Homosexualism = Theophobia

Pope Benedict states, in the below citation from a 2005 Address, that the homosexual agenda promoting the confusion and immorality of homosexualism is ultimately an attack on the reality of God, being a contradiction of reality itself. It is an attempt to destroy God the Author and Guarantor of reality.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters, [the] profound bond between God and man, between the love of God and human love, is...confirmed by some negative tendencies and developments, whose weight we all experience. The degradation of human love, the suppression of the authentic capacity to love appears in our time as the most effective weapon for man to crush God, to remove God from man's sight and heart. However, the desire to 'liberate' God's nature makes one lose sight of the very reality of nature, including man's nature, reducing it to an enable of functions, which can be disposed of according to one's pleasure to build a so-called better world and a happier humanity. But on the contrary, the plan of the Creator is destroyed as is the truth of our nature."

In the first part of that same Address he clearly condemns the anarchy which is being promoted in the name of freedom:

"The different forms of the dissolution of marriage, as well as free unions and 'trial marriage,' including the pseudo-marriage between persons of the same sex, are on the contrary expressions of an anarchic freedom that appears erroneously as man's authentic liberation. A pseudo-freedom like this is based on a banalization of the body, which inevitably includes the banalization of man."

Homosex is a Sin

SOME CITATIONS FROM SACRED TRADITION ON HOMOSEXUALITY

Tertullian (2nd century): All other frenzies of lusts which exceed the laws of nature and are impious toward both bodies and the sexes we banish…from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities.” (De pudicitia, IV).

The Council of Elvira (305-306) excluded from communion, even in articulo mortis, the
corrupters of boys…

The Council of Ancyra (314) established penances of at least 15 years for sodomy

St. John Chrysostom (4th century): “… There is nothing, absolutely nothing more mad
or damaging than this perversity.” (Homilia in Epistula Pauli ad Romanos)

The Third Lateran Oecumenical Council (1179) decreed: “Anyone caught in the
practice of the sin against nature, on account of which the wrath of God was unleashed upon the children of disobedience (Eph. 5:6), if he is a cleric, let him be demoted from his state and kept in reclusion in a monastery to do penance; if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated and kept rigorously distant from the communion of the faithful.

Saint Albert the Great (12th to 13th c) gives four reasons for condeming homosexuality: they are born from an ardent frenzy; they are disgustingly foul; those who become addicted to them are seldom freed from that vice; they are as contagious as disease, passing quickly from one person to another. (In Evangelium Lucae XVII, 29).

St. Thomas Aquinas (13th c): Just as the ordering of right reason proceeds from man, so the order of nature is from God Himself: wherefore in sins contrary to nature, whereby the very order of nature is violated, an injury is done to God, the Author of nature. Hence Augustine says (Conf. iii, 8): Those foul offenses that are against nature should be everywhere and at all times detested and punished, such as were those of the people of Sodom, which should all nations commit, they should all stand guilty of the same crime, by the law of God, which hath not so made men that they should so abuse one another…(ST II, II, Q. 154, a. 12, Reply Obj. 1)

Saint Catherine of Siena (14th c) recorded a mystical locution from Our Lord in which
He said: “For Me, this sin against nature is so abominable that, for it alone, five cities were submersed, by virtue of the judgment of My Divine Justice, which could no longer bear them…”

Pope Saint Pius V on April 1, 1566, during his attempt to counter Renaissance
homosexuality, ordered those guilty to be abandoned to the secular arm.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law punished guilty priests, saying: “Let them be declared infamous and suspended from every post, benefit, dignity, deprived of their eventual stipend and, in the gravest cases, let them be deposed” (Canon 2359, par.2).

Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, Chapter Two

The second chapter is more complicated than the first, but basically there are three points:

1) The Temple disappeared because it's purpose in salvation history was accomplished: Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

2) The Jews will be with us until the time appointed by God.

3) Any talk of the end of the world is properly focused on Christ. Christian vigilance and fidelity to Christ under trial is the main concern here: the urgency of following Him in this life. This is the theme of the Holy Father's encyclical on hope Spe Salvi--that heaven is a Person, and is personal; insofar as we are with Christ we are in heaven, and insofar as we are not with Christ we are lost and indeed doomed to confusion and auto-destruction: Hell, here and hereafter.

The End of the Temple: Christ

"[T]he early Church's conviction [was] that long before its outward destruction, the era of the Temple in salvation history had come to an end--as Jesus had declared with his references to the 'deserted house' and the new Temple...Saint Paul taught that the belief that all sacrifices are fulfilled in the Cross of Jesus Christ, that in him the underlying intention of all sacrifices is accomplished, namely expiation, that Jesus in this way has taken the place of the Temple, that he himself is the new Temple..." p. 38 In Romans 3:23-25 he says "'Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith...'"

The word expiation comes from the Greek hilasterion with the Hebrew equivalent kapporet "designating the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. This is the place over which YHWH appears in a cloud, the place of the mysterious presence of God. This holy place is sprinkled with the blood of the bull killed as a sin-offering on the Day of Atonement--the Yom ha-Kippurim (cf. Lev 16), 'whose life is offered up to God in place of the life forfeited by sinful men'...The thinking here is that the blood of the victim, into which all human sins are absorbed, actually touches the Divinity and is thereby cleansed--and in the process, human beings, represented by the blood, are also purified through this contact with God: an astonishing idea both in its grandeur and its incompleteness, an idea that could not remain the last word in the history of religions or the last word in the faith of Israel." p.39

"When Paul applies the word hilasterion to Jesus, designating him as the seal of the Ark of the Covenant and thus as the locus of the presence of the living God, the entire Old Testament theology of worship (and with it all the theologies of worship in the history of religions) is 'preserved and surpassed' [aufgehoben] and raised to a completely new level. Jesus himself is the presence of the living God. God and man, God and the world, touch one another in him. The meaning of the ritual of the Day of Atonement is accomplished in him. In his self-offering on the Cross, Jesus, as it were, brings all the sin of the world deep within the love of God and wipes it away. Accepting the Cross, entering into fellowship with Christ, means entering the realm of transformation and expiation...The risen Lord is the new Temple, the real meeting place between God and man..." p.39


The End of the World:Christ

"...First, we must of course note the element that is genuinely new: the coming Son of Man, of whom Daniel had spoken (7:13-14), without being able to give him personal features, is now identical with the Son of Man addressing the disciples. The old apocalyptic text is given a personalist dimension: at its heart we now find the person of Jesus himself, who combines into one the lived present into the mysterious future. The real 'event' is the person in whom, despite the passage of time, the present truly remains. In this person the future is already here. When all is said and done, the future will not place us in any other situation than the one to which our encounter with Jesus has already brought us..." p.50

"This personalistic focus, this transformation of the apocalyptic visions--which still corresponds to the inner meaning of the Old Testament images--is the original element in Jesus' teaching about the end of the world: this is what it is all about." p.51

Distinguishing Tendency and Act at the UN

Holy See Statement on "Sexual Orientation"


"Human Sexuality ... Is Not an 'Identity'"


GENEVA, MARCH 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is the address Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, permanent representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, delivered Tuesday at the 16th Session of the Human Rights Council on "sexual orientation."

* * *

Mr. President,
The Holy See takes this opportunity to affirm the inherent dignity and worth of all human beings, and to condemn all violence that is targeted against people because of their sexual feelings and thoughts, or sexual behaviors.

We would also like to make several observations about the debates regarding "sexual orientation."

First, there has been some unnecessary confusion about the meaning of the term "sexual orientation," as found in resolutions and other texts adopted within the UN human rights system. The confusion is unnecessary because, in international law, a term must be interpreted in accordance with its ordinary meaning, unless the document has given it a different meaning.[1] The ordinary meaning of "sexual orientation" refers to feelings and thoughts, not to behavior.[2]

Second, for the purposes of human rights law, there is a critical difference between feelings and thoughts, on the one hand, and behavior, on the other. A state should never punish a person, or deprive a person of the enjoyment of any human right, based just on the person's feelings and thoughts, including sexual thoughts and feelings. But states can, and must, regulate behaviors, including various sexual behaviors. Throughout the world, there is a consensus between societies that certain kinds of sexual behaviors must be forbidden by law. Pedophilia and incest are two examples.

Third, the Holy See wishes to affirm its deeply held belief that human sexuality is a gift that is genuinely expressed in the complete and lifelong mutual devotion of a man and a woman in marriage. Human sexuality, like any voluntary activity, possesses a moral dimension: It is an activity which puts the individual will at the service of a finality; it is not an "identity." In other words, it comes from the action and not from the being, even though some tendencies or "sexual orientations" may have deep roots in the personality. Denying the moral dimension of sexuality leads to denying the freedom of the person in this matter, and undermines ultimately his/her ontological dignity. This belief about human nature is also shared by many other faith communities, and by other persons of conscience.

And finally, Mr. President, we wish to call attention to a disturbing trend in some of these social debates: People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex. When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature, which may also be expressions of religious convictions, or state opinions about scientific claims, they are stigmatized, and worse -- they are vilified, and prosecuted. These attacks contradict the fundamental principles announced in three of the Council's resolutions of this session.[3] The truth is, these attacks are violations of fundamental human rights, and cannot be justified under any circumstances.

Thank you, Mr. President.

NOTES

[1] Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties, Article 31(1): "A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose" (emphasis added). Article 31(4): " A special meaning shall be given to a term if it is established that the parties so intended. " These rules of treaty interpretation are based on customary international law, and are applicable to "soft law."

[2] Moreover, many publications have given definitions of "sexual orientation," and all of the ones that we have seen are similar: they do not refer to behavior; they refer to sexual feelings and thoughts.

(1) "sexual orientation means the general attraction you feel towards" another person or persons. Equality Commission (The United Kingdom); See, www.equalityhumanrights.com, under "What does sexual orientation mean?

(2) "sexual orientation may be broadly defined as a preference for sexual partners …." International Labour Office, ABC of Women Workers' Rights and Gender Equality (2nd ed., 2007), p. 167). A "preference" is a mental-emotional state; it is not conduct.

(3) "sexual orientation refers to a person's sexual and emotional attraction to people …." Amnesty International, Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of Silence (Amnesty International Publications, London, 2001), p. vii (emphasis omitted).

(4) "'Sexual orientation' refers to each person's capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations …." Asia Pacific Forum, ACJ Report: Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (15th Annual Meeting, Bali, 3-5 Aug. 2010), p. 8.

[3] L-10 on freedom of opinion and expression; L.14 on freedom of religion or belief; L. 38 on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization.

New Life

Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2 is filled with provocative thought on taking Christ seriously in the modern world, with the modern mind, perhaps especially for the Jew, for those Jews of our day who are sincerely searching for the truth. It seems to me that the Holy Father's purpose with this work is to take the perspective, perhaps especially, of his Jewish readers, and to honestly answer their legitimate questions, so that they may believe, so that we may all believe more, in the one true God.

He is focusing on, and being especially sensitive to, the legitimate sensibilities of the Jewish people. In the introduction (p. xvi) he explicitly states that this is not just another presentation of the life of Christ.

He says that he is attempting to do what Saint Thomas Aquinas did in his treatise on the mysteries of the life of Jesus in the Summa Theologiae (S. Th. III, qq. 27-59), in a different historical and spiritual context, and therefore with a different inner objective which determines the structure of the text in essential ways: viz., trying to appeal to the modern disbelief. Pope Benedict uses the Enlightenment mentality with the Historical Critical Method to prove the truth of God, Jesus Christ, the Gospels and salvation. Saint Thomas Aquinas appropriated aristotelianism and answered the Islamic interpretations of Christ and of Aristotle. Pope Benedict is appropriating all of the post-enlightenment scientific rigor while answering the present day interpretations of Christ, which are most characteristically beset with woeful ignorance. So, in the process, he is educating the Jews on the deep and unadulterated meaning of Judaism, which many have perhaps forgotten. A Jew who does not know what the scripture says about Judaism cannot know anything about the coming of the Messiah, and, therefore, of the truth of God.

One of the Pope's numerous insights, which, since I read it a couple of days ago, has given me renewed evangelical enthusism and a largely different perspective, is his definition of eternal life. "'Eternal life' is life itself, real life, which can also be lived in the present age and is no longer challenged by physical death. This is the point: to seize "life" here and now, real life that can no longer be destroyed by anything or anyone...[A] distinguishing feature of the disciple of Jesus is the fact that he 'lives': beyond the mere fact of existing, he has found and embraced the real life that everyone is seeking. On the basis of such texts, the early Christians called themselves simply 'the living' (hoi zontes). They had found what all are seeking--life itself, full and, hence, indestructible life." p. 83

That idea is also present throughout the Old Testament. For example, the last verses of the book of Tobias (Douay Version) says: "[Tobias--the younger] saw his children's children to the fifth generation. And after he had lived ninety-nine years in the fear of the Lord, with joy they buried him. And all his kindred, and all his generations continued in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were acceptable both to God, and to men, and to all that dwelt in the land."

Life on earth should not, shall not, be drudgery for those who live the new life of God, viz. the life of Christ. Everything is a joy when you live for Him, even death! That is eternal life, that my life should depend on nothing except on the love of the one true God, my communion with Him in all things, starting in this life!!!...and, later, passing joyfully to the life hereafter, at His good will.

Prince of Peace

That is my title for the first chapter of Pope Benedict's newly published book Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2 (Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection), with my summary of the content below. The Holy Father's title of that first chapter is "The Entrance into Jerusalem and the Cleansing of the Temple"

Christ enters regally into Jerusalem and "cleanses the temple" not in violent revolution but peaceably. Because "[v]iolence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be. It serves, not humanity, but inhumanity...The cruel consequences of religiously motivated violence are only too evident to all." p.15

His fundamental purpose in cleansing the temple is to open a space for God in the world by "...remov[ing] whatever obstacles there may be to the common recognition and worship of God..." p.18 And He does that "...with the 'zeal' of self-giving love." p.22 His numerous Temple healings show "...the true cleansing of the Temple...Jesus brings his healing goodness...Jesus does not come as a destroyer." p.23

Jesus never killed anyone, nor encouraged the harming or killing of anyone, and healed everyone who came to Him for healing. "He reveals God as the one who loves and his power as the power of love." p.23 "The 'zeal' that would serve God through violence He transformed into the zeal of the Cross." p.22

The Two Wings of Prayer

Prayer has two wings. One is fasting and the other is alms.


"Lent...is a privileged time for prayer. St. Augustine says that fasting and almsgiving are 'the two wings of prayer,' which give it greater impulse to reach God. He states: 'In this way our prayer, made with humility and charity, in fasting and almsgiving, in temperance and the forgiveness of offenses, giving good things and not returning bad things, removing ourselves from evil and doing good, seeks peace and obtains it. With the wings of these virtues our prayer flies safely and is taken with greater certainty to heaven, where Christ, our peace, has preceded us' (Sermon 206, 3 on Lent: PL 38, 1042). "

(Quote from Pope Benedict XVI Ash Wednesday General Audience 9 March 2011)

El Sol de Buenos Aires

On my recent visit to Buenos Aires I happily noticed the ubiquitous town seal with the Holy Spirit hovering above with the brilliance of the Sun. Would that Argentina should be bathed once again by the light of the Holy Spirit and prosper in the light of it's foundational Catholic faith, in the light of Christ with the guidance of the Pope.

Andrew Cusack has an article on a hopeful Pilgrimage to Argentina's National Marian Shrine of Nuestra Senora de Lujan.

Wicca Teen Becomes Catholic

How a ‘teen witch’ found the Church

By Liz Dodd, UK Catholic Herald
2/20/2011
The Catholic Herald (UK) (www.catholicherald.co.uk/)

In her teens Elizabeth Dodd delved into the world of Wicca, casting spells and conjuring 'spirits'. Then one day she went to Mass in secret. 'One day I came across the Teen Witch Kit by Wiccan author Silver Ravenwolf. It comprised a thin introduction to witchcraft, a pop-up cardboard altar, charms (from a small bell to a pentacle necklace, the five-pointed emblem for Wicca). The book laid out the basic tenets of witchcraft and, crucially, the practice of "magick"


LONDON, England (UK Catholic Herald) - My parents bought me a cauldron for my 16th birthday. Providing no explanation, I had asked for that and a chalice. At a loss, mum suggested it would look nice outside with the geraniums.

My interest in Wicca began as I entered my teens. Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Danger, the booklet I wrote recently as part of the Catholic Truth Society's Explanations series, condenses - after some factual basics about the philosophy and practice of "white" witchcraft - the conversations I had with a Catholic friend and her family that eventually led to my conversion to the Catholic faith. The booklet has caused controversy on the blogosphere: it sold out on Amazon.com and cropped up on the websites of the Telegraph and Daily Mail. What began as a small document to inform Catholics about the realities of Wicca - eg that it isn't Satanism - appears to have re-ignited the persecution complex among Wiccans that I was hoping to diffuse.

I am concerned that as a culture, perhaps as a Church, we can too easily dismiss the spiritual needs of young people. In my family, religion was something to explore and debate. Both my parents are Oxford graduates and historians, my father a Doctor of Maths and Philosophy. His atheism prevailed over my mother's Anglicanism, and neither I nor my sister were baptised.

One day I came across the Teen Witch Kit by Wiccan author Silver Ravenwolf. It comprised a thin introduction to witchcraft, a pop-up cardboard altar, charms (from a small bell to a pentacle necklace, the five-pointed emblem for Wicca). The book laid out the basic tenets of witchcraft and, crucially, the practice of "magick". Wiccan spell casting is governed by two ethics: karma (that what you send out will return threefold) and "an' it harm none, do what you will". I cast my first spell, for protection, when my mother travelled abroad for a work trip: it was the first time she'd been in an aeroplane. As a teenager, with only a limited amount of say in what I'd have for dinner, for example, the idea of unmitigated supernatural power, coupled with such a self-governed morality, was very appealing.

My interest in Wicca increased, even in the face of frequent magickal failure. In the booklet I suggest that Wicca can be an important stage in spiritual growth for a young person. Like many of my generation, I was looking for a religious home. Wicca is far removed from mainstream western religion; it has no hierarchy or clergy, no central texts or commandments. It is a framework upon which young, spiritually hungry people can construct a religious identity independent of their parents. Wicca suited me because it was, quite literally, an unorthodox religious choice. I embraced the Wiccan "holy days" and the duotheism - belief in a goddess and god - that underpinned them. I lobbied my school to include "Wicca" as an option on their registration database; I gave presentations in Religious Studies classes about the heroines of modern witchcraft.

But within a year I had exhausted the canon of literature marketed to teenage Wiccans. An innate respect for history, if not tradition, led to an uncomfortable awareness that the religion as I knew it had existed for little over 20 years, and had manifestly been created by people. I began to study Wicca's older literature: books written by Gerald Gardner, the witch who ostensibly re-introduced Britain to witchcraft and others of his circle (literally and figuratively), including the notorious Victorian occultist Aleister Crowley. I learned about ceremonial magic, branched out into the Jewish Kabbalah and familiarised myself with H P Blavatsky's works on Theosophy. I bought a book about self-initiation into the Golden Dawn tradition - a quasi-Masonic occult order - and began to follow the steps toward its first grade. But my interest in politics, environmentalism and feminism had expanded beyond the questions Wicca could address. If the earth was a deity, did earthquakes suggest she was malicious? Worse, despite some feminist trappings, the occult witchcraft I was studying was at core misogynistic. Crowley wrote some unpleasant things about women; in the works of Anton LaVey, the self-appointed Satanist and a friend of Crowley's, I encountered rants about women's intellectual inferiority.

Finally, inevitably, about three years into my study of witchcraft - like any teenager who has ever played with a Ouija board - I became convinced I had communicated with a "spirit" whom I had failed to banish. The accompanying sense of dread lasted for weeks. A Catholic schoolfriend wrote out the Hail Mary for me - I'd never heard it before - and suggested I say it when I felt spiritually threatened. I stopped practising witchcraft soon afterwards.

My subsequent conversion to Catholicism was gradual. I had been exposed for years to the best means of evangelisation in the Church: the example of a generous, loving Catholic family (the parents and siblings of my schoolfriend) who were ready to argue philosophy over the dinner table. I had always known my friend was a better Catholic than I was a Wiccan. She took my foray into witchcraft with a seriousness that I didn't, challenging me intellectually and morally. She lent me books to explain her Christianity; out of loyalty, I fought her side in the RS lessons in which she was the only vocal Christian. I went to Mass with her family on the eve of a school trip we were taking together. Finally, I sent her a faltering, confused email about where I was, spiritually. Her discretion and her patience were inspiring: it took another three years until I was received into the Catholic Church.

By then I was a fiercely Left-wing, politically active Buddhist vegan: rumours of my conversion would have startled most of my schoolmates. Recognising this, we kept the process low-key. I would accompany her family to the Easter Vigil, amazed by the beauty of the liturgy. I began attending Mass after school, in secret. My life was turbulent. I'd sit in the peace of the Church until the last person was leaving. I realised that the spiritual core of the Buddhism I was trying to practise was Catholicism. I believed in God. From the example of the Catholic family I had grown up around, I believed that Catholicism made you a better person, that it increased your capacity to love.

Soon after leaving school, in my gap year before university, my schoolfriend put me in touch with a wonderful priest. We met almost every week; I studied the Catechism and he, somehow, managed to handle the demands of an intellectually stubborn teenager about to leave to study Theology at Cambridge. After a year's catechesis I realised that nothing intellectual or spiritual separated me from a faith to which I had never imagined I would subscribe. I was baptised and received into the Church at the Easter Vigil - my schoolfriend was my sponsor and "fairy godmother".

My experience of neo-pagans had in fact been largely positive: many Wiccans are intelligent, kind, sincere people. Wicca attempts to meet the needs of a generation terrified of hypocrisy: if even our coffee is Fairtrade, a faith needs to be outstanding to convince us. I was now surrounded by outstanding Catholics; as a Catholic, I know the example I should be setting.

Wicca was an important step in a spiritual journey that led me to Catholicism, but when I was asked to write about it in a booklet, written by a Catholic for Catholics, I felt it would be irresponsible not to mention its inherent dangers - not least the lack of a real support structure. Wicca may be adaptable and relevant; but ultimately I found it intellectually and spiritually unfulfilling.

I still struggle with and face challenges in my faith; I know there are areas I need to better understand. But you can love a work of art without translating every reference. If it is beautiful enough, you can accept that there are elements you won't understand until you meet the artist. The values that brought me into Wicca - ecological, feminist, pacifist - are addressed more deeply by the Catholic Church. It is our responsibility as Catholics to let young people know that these are issues we care about, questions which are posed and answered throughout salvation history.

I passed the cauldron on to my sister: she stores magazines in it.

Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Danger by Elizabeth Dodd is available from the CTS, priced £1.95

Edify

It is much easier to scramble an egg than to unscramble it.

Criticism is cheap; counsel is laborious.

Strive to unscramble the world.

Schedule for Beatification of Blessed John Paul II

The Vatican has released a schedule of events for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, outlining “a major ecclesial event” that will be divided into 5 separate ceremonies.


•On Saturday evening, April 30, a prayer vigil will be organized by the Rome diocese in the Circus Maximus. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the vicar for Rome, will preside; Pope Benedict XVI will participate by a video link to the Vatican.

•The beatification ceremony will take place in St. Peter’s Square beginning at 10 on Sunday morning, May 1. The Vatican has already announced that no tickets will be required for the ceremony, which is expected to draw 2 million people or more. However the announcement notes that “access to the square and surrounding areas will be regulated by the police.”

•Immediately following the ceremony itself, the remains of Pope John Paul II will be exposed for veneration in St. Peter’s basilica, in front of the Altar of Confession, “for as long as the faithful continue to arrive.”

•On Monday, May 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, will preside at a Mass of thanksiving in St. Peter’s Square.

•Finally, the remains of Blessed John Paul II will be re-interred in the Vatican basilica: in the chapel of St. Sebastian, near the main doorway. This ceremony will be held privately, the Vatican has indicated.

Police will undoubtedly close streets near the Vatican as the time of the beatification approaches, and even pedestrian traffic will be slow on the morning of May 1. Security measures and procedures for gaining access to St. Peter’s Square will be announced as the date approaches.

MSNBC PRO-ABORTION ADVERTISEMENT

The network is airing an incendiary advertisement explicitly maligning the pro-life stance as anti-woman, with the worn out and patently erroneous argument of making abortion "safe."

"Safe abortion" is an oxymoron! Legal abortion kills women and abuses girls and distorts femininity, in addition to destroying maternity in the destruction of the child. It is anti-woman and anti-girl and especially anti-mother; not just anti-baby, though it is also that.

The point in all of this is that pregnancy is a relationship, a personal relationship. Abortion destroys the relationship in destroying one (and at times, both) persons in that most intimate maternal, filial relationship. When that relationship is violently destroyed both persons are violated and damaged.

Abortion is against women and especially against the most innocent women, the young women, the girls, and it is a cover-up for the abuse of women, especially minors. Abuse of women is the major cause of abortion! It is false and deceptive, not to mention, way out-dated, to portray it as their salvation: "safe."

Go to liveaction.org for exposure of Planned Parenthood's conspiracy against women.

Muting the Screen

In line with the last blog entry, I suggest a new function on television and video controls: a "mute" for the screen. In other words, to facilitate home censorship of gratuitous sex scenes on the screen, we need (and have long needed) a "shield", "screen", or "block" button to blacken the screen (at will) during the sexually explicit scenes.

A more advanced form of the same thing would be to have a firewall feature built in to all videos and all television programing to make them decency friendly with one press of a button, sort of like what is already widely available for the Internet.

At the very least, what the ubiquitous mute button is for the audio, we also need for the video a "shield" button.


This could greatly facilitate seeing Jesus in our home theater for "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God". It could also help create a safer home environment especially for the youth.

Censored Cinema Need

What might be of great use would be a sort of league of decency to clean up the blockbuster films and market them under a trademark such as "Decency Films". Perhaps EWTN or even Vatican Television could do that.

This is necessary and, with digital technology, should be very easy. Excise the gratuitous sex scenes from many of the top movies world-wide and you would open the cinematic world to many men and women who hitherto refuse to watch, show or promote those very films because of their indecency and pornographic scenes. Opening that world to holy people might increase the involvement and influence of virtuous people on that world, which is presently so corrupt.

Volume 2 Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth second volume is coming to bookstores on 10 March, published in English by Ignatius Press. The theme is the final phase of Christ's life on earth: His passion, death and resurrection.

The Holy Father, a world-wide best selling author, is meanwhile working on Volume 3 of Jesus of Nazareth which will treat the infancy of the Lord: drawing from Matthew and Luke texts on the annunciation and nativity narratives.

This information comes from Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli's great Italian blog.

Condoms are Bad for Your Health

That was basically the corrective message of Pope Benedict en-route to Africa a couple of years ago and more recently in his comments in Light of the World. The point is that condoms do not technically prevent sexually transmitted diseases, and, more importantly, their use damages the very logic of true love (which is all or nothing) and thereby kills people interiorly (in the depths of their beings [the soul]). That is what we call mortal sin. An act such as condomastic sex is mortally sinful because it destroys the person interiorly and the interior destruction has exterior consequences, viz. venereal disease.

Cardinal Ratzinger clearly made these points in his 29 May 1988 letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the full text which I include below.

On "The Many Faces of AIDS"
Letter to Archbishop Pio Laghi
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
May 29, 1988

The lively discussion, widened and sometimes distorted by the press worldwide, which followed the publication of the NCCB Administrative Board's well-known document, "The Many Faces of AIDS," and in which were involved distinguished representatives of the episcopate, has generated in many of the faithful, and not only in the United States, a good deal of confusion regarding the authentic Catholic position on the moral problems involved. The Holy See wishes, therefore, to express its deep concern that the unity so necessary among the bishops in the teaching of Christian moral doctrine be clearly and publicly demonstrated.

In the first place, and on a more general level, one must keep in mind the problem posed by the worldwide reaction which accompanies certain documents issued by various episcopal conferences. This requires a particular sense of responsibility and prudence in the choice of themes to be treated and in the manner in which these statements are published, not to mention a careful composition of the texts themselves. At least in some cases, when the subjects under discussion are of interest to the universal church, it would seem advisable to consult in advance with the Holy See.

Secondly, regarding the precise moral issue in question here, I want to draw attention to the clarification which appeared in the March 10 edition of L'Osservatore Romano, in an unsigned article entitled "Prevention of AIDS: Christian Ethical Aspect," and I quote,

"To seek a solution to the problem of infection by promoting the use of prophylactics would be to embark on a way not only insufficiently reliable from the technical point of view, but also and above all, unacceptable from the moral aspect. Such a proposal for 'safe' or at least 'safer' sex -- as they say -- ignores the real cause of the problem, namely, the permissiveness which, in the area of sex as in that related to other abuses, corrodes the moral fiber of the people."

In the case here under discussion, it hardly seems pertinent to appeal to the classical principle of tolerance of the lesser evil on the part of those who exercise responsibility for the temporal good of society. In fact, even when the issue has to do with educational programs promoted by the civil government, one would not be dealing simply with a form of passive toleration but rather with a kind of behavior which would result in at least the facilitation of evil.

The problem of educational programs in specifically Catholic schools and institutions requires particular attention. These facilities are called to provide their own contribution for the prevention of AIDS, in full fidelity to the moral doctrine of the church, without at the same time engaging in compromises which may even give the impression of trying to condone practices which are immoral, for example, technical instructions in the use of prophylactic devices.

In a society which seems increasingly to downgrade the value of chastity, conjugal fidelity and temperance, and to be preoccupied sometimes almost exclusively with physical health and temporal well-being, the Church's responsibility is to give that kind of witness which is proper to her, namely an unequivocal witness of effective and unreserved solidarity with those who are suffering and, at the same time, a witness of defense of the dignity of human sexuality which can only be realized within the context of moral law. It is likewise crucial to note, as the board statement does, that the only medically safe means of preventing AIDS are those very types of behavior which conform to God's law and to the truth about man which the church has always taught and today is still called courageously to teach.

I am confident that these considerations, which are known to His Holiness and have his fullest support, will be welcomed by the cardinal and bishop members of the conference and I wish to express my sincerest hope for a successful conclusion of this important meeting of the entire episcopate of the United States."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Prefect, Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Great Films From Around the World

Yesterday, having watched "Adam's Apples" (Denmark, 2002) I concluded that it was among the best movies I had ever seen in it's technical quality combined with it's deep intellectual creative genius--and no nudity or sex scenes!!!


This movie is one of hundreds of selections distributed by Film Movement (based in New York) which seeks to give wider access to the top films from the worlds' top film festivals. Bravo, Film Movement!


A word of caution regarding the nudity in many of their offerings, which is typically limited to one or two skip-able scenes.


Where did I find this resource? My local library!


P.S. This post replies to a previous post.

There Be Dragons

In New York last Wednesday evening I saw a pre-release screening of There Be Dragons. It is a most secular movie. In fact, it is probably the most secular movie you'll ever see about a saint. That is my assessment.

I would say that it is an honest portrayal of a saint as he might be viewed by a non-believer, and can therefore be very effective for our time. Every agnostic, atheist or any non-Christian or lukewarm Christian should see it. It is not a religious movie though religion is featured in it. It is extraordinary for it's lack of triumphalism and it's lack of clericalism. It is a testimony to the unobtrusiveness of holiness. The saint never draws unnecessary attention to himself. This movie is remarkable in that the saint simply passes by without any flare, so that, if you don't pay close attention, you won't even notice that he was there or what his presence did. The bar is very low here. The message is that a saint (like Christ) does none harm and is only humbly trying to help fix a very broken world in which everyone needs to cooperate for the necessary repair. And he does not need center stage to do it!

This movie very well portrays what is said of Christ in Matthew 12:15-21.

"Jesus withdrew from the place; and many followed him and he cured them all, and warned them not to make him known; that what was spoken through Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled, who said, 'Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will declare judgment to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle, nor cry aloud, neither will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking wick he will not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory; and in his name will the Gentiles hope.'"

The Conversion of Saint Paul

You don't really know God until you know Jesus.

You don't really know the Truth until you know Jesus.

You don't really know how to love--what love is--until you love Jesus, until you experience His mercy and love for you.

And if you love Him you must love His Church: the Body of believers: His Body.

He identifies (Himself) with His followers: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? (Acts. 9:4)

If you hate and malign and oppose the Church you hate and malign and oppose God!--"You did it to Me." (Matt. 25:40)

Love, defend, support and promote all things Catholic--to love Christ as Saint Paul does!

Preaching Funerals

A friend recently summed up the purpose of the funeral sermon with this short sample of a most direct (and, of course, undeliverable) sermon.

It is important at this funeral Mass to pray for N., who is in the box (pointing to the casket); that is very important; it is essential, in fact.

But the greatest reason I am preaching to you is to remind you that we are all going to end up in the box!

Prepare your soul for death with a holy life.

The 1962 Burial Service Rite has a prayer with the same idea somewhat more eloquently expressed in the PRAYERS FOR THE BYSTANDERS AT THE GRAVE.

Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that whilst we lament the departure of our brother/sister, Thy servant out of this life, we may bear in mind that we are most certainly to follow him/her. Give us grace to make ready for that last hour by a devout and holy life, and protect us against a sudden and unprovided death. Teach us how to watch and pray that when Thy summons comes, we may go forth to meet the Bridegroom and enter with Him into life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Holy Family Compass

Saint Joseph is the compass of the Holy Family. The angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and directs him to fly with his family to Egypt, and again later, revealing to him the time of the return from Egypt. And, on the return, Saint Joseph weighs the new political situation and decides where to settle the family: Nazareth.


God did all of that through the head of the Holy Family: Saint Joseph. His adoptive Son was perfect as was his wife (the Immaculate Conception and ever Virgin Mary) and yet both needed to obediently follow Saint Joseph for, as the husband and putative father, he was chosen to lead them. (cf. Matthew 2:13-23 [the Gospel for today's Mass: The Feast of the Holy Family])


Every husband and every father is called by God to lead his family under God; and his wife and children should follow him in everything except sin; for God himself has placed him as the family compass, as is so clear in the Holy Family.

God Offers Us Freedom From Whatever Weighs Us Down

HOLY FATHER'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE AIRED ON THE PROGRAM "THOUGHT FOR THE DAY" OF THE BBC , 24 DECEMBER 2010

On the morning of Christmas Eve the BBC of London transmitted a radio message, recorded last Wednesday, by the Holy Father Benedict XVI for the "Thought of the Day" program, in which, recalling his September visit, the Pope sends Christmas greetings to the citizens of the United Kingdom and to all listeners. Here is the transcript of the message.


THE HOLY FATHER'S MESSAGE

Recalling with great fondness my four-day visit to the United Kingdom last September, I am glad to have the opportunity to greet you once again, and indeed to greet listeners everywhere as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. Our thoughts turn back to a moment in history when God's chosen people, the children of Israel, were living in intense expectation. They were waiting for the Messiah that God had promised to send, and they pictured him as a great leader who would rescue them from foreign domination and restore their freedom.

God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. The child that was born in Bethlehem did indeed bring liberation, but not only for the people of that time and place - he was to be the Saviour of all people throughout the world and throughout history. And it was not a political liberation that he brought, achieved through military means: rather, Christ destroyed death for ever and restored life by means of his shameful death on the Cross. And while he was born in poverty and obscurity, far from the centres of earthly power, he was none other than the Son of God. Out of love for us he took upon himself our human condition, our fragility, our vulnerability, and he opened up for us the path that leads to the fullness of life, to a share in the life of God himself. As we ponder this great mystery in our hearts this Christmas, let us give thanks to God for his goodness to us, and let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down: he gives us hope, he brings us life.

Dear Friends from Scotland, England, Wales, and indeed every part of the English-speaking world, I want you to know that I keep all of you very much in my prayers during this Holy Season. I pray for your families, for your children, for those who are sick, and for those who are going through any form of hardship at this time. I pray especially for the elderly and for those who are approaching the end of their days. I ask Christ, the light of the nations, to dispel whatever darkness there may be in your lives and to grant to every one of you the grace of a peaceful and joyful Christmas. May God bless all of you!

Fight Banal Sex (No al Sexo Banal)

That would make a great bumper sticker to summarize the in-context meaning of the Holy Father's recent statement on the harmful trivialization of sexuality, which recently brought so much publicity.

"...[T]he sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man's being..." (Light of the World, p. 119)

Immediately after comes the distorted message.

"Merry Christmas" Apostolate

Just say it!

Say it loud and clear, with cheer, and for all to hear!

Don't be defensive. Take the initiative! Beat them to the punch line! Greet them before they greet you. See how many times you can say it in a day! Say it especially after the 25th of December (at least until the day of the Circumcision [octave day of Christmas: 1 January; and after until the feast of the Three Kings--6 January)! And, actually, 2 February is the final feast of Christmas (the Presentation of the first born in the temple on the 4oth day!). Christmas is 40 days!

Say it even after people think it's gone in the hopes to perplex and elicit questions to instruct about the octave day (his naming and Circumcision according to the Jewish law--New Year's is Christmas!) or about the Three Kings' feast (which is the day for presents in many national traditions.

Merry Christmas!

If someone says "Happy Holidays" look him intently and lovingly in the eye and serenely respond with a less cliche Christmas greeting. Say, for example:

"Jesus Christ is born."

"Emmanuel: God is with us."

"The Virgin conceived and bore the Son of God."

"Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth."

"Praised be Jesus Christ."

"Long live Christmas and the Christ child!" (My personal favorite.)

Regina Prophetarum

Luke 1:46-56

Mary, giving God to the world, is the Queen of the Prophets. They brought the Word to the world, she brings the Word made Flesh through her virginal womb. She gives us God! just like the Church.

Pedophilia's Ideological Foundations

In his 20 December annual Christmas review of the year address to the Roman Curia the Holy Father indicated the perverse theory which provides the basis for widespread abuse: viz. relativism.

"In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a "better than" and a "worse than". Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist. The effects of such theories are evident today. Against them, Pope John Paul II, in his 1993 Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, indicated with prophetic force in the great rational tradition of Christian ethos the essential and permanent foundations of moral action. Today, attention must be focused anew on this text as a path in the formation of conscience. It is our responsibility to make these criteria audible and intelligible once more for people today as paths of true humanity, in the context of our paramount concern for mankind."

Be Constant in Prayer

"Real prayer begins when you pray when you don't want to."

I think the point is that great habits (virtues) are formed by overcoming one's whims. And...faith is expressed in fidelity.

Make your vows to the Lord and keep them! Then you will prove that you believe in Him.

Homosexuality: Worse than Rape and Incest

Homo-sex is entirely repugnant to God, even more than the rape of virgins ("I have two daughters..." Gen. 19:8) and incest ("So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father" Gen. 19:36).

"And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." (Gen. 19:24) He destroyed them all, while saving Lot: the incestuous ravisher of virgins!

What a statement on the immeasurable evil of homosexuality! (See also Romans 1 for Saint Paul's assessment of homo-sex).

Thought for the day (based on the Mass reading)

The unique and prophetically specific sign of Christmas is that the Virgin is with Child. (cf. Is. 7:14) [That is why the preferred icon of Christmas is the Virgin and Child: i.e. Virgo ante, in et post partum.]

Saint Joseph the Chaste's role is to guarantee it! (cf. Matt. 1:18-24: yesterday's Gospel)

Celibacy and Homosexuality

Four quotes from Light of the World.

"Homosexuality is incompatible with the priestly vocation. Otherwise, celibacy itself would lose its meaning as a renunciation." p. 152

"Respect for man (including men with homosexual inclination) is absolutely fundamental and decisive. At the same time, though, sexuality has an instrinsic meaning and direction, which is not homosexual." p. 151

"I believe that celibacy becomes a very meaningful sign, and above all becomes possible to live, when priests begin to form communities. It is important for priests not to live off on their own somewhere, in isolation, but to accompany one another in small communities, to support one another, and so to experience, and constantly realize afresh, their communion in service to Christ and in renunciation for the sake of the Kingdom." p. 149

"Celibacy is always, shall we say, an affront to what man normally thinks. It is something that can only be done, and is only credible, if there is a God and if celibacy is my doorway into the Kingdom of God. In this sense, celibacy is a special kind of sign. The scandal that it provokes consists precisely in the fact that there are people who believe these things..." p. 149

Perhaps one safeguard against the present isolation of priests might be stricter adherence to (and enforcement by the competent ecclesial authority of) the present norms on priestly attire. Priestly fraternity would be greatly increased if priests publicly--socially--dressed always as priests. They would have a visible and strong bond with each other.

For example: just imagine if all of the priests in New York City began today to religiously wear their public clerical attire! How it would transform the dignity of the priesthood and of Catholicism and of New York, the nation and the world. It would greatly strengthen each priest in his commitment to God. Just that simple habitual act of priestly obedience and solidarity. It would also more effectively keep priests out of places they should not go ==> thereby buttressing their celibate commitment on the practical level. By never being "off", priests would strengthen each other and the world beyond measure.

Something else that would help is getting rid of the ubiquitous confessional rooms and bring back the traditional confessional with a wall between priest and penitent. You have heard of the "protecting God's children" campaign. We need a parallel "protecting God's priests" campaign by not putting priests in the most precarious situation of being repeatedly and regularly behind closed doors in the most intimate confessional conversations with people. How is it that the bishops, who are supposedly so concerned with eliminating priest sexual misconduct have not addressed the very dangerous situation of the closed confessional room. Previous to the 1960's it was forbidden for a priest to hear to confessions of women, for instance, in a closed room! The confessional is the proper place for priestly counsel of women and children according to the age old wisdom of the Church.

The adage coined by Saint Teresa of Avila regarding the distance and necessary precautions in spiritual direction and confession is: entre santa y santo paredes de cal y canto. Which means that for nothing to happen (even between saints!) you need a very deep stone wall between them!!! Why are our bishops so out of touch with the real pastoral dangers for priests in their daily ministry. In the present climate it is foolish and presumptuous for a priest to habitually use a confessional room! It is a problem waiting to happen. No one seems to really care about our priests in this regard. Something needs to be done to safeguard priests against unchastity in that setting and against any possible accusations.

The bishops (or perhaps the pope) need to outlaw confessional rooms and insist on traditional confessionals in every parish as the habitual place for hearing confessions and spiritual direction of women and children.

Click here for a suggested survey to clean up the world's sexual perversion.

De Lectione Sanctarum Scripturarum

1. Truth is to be sought for in Holy Scripture, not eloquence.
All Holy Scripture ought to be read with that spirit with which it was made.
We must rather seek for profit in the Scriptures than for subtlety of speech.
We ought as willingly to read devout and simple books, as those that are high and profound.
Let not the authority of the writer offend thee, whether he was of little or of great learning; but let the love of pure truth lead thee to read.
Inquire not who said this; but attend to what is said.

2. Men pass away; "but the truth of the Lord remaineth forever." (Ps. 116:2)
God speaks many ways to us, without respect of persons.
Our curiosity often hinders us in reading the Scriptures, when we attempt to understand and discuss that which should be simply passed over.
If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity and faith; and seek not at any time the fame of being learned.
Willingly inquire after, and hear with silence the words of the saints; and be pleased with the parables of the ancients, for they are not spoken without cause. (Ecclus. 32:9)

Of Reading the Holy Scriptures (From the Imitation of Christ, Thomas A Kempis Book I, Chapter 5)

The Professor Pope

"[A] peculiar feature of a German cultural history is thoughtfulness...I think that God, if he was going to make a professor Pope in the first place, wanted this element of thoughtfulness and precisely the struggle for the unity of faith and reason to come to the fore."

That was Pope Benedict's answer in Light of the World (p. 78) to Mr. Seewald's question regarding a special charism a German Pope might bring to the Papacy.

This Holy Father's particular charism is his primary concern that the modern mind (including that of the theologian) should seek and find God and that men of faith should also embrace, promote and employ the greatest intellectual rigor in their service of God and man. Faith in God is and must be both relevant and reasonable especially today. Human reason rejecting God is not truly human nor is it reasonable! Our beloved German Scholar Pope highlights these truths. By his life and teaching he shows the true dignity of scholarship and, above all, of true religion.

Pope Benedict's Books

In Light of the World Pope Benedict explains his legitimate attachment to his personal library. Every intellectual knows and loves and, as far as possible, keeps, his books!

"[I moved into the papal appartamento with] my study at least. It was important for me to have my study the way it has developed over the course of many decades. In 1954 I bought my desk and the first bookshelves. Gradually there were additions. In them are all my advisors, the books; I know every nook and cranny, and everything has its history. Therefore I brought the whole study along with me. (15) ...The beauty of the faith shines forth as I read the Church Fathers." (16)

Condoms are for Dogs

In the wake of the new international media distortion campaign against His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's clear and consistent condemnation of contraception it is necessary to clarify that his reference to a possible amoral use of condoms referred to a male prostitute in sodomastic activity in which case the condom would have absolutely no contraceptive role: an inherently impotent and sterile act.

In other words, condoms might be OK for dogs! In that vein here are three pro-marital act slogans.

CONDOMS ARE FOR DOGS

"THE PILL" (POISON) IS FOR FOOLS

STERILIZATION IS CRIMINAL MALPRACTICE

The only loving sexual activity is heterosexual and faithfully monogamous and holy, always open to procreation; otherwise it is merely selfish lust in disguise, not fully human: the stuff of dogs! Cf. Deus Caritas Est, 6 ff.


Incidently, this was the media's dirty way to announce the publishing of the Holy Father's new Interview Book which he produced this Summer with the excellent journalist Mr. Peter Seewald his biographer.


You will find an exhaustive and updated response to all the excitement at Young Jesuits. That article is very much worth reading. It is well balanced and very sympathetic of everyone involved, beginning with the secular journalists.

Hebrew Catholics in the Holy Land

In light of my last article I should like to highlight the presence of Catholics in the Holy Land, especially of the small but very significant Vicariate of Hebrew Catholics under the care of the Patriarchal Vicar Father David Neuhaus, a Hebrew Catholic himself. I have added their website to my great links.

In light of the recent Synod on the Middle East, here is an article on the various communities of Catholics in the Holy Land with special emphasis on the Hebrew Vicariate.

Promised Land not Exclusively for the Jews

Archbishop clarifies synod remarks condemned by Jewish organizations
November 12, 2010
Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, the Melkite Greek Catholic bishop of Newton (Massachusetts), has clarified remarks made during an October 23 press conference presenting the final message of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.

Archbishop Bustros was quoted as saying, “The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” adding, “we Christians cannot speak of the 'promised land' as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people-- all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.” The archbishop’s remarks were condemned by Jewish organizations.

Archbishop Bustros told Jihad Watch:


During the press conference which was held at the end of the Synod, I presented this message in my role as president of the commission that drafted the message. I was then asked by a journalist: "What do you mean by this sentence: 'Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable'?" I answered: "Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land to justify its occupation of Palestinian territory and the expulsion of Palestinians who have been living there for centuries. We Christians cannot now speak about the Promised Land for the Jewish people. With Christ the Promised Land became the Kingdom of God": Jesus referred to this land in His sermon on the mount and gave it a spiritual interpretation: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God... Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land." (Mt. 5:3.5)

In my answer I was thinking in particular of Jewish settlers who claim their right to build on Palestinian territory by saying it forms part of biblical Israel, the land promised by God to the Jews according to the Old Testament. I also warned against the risk of Israel becoming an exclusively Jewish state, with a consequent threat to the 1.2 million Muslim and Christian Arabs living in Israel. The Synod is acknowledging the separation between religion and politics, in stating that recourse to the Bible cannot be used to justify political events: "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." (Mt. 22:21)

As a Christian, and especially as a Middle-Eastern Christian-- and this is the unanimous opinion of the Middle-Eastern Christians, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants-- I see that the concept of the Promised Land cannot be used for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948-- after the resolution of the UN in 1947 regarding the partition of Palestine which was under the British mandate between Arab and Jews-- is a political issue not a religious one. It is a fact of history like other facts: Jews who were persecuted in Europe and suffered the horrors of the Shoah decided to come to Palestine and build a country for their own. They chose Palestine because of the memory of the Jews who lived there 2000 years ago. They came in great numbers; a war arose between them and the Arabs living there, and they won the war; hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and flee to the surrounding Arabic countries: Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Some of the Israelis based their return on the Old Testament theme of the Promised Land. But this does not mean that God is behind their return and their victory against the Arabs …

As for the idea of the chosen people, it is clear, according to Christian theology and especially to St. Paul, that after Christ there is no longer one particular chosen people! With Christ and in Him all men and women of all countries are called to become children of God and unite in one body, the Body of Christ.

Now in the Israeli-Palestinian issue we are in presence of two opposed religious extremist ideologies: from one part extremist Jews who say that Palestine is the Promised Land given to them by God, and that they cannot give up any part of it to the Arabs; and from the other part extremist Muslims who say that Palestine is a Muslim land given to them by God during the Arabic conquests, and that they cannot give up a part of it to the Israelis. With these two opposed religious ideologies it is impossible to find a compromise in order to reach a lasting peace.

The message of the Synod for the Middle East takes a moderate position and clearly advocates, regarding the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the two-State-solution … Then the message explicitly condemns all kinds of violence and religious extremism … By dialogue only-- a dialogue which requires compromises from both sides, not by war, and especially not by a war based on religious assumptions-- can the Holy Land reach a just and lasting peace.

The Pilgrim Shell and Papal Coronation Campaign

Last Saturday The Holy Father made his Jacobean Year pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain to the shrine of Saint James Major, the Apostle. The scallop shell is the symbol of the "Camino" (Saint James Trail) and is also a symbol in Pope Benedict's coat of arms. During the in flight interview to Santiago Pope Benedict spoke of the shell's pilgrimage significance and Santiago's place in Christian pilgrimages.

Father Lombardi: Your Holiness, in the message for the recent congress on shrines that took place, in fact, at Santiago de Compostela, you said that you are living your pontificate with the sentiments of a pilgrim. On your coat of arms there is also the scallop shell of the pilgrim. Would you like to tell us something about your perspective on this pilgrimage, in your personal life too and in your spirituality, and about the thoughts you have as you travel as a pilgrim to Santiago?

Benedict XVI: Hello! I can say that being on a journey is already inscribed in my biography. But this is perhaps something external; nevertheless, it makes me think of the instability of this life, of being on a journey. Of pilgrimages one could say: God is everywhere, there is no need to go to another place, but it is also true that faith, according to its essence, is being a pilgrim.

The Letter to the Hebrews shows [this] in the figure of Abraham, who leaves his land and remains a pilgrim toward the future all of his life, and this Abrahamic movement remains in the act of faith, it is being a pilgrim above all interiorly, but it must also express itself exteriorly. Sometimes, leaving behind the everyday, the world of the useful, of practical goals, leaving it behind only to be truly on the path to transcendence, transcending oneself and the everyday and thus also finding a new freedom, a time of interior rethinking, of identifying oneself, to see the other, God, and in this way it is also always being on a pilgrimage: not only a leaving behind of self but also a traveling together. The pilgrimage reunites, we are going together to the other and thus we both rediscover each other.

Let me just say that the trips taken to Santiago de Compostela are an element in the spiritual formation of the European continent. Making a pilgrimage here constitutes, has constituted the common European identity, and today too this movement is being reborn, these dreams of being in spiritual and physical movement, of this person or that finding himself and thus to find silence, freedom, renewal, and to find God.


The second topic, also related to the papal coat of arms, check out the campaign to crown Pope Benedict XVI with the Papal Tiara, last used by Pope Paul VI. Here is the original campaign website.

Sanctorum Communionem and the Discarded "Communion Table"

Ratzinger points out that in the "communion of saints" sanctorum refers first of all to "the holy things", i.e. the sacraments--the principle means of holiness, especially the Holy Eucharist. Only secondarily does the ninth article of the creed (Credo in sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem) refer to the people who are sanctified by the worship of the holy mysteries.

"The saying about the communion of saints refers first of all to the Eucharistic community which through the body of the Lord binds the Churches scattered all over the earth into one Church. Thus originally the word "sanctorum" ("of the holy ones') does not refer to persons but means the holy gifts, the holy thing, granted to the Church in her Eucharistic feast by God as the real bond of unity. Thus the Church is not defined as a matter of offices and organizations but on the basis of her worship of God..." (Introduction to Christianity, Herder and Herder, NY, 1970, p. 257-8) [viz., what He effects in Her: unity in His communion of charity]. The communion of saints comes from Holy Communion! at the communion Table! Which brings me to my point.

Misguided bishops, priests and liturgists threw out the so called "altar rail" which is really properly called "the communion rail." They changed the name of the communion rail (read "the communion table") and collapsed it into the altar, calling the altar the table. But it is important to emphasize that the rail is, properly speaking, "the table", the proper place for the laity to receive the sacred species; and that kneeling reverently at the rail is a normative place for communion (Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, 160), and a much more proper manner than the rushed "fast food" and cumbersome communion line, not to mention the forbidden sitting or gathering around the altar and receiving together with the priest.

Notice the traditional German name for the communion rail: Der Kommuniones Tisch, and the Spanish: el comulgatorio (the communion place!). Isn't it ironic that in their quest for the communion table they threw it out! Bring back our communion rails to increase the dignity of our sanctorum communionem.

There is one more point to be made in this reflection for All Saints, and that is that that most confusing instruction of the NCCB mandating standing for communion as being normative for USA (if it ever had any force in its inherent ambiguity and contradictions) is certainly nullified by Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio permitting and encouraging the 1962 form of the Mass. If the people can kneel to receive in our parishes for one form of the Mass they can certainly do so for the other. It is, after all, the same eternal Lord we worship and receive in either form of the Mass, is it not! Should we not receive Him with the same majesty in both forms!

All you holy Saints of God, pray for the increased dignity of our Holy Communions to effect the Church's unambiguous Holy Communion with Our Blessed Lord in every way and in everything.