FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR

My 1907 first edition of some French plays by Corneille, with notes in English, published by Henry Holt and Company, has the Paris coat of arms impressed on the front cover with the motto: fluctuat nec mergitur ("It will toss but will not sink").

It is a motto which applies a fortiori to the bark of Peter:

ECCLESIA CHRISTI FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR!

Christian Certainty

An essential characteristic of Catholic belief is the certainty that it is indeed "Catholic," i.e. "universal:" for every man in every place, time and circumstance.

In other words, it is true: the Truth. The Catholic faith alone fully presents Christ to the world: the Way, the Truth and the Life.

If it did not always apply it would not really be true, and therefore, would not be Catholic!

Compare this claim with the claim of Christ Himself: "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, noone comes to the Father but through me." John 14:6

The Church is simply passing on that same absolute certainty in the Absolute.

South African World Cup

As we approach the final games of the 2010 World Cup Soccer Championship in which Holland is still an underdog contender (having beaten highly favored Brazil), could we not see this as a victory for the South African European elite which is predominantly of Dutch descent?

A Holland win, in this sense, is a South African win (the triumph of the South African upper class). The landed gentry of South Africa must be very pleased so far and should be quite gratified to win the cup.

So, it is not true that all "African" teams are out! The team of the majority of the European settlers of the republic is indeed Holland!

Secular Humbuggery

Those who say the Church should not tell people how to act are actually presuming to tell the Church how to act. Shall we call it secular humbuggery, a key to the contradictions of "the age of reason."

Indeed, the age of reason has proven quite irrational in it's sundry supposedly foundationless dogmatisms. That is why every man needs the Pope! That is why the Pope is called "Peter" (Rock); he provides the only sure foundation in the world: Christ.

The Widow of Zarephath's Wealth

The moral of today's first reading (1Kings 17:7-16) is that God will take care of His faithful prophets/priests through others and He will care also for those who generously provide for His prophets/priests in his name.

Noone is too poor to share nor too rich to need to share.

Everyone needs to share with God in providing for those whom He sends.

Faith is the greatest wealth.

As Abraham said to Isaac: Deus providebit.

Heretical Lauda Sion Translation

The official Mexican translation of the Corpus Christi sequence makes several references to bread an wine which are absent in the original Latin of Saint Thomas.

Stanza 3

Laudis thema specialis,

panis vivus et vitalis

hodie proponitur.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving,

Is the quick'ning and the living

Bread today before you set.

(From the official English translation, which does not have the inaccurate content of the Spanish)

Gustosos hoy aclamamos

a Cristo, que es nuestro pan,

pues el es el pan de vida,

que nos da vida inmortal.

In this verse, in addition to the text's reference to the living and life-giving bread (pan de vida que nos da vida inmortal [both scriptural terms]) it adds, Christ is our bread (Cristo, que es nuestro pan). That expression is unfamiliar to the Christian tradition and confuses the truth about the Eucharist. Christ is not "our bread!" He is "the living bread come down from heaven" and "the bread of life" both in a metaphorical sense. But never "our bread." Why? Well, the Eucharist is not bread at all!

Stanza 14

Caro cibus, sanguis potus:

manet tamen Christus totus,

sub utraque specie.

The flesh food, the blood drink:

Yet under each species

what remains is all Christ.

(My own translation, the official English being very loose.)

Su sangre es nuestra bebida;

su carne, nuestro alimento;

pero en el pan o en el vio

Cristo esta todo completo.

The Latin does not mention the bread and the wine explicitly but just the word specie (a clear doctrinal term referring specifically to the accidents of bread and wine as opposed to the substance which is completely Christ. The point being made is that, while the flesh is food and the blood is drink under the appearances of bread and wine, none of their reality is present but only Christ, Who fully replaces the bread and the wine with his flesh and blood self: Christus totus. The totus is in reference to the filling of the reality of the species of bread and wine. They are fully taken over by Christ. They are entirely Christ! And that it is the complete Christ present under either of the forms.

The Spanish text should read, instead of "pero en el pan o en el vino" (a heretical statement: Christ is in the bread and the wine) "pero bajo cada forma".

Stanza 21

Ecce panis angelorum,

factus cibus viatorum:

vere panis filiorum,

non mittendus canibus.

El pan que del cielo baja

es comida de viajeros.

Es un pan para los hijos.

No hay que tirarlo a los perros!

Panis angelorum is "the bread of angels", not simply "the bread which descends from heaven," which could be confused with the manna of the desert. The "bread of angels" is a distinctive Thomistic term for the Eucharist and should be translated literally and presented to the faithful as part of this extraordinary hymn.

Stanza 22

In figuris praesignatur,

cum Isaac immolatur,

agnus Paschae deputatur,

datur manna patribus.

Isaac el inocente,

es figura de este pan,

con el cordero de Pascua

y el misterioso mana.

The Latin does not mention "this bread" (este pan) at all!!! The implicit subject of the sentence is panis angelorum, "the bread of angels!"

This is a casual observation by a parish priest who over the past decade has seen a gradual but sure deviation from doctrinal clarity in the texts being published for Spanish worship music, especially in the eucharistic hymns. They often sing the praises of bread and wine!!! We do not adore bread and wine. We do not worship bread and wine. The Eucharist is not bread and wine at all! And that is what we need to sing, worship and adore, the absence of bread and wine!

May the worshipper beware of bread and wine idolatry which is being pushed down the throat of the hispanics in America, in place of the worship of the Flesh and Blood of the living God. Behold one of the insidious snares of vernacular worship. If we simply used Saint Thomas' Latin text we would all be better off.

The Symbolism of the New Pastoral Staff

There is a blog on papal clothing which tells the significance of the new staff.

A New Year a New Pastoral staff – Alleluia!
11/28/09 01:18:38

At last Pope Benedict has his own pastoral staff which has been donated by the Circolo San Pietro. It will be used during the First Vespers of Advent in the Vatican Basilica on Saturday evening, the service which marks the beginning of the new liturgical year.

Monsignor Guido Marini made the announcement on Friday in L'Osservatore Romano. He said it is similar in shape to the staff of Pius IX, which the Pope currently uses, and this can be considered the papal staff of Pope Benedict XVI. It is 184 centimetres high, weighs about 2.5 kilos and is easier to handle than the staff of Pius IX, because of its smaller size. It is also lighter by 140 grams than the silver staff with a crucifix made by Lello Scorzelli, which was used by Pope Paul VI, and later by Pope John Paul I and John Paul II. It was also used by Pope Benedict for the first three years of his papacy.

From Palm Sunday 2008, he began to use the gold Greek cross, which belonged to Pius IX, also donated to the Pope by St. Peter's Circle in 1877. This ancient Roman association now renews its tradition of loyalty to the Pope since its foundation in 1869.

On the front of the new staff there is a paschal lamb at the centre and at the four points of the cross symbols of four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The gold is etched with the pattern of a net -a reference to St Peter the fisherman. Engraved on the back in the middle is the Chi Rho, the first two Greek letters for the word Christos, which is the monogram of Christ. At the four points are the faces of the fathers of the Eastern and Western Church, Augustine and Ambrose, Athanasius and John Chrysostom. His coat of arms is on the top of the cross. "The lamb and the monogram of Christ at the centre - says Monsignor Marini - reflect the unity of the paschal mystery: the cross and resurrection."

Thank goodness the Pope will no longer have to wrestle with the Pius IX staff which was always far too big and unwieldy for him. It is a pity that he did not go immediately from using the Scorzelli staff - so deeply associated with Papa Wojtyla, and which was a potent symbol of the transition from one great Pope to another - to his own staff. Using the staff of Pius IX gave the impression that the Scorzelli staff was being "abandoned" and that this abandonment signified something far more than a mere change in style. For those who vividly recalled the way the Scorzelli staff served as a visible support for Papa Wojtyla during his years of suffering, it was hurtful to see it replaced by the brash and brassy staff of Pius IX.

Now at last Papa Ratzinger has his own staff. I hope he lives many long years so that it becomes indelibly associated with him.

The New Papal Cross

Here is a fine photo of Pope Benedict with his third papal crosier. It seems to fit his character and liturgical bent most appropriately because it is elegant, traditional and subtle (of a rich simplicity).


I got the picture from a Spanish traditional liturgical website:

http://sacramliturgiam.blogspot.com/.

Giovannipaulomagno blog has some closer observations on the subject, viz. that his first papal staff was passed down to him from Paul VI, JPI and JPII; and his second (used from 16 March 2008 until 28 November 2009) was previously used by Pius IX and Pius XII. As far as we can tell this one is finally uniquely his own.


Here is an article from the Bulletin of the Circolo San Pietro, the official journal of the organization which has been the benefactor of all the papal crosses.

UN NUOVO PASTORALE PER IL
SANTO PADRE BENEDETTO XVI
Il Santo Padre ha inaugurato l’anno liturgico utilizzando un nuovo
pastorale, simile a quello che usava il Beato Pio IX. La particolarità è
insita nel fatto che entrambi i pastorali sono un omaggio del Circolo S.
Pietro: il primo fu donato dallo storico Sodalizio a Papa Mastai nel
1877, in occasione del cinquantesimo anniversario della Sua ordinazione
sacerdotale. Papa Ratzinger lo aveva ricominciato ad utilizzare in
occasione della domenica delle Palme del 2008. Il Circolo rinnova così
la tradizionale fedeltà al Successore di Pietro, testimoniata in tutti i 140
anni della sua storia.


“Sabato pomeriggio, durante i primi vespri di Avvento nella basilica Vaticana, il Papa userà un nuovo pastorale”.

Lo annuncia monsignor Guido Marini, alla vigilia della celebrazione con cui si apre l’anno liturgico.

“Simile nelle fattezze alla ferula di Pio IX finora in uso - aggiunge il maestro delle Celebrazioni liturgiche pontificie - questo può essere considerato a tutti gli effetti il pastorale di Benedetto
XVI”.

Donato dal Circolo San Pietro, è alto 184 centimetri, pesa 2 chili e 530 grammi e ha una miglior
maneggevolezza rispetto a quello di Papa Mastai Ferretti, grazie alle più ridotte dimensioni del
bastone e della croce. Ed è anche più leggero di 140 grammi, addirittura di 590 rispetto a quello di Giovanni Paolo II.

Va infatti ricordato che Papa Ratzinger ha utilizzato inizialmente il pastorale argenteo ormontato dal crocifisso – realizzato da Lello Scorzelli – introdotto da Paolo VI e poi usato anche da Giovanni Paolo I e da Papa Wojtyla. Successivamente, dalla domenica delle Palme del 2008, ha cominciato ad adoperare la ferula dorata a forma di croce greca, appartenuta a Pio IX, anch’essa donata al Pontefice dal Circolo San Pietro nel 1877. L’antico sodalizio romano rinnova così la propria tradizione di fedeltà al Papa, testimoniata sin dalla fondazione risalente a 140 anni fa, nel lontano 1869.

Nella parte anteriore del nuovo pastorale di Benedetto XVI sono raffigurati al centro l’agnello pasquale e ai lati della croce i simboli dei quattro evangelisti Matteo, Marco, Luca e Giovanni. Il motivo della rete riprodotto sui bracci della croce richiama quella di Pietro il pescatore di Galilea. Sul retro sono incisi: al centro, il monogramma di Cristo – formato dalle prime due lettere della parola Christòs in greco, la X e la P intrecciate insieme – e alle quattro estremità, i volti dei
padri della Chiesa di Occidente e di Oriente: Agostino e Ambrogio, Atanasio e Giovanni Crisostomo. “L’agnello e il monogramma di Cristo posti al centro – commenta monsignor Marini – riflettono l’unità del mistero pasquale: croce e risurrezione”.

Soffermando lo sguardo sull’anello sottostante la croce, si notano: nella parte superiore, il nome di Benedetto XVI “che lo personalizza e lo rende suo” spiega il maestro; in quella inferiore, quello dei donatori, cioè il Circolo San Pietro. Un ultimo elemento significativo, infine, si ritrova nella parte alta del bastone, dov’è impresso lo stemma di Papa
Ratzinger.

Here is the original article is from the Vatican announcing the introduction of the new pastoral staff at the beginning of last Advent.

Priestly Character

The bishop, when anointing the hands of a priest at ordination says

"...That you may sanctify the Christian people and offer sacrifice to God."

The character of orders enables the priest to make people holy and to connect earth with heaven with the Holy Mysteries of the sacraments, especially the offering of the Mass (Christ on the Cross to the eternal Father for the forgiveness of sins and for the love of the Father).

In the presentation of the chalice and the paten the bishop then says

"...and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord's cross."

In other words, be holy yourself. Live the holiness, the holy sacrifice, of Christ. May the offering of holy things spur you to personal holiness, that you too may attain the grandeur of Christ's communion with the Father.

Two Classic Hymns to the Holy Spirit

Come, True Light

Come, true light. Come, eternal live. Come, hidden mystery. Come, treasure without name. Come, ineffable reality. Come, inconceivable person. Come, happiness without end. Come, light without sunset. Come, infallible hope of all who must be saved. Come, awakened of all who sleep. Come, resurrection of the dead. Come, O powerful one who ever make and remake everything and transform everything with your power alone. Come, O invisible one, totally intangible and impalpable. Come, you who always remain still and at the same time are constantly moving. Come to us who languish in the nether regions, you who are above all the heavens. Come, O beloved name, everywhere invoked, whose being it is absolutely impossible for us to express, whose nature we can never know. Come, eternal joy. Come, incorruptible crown. Come, O scarlet robe of the great king. Come, crystalline belt clustered with jewels. Come inaccessible sandal. Come, royal purple. Come, truly sovereign right hand. Come, you whom my miserable soul has always desired. Come, the Alone to the alone, for you see that I am alone. Come, your who have separated me from everything and made me a solitary person in this world. Come, you who have become your desire itself in me, you who have caused me to want your, you, the absolutely inaccessible. Come, my breath and my life. Come, consolation of my poor soul. Come, my joy, my glory, my delight for ever. (Simeon the New Theologian, Hymns 949-1022)

Come, O Come

Come, O come, most excellent counsellor of the suffering soul...Come, you who cleanse from ugliness, you who cure plagues. Come, strength of the weak, supporter of the fallen. Come, doctor of the humble, conqueror of the proud. Come, O tender father of the orphans...Come, hope of the poor...Come, star of sailors, port of the shipwrecked. Come, O shining glory of all the living...Come, your who are the holiest of the spirits. Come and take pity on me. Conform me to yourself. (John of Frescamp, 1060 To the Holy Spirit)

Elementary Classic Latin Texts

Gesta Romanorum is among the fine selection of classic latin texts provided at this Saint Louis University website which is very user friendly.

Here is a blog that specializes in Latin classics.

Custody of the Eyes

Priestly Purity has at least three aspects:

Custody of the eyes (an essential form of modesty) is the moat,

Celibacy is the solid ground,

Chastity is the castle fortress.

It all starts with the eyes, we must focus and constantly refocus on Christ (God)!

El Gran Catecismo de Deharbe

The Baltimore Catechism is the best English language catechism for its didactic method and its concise content of all of the basic truths of the Catholic faith. It is by far the easiest and the best. And, to my knowledge, it has never been translated into Spanish.

Now, half of the Catholic population of the U.S. (and of the world if you include those who speak Portuguese) are Spanish speakers! Someone should consider undertaking the translation and the publication in economical editions of the various levels of that excellent catechism.

Furthermore, I have found a public domain Spanish edition of an even better (more comprehensive and more precise) Catechism (El Gran Catecismo de Deharbe) which was published and heavily used during the time of Vatican Council I and may have been one of the sources for the Baltimore Catechism for all I know. Check it out! Could someone publish it as is? That would be a great service to the country, to the Church and to the world!!! It is most necessary in the present "educational emergency", as Pope Benedict calls our present modern situation.

Motherhood is Based on Holy Marriage and Virginity

Great mothers are first of all holy and devoted and chaste wives.
And holy and faithful wives are first humble and chaste virgins until their holy marriage. (Notice Eve's virginal serenity with the Father and completely directed toward her future husband).

It is no accident that the greatest Woman, the Woman of all women, is the Ever Virgin Spouse of Saint Joseph. She brings holy marital dedication and virginal integrity to divine maternity.

May is the month of Mary and today is Mother's Day, to honor Her, first of all, the Mother of all Maternity, the humblest and most faithful daughter of Almighty God, the very Mother of God.

World's Bishops' Conferences' Links, etc.

My Austrian Catholic News Link, Oesterreich, has a list of very high quality authoritative links to bishops, principal dioceses and bishop conferences around the world, which I have included in my list of Great Links under the title of Kathlinks.

Particularly interesting are the links for various Eastern Catholic Rite Churches, e.g. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church website.

Newman Conference

Portsmouth Abbey School of Portsmouth Rhode Island is hosting it's second annual conference featuring several experts in the thought of Newman 10-13 June. Looks interesting.

The timing is good because the Holy Father is scheduled to beatify the Cardinal later in the year in England.

Stone Throwing for Dummies

A Guide to Assessing Child Abuse

In response to the media and society's enthusiasm to rid the world of pedophilia I think the Church should begin a mandatory child abuse survey (for adults) and hotline in every parish to identify all of the predators in our society, to expose them and to expose all of the covering up in our neighborhoods, in our schools and in every social context, not just in Church. It is hypocritical and self-serving for us just to look for victims of priestly abuse when we all know that the problem is in every family (e.g. internet pornography), neighborhood, school and anywhere young people are.



PROTECTING THE SEXUAL INTEGRITY OF AMERICA’S CHILDREN

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old were you when you were first sexually stimulated.

3. What was the context? Alone. Pornography. Other person. Same sex. Opposite sex. Multiple other persons.

4. Where did it take place?

5. If pornography, what was the medium (e.g. magazine, internet, TV) and who provided it? e.g. relative, friend, etc.

6. How many times (or how often) did you participate in sexual activity before your eighteenth birthday? Give the type act(s) and roughly the number of times (or frequency) and whether others were involved in each encounter and your and their ages at the time, and their status or relationship to you (e.g. relative, teacher, doctor, non-Catholic clergyman [indicate denomination], Catholic clergyman, a person personally unknown to you), and their gender.

7. Have you yourself ever sexually stimulated and/or had genital contact with a minor (even while you yourself were under 18)?
A. If so, how old were you and how old was the minor involved?
B. What was the gender of the minor?
C. What was the type of act and how many times (or how frequently) did you do it?

8. Have you reported any of this abuse to the authorities?
If so, have the proper measures been taken to protect the children involved or to redress the wrong?

9. What is your level of same-sex attraction? (Circle only one please)
None. Exclusively attracted to the opposite sex; same sex has never aroused me.
Mild. I have been sexually aroused by the same sex on some rare occasions and never taken the initiative in a same sex encounter.
Medium. I have had same sex arousal on various occasions and continue to occasionally experience it and have enjoyed same sex encounters on some rare occasions even taking the initiative in some of those encounters.
Strong. I have frequent same sex arousal and have frequently aroused others of the same sex.
Exclusively same-sex. I have been and continue to be very much aroused only by the same sex and have never had any inclination toward the opposite sex.

10. What is your assessment of the society’s treatment of the Catholic Church over the societal problem of child sexual abuse? Unfair. Fair. Somewhat exaggerated. Grossly exaggerated.

Relativism is Tyranny

NEW YORK TIMES MARKS POPE'S ANNIVERSARY

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the way yesterday's New York Times marked the 5th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI:

The news story is remarkable, even for the New York Times. Readers learn that the sexual abuse scandal is "growing" and is "quickly defining his papacy." Furthermore, the pope has "alienated Muslims, Jews, Anglicans and even many Roman Catholics."

In point of fact, the scandal ended about a quarter century ago: the timeline when most of the abuse took place was the mid-60s to the mid-80s. The only thing "growing" is coverage of abuse cases extending back a half-century, something the Times has contributed to mightily. To say his papacy is being defined by old cases may be the narrative that suits the Times, but it most certainly is not shared by fair-minded observers.

Yes, many Muslims were alienated by the pope's brutal honesty in calling out Islam for its subordination of reason, and indeed many proved his point by resorting to violence. The heroics of Pope Pius XII in saving as many as 860,000 Jews during the Holocaust is a stunning record, especially as compared to the editorial silence that the Times exhibited in addressing the Shoah at the time. It is not correct, as the Times says, that the pope attempted "to rehabilitate a Holocaust-denying bishop," rather he attempted to reconcile a break-away Catholic group which unfortunately had as one of its members a Holocaust-denying bishop. Anglicans unhappy with the pope's outreach to the disaffected in their ranks represent an embarrassing chapter for them, not Catholics. And it is hardly surprising that those Catholics who intensely disliked Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger are, for the most part, the same ones who reject Pope Benedict XVI.

The pope can be justly criticized for missteps in governance and communications, but to paint him as a divider is a cruel caricature being promoted to hurt him, in particular, and the Church, in general.

Contact public editor Clark Hoyt: www.public@nytimes.com

For more from The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights: http://www.catholicleague.org/

Pedophilia Negligence

There is quite a bit of rhetoric about protecting young people in the context of Church neglect. However, Church neglect is a small part of the widespread neglect in the entire society, the government, the public education system, the media and law enforcement, to address and correct the epidemic problem of the corruption of our youth.

It is, by now, common knowledge that there are adult predators in every youth hangout in America "cruising" and looking for young people, and very little is done to stop or even curb that trend.

A great part of the problem is that we turn a blind eye to consensual sex among minors themselves (which itself is child abuse!). Once you approve sexual immorality (in any form) and even promote it, the boundaries (including age boundaries) necessarily get blurred. For example, what is the difference in maturity between a girl on her eighteenth birthday and the same girl the day before! And the man in the world who most iconically promotes and defends her virtue, at every age, is Pope Benedict XVI.

The institution which is young people's greatest defence is the Catholic Church because she promotes the only real sanctuary of purity--the family--built on the chastity of true marriage. Increasingly the family is defended and promoted exclusively by the Catholic Church and the celibate priests and virginal nuns we so love to malign. It takes a holy marriage (i.e. a family) to raise and defend a virgin! All the courts and journalists in the world will never achieve that!