Silver Laden Mules

In the good old days you knew who would be Pope by the amount of silver carried by the mules in the baggage trains of the Cardinal Electors, or by which European armies where massing outside of the city where the election was to take place. I suspect chestnuts are now considered as bad form as "nephews" and "neices" at post election parties. O tempora o mores!

Journalists have given us an almost blow by blow account of the inner workings of the 2005 Conclave, perhaps it began by that interview in which a certain Cardinal immediately afterwards told the world "they elected" Benedict. How wise of Benedict to restore excommunication as the penalty for breaking the silence of the Conclave.

Now the US Cardinals have been advised to stop their daily press conference, and the Brazilians have earnt a certain displeasure by encouraging the supporters of Odilo Scherer to push his name forward amongst journalist. The Germans have been pushing their Liberal credentials by allowing the "morning after pill" just after the announcement of Pope Benedict's resignation, and then of course there are those Turkson posters that have appeared around Rome, then of course there is the Tagle video, such an unfortunate choice of song.
I had the distinct feeling that the American Cardinals were electioneering, perhaps most of these things are beyond the individual Cardinal's control but we seem to be getting to a position where it is becoming a little unseemly. Without the sobering atmosphere of the death of a Pope there is a certain sense of carnival about the forthcoming election.
Journalists might have taken the place of silver laden mules, and appaerances on televion the place of the actual silver. It is quietly likely those most vaunted by the press might well prove to be at a dissadvantage on the premise of "enter the Conclave a Pope and leave a cardinal".
Now the 115th elector has arrive, isn't time their Emminences shut up, started praying and fond a new Pope, I wish they would take the more talkative octogenarians with them, at least the one's who haven't learnt from the Pope Emeritus to go into a life of silent seclusion.

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Does the Lectionary Mark a Rupture?

Is there a real divide between the theology expressed the two forms of the Roman Rite? Pope Benedict would have denied it

In many ways there are so many similarities between the two that when both are celebrated in Latin, the language the Second Vatican Council expected Mass to be celebrated (though remember: until Trent the Latin Rite wasn't always in Latin - Greek was used in  Athens which was Latin Rite) and when it is celebrated ad orientem, as the Council and even the Missal of Paul VI expects (which in some Roman churches had never happened because of the Confessio before the altar), apart from prayers at the foot of the altar, which happens before the Mass actually begins, visually there are only slight differences. Not all of us have dancing and balloons at Mass! Indeed it could well be argued, as Paul VI does in the Preface to his Missal that Novus Ordo, is indeed an "organic development".

So what is the major difference? I touched on this in my last post and I think is worth highlighting and asking for comment, I said:

Celebrating the Traditional Mass every Sunday, I can't help being struck by how often the Epistle refers to the evil of "fornication", "adultery" and last Sunday, "sin that should not even be mentioned among you", these extracts seem to be rare in the OF Lectionary, or is that just my lack of attention?

It is not something I have thought of much, and certainly not something I have studied, and really it is only a bothersome thought. Certainly the OF Lectionary gives us a broader selection of readings, including the Old Testament and extracts from the Gospels other than mainly Matthew and chunks of John. In many ways the modern Lectionary is superior, as a logical academic presentation of scripture the older form is obviously inferior.
I don't know quite how the older Lectionary emerged, presumably like most organic forms, by a process of evolution and to meet pastoral needs, it was tried a tested in the crucible of sacred history down the centuries.
What is more significant and worthy of serious discussion is the rupture that I would suggest the newer Lectionary has introduced into the Church's presentation of the image of God. The pre-Concilliar image of God is different from the post-Concilliar image.
Revelation is both Scripture and Tradition, it is within the Liturgy that Revelation is presented: by changing the Lectionary have we broken with something very important?

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Violent and Abusive

Today's reading from the Office of Readings is about the Golden Calf and God's rage at the people of Israel, Moses placates it but himself destroys and burns the Golden Calf and grinds it to dust, scatters the dust on the waters and makes the people drink it. It is just one of the times when the God presented to us in the OT is filled with anger against his people. The prophets were certainly often consumed with "zeal for his house"
Jesus has a moment of rage in the Temple when zeal for his Father's house consumes him, when he drives out the money changers and with the Pharisees, his interpersonal seem to have something to be desired.

The Gospel today has Peter asking how often he should forgive his brother; I wonder whether he is asking in some general way, or specifically whether Andrew, his brother and fellow Apostle, has been particularly annoying and Peter is asking explicitly about their relationship.

Jesus answers by telling a story about an irascible master who is going to sell a debtor and his family into slavery, who then relents after much pleading but then hearing about the mistreatment of another servant has him handed over to the torturers. Jesus' message to Peter is forgive your brother because you yourself have been forgiven a great deal.

Ches has an interesting and thoughtful post on the O'Brien affair setting it in the context of a survey on "religious guilt", he suggests the problem is that the Church has failed to teach about morality. Celebrating the Traditional Mass every Sunday, I can't help being struck by how often the Epistle refers to the evil of  "fornication", "adultery" and last Sunday, "sin that should not even be mentioned among you", these extracts seem to be rare in the OF Lectionary, or is that just my lack of attention?

Though Jesus tells Peter to forgive, he also tells the Apostles to "preach repentance", "teaching", "bring back a brother who errs" and to "correct error"; forgiveness and teaching seem to go hand in hand.
The Fathers, the Saints too seemed to be by today's standards violent, even abusive in their teaching of the faith, in their refutation of heresy and their denunciation of sacrilegious behaviour.

Against this we have to set love but then "love" seems to have been reformed to something passionless, and reduced to variation of tolerance. Has there been a feminisation or even lavenderisation, certainly a de-Christianisation of "love".

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Gloria TV Intimidated

Feisty Catholic women repel German intimidaters!

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Who Knew?

Mundabor asks some rather pertinent questions about the O'Brien affair, basically "who knew", in his post he poses and answers these questions:

Let us think this further: is it probable no one had noticed? No.
Is it possible no one ever sent notes and warnings to his superiors? Extremely unlikely.
Is it possible that such warnings were sent and given, and were ignored by the competent authorities without much thinking, or because of the wrong thinking? You can draw your own conclusions, but I think it probable almost to the point of certainty.

Is it probable no one had noticed?
I am told there were rumours in the Archdiocese about a relationship but rumours are not facts. Although rumours about all sorts of things abound amongst clergy, they often prove groundless. And although clergy do gossip about things happening within the Church it tends to be within small groups of trusted friends.
The great problem of the clergy, is that we tend to be naive about both scandal and sex. I really am convinced that the "cover-ups" of  the 1980's and much of the mishandling of sexual abuse that emerged at that time was a result naivety and confusion on the part of Bishops rather than wilful wickedness. We tend to be guarded about calumny, even calumnious thought. Especially today when we clergy live solitary lives, it is more than likely we are completely in the dark about what a priest is doing in the parish next door and even more so what our bishop is up to..

Is it possible no one ever sent notes and warnings to his superiors?
I think this is extremely likely, clergy tend to be masters at keeping silent about their suspicion. There is no mechanism for reporting suspicions to superiors, and certainly not if ones suspicion is about a bishop. Until the appointment of Archbishop Memini there was always the feeling that his predecessors were both unlikely to forward ones concerns to Rome and were more than likely to copy any letter to the Bishop concerned. The Church is an institution based on law, without concrete evidence very few would make a complaint based on rumour, opinion, or circumstantial evidence, and without concrete evidence no superior can legally act against an inferior.

Is it possible that such warnings were sent and given, and were ignored by the competent authorities without much thinking, or because of the wrong thinking. 
If complaints were made it is very likely complaints to previous Nuncii were ignored. Before Mennini the Nuncio was a remote figure, who was hardly soken to by ordinary clergy, and really wasn't trusted by most priests, I can't think of anyone who would nip around to Wimbledon for a cup of tea and a chat about a bishops shortcomings.
As far as complaints made to bishops or other superiors they are unlikely to act on mere suspicion or rumour. Sexual crimes especially always tend to happen in private, and there tends to be little evidence, and generally it is one persons word against another and without evidence their must be a presumption of innocence.

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Giving the Faith Back

I was quite struck by Sandro Magisters reference to a change in the "power bases" of the Conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI.

Cleansing the Church of "filth" must be one of the priorities of the next Pope, as must be sorting out the Curia, though actually having an efficient Curia might well result in more powerful Rome and more centralisation, but the priority of any Pope must be furthering belief itself, making the Church evangelical. "Filth" exists and is tolerated because we have forgotten the Commandments and the call to Repentance. The Curia is corrupt and inefficient, mainly inefficient I suspect, because it tends to exist for itself rather than to serve the Church's mission.

John Paul II in many ways strengthened the role of Bishops and laid more work on Episcopal Conferences, Benedict with Summorum Pontificum and the Year for Priests, and his Liturgical theology emphasis on the Mass was very much about priests.

I hope the next Pope is able to bring about a sense of Mission, that ordinary Catholics are somehow taught that they are sent out to proclaim Salvation. Jesus did not come to set up a Church so that it might serve itself, he established his Church to proclaim Salvation to the ends of the Earth.

Since Vatican II the faith has been taken out of the hands of the ordinary faithful. An urgent priority must be giving it back to men and women in the pew. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a wonderful tool for bishops and priests, in many ways it has trandformed Seminary formation but as far as the man and woman in the pew is concerned it is a closed book. The faith of so many clergy, of so many "professional Catholics" and "thinking Catholics" is far removed from the faith of their grandparents and their forefathers, it is not better informed, it is a different faith, in some cases it is not faith at all but doubt, which is the enemy of faith. It does not recognise Jesus as being necessary for Salvation, it doesn't recognise the veracity of Revelation, nor the reality of the Sacraments nor the Sacredness of the necessity of Communion with the Church. It does not recognise even that which is right or wrong, in many ways the Church itself is the great font of "Relativism", and indeed the ills of the Church spring from Relativism within it.

The best catechised children I ever prepared for First Communion received their formation from their illiterate grandmother, they were from an Irish traveller family. Grandmother had done presumably what had her family had done for a thousand years and teach the faith, which was the basis of her life, sitting around her hearth.

The Spirit of Vatican II, the emphasis on personal opinion, the change in devotional and liturgical practises has robbed the ordinary faithful of the faith, placing it the hands of specialists. I pray the the next Pope will find a way of returning it.

Perhaps the best way might be to ensure the diocese of Rome is itself the best formed, catechised and evangelised in the world. Now if all those Cardinals, Bishops and Monsignors actually started catechising and evangelising the children and men and women of the city and the people of the world who come to visit the Eternal City, it might help to prioritise things for them and act as model for the rest of the Church.

I really do believe that a priority must be producing simple catechetical material that communicates the essence of the faith, for children and those preparing for the sacraments, models that can be used throughout the Church. Using the best minds in the Church to do that would indeed be pleasing to the Lord, and an example to us all, as would the example of them praying in Roman churches

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Diary Entry

I sympathise with Willian Oddie's thoughts on Benedict's retirement: the closing of the doors of Castel Gandolfo seemed like not just the end of an era but the end of a relationship. So forgive the frivolous nature of this post, it is of course entirely fictitious.

Pope Emeritus' Diary 

Got up very late this morning, haven't done that for years!
afterwards prayers and Mass
Breakfast: I spilt a speck of egg and got a smear of marmalade on my cassock and I didn't bother to change. No-one fussing me!
No papers to read, books are being moved, so I thought I'd have a look a few blogs - might start one myself - anonymous of course - "Pastor Emeritus" has already been taken, maybe something satirical, or something with a heavy cat influence. I might write in High German, or perhaps something on Augustine in Arabic. I might get a cat, and it needn't be white, or even a dog -never to have to worry about muddy poor prints again! 

I have been thinking about a hobby, I need some fresh air and a little exercise, I could take up gardening.
But then I might take up cooking, no Ambassadors, no Heads of State , no Cardinals, I'll knock up something nice for lunch, then a siesta, then "Count Down", I am told I have to watch it, all retired people do, followed by a little chat with brother Georg on the phone, he might tell me how to work the microwave, then Vespers, then maybe a little Mozart, Horlicks and bed!
I better think about the weekend, what a relief, no sermon to prepare, no Angelus, no public Mass! Just think, I can look forward to Holy Week and Easter without all that hassle, without be exhausted for a week afterwards, no cameras, no journalists. If I got someone in I could just sit in choir!

***
I have just been very wicked and experienced a not being Pope pleasure; I stood at an open window and there were no pilgrims waving or guards saluting! 

Tomorrow I might come down to breakfast in my dressing gown. I might even not shave, just for one day, just to see what is like. I could grow a beard, not that I want one but it is nice to know it is possible now, and maybe with a change of hairstyle...., err the world could be my oyster. 

What I am really looking forward to is being able to walk out of my bedroom into the garden - you just can't do that on the top floor of a palace! Another thing Georg says is that I might start getting in the new place are people ringing up to offer me energy saving offers! I will look forward to that!
What I really want to do is to walk along a sandy beach alone with no security or anyone, and maybe even take my shoes and socks off. What a pleasure just be alone.
What a pleasure to have nothing but space in my diary.

I pray he has a joyful, healthy and restful retirement.

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