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SPECIAL EDITION SUMMER 2017

Dealing frankly with a messy pontificate, without going off the rails

No accidents: why Vatican II happened the way it did, and who’s to blame

Losing two under- appreciated traditionalists

Bishops on immigration: why can’t we call them what they are?

$8.00 Publisher’s Note

The nasty personal remarks about Cardinal Burke in a new Editorial Office: book by a key papal advisor, Cardinal Maradiaga, follow a pattern PO Box 1209 of other taunts and putdowns of a sitting cardinal by significant Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877 cardinals like Wuerl and even Ouellette, who know that under [email protected] Francis, foot-kissing is the norm. And everybody half- Your tax-deductible donations for the continu- alert knows that Burke is headed for Church oblivion—which ation of this magazine in print may be sent to is precisely what Wuerl threatened a couple of years ago when Media Apostolate at this address. he opined that “disloyal” cardinals can lose their red hats. This magazine exists to spotlight problems like this in the Publisher/Editor: Church using the print medium of communication. We also Roger A. McCaffrey hope to present solutions, or at least cogent analysis, based upon traditional Catholic teaching and practice. Hence the stress in Associate Editors: these pages on: Priscilla Smith McCaffrey • New papal blurtations, Church interference in politics, Steven Terenzio and novel practices unheard-of in Church history Original logo for The Traditionalist created by • Traditional Catholic life and beliefs, independent of AdServices of Hollywood, Florida. who is challenging these Can you help us with a ? The magazine’s cover price Special thanks to: rorate-caeli.blogspot.com and lifesitenews.com is $8. You’re probably receiving it free, and we’re a non-profit, seeking to spread the word not just about the difficulties of pres- CONTRIBUTORS ent-day Church life, but the beauty of Catholic living. With your help, we’ll be able to distribute the magazine far and wide, to Stuart Chessman simple faithful and to leading Church figures as well. A return Rev. Richard Cipolla envelope is provided for your convenience. With thanks, in Christ, Maureen Mullarkey Thomas E. Woods George Neumayr Rev. Richard Munkelt

Roger A. McCaffrey Tune in to Catholic Homeschool Radio P.S. My own personal opinion is that , in due course and probably soon, will convoke, not a consistory of cardinals and Podcast in which he will resign, but a consistory to announce a Third Fresh and cheerful perspective Vatican Council. Help us to keep going, then, if only so you can from Catholic homeschooling read the best future reporting on that event! veterans and teachers who advocate a guilt-free approach to your efforts. BooksForCatholics.com click the icon on the homepage!

© 2016, Catholic Media Apostolate. ISSN 2152-8748 contents

3 Blurred Lines by 9 The Death of Political 33 Farewell to A Friend Rev. james kalb Making sense of a Correctness, by Robert L. Richard Munkelt mourns the loss of strange pope’s odd behavior. Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, pastor of souls, Phillips. The ex-University of Connecticut Christian gentleman, activist, philosopher tells us the meaning of President 6 An Interview with George advocate for the unborn. And friend to Trump’s election. Coming on the heels of The many and leading Churchmen. Neumayr. His new book has been all Donald’s pullout from the Paris Accords, but blacklisted by conservative Catholic wethinks Phillips is on to something. 36 The Third Rail? By Priscilla outlets, but The Political Pope is the Smith McCaffrey, homeschool mom most searching examination of Pope 11 Helmut Ruckriegel, RIP. and traditionalist, who sees tensions Francis’s revolutionary mindset. Who was Dr. Ruckriegel? Somebody among practicing Catholics along important, Martin Mosebach explains. liturgical lines, but who also sees a His entire life was an example for any way around them. A way to co-exist, Catholic man looking for a model. without surrendering opinions.

13 Cardinal Sarah’s Gauntlet 40 The Tribulation of a The for Divine Worship has annoyed Lefebvrist , by Thomas Pope Francis enough to cause two public Molnar. The late man of letters chronicles wrist-slaps by the Pontiff—one of them a the testing of Dom Gerard, founder of last-minute cancellation of a key speech the Monastery of in . in . Here’s probably why.

Donations & Will Bequests Your financial support and Will bequests to Catholic Media Apos- 22 Understanding the tolate, publishers of this journal of Vatican II. Historian H.J.A. 48 Reverence Is Not Enough and parent non-profit of Roman Sire’s impressive crystallization of the by Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D. problem with John XXIII and Paul VI. Wyoming Catholic College professor– Catholic Books publishers, will author examines the “role”—but mean a lot as we navigate the 30 Faustina Critic. Maureen says it’s much more than that—of choppy waters set in motion over Mullarkey takes another look at the tradition itself in worship. the last several years. For informa- manner in which the Polish ’s cause 58 Catholic Playing tion, please write us at our Edito- for was promoted and sees Politics by Joseph D’Agostino. rial Office, P.O. Box 1209, Ridge- reason to ask why it happened, given that Why pious words cannot cover for crass field, Connecticut 06877, or email the Church under Pius XII did everything politics, when it comes to immigration. same at [email protected]. possible to keep it from happening. America’s Catholic bishops, egged on by Rome, are nothing less than leftist radicals. Thank you very much!

Cover Photo: Cardinal Ratzinger at , , Seminary of the Fraternity of St. Peter. Photo: Gary Fuchs Photography 1 “What does Retail $30 Buchanan think?” Your price $12 —RichaRd M. nixon That phrase, “heard over and over again,” according to President Nixon’s Buchanan lays it all out in his newest personal aide, Dwight Chapin, reflected Nixon’s constant interest in the book, his first account of those years input of his 30-year-old conservative Catholic aide, Patrick J. Buchanan. at the pinnacle of power. President Hired as the first staffer to help candidate Nixon wade through choppy Nixon took young Buchanan on all political waters—then kept on as the go-to Nixon White House strategist key trips, e.g. to China and Russia and major speechwriter—Buchanan helped guide Nixon to two major for summits, and relied upon the victories. Part of his plan was factoring the interests of Catholics, and Catholic phenom for advice on other Christians, into the calculus. everything from leftist media deception to Watergate to building Buchanan has waited 45 years to reveal the inner workings of the Nixon his blue collar election coalition. White House and describe the battles and strategies that show the author, In over 400 pages, with many rare to this day, the premier political analyst in the country. So it’s no surprise photos from Buchanan’s private that his tale contains scores and scores of lessons in politics and strategy stock, interested Catholics and for conservative Christians confronting a moral revolution today— conservatives can learn more about lessons, too, for President Trump and his Christian allies. For instance: modern politics, not to mention How an indifferent Nixon took the right side on abortion (with the the Nixon years, than in any college author’s help) ◆ Pat’s case for unity of GOP factions—Christians course. “After one meeting,” wrote included, and never more imperative than now, with a new Buchanan in a 1972 memo, Nixon president not unlike Nixon ◆ Why the left often succeeds (and the “clapped [me] on the shoulder right could too) with one basic asset that never seems to desert saying, ‘Pat, we’ve had some good them ◆ How to divide the Party of abortion ◆ Long excerpts from battles together, haven’t we?’” The Buchanan memos to President Nixon on dealing with the news mature master-politician and young media and the organized Left—still ringing true today, more than Catholic thinker-strategist were a ever ◆ Interactions with leading Churchmen of the day unique combination.

“ is the most influential public intellectual in the United States today.” —David Brooks, New York Times and National Public Radio

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Blurred Lines

hat’s with Pope a series of makeshift arrangements, or By James Kalb Francis? What simply the rule of force. has been his So the current approach, geared effect on the toward efficiency and stability, appears C hu rch? To inevitable to our rulers. Even so, it’s understand the situation we need to radically defective. It treats man as Wlook at secular culture, the state of the a neutral component of an economic Church, and Francis himself. machine, ignoring both his contrari- Public culture today is atheistic. It ness and his nature as rational, social, excludes God, , and higher goods; bases morality on individual preferences; and views reason as a way of simply fitting means to ends. In this culture the goal of morality and poli- Nonetheless, many in the tics is a universal social order designed to provide people with whatever they Church would rather go want as much and as equally as pos- with the flow of secular sible, in a manner that is consistent with the efficiency and stability of the universalism. It makes system. The people who run things today their lives easier, since it accept that ideal, at least implicitly. It justifies their power and actions, since requires no thought. they claim to have the expertise needed to run a system that benefits everyone, and efficiency and stability can justify and spiritual. Its rejection of human almost anything they might want to nature will eventually destroy it, just do. And this fits the way global mar- as the rejection of human nature kets and large bureaucracies function destroyed communism, but in the and relate to one another. Also, any meantime our rulers are inflicting alternative approach would appear to enormous damage. Already they have involve imposing a specific religious or engendered cynicism and distrust; has- philosophical view on the whole world, tened the disintegration of family, com- which seems oppressive and unstable, munity, and society; and fostered the or giving up hope for a public order disappearance of truth, reason, and based on universal principles, which honor from public life. seems to imply anarchy, arbitrariness, 3 Guest Editorial

So it is supremely important today can be seen as products of the Pope’s (The Society is also an order that has for the to maintain character and conduct in office. sometimes drawn complaints regarding Her identity, independence, and coher- These have a variety of sources. a habit of concealment, a tyrannical ence, and put forward an alternative Pope Francis was formed as a understanding of authority, a weakness to secular ways and views. Now more in Latin America during the Vatican II for pursuing influence and power, and than ever She should emphasize natu- period, when the Church was breaking a willingness to blur moral lines.) ral law, eternal (not utilitarian) princi- Her connection to the old ruling classes Other sources are more strictly ples, and the human need for tradition, and seeking more popular and “pro- personal. Pope Francis doesn’t like local attachments, and a conception of conceptual thought, and is comfort- the transcendent that is fixed and con- able more with unilateral decisions, ad crete enough to be usable. Both secular hoc measures, and personal relation- human well-being and the of ships than with institutions. He likes souls require that. The abrupt and radical power and popularity, so he says con- Nonetheless, many in the Church trary things to different audiences, tell- would rather go with the flow of secu- nature of this reversal ing cloistered that gay marriage lar universalism. It makes their lives of approach and the is from the devil and asking secular easier, since it requires no thought, and journalists “who am I to judge?” He the world—including many articulate unprincipled and high- frequently makes use of indirection, and well-placed churchmen—thinks and projects a sense that everything is opposition to this foundational view- handed manner in which in process, so nothing can be pinned point is not only illiberal but bigoted down. He feels free to “make a mess,” and therefore un-Christian. And in it is being carried out because of his confidence that “time any event Catholic resistance to secu- can be seen as products is greater than space,” and “unity pre- lar trends has been radically weakened vails over conflict”—phrases that imply since the by of the Pope’s character confidence that, in the end, confusions a one-sided emphasis on cooperation sort themselves out. with secular initiatives. and conduct in office. He is guided by his sense of the sit- The last two popes tried to restore uation, a sense largely based on per- balance to some degree, but when Fran- sonal experience. That very personal cis became pope that approach gave way approach likely explains why he was to an acceleration of post-Vatican II gressive” alignments. He has been sym- such a hands-on in Buenos disintegration. That turn of events had pathetic to Peronism, a complex and Aires, where he was born and which a variety of causes. One is the power idiosyncratic movement that stressed he never wanted to leave, and why he of secular trends within the Church. nationalism, charismatic leadership, concentrated his efforts on a few neigh- Another is the thorough mediocrity justice for the people, and cooperation borhoods there and rarely visited oth- of an institution that has lost its sense among social groupings including the ers. This approach also seems related of distinctiveness and mission. Still Church. He acted as spiritual advisor to his attachment to popular piety and another is that the Church is a geron- to one of their youth movements, and devotions, and—since he has little sense toracy in which today’s elders were seems to retain an attachment to the of the limits of personal impressions formed during the period shortly after myth of the inspired leader who speaks as a guide—his habit of speaking out the council and are still attached to the directly for the people and follows his on matters such as world affairs and causes they have pursued throughout inner voice rather than settled prin- environmental science, about which their careers. ciple or structure. And he is a Jesuit, he knows very little. Even so, the abrupt and radical and thus a member of a religious order Pope Francis seems to believe that nature of this reversal of approach that stresses intense formation designed how things are is simply how they and the unprincipled and high-handed to develop individual seem to him, at least upon reflection. manner in which it is being carried out rather than following external rules. His subjectivism sometimes goes to

4 ■ the traditionalist Blurred Lines ■ by James Kalb extremes, leading him and his support- the image of the joyous, compassionate, Church as a field hospital, apparently ers to identify his sense of fitness, when and nonjudgmental spiritual leader. meaning a place of continuing emer- it demands something questionable, Meanwhile, behind the scenes, he gets gency where decisions need to be made with the movements of the . his way through manipulation, bully- on the spot. So he also emphasizes the So he finds it only natural to tell peo- ing, and obfuscation. devolution of responsibility from Rome ple what to do and think, denouncing Not surprisingly, the results have to the bishops. churchmen as pharisaical “doctors of been bad. Those who chose him hoped The result has been fragmentation, the law” when they follow established he would reform the Roman . He with cardinals and national churches principles and his immediate prede- and his coworkers seem to have gotten taking opposite positions on important cessors on questions of rid of outright financial corruption, but issues previously viewed as settled, and discipline, and also to resist them when his habits of solitary decision-making a further loss of the Church’s ability to they try to restrict what he does and and ignoring structures make him a offer the world and Her members a dis- abuse rather than engage them when poor choice as a reformer. He’s reshuf- tinctive and way of life. That loss they stand in his way. has been exacerbated by closer alliances The result is a great deal of arbitrari- with secular causes such as environ- ness and sometimes vindictiveness. As a mentalism and political progressivism young man, he worked in a chemical lab- in general. for a woman he admired, a com- Blurring disciplinary Blurring disciplinary and doctrinal munist later murdered by the Argentine lines and growing alliance with secular military. Since then he has had warm and doctrinal lines and causes leaves the Church ever more at feelings toward communists. He has all growing alliance with the mercy of prevailing winds. So it is but destroyed the somewhat traditional- no surprise that the Pope whose ges- ist Franciscan of the Immaculate secular causes leaves the tures of humility and compassion are on flimsy grounds, possibly—nobody televised globally, and who speaks of is sure—because they crossed him in Church ever more at the “going out to the peripheries” and “a Buenos Aires on a matter related to his poor Church for the poor,” is a favorite dislike of the old . On the mercy of prevailing winds. among people who care very little about other hand, he got along well there with Catholicism but a great deal about run- the deeply traditionalist Society of Saint ning the world. He’s no threat to them Pius X, so he does favors for them, and fled some agencies, but has apparently and seems eager to cooperate. apparently intends to offer them a per- been concerned less with principled Things are not going well in the sonal prelature in the Church. changes than with promoting support- Church Universal, at least from an I should add that he is energetic, ers, some of doubtful character, and get- institutional standpoint. Much else is enterprising, devoted to his work, said ting rid of people who stand in his way. going on, though, and messes do get to be deeply pious in many ways, and His goals in the Church at large are sorted out eventually. The Church’s known for his austere way of living unclear in detail, but evidently include constitution and message have repeat- and loyalty to those he has befriended. looser discipline and less clarity on doc- edly brought Her back from near Also, many people find him magnetic, trine, especially with regard to family destruction, and She has Christ’s prom- perhaps because of the force and con- life. That seems the practical import of ise that in the end She will prevail. We fidence of his personal vision and its his constant talk about mercy. In his need to admit, though, for the sake of coherence with aspirations. exhortation , for example, clearheadedness, that to all appearances So the Catholic Church is now he seems to maintain the Church’s doc- Pope Francis has been disastrously bad headed by a man concerned more with trine on the indissolubility of marriage for the Church, and therefore the world. particular goals that appeal to him but includes an ambiguous footnote that personally than with , insti- a number of bishops, cardinals, and close tutions, or order. To his followers he collaborators openly interpret to permit James Kalb writes for Crisis Magazine promises long hoped for changes in the ignoring the when administer- and Chronicles of Culture. Reprinted Church, while to the public he presents ing the . He speaks of the with permission of the latter.

summer 2017 ■ 5 Q & A An Interview with George Neumayr, Author of The Political Pope

1 Peter 5 kindly permits us to run months of his pontificate, engage in their website interview with former non-stop left-wing babble, it reminded Catholic World Report editor George me of all the nonsense that I heard as Neumayr, whose critique of Pope Fran- a student from similar “progressive” cis has met with odd silence on the Cath- Jesuits. The program of Francis was so olic Right in the USA. But the book, obviously set to promote political liber- we suspect, has been noted and read alism while downplaying doctrine; that in Rome. was the formula of trendy and empty Maike Hickson: What inspired you Catholicism that I saw on display at to write a book on Pope Francis? the Jesuit University of San Francisco. George Neumayr: From the first MH: What approach did you take in moment I saw him, I knew that he was order to be able to make a proportion- going to be a Modernist wrecking ball, ate characterization of Pope Francis as and he struck me from the beginning as pope in his actions and words? the prototypical “progressive” Jesuit. I GN: I went back and looked at his knew it was an extremely bad sign that time at Buenos Aires, Argentina, at his the Church would name the first Jesuit formation in the Jesuit Order, I read all pope at the very moment the Jesuit of his available speeches and writings Order was in its most corrupt and het- – when he was a bishop, before he was MH: How do you describe in your erodox condition. I knew it was going pope; I read all the existing biographies book the political worldview of Pope to be a distressingly historic pontificate, about him; I talked to Latin American Francis? In which fields of politics does and from the first moment of Francis’ priests, I talked to Jesuits, I talked to he show his left-leaning tendencies? papacy I began thinking that his pon- Vatican , I talked to Catholic GN: Pope Francis is a product of tificate would be a good subject for a activists and Catholic academics and political leftism and theological Mod- book. As it unfolded, it became clearer lawyers. Given the sensitivity of ernism. His mind has been shaped by and clearer that someone needed to the topic, most of the people were only all of the post-enlightenment heresies chronicle this consequentially chaotic willing to speak anonymously with me. and ideologies from Marx to Freud pontificate. I tried to look at all the salient news to Darwin. He is the realization of MH: You studied at the Jesuit Uni- items that relate to Bergoglio, before Cardinal Carlo Martini’s vision of a versity of San Francisco. What was he was pope and when he was pope. Modernist Church that conforms to your first response when you saw and MH: What is the main conclusion the heresies of the Enlightenment. On heard Pope Francis, the first Jesuit Pope of your research? almost all intellectual fronts, Francis in the Church’s history? GN: The undeniable conclusion is is a follower of the Modernist school. GN: Having gone to a Jesuit univer- that the Catholic Church is suffering He is a student of Modernist Biblical sity, I am very familiar with the flakes under a bad pope and that the cardinals Scholarship, which can be seen in his and frauds that populate that order. address this crisis. ludicrous interpretation of certain pas- When I heard the pope, in the first few sages from the : such as the time 6 An Interview with George Neumayr when he described the of the supports Marxist or revolutionary government, for the redistribution of multiplication of the loaves and fishes movements? wealth by central planners. The pope as a metaphor and not a miracle. On GN: I document in the book all is pandering to the willfulness inher- more than one occasion, he said that it of the liberation theologians whom ent in liberalism which takes both the was not a miracle but a lesson in shar- Pope Francis has rehabilitated. Leon- form of moral relativism and a form ing: “This is the miracle: rather than a ardo Boff is at the top of the list. He is of a “virtue signaling” socialism. He multiplication it is a sharing, inspired an openly Socialist priest who left the gratifies the liberals’ egos by offering by faith and . Everyone eats and priesthood but who is now in the good them a pontificate of “virtue signaling” some is left over: it is the sign of , graces of the Vatican so much so that without any teaching of actual virtue. the Bread of God for humanity.” he was a counselor to the papal encyc- In other words, liberals like to appear MH: Do you think that Pope Fran- lical Laudato si. He also reinstated to good but not be good. And a pontifi- cis, in his more political statements, the priesthood the Communist priest cate which combines political liberal- misuses his office as Head of the Cath- Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann from Nic- ism with moral or doctrinal relativism olic Church? aragua who is still in touch with Presi- agrees with their self-indulgent politics. GN: Yes, this pontificate is a blatant They also like a dash of non-threaten- example of out-of-control clericalism. ing spirituality in their politics which Pope Francis is using the of the a Jesuit dilettante from Latin America papacy, not to present the teachings of provides them with. the Church, but, rather, to promote his He pays homage to the MH: You talk in your book also personal political agenda. about Pope Francis’ apostolic exhor- MH: Are his political statements in moral relativism and tation, Amoris Laetitia. Is this docu- line with Catholic teaching? socialism that are at the ment in line with Catholic teaching as it GN: Many of his statements are not has been always taught by the Catholic in line with the Church’s teaching, as heart of the global left. Church? I document in the book. Pope Francis GN: Amoris Laetitia is one of the is the worst teacher of the Faith in the most scandalous documents in the his- history of the Catholic Church. One tory of the Church. Pope Francis gives could not trust him to teach an ele- dent Daniel Ortega. That priest has now an obvious wink and a nod to adulter- mentary school religion class. resumed his Communist polemics. ers in footnote 329 of that document MH: When describing Pope Fran- MH: How would you describe Pope (“In such situations, many [divorced cis as a more left-leaning man, could Francis’ moral teaching in relation with and “remarried”] people, knowing and you give us evidence for that? Which his political teaching? Is there a par- accepting the possibility of living ‘as Marxist authors for example did he allel between his political and moral brothers and sisters’ which the Church admire or approve of? Which political liberalism? offers them, point out that if certain figures of the left are admired by him? GN: He pays homage to the moral expressions of intimacy are lacking, GN: I speak about this at the begin- relativism and socialism that are at the it often happens that faithfulness is ning of the book. His mentor was heart of the global left. It is no coin- endangered and the good of the chil- Esther Ballestrino de Careaga who was cidence that his signature phrases dren suffers”). a very fervent Communist. Francis has have been “Who am I to judge” and In my book, I speak about the inten- acknowledged that he had teachers who “Inequality is the root of all evil.” He tional ambiguity of that document and were Communists who influenced him. is a darling of the global left because that Bruno Forte, who I point out in my book that he also he is advancing many of the items of helped to write the draft of the 2014 met with the widow of Paulo Freire, their agenda, such as climate-change Synod on the Family, had acknowl- the author of the book The Pedagogy of activism, open borders, and abolition edged the deviousness of the document the Oppressed which is a classic of the of lifetime imprisonment (a position and said that it was typical of a Jesuit; Socialist left in Latin America. still so far left that not even the U.S. and that Pope Francis himself had MH: Which practical acts as Democrats take that position). He is a told Forte at the time that, if they had pope show that Pope Francis actively spokesman for gun control, for world explicitly endorsed adultery, it would

summer 2017 ■ 7  Q & A have caused a backlash, and, so, they careerism, the third reason is that MH: So how should the Church find had to introduce this topic into the many of the bishops are cowards before its way back to a strong and healthy Synod document more subtly. the spirit of the age, and a lot of these response to any weakening and under- MH: Are there other fields of Cath- “conservatives” are Modernists in slow mining of its teaching as it has been olic teaching where you would say that motion. handed down to us from the Apostles? Pope Francis departs from orthodoxy? GN: All of the reforms can be GN: Pope Francis is subverting reduced to one reform: a return to the Church’s teaching on divorce orthodoxy and holiness. and thereby subverting teaching on MH: You are of the younger Cath- many of the Sacraments such as Mar- A lot of these olic generation, born in 1972. What riage, Penance, Holy , Holy is and was your own response to the Orders. He is subverting the Church’s “conservatives” Catholic Church as it presented itself sacramental theology. I chronicle in are Modernists in to you in the Novus Ordo Mass, but my book many of his subversions of also in the and in all the Church teaching, from his support of slow motion. other aspects of Catholic life? What the use of contraceptives with regard to went wrong and what is missing? the Zika virus, to his religious indiffer- GN: I belong to a generation of entism and his antinomianism, which MH: How is it possible that such a Catholics that asked for bread and only has become a hallmark of his pontifi- revolutionary pope could be elected as received stones. cate. Pope Francis frequently pits the head of the Catholic Church? Do you law against mercy which is the essence touch upon this matter in your book? of the antinomian heresy. GN: As I argue in the book, Pope Tune in to Catholic MH: What do you say about the Francis is the culmination of the Mod- Homeschool Radio response of the prelates of the Church, ernist movement which goes back over especially the cardinals, to some of the a hundred years. Modernism has been and Podcast problematic parts of Amoris Laetitia? gathering strength in the Church since Fresh and cheerful perspective GN: The response has been feeble. the Enlightenment, and it picked up from Catholic homeschooling Bishop is an speed in the 19th century and went veterans and teachers who outstanding exception, he has spoken into overdrive in the 20th century, pro- advocate a guilt-free approach forthrightly about the heresy at work ducing the pontificate of Pope Francis. to your efforts. within that document. ’s on Modernism MH: What should the cardinals be reads almost like a clinical description BooksForCatholics.com doing now? Are there ways for the car- of the relativistic pontificate of Fran- click the icon on the homepage! dinals to correct a pope? cis. Popes John Paul II and Benedict GN: My position is that the cardi- XVI were later speed bumps in that MH: What do you intend to effect nals should forthrightly confront the road, inasmuch as they realized that with your book, and what would you pope on this matter and make it clear the “Spirit of Vatican II” was wreaking say that we Catholic authors and jour- to him that the heterodox position havoc within the Church. But, with nalists should and could do in this cur- to which he is adhering is absolutely Francis now at the wheel, those speed rent situation of confusion in order to unacceptable. And then, if he fails to bumps have been completely disre- help the faithful? respond to the dubia, they must move garded, and he seeks to complete the GN: My hope is that a book like this to a formal correction. Modernist revolution. would contribute to the restoration of MH: What are the reasons for MH: How would you describe Mod- orthodoxy and holiness in the Church, the silence of so many prelates of the ernism, and what is fundamentally and I think it is the duty of journalists Church in the face of heterodox teach- wrong with it? to speak the truth without fear or favor. ings coming out of Rome? GN: The essence of Modernism is GN: One reason is their lack of con- the absorption of modern liberalism viction, another reason is shameful into Catholicism.

8 ■ the traditionalist The Meaning of Trump THE DEATH OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

he election of Donald back in the form of an unwillingness to Trump has profound discuss this topic. The readings, I was by Robert L. Phillips significance for Catho- repeatedly told, were “homophobic”. lics even before he takes What happens when someone is office. At least three years labeled a “Homophobe”? Essentially, ago Trump stated that “We are drown- the charge is that such a person has lost Ting in Political Correctness”. This is his reason, that he is unable to provide accurate and important. It may not be an explanation of his actions and of apparent to many, but PC has had a his point of view. Any arguments he devastating effect upon efforts to pro- might present are at best mere ratio- mulgate Catholic teachings on life, nalizations. This is obviously the death human sexuality, and the autonomy of of reason. One only has to look at the the Church to teach the nations. Espe- madness that has gripped college cam- cially at America’s universities, genu- puses in the wake of Trump’s election ine debate about these critical issues to see that rationality has largely been was effectively shelved by lazy Liberal abandoned. This did not happen over- sloganeering. The mantra “Racism, night. The extreme agitation of so many Sexism, Homophobia, Islamophobia” students and around the nation, was a ploy to shut down any kind of their highly emotional and theatrical rational dialogue between partisans of reactions, attest to a world of fantasy differing perspectives. which is a necessary consequence of the In the last decade of teaching hun- abandonment of reason. Additionally, dreds of students in courses on ethics and of much greater seriousness, is the and on political philosophy I noted a relegation of some sixty million voters drastic decline in allegiance to tradi- to the realm of the pathological. This tional cannons of reasonableness. Typ- describes America as a giant asylum ically, textbooks in such courses would whose inmates are all conservatives. have a set of readings on, for example, When FDR in 1941 propounded homosexuality, which would consist his Four Freedoms he divided them of arguments by professional philos- into two pairs: Freedom of Speech and ophers pro and con. My practice was Religion, and Freedom from Want and to present these views as clearly as I Fear. Any possibility of attaining truth could and then add my own perspec- presupposes that citizens are of suffi- tive, all the while getting the student’s cient rationality to engage their fellow varied takes. This has been standard citizens in a mutual encounter of ideas; practice in philosophy courses forever. religion is the mutually assumed guar- But latterly I began to encounter push antee that there IS an objective order 9 The Meaning of Trump of truth. But since 1941 both of these Unfortunately, the Trump admin- themselves Christian were eager to do. freedoms have eroded beyond recogni- istration will be no help on the same We are all familiar with the cases of tion. Freedom of speech is under attack sex marriage front as the President bakers, florists, hoteliers, landlords and as “the rationalization of white privi- elect has described the Supreme Court many others who were heavily fined lege” and religion in America would decision as “settled law”. However, with and lost their businesses over a refusal be unrecognizable to a denizen of the the demise of PC it is now possible to compromise their Christian princi- 1940’s. to publicly state that the preponder- ples. This will no longer happen. Nor Trump’s declaration of war against ance of Classical and Christian Nat- will Catholic agencies be required to PC means that the liberal mantra men- ural Law arguments may once again furnish funding for the sexual perver- tioned above is now just noise—we no be a robust contribution to the public sion called contraception. longer have to listen to it and we no debate. As with so-called transgender The news is especially encouraging longer have to fear it. This a tremen- persons, those struggling with same with respect to pro-life issues. During dous start as a good part of the terror- sex attraction need help—their bodily the debates, Trump denounced par- ism of PC was its enforcement by the nature ordains them in one direction tial birth abortion and has elsewhere courts and the Obama Department of and their psyches in the opposite direc- described himself as pro-life, although Justice. One especially telling exam- this was not always his position. Over- ple of totalitarian over-reach is the turning Roe v Wade is a long shot and Obama DOJ transgender rulings. In will depend upon Scalia-like choices the North Carolina case the DOJ ruled for the Supreme Court, but state legis- that requiring students to use facilities We are now freed from the latures are already nibbling away at per- corresponding to their bodily nature missive abortion laws as just yesterday was a violation of Title IX which pro- great silence imposed upon in Ohio with the “heart beat” statute. hibits discrimination on the basis of us through fear of PC. Certain throw away lines such as sex. What is really pernicious about Trump’s comment that he would have this is not the fear that male predators preferred to be Time magazine’s “Man claiming to be women would invade of the Year” as opposed to “Person”, private spaces reserved for females tion. This disjunction is deeply disor- and his remark last year that it’s OK (although that is a worry). What was dered and cannot be papered over with to say “Merry ”, continue to never mentioned was the outrageous cheerleading mantras like “Love makes hearten enemies of PC. draconian fiat that gender theory is true a family”. The full range of Catholic With the power of sixty million and that its truth is the law. In fact, gen- thought, philosophical and scriptural, votes behind us, we should feel a great der theory is extremely controversial needs to bear upon this problem as well sense of liberation from the oppressive in philosophy and in the mental and as those sacramental balms of mercy totalitarian linguistic prohibitions of physical disciplines of medical science. available to all who are afflicted. Once the left which with the backing of the Certainly, the Church has many times again, the key point is that we are now whole legal system exiled conservative explicitly rejected it. A man who thinks freed from the great silence imposed Christian thought to the realm of the he is a woman is suffering a severe alien- upon us through fear of PC. irrational for so many years. ation from his body that no amount of We may also expect the Trump hormone therapy and re-constructive regime to restore freedom of religion. surgery can overcome. Such a person Freedom of religion for the Obama/ Robert Phillips is Professor Emeritus needs help, not encouragement from Clinton regime meant simply freedom in Philosophy at the University of the DOJ. Currently some dozen states of worship. As long as we remained Connecticut. Dr. Phillips can be are suing the DOJ over this matter. within the four walls of our church reached at: [email protected] We can now be quite certain that the building, we were free to believe what Trump DOJ will most definitely not we liked. But there was no place for us enforce transgender regulations forced in the public square except to affirm the upon the states by Obama. evils of “Racism, Sexism, Homopho- bia, etc”, which many groups calling

10 ■ the traditionalist Fr. Paul Scalia

Heart and Soul

Helmut Rückriegel, RIP

A friend asked me for the contact infor- Obituary for Helmut Rückriegel, by Stuart Chessman and mation of Helmut Rückriegel; I soon Martin Mosebach his Society of St. Hugh found to my great sorrow and surprise An extraordinary man has left the that he had died on January 25 of this earth. Standing at the grave of Helmut of Cluny blog alerted year! I unfortunately only had a few Rückriegel his friends conceive the the traditionalist world occasions to meet Ambassador Rück- whole truth of the discernment that to the loss of a noble riegel. He would visit New York where with the death of a man there is a whole Catholic last year. his son lived. I would meet him in a world that perishes. What pertains to restaurant in the company of his friend everyone is most evident for such an Arkady Nebolsine. Helmut Rückriegel overabundant nature as it was with was a true Christian gentleman. A man our deceased friend Helmut. He was of great culture, he had represented his allowed to live a long life, and, we can country in various assignments – nota- say, to live in mindfulness and inten- bly in Israel and Thailand. Possessed of sity. He finished the wine of life com- a keen intelligence and a great sense of pletely and entirely, including even the the real, he had the ability to understand very last and then most bitter drops. and appreciate the merits of other peo- Furthermore it was granted to him to ples and cultures without falling into maintain his entire strength of mind the servile obsequiousness so typical of until his last moment; in complete the West and particularly of Germany alertness he witnessed his time and all today. Devoted to the Church and to its phenomena until the last moment. the Traditional mass, he was utterly without the “churchy” Catholic’s cant and fawning airs. Ambassador Rück- riegel had put his practical talents to use in promoting the Traditional Latin Mass – he held a leading role for years in the Federation. To me he seemed a reminder of a bygone age, of the former greatness of German culture – which in its great days had sought to comprehend and embrace all the cul- tures of the world. I regret so much that through my own fault I had not had the chance to get to know him better! Martin Mosebach has written the following obituary. 11 Heart and Soul

His participation in the world was insa- it was in this awareness that Helmut of Carl Schmitt. From his universal cul- tiable; he was a pious Christian – the created his garden. The experiences ture, from his enthusiasm for the mas- archaic term ‘piety’ in its comprehen- of this great connoisseur of the art of terworks of language, from his detailed sive meaning like the antiquity knew living had made him learn, no less clear knowledge of history and the cultures it – was fitting for him. A life in the than Voltaire’s Candide, that the earth of the world Helmut Rückriegel was presence of the and a joy- is not a peaceful place, not a paradise. convinced that the Roman Church was ful discovering of this supernatural in As a pupil and young man during – by its cult which has been transmit- the inexhaustible statures of the created the years of Nazism he thanked his ted from the late antiquity – a melting world – but without suppressing the teachers for the discernment that Ger- pot of all beauty and holiness that is reality of the mortality of all life on many was ruled by criminals; in these possible on earth. In a decades-long earth, he lived as if there was no death. years he also experienced the Catholic friendship with Josef Ratzinger, Pope Until his painful last sickbed he was Church as a place of resistance against Benedict XVI, he helped to ensure that seized with the fascination of languages the despotism. As a diplomat he trav- the Church did not completely aban- – recently he started to learn Turkish, a elled widely; but his most important don this treasure that belongs not to language that is extremely far from all her alone, but to the whole mankind. Indo-Germanic familiarity – joyfully Helmut Rückriegel the diplomat entering into a totally different kind must occasionally have been rather of thinking and feeling. I always won- undiplomatic – he was full of passion, dered why he, whose sense of language As a diplomat he travelled a battler who did not spare himself and was infallible, did not write himself. his adversaries. A man made for being But in return his sentiment for the great widely; but his most happy – but still often enough desper- German poetry was so profound that important positions ate of the vainness of all struggles of the verses of Goethe and the Roman- the best, putting up resistance against tics, of Hölderlin and Stefan George for him were in New the spirit of the times. The old Helmut constituted deeply and totally his inner Rückriegel did not become wise of age life. He was the and reciter that York and Israel. – a wonderful trait he had and that con- poets desired, drawing from a great joined him with his younger friends. A pool effortlessly the most remote lyric consistent one, also in his matrimony creations to engender an awakening to positions for him were in New York and that lasted nearly fifty years: after his melody and life. Israel – in the Holy Land, this small rich life that she shared for so long with His artist’s nature became appar- spot of earth, where also in his life all him, Brigitte Rückriegel accompanied ent in the invention of his garden that spiritual and demonic forces that agi- him faithfully unto death – for this long he created in Niedergründau, the vil- tate us as well today, collide; there he companionship and the synergy during lage where he came from, after the found the proximity of the truth of his the working years in many positions end of his working life: he cultivated faith, especially there, where it seemed she is, as she told me, profoundly grate- rambler roses, growing into the old, to be completely unreachable. And very ful, and Helmut’s friends have today to partly withered apple trees high as a early he discovered for him the obli- be grateful to her for all that she did house, to create real snow avalanches of gation to serve the Roman Catholic for him, especially during the dark- white blossoms; in May and June they Church, his mother, for whom he saw some days. were phantasmagorias of surreal, sheer himself as a faithful son, in her great The cosmopolitan German patriot beauty. Here, the gardener who planted crisis in which she had fallen after the Helmut Rückriegel embodied the best hundreds of sumptuous roses, turned Second Vatican Council. Helmut Rück- aspects of Germany; to have known into a wizard. ‘Il faut cultiver son jar- riegel, who loved the oriental Churches, him is for me and certainly for many din.’ are the last words of Candide, Vol- especially the Orthodox, the friend of others an infinite well of encourage- taire’s wicked satire in which the hero, many Jews, who – together with his ment and hope. after having undergone the horrors of friend, the great Annemarie Schimmel, a world falling to pieces, is forming admired the Sufism; he was a Catholic, the conclusion of his experiences. And as ‘the tree is green’ to say it with a word

12 ■ the traditionalist Orthodoxy & Spirituality

Cardinal Sarah’s Gauntlet Address on the 10th Anniversary of “”

irst of all I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart the organiz- ers of the Colloquium entitled “The Source of the Future” on the Although sound, the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Summorum speech — hailed in May Pontificum by Pope Benedict XVI, in Herzogenrath, for allowing me to offer an introduction to your reflections on this subject, which is by ex-Pope Benedict so important for the life of the Church and, more particularly, for the future — will be viewed as Fof the Liturgy; I do so with great joy. I would like to greet very cordially all the a direct challenge by participants in this Colloquium, particularly the members of the following Pope Francis. Therein associations whose names are mentioned on the invitation that you so kindly sent me, and I hope that I do not forget any: Una Voce Germany; The Catholic lies its importance. Circle of the Priests and of the Archdioceses of Hamburg and Cologne; The Cardinal Newman Association; the Network of the priests of Saint Ger- trude in Herzogenrath. As I wrote to the Rev. Father Guido Rodheudt, The exclusive English translation, pastor of Saint Gertrude Parish in Herzogenrath, I am very sorry that I had to by J. Miller, of the forgo participating in your Colloquium because of obligations that came up message sent by the Prefect of unexpectedly and were added to a schedule that was already very busy. Never- the Congregation for Divine theless, be assured that I will be among you through prayer: it will accompany Worship to the Colloquium “The you every day, and of course you will all be present at the of the daily Source of the Future” this spring. Holy Mass that I will celebrate during the four days of your Colloquium, from March 29 to April 1. I will therefore start off your proceedings to the best of my ability with a brief reflection on the way that the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum should be applied in unity and peace. As you know, what was called “the ” in the early twenti- eth century was the intention of Pope Saint Pius X, expressed in another Motu Proprio entitled Tra le sollicitudini (1903), to restore the liturgy so as to make its treasures more accessible, so that it might also become again the source of authentically Christian life. Hence the definition of the liturgy as “summit and source of the life and mission of the Church” found in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican Council II (see n. 10). And it can never be repeated often enough that the Liturgy, as summit and source of the Church, has its foundation in Christ Himself. In fact, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole and definitive High Priest of the New and Eter- nal Covenant, since He offered Himself in sacrifice, and “by a single offering He has perfected for all time those whom He sanctifies” (cf. Heb 10:14). Thus as the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares, “It is this mystery of Christ that the Church proclaims and celebrates in her liturgy so that the faithful may live from it and bear witness to it in the world” (n. 1068). This “liturgical 13 Orthodoxy & Spirituality

movement”, one of the finest fruits of form designated “extraordinary” that than has been the case hitherto, the which was the Constitution Sacro- corresponds to the liturgy that was sacrality which attracts many people sanctum Concilium, is the context in in use before the liturgical aggiorna- to the former usage.” These then are which we ought to consider the Motu mento. Thus, presently, in the Roman the terms in which the Pope emeri- Proprio Summorum Pontificum dated or Latin , two are in force: July 7, 2007; we are happy to celebrate that of Blessed Pope Paul VI, the third this year with great joy and thanks- edition of which is dated 2002, and giving the tenth anniversary of its that of Saint Pius V, the last edition . We can say therefore of which, promulgated by Saint John In his Letter to the that the “liturgical movement” initi- XXIII, goes back to 1962. ated by Pope Saint Pius X was never In his Letter to the Bishops that Bishops that accompanied interrupted, and that it still continues accompanied the Motu Proprio, Pope the Motu Proprio, Pope in our days following the new impetus Benedict XVI clearly explained that given to it by Pope Benedict XVI. On the purpose for his decision to have Benedict XVI clearly this subject we might mention the par- the two missals coexist was not only ticular care and personal attention that to satisfy the wishes of certain groups explained the purpose he showed in celebrating the Sacred of the faithful who are attached to the Liturgy as Pope, and then the frequent liturgical forms to the Second for his decision. references in his speeches to its cen- Vatican Council, but also to allow trality in the life of the Church, and for the mutual enrichment of the finally his two Magisterial documents two forms of the same , in tus expressed his desire to re-launch and Summo- other words, not only their peaceful the “liturgical movement”. In rum Pontificum. In other words, what coexistence but also the possibility of where it has been possible to imple- is called liturgical aggiornamento1 was perfecting them by emphasizing the ment the Motu Proprio, pastors tes- in a way completed by the Motu Pro- best features that characterize them. tify to the greater fervor both in the prio Summorum Pontificum by Pope He wrote in particular that “the two faithful and in the priests, as Father Benedict XVI. What was it about? The Forms of the usage of the Roman rite Rodheudt himself can bear witness. Pope emeritus made the distinction can be mutually enriching: new They have also noted a repercussion and a positive spiritual development in the way of experiencing Eucharistic liturgies according to the Form, particularly the rediscovery of postures expressing adoration of the 2013 ia g Blessed : kneeling, genuflec- r tu

l i tion, etc., and also greater recollection

acra characterized by the sacred silence that g/S p should mark the important moments /

com of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, so k. as to allow the priests and the faith- boo e ac ful to interiorize that is being celebrated. It is true also :www.f o t that liturgical and spiritual formation o

Ph must be encouraged and promoted. between two forms of the same Roman and some of the new Prefaces can and Similarly, it will be necessary to pro- rite: a so-called “ordinary” form, should be inserted in the old .... mote a thoroughly revised pedagogy referring to the liturgical texts of the The celebration of the Mass accord- in order to get beyond an excessively as revised following the ing to the Missal of Paul VI will be formal “rubricism” in explaining the guidelines of Vatican Council II, and a able to demonstrate, more powerfully of the Tridentine Missal to those

14 ■ the traditionalist Cardinal Sarah’s Gauntlet who are not yet familiar with it, or who the of Benedict XVI, is of God and to bring about progress are only partly acquainted with it... a primarily spiritual necessity. And day by day in the Christian life of the and sometimes not impartially. To do it quite obviously concerns the two faithful (see Sacrosanctum Concilium, that, it is urgently necessary to finalize forms of the Roman rite. The partic- n. 1). Certainly, some fine initiatives a bilingual Latin- missal to ular care that should be brought to were taken along these lines. However allow for full, conscious, intimate and the liturgy, the urgency of holding it we cannot close our eyes to the disas- more fruitful participation of the lay in high esteem and working for its ter, the devastation and the schism faithful in Eucharistic celebrations. It beauty, its sacral character and keeping that the modern promoters of a liv- is also very important to emphasize the the right balance between fidelity to ing liturgy caused by remodeling the continuity between the two missals Tradition and legitimate development, Church’s liturgy according to their by appropriate liturgical catecheses.... and therefore rejecting absolutely and ideas. They forgot that the liturgical Many priests testify that this is a stimu- radically any hermeneutic of discon- act is not just a PRAYER, but also lating task, because they are conscious tinuity or rupture: these essential ele- and above all a MYSTERY in which of working for the liturgical renewal, something is accomplished for us that of contributing their own efforts to the we cannot fully understand but that “liturgical movement” that we were we must accept and receive in faith, just talking about, in other words, in love, obedience and adoring silence. reality, to this mystical and spiritual Ratzinger tirelessly And this is the real meaning of active renewal that is therefore missionary participation of the faithful. It is not in character, which was intended by repeated that the crisis that about exclusively external activity, the the Second Vatican Council, to which has shaken the Church distribution of roles or of functions Pope Francis is vigorously calling us. in the liturgy, but rather about an The liturgy must therefore always be for fifty years, chiefly intensely active receptivity: this recep- reformed so as to be more faithful to its tion is, in Christ and with Christ, the mystical essence. But most of the time, since Vatican Council humble offering of oneself in silent this “reform” that replaced the genuine prayer and a thoroughly contempla- “restoration” intended by the Second II, is connected with the tive attitude. The serious crisis of faith, Vatican Council was carried out in a crisis of the liturgy. not only at the level of the Christian superficial spirit and on the basis of faithful but also and especially among only one criterion: to suppress at all many priests and bishops, has made costs a heritage that must be perceived us incapable of understanding the as totally negative and outmoded so ments are the heart of all authentic Eucharistic liturgy as a sacrifice, as as to excavate a gulf between the time . Cardinal Joseph identical to the act performed once before and the time after the Coun- Ratzinger tirelessly repeated that the and for all by Jesus Christ, making cil. Now it is enough to pick up the crisis that has shaken the Church for present the Sacrifice of the Cross in a Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy fifty years, chiefly since Vatican Coun- non-bloody manner, throughout the again and to read it honestly, without cil II, is connected with the crisis of Church, through different ages, places, betraying its meaning, to see that the the liturgy, and therefore to the lack peoples and nations. There is often a true purpose of the Second Vatican of respect, the desacralization and the sacrilegious tendency to reduce the Council was not to start a reform that leveling of the essential elements of Holy Mass to a simple convivial meal, could become the occasion for a break divine worship. “I am convinced,” he the celebration of a profane feast, the with Tradition, but quite the contrary, writes, “that the crisis in the Church community’s celebration of itself, or to rediscover and to confirm Tradition that we are experiencing today is to a even worse, a terrible diversion from in its deepest meaning. In fact, what large extent due to the disintegration the anguish of a life that no longer has is called “the reform of the reform”, of the liturgy.”2 meaning or from the fear of meeting which perhaps ought to be called more Certainly, the Second Vatican God face to face, because His glance precisely “the mutual enrichment of Council wished to promote greater unveils and obliges us to look truly the rites”, to use an expression from active participation by the people and unflinchingly at the ugliness of

summer 2017 ■ 15 Orthodoxy & Spirituality our interior life. But the Holy Mass is II brought about a true springtime in Western culture. In 1968, the Bishop not a diversion. It is the living sacrifice the Church. Nevertheless, a growing of Metz, in France, wrote in his dioc- of Christ who died on the cross to free number of Church leaders see this esan newsletter a horrible, outrageous us from sin and death, for the purpose “springtime” as a rejection, a renun- thing that seemed like the desire for of revealing the love and the glory of ciation of her centuries-old heritage, and expression of a complete break God the Father. Many Catholics do not or even as a radical questioning of her with the Church’s past. According to know that the final purpose of every past and Tradition. Political Europe is that bishop, today we must rethink the liturgical celebration is the glory and rebuked for abandoning or denying its very concept of the salvation brought adoration of God, the salvation and Christian roots. But the first to have by Jesus Christ, because the apostolic of human beings, since Church and the Christian communi- in the liturgy “God is perfectly glori- ties in the early centuries of Christi- fied and men are sanctified”Sacro ( - anity had understood nothing of the sanctum Concilium, n. 7). Most of . Only in our era has the plan of faithful—including priests and bish- Political Europe is salvation brought by Jesus been under- ops—do not know this teaching of the stood. Here is the audacious, surpris- Council. Just as they do not know that rebuked for abandoning ing statement by the Bishop of Metz: the true worshippers of God are not or denying its Christian those who reform the liturgy accord- The transformation of the world ing to their own ideas and creativity, roots. But the first to (change of civilization) teaches and to make it something pleasing to the demands a change in the very con- world, but rather those who reform have abandoned her cept of the salvation brought by Jesus the world in depth with the Gospel so Christ; this transformation reveals to as to allow it access to a liturgy that is Christian roots and past us that the Church’s thinking about the reflection of the liturgy that is cel- is indisputably the post- God’s plan was, before the present ebrated from all eternity in the heav- change, insufficiently evangelical.... enly Jerusalem. As Benedict XVI often conciliar Catholic Church. No era has been as capable as ours of emphasized, at the root of the liturgy is understanding the evangelical ideal adoration, and therefore God. Hence it of fraternal life.3 is necessary to recognize that the seri- abandoned her Christian roots and ous, profound crisis that has affected past is indisputably the post-concil- With a vision like that, it is not sur- the liturgy and the Church itself since iar Catholic Church. Some episcopal prising that devastation, destruction the Council is due to the fact that its conferences even refuse to translate and wars have followed and persisted CENTER is no longer God and the faithfully the original Latin text of these days at the liturgical, doctrinal adoration of Him, but rather men and the Roman Missal. Some claim that and moral level, because they claim their alleged ability to “do” something each local Church can translate the that no era has been capable of under- to keep themselves busy during the Roman Missal, not according to the standing the “evangelical ideal” as Eucharistic celebrations. Even today, sacred heritage of the Church, follow- well as ours. Many refuse to face up a significant number of Church lead- ing the methods and principles indi- to the Church’s work of self-destruc- ers underestimate the serious crisis cated by , but tion through the deliberate demolition that the Church is going through: according to the fantasies, ideologies of her doctrinal, liturgical, moral and relativism in doctrinal, moral and and cultural expressions which, they pastoral foundations. While more and disciplinary teaching, grave abuses, say, can be understood and accepted more voices of high-ranking prelates the desacralization and trivialization by the people. But the people desire to stubbornly affirm obvious doctrinal, of the Sacred Liturgy, a merely social be initiated into the moral and liturgical errors that have and horizontal view of the Church’s of God. The Gospel and been condemned a hundred times mission. Many believe and declare themselves are “reinterpreted”, “con- and work to demolish the little faith loud and long that Vatican Council textualized” and adapted to decadent remaining in the , while

16 ■ the traditionalist Cardinal Sarah’s Gauntlet the bark of the Church furrows the conformity with the guidelines and and the sanctification of men in Christ stormy sea of this decadent world and principles of Liturgiam authenticam, and the of God, to which the waves crash down on the ship, so and the Congregation for Divine Wor- all other activities of the Church are di- that it is already filling with water, a ship and the Discipline of the Sacra- rected as toward their end, is achieved growing number of Church leaders ments has granted them the recognitio in the most efficacious possible way. and faithful shout: “Tout va très bien, [approval]. (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 10) Madame la Marquise!” [“Everything is Following the publication of my just fine, Milady,” the refrain of a popu- In this “face-to-face encounter” lar comic song from the 1930’s, in which with God, which the liturgy is, our the employees of a noblewoman report heart must be pure of all enmity, which to her a series of catastrophes]. But the presupposes that everyone must be reality is quite different: in fact, as Car- People have asked me respected with his own sensibility. dinal Ratzinger said: This means concretely that, although it about the “liturgy wars” must be reaffirmed that Vatican Coun- What the Popes and the Council which for decades have too cil II never asked to make tabula rasa Fathers were expecting was a new of the past and therefore to abandon Catholic unity, and instead one has often divided Catholics. the Missal said to be of Saint Pius V, encountered a dissension which—to which produced so many saints, not to use the words of Paul VI—seems to mention three such admirable priests have passed over from self-criticism book God or Nothing, people have asked as Saint John Vianney, the Curé of to self-destruction. There had been the me about the “liturgy wars” which for Ars, Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre expectation of a new enthusiasm, and decades have too often divided Cath- Pio) and Saint Josemaría Escrivá de instead too often it has ended in bore- olics. I stated that that is an aberra- Balaguer, at the same time it is essen- dom and discouragement. There had tion, because the liturgy is the field par tial to promote the liturgical renewal been the expectation of a step forward, excellence in which Catholics ought to intended by that same Council, and and instead one found oneself facing a experience unity in the truth, in faith therefore the liturgical books were progressive process of decadence that and in love, and consequently that it is updated following the Constitution to a large measure has been unfold- inconceivable to celebrate the liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, in partic- ing under the sign of a summons to a while having in one’s heart feelings of ular the Missal said to be of Blessed presumed “spirit of the Council” and fratricidal struggle and rancor. Besides, Pope Paul VI. And I added that what by so doing has actually and increas- did Jesus not speak very demanding is important above all, whether one ingly discredited it.4 words about the need to go and be rec- is celebrating in the Ordinary or the onciled with one’s before pre- Extraordinary Form, is to bring to the “No one can seriously deny the crit- senting his own sacrifice at the ? faithful something that they have a ical manifestations” and liturgy wars (See Mt 5:23-24.) right to: the beauty of the liturgy, its that Vatican Council II led to.5 Today sacrality, silence, recollection, the they have gone on to fragment and The liturgy in its turn moves the mystical dimension and adoration. demolish the sacred Missale Roma- faithful, filled with “the paschal sac- The liturgy should put us face to face num by abandoning it to experiments raments,” to be “one in holiness”6; it with God in a personal relationship in cultural diversity and compilers of prays that “they may hold fast in their of intense intimacy. It should plunge liturgical texts. Here I am happy to lives to what they have grasped by their us into the inner life of the Most Holy congratulate the tremendous, marvel- faith”; the renewal in the Eucharist of . Speaking of the usus antiquior ous work accomplished, through Vox the covenant between the Lord and (the older form of the Mass) in his Let- Clara, by the English-language Episco- man draws the faithful into the com- ter that accompanies Summorum Pon- pal Conferences, by the Spanish- and pelling love of Christ and sets them on tificum, Pope Benedict XVI said that Korean-language Episcopal Confer- fire. From the liturgy, therefore, and ences, etc., which have faithfully trans- especially from the Eucharist, as from Immediately after the Second Vatican lated the Missale Romanum in perfect a font, grace is poured forth upon us; Council it was presumed that requests

summer 2017 ■ 17 Orthodoxy & Spirituality

for the use of the 1962 Missal would be and without a contemplative spirit, among them! They have become in limited to the older generation which the liturgy will remain an occasion for a way “liturgically stateless persons”. had grown up with it, but in the mean- hateful divisions, ideological confron- The “liturgical movement”, with which time it has clearly been demonstrated tations and the public humiliation of the two forms (of the Latin rite) are that young persons too have discov- the weak by those who claim to hold associated, aims therefore to restore ered this liturgical form, felt its attrac- some authority, instead of being the to them their Heimat and thus to tion and found in it a form of encoun- place of our unity and bring them back into their common ter with the Mystery of the Most Holy in the Lord. Thus, instead of being an home, for we know very well that, in Eucharist, particularly suited to them. occasion for confronting and hating his works on sacramental theology, each other, the liturgy should bring Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, well before This is an unavoidable reality, a us all together to unity in the faith the publication of Summorum Pontif- true sign of our times. When young and to the true knowledge of the Son icum, had pointed out that the crisis people are absent from the holy Lit- of God, to mature manhood, to the in the Church and therefore the crisis urgy, we must ask ourselves: Why? We measure of the stature of the fullness of the weakening of the faith comes in must make sure that the celebrations of Christ... and, by living in the truth large measure from the way in which according to the usus recentior (the we treat the liturgy, according to the newer form of the Mass) facilitate this old adage: lex orandi, lex credendi (the encounter too, that they lead people law of faith is the law of prayer). In the on the path of the via pulchritudinis that he wrote for the French (the way of beauty) that leads through Many, many of the faithful edition of the magisterial volume by her sacred rites to the living Christ Msgr. Gamber, La réforme de la liturgie and to the work within His Church have been ill treated or romaine [English edition: The Reform today. Indeed, the Eucharist is not profoundly troubled. of the Roman Liturgy, $19.95, Books- a sort of “dinner among friends”, a ForCatholics.com], the future Pope convivial meal of the community, Benedict XVI said this, and I quote: but rather a sacred Mystery, the great Mystery of our faith, the celebration of love, we will grow into Christ so as A young priest told me recently, “What of the Redemption accomplished to be raised up in all things to Him we need today is a new liturgical move- by Our Lord Jesus Christ, the com- who is the Head (cf. Eph 4:13-15).8 ment.” This was an expression of a con- memoration of the death of Jesus on As you know, the great German lit- cern which nowadays only willfully the cross to free us from our sins. It urgist Msgr. Klaus Gamber (1919-1989) superficial minds could ignore. What is therefore appropriate to celebrate used the word Heimat to designate mattered to this priest was not win- Holy Mass with the beauty and fervor this common home or “little home- ning new, daring liberties: what lib- of the saintly Curé of Ars, of Padre land” of Catholics gathered around erty has not been arrogantly taken al- Pio or Saint Josemaría, and this is the the altar of the Holy Sacrifice. The ready? He thought that we needed a sine qua non condition for arriving sense of the sacred that imbues and new start coming from within the lit- at a liturgical reconciliation “by the irrigates the rites of the Church is the urgy, just as the liturgical movement high road”, if I may put it that way.7 I inseparable correlative of the liturgy. had intended when it was at the height vehemently refuse therefore to waste Now in recent decades, many, many of its true nature, when it was not a our time pitting one liturgy against of the faithful have been ill treated or matter of fabricating texts or invent- another, or the Missal of Saint Pius V profoundly troubled by celebrations ing actions and forms, but of redis- against that of Blessed Paul VI. Rather, marked with a superficial, devastating covering the living center, of penetrat- it is a question of entering into the subjectivism, to the point where they ing into the tissue, strictly speaking, great silence of the liturgy, by allow- did not recognize their Heimat, their of the liturgy, so that the celebration ing ourselves to be enriched by all common home, whereas the youngest thereof might proceed from its very the liturgical forms, whether they among them had never known it! How substance. The liturgical reform, in its are Latin or Eastern. Indeed, without many have tiptoed away, particularly concrete implementation, has strayed this mystical dimension of silence the least significant and the poorest ever farther from this origin. The result

18 ■ the traditionalist Cardinal Sarah’s Gauntlet

was not a revival but devastation. On of this Colloquium, and also should my knees in darkness before the Most the one hand, we have a liturgy that help to start off your reflections on “the of the Body and has degenerated into a show, in which source of the future” (“die Quelle der Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am one attempts to make religion interest- Zukunft”) of the Motu Proprio Sum- so to speak swallowed up in God and ing with the help of fashionable inno- surrounded on all sides by His pres- vations and catchy moral platitudes, ence. I would like to belong now to with short-lived successes within the God alone and to plunge into the pu- guild of liturgical craftsmen, and an rity of His Love. And yet, I can tell even more pronounced attitude of re- “In silence, a human being how poor I am, how far from loving treat from them on the part of those the Lord as He loved me to the point who seek in the liturgy not a spiritu- gains his nobility and of giving Himself up for me. (n. 54) al “emcee”, but rather an encounter his grandeur only if he is with the living God before Whom all Finally, liturgical formation based “making” becomes meaningless, since on his knees in order to on a proclamation of the faith or cat- that encounter alone is capable of giv- echesis that refers to the Catechism of ing us access to the true riches of be- hear and adore God.” the Catholic Church, which protects us ing. On the other hand, there is the from possible more-or-less learned rav- conservation of the ritual forms whose ings of some theologians who long for grandeur is always moving, but which, morum Pontificum. Indeed, allow me “novelties”. This is what I said in this taken to the extreme, manifests a stub- to communicate to you a conviction connection in what is now commonly born isolation and finally leaves noth- that I have held deeply for a long time: called, with some humor, the “London ing but sadness. Surely, between these the Roman liturgy, reconciled in its Discourse” of July 5, 2016, given during two poles there are still all the priests two forms, which is itself the “fruit of the Third International Conference of and their parishioners who celebrate a development”, as the great German Sacra Liturgia: the new liturgy with respect and so- liturgist Joseph Jungmann (1889-1975) lemnity; but they are called into ques- put it, can initiate the decisive process The liturgical formation that is pri- tion by the contradiction between the of the “liturgical movement” that so mary and essential is…one of immer- two extremes, and the lack of inter- many priests and faithful have awaited sion in the liturgy, in the deep mys- nal unity in the Church finally makes for so long. Where to begin? I take the tery of God our loving Father. It is a their fidelity appear, wrongly in many liberty of proposing to you the three question of living the liturgy in all its cases, to be merely a personal brand following paths, which I sum up in richness, so that having drunk deeply of neo-conservatism. Because that is the three letters SAF: silence-adora- from its fount we always have a thirst the situation, a new spiritual impulse tion-formation in English and French, for its delights, its order and beauty, is necessary if the liturgy is to be once and in German: SAA, Stille-Anbe- its silence and contemplation, its ex- more for us a communitarian activity tung-Ausbildung. First of all, sacred ultation and adoration, its ability to of the Church and to be delivered from silence, without which we cannot connect us intimately with He who is arbitrariness. One cannot “fabricate” a encounter God. In my book The Power at work in and through the Church’s liturgical movement of that sort—any of Silence, [La Force du silence] I write: sacred rites.9 more than one can “fabricate” a living “In silence, a human being gains his thing—but one can contribute to its nobility and his grandeur only if he is In this global context, therefore, development by striving to assimilate on his knees in order to hear and adore and in a spirit of faith and profound anew the spirit of the liturgy, and by God” (n. 66). Next, adoration; in this communion with Christ’s obedience defending publicly what one has re- regard I cite my spiritual experience in on the cross, I humbly ask you to apply ceived in this way. the same book, The Power of Silence: Summorum Pontificum very carefully; not as a negative, backward measure I think that this long citation, For my part, I know that all the great that looks toward the past, or as some- which is so accurate and clear, should moments of my day are found in the thing that builds walls and creates a be of interest to you, at the beginning incomparable hours that I spend on ghetto, but as an important and real

summer 2017 ■ 19 Orthodoxy & Spirituality contribution to the present and future Translation from the French original by 5. Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic liturgical life of the Church, and also Michael J. Miller. Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology, translated by Sister Mary Frances to the liturgical movement of our era, Endnotes: McCarthy, S.N.D. (San Francisco: Ignatius from which more and more people, and 1. “” is an Italian term that Press, 1992), 370. particularly young people, are drawing means literally: “updating”. We celebrated so many things that are true, good and the fiftieth anniversary of the Constitution 6. Cf. for the beautiful. on the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican Council and Easter Sunday. I would like to conclude this intro- II Sacrosanctum Concilium in 2013, since it was promulgated on December 4, 1963. 7. Cf. Interview with the Catholic website duction with the luminous words of Aleteia, March 4, 2015. Benedict XVI at the end of the 2. Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Mem- that he gave in 2008, on the of oirs: 1927-1977, translated by Erasmo 8. Cf. Interview with La Nef, October 2016, question 9. Saints Peter and Paul: “When the world Leiva-Merikakis (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998), 148. in all its parts has become a liturgy of 9. Cardinal : Third Interna- God, when, in its reality, it has become 3. Cited by Jean Madiran, L’hérésie du XX tional Conference of the Sacra Liturgia adoration, then it will have reached its siècle (Paris: Nouvelles Editions Latines Association, London. Speech given on July goal and will be safe and sound.” [NEL], 1968), 166. 5, 2016. See the Sacra Liturgia website: “To- wards an Authentic Implementation of Sac- I thank you for your kind attention. 4 Joseph Ratzinger and Vittorio Mes. rosanctum Concilium”, July 11, 2016. http:// And may God bless you and fill your sori, : An exclusive in- www.sacraliturgia.org/2016/07/robert-car- lives with His silent Presence! terview on the state of the Church, translated dinal-sarah-towards-authentic.html by Salvator Attanasio and Graham Harrison Robert Cardinal Sarah is Prefect of (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985), 29-30. the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

“I cannot but believe that a main unexpected thing of the future is the return of Islam.” Moslems Their beliefs, practices, and politics Thus warned Hilaire Belloc in 1936—long before the Christian West ✦ All about the (and why do permitted millions of Moslems to immigrate and proliferate, build- Church leaders apologize for them?) ing thousands of new mosques in the United States and Europe, ✦ in Arabia: once domi- including a huge one in Rome itself a few years ago. Belloc’s essay on nant, then dominated by Moham- GABRIEL OUSSANI Moslems, together with fi ve important and meaty Catholic Encyclo- AND medans (not a pleasant fate, then or HILAIRE BELLOC pedia articles by scholar Gabriel Oussani from 1908, comprise this now) valuable book from Roger A. McCaffrey Publishing. Major themes: ✦ What Mohammed actually taught. Why it’s heresy Belloc and Oussani’s writings make clear that Moslems and Christians don’t mix very ✦ What’s in the Koran? A healthy sampling Hardcover, well. The lesson: Christians need to repro- $18.80 ✦ How close the Moslems came—as recently as three centuries duce to survive. Just as important: Chris- ago—to dominating Europe by force tians cannot share political power with ✦ Mohammed’s background, lineage, wives, offspring, disciples sworn enemies without dire consequences Islam and women for their children and grandchildren. ✦ Why the Moslem military threat was so real...and then col- lapsed Belloc on the threat — in 1936 ✦ Why it’s a mistake to think Moslems can’t adapt to, and use, “Religion is at the root of all political movements and changes, and technology since we have here a very great religion physically paralyzed but ✦ The real origins and astonishingly rapid development of Islam morally intensely alive, we are in the presence of an unstable equi- ✦ Why it remains a potent religious force to this day librium....The suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic — ✦ Where Catholics and Moslems can agree doctrinally but this is only because men are always powerfully affected by the immediate past: one might say they are blinded by it....The second ✦ Islam’s corrosive effect on culture and its own people period of Islamic power may be delayed — but I doubt whether it can ✦ Paradoxically, why it enjoyed a period of high culture and be permanently postponed.” intellectual achievement

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The death of John XXIII after only but we should not read into it any auda- An excerpt from one session, which decided nothing cious grasp of novel theories. During Phoenix from the but the seizure of liberal control, has his tenure as papal in France allowed the legend of that pope to (1944–53), when the ideas of Teilhard Ashes: The Making, develop. He is seen as inspired with a de Chardin were vexing the author- Unmaking, and soaring liberalism far exceeding that of ities, Cardinal Roncalli complained Restoration of Catholic Paul VI, let alone his successors. If John to a Jesuit: “This Teilhard fellow… Tradition, by H.J.A. Sire XXIII’s spirit had prevailed, the fur- why can’t he be content with the cat- thest demands of Modernism—Marx- echism and the social doctrine of the ist theology, women priests, fusion with Church, instead of bringing up all these the Protestant churches, whatever the problems?” panegyrist favours—would now be During his time in France, Ron- reality. This idea has been a powerful calli was involved in the question of force in the fiction that John XXIII the worker priests, and his unfavour- let a charismatic inspiration into the able report on them led to their con- Church, which the Modernists are demnation by Pius XII, a judgment struggling to recover. Against that on which he himself set the seal in his myth, attempts to establish a sober esti- own pontificate; at the same time the mate of John XXIII have little chance of condemnation of Teilhard de Char- success. Cardinal Heenan wrote, “The din was confirmed, and two biblical ‘spirit of Pope John’ has become syn- scholars were suspended for Modernist onymous with laissez-faire and oppo- tendencies that would now be thought sition to law and the . This commonplace. Especially revealing was is unimaginably far removed from the Pope John’s appointment of Cardinal true spirit of the Pope John I knew. We Ottaviani in 1959 as secretary of the find out what Pope John was really like Holy Office; its meaning could only be by reading his spiritual autobiography, that the policy of doctrinal rigourism The Journal of a Soul. There could be no followed in Pius XII’s time was to be more complete refutation of the cari- continued unchanged, and contin- cature current after his death.” ued by a man who had been one of its Roncalli’s earlier career in the most bureaucratically-minded agents. Church gives no support to the idea To attribute a mould-breaking liberal- of one inspired by a radical vision. As ism (or indeed a coherent ecclesiastical a young man, he sympathised with the policy) to a pope who was capable of Angelico Press, $21.95 victims of Pope Pius X’s anti-Modernist such an appointment requires a deser- drive (though he reconciled this with tion of rational judgment that can only a deep reverence for Pius X himself ); raise a smile. 22 Understanding the Popes of Vatican II ■ by H.J.A. Sire

In fact, Pope John XXIII’s policies pope’s and his surrounding himself pontificate of the heretical directions in during his reign form a conclusive informally with the liberal leaders. which Paul VI was to lead the Church; repudiation of what the Church has To have recalled the Curia from the it was a time of real revival, in which embraced since his time. In 1962 his untypical state in which Pius XII had the pope’s personality brought many Veterum Sapien- left it did not require any exceptional to a fresh enthusiasm for the Catholic tia reaffirmed the use of Latin in the reforming instinct, let alone visionary faith. liturgy, and even obliged seminaries radicalism. The failure to do so, per- The second strand in the Modernist that had introduced the vernacular haps excusable in the first four years, myth is that John XXIII’s charismatic to restore Latin in their teaching; a was compounded, when the Council vision was constricted by the too-cau- of Latin was envisaged, met, by the failure either to make swift tious Paul VI, whose liberalism is pre- for which a new generation of scholars reform in response to opinion or to sented as more pedestrian than his pre- was to be trained. Pope John’s missal support the curial officials who came decessor’s. Peter Hebblethwaite wrote of 1962, the edition which tradition- under attack. A leader who throws his the lives of both popes1 with the idea alists now use in their attachment to subordinates to the wolves deserves of promoting that legend, and found to the Tridentine rite, was intended as a worse criticism than that of naive a definitive liturgical reform exclud- judgment. ing further change. Such details allow For the rest, the pope’s ecumenism one to suppose that, if John XXIII had can only be called a sketchy policy in been elected and called the council five which goodwill took the place of knowl- The essential point that years earlier, he would have had ample edge and practical objectives. When opportunity to show how little he was John XXIII spoke of aggiornamento, he needs to be made is a pope after the Modernists’ image. probably had in mind a return to the that the Second Vatican One may presume that he would not style of Leo XIII and Pius XI, who had have prolonged the council beyond its communicated easily with the contem- Council as we know it was second session, which would have been porary world, in preference to the tem- devoted to saving what it could from peramentally more remote Pius X and not Pope John’s council; the wreckage of the first. The voices Pius XII; he certainly did not intend the in the Church that took the council rejection of the Church’s past which it was one of entirely as ushering in a doctrinal Saturna- the Modernists attributed to the idea. different conception. lia would probably soon have felt the While it would be wrong to depict weight of the pope’s authority. John XXIII as a holy fool, one must Apart from his conservatism, observe that no more in the Church another question is John XXIII’s stat- than in civil life is a genial optimism his surprise that the opposite was true. ure as a ruler of the Church. The prem- sufficient qualification for government. His researches made him conclude that ise of the Modernists is that John XXIII Nevertheless, if John XXIII had been Paul VI “makes John XXIII look nar- was a great pope, and that assumption succeeded by a pope able to keep the row, frowsty, lacking in taste and dis- needs to be examined. The deficien- Church on its true path, his pontificate tinctly old-fashioned,” and he reports cies in his concept of the Council have would now be regarded as being fully Paul’s own estimate: “Pope John was already been mentioned, and they can within the Church’s tradition, perhaps much more conservative than I am, be backed by others. If the Council even a great one for the beginning of much more traditional.” Certainly, if opened with an explosion of hostility to a council of genuine renewal. But the we look at the opinion that Pius XII in the Curia, it was precisely because John essential point that needs to be made his lifetime had of the two, we find that had done so little to reform it in the pre- is that the Second Vatican Council as he had no fears of Cardinal Roncalli, vious four years. The appointment of we know it was not Pope John’s coun- Cardinal Ottaviani to the Holy Office cil; it was one of entirely different con- John XXIII, Pope of is only an extreme example. There is ception, which explicitly rejected the 1. Peter Hebblethwaite, the Council (London: Chapman, 1984) and a palpable incoherence between this preparation Pope John had ordered. Paul VI, The First Modern Pope (London: policy—or rather no policy—of the There was not a trace in John XXIII’s HarperCollins, 1993).

summer 2017 ■ 23 Decoding Catholic Mythology whereas he suspected Msgr. Montini conclave had been packed to elect a prominent people in Italian society, and even while he employed him and valued protégé of John XXIII’s, the outcome in 1992 he was sentenced to nineteen his service. Nothing in Roncalli’s career was substantially similar. years’ imprisonment as an accessory to as a papal diplomat or as of The other liberal candidate for the fraudulent bankruptcy in connexion Venice gave a sign of unusual vision or papacy (since a non-Italian pope was with the crash of the Banco Ambro- departure from conventional ortho- scarcely thought of ) was Cardinal Ler- siano. With this financier Cardinal Ler- doxy. As to Montini, Pius had worked caro. His emergence in that party was caro maintained close relations which closely with him during the 1930s when even the most right-wing churchman he was , and as pope might have thought unseemly. On John he appointed him one of the two prel- XXIII’s death, Lercaro began his papal ates between whom the functions of bid by publicising a medical check-up the secretary of state was divided, for In the event, the conclave arranged to dispel doubts about his Pius chose to keep that office in his own health. On June 18, the day before the hands. Msgr. Montini carried out his went according to the conclave opened, he held a meet- duties with a correctness that did not progressives’ plan. Lercaro ing in Ortolani’s house, attended by a disguise his liberal inclinations. In number of cardinals including Suen- 1954 the pope made him archbishop of dropped out after the ens of Belgium, Döpfner and Frings of , and it is said that he deliberately Germany, Liénart of France, König of refrained from granting him the car- first ballots and Cardinal , Alfrink of Holland, and Léger dinal’s hat, which conventionally went of Canada; here they concerted their with that office, to prevent him from Montini emerged as pope. support and agreed to transfer their being in the next conclave. votes to Cardinal Montini if Lercaro’s Cardinal Roncalli on the other hand candidature failed. This meeting was had formed a high opinion of Montini a recent phenomenon. In the time of in contravention of the rules of canon during his time as nuncio and found Pius XII he had given no great signs of law, which strictly forbid secret agree- in him his chief confidant on Roman singularity, apart from a tendency to ments in preparation for a conclave and affairs in his first year as archbishop self-advertisement, and had been con- declare null any compacts made in such of Venice (1953–54). When Roncalli sidered sufficiently sound to head the conditions.2 became pope, Archbishop Montini fig- important see of Bologna. In 1959, when On the conservative side, the stron- ured in his first promotion of cardinals, John XXIII made his announcement of gest candidate was Cardinal Siri, a man and John XXIII openly regarded him a council, Cardinal Lercaro’s response of authority in every sense. He had as his most fitting successor. was, “How dare he summon a council been made by Pius XII an exception- The route to that succession, once after a hundred years, and only three ally young archbishop of Genoa, and John XXIII had died, was eased by the months after his election? Pope John has only the fact that he was no more than appointments John had himself made been rash and impulsive. His inexperi- fifty-two on Pius’s death had prevented to the Sacred College. Not only had Pius ence and lack of culture brought him to him from being taken as his natural XII’s parsimony left him with many this pass, to this paradox.” The heady successor. By 1963 he was the leading vacancies to fill, but he increased them days of John XXIII’s popularity changed papabile on the conservative side; it is by discarding the traditional rule that his mind, and by 1963 his ostentatious said he was passed over after he warned kept the cardinals’ number to seventy. liberalism was earning him the disap- the cardinals that if he were elected he Thus the conclave that met to elect his proval of other Italian bishops. One of would refuse to recall the Council. If successor included forty-five out of Lercaro’s idiosyncrasies was his attach- eighty cardinals who owed their ele- ment to the banker Umberto Ortolani, vation to John XXIII. Not since the whom Hebblethwaite describes as “his 2. The meeting was disclosed in 1980 by the Renaissance had a pope succeeded in fixer, fund-raiser and homme à tout Italian minister Giulio Andreotti in A ogni morte di Papa appointing the majority of the Sacred faire.” As was disclosed in 1981, Orto- . It was confirmed by Ortolani himself in 1993 in an interview College in less than five years. While lani was a member of the Masonic lodge with the journalist A. Tornielli. See Roberto it might be too much to say that the P2, which embraced a host of the most de Mattei, op. cit., p. 293.

24 ■ the traditionalist Understanding the Popes of Vatican II ■ by H.J.A. Sire so, it was a mistake, for the suppres- of the Church, the second its function, of monologues.” Paul VI’s plan would sion of the Council would have caused including missionary needs, and the have been over-perfectionist even in a resentments in the Church that would third its relations with other churches, more balanced doctrinal setting than have eclipsed the discontents of Pius with civil society and with the Church’s existed in the 1960s. XII’s reign. In any case, as his conduct enemies. Peter Hebblethwaite writes of In January 1963 a coordinating com- under the next reign showed, Siri held it, “Montini’s letter is the single most mission, under the presidency of Car- an unduly papalist view of his duty important document for understanding dinal Suenens and with half its mem- which was not really what the Church not only the first session but the whole bers drawn from the progressive group, required, either in a pope or in a subject Vatican Council.” It is difficult to see had met and proceeded to reduce the of Paul VI. The true way ahead would why, given that its proposal was not number of schemas that the Council not have been to stifle the voice of the followed. What it shows is why Paul was to discuss from seventy to seven- Council but on the contrary to free it VI chose to depart from John XXIII’s teen, a prelude to the even more radical from the stranglehold that the Liber- reduction that the Liberated Countries ated Countries had gained over it. It were about to propose. In February a seems, however, that in 1963 no one meeting was held at Munich of the Ger- with such a grasp of things was to be man bishops, who saw themselves in found in the Sacred College. With Siri Cardinal Montini had a very strong position. Wiltgen writes excluded, the conservative candidate that they “had come to the first session was Cardinal Antoniutti, a popular been on the progressive of the council, hoping that they might diplomat of traditionalist leanings. It side in the disputes win some concessions. They returned goes without saying that he would have home, conscious that they had achieved made a better pope than Paul VI, but of the first session. complete victory.” In August they held it may be doubted whether he would a further meeting at Fulda, at which have known how to right the imbal- they were joined by other Europeans. ance of the Council, or preserve his They emerged from this with a 480- authority against the rebellion of the intention and prolong the Council page plan of campaign for the coming Modernists. In the event, the conclave through three further sessions. Their session, including the texts of substitute went according to the progressives’ subjects, however, were taken without schemas. Wiltgen comments that if the plan. Lercaro dropped out after the first plan and with a rush of undigested other episcopal conferences had worked ballots and Cardinal Montini emerged business at the end. Apart from that, equally thoroughly “they would not as pope after two days’ voting. He was the pope’s concept may be questioned have found it necessary to accept the presumably unaware that he had been in itself. The nearest parallel to his positions of the European alliance with elected by the votes of men who had programme for a council was in the so little questioning.” On the situation of violated , and whose first can- comprehensive theological schemes of the Council when it re-opened in Septem- didate was a man who had made his an Aquinas or a Suarez. It might have ber 1963 Wiltgen remarks, “With a Ger- personal ambition only too clear; but been an appropriate task, if there had man-speaking Council Father on every it is revealing of his bad judgment that been a more strategic formulation and commission, . . . with Cardinal Frings when Cardinal Lercaro approached to more time available, for the preparatory on the Council Presidency and Cardinal give his homage he greeted him with commissions to which John XXIII had Döpfner on the Coordinating Commis- the words, “It should have been you.” entrusted the Council’s discussions. sion and serving as one of the moder- Cardinal Montini had been on the The procedure of a council itself, leav- ators—no other progressive side in the disputes of the ing aside national influences and the was so well prepared to assume and first session, but his dissent from the theological limitations of many bish- maintain the leadership at the second preparatory work was in fact more fun- ops, was ill suited to a real discussion session. It was clear at this point how damental. In October 1962 he wrote a of doctrine. One may quote the remark the discussions would develop. There letter to Cardinal Cicognani putting the of a Mexican bishop who was moved would be a strong German influence case for a plan of the council in three by the debates to lament, “Alas! We are which would make itself felt in nearly sessions: the first would treat the nature the victims of an interminable flood every council decision and statement

summer 2017 ■ 25 Decoding Catholic Mythology of any importance. In every council reforming programme, would have seen to point out the gap between the Coun- commission, German and Austrian that it needed to be introduced fairly, in cil’s tactics and its claims of introducing members and periti would be highly a manner that properly represented the a regime of tolerance and benignity in articulate in presenting the conclusions Church. The threats to such balance had the Church. Tolerance, to the liberals, reached at Munich and Fulda.” been shown by the manoeuvres both meant tolerance only for themselves. The influence of the Liberated during the first session and continuing Nevertheless, such partisanship in Countries was strengthened by dras- after its closure. Was Pope Paul VI so action is not exceptional in a church tic changes that Paul VI now made naive as not to assess these, or was he council and does not in itself vitiate its in the Council’s procedure. The most so biased as to condone them because important of them was the appoint- they were his own party’s? Whatever ment of four moderators to preside over the reason, the correct, intelligent offi- the Council. These were Cardinals Ler- cial who had won golden opinions at the caro (Bologna), Suenens (Mechlin) and secretariat of state now showed a lack of Accompanying these Döpfner (Munich), who represented statesmanship even greater than John the spearhead of the progressive party, XXIII’s. Instead of restoring balance in faults is the un-Catholic together with Cardinal Agagianian, the Council, he discarded it altogether. spirit that permeated the whom Archbishop Lefebvre describes In his hesitant, fastidious way, Paul VI as “a curial cardinal without person- behaved like the crudest partisan. Second Vatican Council. ality,” and who was left isolated by the close agreement of the other three. • • • • On representative grounds alone, this choice contrasts with that of the eight The above examples of irregulari- . More peculiar to the Second presidents of the first session, who had ties in the Council are taken from R. Vatican Council were the undue influ- been a genuinely varied group, includ- M. Wiltgen’s account. They gain force ences of the periti, of national blocks in ing an American and an Australian. from the fact that the author was a sym- the council, of the world press outside The change reflects Pope Paul VI’s pathiser with the progressives’ aims, it, and of the rage of the time for an assumption that the only voice that but could not help marvelling (if not “ecumenical”—in practice a Protestant- mattered in the Council was that of rebelling) at their tactics. It should ising—policy. In the first two respects, the European liberals. The three lib- be noticed that, with one exception, the Council can be compared to that eral moderators saw no inconsistency the bias went all one way, towards the of Florence, with its preponderance of between their office and continuing to imposition of the liberal programme the lower and its organisation act in the next three sessions as open and silencing of its opponents; even the by national groups; and we may think leaders of the progressive faction. A fur- single exception, the attempt to pre- it no coincidence that that assembly ther novelty was the rule allowing five vent a chapter on the religious orders generated the heresy of conciliarism. members of a council commission to appearing in the schema on the Church, Accompanying these faults is the introduce amendments to schemas: the represented the wish of Cardinal Döpf- un-Catholic spirit that permeated the Liberated Countries had a minimum ner to force through German decisions Second Vatican Council. A striking of five members on each commission. made at Fulda. There is no counter- example of it is in the war waged by the Finally there was the decision of Paul balancing action of the other side con- progressives, in the name of ecumenism, VI to enlarge all the commissions to straining the modernisers. The first against devotion to Our Lady. The trend thirty members each. The European two sessions of the Council were dis- had set in before the Council opened, alliance drew up a list for the purpose, tinguished by the campaign to present when John XXIII visited the of and all the new appointments without the Curia as a tyrannical imposition on Loreto in October 1962 and was criti- exception were made from their list. the Church’s liberty; yet the Curia was cised for his tactless offence against the These decisions need to be judged by in fact powerless, because both John ecumenical movement. In the Council ordinary standards of good government XXIII and Paul VI left it in the lurch. itself the contamination was taken fur- in church or civil society. A prudent The only tyranny was the one exercised ther. One can trace the bitter spirit of pope, however much he believed in a by the progressives. One hardly needs the progressives in the remarks of Yves

26 ■ the traditionalist Understanding the Popes of Vatican II ■ by H.J.A. Sire

Congar, who spoke contemptuously in inside it. It did not occur to these mal- early in the first session, “I am more and private of “Mariano-Christianity” and contents that a more fruitful form of more amazed every morning at the way of “fanatical Mariologists.” In 1964, at ecumenism might be to encourage we really form a part of the council.” In the prompting of Karl Rahner, the Ger- an article in January 1964, Fr. Schille- man bishops urged the rejection of the beeckx avowed, “One is astonished to schema On the Blessed Mary, find oneself more in sympathy with the Mother of the Church, and wished to thinking of Christian, non-Catholic restrict mention of Our Lady to the The first point that invites ‘observers’ than with the views of one’s schema on the Church. These attempts own brethren on the other side of the ignored the expressions of Eastern opin- remark is the eponymous dividing line. The accusation of conniv- ion: the Eastern rite fathers urged a sepa- opening phrase, so ance with the is therefore rate schema on Our Lady on the grounds not without foundation.” The astonish- of that opinion, common to both Uni- characteristic of the ment, one must say, was all on Schille- ates and Orthodox, but they could not beeckx’s side. Describing the debates of deflect the Europeans from their bias. optimism that the Council the Council, the Anglican observer Dr. When it was proposed to include Our J. Moorman wrote, “If some Father for- Lady’s title of in the Council’s made its trademark, and got himself and said things which were texts, the progressive cardinals, includ- so ironical in the light of bound to cause a flutter in the observ- ing Léger (of Montreal), Döpfner, Bea, ers’ tribune, he was sometimes rebuked and Alfrink, led the opposition to it. An the age of dissension and by some later speaker”; and he noted unholy bargaining produced the com- that “although the observers were not promise that they would accept the use decline that it ushered in. allowed to speak in the council, their of this title on condition that the Council speeches were sometimes made for dropped the proposal to declare Mary them by one or other of the Fathers.”3 Mother of the Church. The spectacle of among Protestants a love of Our Lady. In the Council’s documents the effects a council of the Church playing politics As Protestant thinkers such as Wesley of this influence were seen concretely with the of the Virgin Mary, to win have recognised, the dogma that Mary is in the definition of the sources of Rev- the applause of heretical onlookers, is the Mother of God, which is recognised elation in a Protestantising sense and among the most offensive provided by by all the Protestant churches, precludes in the decrees on ecumenism and on the Second Vatican Council. Here again, a merely negative attitude to her place the priesthood. Pope Paul was moved to act against the in the of salvation; and in the The question of explicit heresy ascendancy he had himself set up. On Anglican churches at least there can be brought in through the council doc- November 21, 1964, he proclaimed the found a readiness to give reverence to uments will be dealt with later, in the title on his own authority, an action that the Virgin Mary which puts the baseness chapters on the priesthood and on caused Hans Küng to denounce “the of the Catholic Modernists to shame. religious freedom. Here it would be promulgation of the misleading title From the zeal for ecumenism sprang appropriate to comment on Gaudium Mater Ecclesiae against the expressed some other distortions. Nowadays, et Spes, the programmatic utterance wish of the council majority, which will when the ecumenical movement has of the Council, officially known as the arouse in non-Catholic Christendom been virtually killed off by its failures, “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in great indignation, and grave doubts as it is difficult to appreciate how strong its the Modern World.” While free of actual to the genuinely ecumenical sympa- influence was at the time, and modern heresy, this is a deplorable document. thies of the pope.” These words, with defenders of the Council try to mini- The first point that invites remark is the their assumption that non-Catholic mise it; but in the 1960s the strength eponymous opening phrase, so charac- Christendom was to be identified with of ecumenical considerations was par- teristic of the optimism that the Council Protestantism, are representative of the amount and dictated great deference made its trademark, and so ironical in progressive outlook; and the indignation to the Protestant observers. Thus, the the light of the age of dissension and attributed to those outside the Church Lutheran delegate Professor Oscar was all on the part of the Modernists Cullmann was to be found remarking 3. Davies, op. cit., pp. 115–116.

summer 2017 ■ 27 Decoding Catholic Mythology decline that it ushered in. As to the con- of the sexes. In its obsequiousness to taken from the world, and which have tent of the document, the first impres- modern mores, the constitution finds figured large in its historical campaign sion left by it is of the humanistic tone itself unable to teach that the role of par- against the Church. deliberately given by the repetition of the enthood ought to be cherished without Looking at the council documents as a adding, “though the legitimate social whole, we see the prevalence of the “only progress of women should not be under- one theological school” with which the rated on that account.” A more realistic progressives had charged the preparatory teaching would have noted that it was schemas. Although the Liberated Coun- Thus the pope who precisely the plea of the social progress tries did not get their way in everything, it of women that was undermining tra- would not be right to say that the council had proposed a serene ditional family life. As a more general documents show a balance between the reassessment of the comment, one must feel how incongru- modernising and traditional views. What ous it is to see the Council preaching we find is a text written by the progres- Church’s doctrine in fact to the modern world, at great length, sives, with an occasional bleat of caution principles which are all too obviously from the conservatives, weakening its arranged a three-year turkey shoot of curialists and traditionalists.

phrases “human race” and “human per- son.” The social teaching of the consti- tution discards that of the recent popes; in particular the doctrine of the king- ship of Christ receives no mention in it and cannot be reconciled with it. The papal condemnations of socialism are dropped, and the refusal to condemn Communist tyranny is deliberate. A “basic equality” is proclaimed, by which all forms of social difference, including apparently the traditional hierarchy of Christian society, are condemned as “contrary to God’s intent.” The docu- ment is pervaded by modern materialist standards, as shown in the urging that “created goods should be in abundance for all,” and in recommendations, at best out of place in a statement of Christian teaching, advising the abandonment of “antiquated methods of farming” and even the adoption of “scientific advances in regulating the number of children.” The capitalist regime of unfettered com- petition is accepted as the norm in soci- The Pope of the Council, Paul VI ety, even in regard to the mutual relation

28 ■ the traditionalist Understanding the Popes of Vatican II ■ by H.J.A. Sire force without providing any balance of modernisers, in their self-assurance, the right. This resembles the position doctrine. The question may then be asked to foresee the collapse that followed it. of the infallibilists in the First Vatican why one can go through long sections The greatest share of the blame must Council who dismissed criticism of of the Council’s documents without the fall on Paul VI, and on the partisan- their methods on the simple plea that sense that one is reading anything new. ship he showed in his direction of the they were right and their opponents Part of the reason is that the progressives Council. One reason for it may stem wrong. On pastoral grounds, if we look were not in fact very original. Since on from his very tentativeness. He shrank at the Church’s progress in the follow- many subjects they had nothing in partic- from the idea of himself as one invested ing ninety years, it would be hard to ular to say, large tracts of the documents with power, one whose actions would argue that history gave them the lie. consist in unimpeachable statements of be decisive in the Church, and it did not With the Second Vatican Council, the the Church’s traditional teaching. This seem to strike him how shamelessly he case is very different; the verdict on fact is used by some to rebut accusations it is pronounced by the history of the that the Council innovated in doctrine. Church in the next half-century. In the In most of its teaching, indeed, it did not; light of the invasion of secularism, of but the question hinges on the parts in the atrophy of the spiritual life, of the which it did. The greatest share of drying up of vocations, of the vast loss In a similar line, there are the efforts of influence and respect suffered by the of some traditionalists to distinguish the blame must fall on Church, the conclusion on practical between the Council itself and the wave Paul VI, and on the grounds must be that the modernisers of heresy that later overwhelmed the were wrong. They were wrong because Church. That position has a great deal partisanship he showed. of the aggressive imposition of their of truth in it; the appeal made to the policy; they were wrong because of their Council to justify the subsequent dem- ideological priorities at the expense of olition of the Church cannot be justified was loading the dice in favour of the genuine pastoral concerns; they were by its real teaching. Nevertheless, the progressives. Thus the pope who had wrong because their reformism was Council cannot be wholly acquitted, as proposed a serene re-assessment of the reckless of orthodoxy and tradition; pious Catholics would wish. The bias Church’s doctrine in fact arranged a they were wrong in their pseudo-ec- shown in it was directly responsible for three-year turkey shoot of curialists umenism which ignored the Eastern the movement that followed, however and traditionalists. Instead of ensur- tradition of Christianity; and they were much this outstripped the intentions of ing balance, with perhaps some benign wrong above all in their determination the council fathers at the time. The bish- encouragement to the liberal side, he to blur the line between the Catholic ops who permitted the collapse of the handed over absolute control to the faith and the Protestant denial of it. Church in the sixties and seventies were modernisers, and then had to inter- The fact needs to be clearly stated: the the same ones who had initiated the pro- vene from time to time to counter the Second Vatican Council was a betrayal cess in Rome. Some did so because they results of his own policy; the only effect of the Church’s faith. Its consequences were too much compromised with the of this was to incur unpopularity and cannot be put right until that betrayal original assault on tradition to reverse weaken his authority. It was thus due to has been recognised and reversed. their course; others because they lacked Paul VI more than any individual that the strength to resist the tide. the Council was fundamentally flawed. Leaving aside the question of ortho- The one-sided nature of the Coun- H.J.A. Sire was born in 1947 in Barcelona doxy, there is also that of the Council as cil’s proceedings has been amply doc- of a family of French ancestry and was a practical blunder. As with any coun- umented since R.M. Wiltgen wrote his educated in , at Stonyhurst cil, one may look not merely at the doc- account of it, but it makes little head- College and at Exeter College, Oxford, trine declared but at the wisdom of its way against the line that the Council where he took a degree in Modern policy, a historical question to be judged represented a great dawn of enlighten- History. He has written several books on by effective consequences. The most ment in the Church. Any objections are subjects of Catholic history and biogra- obvious mistake of the Second Vati- dismissed on the assumption that the phy and currently lives in Rome, where can Council must be the failure of the progressive party was triumphantly in he works professionally as a historian.

summer 2017 ■ 29 Church Politics

Faustina Critics They do exist, and always have. Maureen Mullarkey explains

fter hearing my confes- have become papal products manu- Missing from Faustina’s Diary is all sion, a gentle, elderly factured for institutional reasons apart hint of that humility rightly associated priest granted absolu- from—in tension with, if not in contra- with an experience of the sacred: “My tion and, for my pen- diction to—the deposit of faith. sanctity and perfection is based on the ance, imposed the close union of my will with the will of chaplet of . I cringed. • • • • God.” (Diary 1107) What holiness is AOh, please, not that! Like the bargain- there in presumption? ing murderer in Alfred Hitchock’s I I believe in divine mercy, ache for it, The swagger continues in an Confess, I negotiated the penance. I with a whole heart. I rely on God’s pity unseemly ambition to best her com- blurted out something about revul- for the fearsome reason that I believe petition in the sainthood stakes: “My sion for the self-regarding jumble of in divine justice as well. Faustina’s Jesus, you know that from my earliest Faustina’s supernatural stenography. I visions conjure a feminized Jesus—a years, I have wanted to become a great wanted nothing to do with the cult of kitchen table Jesus drained of mascu- saint. That is to say, I have wanted to Faustina and her preposterous painting linity; one who feels, who talks about love you with a love so great that there commission. Please, Father, give me a his feelings as a woman would. Worse, would be no soul who has hitherto different penance. He Who spoke the universe into exis- loved you so.” (Diary 1372) A mild man, he obliged. He tence speaks to Faustina in the phras- Not just a saint, but a great one—the rescinded the chaplet and sent me to ings of a dime novel. Or an off-the-rack kind that is remembered and fêted? the instead. Thinking about it devotional . And no other soul so loving? Not even afterwards, I realized that it had been Faith repels assent to Faustina’s the woman who gave birth to Him or a mistake for me to balk. Reciting the Divine Mercy and the hackneyed astral those who walked the earth alongside chaplet would, indeed, have been a true fetish that expresses it. Him? If this is sanctity, there is a hel- penance, as irritating as a hair shirt. luva lot of chutzpah in it. Back in the confessional with the • • • • same priest some time later, I was sen- • • • • tenced again to a chaplet. This time The Christ Who bled His human- I kept quiet and suffered my penalty. ity out on a jagged timber is distorted, Maria Faustina Kowalska [born The Faustina phenomenon is a scan- made grotesque, by the imaginings Helena] of the Congregation of the dal to me. The language of the “mercy of an overwrought aspirant to saint- Sisters of Divine Mercy experienced messages” and the content of her hood—a woman who envisioned her- her visions between 1931 and her death visions—not least that gauzy, epicene self Jesus’ secretary “in this world and seven years later. She was deemed delu- Christ figure—are alien to my sense of in the next.” As Jesus’ personal secre- sional or unbalanced by those who the sacred. I shrink from the devotion, tary, Faustina gained a leg up on Mat- knew her most intimately: her fellow and even more from the pious industry thew, Mark, Luke and John. nuns, her Mother , and her that built and sustains it. The entire early confessors. But once the gears edifice leads to the unwelcome thought • • • • of myth-making begin to turn, skepti- that , like , cism is ground to dust. Good sense and 30 Faustina Critics ■ by Maureen Mullarkey the gleanings of familiar observation moderns in the West dislike admit- According to the 2005 Marian are dismissed as ignorance or inatten- ting: A feminized Church is a weak Press edition of the Diary, the Marian tion. Jesus’ rebuke to the Galileans is institution. It puts soft devotions ahead Fathers in Poland had been promoting forgotten. Persistent lust for signs and of the Cross. the devotion since the 1940s. Between wonders overrides the Gospel warning 1979 and 1987, the men devoted them- against them. selves to a taffy-pull on Faustina’s man- Faustina’s Diary & uscripts in order to shape them into • • • • Editors’ Handiwork acceptable revelatory goods. Pius XII was against Faustina’s Were the Marians engaged in pro- hid from those apparitions before he was for them. He motion during the decades of suppres- who would make him king. What are first distanced the Church from them sion? No mention is made. Editorial we to make of a vision in which He by placing her writings on the Index comment leaps from the 1940s ahead declares Himself “King of Mercy” and of Forbidden Books (Index Liborum to 1979. That year marked the begin- commissions a portrait of Himself like Prohibitorum). Notwithstanding, he ning of an aggressive lobbying effort any profane crowned head? blessed an image of the Divine Mercy based on re-translating, re-writing, and in Rome in 1956. re-editing the original documents. This • • • • The Holy Office [not yet renamed exercise in revision was offered to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faithful as an exemplary act of clarifi- advised his fol- Faith] under John XXIII, suppressed cation. John Allen, in a 2002 essay “A lowers to steer clear of women: “All the writings twice, the second time in Saint Despite Vatican Reservations,” familiarity with women was to be 1959. The stay against Faustina’s diary described it this way: avoided, and not less with those who and devotion to the image of Divine are spiritual, or wish to appear so.” The Mercy lasted until 1978, the year Karol Officially, the 20-year ban is now at- militant Ignatius, a “new soldier for Wojtyla was elected to the papacy. tributed to misunderstandings cre- Christ,” grasped something that we ated by a faulty Italian translation of

summer 2017 ■ 31 Church Politics

the Diary, but in fact there were seri- considered essential to her mission. It is hardly surprising that Sister ous theological reservations—Fausti- This work was accomplished by an em- Faustina claimed to be exempt from na’s claim that Jesus had promised a inent and highly esteemed theologian, the Particular and General Judg- complete remission of sin for certain the Rev. Professor, Ignacy Rózycki. . . . ments. On February 4, 1935, she al- devotional acts, that only the sacra- ready claimed to hear this voice in ments can offer, for example, or what In other words, the Diary‘s promot- her soul: “From today on, do not fear Vatican evaluators felt to be an exces- ers appointed a theologian to make a God’s judgment, for you will not be sive focus on Faustina herself. silk purse out of an inadmissable sow’s judged.” (§374). ear. Think of Justice Roberts “translat- But John Paul II was anxious to for- ing” the Affordable Care Act to salvage Add to this the preposterous affirma- tify Polish Catholics with another saint. it from its failings. Like Obama’s ACA, tion that the host three times jumped When he assumed the papacy, the Ber- Faustina’s diary is an artifact of pur- out of the tabernacle and placed itself lin Wall still stood. Poland’s anti-Com- poseful editing. in her hands (§44) so that she had to munist labor movement was about to open up the tabernacle herself and emerge as Lech Walesa’s Solidarity. The place it back in. nationalist note in Faustina’s visions, no Unholy Presumption help to Poland in the Thirties, was made Peter Scott, writing in The Angelus, • • • • to order for the Seventies. Jesus told her: June 2010, took particular exception to the pervasive presumption in Faustina’s The Church does not oblige Catho- I have loved Poland particularly. If Diary. Self-flattery is a characteristic lics to believe any private visions. But she obeys my will, I will raise her up contrary to the unpretentiousness of that wise and gracious exemption is in power and sanctity. From her will any true mystic. Illustrating that lack of effectively undermined once the seer come forth a spark that will prepare humility is Faustina’s claim that Jesus is declared a saint. By now, the rev- the world for my final coming. told her: “Now I know that it is not for eries of a minimally literate young the graces or gifts that you love me, but woman with a heated imagination With no more than three or four because My will is dearer to you than have been enshrined. They are barri- years of schooling, Faustina might not life. That is why I am uniting Myself caded against demurral by canoniza- have known that Jesus once declared with you so intimately as with no other tion and the institutionalized incentive His kingdom was not of this world. It creature.”(§707). of . was certainly not in Poland on the eve Fr. Scott comments: “What pride, Implicit in our complaints about of Hitler’s invasion and the slaughter to believe such an affirmation, let alone secular culture is recognition of the of over five million Poles. to assert that it came from heaven.” Church’s loss of credibility in the He continues with instances of her modern world. If the phenomenon of tendency to praise herself by means Faustina reveals anything, it is that From Sow’s Ear of words spoken by Jesus: those who speak for the Church are to Silk Purse not all blameless in the tilt toward Making saints is a political act, inex- Listen to this interior : “Bless- secularism. tricable from the machinery of special ed pearl of My Heart, I see your love interests. And the process can be just so pure, purer than that of the an- as unedifying. The 640-plus pages of gels . . . . For your sake, I bless the Maureen Mullarkey is an artist, art her writing required revision to make world.” (§1061). critic, former writer for First Things the prose coherent and theologically and various other publications, acceptable. The Marian Press phrases On May 23, 1937 she describes a vi- and blogs at StudioMatters.com the rescue this way: sion of the Holy Trinity, after which she heard a voice saying: “Tell the Su- Editor’s note: We’re not attempting here to roll back a canonization, but to A rigorous, scholarly analysis of perior General to count on you as the illustrate that sincere Catholics of good her notebooks was necessary to ex- most faithful daughter in the Order. will—including popes—can disagree tract from them everything which is (§1130). and differently interpret claimed visions.

32 ■ the traditionalist Obituary

Farewell to a Friend

ollowing is the eulogy deliv- While his formal work involved hospital workers at the secular hospital ered by his good friend Rev. abortion and family issues, Monsignor nearby. As he was being removed on Richard Munkelt at the sol- never hesitated to help priests needing a stretcher to be taken to Rosary Hill emn Mass for Msgr. permissions and/or other Vatican sup- Home, many hospital workers knelt Ignacio Barreiro, who died on port to conduct traditional Catholic spontaneously to receive his blessing. Holy Thursday 2017 at the Rosary Hill apostolates related to the Latin Mass. R.I.P., Ignacio, exemplary priest of FHome for cancer patients in Hawthorne, He would bring their cases to the atten- God. — Roger McCaffrey NY. It is run by the Dominican Sisters tion of some of the highest officials in of Hawthorne, a community founded the Church and persuade them to com- Dear Pastor, Ministers of Holy by the convert-daughter of Nathan- mit to specific actions whenever possi- Mass, Clergy, and Friends in Christ, iel Hawthorne. Further thoughts on ble. He would advance the cause of the It is with a mixture of great sadness the life and example of this exemplary Mass in the archdiocese of Rome itself, and great joy that I ascend this pulpit. priest are available online and written pressing reluctant prelates to abandon Sadness of course because, in the pas- by Stuart Chessman and John Rao, two their prejudices as, he argued, the popes sage to eternity of Monsignor Ignacio lay friends of the widely-admired Uru- required. Usually he won his point. My Barreiro-Carambula we have lost a guayan priest. impression was that many Vatican offi- dear friend, a cherished sibling, and I make their remarks my own, and cials were looking over their shoulders a bona fide soldier and priest of Jesus can only add—as an equally close friend due to this persistent and pleasant dip- Christ, a priest forever according to the of his who met him in 1986 and saw lomat in a Roman collar. He certainly order of Melchizedek, a protector of him countless times over 25 years during became known to many cardinals— human life and the unborn. Yet I speak scores of trips to Rome, where he had the late Alfons Stickler, Lopez-Trujillo, also of great joy, precisely because of an office a stone’s throw from the Vat- Oddi, and men like Raymond Burke the manner in which he departed from ican—that Ignacio was an invaluable and Llovera Canizares as well. What a this world. ambassador to the for the tra- great loss, seeing him go at the age of 68. Monsignor Barreiro understood ditional Latin Mass. As a former U.N. Catholic Media Apostolate and all our well the twofold meaning of life: the diplomat for Uruguay who was, in fact, supporters will miss him more than they ars vivendi bene—the art of living well, set to be appointed Uruguay’s ambassa- can know—as do all the McCaffreys. and the ars moriendi bene— the art of dor to Australia or New Zealand when He was a priest’s priest. He fought deep dying well. Of course, when we speak he quit to enter St. Joseph’s Seminary disappointment for some years because, of the art of living well, this is not to in New York, he was amply equipped to as he told me more than once, “I just be construed according to the manner make the case for the old Mass before want to be a parish priest,” but never of the world. the highest officials of the Church. He got his wish. Rather, in the first place, it means did so patiently and assiduously over At the end of his life, he was an asso- the cultivation of Christian virtue, a period of years. He initiated a large ciate for ten months at the Church of St. especially faith, hope, and charity. And number of informal meetings with Vat- Mary in Norwalk, Connecticut. And in these, Monsignor was exemplary. ican officials who had access to popes what impressed so many parishioners But he also understood that while John Paul II and Benedict XVI. there also impressed many nurses and living in the world, it was fitting for 33 Obituary a Catholic Christian to have an edu- anything of praise, let your mind attend explains, and never lets an ungracious cated appreciation of the history of to these things.” word pass his lips. Whereas that would Western Civilization. He was, to be Monsignor excelled in political be a description that most of us might sure, first and foremost a theologian. history, and I found him endlessly only aspire to, it was in fact, by and entertaining and edifying, what with large, Monsignor as I knew him: Chris- his treasury of anecdotes concerning tian gentleman and priest. the heroes and villains of the past, the There are also four other marks of a saints, martyrs, popes, and, of course, gentleman, of signal importance: con- Lord Chesterfield, in a kings and emperors of Christendom. sistency, loyalty, reliability, and gen- Many an evening was spent in Rome erosity. Monsignor had a consistent letter to his son, once after dinner—he with his bitter Amaro temperament and fairness of mind, said that a gentleman in hand, me with my more palatable his loyalty to friends and to Our Lord, vin santo—talking about the pageant Our Lady, the Mother of God, to Holy was someone who of history and its myriad lessons. And Church and the Magisterium, was all this was spiced with his sense of unwavering. And personally, I have never complains, never irony and potent dry humor. Such never known an individual more reli- was Monsignor’s delightful convivial- able and generous with his time and explains, and never ity. But make no mistake. Under that help than he. lets an ungracious amiable countenance of his was also a While always sanguine and hope- formidable, noble, and even obstinate ful, he suffered for the Church— and, word pass his lips. Spaniard, traits that could be found, alas, from the Church. The ill winds no doubt, in that redoubtable Iberian, of the age had occasion to buffet him, St. Ignatius of Loyola. and the storms within the Church tried Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his to break his rudder many times, and However, his theology was informed son, once said that a gentleman was failed. Monsignor stayed the course. and enhanced by a refined love for the someone who never complains, never illustrious tradition of Western art and literature, and of in general. Consider the magnificent , which we just heard, for the repose of Monsignor’s soul. It was to Medi- eval poetry what was to medieval architecture. Both monumental tributes to, and wonder- ful summaries of the Catholic faith, as important in their own way as the august Summa of St. , whom Monsignor loved. So it should be no surprise then that he took to heart the words of St. Paul in the Letter to the Philippians, over which the humanists of the Renaissance reveled: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, wherever there is any excellence, and if there is Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, left, with Cardinal Lopez Trujillo and Pope Benedict XVI, in 2008.

34 ■ the traditionalist Farewell to a Friend ■ by Rev. Richard Munkelt

We hear these days much about and speaks to His glory. Even the four Week on , the day “fake news”—the slogan du jour. Appar- points of the compass form a cross. Our Lord instituted the Eucharist and ently, however, it has been around for I always felt that Monsignor deserved the apostolic and priestly celebration a long time. more accolades than he received for his of the Eucharist. That final—indeed Our famous Connecticut wag, Mark steadfast work and constant devotion to uncanny—yet singular providential Twain, once quipped: “If you don’t read the priesthood. So I was deeply moved blessing, was Monsignor’s good for- the newspapers, you are uninformed; and gratified to hear that a prince of tune and our joy and consolation. There but if you do, you are misinformed.” the Church, and fellow defender of the by his hospital bed were and Monsignor understood that the sec- faith, recently came to see him in the rosary, family, friends, faithful, priests, ular media were selling shadows that hospital. nuns, what with multiple , could fill the walls of Plato’s allegorical Ars moriendi bene, the art of dying communion, and to Our Lady cave. Accordingly, he never mistook well. You can’t ask for a better way to and St. Joseph, patron of the dying. worldly reports for the news that will leave this world than to die in the moth- Nonetheless, we must pray for his never deceive: the Good News of Christ soul, especially to Holy Mary, ever Vir- Jesus, Him crucified and resurrected. gin, Queen of Heaven and Earth, that Regrettably, besides fake news there she may assuage the just wrath of her is also prevalent in our ecclesial times, Son—for no man can presume on the fake theology and fake liturgy. All his I always felt that mercy of God—a truth to which Monsi- priestly life, Monsignor Barreiro cease- gnor unhesitatingly subscribed, against lessly fought for the Orthodox Catholic Monsignor deserved more the present-day fashion of promiscuous Faith and for the immemorial Mass accolades than he received. popular canonization. Hence the black of the Catholic Church, knowing that pall and the black before us. the former ultimately depended on the But let us recall that the Holy Trinity latter. is the God of Love, of infinite mercy, In this, he was and remains my erly embrace of the Church of Christ. and of all consolation. It is only on guide—and, it is to be hoped, yours as To whom shall we go Lord, for you have account of Him, of the self-sacrifice well. I hasten to add that he deviated the words of life. Monsignor Ignacio of the Incarnate Son suffered for the from the ancient liturgy only under Barreiro-Carambula enjoyed the sanc- love of mankind and of the empty tomb obedience or pastoral necessity, but not tifying grace of the and sacra- on Easter Sunday morning, that the without insisting on significant qual- ments of the Church. He died in Holy psalmist could boldly sing, O mors ifications, such as orien- ero mors tua, O death, I tation. The Pre-Nicene will be your death. And Fathers amply attest that that the poet could defi- Christians pray to the antly write, “Death be east, not eyeball to eye- not proud, though some ball—because the spirit of have called thee mighty Yahweh entered the Tem- and dreadful—for thou ple from the East, because art not so, for death, thou Our Lord ascended to the shalt die.” East of Jerusalem in the May Monsignor Bar- return to His Heavenly reiro , may Father, and because the he see the face of God rising Easter sun of the and dwell in his ever- Gospel is a natural sym- lasting mansions in the bol of the resurrection communion of the saints, and the lumen Christi. Rosary Hill Home in New York. and may perpetual light All of nature is the Lord’s, shine upon him. .

summer 2017 ■ 35 Homeschool Considerations The Third Rail? Misconceptions and misunderstandings can work their way into the Catholic homeschooling community. But there is a mature solution

By Priscilla Smith McCaffrey any traditional- If it were just a personal preference, ist homeschool- it wouldn’t be a problem. You go to the ers seek support vigil, I go to the morning; you go to the from other Catho- guitar Mass, I go to the , you lic moms, and vice go to the Mariachi Mass, I go to the versa. How does a Catholic tradition- Solemn High. “Whatever draws you Malist handle being in a large group with closer to God.” many thoughtful families who prefer But for the traditionalist, it isn’t just not to go to the traditional Latin Mass? a preference. It’s which Mass should I How does a Catholic non-traditional- go to? For others, it’s: Does it matter ist with the enthusiasms of the which Mass I go to, and how do I fig- traditionalist? ure that out? Tune in to Catholic With a homeschooling group, there Traditionalists have developed a is probably initial peace within the kind of apologetic for their choice, Homeschool Radio group. It is assumed all have made because, after all, they are the ones off and Podcast this decision to do something hard, the beaten path and want to explain to to teach our children at home. The others, especially their children, why Fresh and cheerful perspective problem of attending different “forms” they have traveled the road less taken, from Catholic homeschooling of the Mass—as Pope Benedict desig- and at some inconvenience. Mostly, veterans and teachers who nated them in 2007—is more signif- non-traditionalists have not developed advocate a guilt-free approach icant when the children start telling a defense of the Novus Ordo liturgy to your efforts. other children about the merits of one and are taken aback when someone form over another. says the Old Liturgy is better than BooksForCatholics.com Now, at first sight, I say wow! We’ve the new. In defending his position, click the icon on the homepage! got kids talking to each other about the the non-traditionalist doesn’t usually Mass and what we owe God in worship. address the nature of the Liturgy, but I would thank God for that discussion does address the failings of the tradi- and that homeschooling group. tionalists. If Mary says to John, “The But then I hear a different voice. Old Mass seems more sacred,” John Children being children, the con- might say, “Well you just like more lace versation gets misconstrued or tres- and .” passes onto territory that hits another When asked by their own children family very significantly. The non-tra- why they go to the Novus Ordo, Cath- ditionalist feels her spirituality is being olics will give perfectly good reasons: questioned, practices criticized, paren- we are meant to be in parish life and tal authority challenged. build up our parishes — True; this is the Mass of every throughout 36 The Third Rail? ■ by Priscilla Smith McCaffrey the world. It is the Mass the Holy Father However, it is true, kids mess up Are we supposed to pretend that it is offers. True! We are in complete union this argument. They’ll hear “I’d never not happening? with Rome, in worship and in inten- go to that Mass” or “that’s not a good tion. We understand easily what is place for Mass” and assume the person Suspicion #3: Traditionalists do going on at Mass. We do not want our is saying the Mass offered is not really not trust the Holy Spirit to run the worship to be confusing by setting up a Mass. Church another liturgy. True, true, true! Carelessness in speech from both I wish all the words of the Holy These are the reasons my own parties causes big problems. Father were the words of the Holy parents might have given back in the Suspicion #2: Traditional- Spirit, but apparently, the Holy Spirit 60s for not changing to a New Mass ists do not respect the Pope or the did not arrange for that. We do not had some modernizing liturgist said, Magisterium have that kind of oracular church. The “Hey, why not join us in these neat, Here is where charity, courtesy and Church is divine, but very, very human. new things to do! We’ll even drop the filial respect are required. Tradition- Among laymen and religious there will ‘Amen’ from the Our Father!” My par- alists, being conservative by DNA, be human absurdity, recklessness and ents in the 60s might have said, “No, we want their appointed authorities to sin. When public pronouncements are don’t want to go to unique and modern be respected, but not when respecting made, it is permissible to talk about liturgies, we want the Mass in our par- them leads to the serious sin of scandal. these. When startling things are said, ish to build our communities, to wor- We are concerned with great offenses in the faithful have a right to ask for an ship as we always have in union with the Church today. For instance, when explanation. the saints, our bishops and our Pope. an archbishop has an homoerotic mural I wish popes were all saints, but they So these are good reasons to stay on his cathedral wall (there for anyone are not; there were a lot of debauch- away from change—worthy and con- to judge), and is also a key man in the ers, men guilty of and of some servative positions of a good Catholic. current pontificate, this scandal must pretty embarrassing moments. There But they are reasons that don’t really be publicly addressed—there must be was a pope, nephew to his two pre- address which Liturgy is more in keep- a public outcry. A parent can’t deny decessors, elected probably at age 20. ing with the nature of Mass as catechet- what the Pope says when he says it. Let The old has this ical, sacramental, and mystical. us be shocked when he says shocking to say about Benedict the IX: “He was It occurred to me that it would be things. Let us be ennobled when he a disgrace to the Chair of Peter.” He helpful to clear out some undergrowth builds up the Church. But let us never was a disgrace! It’s ok to speak that before addressing the bigger questions. pretend that words that consistently way about a pope! He pawned off the I can easily think of six areas that cause reveal a leftist ideology are meant to papacy for a large sum, then thought suspicion among non-traditionalists. convey something else, or something better of it. This led to a trio of popes, Before they even get to the merits of the secret that the Holy Spirit wants him and of course much scandal. (But there Mass, they are put off by what they sus- to say. That would make a preposter- is some evidence that he died in pen- pect of traditionalists. Better to address ous religion. Christ is the Truth, and itence. The stories are wonderfully these suspicions before we can get to Truth itself will set us free. Docility is human; no hagiography needed.) the other debate. not ignorance, it’s a disposition towards The Chair of Peter is not magical. So Suspicion #1: Traditionalists do the truth. who do we follow? Yes, we follow Peter not accept the Novus Ordo Mass as Some of our non-traditionalist and the teaching Church. Even Peter valid friends will not allow us or our chil- follows the teaching Church. When he This is an easy one. I don’t know any dren to discuss the alarming things departs from the Church’s teachings or Summorum Pontificum Catholics who done or said by prelates or a pope. Here practices, we must ask questions—and subscribe to that. We think all Masses there is a very different understanding yes, hold him accountable. and all sacraments ministered with the of what is required of a Catholic. Even Non-traditionalists accuse us of dis- full intention of the Church are valid. Christ warned of future confusion loyalty, as if when we address ourselves The traditionalists I know participate and dismay. Many cardinals are up to a public—a public—statement of the in the sacraments in various parishes. in arms today because of papal words. Pope, or a smiling photograph of him with two people of the same sex calling

summer 2017 ■ 37 Homeschool Considerations themselves husband and wife, we are Catholic homeschool group cope with Okay, those are some of the areas doing something furtive and disloyal. that exalted sense of otherness? of suspicion. Where are traditional- This is a very talkative Pope. He means I think we all have to go about our ists guilty? to be heard. We cannot dispense with business, correct our children when Maybe they play their hand too our mental faculties when hearing and they go over the line, and guard what aggressively. seeing him. we say. If enough people don’t like that Life is hard. People have many, Suspicion #4: Traditionalist anymore, then the rift will precipitate a many heart-aches and dilemmas. They laypeople like to air the faults of break. This is not necessarily a terrible want to peacefully attend their local Churchmen thing. Likely the one group of non-tra- parishes and not worry. Spouse wants We do air the faults of Churchmen, ditionalists will go off and identify as agreement with spouse. or more precisely, we discuss what a kinder, gentler Catholic group, more There is plenty of room to encour- they say. We are not generally con- faithful to the Church because uncriti- age one another. cerned about their persona. We actu- cal, and the traditionalist-minded will I keep in mind a sermon by John ally have better things to do, but yes, stay together and continue to invite any Newman who in his unique way we feel it is necessary because we are, Catholic in with fair warning. explained the value of repeated prayer, of course, trying to figure out what is Intellectually I know where I would prayer that was said together, and going wrong. be. Christ does not want us to twist our familiar to a community. Because it is This is a prudential concern. Peo- brains into pretzels. But I wouldn’t stay invested with the intentions of the past ple vary. But when there is scandal, a in a group which was all about Church and present, it links the generations; mounting up of modernist teaching deficiencies, either. That’s boring and because its subject is God, the words emanating from the chancery, it must sterile too. become Holy to the people. They share be addressed. It does make people Suspicion #6: Traditionalists think a common attitude when the words uncomfortable, and good people dif- they are better than everyone else are repeated. When the prayers are fer on what should be said when, but As far as I know, traditionalists do heard in the adult years, for those who for the sake of our children, and for not claim to have prophetic or miracu- have strayed, it brings them back to an the Church, we must consider why lous gifts. They are short on charisms. earlier innocence. I extend this to the the pews have emptied since the 60s, Confession is a part of their lives, they common rite of Mass, the Novus Ordo. why the diocese is taciturn on “gen- make no cult of any particular man. Because it is the Holy Sacrifice of the der issues,” why Catholic people gen- They seek to build up their own com- Mass, it is Holy. The prayers are the erally think Mass is non-obligatory, munities and listen very carefully to possession of almost three generations. why contraception and abortion are what is being said in the Church today. Sacraments have been received within almost as much a part of Catholic life Some, and usually the seniors among the Mass; vows exchanged before God; as for non-Catholics. us, weary of decades of polemics, just loved ones buried. Hearts have been Some of us feel we need to explain want the Sacraments and friendly broken and restored through its prayers what has caused the crisis in the Catholic faces. of contrition and communion. It has Church. We did not trigger it, nor did Do Traditionalists think they are been rendered sacred in its service to our parents. better? I hope not. Traditionalists seek the Sacred. So it is not wise or kind to Suspicion #5: Traditionalists are the best remedy for sinful man. The make a frontal assault against another’s divisive more he examines his sinfulness, the way of worship. It was cruelly and stu- Ok, let’s be fair here. If a traditional- more he wants a Liturgy that dares to pidly done in the 60s when, I remem- ist hears Mass in the woods and nobody express, in ritual fear and trembling, ber, we were told in grade school how knows, is he still divisive? the heart’s longing. much better Mass would become with I am afraid it is true; a traditionalist Traditionalists don’t think they are the changes. is saying more than “I prefer incense better; but they can’t deny they’ve made Still, traditionalists see the deficien- and Latin.” He is usually saying “I a choice to go out of their way, incon- cies and must continue to support the think this is a better place.” And he venience themselves, maybe irritate introduction of the Old Mass every- will have reasons. So how does a large their good neighbors, for the sake of a where. Some people will not notice if more profound Liturgy.

38 ■ the traditionalist The Third Rail? ■ by Priscilla Smith McCaffrey you choose your words carefully. But nowadays only willfully superficial Long ago we packed up our little the attempt must be made. minds could ignore.” children and headed off for Mass 50 Within the successful Catholic I repeat — only willfully superficial minutes away at Wingdale, the mostly groups I’ve been in, it is understood minds can ignore the trouble with the unoccupied campus of the New York that if you choose something different Liturgy…and further Ratzinger says: State Mental Asylum. It was just from me, you have made a choice that “The liturgical reform in its concrete another tranquil Sunday afternoon you think works better for you. I’ll implementation has strayed ever far- when the McCaffreys would turn right even allow that your choice might be ther from this origin. The result was at the barbed wire, waving to the men better in and of itself; I won’t pin you not a revival but devastation.” in the only occupied building—the to the mat requiring that you claim If we tell our sons and daughters to prison for the criminally insane. We my choice is as good as yours. Among ignore these things, how are we helping attended an Latin Mass, in a adults it must be understood that we them to mature in the Faith? depressingly ugly church. The children will disagree on significant matters. Vatican II’s Document on the were always fine with it. There will be little eruptions; one group Liturgy in no way indicates radical They knew we went out of our way will seem to gain ascendancy. Others changes to the Mass and in our sanc- for the Mass. want that nipped. Others will claim the tuaries. Even Archbishop Lefebvre devil is at work. Such drama. That this signed the Document on the Liturgy. happens is not automatically the fault Non-traditionalists who are irked by Priscilla Smith McCaffrey is a teacher, of any particular group—it is just the traditionalists, I’ve found, are generally mother, occasional writer, and host nature of group dynamics. not aware of the historical context of of Catholic Homeschool Radio, a Like tends to like within a group, the changes in the sacraments’ forms. podcast at BooksforCatholics.com— imbalances lead to reconsiderations Often their argument goes some- offered free to any radio station. and often improvements. thing like this: The changes were good Contact [email protected]. Another point of criticism is that we because they are what the bishops and spend so much time on arguing about pope called for. the Liturgy that we are not building up This is not a satisfactory argument the Church and do not appreciate the for a mature Catholic. Christ does not efforts of others working in the vine- win loyalty on the cheap. Donations & yard. Well, we’ve had to defend our- Here is another quote. It is devas- Will Bequests selves. If we argue it is (usually) because tating. Our non-traditionalist friends Your financial support and Will someone else is arguing with us. And cannot criticize us, when we look at our bequests to Catholic Media Apos- we are building up the Church with our Churchmen and find them wanting, tolate, publishers of this journal large families and vocations. without also criticizing Cardinal Sarah. and parent non-profit of Roman Still, all of us should consider our Here is what he said: “Political Europe Catholic Books publishers, will friend who journeys as a pilgrim on is rebuked for abandoning or denying mean a lot as we navigate the many of the same hard roads; I guar- its Christian roots. But the first to have choppy waters set in motion over antee, there is or will be suffering in her abandoned her Christian roots and the last several years. For informa- life. Chesterton says we owe each other past is indisputably the post-conciliar tion, please write us at our Edito- a great deal of loyalty because we are Catholic Church.” rial Office, P.O. Box 1209, Ridge- in the same terrible storm. That fellow The Traditionalists in the pew have field, Connecticut 06877, or email Catholic does not need to feel guilty for their noble spokesmen, several princes same at [email protected]. walking the Novus Ordo road. of the Church. We seek friendship Thank you very much! On the other hand, said Cardinal with our fellow Catholics, but we will Joseph Ratzinger: “A young priest told not deny what we see. The vineyard me recently, ‘What we need today is is devastated. The crisis, as Cardinal a new liturgical movement.’ This was Ratzinger also said, centers around an expression of a concern which the central act of Worship. The issue is the Mass.

summer 2017 ■ 39 Controversy The Tribulation of a Lefebvrist Monk A 1990s Reflection by Thomas S. Molnar erard, a young French- once silent halls and corridors, the man from the Midi, consensus committees set up to dis- became a Benedictine cuss everything and mainly nothing, monk at one of France’s the dictatorship of the “base” over the well-known houses. It Superiors, the proliferation of novelties. was in the early 1950s. He would have Gone were cloture, silence, obedience, Gprayed and worked till his dying days the contemplative liturgy, Latin, the if the winds of novelty had not blown : in short, the Bene- some dark clouds over his . One dictine tradition. day, in 1968, his declared to The migration to another Abbey, the Chapter that “ ought to be famed Fontgombault, was in a sense in a state of substantial mutation,” easy because he was well-received. Yet, a jargon-infested sentence that was Gerard had scruples about breaking his not only contradictory in the order vow of stability, of being attached to of logic, it was also a signal for the one House, in his case Tournay, in the exercise of undiscipline and self-will. High-Pyrenees. It was finally the Rev. It was also the ecclesiastical transla- Father Gagnebet, O.P., noted Vatican tion of the graffiti that appeared at theologian, who quieted his worries by the time (spring-summer 1968) on the defining for him the meaning of his walls of Paris: “Let imagination come vow. It was not, Gagnebet explained, to power!” The Benedictine order had the status of being chained to a build- proved, of course, in its 1500 years, that ing, a pile of bricks and mortar, but to it was not in need of learning about a community governed by the Rules. If imagination from Parisian students, such a community changes its obser- but after the Second Vatican Council vances, you are exempted from your this evidence may have been obscured vow. You alone, in view of the num- in some minds. ber of the misguided, could not reform Not, though, in the mind of Gerard your monastery. Act according to what who after some two years decided to used to be the practice in our Domin- migrate to another abbey. It was during ican convents: to reform a house, one these months that he could reflect founds another, elsewhere. What is rot- not only on the Rules of his Order to ting, collapses by itself; what is healthy, which he was most loyally and fervently develops. attached, also on the method of coun- At first, Gerard chose the rigors tering the feverish notions that swept of a in the High Alps region. over monastic life and ideals. He saw He remained there for one year, at the the ill effects of the logorrhea in the end of which someone spoke to him 40 The Tribulation of a Lefebvrist Monk ■ by Thomas S. Molnar of an abandoned monastery, more a New Beginning generally located around the Mediter- ruin than a building, called the Sainte At the time of our visit, some years ranean, from Greece to Spain, but also Madeleine, at Bedoin, in the Vaucluse ago, Dom Gerard was surrounded by in Morocco and of course in Sicily. Le department. That is where I was to meet eighteen young candidates, engaged in Barroux, again in harmony with the him a few years ago. building the premises while they lived Mediterranean landscape, looks from Vaucluse is part of the Provence, in a disaffected old bus, the gift of a local afar like a pile of stones and rocks, as if the first Provincia“ Romana” on the entrepreneur. The whole thing began carved out of the hills and mountains. ancient land of Gaul. The visitor sees six months after Dom Gerard arrived in Once inside, the village impresses with denuded hilltops, stony soil, an insis- the Provence. A young stranger asked its solid walls, winding streets, almost tent sun beating down on the cypresses, one day for permission to join him. mystery-filled silence. The inhabitants vineyards, olive trees, and lavender Dom Gerard said “no,” since to the tri- themselves seem to be carved of stone fields; a luminous light towards eve- als of monastic life the whole burden of or wood, weather-beaten, tough. How ning, clear, transparent. The painter a new beginning would be added. He could I not think of the now-ruin Myce- Cezanne is from this region, and the explains now: We do not want people nae, Agamemnon’s hilltop city where playwright-novelist Marcel Pagnol; so tired of life, frightened by the moral his wife murdered him in his bath on was the most Hellenic of French polit- collapse of a civilization. This would return from Troy? The people of Le ical writers, Maurras. Petrarch, here in mean accepting false vocations, voca- Barroux could have formed a chorus the Vaucluse, had his small property for Sophocles. that he could not bring himself to leave, From the window of our room, and here he climbed one day with his we could take in the quintessential brother the Mont Ventoux (the windy Provence. It was not yet quite night, hill), earning the title of the “first mod- In the this the luminosity as if resting on the sharp ern tourist” in the eyes of posterity. He outlines, softened their effect, bring- also earned the title of poet laureate earth gave saints and ing out the shades of hills and valleys, in Rome. That was in the fourteenth crusaders, troubadours the many turns of the roads, the rocks, century. the cypresses, and the distant towns. I first met Dom Gerard practically and martyrs. A very ancient earth, with long mem- at the foot of Mont Ventoux, at Bedoin. ories, and with harmonies that must I had come by car, in the company of be sought out, just like the beauty of delightful old Monsieur de Soual- character underneath the asperities hat, retired director of the St. Gobain tions not grounded in the thirst for God in a Pagnol film. In the Middle Ages Enterprises, who has channeled con- but in anguish before responsibilities. this earth gave saints and crusaders, siderable funds into various Christian A monastery, says Dom Gerard, is not troubadours and martyrs; it saw the enterprises. The previous evening, at a shelter for seekers of protection. We flames of the autos-da-fe for Albigen- dinner in the neighboring town’s only almost always begin by sending away sian heretics and listened to the sweet bistro, Soualhat had regaled us with the candidate knocking at our door. compositions of courtly poets. As I was one of the best meals I ever had and, This is how the first one was treated. looking up in the direction of Sainte with a rare charm, also with delight- After a few weeks he returned—and Madeleine, now hardly perceptible in fully told episodes of the last war, the stayed. Meanwhile, however, the whole the darkening sky among the woods, I post-war times, and a long, laborious enterprise was transplanted elsewhere, understood the wisdom of the choice: life in general. Conversation, dinner, to some 30 miles from the original loca- this setting is not for hesitant people; the night sky of the Provence fused in tion, to Le Barroux. A generous group here you serve exacting masters, God my mind into a lovely impression, so of donors had purchased an entire or the Devil. that when I met Dom Gerard the fol- hill for Sainte Madeleine, with a bare Next morning a colonel of the lowing morning, I was ready for a more plateau for the buildings, olive groves Foreign Legion came to fetch me by austere experience. farther down, and other land yet to be car as I was finishing breakfast in the cultivated. We had arrived by car in the hotel garden. He and his family were village, itself on a hilltop, as towns are spending a week of his furlough at the

summer 2017 ■ 41 CONTROVERSY monastery, a kind of spiritual retreat, I admit to joy while I was contem- and the monks, the brother baker, although there are no accommodations plating even the external aspects of the brother cook, the brother printer, yet, only friendly addresses where one this life already settled in the midst the brother handling the pick ax, the stays on a private basis, all under Dom of unsettledness. Is there a need to brother librarian, the brother in charge Gerard’s protective care. At the mon- explain what affected me? Perhaps astery I saw indeed some 20 people or there is, in our finishing century. In more, there for a passing or a longer the setting of our daily existence I am visit, attracted by the combination of particularly struck by the near-total silence, the traditional liturgy—and the uselessness of most of our actions, a One by one, the monks din of daily work: bulldozers, pickup myriad actes gratuits, busybodying trucks, the smell of mortar, the cut- around vast vacuities. Banks, schools, and visiting priests ting of wood. The “medieval” aspect is subways, shops, concerts, meetings, entered, the former just unmistakable, at least to one like me airports—all seem like self-generated who lives in the Babel called Manhat- hustle and noise, which, if it were sud- having put their tools tan. At Sainte Madeleine everything denly silenced by the Last Judgment or serves one purpose: the building of by the atomic bomb, would make no aside and still out of a counter-Babel for the adoration of more difference than they make now God. As the Prior says, this rough with their tumult and turbulence. All breath. I was struck—how and delicate landscape, with its clear of it is mostly unnecessary because to put it—by the ease, lines, demands of the buildings a sober done for no real reason, only for the facade, constructed, as our ancestors short-lived and pseudo-satisfaction of the naturalness of their did, from local stone. He adds: the tiny superficial interests. In short, there peasants who are our neighbors are is no reference point. dropping to their knees. grateful for the preservation of this My first glance of Sainte Madeleine

of the poultry, of vegetable gardens, of guests, of payments, of studies, of carpentry—do so with a marvelously integrated double purpose, the art and essence of which is lost in our society “outside”: laboring on visible things for a higher glory. The true meaning of work, in the light of which the Bene- dictine rule, ora et labora, (“pray and work”) acquires a transcendent value.

Why Anonymity But a third, inseparable dimension is also added. No artisan’s signature marks any of the great architectural and artistic achievement of abbeys, cathedrals, churches of the Middle harmony. We avoid both the original abuilding told me of purpose. Whether Ages. We know some names, but and the servile imitation, we seek the it takes one day or a hundred years to only from indirect sources: an archi- roots and the tracing of clear lines (la build it, the monastery grows out of tect here and there having studied at justesse d’ecriture: the right measure the soil and out of divinely guided will. some famous school where he is on of writing). Those who work on it—hired masons the student list, another having been

42 ■ the traditionalist The Tribulation of a Lefebvrist Monk ■ by Thomas S. Molnar paid and the record of it survived, etc. distant from the animal’s grace and The worshipper does not have to The ignorant say that such anonym- the intellect’s concentration. I also comprehend each and every symbol ity is additional proof of the medieval understood why kneeling is today qua- of his faith while he performs the act contempt for the individual and his si-forbidden at the communion rail: it of worship. This would be counterpro- worth; but the Rules of Saint Benedict is the spontaneous movement of wor- ductive, as are indeed many of the acts expressly specify that the worker must ship, the self-humbling of the strong. the believer is compelled to make in yield to the work, whether it is modest But kneeling will not do for atomized these times. Mystery must also have or sublime. “When one of our monks,” its share in worship, and by mystery the Prior says, “draws an inordinate I mean the not-quite-comprehended pride from what he does, the Father by the mind, but nevertheless grasped Abbot assigns him to other tasks.” For by soul and body. Mystery calls forth it makes little difference: any act may The worshipper does not an inner dialogue, shared with others, be performed ad maiorem Dei gloriam. between the lower and higher order of When Theresa of Avila was growing have to comprehend each creation. Kneeling or Latin or even the old and it was painful for her to climb and every symbol of his mumbled prayer expresses a fuller inte- stairs, she said to the religious wanting gration, a deeper reception, than does to spare her: “I climb these stairs for faith while he performs the standing or the language of daily use. the missionaries.” This is what Sim- one Weil called “a well-used suffering”; act of worship. This would she insisted, even in her New York and The Lefebvre London exile, on eating only as much be counterproductive. Connection as a Frenchman’s ration was, as long The monastery has grown from one as the war lasted. adherent to 18, and now it stands at I spent the day at Sainte Madeleine. individuals for whom the soul is an 40. If more will come, a new house will The colonel who had driven me intro- archaism; who are not spontaneous but be founded elsewhere, not necessar- duced his wife and four children, but wound-up robots; and who are told by ily in France. Dom Gerard has very it was already time to go to the chapel. their manipulators that they are auton- good connections with , where One by one, the monks and visiting omous, masters of themselves and of he once spent a few years, sent by his priests entered, the former just hav- the universe. original Abbot. Meanwhile, however, ing put their tools aside and still out of Kneeling has thus become a lan- he has assumed crushing responsibil- breath. I was struck—how to put it— guage, one almost fears to say, a lan- ities since Sainte Madeleine is not yet by the ease, the naturalness of their guage of defiance in the face of listed among the monasteries. Not that dropping to their knees. It was one sanctions. It has taken its place beside the wheels of ecclesiastical bureaucracy single movement, no careful folding liturgical Latin and a few other “con- move slowly, it is that Sainte Madeleine of joints, no half-gesture to reach out troversial” practices, one of the many has the reputation of a “Lefebvriste” with the hand. A long habit of instant so-called “non-essentials.” What those community. obedience. In general, all gestures and who so defined them—and relegated Much has been written about Arch- body movements were simple, direct, them instantly to the dustbin—do not bishop Lefebvre, and it cannot be my only the required amount, so to speak. seem to comprehend is that liturgical intention to add to that painful litera- Mentally, I compared the mere language and gestures, while they do ture. The monks, consecrated by him, mechanics of these movements with not contradict reason, are helpful pre- certainly walk on a sharp edge since those of my students, since their ages cisely because they take place in the at this writing the future of the move- were roughly the same. And thus I penumbra of reason where will comes ment is undecided. There are signs of understood one more thing about our to balance it. Worship calls into play acceptance: before the extraordinary civilization, our way of life, its drag- many of our faculties, and like an spiritual and material effort that Dom ging indifference, purposelessness, immensely skilled pianist, it uses coun- Gerard’s undertaking represents, other mind and body corrupted by lack of terpoint in a masterful fashion. Houses of the Benedictine Order have direction, a way of walking equally moved closer, watching, deliberating,

summer 2017 ■ 43 CONTROVERSY and showing brotherliness. To gather the French State which since the laws after St. Benedict who conceived the 40 robust youths in a few years by promulgated in 1905 owns all ecclesias- monastic family—neither too fragile, promising them not an established tical buildings, could expel the present nor too ponderous—as a means per- routine but backbreaking labor for occupants. The latter hold Tridentine mitting the soul to pursue its quest for who knows how many years—this is Masses, filling the church each time, God. Without guidance, without the no small thing that official silence may something that cannot be said of most blow away. After all,14 centuries of other churches in Paris. Yet no govern- Benedictine order represent a cohe- ment, not even the socialist-communist sion in which the entire contemplative one, would undertake the expulsion of tradition of the West has its roots and the “occupants” and thereby incur the The young monks are of style. Sainte Madeleine, “Lefebvriste” accusation of religious persecution. It or not, makes not the slightest attempt is hard to see policemen dragging out many nationalities, from to suggest modifications. Dom Gerard the worshippers. Brazilian to Lebanese. categorically states that the Founder’s Sainte Madeleine is not on “occu- Rule offers a matchless means for the pied” grounds, the place was bought There is one from Illinois, apprenticeship of contemplative life. and donated by friends, and they It is unlikely that he who had been a are also the ones who guarantee the and he asked the Prior’s victim of innovations, would now pro- costs of the construction, a tremen- pose further changes. dous amount of money to disburse, permission to see me. At any rate, the quarter-ready struc- some $400,000 monthly. This financial tures of the monastery are enlivened by burden seems to be borne with an evi- a constant stream of visitors. The order dent gaiety of heart which, in its conta- environment helping to sustain the of the house is naturally not inter- giousness, affects the visitor also. This burden, one’s back may quickly break.” rupted; the visitors blend with the day’s is partly because the visitor is at once This is exactly what must have been routine. Each in his heart regards the integrated in the everyday life of the in Benedict’s mind when he weighed monastery as his own undertaking, not monastery. The cloture is respected, the lessons drawn from individual because of the sums (or objects of need, although in its physical reality it is still hermitage, which was by his time a from to typewriter) he eventu- only a line drawn on the ground by several centuries-old practice by the ally contributes, rather because he feels the architect. The female visitors are desert Fathers. His new idea was the he has a vital stake in the founding and placed in the charge of local nuns, the corporate living for monks. While this its spiritual prosperity. male visitor enjoys whatever comfort way of life has been so deeply incor- France is still very much a Catho- can already be offered within the one- porated with our culture that most lic country, its religious fervor being and-a-half standing buildings. community phenomena in fact imitate a counterpart to its equally resistant He is asked, if he happens to be a it, without being aware, the idea and radical tradition from the Cathars to professor, a priest, a journalist, a trav- the ideal are renewed in our century. the Jacobins. The visitors’ presence eler in distant lands, a businessman, What did the California communes seems to underline the will to assert to speak of subjects of his competence, attempt to do, after all, if not search Catholicism, even if now, alas, in the and the audience, a very attentive one, for a formula of combining individual context of renewed controversy. Other is exhorted by the Prior to absorb news thirst for some kind of absolute that nations’ Catholics may be aghast at from the outside world or topics per- the prevailing ethos forbade them to certain events taking place within the taining to general studies of theology, call God? Many other contemporary Church of France. Just one example is philosophy, Church history. The overall “group experiences” follow the same the very old church of St. Nicholas de atmosphere is one of study, work, and path, but in our age they are almost by Chardonnet which, four years ago, was prayer, each permeated by the spirit necessity misled. They then get trapped occupied by “integrists” who one day that emanates from sturdy faith and between the Scylla of atomized indi- simply blocked the return of its curate, lifelong commitment to the call of God. vidualism and the Charybdis of the a “progressiste.” The cardinal arch- “The community,” Dom Gerard faceless lonely crowd. bishop of Paris vainly protested; only explains, “provides a precious help,

44 ■ the traditionalist The Tribulation of a Lefebvrist Monk ■ by Thomas S. Molnar

Sainte Madeleine, like its sister they fulfill their monastic function, he asked the Prior’s permission to institutions, embodies the happy aware that such a place is intensely see me. I guess that more than any- equilibrium. It is a crossroad and at a place of mediation between people thing else he longed to speak English, the same time a symbol of strong rela- bringing their trust and God who an understandable desire. We spoke tionships: linking man to God, and never deceives them—not even, it is for half an hour, undisturbed. He is with this precondition inscribed in the ever hoped, in the person of His ser- 22 years old, and had been at Sainte Absolute, linking man to man. What vants. These two militancies would Madeleine for eighteen months, still would sociologists say to such a com- unbelieving in the transplant from plex of attachments, where the linchpin his small town to the Provence. He is is invisible yet an all-commanding and a carpenter by trade, and is so occu- supreme giver of meaning? I am sure pied at the monastery. “The French that a sociological, nay a psycho-socio- We spoke for half an are very political, and they kid me logical explanation is ready, far more a lot,” he complained mildly. “But I complicated than reality. Men, in order hour, undisturbed. He begin to understand, and the Father to be human and at times just a little is 22 years old, and had Prior does not allow things to get more, need a transcendent reference out of hand.” There, in front of this that the Freudians, way off the mark, been at Sainte Madeleine rough yet soft landscape that we saw call the need for a father figure. But through the window, I explained to this transcendent reference must also for eighteen months. my young compatriot the extent to be accessible in flesh—incarnation— which secular and Church history in stone, light, symbol, beauty, music, are intertwined in France, that he color, rich fabrics, harmony. Liturgy be sufficient in normal times; in ours, must understand this very different is supposed to satisfy this desire on however, a third one is added, the need tradition. I asked him if he is nostal- one level, splendid places of worship for reconciliation. These 40 young gic. Just a little, he replied, “I am still on another. men, among many others, must pro- amazed at my good fortune of expe- Hence Dom Gerard’s insistence vide proof that ideology has not led a riencing the roots of my belief. This that, although the financial resources successful assault on the Church, in is such an ancient Catholic country.” remain modest, Sainte Madeleine spite of the frightening phrase used I was leaving, this time with a young should be beautiful and should beau- by Fr. when he labeled monk from Brazil as my driver. The tifully blend with the local style, “of Vatican II the “Church’s October Prior was there to take leave and to Roman spirit and of the style of the Revolution.” There can be no leftism hand me a book, a beautifully and lav- Provence,” as he puts it. The visitor and rightism in the Church, not only ishly printed text by one of his mentors, remarks: the cathedrals are gothic, because of the obvious implications, Henri Charlier, poet, mystic, sculptor. the abbatial churches Romanic. True, factional warring, “class struggle,” but Only on arrival to the hotel did I open answers the Prior, the Romanic archi- chiefly because this would mean the it. The inscription read (I translate): “In tecture is best suited to Benedictine triumph of pride, the world’s victory. memory of a luminous day on a place of peace. Pride attaches itself to everything man toil where even the sweat sings.” Signed: does; it is the heart’s poison; it is the Gerard, OSB. shadow even of the mystic’s elan. This Beyond Divisions is the reason why Benedict insisted so The monks at Sainte Madeleine pray much on humility, man’s modest with- Epilogue day and night for peace in the Church. drawal behind his achievement. This is What was here recorded occurred some They must be of a tough fiber, Dom the spirit of Sainte Madeleine, this is seven years ago, when the watch-word Gerard notes, because they build the what fills the heart of its visitors with of this proud and humble founder of monastery and a better future for the hope and faith. Le Barroux was still that “we must at Church of which they are militants in The young monks are of many times leave behind legality in order more than one respect. Primarily, they nationalities, from Brazilian to Leb- to preserve justice.” He had no rea- are God’s militants; in the second place, anese. There is one from Illinois, and son to regret it: on July 2 1989, in the

summer 2017 ■ 45 CONTROVERSY presence of religious and civil nota- deal with excesses on both sides, to bles, Cardinal Augustin Mayer, sent by weigh the enthusiasm of the aggiorna- Rome, conferred the abbatial blessing mento against uncompromising faith. The late Thomas S. Molnar1921 ( -2010) on Dom Gerard, promoting him to the The moving ceremony at Le Barroux was born in Budapest, studied at the title of Father Abbot, and as such, to may be, for eyes more spiritually per- Sorbonne and Columbia University, the episcopal rank. Sainte Madeleine ceptive than ours, a counter-weight in and was a Catholic philosopher, histo- is now an autonomous Benedictine the divine economy to the theology of rian and political theorist. He taught Abbey, but unlike other abbeys of the liberation in distant . at Brooklyn College and guest-lec- Order, it keeps the Latin Mass, the Tri- It is also a pastoral warning to epis- tured frequently at Yale, as well as dentine liturgy, the Gregorian chant, copates and intellectuals that Rome at the University of Budapest. and its members are also authorized possesses a built-in compass allowing to teach the Tridentine catechism to her to remain at the center; not as the children of the Provence. “We were a sign of hesitant timidity, but like © Crisis Magazine. not asked to sign anything in return,” the hand which confers the blessing Reprinted with permission. announced a spokesman. Unlike Lefe- to all sides. bvre, however, the abbey remains part of the Catholic Church, under papal authority. The event was preceded and fol- lowed by controversy as it had been expected it would. Some see in it the Vatican’s diplomatic finesse of dividing Mgr. Lefebvre’s remaining partisans who at one time thought of Dom Gerard Calvet as the tradition- alist Archbishop’s eventual successor. Thus, in this view, Rome “caught a big fish.” Others find that Dom Gerard— as many continue calling him—went as far as he could (he attended Lefe-

bvre’s 1988 of bishops M onica at Econe), but chose to remain with Peter when the break became man- ifest. His critics prefer now not to mention his name; his well-wishers at the ceremony of July 2 are happy that a very great spiritual enterprise brought magnificent fruit. The bish- ops of France were not invited, not even that of nearby Avignon. We wanted, says Dom Gerard, to avoid embarrassing them. The unity thus restored—and Le Barroux is one of its primary sym- bols—shows again that God writes straight at times with crooked lines. Archbishop Lefebvre’s stance has clar- ified basic issues, has helped Rome to

46 ■ the traditionalist One Day at the Monastery ■ by Thomas Molnar

Luther and His Progeny

Church, State, and Society EDITED BY JOHN C. RAO N T H E T W E LV E E S S AYS C ON TAINED I N THI S VOL ume — Symposium on Lake Garda, —the authors assess the impact of Luther’s Inovel theological and philosophical doctrines on faith, political theory, law, ethics, economics, and science—as well as his role in the devastation of Chris- tendom and the creation in its place of the contemporary secular culture of the

problems of modernity” but rather “one major cause in a chain of causes,” the authors nevertheless make it abundantly clear that there is “nothing about Luther and his Protestant rebellion that we should celebrate.” With essays from John Rao, Chris Ferrara, Brian McCall, and eight others, Luther and His Progeny is a signal contribution toward understanding the full import of the Protestant revolt.

THE BEST GUIDE AVAILABLE for CATHOLICS to THE MEANING of LUTHER’S DECISIVE BREAK

Armed with stout scholarship, the authors dare to stake out positions Revolt in general — from theological, political, cultural, legal, and thoroughly unfashionable in an age of feel-good ecumenism tempted to paper over the radical nature of Luther’s thoughts and intentions. general readers and specialists.” — We are led to see, from a variety of viewpoints, how Luther’s uncatholic “A brilliant collection of essays examining Martin Luther’s role in errors have been absorbed into the thinking of modern Westerners, and — what is both surprising and tragic — into the mentality of subsequent developments. Anyone who wants to understand the Catholics.” — long decline from the Catholic Middle Ages to the secular present — consequences of his attack on the Church — and of the Protestant

ALSO A V AIL A B LE FR O M A N GELI C O P RESS

Liberty, the God To Build the City of God In Sinu Jesu Resurgent in the Phoenix from the Ashes Christopher A. Ferrara Brian M. McCall A Benedictine Monk Midst of Crisis H.J.A. Sire Christopher A. Ferrara Peter Kwasniewski

O R D E R O N L I N E T H R O UGH A M A Z O N.C O M o r T H R O UGH Y O U R L O CAL B O O K S T O R E . www.angelicopress.com [email protected] summer 2017 ■ 47 Reconsideration

Reverence Is Not Enough On the Importance of Tradition by Peter A. Kwasniewski, Ph.D. n the last half of 2016, the Cath- there have been powerful aftershocks. olic world was shocked to see In buildings that are still standing, the enormous destruction vis- huge cracks zig-zag down the walls; ited upon Umbria by a series compromised structures are the norm of powerful earthquakes. This rather than the exception. Experts region of Italy includes the ancient have been carefully inspecting build- Itown of Nursia, the birthplace of ing after building to assess problems Saints Benedict and Scholastica and and set priorities for reconstruction. the site (since the Jubilee Year of 2000) Places once full of life are no longer of a Benedictine monastery famous inhabitable. Years of expensive repairs for Latin liturgy and delicious beer. will be necessary before daily life can The news was particularly distressing resume with any kind of fullness. Then to me as an of this monastery, there are the costs that are harder to who had just spent two weeks there in speak about, because they are emo- July teaching a course on the tional, personal, spiritual: some people to the Hebrews. As I looked at photos will be sanctified by these trials, while of the damage, I thought of two verses others may take occasion for sinning. from that epistle: “We have here no Due to the upheavals of just a few sep- abiding city but we seek one that is to arate days, Norcia came to be a place come” (13:14), and “Whom the Lord of distress, confusion, despair, head- loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth aches and heartaches too numerous every son whom he receiveth” (Heb to count. It has also become a place of 12:6). The monks, remaining true to heroic charity and generosity, a sum- the spirit of the Benedictine motto suc- mons to patience, hope, and determi- cisa virescit [cut down, it grows back nation, and a reminder of what is most again], have begun to rebuild. Many important in life. people are coming to their aid, and, in It seems to me that we can take due course, they will not only recover this earthquake as a parable for the but, God willing, rise up stronger than Church in our times. Some­thing sim- before. ilar commenced about fifty years ago The damage in Norcia is substantial. in the day-to-day life of the Catholic All the beautiful churches through- Church, namely, a series of sudden out the town, including the medie- and sizeable changes in the manner Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D. teaches val basilica over the ancient Roman in which the Holy Sacrifice of the at Wyoming Catholic College and crypt, have collapsed into ruins. The Mass and the other liturgies and sac- is the author of three books. earthquakes happened suddenly, their raments were celebrated, and the often magnitudes were considerable, and heretical meaning that was attached 48 Reverence Is Not Enough ■ by Peter A. Kwasniewski to those changes. The ground shifted Rite and the reformed liturgy in every failed to stem the tide of secularism underneath us as centuries-old litur- significant element, maintained that and desacralization but have even con- gical rites and practices were replaced the new could not be viewed as a mere tributed to it. almost overnight with rapidly-con- revision of the old but had to be treated Natural disasters are responsible structed forms and unprecedented as a distinct “modern rite.”2 There was for many physical and cultural evils, novelties. In Western Europe and Michael Davies, who demonstrated, but they also serve to bring out the America, there was an epidemic of in his book Cranmer’s Godly Order, best in people. Something similar is unbridled experimentation; all certain- that the changes made to the Roman true of the liturgical and theological ties vanished; the map and compass of paralleled those made revolution that took place last century. tradition were discarded, replaced by by Thomas Cranmer in his creation of Once it became clear that the great communal exercises in self-expression. the Protestant liturgy of the Church of Catholic tradition was under attack The of the Novus Ordo Missae and exposed to the risk of extinction, was like an earthquake in its sudden- the Holy Spirit raised up many noble ness as well as in the devastation that souls, in all ranks, classes, and states followed after it in so many places.1 of life, the famous and the humble, to Local churches that had been thriving Local churches that had oppose this forced march of modern- in numbers of faithful and in priestly ization. One thinks of the so-called and religious vocations collapsed, as been thriving in numbers Agatha Christie indult, whereby millions of Catholics stopped practic- of faithful and in priestly priests in England obtained permis- ing their faith and thousands of priests, sion to continue with the traditional monks, nuns, and sisters abandoned and religious vocations liturgical rites.4 One thinks of how their holy calling. (I have a beautiful Pope John Paul II encouraged bish- old German book at home, the 1936 collapsed, as millions ops to be “generous” in making room edition of Knospen: Monatsschrift für for Catholics attached to their litur- Jung-Kongreganistinnen, that is almost of Catholics stopped gical tradition. One thinks, most of too painful to look through, given the practicing their faith. all, of Pope Benedict XVI, who firmly later obliteration of the flourishing tra- called the Church back to continuity ditional Catholic life depicted in its with her glorious past, her faith-filled pages.) When the dust settled, instead tradition, her unsurpassed culture of of a renewal, there were huge cracks England. There was Laszlo Dobszay, beauty in the service of the Word. In in the intellectual and spiritual struc- who painstakingly documented the these decades of wandering in the ture; the walls and ceilings of artistic ritual-musical incoherence of the new wilderness, in this Babylonian cap- beauty had fallen apart; ecclesiastical rites. There is Dom Alcuin Reid, who tivity to contemporary Western fash- structures were dangerous to inhabit, has shown that the liturgical reform of ion, the movement to rediscover and if not uninhabitable. the 1960s cannot be considered to be in restore the fullness of the Church’s Half a century later, however, many continuity with the Roman tradition worship has quietly grown. Clergy, in the Church have yet to come to grips by any historically-grounded and phil- religious, and laity dedicated to the with the reports of our own “engineer- osophically coherent understanding of usus antiquior are now found in every ing inspectors,” who were keenly aware ‘organic.’3 There is a host of authors, country and on every continent; they of the magnitude of the earthquake and among whom could be named Aidan are characterized by large families the scope of its damage—experts who Nichols, Catherine Pickstock, Mary and high numbers of vocations to the know and love (or knew and loved) the Douglas, and Anthony Archer, who, priesthood and . Fully Church’s liturgy, theology, and tradi- drawing on human disciplines such Catholic worship goes hand-in-hand tion; experts familiar with human dis- as the anthropology of religion, have with doctrinal integrity, a consistent ciplines such as anthropology, psychol- exposed with embarrassing clarity witness of life, and a renewed thirst ogy, and sociology. There was Msgr. how badly the revised liturgical rites for holiness. This much is good news, Klaus Gamber, who, seeing the vast assessed the actual needs of “modern amidst the rubble. difference between the classical Roman man,” and how they have not only

summer 2017 ■ 49 Reconsideration

After this extended metaphor, an have gone before.5 They are ahead of us, who are autonomous and superior, objection might be raised. “Why is tra- not behind us; they have finished run- can make whatever selection pleases dition so important? Isn’t it enough ning the race, and we stand to benefit us. In adopting this arrogant stance, just to have a reverent liturgy? As long from their collective wisdom. St. Paul we fail to recognize, with creaturely as we are sincere in our intentions and states the principle in 1 Thessalonians humility, that our rationality is socially serious about our prayer, all these 4:1: “We pray and beseech you in the constituted and tradition-dependent. other things—the language of our Lord Jesus, that as you have received By failing to honor our antecessores, worship, the type of music, the direc- we fail to live according to our polit- tion of the priest at the altar, the way ical nature and our Christian dignity people receive communion, whether as recipients of a concrete historical or not we keep the same readings and revelation that endures and develops prayers that Catholics used for centu- The influence of organically over time and space.6 The ries, and so forth—are just incidental Psalm verse comes to mind: “Know ye or accidental features. They are ‘exter- rationalism and that the Lord, he is God: he made us, nals,’ and Jesus taught us that externals individualism has tempted and not we ourselves” (Ps 99[100]:3). aren’t the main thing in religion.” Ipse fecit nos et non ipsi nos. We do There is, of course, some truth to us to treat Catholic not make ourselves, nor do we make this objection. Our intentions are our religion or our liturgies; we receive indeed fundamental. If a non-believer tradition as if it were a our existence, we receive our faith, we pretended to get baptized as part of receive our worship.7 Tradition comes a play on stage, he would not really collection of isolated facts to us from outside ourselves, before become a Christian. No externals by from which we, who are and beyond us. It unambiguously themselves will ever guarantee that we expresses our dependence on God— are worshiping the Father in spirit and autonomous and superior, as creatures, as Christians, as coheirs in truth (cf. Jn 4:23–24), and an atti- with the saints. An heir is one who tude of reverence and seriousness is can make whatever inherits, not the “self-made man” of the most crucial requirement of the ars selection pleases us. capitalism. celebrandi. Nevertheless, I believe that The reformed liturgy, moreover, like the objection as stated is erroneous, modern liberalism itself, exalts choice, and dangerously so, because it pre- spontaneity, and diversity, whereas the sumes, and thereby fosters, a radical from us how you ought to walk and to historic liturgies of Christianity, both transformation of the very nature of please God, so also you would walk, Eastern and Western, present the wor- the Catholic religion under the influ- that you may abound the more.” shiper with a fully articulated act of ence of Enlightenment philosophy. The rejection of tradition and the worship to which we gratefully yield Prior to all arguments about which cult of change embodies a peculiarly ourselves, taking on its features as an practice is better or worse is the over- modern attitude of “mastery over tra- icon panel receives layer after layer of arching principle of the primacy of dition,” which is the social equivalent prescripted color until the beautiful tradition, meaning the inherent claim of Baconian and Cartesian “mastery image stands forth.8 The worshipers that our religious inheritance, handed over nature.” The combination of cap- act according to roles and a script down from our forefathers, makes on italism and technology has allowed they have received, putting its words us. We do not “own” this gift, much us to abuse the natural world, treat- on their lips, wearing the mask (as it less “produce” it. Tradition comes to ing it as raw material for exploitation, were) or prosopon of Christ, so that us from above, from God who provi- in pursuit of the satisfaction of our they may acquire His mind in this life, dentially designed us as social animals selfish desires. In a similar way, the and deserve to obtain His glory in the who inherit our language, our culture, influence of rationalism and individ- life to come. The liturgy is a continual and our religion; it comes to us from ualism has tempted us to treat Cath- putting on of Christ, which presup- our ancestors, who are called anteces- olic tradition as if it were a collec- poses a putting off of the old man, with sores in Latin—literally, the ones who tion of isolated facts from which we, his warped desire for “authenticity,”

50 ■ the traditionalist Reverence Is Not Enough ■ by Peter A. Kwasniewski originality, autonomy, recognition. The than standing all the more firmly over without resistance, like springtime “” to which traditional against it with a supernatural alter- lovers in Paris. “Were they ashamed liturgy aspires is best seen as a re-cul- native, holding fast what was already when they committed abomination? turation into a common Christian known to be “good and acceptable No, they were not at all ashamed; they patrimony accompanied by a de-cul- and perfect.”12 While earlier ages of did not know how to blush” (Jer 6:15). turation from the noxious errors and We could adapt what St. Paul says else- vices of our fallen condition and of where in the Epistle to the Romans: the human societies we inhabit.9 The “they became vain in their thoughts, liturgy is not simply a series of tasks, and their foolish heart was darkened” a holy agenda; it is a school of life, of The liturgical reformers for (Rom 1:21). thought, of desire, in which we are In my book Resurgent in the Midst enrolled from our until our the most part surrendered of Crisis, I speak often about my per- death. In Dom Paul Delatte’s defini- to the temptation sonal experience of discovering the old tion, liturgy is “the sum of acts, words, Roman liturgy, and how much it has chants, and ceremonies, by means of without resistance, like affected my family for the better—how which we manifest our interior religion it has awakened us to a deeper, broader, … a collective and social prayer, the springtime lovers in Paris. and loftier vision of God, man, and forms of which have a character that the world than anything we have ever is regular, definite, and determined.”10 “Were they ashamed encountered in the “updated” cat- How the liturgy understands human when they committed echesis, preaching, or liturgies of the nature, how it asks us to behave, the post-conciliar Church. At our wed- axioms and aspirations it places on abomination? No, they ding, my wife and I exchanged vows our lips and in our hearts, will shape following the beautiful preconciliar us into an image of itself. Our partic- were not at all ashamed; ritual, and then assisted as a newlywed ipation in the earthly liturgy of the they did not know how couple at a splendid . We Church will prepare us well or poorly had our children baptized and con- for our participation in the heavenly to blush” (Jer 6:15). firmed in the magnificent older forms, liturgy, depending on how well we have which put to shame their modern been educated in the school of Chris- counterparts. We went to confession tian tradition. This is why it is such a with priests who used the richer and grave problem if the curriculum and the Church witnessed the enrich- more explicit traditional prayers of the faculty of this school have been com- ment of the liturgy with elements sacrament. We began to pray the age- promised by worldliness, corrupted from the cultures through which it old Divine Office. Most importantly, by ideologies, diluted by a loss of con- passed, there had never been, prior the Mass came alive for us as a holy fidence in the truth of the Gospel, or to the twentieth century, a system- sacrifice.13 simply distracted by the whims and atic attempt to reconfigure the liturgy A certain verse from the fads of their surrounding anti-Chris- according to the pattern of a certain has become for me a motto of this tian or semi-Christian society.11 epoch or worldview. There had been journey: Et eduxit me in latitudinem, St. Paul states to the Romans: “Do pruning and adjustment, but never “And he brought me forth into a large not be conformed to this world but be wholesale reconstruction and whole- place” (Ps 17:20 [18:19]), or, as other transformed by the renewal of your cloth invention. The very ambition to translations have it, “he led me out mind, that you may prove what is the attempt such an audacious feat could into a broad area.” This large place, will of God, what is good and accept- have arisen only in an age bedazzled this broad area, is Catholic tradition, able and perfect” (Rom 12:2). Mas- by the Myth of Progress—a myth that which is immense beyond imagining, sively changing the liturgy to make played upon the well-known gullibil- rich beyond reckoning, more color- it apparently more suited to “modern ity of rationalists and romantics alike. ful, diverse, and surprising than the man” was, in fact, a form of yielding The liturgical reformers for the most humdrum uniformity of modern and conforming to the world rather part surrendered to the temptation man’s concocted religion, with its

summer 2017 ■ 51 Reconsideration predictable rationalism, its superficial to co-opt the movement for the very the mystery of the Cross, without the whims and fads. The Lord in His good- project of liberalism and democratic divine food of the Eucharist, marriage ness led us out into the broad area of pluralism that is our mortal disease. and family would be irrational, insane, sublime sacred music; the unmatched Traditionalism is—or should be, and a delusion, an impossible and decep- eloquence of Latin orations; the mov- has the potential to be—a principled tive fantasy. But if He goes before us ing spectacle of ceremonies rich with rejection of modernity’s fundamental as our antecessor, if He clears the path symbolism; the self-abnegating wor- assumptions so as to prepare the way for us, if He gives Himself to us as our ship of the transcendent, thrice-holy for a new birth of Christendom out daily bread, sacrificial love is a reality God, expressed and aroused through of the rubble and ashes of the rapidly already present in our midst, accessi- gestures of humility, adoration, spiri- crumbling post-Christian West. It ble, inviting, compelling. “The charity tual longing, and peaceful possession. is a movement for the restoration of of Christ presses us” (2 Cor 5:14). Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae identity, sanity, spiritual health, and Consequently, liturgy ought to et torrente voluntatis tuae potabis eos, vigor. It is about the rediscovery and be unambiguously focused on Our “They shall be inebriated with the re-assertion of the Catholic Faith in Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross and the plenty of thy house; and thou shalt its highest and fullest expression. The make them drink of the torrent of thy sacred liturgy in all its fullness is the pleasure” (Ps 35:9 [36:8]). indispensable means for renewing the In this large place called Catholic priesthood, marriage and family, and tradition, we see beauty all around us, the missions—precisely because it is Traditionalists are stretching off into the distance, fur- not merely a means to those ends, but ther than the eye can see, far beyond because through it we are united with sometimes blamed what any individual man can master the end that endows everything else for elevating their in his lifetime. We bask in the sun- with its meaning, orientation, efficacy, shine of the ancient world, we breathe and even desirability.14 “personal preferences” freely the fresh air of man’s medieval Let me expand on that last point childhood, we meet with every gen- for a moment. What is it that makes over the reformed eration of believers who have trodden lifelong indissoluble marriage and the the path of faith before us. For me, begetting and educating of children liturgy of Paul VI. for my family, for our friends, it has appealing to fallen human beings, who been a liberating, exhilarating, and are notable for their selfishness and stabilizing experience—somehow like impatience of hardship? It is noth- awesome reality of His Eucharistic growing roots and wings at the same ing other than belief in God, first of presence, a focus obviously fostered time. Traditional liturgy is our lifeline, all, and belief in the Real Presence of by such practices as chanting, pray- not only to Our Lord but to the entire Jesus in the Eucharist. If there is a God, ing in silence, kneeling, and turning history, heritage, culture, theology, marriage is possible. If God has given eastwards to offer the holy and identity of the Roman Catholic Himself to the very end—as Jesus has in peace. When practices like these Church to which we belong. Without done in the Incarnation, in His Passion are absent, we are not confronted with this, we are anybody and anywhere, and death—then the sacrificial love the sovereign Mystery that redeems that is, nobody and nowhere—mod- of parenthood is possible, and more our fragmented lives, we are not ern-day orphans, illegitimate children than that, desirable. If you take away prompted to surrender ourselves to of modernity, without honorable birth God, there is no reason whatsoever the one who loves us beyond all that from a noble family. to love any other person “for better we can imagine or conceive. In this The movement to restore the usus or for worse, for richer or for poorer, sense, the oft-remarked “verticality” antiquior is therefore not merely an in sickness and in health”; take away of traditional worship is in service of expression of personal taste, a “pref- the Eucharist, and there is no reason the most intimate communion with erence” or a “sensibility,” as some to pour out one’s life to bring more life the One who loves us from all eternity people would have it, in their effort into the world. Without God, without with an infinite love. In contrast, it is

52 ■ the traditionalist Reverence Is Not Enough ■ by Peter A. Kwasniewski horizontal sociability, artistic banality, This voluntaristic malleability of and for all men, with no distinction non-stop verbiage, and clerical show- the liturgy, joined with an emphasis of nation, race, or sex.20 Finally, the manship that obstruct the soul’s ascent on local adaptation and continual apostolicity of the Church is reflected to God and the immediate “mystical” evolution, is precisely the liturgical in the principle of tradition spoken of contact between creator and creature, equivalent of the decades-long dispute earlier, which St. Paul enunciates with savior and sinner, lover and beloved. between Walter Kasper and Joseph resounding clarity: “I commend you Traditionalists are sometimes Ratzinger in the sphere of ecclesiology. because you remember me in every- blamed for elevating their “personal For Ratzinger, the universal Church thing and maintain the traditions even preferences” over the reformed liturgy and its sole Lord and Savior take pre- as I have delivered them to you” (1 Cor of Paul VI and over the common dis- cedence17—and therefore the liturgy, 11:2); “For I received from the Lord cipline of the Church. Why can’t we which is the act par excellence of what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor “get with the program” and do what Christ and His Mystical Body, should 11:23). “Brethren, stand fast, and hold everyone else is doing? But the accu- embody, express, and inculcate exactly the traditions which you have learned, sation is ironic and ill-placed. For it this universality, the faith of the “one, whether by word, or by our epistle” (2 was the Novus Ordo that, for the first holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” Th 2:14). time in the history of the Church, Now, if you are familiar with it, you In contrast, we see Cardinal elevated the preferences, tastes, and will know that everything in the tra- Kasper’s group-based “ecclesiology even whims of the “presider” and the ditional Roman rite fulfills this lofty from below” reflected in the localist “assembly” into a matter of princi- requirement. As for unity, the liturgy ple by allowing an indefinite number offers us, year after year, the same rite, of possible realizations of liturgy.15 the same , the same texts, the Many texts are optional; the music is same chants, as befits “one Lord, one optional (there are no strict rules for faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5).18 As for The liturgical revolution what constitutes a High Mass, which holiness, the notes: has arguably brought about its demise); was the ecclesiastical the rubrics are minimal, at times open- equivalent of these ended. Some have even spoken of the Holy things must be treated in a holy “vel missal”: you may use Latin or the way, and this sacrifice is the most holy social revolts. vernacular. You may use chant or some of all things. And so, that this sacri- other music. You may use this Peniten- fice might be worthily and reverent- tial Rite or that one, this Eucharistic ly offered and received, the Catholic Prayer or that one. You may worship Church many centuries ago instituted Novus Ordo Missae—not in its abuses, either or . the sacred canon [of the Mass] [that but in its essence as a matrix of possi- In all these ways, the mutable will and is, the Roman Canon]. It is so free bilities destined to receive its “incul- personality of the celebrant (and, per- from all error that it contains noth- turated” form from priests and peo- haps, of the group over against him) is ing that does not savor strongly of ple at each celebration. It is a liturgy thrust to the fore, pushing the indissol- holiness and piety and nothing that in a constant state of fermentation, uble and immutable marriage of Christ does not raise to God the minds of re-visioning, re-invention, which is and the Church into the background. those who offer.19 antithetical to orthodoxy in its orig- Every celebration is, in a sense, a new inal meaning of “right-worship-and- project, a new compilation, a new con- right-doctrine.”21 It is worth point- struct of the human agents involved. The Council of Trent then says ing out that proponents of Kasperian Even if the same “traditional” options something similar about all of the ecclesiology and liturgy also tend to were to be chosen as a rule, the very ceremonies of the Mass. With regard repudiate Constantinian Christian- fact that they are chosen and could be to the mark of , we find the ity and its universalizing aspiration to otherwise makes the liturgy not so same traditional liturgy everywhere in “re-establish all things in Christ” (Eph much an as an opus hominis.16 the world, from the rising of the sun 1:10). This is because they hold, with even to its setting, offered by all men Karl Rahner, that every man is already

summer 2017 ■ 53 Reconsideration

Christian at some level, and that the rebellion and which aims at goals down on us with a vengeance. Even world as such, the secular world, is not of this world—this political age within the hierarchy of the Church, already holy. Thus there is no clear of great violence and failed original- there are those who would barter away distinction between ad intra and ad ity. The liturgical revolution was the the primogeniture of the Gospels for extra, between sanctuary and nave, ecclesiastical equivalent of these social a bowl of modern pottage. This is not between minister and congregation, revolts, as people threw off the rubrics what we shall do; we will take Christ between tradition and innovation, or of restraint, the formality of address, as our King and the tradition of His even between sacred and profane. All and the commitment to a way of life Church as our strong support. things collapse into immanence, into I am reminded of the words of the the choice of the moment, the quest ancient martyr St. Genesius: “There is for instant inculturation, the transient no King but Christ, and though I be emotional connection, the self-procla- slain a thousand times for Him, yet mation of the group. It is a liturgy of Good intentions are you cannot take Him from my mouth the Enlightenment, ahistorical, socia- or my heart.”25 This, too, is how we feel ble, accessible, efficient, unthreatening. not enough. Following about the traditional liturgy. It is our It is supposed to be pleasant, conve- the official books privileged access to Christ, who gives nient, thoroughly free of magic, myth, Himself to us not only by placing His or menace. There must not be any of is not enough. Body and Blood in our mouths, but that primitive or medieval mysterium also by burying deep in our hearts tremendens et fascinans, none of that the treasure of His Church’s prayer. groveling of slaves to their masters: received rather than a utopian (and This joy, this pearl of great price, this we are grown-ups who can treat with thus artificial) construct. The only glorious inheritance, no one can take God as equals. As a matter of fact, we way forward is to quit our dead end, away from us. will edit out “difficult” passages from reverse our steps, and go back to the Sacred Scripture and rewrite “difficult” more demanding narrow path, which, NOTES prayers so that offenses or challenges by a delightful divine paradox, leads 1. It is true, of course, that the Novus Ordo to our modern way of life will be, if us to the large place, the broad area, Missae was prepared for by several years or not eliminated, then at least kept to a of tradition. even decades of “tremors,” such as the un- polite minimum.22 My conclusion, then, is that rever- mandated introduction of versus populum It should be obvious at this point ence is not enough. Good intentions celebration and the increasing vernacu- that the traditionalists’ defense of the are not enough. Following the official larization of the old Mass; but these were still external (though meaningful) changes, classical Roman Rite and all that goes books is not enough. If we are to be compared with the gutting of the rite itself along with it is not just a matter of Roman Catholics, if we are to be the and its replacement by the Consilium’s fab- aesthetics or personal preferences. It heirs and recipients of our faith rather rication, which would have been still more is an adherence to a premodern under- than promethean neo-Pelagians who barren had it not been for last-minute aug- standing of man, the world, and Chris- shape it to ourselves, if we are to be mentations insisted on by Pope Paul VI. tianity that is uncontaminated with imitators of the apostles and all the These augmentations, although still nov- elties, at least preserved something of the modern errors23 and therefore capa- saints, then entering into the Church’s external structure: I refer to the deperson- ble of saving modern men and women traditional lex orandi is no less nec- alized with the abolition of the from the abyss into which they have essary, and no less important in our distinction between priest and people, and hurled themselves from the time of the times.24 If anything, rediscovering the the pseudo-Jewish offertory rite. Protestant Revolt to the French Revo- rich, multifaceted, profound, undi- 2. Klaus Gamber, The Reform of the Roman lution, down to the Sexual Revolu­tion luted symbolism and doctrinal fullness Liturgy: Its Problems and Background, trans. and now the Gender Revolution. We of the sacred liturgy—the fruit of the Klaus D. Grimm (San Juan Capistrano, CA: believe that what modern people need Holy Spirit’s gentle brooding over all Una Voce Press and Harrison, NY: The the most is someone with a foothold the centuries of our ecclesiastical life— Foundation for Catholic Reform, 1993), outside of modernity, transmitting a has acquired a new and special urgency 23–26, 91–95, et passim. Parsons com- wisdom which originated before its as the dictatorship of relativism clamps ments: “The result was not really a ‘reform’

54 ■ the traditionalist Reverence Is Not Enough ■ by Peter A. Kwasniewski at all. It was the creation of a new rite, loose- as well as they can, but they subordinate the Novus Ordo, above all Josef Jungmann, ly derived from the historic Roman rite, but themselves to the canons and the goal; they S.J., held two false theories: the Corruption differing from it as much as do some of the “get out of the way.” Theory (which maintains that the medieval historic non-Roman rites, and a great deal liturgy departed more and more from its more than, for instance, the rites of the 9. As John Paul II remarked: “The liturgy, pristine ancient condition until it reached, , and Dominicans. though it must always be properly incul- in the period, a state antithetical to Monsignor Gamber’s terminology of a ‘Ro- turated, must also be counter-cultural” its original nature) and the Pastoral Theory man Rite,’ describing the ancient tradition (Ad limina address to Bishops of the North- (which holds that liturgy must be adapted still maintained in the Missal of 1962, and west United States, October 9, 1998). The to the mentality and condition of each age, a ‘Modern Rite,’ describing the Missal and Church can borrow neutral elements from and that modern man, being exceptionally of 1969, is scientifically accurate a culture and give them a new Christian different from his forbears, needs a radical- and just” (“A Reform of the Reform?,” Part meaning or orientation, as we see in the ef- ly different liturgy). The former has as its 2, Christian Order, vol. 42, n. 12 [December forts of great missionaries to reach native corollary antiquarianism or archaeologism, 2001], 670–71, also available online). peoples through a discriminating adoption while the latter has as its corollary modern- of some of their customs and artifacts. But ization. Both theories are false and must be 3. See Alcuin Reid’s The Organic Develop- such inculturation presupposes the essen- rejected, and their poisons purged from the ment of the Liturgy. tial truth of the Christian faith and the Mystical Body. essential rightness of its Catholic expres- 4. We learned later on, in Summorum Pon- sions, which serve as active and fertilizing 13. The new Mass is also a sacrifice, in se, tificum, that such permission was never re- principles for the ones receiving the word. but this dogmatic truth is phenomenolog- quired. The missionary brings the Roman or Byz- ically obscured by the new rite’s “table fel- antine liturgy to a pagan tribe and converts lowship” model, which both follows from 5. The English word “ancestor” is derived them to it. The existing liturgical rite is the and further reinforces the anthropocentric from the Latin antecessor. solid rock on which inculturation is built, distortion of liturgy, with its traits of infor- the magnet to which customs are attract- mality, horizontality, and secularity. 6. The God we worship is no abstraction ed. In this way, a stable and preexisting but a flesh-and-blood reality whose Incar- Christian orthodoxy (which means “right 14. In light of what we learn from the last nation is mystically continued in time and worship” as well as “right belief”) functions book of Scripture, namely, that our earthly space. counter-culturally to whatever is sinful, un- sacramental worship is a real participation in the heavenly worship of the Lamb (see 7. See Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy, 21–23, healthy, unworthy, or ugly in a culture to ch. 15), we can understand better why it is 159–70. which it comes. See my article “Is ‘Contem- porary’ Church Music a Good Example of false to say that the liturgy is a “means” to 8. God writes Himself upon the tablets of Inculturation?,” published at OnePeterFive some further end: it makes the end present our souls by means of a liturgy that is de- on May 11, 2016. to us, and us present to the end. terminate and active, as He is. The art of 15. I once saw an attempt to calculate the the icon is essentially different from the 10. The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Commen- total number of distinct liturgies possible Renaissance and post-Renaissance men- tary by the Right Rev. Dom Paul Delatte, in the Novus Ordo, by means of choosing tality of much of Western religious art. The trans. Dom Justin McCann, O.S.B. (Eu- each option in combination with every oth- iconographer does not seek self-expression gene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2000), 132. er possible set of options. Since there are so through his art, or even the expression of 11. I owe this comparison of the liturgy to many changeable pieces, the final number his culture, people, place, or time. He hum- a curriculum to Joel Morehouse, who com- was astronomical. bles himself by following strict canons that pared the treasury of sacred music with a aim at reproducing on his panel and in his Great Books curriculum to which Catholics 16. Joseph Ratzinger makes a similar point soul the personal reality of the holy figure can profitably return again and again, with in his penetrating essay “The Image of the contemplated, so that when he is finished, the benefit of an ever-deeper assimilation. World and of Human Beings in the Liturgy the result draws the viewer directly to the and Its Expression in Church Music” in A holy figure. Even if icons will vary inciden- 12. To the objection that the liturgy is nev- New Song, 111–27. tally from writer to writer, they do not sign er “perfect,” I response that there are two their names, because the goal is the vener- senses of the word. In one sense, only the 17. Cf. Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the ation of the Other. The regimented process heavenly liturgy is perfect, as enjoying a di- same yesterday and today and forever.” of writing an icon is exactly comparable to vine perfection. But the organically devel- the regimented process of executing a lit- oped liturgy of the Church on earth, pre- 18. During those periods in my life when urgy: the point of departure is the Church’s cisely as a work of the Holy Spirit, as Pius no traditional liturgy, Eastern or Western, pre-existent tradition; the point of arrival is XII teaches in , has a relative was available and I have been compelled to immediate contact with the Holy One. In perfection and cannot be considered irrel- attend the usus recentior, I have often ex- between, the human agents do their work evant, harmful, or corrupt. The theorists of perienced a palpable, almost overwhelming

summer 2017 ■ 55 Here it is again: Attwater’s The unspoken sweeping tribute to Catholic heroes… spiritual problem A great Jesuit laid it all out, ...Back in print for what could become the most difficult century in the Church's history and crystallized the solutions, a century ago “Dissatisfied with the many lurid and fantastic accounts of Christian martyrdoms, Attwater decided to produce 2004 marked the publication anniversary of Rev. P.J. Michel, S.J. a collection of authentic reports...gems of Fr. P.J. Michel’s potent book, long out of good description and quotable print. It was regarded as a standard reference dialogue.”—Catholic World, 1957 for perplexed confessors who encountered “Accurate biographies...the shreds of legend the strange discouragement that afflicts not the lukewarm Christian, but rather the and myth fall away under his sharp demands Hardcover, $22.95 of historical reality....Begins with St. Stephen, ardent soul which might be otherwise on its way to conquering persistent flaws and vices. The devil has other • Extensive Bibliography the first martyr, and brings his study right up Reconsideration to date with John Tung, a contemporary ideas, and seeks to trip us up. Fr. Michel’s fascinating—liberating— • Concise, three to nine Perspectives, ed. Alcuin Reid Chinese(London/New marty 23.r....A Exactly book the oferrors, facts: in otherinteresting words, that, solutions, as he describes them in his detailed table of contents: sense of relief once I am able to go back to York:p Bloomsburyages per Saint T&T Clark, 2016), 287– are condemned in Pius IX’s Quanta Cura accurate, inspiring!”—Ave Maria On the dangers and fatal effects of despondency the usus antiquior. It is not merely a sense 320;• Allidem, regions “Not and Just eras More Scripture, But and Syllabus Errorum and the great encyc- of coming home or reaching port, but a Differentcovered Scripture,”, North in Matthew“Catholicism P. Hazell, licalsin England of Leo XIII, and Pius WX, alesand Pius owes XI. a How the soul yields to despondency without viewing it as a sense of recovering one’s sanity after a bout IndexAmericans Lectionum: martyrs A Comparative debt Table to Donaldof Attwater which is still temptation of madness. I can make my own the words Readingsvery muchfor the in cOrdinaryluded andinadequately Extraordi- 24. recognized. Without this continuity This has in orthodoxy been False ideas and feelings we ascribe to God of the psalmist: Eripies me de contradic- nary Forms of the Roman Riteincreased (N.p.: Lec by- (meaninghis Martyr boths, rightan account worship andof 6right7 Why repeated infidelities ought not to make us lose tionibus populi, “Thou wilt deliver me from tionaryHardcove Study Press,r, $24.95 2016), vii–xxix; martyrdoms idem, belief), from we the risk inventingfirst to or the drifting 20t intoh a confidence in God the contradictions of the people” (Ps 17:44 somewhat new religion that has certain ap- “The Omission that Haunts centurthe Church—1y, recorded as far as possible in the Why it is tempting God, and oneself, to look for conflicts [18:43]). pearances of the old but deviates in open or Corinthianswords of 11:27–29,” the original published sources. at New So many of them have the stark that may await us Liturgicalbeauty Movementof the Gospels.”— on April 11,Blackfriars 2016; subtle ways into modernism. 19. Council of Trent, Session 22, ch. 4. In A loss of “felt” devotion is an unjustifiable cause of despondency Matthew Hazell, “On the Inclusion of 1 ch. 5 the Fathers continue: “Holy Moth- “Short, eloquent, almost matter-of-fact, stripped of legend and Corinthians 11:27–29 in the Ordinary 25. See the traditional Roman Faults committed by pious souls in time of desolation er Church . . . has provided ceremonial, fancy...the shining courage of these Christians stands out as they Form,” published at New Liturgical Move- under August 25. How to recognize whether we have consented to temptation such as mystical blessings, lights, incense, met torture with joy, and sometimes with wit...”—Worship ment on April 22, 2016. vestments, and many other rituals of that On temptations which disturb us in the exercise of virtues “Substituting painstaking research for pious fancy...authentic Temptations not to be reasoned with. How to banish them kind from apostolic order and tradition, by portraits in fascinating color and detail.”—American Ecclesiastical which the majesty of this great sacrifice is Review The usefulness of temptations enhanced and the minds of the faithful are aroused by those visible signs of religious devotion to contemplation of the high Mistakes parents make in raising their children mysteries hidden in this sacrifice” (Den- What makes a great zinger, 43rd edition, nn. 1745 and 1746). speech—or a bad one? How to avoid them. Or, how to lessen their impact, if made 20. This, in contrast to the Novus Ordo, INS which has been proved to attract more One unfortunate result of Freudianism is that S women than men, and which appeals more This prominent speech expert supplied the OF answers in his guide for Catholics who some Catholics have overreacted to the to modern Westerners than to others. “blame-the-parents” attitude it fostered. But PARENTS preach, teach or give speeches 21. Joseph Ratzinger writes: “We must re- the idea that parents can blight the lives of member that originally the word ‘ortho- their children didn’t begin with Freud — it doxy’ did not mean, as we generally think Decades ago, the Milwaukee Diocese hired began with God, who warned Moses: “I am CHARLES HUGO DOYLE today, right doctrine. In Greek, the word Marquette University speech professor the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the doxa means, on the one hand, opinion William Duffey to instruct priests and iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto or splendor. But then in Christian usage seminarians in every aspect of preaching. the third and fourth generations.” Bonus: $19.95, it means something on the order of ‘true Professor Duffey delivers a complete Practice exercises The “imperative needs” of every child hardcover splendor,’ that is, the glory of God. Ortho- course in how to prepare and deliver a Specific “rights and privileges”of children doxy means, therefore, the right way to end each chapter sermon or speech and how to improve glorify God, the right form of adoration” one’s speaking ability: 31 “don’ts” of child-rearing (Spirit of the Liturgy, 159–60). Geoffrey 21 character traits of good parents Your price: $3! 5 goals of a sermon or speech Hull develops this point at length (see The One rule you must never break in disciplining your child Banished Heart, esp. 23–39). You were or- The “great rule” for instructing listeners in religious matters The type of preacher Chapter and verse: the “havoc” wrought on children by thodox if you worshiped the right way, the divorce, separation, and loveless marriages way expressive of the truth of the Gospels listeners distrust most The first step in as handed down by the Church. The em- preparing material for a sermon 3 basic Adverse effects of mothers working phasis was on giving glory to God by pro- emotions that, properly kindled, can best lead men to God. But How parental quarreling hurts older kids fessing the truth in liturgical worship, not beware of “emotionalism” How different books of the Bible Find yourself shouting at your children more and more? serve different preaching purposes Different types of endings— “being in the right” by intellectually hold- Best way to train your child in the virtues ing the correct formulas. This has been some to be avoided 17 types of expressions which lend force lost sight of in Roman Catholicism, where and grace to a sermon Proper poise, posture and comportment What to do if you catch a child lying or stealing adherence to the content of a recently-pro- 8 guidelines for developing skill in gesture 7 basics for Why wives should never undermine their husbands mulgated Catechism has become the mea- training the voice The acoustic problem in churches. How to How some couples hamper, even destroy, their children’s own sure of fidelity instead of adherence to the distinguish a “dead room” from a “live” one and adapt delivery ability to succeed in marriage content of an age-old Mass. accordingly Common way that well-meaning mothers foster obesity 22. See Peter Kwasniewski, “The Reform 8 of the Lectionary,” in Liturgy in the Twen- to order go to BooksforCatholics.com ty-First Century: Contemporary Issues and

56 ■ the traditionalist Attain spiritual calm amid suffering, anxiety, or daily emotional trials

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Catholic Bishops Playing Politics

By Joseph D’Agostino rancis and the bishops may wherever they may be, and not building be preparing for The Resis- bridges, is not Christian. This is not tance. They are not prepar- the Gospel.” He could only have been ing to Resist the ever-ex- referring to the “big beautiful wall” panding abridgments of that Trump had pledged to build on the religious liberty, such as the censorship southern border—and Francis made no Fof students who wish to offer prayers reference to plans to remove the Vat- or bakers who do not wish to assist in ican wall or other security measures the celebration of a same-sex ceremony. They are not standing with those who oppose the mutilation of children into imitations of the opposite sex, or with those who lose their employment for I did a little searching expressing politically incorrect Biblical views, or with those fighting unconsti- online, and it seems tutional U.S. Supreme Court decisions that the garden of the authorizing the wholesale slaughter of millions of unborn children until the Jesuit Curia in Rome is moment before birth. Rather, Francis and his men are resisting the plans of surrounded by a wall. the Trump Administration to enforce America’s decades-old immigration laws—enforcement supported by the majority of the American people in that keep the undesired out of the Holy poll after poll. See. Trump famously wishes to make What is at stake is twofold: (1) Does Mexico pay for the wall, and perhaps the United States have a right to deport Francis meant to condemn this when foreign nationals in this country ille- he said on February 8, “In the social gally? and (2) Will the Church under- and civil context as well, I appeal not mine law enforcement in this area? to create walls, but to build bridges…. Francis himself, ever the politi- To defeat evil with good, the offense cal provocateur, set the tone when he with forgiveness. A Christian would intervened in the U.S. election cam- never say ‘you will pay for that.’ Never.” paign—more blatantly than Putin— Taken spiritually, this is contrary to by saying last year when asked about the many passages in the New Testa- Trump’s immigration ideas, “A person ment in which sinners are informed of who thinks only about building walls, their punishment to come, and as for 58 Catholic Bishops Playing Politics ■ by Joseph D’Agostino matters in this life—such as financing coming from the head of a powerful else, apparently, but I am glad that sup- the construction of a wall—it seems and global all-male society. posedly useless walls keep them away that economic transactions involving It remains to be seen how much from the rest of us, as hierarchal as that Christians would come to an end if this Resistance the American bishops may sound. precept were observed. Perhaps Fran- engage in, but two dozen of them signed The Message instructs, “Raids and cis’ statements should be taken no more the Message from Modesto, a dreary Trump Administration Executive seriously than some of Trump’s own city in agricultural northern Cali- Orders are scapegoating immigrants off-the-cuff remarks? and ripping families apart…. We urge Yet some authorities of our Holy every faith community, including every Church seem to take them seriously Catholic parish, to declare themselves indeed. The new Superior General of a sanctuary for people facing deporta- Francis’ order, Jesuit Father Arturo The bishops intend tion....” For those aliens here illegally, Sosa, told ANSA on March 8, 2017, may I suggest that they can avoid deal- that the wall and Trump’s restrictions to organize on the ing with American law enforcement on travel from some Muslim-majority ground, saying, “We by returning to their home countries? Middle Eastern countries are “against “We must put our bodies, money the values of the Americans and the propose meetings of and institutional power at risk to values of the Christians.” Referenc- protect our families and communi- ing Europe’s refugee crisis as well, he popular movements in ties, using tools that include boycotts, said, “So walls are inhumane. Then, the strikes, and non-violent civil disobedi- intention of closing is useless, because each of our states.” ence,” says the Message. The bishops there are so many holes in any wall you intend to organize on the ground, say- put up.” ing, “We propose meetings of popular I did a little searching online, and fornia, together with Cardinal Peter movements in each of our states over it seems that the garden of the Jesuit Turkson, prefect of the drearier-sound- the next six months….” Curia in Rome is surrounded by a wall. ing for Promoting Integral Not all bishops want their churches Father Sosa did not mention when this Human Development. The February used as sanctuaries. Francis’ Arch- useless wall would come down or when 19, 2017 statement was produced by the bishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Muslim refugees would be allowed to World Meeting of Popular Movements, Cupich, wrote to his priests on Febru- live in the lovely garden. I also have one of Francis’ initiatives. I could find ary 28, just nine days after the Message’s been unable to find explanations no evidence that any members of the promulgation, “[W]e stand together from Francis or Father Sosa of why movement that elected Trump, which is in solidarity with many of our parish- the Vatican and the Jesuit Curia can certainly as popular in America as any- ioners who are deeply troubled by keep out the undesired—and remove thing the World Meeting represents, the recent executive orders related to those who enter without invitation— was included. With the overall tenor immigration.” But he stopped short but American citizens cannot keep of an updated excerpt from the Com- of endorsing illegal action, cautioning, out and remove those who enter their munist Manifesto, the Message contains “We have not named our churches as territory without permission. In the some statements all Catholics should ‘sanctuaries’ solely because it would be meantime, many walls protect nations endorse but also bizarre, anti-Catho- irresponsible to create false hope that with undoubted effectiveness—the one lic, and nonsensical idolatries of equal- we can protect people from law-en- between Israel and the Palestinians ity such as, “Racism and all forms of forcement actions, however unjust being the most obvious recent exam- human hierarchy, whether based on or inhumane we may view them to ple. Perhaps Father Sosa’s statements skin color, gender, sexual orientation, be. Moreover, immigration law does on this issue should be taken no more physical ability, arrest and conviction impose criminal penalties and fines seriously than his praise of efforts to records, immigration status, religion for anyone who conceals, harbors or achieve “global gender parity,” as ANSA or ethnicity are immoral.” Convicted shields from detection, in any place, put it, which must have sounded odd murderers are just as good as anyone an alien who has come to, entered or

summer 2017 ■ 59 Getting Real remains in the United States in viola- are not rational acts…. In fact, threat- the right to immigrate subject to vari- tion of the law.” ening the so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ ous juridical conditions, especially with Picking up the theme, Cardinal Don- with the withdrawal of federal funding regard to the immigrants’ duties toward ald Wuerl told the Washington Post on for vital services such as healthcare, their country of adoption. Immigrants March 2, “’When we use the word sanc- education and transportation will not are obliged to respect with gratitude tuary, we have to be very careful that reduce immigration.” the material and spiritual heritage of we’re not holding out false hope. We Notice, however, the moderate lan- the country that receives them, to obey wouldn’t want to say, “Stay here, we’ll guage in contrast to the radical Mes- its laws and to assist in carrying civic protect you,”’ he said.” But he wants sage from Modesto and the rejection burdens” (Catholic Catechism, 2241). illegal immigrants to stay, he said. or non-endorsement of using churches Perhaps this includes laws regulat- The U.S. Conference of Catholic as sanctuaries and civil disobedience. ing the orderly admission of foreign Bishops is on record opposing Trump’s The bishops will split on how to deal citizens, who already have available to order to deny federal funding to cit- with Trump’s attempt to enforce immi- them, under U.S. law, one of the most ies that defy federal immigration law. gration laws and secure the southern generous legal immigration systems Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas border against human trafficking, drug in the world. and chairman of the USCCB Commit- and gun running, and organized crime. tee on Migration, said in a statement Even the USCCB acknowledges that January 26, 2017, “This order would although the Catechism of the Catholic Joseph D’Agostino is Assistant force all jurisdictions to accept a one- Church says that affluent nations have Professor of Law at Savannah Law size-fits-all regime that might not be a duty to welcome foreigners, it also School. The views he expresses are best for their particular jurisdictions.” says, “Political authorities, for the sake his alone and do not represent those Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark said, of the common good for which they are of any institution or other person. “Closing borders and building walls responsible, may make the exercise of M onica

60 ■ the traditionalist Save “Extremely“Extremel yvaluable valuab lcompendiume compendium of o Biblef Bib lpassages”e passage s” 60% for the seriouforsly theill. —seriouslyMsgr. Ignac iill.o Ba —Msgr.rreiro, R Ignacioome Di Barreirorector, Human Life International This collection of the favorite 73 Scripture excerpts of the founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Frederick Ozanam, has long and inexplicably been out of print. Help us, please, to keep it very much in print for Catholics in the 21st century who might have fallen out of touch with the Church's traditional teaching on sickness and death. With a substantial introduction by noted Archdiocese of New York professor, translator and priest Joseph Bruneau, this beautiful cloth-bound volume lends itself to simple spiritual reading--a little each day--or prayerful meditation, just as it was employed by Frederick Ozanam himself in his waning years. Featured: Quotations Divided Into Sections ! All the key Old and New Testament passages 1. The Foundations of Faith & Hope on serious illness and suffering 2. The Sick in the Old Testament ! Each one itemized in a Table of Contents 3. Counsels, Sentiments of Piety, & Prayers and briefly described 4. The Sick in the New Testament 5. Introduction !$19.95 hardcover edition with gold leaf embossing Pay Only $7.98 Sample topics Origin of suffering & death...Christ will raise up everyone who believeth in him...Job's misfortunes, complaints, hopes, cure...How to accept God's trials for us...Fear not death...Trust in God...Taking consolations in our own past acts of charity...Preparation for the Sacraments...Longing for Heaven in the midst of our suffering...Convalescence...Compassion of Our Lord for the sick...Christ's wondrous cures...He endows his apostles with power to heal the sick...And they do so; passages here rendered... the sick...Last prayer. Going nowhere on the path to spiritual and moral improvement? Save 60% Unfortunately, too many of us gloss over “the basics”, warns Fr. Philip E. Dion, a renowned spiritual director for priests and religious in the 1930s. Predictable result? The return of lassitude, discouragement and bad habits. The remedies are to be found in this step-by-step guide: ! How to conquer the natural human inertia which prevents one from living a more perfect life ! The form Basic of self-deception that is nearly always at the root of our failures to grow in holiness ! How purity of intention can mean the difference between success and failure in spiritual matters. Simple tests for measuring Spiritual it, and practical ways to further purify it ! Methods for cultivating the “fundamental dispositions” that are Means most conducive to prayer ! Most effective ways to identify, isolate, and conquer one’s “predominant fault”— the habitual weakness that spawns most of our other spiritual and moral difficulties ! The value of using a “reminder of the day” ! Find yourself “doing all the talking” during prayer? ! 15 false motives for obedience, 5 for true obedience ! How we should handle suffering brought upon us by others ! The Philip E. Dion, C.M. antitode to spiritual discouragement! How much time should you spend examining your conscience? ! The practice overlooked after confession ! Humility: what it really means ! 3 attitudes to take toward humiliations ! How to create—and keep to—a schedule of daily prayer ! Do you do the necessary $19.95, hardcover preparation for prayer? Pay Only $7.98 FREE The “Usefulness” of Temptations by P. J. Michel, S.J. with your Looking for more effective ways to deal with flaws or temptations? Fr. Michel’s wisdom helps: purchase of Different temptations are encountered by different types of personalities...Which temptations to either book meet with confidence...Temptations to despise and forget...Deriving a means for sanctification from temptations...much more. Reg. price $5.95. Yours FREE with your purchase of either book here.

Roman Catholic Books • P.O. Box 2286 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-2286 • Phone: 970-490-2735 • Fax: 970-493-8781 • BooksforCatholics.com TITLE QUANTITY PRICE TOTAL J The Bible for The Sick $7.98 J Basic Spiritual Means $7.98 J The “Usefulne s s ” o f T e m p t a t i o n s F R E E w i t h t h i s o r d e r F R EE Please use campaign code TLM714A when you order on our website Subtotal $ www.BooksforCatholics.com. This will ensure your discount. Please add $3 postage & handling for each order $3.00 TOTAL $ Name Charge my J VISA J MasterCard Address # Exp. City State Zip Telephone Signature

J Send me emails about new products/special offers. My email address: Both John Paul ll and Pope Francis have warned about Satan’s growing influence 50% Off

The Pope has issued an unusually blunt warning about Why we are much more vulnerable to the snares of daily temptations of the devil: evil than our first parents, Adam and Eve The three types of “concupiscence” (proclivity to sin) “The devil, the ‘prince of this world,’ even today against which we must constantly guard continues his insidious actions. Each and every man ... T wo great events in history reveal the evil one is tempted by the devil when he least expects it.” How we know from Scripture that temptation is Providentially, perhaps, that is the exact theme of Fr. Livio lifelong Fanzaga’s The Deceiver: Our Daily Battle with Satan— Why fallen angels were never forgiven the top-selling religious book in Italy in 2000, now in How Satan hides himself behind people and events English from Roman Catholic Books. Fr. Fanzaga, the Special sources of strength, when we feel abandoned Rome-educated and Vatican-endorsed writer and director by God of Europe’s largest Catholic radio network, warns: One “dangerous illusion” that sometimes Efforts to soft-pedal the reality and continuous threat accompanies victories over temptation of the devil have left many Catholics “unarmed and Quality softcover, Remarkable parallels between modern ideologies like liberalism and Eve’s belief she would be acquiring unprepared” to resist him. $22.95 $11.50 “wisdom” But the question is: How does Satan tempt and deceive us? Satan as “counselor”: how he deceives us with “advice” from How can we see through him, and resist him? friends, acquaintances, even family Drawing dazzlingly from Scripture, tradition, saints’ lives, and his The Spiritual Masters: what their reflections and teachings pastoral experience, Fr. Fanzaga supplies practical answers: reveal about the human experience of temptation The “hissing of the serpent”: how to recognize—and be ready Widespread misconceptions about Satan, his methods and his for—the precise moment when temptation springs up powers (shared by not a few devout Catholics) The trap of discouragement How Satan “personalizes” temptations to take advantage of The seven capital vices, and their linkage to temptation your peculiar weaknesses Three ways Satan impedes repentance itself Two “fundamental activities” of Satan, seen in Scripture T rue vs. false supernatural phenomena: principles and The False Benefactor: how Satan always has something guidelines for discernment seemingly “good” to offer at the moment of temptation Satan’s strength: not to be underestimated—but limited in one How individual corruption by sin can pass through families all-important way How Satan takes advantage of human desire for happiness The first (and most potent) defense against the evil one PLUS: How Satan tempts you with (and how to resist): How good angels will prompt us towards doing good Neglect of God and Prayer • Attachment to Material Things Why does God permit an experience—temptation—that could • Worries and the Anxieties of Life • Distrust • Complaining lead to our defeat? • Blasphemy • Irritability • Misunderstanding • Lack of Reciprocal How God not only permits, but limits temptations Acceptance • Infidelity • Immodesty • Lust • Curiosity • Gossip How our culture conditions our thoughts and actions, even for • Foul Language • Deception • Injustice • Dishonesty those of us who resist its message • Vanity and Pride • Jealousy and Envy • The Refusal to Forgive Temptation of Eden: what it reveals about the ways of Satan • Misuse of Free Time • Television and Entertainment The Serpent’s lies to Eve: each a crucial step in her seduction. How they are all loudly echoed in our culture today How Our Lord faced His adversary in the desert (and the clear lessons here, for us) Order e Deceiver today The tempting illusion that death is still very far away Why Satan does not challenge God directly Why Genesis represents Satan as a serpent at 50% o regular price! Meaning of other Biblical images of Satan—such as the roaring lion and the furious dragon

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