Congratulations Msgr Sabato (Sal) Pilato

Rev. Fr. Sabato (Sal) Pilato, Superintendent for Secondary Schools for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was elevated to Rev. Msgr. (Chaplain to His Holiness). Monsignor Pilato is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and is Secretary to that same organization

ad multos annos

Buona Pasqua

My two parishes: Easter MMX

St. Bernadette, Duncannon

Our Lady of Good Counsel, Marysville

Stand Up and Speak Out Lest Evil Triumph

Catholic Clergy Stand With Peter and Defend Pope

4/1/2010 - 11:13 PM PST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

HARRISBURG, PA (April 1, 2010) – On this Maundy (Holy) Thursday in which the Church celebrates the institution of the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Holy Eucharist by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy publicly stands with Peter and defends the person and office of Pope Benedict XVI. A national association of priests and deacons committed to ongoing formation (spiritual, theological and pastoral), the CCC declares our total loyalty, support, confidence and fraternity with the Successor of Saint Peter, Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ. We condemn and repudiate the slanderous attacks on the Holy Father and we encourage all the faithful (laity, religious and clergy alike) to join us and stand with Peter as did the early Church in the time of the Apostles. The secular press and media are supposed to REPORT the news and allow the public to DECIDE. Instead, we see conjecture, innuendo, false inferences, distorted facts, and many details taken out of context so as to promote an agenda of hatred and deceit for the Catholic religion. Ironically, the same media which demonstrates a hypersensitivity to not offending non Judaeo-Christian faiths by not printing offensive cartoons of Prophets and other religious founders, nevertheless, shows no restraint in making specious allegations against the spiritual leader of more than one BILLION Catholic Christians around the world.

Terrorists and other violent criminals are afforded a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in the press and media yet when it comes to the Pope, especially Benedict XVI, we rarely see the disclaimer “alleged” printed or spoken before a series of accusations are leveled against him. Lacking incontrovertible evidence, the media frenzy is nothing short of a bunch of sharks circling the water after smelling blood. They seek to devour former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict. Sexual abuse of children is a grave evil no matter who is the culprit, be they priest or parent, minister or rabbi, teacher or coach, sibling or neighbor. Any instance of abuse is inexcusable and detestable. Abusers should be punished.

However, the current clarion call for ‘transparency’ must be taken in context. Forty and fifty years ago, the buzz word was ‘discretion.’ Families were discreet when a fellow family member was known or suspected to be a pedophile. Today, we learned the hard way that discretion was not the proper solution, yet, back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, everyone kept a lid on child abuse, whether it occurred in the house, at school, in the gym, on a camping trip or God-forbid in the rectory or parsonage. Some police and school administrators kept silence as did some bishops when they should have acted more vigorously. Society in general and not just Church leaders had to learn to no longer be quiet about child abuse. Furthermore, psychiatry and psychology were not the keepers of the panacea, the cure for all mental illness. Bishops were not the only ones given false hope when sex offenders were released after so-called ‘successful treatment.’ Today, everyone knows serial abusers are incurable and must never be allowed anywhere near children. Half a century ago, modern mental medicine told us otherwise.

The yellow journalism and anti-Catholic propaganda seen in some attacks on Pope Benedict, from demands for his resignation to convening an ‘inquisition’ rival the same rhetoric once found in the former Soviet news agency, TASS, or in the vitriolic ranting of Nazi Josef Goebbels. All reputable reporters, journalists, and news people need to distance themselves from the tabloid tactics of some of their colleagues. We need responsible reporting that does not color the facts, merely reveals them. We need balanced analysis and fair treatment given to every person and every religion. Instead of connecting dots that do not exist or instead of making outlandish accusations of elaborate Vatican conspiracies as found in pulp fiction, the world deserves to be treated more intelligently. Instead of throwing stones, how about giving both sides of the issue in showing mistakes AND progress; in telling the corrective measures now being taken as well as the sins committed in the past?

Catholic Clergy Stand with Peter and Defend Pope - Christian Newswire

Catholic Clergy Stand with Peter and Defend Pope - Christian Newswire

An Inconvenient Truth

The secular press is being manipulated by dissident Catholics. Those who are calling for the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI are doing so for either illogical and fallacious reasons OR to serve a clandestine agenda to destroy the credibility and ultimately the authority of the Roman Pontiff. One group means well INSOFAR as they purport to have the common good in their intent. While protecting children from abuse is a magnificent and proper goal, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy that merely because he was Archbishop of Munich in 1980, he de facto is responsible for the transfer of an accused pedophile priest. Likewise, that same logical fallacy attempts to implicate Pope B16 with a case in Milwaukee just because he was Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. There is no cause and effect evidence to demonstrate these allegations. That Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) was in charge is accurate. What he knew and when he knew it are not being accurately delineated in the secular press. Furthermore, the media is grossly distorting the facts regarding a Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis .  Rather than being a smoking gun proving a conspiracy of cover-up and plausible deniability, in reality, it is a very specific response to a very specific and rare phenomenon.

The document in question was issued in 1962 and dealt with the sin of solicitation in the confessional. In other words, it was an instruction to bishops on how to handle the heinous instance of a priest molesting someone during the sacrament of Penance. Canon law imposes an automatic excommunication for any confessor who absolves his accomplice or victim in a sin against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue. The necessity of SECRECY was not and never was to protect the culprit, instead, to protect the victims AND the sacrament of confession itself.

Since a priest can NEVER divulge the identity nor the sin confessed by any penitent, EVER, how does a bishop proceed using due process to ascertain the guilt and then impose the proper punishment upon the offender? How can evidence be gathered when no names can ever be revealed? Most cases of sex abuse occur OUTSIDE the sacrament, so this is a very limited but nonetheless still horrible crime. But all the penitents of the same confessor need to know their identities are still safe even if they never were victimized. All penitents need to trust in the total and absolute inviolability of the seal of confession. No one, not even the Pope can command a priest to ever reveal who went to him for confession and/or what was confessed. No civil or ecclesiastical authority can supercede this. Hence, some norms had to be drawn up to protect the identities of ALL penitents as well as the sins they confessed. THAT is the only secrecy involved. The secular press perverts the intent of the legislation and insinuates a conspiracy of secrecy. Are not court records of minor children SEALED so that identities cannot be revealed? Are not adoption papers kept confidential?  The document is NOT a recipe for omerta (Mafia code of silence) in the Church. Instead, it is a safeguard for the Seal of Confession.

Finally, those dissident Catholics who want to see the demise of priestly celibacy; who want to see female clergy; who want to allow same-sex marriages; who want to allow abortion and contraception, et al., are now using the mood and climate to stir up public disdain for the hierarchy and the Magisterium. The are abusing the abuse cases by using them for their own agenda. They are taking facts out of context and manipulating the conclusion so as to promote their own ideology. Since they had no ammunition to discredit then Cardinal Ratzinger and now Pope Benedict, they throw as much mud and filth as possible HOPING something will stick. But it shall not. Pope B16 is INNOCENT. He is also the Vicar of Christ for life. The so-called 'public-image' of the Catholic Church may not be as sparkling or as palatable to the world as before, but so what? DOING the right thing for the right reason is more important than APPEARANCES. Papa Ratzinger has ALWAYS acted with integrity, honesty, justice and out of love for God and Holy Mother Church. While some may disagree with some of his prudential judgments, HE is the Pope, they are not. He answers to GOD and not to the press, not to vox populi and never to opinion polls or to popularity.

As said before and before, again and again, often it is MIDDLE MANAGEMENT to blame. They buffer what information gets to the local bishop or to the Pope. Spin-doctors are not just found in secular politics but in the Church too. They do not belong, but they are there. Just as some of the Apostles argued among themselves who was the greatest, churchmen today sometimes concern themselves with vain concerns. The common good is better served when ALL diocesan officials and all the clergy and laity are on the same page and seek to know and do the will of God and the good of the Church. Personal needs must be superceded by the larger need of the common good. Recent popes have had that in mind, sadly, some under them and way down the ecclesiastical food-chain have other ideas.

In the meantime, PRAY FOR THE POPE.  He needs our support more than ever. And tell anyone who asks that the Church is not governed by the media or the public. She is the Bride of Christ and the Pope is the Vicar. ANYONE guilty of child abuse (be they a cleric or layperson; be they a priest or parent, sibling or relative, teacher or coach) should be punished but as always the ends never justifies the means. Therefore, we can never do evil no matter what good what come from it nor how much harm would be prevented. Thus, we must do right and encourge others to do likewise.

Pope Benedict XVI is part of the solution not the problem

Pope Benedict XVI is part of the solution not the problem

amen

Some liberal Catholics are thinking: It's payback time, Ratzinger! – Telegraph Blogs

Some liberal Catholics are thinking: It's payback time, Ratzinger! – Telegraph Blogs

buona festa di San Giuseppe

Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored your help and sought your intercession were left unassisted.  Full of confidence in your power I fly unto you and beg your protection.  Despise not O Guardian of the Redeemer my humble supplication, but in your bounty, hear and answer me. Amen.

      

Saint Joseph, Pray for Us

  

Zeppole - Sicilian pastries made and consumed on Saint Joseph's Day, which as a Solemnity, dispenses the Lenten fast and even the Friday abstinence (Canon #1251)

EWTN.com - Promoter of Justice at Doctrine of Faith on Pedophilia

EWTN.com - Promoter of Justice at Doctrine of Faith on Pedophilia


EXCELLENT clarification, classification and explanation and well worth the read of every Catholic

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY & HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO FR. DENNIS DALESSANDRO

Fair and Balanced??? Not at CNN

CNN relentlessly attacked Pope Benedict XVI today. Anderson Cooper and Jack Cafferty wasted no time making illogical inferences that the Holy Father was guilty of covering up a pedophile priest while he was a German Archbishop in 1980. That Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was Archbishop at the time is not de facto empirical evidence he knew everything nor that he was told everything about Fr. Peter Hullermann. Furthermore, the press and media which love sound bytes loathe long explanations even if they clarify the truth.

Has it not happened in the military and other institutions where subordinate officers shield, dilute or even prevent the full truth and complete details on certain matters from getting to their superiors desk? Often, in a sense of misguided loyalty, lower authorities have made themselves buffers to their immediate or higher bosses. Some details get filtered, others do not. But the decision to withhold information often does not come from ABOVE but from BELOW. Middle management often tries to keep a lid on things hoping to avoid crisis. Rarely is it the case that the leaders tell their subordinates 'keep me in the dark so I can have plausible deniability.' Rather, I have seen it happen in the corporate and business world, in the political world, in the military and in academia and even in the ecclesiastical realm where either ambitious or well-meaning but grossly imprudent middle management bureaucrats filter information and become a buffer between their subordinates and their own superiors. Hence, the higher-ups are many times genuinely in the dark. I have personally been made aware of instances where the local bishop was invincibly ignorant of significant details on pertinent matters, facts, conversations, etc., precisely because a lower church official (diocesan bureaucrat) deliberately suppressed this information from the bishop. Sometimes, it was motivated out of a distorted love of the church that unpleasant truth needs to be kept quiet, while in other cases it is a hidden agenda of the middle management to promote heterodox doctrine or disobedient behavior by refusing to pass on information regarding violators who may also be colleagues or at least sympathizers. Bishops presume they will get quick, accurate and complete information. Not always the case.  When one of my former bishops was consecrated to the episcopacy, he was told by classmates: "there are two things bishops never get: a bad meal and the whole truth"

Hence, we do not know what Pope Benedict knew, nor what he was told in 1980. Also, it is inaccurate to identify all cases of child sex abuse as PEDOPHILIA. That is limited to those deviants who are sexually attracted to PRE-PUBESCENT children and they are incapable of being cured or rehabilitated. Unfortunately, that was not always what psychiatrists and psychologists were saying 30 years ago. Today, they say one thing; three decades ago, however, there was false hope and promise that therapy could cure almost every mental problem. Medication and therapy are not enough to control the disgusting desires of true pedophiles. What is also not said in the press is that the NUMBER of pedophiles, be they Catholic clergy or Protestant Clergy, is that the instances are more rare than cases of EPHEBOPHILIA is the abnormal attraction of adults to ADOLESCENT (pubescent) teenagers. Legally, both pedophiles and ephebophiles prey on minors. The former is a more severe form, however, whereas the latter is more prevalent but has more reasonable hope of recovery. Either one is deviant, immoral, and gravely sinful. Ephebophiles are often adults seeking the sexual intimacy of same gender teenagers. Sometimes they are not. Recall several 'cougar' school-teachers who seduced their teenage boyfriends? One eventually married and bore the children of her high school trist.

This brings to light the other reality that CELIBATE MALE CATHOLIC PRIESTS are not the predominant group who commit child sex abuse. The overwhelming majority of cases involve PARENTS and SIBLINGS then come RELATIVES and NEIGHBORS, then TEACHERS, COACHES, SCOUT MASTERS and CLERGY (of any and all denominations, Christian or Jew; Catholic, Protestant or Eastern Orthodox). Yet, the media has no time nor stomach to expose the whole depth and breadth of this heinous evil. Every walk of life, both genders, all religions and all careers have cases of child abuse in some shape or form. This does not make it less disgusting or less evil but its proliferation runs the gamut of human activity.

Ending priestly celibacy would not prevent fathers, brothers, teachers or coaches from abusing children. Most celibate priests live chaste lives. A few do not and need to stop and confess their sins. Real pedophilia is by all current accounts incurable. Those guilty of molestation should be punished swiftly and severely. Those who have not misbehaved but have the inclination or those who have served their sentence (without parole), should still be kept isolated from children. Long ago, such folks were sent to a monastery far away from kids and in total cloister and under total supervision. That was far better than sending him to a rehab center and then reassigning him later. But remember, 30 and 40 and 50 or more years ago, the medical profession told our bishops that homosexuality was no longer an abnormality and that most mental and sexual problems were treatable with therapy and/or medication. Only recently have we seen the scientists recant and at least admit that some pathologies, like pedophilia, are incurable and beyond total rehabilitation. This is why laws must be passed to keep child sex offenders off the streets and out of the neighborhoods where children live, play or go to school.

There are some anti-Catholics who relish the idea of making Pope Benedict the scapegoat for clergy sex abuse of children. If anything, he had some incompetent or imprudent subordinates who did not fully disclose all the facts while he was archbishop. So did other bishops, pastors, ministers, rabbis, generals, admirals, principals, etc. Why aren't the doctors who initially gave a clean bill of health to many of these pedophile and ephebophile deviants after a period of expensive rehab held accountable for their bad judgment? Why are not all institutions given the same extreme scrutiny given the Catholic Church? Other denominations have the SAME PERCENTAGE of child sex abusers as found in the RC Church but we do not read or hear of it as often, partially because they do not keep as many or as detailed records as we do. This is not a "Catholic" or just "clergy" phenomenon nor is it a 'sick symptom or by-product' of CELIBACY, since the majority of child sex abusers are MARRIED LAITY. Any case of child abuse, physical, sexual or emotional, is a grave evil and mortal sin. No doubt about it. Hiding it and ignoring it make it worse, however, is it not the case of family child abuse as well? Are there not cases where mothers kept quiet while their children were molested by their fathers or step-fathers, brothers or other male relatives? The sin of silence has MANY collateral victims and perpetrators.

CNN should look at the entire scope of child abuse. When NBC had a weekly show catching would-be sex offenders looking for underage children, 99% if not more looked to me to be LAY men. Children are victimized by too many people of both genders, both sexual orientations, all religions and every career and culture known to man. Zeroing in on just one small percentage does a disservice across the board.

Papal Pots Shots

  

Reuters reported that attempts to link Pope Benedict XVI with an alleged cover-up of a pedophile priest in 1980 while the Pontiff was an Archbishop in Bavaria have been disproved and discredited.

The Vatican's disciplinary office had dealt with 3,000 cases of sexual misconduct since 2001, covering crimes committed over the last 50 years. However only about 300 of these involved "pedophilia in the true sense of the term," meaning abuse base on attraction to prepubescent children. About 60 percent of the cases concerned adolescents and the rest involved heterosexual relations.

Ephebophilia is the attraction of adults toward pubescents and adolescents (generally 15-19).

Is it not ironic that it took 30 years for someone to charge then Archbishop Ratzinger with 'negligence' at worst?  Nothing said in 1980 when the alleged incident occurred. Nothing said when he became Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And silence when he became Successor of Saint Peter and Pope Benedict five years ago. No, slanderous accusations come in 2010. Why? How about feeding frenzy in the press? How about anti-Catholic schemes to discredit the Pontiff?  How about clandestine plots from enemies of the Church or opponents to B16's different style of papacy? In any event, the dirt won't stick. But have we not seen similar character assassination tries leveled against P12 and even JP2?

"If they hated me, they will hate you ... if they persecuted me, they will persecute you"

Reality Check

 

Lucetta Scaraffia (Italian historian) recently wrote an article in L'Osservatore Romano "An Ancient and New Collaboration" [Una collaborazione antica e nuova] where she proposes that a greater presence and involvement of women in the Catholic Church would have either prevented some cases of clergy sex abuse with children or at least would have mitigated the cover-up and clandestine transfers of abusers by members of the hierarchy. She bases this on the assertion that women have a natural nurturing disposition which would protect kids from a possible Preying Mantis (a.k.a. a celibate cleric).  Isolated priests are more likely to abuse children, she maintains, when there are no women religious around to keep an eye on things.  Furthermore, once horrible and despicable deeds have been committed, women are less likely to keep silence as would men in the tradition of the 'good ole boys club.'

"in the sorrowing and shameful situations in which the molestation and sexual abuse by ecclesiastics on the young entrusted to them come to light, we can hypothesize that a greater, non-subordinated feminine presence would have been able to rip the veil of the code of masculine silence ["omertà"] that in the past often covered over in silence the denunciation of misdeeds. Indeed, women, religious and lay, would be by nature more inclined to the defense of the young in cases of sexual abuse, ridding the church of the evils that these guilty attitudes have procured for it."
 
While initially making sense, what Scaraffia overlooks are two important realities.

1.  Most cases of child abuse, be it sexual or physical, occur in the home and committed by a family member. In many of these instances, the mother (female adult presence) knows or suspects the abuse is going on but out of credible fear for her own life and the lives of the children, keeps SILENT. This silence very often confuses the victims who erroneously presume their mother consented to the abuse done by their father, step-father, brother, uncle or mom's boyfriend.

2.  Recent revelations in Canada, Ireland and elsewhere show WOMEN Religious being accused and found guilty of child abuse in orphanages and parochial schools. Ritual physical beatings and worse are not exclusive to male perpetrators. Like their male clerical counterparts, the abuses are by no means the majority, on the other hand, no one can claim abuse is reserved to males alone.

Hence, I fail to see how more nuns in ecclesiastical positions of power and authority or more women religious in the parish DE FACTO make our kids safer and ensure the prevention of covering-up and transfer of abusers. What will help is what Pope Benedict has already said to American, English and Irish bishops already: BE fathers to your priests and encourage your priests to BE fathers to their parishioners rather than being bureaucrats, business managers or politicians. When priesthood and episcopacy are primarily focused on running the plant and balancing the books rather than saving souls, trouble is not far behind. When more emphasis and effort is made by dioceses to implement programs and policies which make the church function more as a CORPORATION than as a family of faith, then misbehavior will sneak in under the radar screen.

The Church is indeed an institution and requires competent management but all too often, especially in the aftermath of the recent scandals, it seems as if some 'middle-management' personnel feel the need to use the same modus operandi of corporate America. We do not need to appease the lawyers, psychologists or sociologists. Bishops need the advise and counsel of reliable and orthodox theologians and canon lawyers but as spiritual FATHERS of the local church (diocese), they need to act as any good Dad to protect, teach, discipline and encourage their sons and daughters. Our clergy (bishops, priests and deacons alike) need to emulate SAINT JOSEPH, the spouse of the BVM rather than Perry Mason. The Catholic Church is older, bigger and more organic than Microsoft or IBM.

Married clergy and ordaining women are not a panacea that would prevent child or adolescent abuse.  Even the presence of more women, lay or consecrated religious would not be the magic bullet. Solid training and forming (and POST ORDINATION CONTINUING FORMATION) of good priests and deacons is the only viable solution. Promoting the sense of spiritual FATHERHOOD rather than a business, managerial, corporate or political paradigm currently infecting some sections of the church. Holy Orders is a vocation not a career. Candidates who show difficulty with controlling their anger or sexuality (in addition to identifying those deficient in orthodox doctrine or reverent liturgical celebration) need to be removed.  Lex orandi, lex credendi.  BAD theology + BAD liturgy = BAD morality and vice versa. Conversely, when a seminary, cathedral and parish promote SOUND theology + REVERENT (valid & licit) liturgy = GOOD morality.  Accounting and managerial skills are better found in the lay faithful if not among the permanent Diaconate (many of whom have excellent experience in the business world). Priests and Bishops, however, need the good advice and counsel of these competent collaborators, but we do not need to become them. We clergy need to take our spiritual fatherhood as seriously as did Saint Joseph and like him, remain close to Jesus and Mary while leaving much of the mundane business aspects to those better trained and qualified.

 

Parish Mission

 

   

Sanctuary of Sacred Heart Church, Staten Island, NY, where I preached a three day Lenten Mission this week. Fr. Louis Jerome, the pastor, is a very nice, very orthodox and very good priest. His church and school are clean, sturdy and well taken care of, unlike some places I have been.

EWTN

  


Fr Ken Brighenti's homily on March 3rd at EWTN

Fr Ken Brighenti & Fr John John Trigilio with Fr Mitch Pacwa, SJ, on EWTN Live!  

Fr John Trigilio's homily on March 4th at EWTN

Fr John Trigilio's homily on March 2nd at EWTN

Check it out

CFD


Interesting ranking of Catholic books

Quo Vadis

Father Ken Brighenti and I will be at EWTN March 1-5, so you may catch us at some of the daily Masses as well as the EWTN Live! show with Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, on Wednesday night (8pm Eastern) March 3rd. While we will be discussing our latest book (SAINTS FOR DUMMIES), we also want to mention our recent international conference of English speaking clergy in Rome, a joint gathering of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (USA) and the Australian CCC. Msgr. Guido Marini was one of our several speakers and many of you read his phenomenal reflections on the Sacred Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform.

Year for Priests - Clergy Conference Rome 2010.

Year for Priests - Clergy Conference Rome 2010.

Wonderful photos available now for your perusal. Brings back fond memories of the most spectacular, magnificent and unforgettable clergy conference I have EVER attended. My colleagues from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and Great Britian, all concur.

Like the quinquennial (every five years) ad limina visit every diocesan bishop must make to Rome to visit the Holy Father and the Vatican dicasteries, the CCC and ACCC will meet in Rome, too, every five years. This is in addition to our annual national gathering for a convocation. 2011 will be Mundelein, OH.

Grey area: the morality of investigative journalism

Grey area: the morality of investigative journalism

To Tell the Truth

Bishop-Elect Bambera

      

Congratulations to our neighbor to the north of the Diocese of Harrisburg. Bishop-Elect Joseph Bambera will succeed retired Bishop Joseph Martino as the tenth Bishop of Scranton. AD MULTOS ANNOS. His Excellency attended my alma mater for major seminary as did Bishop William Skurla, Eparch of Passaic, NJ (Ruthenian Catholic). As Chaplain to the Italo-American Apostolate in the Diocese, I extend the well wishes of the Capital Area paesani to Bishop-Elect Bambera. I may ask him NEXT YEAR to be our Celebrant at the diocesan Italian Mass. We have one on Epiphany, San Giuseppe and the Assumption.

I told my mother in Erie about the news today since she is of Polish descent just like Bambera's mom while my dad (deceased) was Italian (actually, Sicilian, so don't forgetaboutit).

While Mount Saint Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD, has the elegant moniker of being known as the 'cradle of bishops' every now and then some high caliber good men are found from other places. Now only three American dioceses are sede vacante and those of us in the Diocese of Harrisburg and praying and hoping for a repeat of the phenomenal and wonderful shepherd we previously had in Bishop Kevin Rhoades, now Ordinary of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Keep us in your prayers, please.

‘Don’t blame all church attacks on fanatics’

‘Don’t blame all church attacks on fanatics’

A very dear friend of mine, Fr. Anthony Mariappa Anthappa , is a priest of the Diocese of Bangalore, India. One of his parishes (he is pastor of three) was recently vandalized and robbed. While there are numerous instances of terrorism being committed by Muslim and Hindu extremists, there is also the age old phenomenon of theft and vandalism by local thugs and criminals. Whether a terrorist or a crook desecrates your house of worship, the end result is still the same, your church has been violated. Thieves and terrorists may have different motives but they employ the same means: violence and destruction.

9-11 showed us the depth to which Al Qaeda would sink in their terroristic attacks on America. Sadly, natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina also showed us how local criminal elements take advantage of situations and looting and pillaging often permeate an area already devastated by mother nature.

While we see similar church burnings here in the USA (e.g., Texas), most of the time the vandalism and theft are committed by petty criminals or isolated psychotics. India has those, too, but also the presence of full blown terrorism and deadly anti-Catholic persecution from rival groups. Militant and extremist Hindus and Muslims do not represent the majority of their creed but there are enough of these radicals to cause grave harm to church property and personnel. Clergy and religious are targets of personal attack and violence. Catholic churches are targets of vandalism and desecration. When this happens in America, the nation is repulsed and seeks swift justice whenever any mosque, synagogue or church is attacked. This is not the case all over the world. Imagine coming to Mass at your local parish only to find it ransacked and vandalized, with the Blessed Sacrament desecrated and the Tabernacle violated. It makes my stomach sick just thinking of it.

Please pray for Father Anthony and his parishioners. If you are able to help him rebuild his church please contact me at frtrigilio@live.com and I will in turn get you in contact with him or at least I can help you send him some donations to try and rebuild.

Viva il Papa

Today is the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. The Latin word for chair is CATHEDRA and from that we get the English word cathedral since it is the church where the Bishop's 'cathedra' or chair resides.  The chair is a symbol of authority going back to ancient antiquity. While kings, queens and other monarchs had thrones during the Mediaeval era, going back even further, we see the Emperor of the Roman Empire having is imperial CHAIR. Whenever he sat on that chair, all judgments issued were considered 'official' and binding on the empire. Local authorities, especially the governors of the empire, also had a chair which symbolized the authority of Caesar. Whenever the Governor sat on the chair, he represented the Emperor and his authority.

Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam

Jesus commissioned Peter as the first pope in Matthew 16:18 and He entrusted to him the keys of the kingdom. Hence, Our Divine Lord's promise to every Roman Pontiff, "whatever you declare bound on earth, shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  Not only is this the biblical foundation for the doctrine of Papal Infallibility (Catechism #891; V2 Lumen Gentium #25) but it is also the canonical raison d'être for Papal Primacy. The keys Christ gave Peter were not physical keys but symbolic ones. The two crossed keys in the Papal flag (one silver, one gold) represent these keys.

   

Chancellors were traditionally given two keys by the sovereign who installed them into office. Every King or Queen as monarch needed a trusted person to represent the crown. Literally speaking, the Lord Chancellor would be given a key to the royal prison and a key to the royal treasury. Because he was so trusted by the ruler, the Lord Chancellor acted in persona regis (in the person of the king). He had the keys and the authority to lock up and imprison any and all of the enemies of the king. He could also show mercy and compassion and occasionally release a prisoner. The power to bind and loose was indeed a significant one. So was the key to the treasury. The Chancellor had the authority to collect and protect the revenues (taxes) levied on the inhabitants of the realm. He was keeper of the King's gold, so to speak. That same key which locked up the gold could also unlock it. Besides collecting, the Lord Chancellor could also disperse. He had authority to buy and make purchases; to pay the knights and soldiers their wages; to give alms to the poor on behalf of the monarchy.

So when Jesus gave Peter the keys, He was giving the first pontiff the power and authority to bind and loose. As the 1983 Code of Canon Law states, the Roman Pontiff enjoys supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power (CIC #331)  Unlike the separation of the Judicial, Legislative and Executive powers in our American government, the Pope possesses all three in his office as supreme head of the universal Church. No tribunal or even Ecumenical Council can override his decisions or contradict his authority. His infallibility only extends to matters of faith and morals, but his plenitudo potestates in terms of ecclesiastical jurisdictional authority has no limit. Hence, while he is not infallible in his executive or legislative powers, he is still supreme and there is no higher authority save God Himself. His teaching authority (papal magisterium) is either EXTRAORDINARY (ex cathedra) or ORDINARY (papal encyclicals).

Saint Ambrose said it best:

UBI PETRUS IBI ECCLESIA

Where Peter is, there is the Church.  One Church has maintained a consistent two millennia continuity with the Vicar of Christ and Successor of Saint Peter. The Eastern Orthodox split in 1054 had many contributing factors but the final act was the separation of the Eastern Bishops from the unity with Rome and particularly with the Bishop of Rome as supreme head of the universal church. Although there had been Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and later Constantinople, the Patriarch of Rome was more than primus inter pares (one among equals). When the Council of Chalcedon read the Tome of Pope Saint Leo, the Bishops said "God has spoken to us through Peter".  The Protestant Reformation began in 1517 when Martin Luther separated himself from Rome (aka, the Pope) and formed the Lutheran Church. King Henry VIII did likewise in 1534. Note that the dates of establishment of these churches root themselves in the act of separating from the authority of the Pope. Albeit there are theological, liturgical, economic, political and other elements in every schism the Church has endured, nevertheless, there remains ONE SUCCESSOR OF SAINT PETER and he was, is and will always be the Bishop of Rome. Jesus said HE was building HIS church on the rock of PETER. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Despite schism after schism, scandal after scandal, controversy after controversy, there is still one Vicar of Christ on earth, one Successor of Saint Peter.

The so-called sede vacantists who claim there is no valid pope are no different from the Protestants or Orthodox who came before them centuries ago. UBI PETERUS IBI ECCLESIA. Since the Holy See is and can be judged by no one, no council or synod has the power to depose any pope or even to declare him heretical and excommunicated. Unlike divine inspiration where the Holy Ghost personally ensures only what and how God wants what to be said is faithfully written by the sacred author, papal infallibility is not of the same genre. It merely means an absence of doctrinal or moral error being taught. This is no guarantee that a particular pope is LIVING the proper moral life or that he even personally believes all that he should, but it does mean that God prevents him from imposing an error upon the people. Infallibility is a negative charism which simply means every Pope is protected from issuing a universal error in faith and morals. He can, as we have seen in church history, commit moral evils and theoretically any pope could have some personal theological mistakes, but he is prevented by papal infallibility from imposing them as formal doctrine upon the rank and file. His jurisdictional authority is not connected to his infallibility, hence, his prudential judgments in making bishop assignments or granting dispensations or adjudicating tribunal cases are all prone to being done better or more timely. Nevertheless, since he possesses the fullness of authority, his decisions still have complete efficacy and full effect. In other words, the pope's authority in non-magisterial matters MUST still be obeyed and adhered to by all the faithful. Subsequent popes can improve their predecessors prudential judgments by making their own non-magisterial authoritative decisions.

What is true is always true. How it is said and when it is said, is a matter of prudential judgment. Revealed dogmas can never be repealed or negated nor can they be contradicted. Their explanation can be enhanced and improved at any time. I am always leery about making any criticism of any papal decision even non-magisterial. The reason is only someone who KNOWS with metaphysical certitude exactly what what the pope in question KNEW, WHEN did he know it and HOW did he understand what he knew, can make an educated opinion on that papal judgment. Best to leave it in the hands of God Who alone knows all that is in the hearts and minds of all men. Already, in the advent of a potential beatification of Pope John Paul the Great, there are some on both the right and left who wish to question his prudential judgments in matters of liturgy, bishop appointments, and other non-magisterial decisions. While this is allowable as none are connected to papal infallibility, because of papal primacy, it would be prudent to avoid dissecting and second-guessing what any pontiff was thinking.

I realized that when I became a pastor and was tempted to externalize my private opinion on prudential judgments of my predecessors. My mentor, Fr Bob Levis, warned me the day I became a pastor for the first time (2002). Never critique who came before you. Try to improve where you can but make it look organic, natural and logical as opposed to undoing what was done before. And it works. When the 2002 IMGR was finally was implemented, I used it as the impetus to install a Crucifix on the wall of the sanctuary and placed the Resurrected Christ over the door of the back of the church so people could see it on their way out, while they would see the Crucified Christ on their way in and during the Sacrifice of the Mass. I also moved the Tabernacles in both of my two churches to the center of the sanctuary. When people saw this was a continuation rather than a disruption, they appreciated it. The latest documents from Rome are there to fine tune and properly implement what was intended and actually said at Vatican II, not the amorphous and ambiguous 'spirit of Vatican 2'

When Pope Benedict XVI came to America, I used the opportunity to introduce to my parishioners the option of celebrating Mass AD ORIENTEM and using the six candles and crucifix on the altar of sacrifice.  I also placed a kneeler at Communion to afford the option of receiving on one's knees or standing, in the hand or on the tongue, as is allowed by our local diocese. When the people see these things as logical extensions of what we believe (lex orandi, lex credendi), they appreciate not having their intelligence insulted. By not trashing or bashing my predecessors, I showed respect for the office I myself now held. Mistakes can and must be corrected and undone but they can and ought to be done PRUDENTLY and with CHARITY but also with some DIGNITY.  Whether the Extraordinary or the Ordinary Form, both have the reverence and elegance to fulfill the spiritual needs of the faithful since both are valid and licit and have come to us from Holy Mother Church. Either one can sadly be abused and when the Celebrant becomes the center of attention rather than Christ and His un-bloody reenactment of Calvary on the altar, then the sacred liturgy deteriorates from divine worship to human approval and amusement. Even the so-called 'quickie' TLM of the 1950's some pastors were infamously famous for (one priest in my original diocese bragged he had the shortest Sunday Mass in all thirteen counties and was known as the Golfers' special), were no different than some of the Novus Ordo vernacular Masses said for the same audience.

If all us priests and all the bishops celebrated Mass with the same reverence, attention and devotion as is evidenced by His Holiness Pope Benedict, then we would have nothing to worry about in terms of vocations, donations or any other concerns.

Canti Religiosi - Christus vincit Christus regnat Christus imperat

Quadragesima (Lent) - practical suggestions

 

Every year parishioners ask me as do hundreds of others via email, what can or ought we to do for Lent. The Forty Days of Lent are meant to be PENITENTIAL and to remind us that Our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, spent 40 days in the desert before embarking on His public ministry. Sacred Scripture highly recommends the ancient practice of

PRAYER
FASTING
ALMSDEEDS (almsgiving, i.e., the donating of money OR 'giving of alms' to church and to the poor, is but one form of almsdeeds. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, constitute the substance of almsdeeds)

Here are some suggested things to either GIVE UP or TO DO during Lent

1a. Give up one hour of television and/or one hour of internet each day in Lent [techno-fast]
1b. Spend the same amount of time (1 or 2 hrs.) in prayer (rosary, divine mercy chaplet, reading lives of the saints, liturgy of the hours)

2a. Give up a small routine (e.g., replace tea for coffee or vice versa; drink coffee or tea without sugar or substitute and/or without milk) each day of Lent OR alternate weeks so as not to be too accustom to the practice [beverage-fast) OR give up fancy coffee drinks (lattes, cappuccinos, chai's, etc.) and drink regular or decaffeinated normal coffee for Lent OR give up afternoon cocktails
2b. Donate the equivalent amount you would have spent on specialty coffees (drinks) to your parish or diocesan lenten appeal

3a. Give up going to movies (or renting them or pay-per-view, etc.) for Lent
3b. Spend equivalent in contribution to Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts, like Catholic Charities, et al.

4a. During Lent, whenever dining in a restaurant, opt for your 3rd or 4th choice from the menu rather than the 1st or 2nd. And during Lent, send nothing back, even if the food is too hot or too cold or not enough. In other words, do not complain, just offer up the minor inconvenience. Only send back inedible or undercooked food which could harm you. Nutritious food which just doesn't taste good can still be eaten as a penance as long as it won't make us sick.
4b. Eat your least favorite vegetables in Lent rather than your favorite ones

5a. Voluntarily fast for three hours (rather than just the mandatory 1hr) before receiving Holy Communion during Lent.
5b. Spend an extra 15-30 minutes BEFORE Mass in prayerful preparation before and/or after Mass in thanksgiving.

6a. Mark off each weekday of Lent with a different devotion (e.g., Rosary on Mon.; Bible reading on Tue.; Divine Mercy chaplet on Wed.; Catechism reading on Thr.; Stations of the Cross on Fri.; Lives of Saints on Sat.) but stick to same practice every week.
6b. Spend time visiting the sick at a nursing home, hospital or shut-in. Alternatively, telephone an elderly aunt, uncle or grandparent and spend at least a half hour or more.

7a. If you already give up meat on all Fridays of the year, then during Lent consider giving up meat on all Mondays and Wednesdays as well as Fridays.
7b. If a vegetarian, then besides abstinence from meat on Fridays, abstain from non-green vegetables on Fridays OR eat your least likely and least favorite dish (e.g., for many of us, that would be Brussel sprouts) instead on this penitential day.

8a. Fast from the remote control for the TV during Lent and force yourself to physically get up and change the channel manually.
8b. Tape off the microwave during Lent and force yourself to heat everything the older, and more time consuming manner.

9a. Give up one hobby during Lent (bowling, cards, quilting, etc.)
9b. Spend same equivalent time with family and/or friends doing something wholesome and edifying (prayer, Bible study, corporal works of mercy, etc.)
 

blog

blog

Pope Benedict Remembers Saint Dominic

happy birthday Mom

Queen Elizabeth of Erie with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi

thou shalt not text and drive

 

grazie to Fr Z at WDTPRS

Wiley:Preview Saints For Dummies

Wiley:Preview Saints For Dummies



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CATHOLICISM FOR DUMMIES
WOMEN IN THE BIBLE FOR DUMMIES
JOHN PAUL II FOR DUMMIES
EVERYTHING BIBLE BOOK
101 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE BIBLE
CATHOLICISM ANSWER BOOK

Boehner Joins Bozell, Other Conservative Leaders in Demand That Obama Fire Anti-Catholic Bigot Harry Knox

Boehner Joins Bozell, Other Conservative Leaders in Demand That Obama Fire Anti-Catholic Bigot Harry Knox


Obama appointee openly attacks Pope Benedict XVI and displays blatant bigotry towards Catholicism

American Papist and Media Research Center expose the anti-Catholic bias of this member of the Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Catholic America: Catholic clerical narcissism - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Catholic America: Catholic clerical narcissism - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Despite numerous efforts, my rebuttal to this article is not being published on the Washington Post website.
So much for fair and balanced journalism.

Here is my reply (after you read the above 'opinion' )


OUCH! Why the ad hominem attack and why was it necessary to imply the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is guilty of clerical narcissism? I agree that sadly there are some members of the clergy who are more concerned with their 'career' insofar as they seek to climb the ecclesiastical ladder, so to speak. Most priests and deacons, however, got ordained to serve God, His Church and His People.

What is narcissistic about seeking personal holiness? Is this not what every Christian is asked to do? Why castigate an association of clergy which merely seeks to promote ongoing post-ordination formation of its members? The Second Vatican Council in the document PRESBYTERORUM ORDINIS officially teaches that ordained ministers need to live holy lives to help them help their parishioners do likewise. Vatican II spoke of the universal call to holiness. All the baptized are challenged to become saints. Ongoing spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human formation for those already ordained is mandated by the Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests. Why is it presumed that when priests and deacons pray, study and promote healthy fraternity that somehow these would conflict with the mission to evangelize and catechize?

As President of the CCC, I can vouch that our members are young and old, from east coast to west coast, from middle America to deep south. All of them profess their love of Jesus Christ and especially during this YEAR FOR PRIESTS, it was an honor and pleasure for us to participate in a first time international gathering of English speaking clergy in Rome. We did this not for selfish reasons. On the contrary, ongoing formation is but a means to an end. Our final goal is the sanctification of the people we serve in the parish. We can only help them if we first help ourselves learn and grow as fellow pilgrims on the journey. Professing fidelity to the Pope and Magisterium is something we are not embarrassed nor ashamed of yet I cannot see how it could ever conflict with caring for the poor or spreading the Good News. You do us an injustice by inferring or implying a form of clerical narcissism. When doctors attend annual workshops and network with fellow physicians, it is to help them become better doctors to better treat their patients. Likewise, whenever deacons, priests or bishops engage in ongoing formation, especially in annual seminars and workshops and whenever they spend some quality time together in prayer, study and fraternity, it is precisely to enable them to go back to their people and better serve them.

We do not claim the CCC is a panacea and realize there are other groups, associations and societies tailored for the gifts, talents and needs of the individual members. Please do not paint us all with one wide brush. If the Council Fathers at V2, the 1983 Code of Canon Law and the Congregation of the Clergy all agree that ongoing formation and the pursuit of personal
holiness is a good and honorable objective for the ordained, how can it be seen as selfish? Our only desire is to help as many of our people get to Heaven as is possible, by the grace of God and with the help of continued formation which includes prayer, study and personal sanctification.

Fr John Trigilio, Jr.
President
CCC

Pope Reminds Bishops to Be Close to Their Priests

Papa Benedetto spoke to bishops from Ireland and the United Kingdom during their quinquennial ad limina visit.



In this Annus Sacerdotalis [Year for Priests], I urge you to hold up to your priests his example of dedication to prayer, pastoral sensitivity towards the needs of his flock, and passion for preaching the Gospel. You yourselves should set a similar example. Be close to your priests, and rekindle their sense of the enormous privilege and joy of standing among the people of God as alter Christus. In Newman’s words, "Christ’s priests have no priesthood but His … what they do, He does; when they baptize, He is baptizing; when they bless, He is blessing" (Parochial and Plain Sermons, VI 242). Indeed, since the priest plays an irreplaceable role in the life of the Church, spare no effort in encouraging priestly vocations and emphasizing to the faithful the true meaning and necessity of the priesthood. Encourage the lay faithful to express their appreciation of the priests who serve them, and to recognize the difficulties they sometimes face on account of their declining numbers and increasing pressures. The support and understanding of the faithful is particularly necessary when parishes have to be merged or Mass times adjusted. Help them to avoid any temptation to view the clergy as mere functionaries but rather to rejoice in the gift of priestly ministry, a gift that can never be taken for granted.

These words apply aptly here in the United States as well. Our bishops NEED to be close to their priests and deacons. No one is suggesting that the dignity and honor accorded someone who possesses the fullness of the priesthood as a successor of the apostles be denied or diluted. On the contrary, we priests and deacons WANT to honor and show respect to our superiors but we also want to know and see that they care for us, not as mere employees but as spiritual sons.  Bishops are not managers or corporate executives. They are shepherds and spiritual fathers. They govern, teach and sanctify. They are the pastor of the local church we call a diocese. The business model of ecclesiolog which permeated the American church in the 1970's and lingers even today is not biblical nor theological. It is sociological but is also detrimental. The church does business but she is more than a business herself. She is the spotless bride of Christ. Holy Mother Church is much more than a flow chart of responsibilities.  Mission statements cannot replace divine law or divine revelation.  When clergy are in spiritual need, in deed, even when they are in trouble, they need a FATHER to counsel them, to correct them, to discipline them, to forgive them and to love and affirm them.  Managers and bureaucrats cannot do that.  Good shepherds love and know their sheep and do NOT act like hired hands.  Pastors will practice what they themselves experience. If the bishop and diocese act and work merely as a business or local government, then that model will extend to parish life. IF however, the family style of relationship where the father is the head of the family is used by bishops to his priests, priests and deacons will do likewise in the parish. Not democracy or republic but FAMILY as God Himself ordained.

Perennially Valid

  Dr. Ralph McInerny

Doctor Ralph McInerny was a professor of philosophy and the Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He died on January 29th, 2010, at the age of 80. An unabashed Thomist, Professor McInerny never hid his love and commitment to the philosophy often referred to in Church documents as being PERENNIALLY VALID. Thomism is more than the personal thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas. It is the entire perspective of moderate realism based on the Aristotelian principle that reality can and must be objectively known. The rational intellect abstracts via the senses from individual objects universal ideas that are known and knowable only to the rational mind.

Former President of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Dr. McInerny debated vigorously attempts to 'modernize' Thomism by adapting it to Kantian philosophy (aka, Transcendental Thomism). He preferred a more pure presentation and application of the Angelic Doctor's philosophy in the tradition of Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson.

Author of the "Father Dowling Mysteries", he also wrote commentaries on how the so-called 'spirit of Vatican II' was used by some modernists to distort the real spirit found in the actual text sixteen documents of the Council.

He will be sorely missed and was a beacon of hope at Notre Dame showing that one still can be orthodox and a devout Catholic, loyal to the Magisterium and Roman Pontiff while teaching at that infamous institution.

REST IN PEACE.