Posts

Showing posts with the label error

Martini attacks the Church

Image
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Emeritus Archbishop of Milan, has long been a respected figure among liberal theologians. His comments have usually been of a kind that hint at deeper issues, rather than openly dissenting from the teaching of the magisterium. For example, his calls for greater collegiality, for further theological enquiry on questions of sexuality, and for the Church to speak in a way that people understand, can all be given a perfectly proper interpretation. Nevertheless, in ecclesiastical circles, they are coded language hinting at opposition to Pope Benedict and to various doctrines of the Church. I remember having to endure the gushing enthusiasm of some for Martini when I was a student in Rome and he was the Grand Chancellor of the Gregorian University. His reputation as a biblical scholar, specialising in the gospels, was such that it was unthinkable to challenge his authority. This has continued, as Diogenes remarks : Martini's truly extraordinary composure and...
Read more

Notification attacks hermeneutic of rupture

The Spanish Doctrinal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith has done excellent work over the past few years. A while back, I mentioned in a review of "Opening Up" about their doctrinal note on the book by Diarmuid O'Murchu which had been published in English for eight years without a peep. The commission has issued a doctrinal note on a book by Fr José María Vigil CMF, called Teología del pluralismo religioso. Curso sistemático de Teología Popular . Essentially, the doctrinal note applies the teaching of the excellent Declaration Dominus Iesus of the congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church, which was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000. (I have been going through this in detail recently with my class at Parkminster.) Here is a quotation that is of interest ( my translation ): The attempted union between theory and praxis [ i.e. the author's use of "see, ju...
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Baptism water rosary photo

Image
This photo is doing the rounds at the moment. Here is the accompanying text: This was taken at the baptism of Valentino Mora, son of Erica, a single mom of 21 who asked the photographer to take a picture of her son for free. The photo of the baptism of Valentino Mora is sweeping the Internet, because at the time the priest pours the Holy water over his head, the water flows in the shape of a rosary. This story began at the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady in Cordova, Spain, where the baptism of a one month baby took place. At the time that Valentino came to the baptismal font for the sacrament of baptism, Erica asked the photographer Maria Silvana Salles, who was hired by other parents baptizing their babies, to take a photo of her son as a favor, since the young mother had no way of paying for it. The photographer, moved by Erica's request, agreed to take a photo of Valentino. Maria Silvana works with a traditional camera and had to send the film to be developed to a shop in ...
Read more

Is your alb back to front?

Fr Z has initiated a roaring discussion by asking the simple question whether maniples can be used in the Novus Ordo Mass. ( What Does The Prayer Really Say?: Maniples ) One commenter has referred to an important source for the question that has proved popular among modern liturgists. An answer in Notitiae of 1978 said: "When the rubrics of the Missal of Paul VI say nothing or say little on particulars in some places, it is not to be inferred that the former rite should be observed. Therefore, the multiple and complex gestures for incensation as prescribed in the former Missal are not to be resumed." This is, of course, a strange answer. Saying that it must not be inferred that a rite should be used does not imply that it must not be used. We need to check the Latin of this text. (If anyone with access to a library can check it, I have seen the reference given elsewhere as Notitiae 14 (1978) 301-302, no. 2) Let us in any case take the more restrictive interpretation, bel...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

The blessing of a chariot

Image
When I studied Latin in Rome with Fr Reginald Foster, he used to suggest that a good word for a car was autorhaeda , a word in fact used in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis of 1965 when speaking of a visit made by Pope Paul VI to the Basilica of St Chrysogonus in Trastevere. The word raeda (without the "h") was used by Caesar, Cicero and Horace for a travelling wagon with four wheels and the addition of "auto" does not make for too awful a neologism. In the Rituale Romanum , the blessing for a motor vehicle is the Benedictio vehiculi seu currus . The word currus is normally translated as chariot and reflects the way that people often view their car. Since one's motor vehicle is more likely to be the locus of one's death or injury than many other artefacts, it does make sense to have it blessed. Above you can see us striding purposefully past the Georgian houses of Victoria Road and here is the blessing of the classic mini: The blessing given in the ...
Read more