs of this world great things cannot be done without renunciation and hard work (joy in great discoveries and joy in a true capacity for activity are linked to discipline, indeed, to the effort of learning) so also the way to life itself, to the realization of one's own humanity is linked to him who climbed to the height of God through the cross. In the final analysis, the cross is the expression of that which is meant by love: Only he who loses himself will find himself.

Let us summarize: Following Christ demands as a first step the reawakening of the nostalgia for being authentically human and thus the reawakening for God. It then demands that one enter into the roped party of those who climb, into the communion of the Church. In the "we" of the Church we enter into the communion with the "Thou" of Jesus Christ and therefore reach the way to God. Moreover, listening to and living Jesus Christ's word in faith, hope and love is also required. We are thus on the way to the definitive Jerusalem and already, from this point forward, we already find ourselves there in the communion of all God's saints.

Our pilgrimage in following Christ, then, is not directed toward any earthly city, but toward the new City of God that grows in the midst of this world. The pilgrimage to the earthly Jerusalem, nevertheless, can be something useful for us Christians for that greater voyage. I myself linked three meanings to my pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year. First, I thought that what St. John says at the beginning of his first letter could happen to us: That which we have heard, we can, in a certain way see and touch with our hands (cf. 1 John 1:1). Faith in Jesus Christ is not the invention of a fairy tale. It is founded on something that actually happened. We can, so to speak, contemplate and touch this historical event. It is moving to find oneself in Nazareth in the place where the angel appeared to Mary and transmitted the task of becoming Mother of the Redeemer to her. It is moving to be in Bethlehem in the place where the Word, made flesh, came to live among us; to put one's foot upon the holy ground where God wanted to make himself man and child.

It is moving to climb the steps up to Calvary to the place where Jesus died on the cross. And then standing before the empty tomb, praying there where his holy corpse lay and where on the third day the Resurrection occurred. Following the material paths of Jesus should help us to walk more joyously and with a new certainty along the interior paths that Jesus himself points out to us.

When we go to the Holy Land as pilgrims, we go there, however -- and this is the second aspect -- as messengers of peace too, with prayer for peace; with the firm invitation that everyone in that place (which bears the word "peace" in name), has everything possible so that it truly become a place of peace. Thus this pilgrimage is at the same time -- as the third aspect -- an encouragement to Christians to remain in the country of their origin and to commit themselves in an intense way to peace.

Let us return once more to the liturgy of Palm Sunday. The prayer with which the palms are blessed we pray so that in communion with Christ we can bear the fruit of good works. Following a mistaken interpretation of St. Paul, there has repeatedly developed over the course of history and today too, the opinion that good works are not part of being Christian, in any case they would not be significant for man's salvation. But if Paul says that works cannot justify man, he does not intend by this to oppose the importance of right action and, if he speaks of the end of the Law, he does not declare the Ten Commandments obsolete and irrelevant. It is not necessary at the moment to reflect on the whole question that the Apostle was concerned with. It is important to stress that by the term "Law" he does not mean the Ten Commandments, but the complex way of life by which Israel had to protect itself against paganism. Now, however, Christ has brought God to the pagans. This form of distinction was not to be imposed upon them.

Christ alone was given to them as Law. But this means the love of God and neighbor and all that pertains to it. The Ten Commandments read in a new and deeper way beginning with Christ are part of this love. These commandments are nothing other than the basic rules of true love: first of all and as fundamental principle, the worship of God, the primacy of God, which the first three commandments express. They tell us: Without God nothing comes out right. Who this God is and how he is, we know from the person of Jesus Christ. The sanctity of the family follows (fourth commandment), holiness of life (fifth commandment), the ordering of matrimony (sixth commandment), the regulation of society (seventh commandment) and finally the inviolability of the truth (eighth commandment). All of this is of maximum relevance today and precisely also in St. Paul's sense -- if we read all of his letters. "Bear fruit with good works:" At the beginning of Holy Week we pray to the Lord to grant all of us this fruit more and more.

At the end of the Gospel for the blessing of the palms we hear the acclamation with which the pilgrims greet Jesus at the gates of Jerusalem. They are the words of Psalm 118 (117), that originally the priests proclaimed to the pilgrims from the Holy City but that, after a period, became an expression of messianic hope: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 118[117]:26; Luke 19:38). The pilgrims see in Jesus the one whom they have waited for, who comes in the name of the Lord, indeed, according to the St. Luke's Gospel, they insert another word: "Blessed is he who comes, the king, in the name of the Lord."

And they follow this with an acclamation that recalls the message of the angels at Christmas, but they modify it in a way that gives pause. The angels had spoken of the glory of God in the highest heavens and of peace on earth for men of divine goodwill. The pilgrims at the entrance to the Holy City say: "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!" They know well that there is no peace on earth. And they know that the place of peace is in heaven. Thus this acclamation is an expression of a profound suffering and it is also a prayer of hope: May he who comes in the name of the Lord bring to earth what is in heaven. The Church, before the Eucharistic consecration, sings the words of the Psalm with which Jesus is greeted before his entrance into the Holy City: It greets Jesus as the King who, coming from God, enters in our midst in God's name.

Today too this joyous greeting is always supplication and hope. Let us pray to the Lord that he bring heaven to us: God's glory and peace among men. We understand such a greeting in the spirit of the request of the Our Father: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!" We know that heaven is heaven, a place of glory and peace, because there the will of God rules completely. And we know that earth is not heaven until the will of God is accomplished on it. So we greet Jesus, who comes from heaven and we pray to him to help us know and do God's will. May the royalty of God enter into the world and in this way it be filled with the splendor of peace. Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

--- --- ---

Translator's Note:

[1] The Pope is using a mountaineering metaphor here. Groups of climbers often rope themselves together when they scale mountainsides. This is the meaning of a "roped party." The Italian word is "cordata."

Archbishop Nichols On the Sex Scandal and it is in the Times

The child abuse committed within the Roman Catholic Church and its concealment is deeply shocking and totally unacceptable. I am ashamed of what happened, and understand the outrage and anger it has provoked.

That shame and anger centres on the damage done to every single abused child. Abuse damages, often irrevocably, a child’s ability to trust another, to fashion stable relationships, to sustain self-esteem. When it is inflicted within a religious context, it damages that child’s relationship to God. Today, not for the first time, I express my unreserved shame and sorrow for what has happened to many in the Church.

My shame is compounded, as is the anger of many, at the mistaken judgments made within the Church: that reassurance from a suspect could be believed; that credible allegations were deemed to be “unbelievable”; that the reputation of the Church mattered more than safeguarding children. These wrong reactions arise whenever and wherever allegations of abuse are made, whether within a family or a Church. We have to insist that the safety of the child comes first because the child is powerless.

Serious mistakes have been made within the Catholic Church. There is some misunderstanding about the Church, too. Within the Church there is a legal structure, its canon law. It is the duty of each diocesan bishop to administer that law. Certain serious offences against that law have to be referred to the Holy See to ensure proper justice. Some of these offences are not criminal in public law (such as profanation of the sacraments), others (such as offences against children) are. The role of the Holy See is to offer guidance to ensure that proper procedures are followed, including the confidentially needed to protect the good name of witnesses, victims and the accused until the trial is completed. It is no different from any other responsible legal procedure.

....What of the role of Pope Benedict? When he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he led important changes made in church law: the inclusion in canon law of internet offences against children, the extension of child abuse offences to include the sexual abuse of all under 18, the case by case waiving of the statue of limitation and the establishment of a fast-track dismissal from the clerical state for offenders. He is not an idle observer. His actions speak as well as his words.

Every year since 2002 the Catholic Church in England and Wales has made public the exact number of allegations made within the Church, the number reported to the police, the action taken and the outcome. As far as I know, no other organisation in this country does this. It is not a cover-up; it is clear and total disclosure. The purpose of doing so is not to defend the Church. It is to make plain that in the Catholic Church in England and Wales there is no hiding place for those who seek to harm children. On this we are determined.

One more fact. In the past 40 years, less than half of 1 per cent of Catholic priests in England and Wales (0.4 per cent) have faced allegations of child abuse. Fewer have been found guilty. Do not misunderstand me. One is too many. One broken child is a tragedy and a disgrace. One case alone is enough to justify anger and outrage. The work of safeguarding, within any organisation and within our society as a whole, is demanding but absolutely necessary. The Catholic Church here is committed to safeguarding children and all vulnerable people.

Times.

Do You Know Pope Benedict XVI?

I thought this was cute!

The Formation of Conscience: Pope JPII Veritatis Splendor

62. Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is not exempt from the possibility of error. As the Council puts it, "not infrequently conscience can be mistaken as a result of invincible ignorance, although it does not on that account forfeit its dignity; but this cannot be said when a man shows little concern for seeking what is true and good, and conscience gradually becomes almost blind from being accustomed to sin".¹⁰⁷ In these brief words the Council sums up the doctrine which the Church down the centuries has developed with regard to the erroneous conscience.

Certainly, in order to have a "good conscience" (1 Tim 1:5), man must seek the truth and must make judgments in accordance with that same truth. As the Apostle Paul says, the conscience must be "confirmed by the Holy Spirit" (cf. Rom 9:1); it must be "clear" (2 Tim 1:3); it must not "practise cunning and tamper with God's word", but "openly state the truth" (cf. 2 Cor 4:2). On the other hand, the Apostle also warns Christians: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2).

Paul's admonition urges us to be watchful, warning us that in the judgments of our conscience the possibility of error is always present. Conscience is not an infallible judge; it can make mistakes. However, error of conscience can be the result of an invincible ignorance, an ignorance of which the subject is not aware and which he is unable to overcome by himself.

The Council reminds us that in cases where such invincible ignorance is not culpable, conscience does not lose its dignity, because even when it directs us to act in a way not in conformity with the objective moral order, it continues to speak in the name of that truth about the good which the subject is called to seek sincerely.

63. In any event, it is always from the truth that the dignity of conscience derives. In the case of the correct conscience, it is a question of the objective truth received by man; in the case of the erroneous conscience, it is a question of what man, mistakenly, subjectively considers to be true. It is never acceptable to confuse a "subjective" error about moral good with the "objective" truth rationally proposed to man in virtue of his end, or to make the moral value of an act performed with a true and correct conscience equivalent to the moral value of an act performed by following the judgment of an erroneous conscience.¹⁰⁸ It is possible that the evil done as the result of invincible ignorance or a non-culpable error of judgment may not be imputable to the agent; but even in this case it does not cease to be an evil, a disorder in relation to the truth about the good. Furthermore, a good act which is not recognized as such does not contribute to the moral growth of the person who performs it; it does not perfect him and it does not help to dispose him for the supreme good. Thus, before feeling easily justified in the name of our conscience, we should reflect on the words of the Psalm: "Who can discern his errors? Clear me from hidden faults" (Ps 19:12). There are faults which we fail to see but which nevertheless remain faults, because we have refused to walk towards the light (cf. Jn 9:39-41).

Conscience, as the ultimate concrete judgment, compromises its dignity when it is culpably erroneous, that is to say, "when man shows little concern for seeking what is true and good, and conscience gradually becomes almost blind from being accustomed to sin".¹⁰⁹ Jesus alludes to the danger of the conscience being deformed when he warns: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Mt 6:22-23).

64. The words of Jesus just quoted also represent a call to form our conscience, to make it the object of a continuous conversion to what is true and to what is good. In the same vein, Saint Paul exhorts us not to be conformed to the mentality of this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind (cf. Rom 12:2). It is the "heart" converted to the Lord and to the love of what is good which is really the source of true judgments of conscience. Indeed, in order to "prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2), knowledge of God's law in general is certainly necessary, but it is not sufficient: what is essential is a sort of "connaturality" between man and the true good.¹¹⁰ Such a connaturality is rooted in and develops through the virtuous attitudes of the individual himself: prudence and the other cardinal virtues, and even before these the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is the meaning of Jesus' saying: "He who does what is true comes to the light" (Jn 3:21).

Christians have a great help for the formation of conscience in the Church and her Magisterium. As the Council affirms: "In forming their consciences the Christian faithful must give careful attention to the sacred and certain teaching of the Church. For the Catholic Church is by the will of Christ the teacher of truth. Her charge is to announce and teach authentically that truth which is Christ, and at the same time with her authority to declare and confirm the principles of the moral order which derive from human nature itself ".¹¹¹ It follows that the authority of the Church, when she pronounces on moral questions, in no way undermines the freedom of conscience of Christians. This is so not only because freedom of conscience is never freedom "from" the truth but always and only freedom "in" the truth, but also because the Magisterium does not bring to the Christian conscience truths which are extraneous to it; rather it brings to light the truths which it ought already to possess, developing them from the starting point of the primordial act of faith. The Church puts herself always and only at the service of conscience, helping it to avoid being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine proposed by human deceit (cf. Eph 4:14), and helping it not to swerve from the truth about the good of man, but rather, especially in more difficult questions, to attain the truth with certainty and to abide in it.

Veritatis splendor

Pope's Letter to Irish Catholics: Strong and Pastoral

It is my personal and humble opinion that this letter from the Holy Father is right on mark. The feelings from those who have suffered that there is little that can be done or said for it to be enough is understandable in so many ways. It is for this reason that I believe Jesus could say such strong statements that it would be better to have a millstone hung around one's neck than to make one of his children stumble. All of those feelings are completely understandable to me. What gives me concern is how many places within the media handle this.

I have seen titles having to do with the Archbishop of Canterbury being upset about the American Episcopal community electing an active lesbian as a bishop for the article to mention that in one paragraph and then the other 2,000 words or so are nothing save a negative rant against the Holy Father and the Catholic Church. This only shows how biased some of the reporting is. It is my belief that the Holy Father is humbled, ashamed and truly sorry for what many have suffered through these terrible abuses. I believe he should be supported and encouraged in this difficult time from the faithful and the media from what he is trying to accomplish. Below is what he said to the victims and those who abuse. The language to those who abuse is very strong. What the media believes is lacking in his words is a mystery!

6. To the victims of abuse and their families

You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church. I know some of you find it difficult even to enter the doors of a church after all that has occurred. Yet Christ’s own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope. I believe deeply in the healing power of his self-sacrificing love – even in the darkest and most hopeless situations – to bring liberation and the promise of a new beginning.

Speaking to you as a pastor concerned for the good of all God’s children, I humbly ask you to consider what I have said. I pray that, by drawing nearer to Christ and by participating in the life of his Church – a Church purified by penance and renewed in pastoral charity – you will come to rediscover Christ’s infinite love for each one of you. I am confident that in this way you will be able to find reconciliation, deep inner healing and peace.

7. To priests and religious who have abused children

You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonour upon your confreres. Those of you who are priests violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders in which Christ makes himself present in us and in our actions. Together with the immense harm done to victims, great damage has been done to the Church and to the public perception of the priesthood and religious life.

I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow. Sincere repentance opens the door to God’s forgiveness and the grace of true amendment. By offering prayers and penances for those you have wronged, you should seek to atone personally for your actions. Christ’s redeeming sacrifice has the power to forgive even the gravest of sins, and to bring forth good from even the most terrible evil. At the same time, God’s justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy.

Letter to Irish Catholics

Archbishop Vicent Nichols' Lenten Pastoral Letter

20/21 March 2010
Fifth Sunday of Lent

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

The woman in today’s Gospel is hauled before the Lord by a judgemental society. She is isolated in her guilt. And therein lies the falsehood which Jesus uncovers. No one is guilty in isolation. Rather we are so bound to each other that a guilt which we might seem to be proper to one person alone almost always involves others, too.

Jesus’ silent and dramatic gesture of writing in the sand makes everyone present look into their own hearts and recognise their own failures and sins.

This same truth is at the heart of our Lenten journey. This is not a time for working out the blame to lay on others but a time for identifying our own faults, seeking forgiveness for them and trying to build a more virtuous life.

The pursuit of virtue is a key theme in a document which we Bishops of England and Wales have recently published under the title ‘Choosing the Common Good’. While the document is issued in the context of the forthcoming General Election, it is substantially about matters that can never be decided by an election. It is about the health of our society.

In it we speak about the pursuit of virtue because the virtues are the habits of the heart which shape the way we live and the contribution we make to the flourishing of those around us, whether in the family or wider society. We speak of the cardinal virtues: prudence, courage, justice and temperance and highlight how each one is keenly relevant to life today.

Prudence fashions us to be people who take care in decision making, trying to be attentive to principles and circumstances, exercising emotional intelligence rather than being shaped primarily by feelings and fashion.

Courage is the opposite of evasiveness: a temptation faced by us all, not least those in public life. The practice of this virtue makes us capable of facing the truth about ourselves and of remaining true to the undertakings we give.

The virtue of justice is the practical, day to day, recognition of the duties I owe to those around me: to my parents, to my children, to my school, to my work, to those who are caught in poverty or disaster, in Haiti, Chile, or those who live next door. The virtue of justice includes the practice of my duty towards God, in prayer and in taking part in the life of the Church.

Temperance – a very old-fashioned word – is probably the key virtue, for it helps us to use wisely the good things of this world, to be satisfied with enough, to resist the temptation to have more and more, or to indulge without regard for the consequences. In many ways, the virtue of temperance is a key to a happy life.

These virtues help us to build a good, healthy society in a way that no political programme can ever achieve. No amount of new regulations will nurture these virtues, for they are found in the kind of person we are trying to be and in what we do when no-one is looking.

Effective politics, and effective economics, actually depend on there being a morally healthy society in which we all recognise the importance of the common good, the potential for flourishing within every single person and the encouragement of virtue. These are important considerations as we prepare for a General Election. As well as examining the party manifestos with their wide-ranging policies, we would do well to ask how the different parties intend to help this kind of human flourishing.

Catholic Social Teaching, on which the document ‘Choosing the Common Good’ is based, is a rich resource for us all. Familiarity with its key themes will help us to assess our complex society.

Familiarity with this teaching will also help us to make the most of the wonderful prospect of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in September. As the details of the programme of this visit emerge, we will see how important our Social Teaching really is and the huge significance of the Holy Father’s presence in our society as a courageous witness to the truth of our humanity and to the truth of our Christian faith. Clearly we must prepare well for his visit and give him our heartfelt support when he is here. There will be much more about this at a later date. Sufficient for now that we promise our prayers for Pope Benedict, just as he promised to pray for us, to ‘hold us in his heart’ during this precious period of preparation for his historic visit.

Paul’s words to us today are very reassuring. Even such a great champion of faith as he readily admits: ‘I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me…All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards, to receive in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 3.13-14) So we too, in these remaining days of Lent, renew our effort to be open to Christ, to receive his forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and patiently build up the practice of virtue in our lives.

In this way we not only contribute to the good of our society but also stay faithful to the Lord and to the building of his Kingdom.

No to Compulsory Sex Ed Petition

To: Gordon Brown, and Ed Balls

No to the UK government's compulsory sex education and anti-life Children, Schools and Families bill.

Sincerely,

Why the Recent Scandal Has Not Shaken the Faith of Catholics

The recent scandals facing Mother Church puts us all in very difficult times. As Christians and particularly Catholic Christians this recent loss of trust due to the very sinful actions of some makes it understandable that the Church is being attacked in the media with great volume. This only goes to show that a small bit of leaven does have its effect on the entire lump of dough. Let me categorically say that the actions of a few are not to be tolerated or excused one bit in my opinion. Those who perpetrate such acts are not worthy priests of Christ and do not represent him or the teaching of the Church. Yet as heinous as their acts are and as rightly enraged as the victims should be, these perpetrators need divine healing, love and forgiveness even though their acts are inexcusable for anyone let alone the clergy.

I therefore want to put a question out to the readers to offer testimony in the comment box below. This question has come to me several times this week. I do ask that everyone please remain respectful and clean in their comments. Personal attacks and swearing will not be approved. Here is the question:

Why has the recent scandal not shaken my faith in Christ and his Church?

My answer to this question is that there are over 400,000 Catholic priests who are faithful every day to keep to their vows and who sacrificially serve the faithful in truth and love. They give of themselves tirelessly and often without much thanks. These faithful men are Christ to the Church and world and I thank God for them and support them. I uphold them at this time at prayer and believe it is a time that we need to acknowledge them and love them for their sacrificial service. Being that my faith is not in individuals but Christ and the truth of his Church, those who have scandalised the Church by their actions are individuals and do not rightly represent Christ and his Church of which is the foundation of my faith. The TRUTH of the Catholic faith stands even in the midst of such a stain on her present name. For these reasons, though I am deeply disappointed and saddened by the news of the scandal and offer my prayers for every victim and their family in the love of Christ, my faith is only stronger in the Church as I see clearly that she does not in any way approve or excuse such abuses. I fully support our Pope, love him and pray for him every day as he has an enormous amount of weight on him at this time. May the victims come to forgive the Church and see that the love and beauty of Christ is there even though in the guilty individuals and by their actions concealed that love by their own wicked and selfish actions. May God protect his Church and all of the vulnerable who seek her love and protection, sacraments and truth.

Pope Benedict XVI: The Church and the State

The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.

b) Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable. The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: she is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something which often is even more necessary than material support. In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)—a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.

Deus Caritas Est

Love as Communion: Pope Benedict XVI

14. Here we need to consider yet another aspect: this sacramental “mysticism” is social in character, for in sacramental communion I become one with the Lord, like all the other communicants. As Saint Paul says, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians. We become “one body”, completely joined in a single existence. Love of God and love of neighbour are now truly united: God incarnate draws us all to himself. We can thus understand how agape also became a term for the Eucharist: there God's own agape comes to us bodily, in order to continue his work in us and through us. Only by keeping in mind this Christological and sacramental basis can we correctly understand Jesus' teaching on love. The transition which he makes from the Law and the Prophets to the twofold commandment of love of God and of neighbour, and his grounding the whole life of faith on this central precept, is not simply a matter of morality—something that could exist apart from and alongside faith in Christ and its sacramental re-actualization. Faith, worship and ethos are interwoven as a single reality which takes shape in our encounter with God's agape. Here the usual contraposition between worship and ethics simply falls apart. “Worship” itself, Eucharistic communion, includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn. A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented. Conversely, as we shall have to consider in greater detail below, the “commandment” of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be “commanded” because it has first been given.

Deus Caritas Est

Why Pope Benedict XVI is Obviously the Right Man for the Job

With articles that attack the Holy Father like this one and he still presses on is truly a sign that he is the right man for the job. I am sorry, but this post by Ruth Gledhill is really a sad piece of work. The international response is coming in and Phil Lawler takes care of business with his response.

The Holy Father on Renewing Faith and Catechesis

Working in Catholic education allows one to see the Church from many angles. We live in a time when Mass attendance is very low for those who attend Catholic schools across our nation. Handing on the Faith is a great challenge in the current situation in which we find ourselves. It is no secret that we are in a faith crisis in the West and catechesis is indeed what is needed in schools and parishes. The debate really is to question what is good catechetical material. One of the things we are losing is faith in the doctrine of creation. Another one is faith in the moral law of God and the result is we are becoming more and more anti-nomian. What sort of an effect is the loss of faith in the doctrine of creation having on the doctrine of God proper and even Christology? What is the loss of catechesis in the moral law of God (Ten Commandments) having on the doctrine of the Christian life?

The secular society has very wisely gone after these two fundamental areas of catechesis and sought to destroy them by making them wishful archaic thinking at best and complete irrelevance and an 'evil' against the secularist dogma at worst. But, these are the very starting points for Christian catechesis if we are to have faith in the God of Creation that results in a desire for a holy life as a result of our faith. The Catholic Faith is not about psychology or sociology, but the material created order of God and his entering into it to save mankind by his blood shed on Calvary. Hope in the resurrection is dependent upon the God of Creation and creation itself. The material world is not a world simply relegated to the departments of physics and engineering but to the hands of the God of Creation. Pope Benedict has rightly said,

Today there is a fatal tendency, wherever matter comes into play in the beliefs that we proclaim, to balk and retreat into the symbolic; this happens starting with creation, through the Virgin Birth of Jesus and his Resurrection, to the Real Presence of Christ in the transubstantiation of bread and wine, and on to our resurrection and the Lord's Second Coming. It is hardly an indifferent theological debate when the resurrection of the individual is relocated in death, which is not only to deny the soul, but also to dispute the genunine corporeality of salvation. A decisive renewal of faith in creation is thus the prerequisite also for the credibility and depth of Christology and eschatology. Handing on the Faith in An Age of Disbelief

The second problem is the basic understanding that the Gospel has done away with the Law. But that is the very opposite of what Jesus has said in that he did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfil it. The negative view of the Law is really a Protestant hermeneutic creeping in based upon a Lutheran negative approach to the Law as something that alone condemns us but has no redeeming quality for life. Basically, the Law is good for bringing us to Christ. Paul's critique of the Law is not that sort of a critique. NT scholars such as the Anglican scholar N.T. Wright has made this quite clear in his work. So, why would the Ten Commandments be fading to the back burners in catechetical instruction? The Holy Father reminds us that

When the Ten Commandments are taken out of catechesis, this affects its fundamental structure, and then it does not really accomplish its task of introducing the catechumens into the faith of the Church.

The problem we are facing is the problem of taking the Bible out of its proper place of interpretation. The Holy Father refers to this as the hermeneutic locus "Church" as the only place that one can really adhere to the Scriptures and accept them as meaningful and true. What cannot be forgotten by those who instruct in the faith is that there is a BIG difference between "text" and "commentary". The problem comes when the two are confused as a result of personal agendas...The "text" cannot disappear into the "commentary". This is why the preservation of Church teaching is essential to catechetical instruction in our schools and parishes. The source of this instruction is divine love. This love and message can only come down to others through a living and unique community, which has remained the same since the apostles. Faith has to be nourished by the same faith that nourished the apostolic source. Therefore we teach what we learn from the apostles. The result is nourished souls who grow in faith and love for the God of Creation who gives a blueprint for living that pleases him in all things.

Problems with Anglican-Catholic Dialogue

I realise it has been a while since I've written anything but I have finally come up to operating on about 90% which is far better than where I have been the last several days. Anyhow, I found something interesting in some reading recently that I thought might bring some discussion on the way ARCIC III may be heading.

In Ratzinger's (Benedict XVI) book Church, Ecumenism & Politics, we can clearly see how the present Pope thinks about the ongoing dialogues between Anglicans and Catholics. He finds prospects and problems (the former we are seeing most recently in Anglicanorum Coetibus) in the dialogue. The problem in earlier discussions for Ratzinger was what many Anglicans viewed as "traditions". For many, tradition was often reduced to "customs". At the heart of this problem was what was lurking behind the new concept of tradition, which was the absence of the question concerning Truth. This is the source of divide at its deepest point and since writing of these problems and having seen the recent history of Anglicans, one must conclude that Ratzinger is unequivocally justified in his remarks with regards to the problems in the ongoing dialogue. For me, what the ecumenical movement ought to really be about, once again, is man's great struggle for finding Truth. Ecumenism cannot and must not be reduced to a "lowest common denominator catechesis." That simply will not do for the search for truth in this relativist world we live in currently in the west.

One major theological/ecclesial problem that Ratzinger had was with a "conciliarity" model of expressing the oneness of the universal Church. But what happens when tradition disappears?

When the common agent of tradition disappears and the idea of development thereby becomes untenable and actual traditions become the sole bearer of Christian reality, one finds oneself on a different plane that is neither that of the Reformers nor that of the Catholic Church.

The danger for the Church when ecumenical talks lose the marker as the search for truth we have missed the point of any ecumenical discussions at all. For even the C16 was able to maintain the identity marker of the search for truth in spite of its disputes. Ecumenism must be deepened and extended but not without markers as to why dialogue takes shape. I believe this will be the BIG issues of ARCIC III and all signs point to the fact that without the search for truth and authority hope is missing for not facing up to the dangers. Ratzinger concludes,

But we must see to it that in so doing we do not silently make ourselves the absolute rulers of our faith and thus by pressing on thoughtlessly destroy the living thing that we cannot create but can only cherish. It is good that the traditions have entered into the ecumenical scene. But if we cannot link them with Scripture in a single principle, we have lost ground from under our feet. Every hope bears its own danger within it. It remains hope only if we do not refuse to face up to the danger.

Providential Absence

Just a quick note to apologise for not posting but there is a good reason that has been quite bad. I haven't been able to eat for 3 days as a virus with high fever has run me over like a lorrie. My fever has finally broken and I'm not feeling as ill but still need some recovery time from this bug. I haven't been sick like this in years! Hopefully by tonight I'll feel like getting off the couch and sitting up and respond to my emails and perhaps think of something to write. Thanks for staying around. This too shall end!! And not soon enough!

The Sacrifice of Transubstantiation--Republished

by Fr Alvin Kimel

In his Natural History of Religion, the 18th century philosopher David Hume famously derides the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, asserting that no tenet in paganism invites as much ridicule. “For it is so absurd,” he writes, “that it eludes the force of all argument.” In the course of his polemic, he relates the story of the young Turk Mustapha, who had been taken prisoner and persuaded to convert to the Christian faith. The day after his baptism and communion the catechist continued his instruction and asked the young man, “How many Gods are there?” The new Christian replied, “None at all.” “How! None at all!” cried the priest. “You have told me all along that there is but one God,” explained Mustapha: “And yesterday I eat him.”

Mustapha’s confusion brings a smile to the Catholic face. Who hasn’t stumbled trying to explain the scholastic theory of transubstantiation? More than one intelligent Catholic has found himself lost in its metaphysical thicket. Perhaps even Thomas Aquinas awakened in the middle of the night once or twice wondering, “Does it really make sense to separate substance and accidents?” It is not surprising, therefore, that some contemporary Catholic theologians have sought to articulate the eucharistic mystery in fresh conceptualities. I confess that I am one person, partially due to my own limited intelligence and partially due to my personal aversion to metaphysics, who finds the scholastic presentation beyond my sympathies. Is it not better to be content with simply affirming the sacramental gift of Christ’s body and blood, specifying the dogmatic boundaries excluding error but refraining to plumb the sacred mystery too deeply?

Yet a hasty dismissal of the scholastic analysis of the eucharistic presence is surely not the wise course. Transubstantiation is the fruit of the theological and philosophical reflection of some of the greatest minds of Western Christendom. One cannot read Aquinas’s analysis of the eucharistic conversion without being impressed by both its metaphysical subtlety and metaphysical audacity. The Trinitarian formulations of Gregory of Nyssa or Augustine are no less complex and challenging; but we do not dismiss them because we find them difficult to comprehend, nor are we surprised by their antinomies and paradoxes. We know that language must be broken if the ineffable mystery of God is to be faithfully stated. Transubstantiation also attempts to bring to speech a mystery that exceeds our comprehension and verbal expression. As Herbert McCabe acknowledges, “We do not know what we are talking about when we speak of transubstantiation” (God Matters, p. 149). We do not know what we are talking about, because we cannot grasp what it means for a change to occur at the fundamental level of existence itself. The scholastic separation of substance and accident may seem inconceivable, yet it is this breaking of language that brings illumination.

Discussion of transubstantiation inevitably focuses on the question of real presence and the consecrated elements, as if the Eucharist was given to us simply to confect the presence of Christ’s body and blood. But this focus abstracts the holy gifts from the liturgy and thus tends to distort a proper understanding of the sacrament. We forget that the Eucharist is a sacramental event in which the sacrifice of Calvary is presented to God, for the good of the Church and the world, for the living and the dead. As E. L. Mascall rightly reminds us:

It is important to remember that not only are the Eucharistic elements the effectual signs of the body and blood of Christ, but also that the Eucharistic action is the effectual sign of his redemptive act. The Real Presence is for the sake of the sacrifice, not vice versa. (Corpus Christi, p. 141n)

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). The sacrifice of the incarnate Son is the very heart of the Holy Eucharist.

In his book Sacrifice and Community, Matthew Levering argues that the sacrificial dimension of the Eucharist is the driving force behind Thomas Aquinas’s formulation of transubstantiation. “The doctrine of transubstantiation,” he argues, “enables Christians to affirm the radical insertion of believers into Christ’s sacrifice” (pp. 116-117). The following passage from the Summa Theologiæ is illuminating:

We could never know by our senses that the real body of Christ and his blood are in this sacrament, but only by our faith which is based on the authority of God. For this reason Cyril, commenting on the text of Luke, this is my body which is given for you, says, do not doubt the truth of this, but take our Saviour’s word in faith: he is truth itself, he does not lie.

This is entirely in keeping, first of all with the perfection of the New Law. The sacrifices of the Old Law contained that true sacrifice which was the passion of Christ, only in a figurative way; as we read in Hebrews, the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities It was only right that the sacrifice of the New Law instituted by Christ should have something more, that it contain Christ himself who suffered for us, and contain him, not merely as by a sign or figure, but in actual reality as well. So it is that this sacrament which really contains Christ himself is, as Dionysius says, the fulfilment of all the other sacraments, in which a share of Christ’s power is to be found. (3a.71.1)

Israel rightly understood that community with the living God is established through sacrifice. The divine command to Abraham to immolate his son Isaac, the slaying and eating of the Passover lamb, the covenantal sacrifice at Mount Sinai, the sacrifices of Tabernacle and Temple—all witness to the necessity of sacrifice for vital relationship with God. This necessity is lived out and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel and incarnate Son of God. At his Last Supper, Messias gives to his disciples a sacramental meal by which they may enter into his sacrifice:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying ‘Drink of it, all of you; this is is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt 26:26-28 )

In the Holy Eucharist the people of the New Covenant re-present to God the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and feast upon the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. If the Eucharist is to be a true and effective sacrament of the sacrifice, the body and blood of the now living Christ must be really and substantially present—present to be offered, present to be eaten. “Bodily contact with Jesus is necessary,” explains Levering, “because ‘the perfection of the New Law’ requires a sharing of his sacrifice that goes beyond offering him up in faith—as was possible in Israel’s sacrifices—and achieves actual bodily sharing in his sacrifice, true offering up of Jesus in and with him. Such a sacrificial offering, the ’sacrifice of the New Law,’ could not take place without the bodily presence of ‘Christ Himself crucified’” (p. 136).

Christ in his body and blood must be present in the Holy Eucharist, precisely because the sacrifice of Christ is the fulfillment and perfection of the sacrifices of Israel. As the old Israel was a community of sacrifice, so the new Israel is a community of sacrifice—but with this critical difference: whereas the sacrifices of Israel anticipated and prefigured the one sacrifice of Christ, the sacrifices of the Church commemorate, embody, and re-present the one sacrifice of Christ. A mere symbolic or spiritual offering would be equivalent to a return to the days before Christ; but worse, it would represent a denial of the necessity to be a sacrificing community.

Christ’s one sacrifice, and it alone, is the “sacrifice of the New Law,” the sacrifice that fulfills the Old Law by establishing perfect justice and reconciling human beings to God. The New Law in believers is our participation, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s fulfillment of the Old Law. The “perfection” of the New Law goes beyond that made possible by faith in his offering. Israel, according to Aquinas, displayed such faith in her divinely commanded offering of animal sacrifice, but the perfect sacrifice, as the letter to the Hebrews makes clear, is now here. The perfection of the New law means that believers, as the people of God (not merely as individuals), offer the perfect sacrifice to God. Israel offered animal sacrifices that prefigured Christ’s sacrifice. After Christ’s coming and his establishment of the New Law on the Cross, believers do not offer this sacrifice only spiritually, as Israel did. Rather the “perfection” of the New Law consists precisely in bodily offering Christ’s sacrifice in and with Christ. It is this offering of Christ’s sacrifice that constitutes the people of God as Christ’s Mystical Body. Offering in union with him the sacrifice of his body, believers become the sacrificial Body of their Head. Were Christ not bodily present, believers could not offer up Christ’s sacrificial body, and the New Law would not attain “perfection,” but would instead remain at the figural level, a level already attained through Israel’s sacrificial worship. To attain perfection means to share in Christ’s bodily sacrifice in and through which justice—true interpersonal communion—is attained. Such a “Law” constitutes a “perfect” community. Our “perfection” comes in sharing in this Law of love by sharing in its accomplishment. (pp. 136-137)

The soteriological and ecclesial intent of transubstantiation is now clear—to secure, according to the promises of Christ, both the expiatory reality of the Church’s sacramental oblation and our full bodily participation in the sacrifice of Calvary. The sacrifice of the Mass must be more real, more true, more effectual than the sacrifices of Israel. It must be nothing less than the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the world. It must be the sacrifice of the body of God.

Overpopulation Myth: The Common Sense of a Culture of Life

Something really tells me that G.K. Chesterton would have loved this video!

Official and Non-Official Policies: The Erosion of Christian Morality

Reason rarely seems to be used today when debating real moral and theological issues in society. One can wrongly point at others with regards to the culture's downfall but I believe we need to look very hard at our own selves and do some house-cleaning in our own hearts first. A bit of spiritual inventory is greatly needed. I hear phrases that "we" Catholics that is, need to catch up with the times a bit on issues as the one below. The recent Equality Bill is going to do an enormous amount of social damage and the primacy of the sacrament of marriage and sacrificial commitment of a man and a woman living out this vocation in covenant love is quickly becoming the most odd way of speaking.

According to the papers this morning (see below), same-sex couples are now permitted to use religious language and use religious buildings for their civil partnerships. But, no matter how many human laws we implement, no matter how much of the population agrees with the new move, in the eyes of God marriage will always and only ever be between one man and one woman in a faithful monogamous relationship with a view to pro-creation. The latest is another move for the culture of death to reject life since there is no possibility of the reproduction of life between same-sex couples. That is something that all the Equality Laws in the world will never be able to change. Marriage between a man and a woman is an embracing of life and the reading this Lent remind all Christians to choose life and not death.

Gay couples will be able to marry in church after the House of Lords last night lifted a ban on same sex unions in religious premises.

The vote wipes out one of the final distinctions between marriage and civil partnerships.

It provoked warnings that it would undermine the institution of marriage.

The move – backed by some Church of England bishops – was hailed as a breakthrough last night by gay rights campaigners.

But it is seen by church traditionalists as a damaging step on the road to forcing churches to marry gay people against their will.

It is likely to be opposed by the Pope, who has already criticised government policies on homosexuality, when he makes his first visit as Pontiff to the UK later this year.

The amendment to the Equality Bill does not force churches to accept civil partnership ceremonies.

But it lifts the barrier that had been in place preventing homosexual blessings in churches and also the prohibition on religious language being used in such ceremonies.

It is likely to lead to pressure from the gay community for the church to recognise same sex partnerships.

The Church of England will maintain its official opposition to blessings and civil partnerships but the vote is likely to mean that some pro-gay clergy simply ignore the official policy.

Read more:

Our Lady of Sorrows, Pray to Jesus your Son for us!