Shooting and breaking the legs of sheep and heretics

I remember hearing about a school inspector telling a class of Yorkshire children the parable about the Good Shepherd, then asking them what their dad's, most of whom were sheep farmers what there dads would do. One little girl said, "Sir, 'e'll shoot the b*gger, once one runs, he'll teach the rest of 'em to run".

 Jewish shepherds would leave the flock, and go in search of the lost one, the reason why he would carry it on his shoulder is because he would break or dislocate its leg, which meant until it healed the shepherd needed to carry it around.

The important thing was that whilst it was getting better it was also learning to stay with he flock and while it was disabled it could not teach the rest of the flock to run and it itself learnt to listen to and follow the shepherd.

 So what do we do with sheep who run off from the flock and teach others to do the same? In the past we might have called them heretics, now we call them dissidents, redolent of the political prisoners of the Soviet Gulags. The problem is that they remain to teach others to leap the fence, indeed, their role as "dissident" seems to give them importance in the secular world, and the "Liberal Catholic" establishment to comment on the Church and to condemn it.

 The Church has moved on from Pope Zachary's (741-52) Rite of Anathema and by doing so seems to have broken from Tradition and scripture 1 Timothy 1:20; 1 Corinthians 5:5.

"Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N-- himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate, so long as he will not burst the fetters of the demon, do penance and satisfy the Church; we deliver him to Satan to mortify his body, that his soul may be saved on the day of judgement."

The problem with dissidents, (can we still call them heretics?) touches the whole issue of religious liberty, do we tolerate heretics, is this the message of scripture?

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Vocations

This weekend we are asked to pray for vocation
The Bishops Conference intends to set up a "framework", listen to Fr Jamieson speaking at the press conference - it is in the side bar.

Our own diocesan Vocations Director, the excellent Fr Terry Martin has his blog here.

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Nuncio to the Conference

The Catholic Herald carries the full text of the Nuncio's address to the Bishops Conference, in which he urges them to be outspoken, to support the Ordinariate, to engage dialogue with Muslims and Jews to promote the family, it is all good stuff.

People ask me what I know of him. I find it difficult to say, he is a little more outspoken than his predecessors but he is a diplomat, it is only when he starts appointing Bishops to the vacant dioceses that we will really know. The rumours going the rounds are that no new bishops will be appointed until after August but perhaps his address is more directed to Episcopabili than the Episcopacy.

It is important to write to him to suggest good loyal priests who will make good loyal bishops, Nuncioes like to know about good priests.

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The Future of the Liturgy

If you live in Brighton do try and encourage people to come to Mgr Wadsworth's talk, The Future of the Liturgy. I know there is a course on the other side of the deanery on Vatican II documents, both of these events were arranged sometime ago, the clash is unfortunate.

It will be interesting to hear what someone at the "nerve centre" of liturgical thought and "the man behind the new Missal translations" has to say about the future of the Liturgy: which will include the expectations of the Fathers of Vatican II and subsequent documents, the recent teaching of Pope Benedict and the Congregation for Divine Worship, as well as the whole subject of the mutual enrichment of both uses, and contemporary scholarship.

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Nike don't do XXXL

Irish Catholics are beginning to talk about "heresy", so too are Americans. At the moment it is, in Ireland, asking if those silenced priests are actually heretical, in the USA the same question is applied to nuns. For many there is perhaps a need to define a "heretic". In order to do that one has to define what Catholicism is. It has perhaps come as bit of shock for many that Catholicism has a particular content, and that people might actually be problematic if they don't actually believe it. That was really my complaint about the wishy-washiness of the Faith Cards.

For a generation or two "being Catholic" has been something about "self definition", amounting to "I am a Catholic, because that is what I choose to identify myself as", it fits well with a consumerist culture, where wearing a particular label, is a "choice"; a little like the obese couch potato, identifies himself with a healthy lifestyle by wearing a brand of sports clothing (but Nike don't do XXXL). The culture of the Church is different from the secularist consumerist world, the words of Christ in the Gospel are not about our choice but his, "You did not choose me but I chose you ...".

The reports from Ireland, but it could be from elsewhere in the world, including England and Wales, that most people do not actually believe what the Church teaches should not be a shock to anyone. We have been so concerned that people should identify themselves with belonging to the "Catholic brand", which is no more than a form of "tribalism" rather than bothering to evaluate the quality or content of that belonging.

When Liturgy and Catechises are subjective, a matter of personal tastes, likes or dislikes, certainly when bishops and clergy take on "on-judgementalism" as a virtue, then being a Catholic is whatever one likes it to mean. No wonder the idea not only of a teaching Church is shocking but so too is a Christian life that is about more than niceness and tolerance but is actually about a radical difference in choices and living.

The John 15:16 quote, "You did not choose me but chose you" ends, "so that you may bear fruit, fruit that will last". The lack of fruitfulness is seen simply in the fact that "Catholics" do not believe, empty churches, seminaries, convents and empty heads testify to this.

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First Blessings

 Father James Bradley

Father Daniel Lloyd

These are the two priests ordained for the Ordinariate this morning at St Patrick's Soho.

Thanks to Andrew for the pictures.

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James and Daniel to be ordained today

James Bradley here last year
Say a prayer for James Bradley & Daniel Lloyd who are going to be ordained to the priesthood at St Patrick's Soho today Saturday 21st Apr at 10:00 am.
They are first transitional deacons who haven't been ordained priest in the Anglican Communion to be ordained as members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, so today marks an important step in the maturation of the Ordinariate.
I was hoping to have been in choro myself but I made a bit of a muck up of my diary.

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