I remember those private Masses. The day after the Diaconate Ordinations at Pallazzola, (the Summer House of the English College at Rome) the newly-ordained Deacons went to Castelgandolfo with their parents to assist at the Pope’s Mass early in the morning. After the Mass, we got to meet the Holy Father and say a few words to him. It was one of the happiest moments in my parents’s lives (God rest them). These Masses were fairly frequent and I did have an inkling as a young student in Rome that if you knew the right people to talk to, you could wangle tickets for the Mass. In my naivety, I would not have imagined that you could pass over a bung of $50,000 to get yourself or your benefactors admitted. I am relieved that my dear parents never got to hear about this sort of thing and I feel saddened for good and devout Catholics who have to hear it now.
Essentially, the age of the Borgias never really passed. The Council of Trent did much to reform the Church internally in response to the reformation which was partly fuelled by similar scandals. St John Fisher and St Thomas More stand as shining examples of clear-sighted understanding, going to their deaths in defence of the authority of the Pope despite the scandalous example of some popes during their lifetime. St Ignatius, St Robert Bellarmine, St Charles Borromeo and other great witnesses of true Catholic faith did their best to implement the decrees of the Council of Trent despite fierce opposition. When the religious of Milan realised that St Charles was actually going to do what Trent said, one of them attempted to assassinate him. There remained many obstinately comfortable senior figures in the Church who treated their office as a personal money bag and, in some cases, indulged their other vices with impunity.
Still today, as ever, and probably until the end of time, the Church is in need of reform. We should not make the mistake of thinking that it is only the reform of other people that is necessary. Any crisis in the Church is a call for all of us to return to the standards given us by Christ. I have just picked up once again the classic Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales with the resolution of trying to live a little more closely according to its teaching. I recommend it to you, though you may prefer Granada’s A Sinner’s Guide or Scupoli’s Spiritual Combat. I cannot stress strongly enough that the personalist psychology of Carl Rogers and his friends is spiritual poison and to be avoided like the plague. If you want to read a short account of why, see the interview with William Coulson: We overcame their traditions, we overcame their faith.
Nevertheless, we do all long now for reform at the highest level. The NCR story shows beyond reasonable doubt that Pope Benedict is the man to begin it. They highlight the most significant incident where he was offered the brown envelope “for your charitable use.” Cardinal Ratzinger refused, even though he had just given a lecture to the Legionnaries and an honorarium might be thought innocent enough. I know it sounds a bit nerdy but I do in fact have a copy of the Regolamento Generale della Curia Romana, the "General Regulations for the Roman Curia", which I picked up out of interest from the Vatican bookshop a couple of years ago. In it, there is the text of the oath of fidelity taken by all Vatican officials. Part of it reads:
Simulque promitto munera mihi in remunarationen, etiam sub specie doni oblata, nec quaesiturum, nec recepturum.
At the same time, I promise that I will neither seek nor accept gifts given to me in remuneration, even if they are given under the appearance of the offering of a gift.Cardinal Ratzinger took this seriously.
It also struck me that from the start of his pontificate, Pope Benedict dropped the system of admitting people to his private Masses. They are only attended by a few religious who are part of the Pontifical Household. You can’t get to see Pope Benedict by “knowing the right people.” It is perhaps a disadvantage that genuine attendees such as the parents of newly-ordained deacons cannot any longer have the joy of meeting the Pope in such a setting, but I feel quite sure that my parents would understand the Holy Father’s desire to stamp out corruption.
Cardinal Ratzinger moved against Maciel and, by opening investigations about his activities, effectively forced him to step down as head of the order. At around that time, he made his comment about removing “filth” from the Church: a reference that could hardly escape being applied to Maciel. He did all this despite determined opposition from those in the Vatican who had benefited from Maciel’s largesse with the funds he had amassed from pious donors. As Pope, he finished the job, dismissing him from public ministry to retire to a life of prayer and penance.
In this whole sordid story or bribery, corruption, and abuse, Pope Benedict stands out as the man who is innocens manibus et mundo corde (Ps 23.4): his hands are innocent of bribes and his heart is pure. The reform of the Church in response to the scandals of the day include reform at every level. The Sacred Liturgy is far from irrelevant. If you sacrilegiously mess up what is most sacred, why should anything else remain untouched? If the doctrine of the faith can be cast into doubt, why should anyone respect the moral teaching? The world is essentially saying to us that we should live according to the moral teaching that is contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict, throughout his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and now as the Supreme Pontiff, has pursued reform in all of these areas and, as the NCR story shows clearly, he has exercised determination to rid the Church of the filth which shames us. He deserves our wholehearted support, our fervent prayers, our penances offered in solidarity, and our loyal acceptance of any necessary reforms in liturgy, doctrine, morals, and asceticism that he judges fit to impose.
24 comments:
The tragedy is, of course, that there is still so much 'filth' out there - much of it with knives out for the Holy Father who is taking his job, and his responsibilities to Christ, seriously . . . simply to protect themselves on the road to Hell, apparently.
It was not for nothing that Dante reserved the lowest circle of hell for the treacherous...
It would be interesting to understand details of the therapy available to abusers from 1970 onwards. We understand that the late Brendan Smyth (centre of the row concerning Cardinal Brady) attended treatment in Dublin, Belfast and then with the Servants of the Paraclete at Stroud where presumably he had further access to external health care providers.
Interesting to note that the founder of the SoP was dumped at the Second Vatican Council by his own people who favoured a more 'holistic' approach to recovery.
Father: thank you for this. I know it should be "both ... and ..." rather than "either ... or ...", but given how much the Pope has done for the Liturgy already, and given the team he is putting in place, is now not the time for him to pay particular attention to a reform of the Curia?
Dear Father,
Thank you so much for this post! It was wonderful! And Happy Easter!
In Christ,
Patricia (from Curitiba):D
In your own Faith magazine, William Oddie doubted Maciel's guilt and defended him.
Panorama exposed the situation in Cardiff where the late Archbishop would forward letters of complaint (not actually pertaining to abuse) directly to the priest himself. This priest was later convicted of abuse.
This is still going on and I have experienced it. The simple truth is that it's impossible to complain about the Church without writing to Rome who always find for the Ordinary anyway.
Wow! That's powerful and uplifting!
Dear Padre Finigan,
Salutations.
Thank you for a clear, Charitable towards the Holy Father article.
With the assurance of my Holy Rosary prayers for all your good work in the vineyard of the Divine Master, I remain yours truly in Jesus and Mary Immaculate.
*
Oremus pro pontificem!
Thank you, Father F.
If we need to drain the sore of this horrid era, so be it.
Pope Benedict is a man of true integrity, holiness and without guile.
Shame on the MSM for their vile accusations...we are learning in the States that the NYTimes didn't bother to get a decent translation of the documents they used to accuse our Holy Father. Shameless miscreants!
Prayer and penance will only drive out these demons.
Thank you for your post!
Father, your comment about being glad that your parents never got to hear about this kind of thing struck a chord with me. Only last week I was thinking about my dear grandmother and how upset she would have been by recent revelations. However, born as she was at a time when the Church was much more reviled than even now, I am sure she would not have been taken in by the smears and attacks upon the Holy Father.
Lux perpetua luceat ei.
Aren't seminaries part of the problem too? I don't think Granada or Scupoli was mentioned once during my five years at Wonersh, although we certainly studied Carl Rogers at some length and had to put up with the ridiculous - and canonically illegal - charade of growth groups, compulsory counselling etc etc (cont p94).
I remember once the nun taking our growth group brought in a plastic bag full of soft toys and poured them all out onto the floor. We each had to choose a soft toy and "share" with the group why we'd chosen that particular toy and say what it said about how aware we were of our "inner child".
I chose a soft elephant and explained to Sister that just as elephants never forget, I would never forget this rubbish as long as I lived. I was right. Even though it was eight or nine years ago, I haven't forgotten it!
Loved Richard Duncan's elephant story - that's the spirit!
But is this stuff still going on in seminaries, and are retreat centres still promoting all the person-centred rubbish, or is a change of direction discernible?
Thank you for this most interesting and helpful post.
In my business life within the hi-tech industry we have struggled with many mergers and acquisitions. Companies often make exaggerated claims about their products. It normally stems from the owner, or the person in charge, of the company. We carry out due diligence to try and ensure the truth.
Perhaps continuous reform within the Church should start with more careful due diligence of "start ups" i.e. Marcial Maciel Degollado.
I see Pope Benedict as a person who is focussed on due diligence. He uncovers those things that most have not uncovered or do not want to make public.
His due diligence to the Liturgy is an outward sign of his reforming principles for the common good.
Habemus papam.
Thank you, Father!
Paul Mallinder is right.
I suspect that part of the problem is that bishops are not answerable to anybody and are at risk of being surrounded by "yes" men.
The Church can learn from business about the need for audit examination and corporate governance. This will not solve all problems but may help prevent some.
Perhaps also a system of selection boards could assess potential bishops. Professional partnerships and the armed services could provide models of selection methods both for bishops and for other diocesan appointments.
What objectives are given to bishops and how is their performance assessed? Again business and the services may be able to provide models for comparison.
Thanks for this post. On the topic of Psychology, I recommend two films: The Soloist and Shutter Island. Mental illness and the role of psychology are important themes in both. Medication, surgery and labels are put aside in favour of taking the whole person as they are, listening and speaking with them. It's about healing people rather than treating symptoms. I'm not sure what school of psychology you would call this, but I'm guessing they wouldn't want to be labelled as such!
Thank you, Father for another uplifting article. One way or another the truth will win.
Thanks be to God for the Holy Father! May He keep him safe,strong, faithful, and gentle through these trials. And thank you for yet another excellent post, Father Finnigan.
a system of selection boards could assess potential bishops. Professional partnerships and the armed services could provide models of selection methods both for bishops ...
Dear Mr. Peter,
There are boards that select 'Bishops' and so on. They are heretics known as Protestants. Don't like a sermon? Fire one, hire another.
The U.S. Military is the lap dog of big business.
Do you want your Bishops to be lap dogs?
What is wrong with "Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men".
The successor of Peter is perfectly capable of choosing Bishops.
Bishops fail when their Faithful do not pray for them.
*
The age of the Borgia's never really passed...This sounds like the rector from Brighton. The only thing I know about Cotton College and English seminary life, including the English College in Rome, is from John Conway's, Seminary Boy: A Memoir.
After reading John Conway's, A Thief in the Night: The Death of John Paul I, the resignation of John Magee, former Bishop of Coyne, came as no surprise.
Pablo, I think Paul M does have a good point in that, in this day and age, the Church cannot rely entirely on its representatives being elected solely by the Holy Spirit. Though the Holy Father himself is supposed to be chosen in this way, I very much doubt that the conclave process works in an entirely spiritual fashion; that is not meant negatively but we are taking about Princes of The Church as they are occasionally referred to, and Machiavelli for one was very astute in his observations of such persons, albeit temporal ones.
To be more up to date, a few weeks ago, a PP I know commented that there was not enough training for priests in "real world" skills such as running a parish from the business point of view.
A few weeks ago, a PP I know remarked that choice
Father I tried to post an answer to Pablo and may have failed the technical side. I hope that I wrote nothing objectionable.
Mr J has largely made my point. Scrutiny of candidates is required and this task requires training and skill. Business-like testing of candidates for senior posts may be practical. The use of such testing would not mean that business interests take over the Church.
Training for bishops in skills such as media skills may also help. So might setting them objectives so that they know what they are trying to achieve and not get distracted with issues that cause them to neglect their diocese.
As always, Father, thank you for your blog and support of the Church and our Pope.
Peter - rushing through comments the other day I deleted one by mistake and it may have been yours. Sorry if that was the case.
Post a Comment