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Hollywood’s Pope: Little Faith on the Small Screen

June 29, 2016

This fall, HBO will begin airing an eight-episode miniseries imagining the first American to be elected pope. While this drama may or may not attract viewers, I predict “The Young Pope” will fail to truly capture the Catholic Faith and Church. I had similar doubts when Showtime floated a similar premise in 2013. (“The Vatican” was to star the actor who played Adolf Hitler in the movie “Downfall” but none of its episodes ever aired.) The creator and director of “The Young Pope,” Paolo Sorrentino, describes what his new series will be about:

Jude Law stars as “the complex and conflicted” Pope Pius XIII in “The Young Pope“

“The clear signs of God’s existence. The clear signs of God’s absence. How faith can be searched for and lost. The greatness of holiness, so great as to be unbearable when you are fighting temptations and when all you can do is to yield to them. The inner struggle between the huge responsibility of the Head of the Catholic Church and the miseries of the simple man that fate (or the Holy Spirit) chose as Pontiff. Finally, how to handle and manipulate power in a state whose dogma and moral imperative is the renunciation of power and selfless love towards one’s neighbor.”

Though some are more optimistic, I have low hopes for this series. The Catholic Church has beautiful stories to tell, but “The Young Pope’s” trailer and the quote above telegraph brooding agnosticism free of Christian joy. “The Young Pope’s” Pius XIII is reportedly “a conflicted man who must find a way to balance his ultra-conservative views with his immense compassion for the sick and the poor.” In other words, Catholic teachings will be falsely pitted against Christian love. Which one do you imagine will prevail in our hero?

A Vatican TV drama could be made with either the cynicism of “House of Cards” or the hopeful idealism of “The West Wing.” Which set of plot-lines below (“A” or “B”) do you think we could expect to see these days in a major miniseries about the papacy?

The Dinner Guest

A: The pope invites to dinner a priest-friend from seminary. At table, the priest asks the pope to lift the “impossible burden” of celibacy. The pope sympathizes but he explains (citing solely pragmatic reasons) that there is nothing he can do. By the meal’s end, the priest is asking to be released from the priesthood so that he might marry a former nun with whom he has fallen in love (and sin.) The pope, sadly subdued, grants his second request.

B: The pope invites to dinner a Roman beggar who once served as a priest. At dessert, the pope asks him to hear his confession. “I cannot do that,” the man replies, “I have renounced the priesthood. My priestly faculties have been taken away from me. I am no longer a priest.” The pope answers, “Once a priest, always a priest… As Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church I can restore your priestly faculties to you…” The man’s priesthood is restored and he hears the pope’s confession. The priest is then assigned to the church where he had previously begged with a special responsibility for the poor who seek alms at the church door.

The Persecuted Refugees

A: As the cause advances to beatify Pius XII (the pope who reigned during the Second World War) the current pope personally investigates his predecessor’s record in the Vatican’s Secret Archives. When the pope concludes that Pius XII should have done more to save persecuted Jews from the Nazis, he places the entire beatification project on (permanent) hold.

B: The pope intervenes to help when a religious minority is threatened by an evil state. He facilitates the safe escape of thousands, even housing refugees within Rome’s convents and monasteries and at the Vatican itself. When peace returns, a world-famous agnostic scientist declares, “Only the Catholic Church protested against this onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty.”

A Target of Controversy

A: After the pope describes the theory of evolution as being “more than just a hypothesis,” right-wing Catholic extremists plot to kill him for teaching heresy. After the nearly-successful bomb plot is thwarted, the pope laments the need to ‘lead our Church out of the Dark Ages.’

B: A Muslim gunman critically-wounds the pope as he greets crowds of pilgrims in St. Peter’s square. After the pope’s recovery from four gunshot wounds, he visits his would-be assassin in prison, enters his cell, and forgives him.

Which of these plot-lines could more believably appear on television? While the “A” stories above are my own works of fiction, each “B” story relates a true incident. The episode of the dinner guest who heard Pope John Paul II’s confession is told in an article by K. D’Encer entitled “The Priest, the Beggar and the Pope.” It was Pope Pius XII who hid and helped thousands of Jews during WWII, and the agnostic scientist who praised the Catholic Church for defending his people was Albert Einstein. St. John Paul II did call evolution “more than just a hypothesis” but no reactionary Catholic extremists tried to kill him for expressing this non-heretical view. In 1983, Pope John Paul visited Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who had tried to kill him two years prior, and forgave him face-to-face.

This is not to say that a truly great drama about the papacy would or should ignore the realities of darkness, sin, and division. But secular treatments of the Catholic Church in this world trace her shadows without acknowledging her light. As the Latin adage says, “No one gives what he does not have.” (Nemo dat quod non habet.) Lacking a well-formed faith, no screenwriter can be expected to do justice to Jesus’ Church in its complex but saving reality.

Posted in Catholic Church, Culture, Pope John Paul the Great, Reflection, Television | 4 Comments »

Almost Nobody Hates the Church

June 22, 2016

Bishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) was dubbed “the first televangelist” by TIME magazine in 1952. His Emmy-winning TV show, Life is Worth Living, was watched by up to 30 million people weekly. His cause for sainthood is currently being advanced by his home diocese of Peoria, IL.

The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen made this observation in his 1938 foreword to Radio Replies, a Catholic apologetics book:

“There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics ‘adore statues’; because they ‘put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God’; because they say ‘indulgence is a permission to commit sin’; because the Pope ‘is a Fascist’; because the ‘Church is the defender of Capitalism.’ If the Church taught or believed any one of these things it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.

If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates… Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which, in seasons of bigotry, men say must be destroyed in the name of God as men crucified Christ and thought they had done a service to God. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because He called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which is rejected by the world as Our Lord was rejected by men…

If then, the hatred of the Church is founded on erroneous beliefs, it follows that basic need of the day is instruction. Love depends on knowledge for we cannot aspire nor desire the unknown.

Our great country is filled with what might be called marginal Christians, i.e., those who live on the fringe of religion and who are descendants of Christian living parents, but who now are Christians only in name. They retain a few of its ideals out of indolence and force of habit; they knew the glorious history of Christianity only through certain emasculated forms of it, which have married the spirit of the age and are now dying with it. Of Catholicism and its sacraments, its pardon, its grace, its certitude and its peace, they know nothing except a few inherited prejudices. And yet they are good people who want to do the right thing, but who have no definite philosophy concerning it. They educate their children without religion, and yet they resent the compromising morals of their children. They would be angry if you told them they were not Christian, and yet they do not believe that Christ is God. They resent being called pagans and yet they never take a practical cognizance of the existence of God. There is only one thing of which they are certain and that is that things are not right as they are. It is just that single certitude which makes them what might be called the great “potentials,” for they are ready to be pulled in either of two directions. Within a short time they must take sides; they must either gather with Christ or they must scatter; they must either be with Him or against Him; they must either be on the cross as other Christs, or under it as other executioners. Which way will these marginal Christians tend?… Only this much is certain. Being human and having hearts they want more than class struggle and economics; they want Life, they want Truth, and they want Love. In a word, they want Christ.

It is to these millions who believe wrong things about the Church and to these marginal Christians, that this little book is sent. It is not to prove that they are ‘wrong’; it is not to prove that we are ‘right’; it is merely to present the truth in order that the truth may conquer through the grace of God.”

Posted in Bp. Fulton Sheen, Catholic Church, Reflection | Leave a Comment »

The Precepts of the Church

January 28, 2016

(Catechism of the Catholic Church #2041-2043)

The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor:

The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays & holy days of obligation.”) requires the faithful to participate in the Eucharistic celebration when the Christian community gathers together on the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord.

The second precept (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year.”) ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism’s work of conversion and forgiveness.

The third precept (“You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.”) guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.

The fourth precept (“You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation.”) completes the Sunday observance by participation in the principal liturgical feasts which honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.

The fifth precept (“You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting & abstinence.”) ensures the times of ascesis [self-discipline] and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts; they help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.

The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities.

Posted in Catholic Church, Reflection | Leave a Comment »

The Names of Our Parishes

January 6, 2016

When a child is presented for baptism, the parents are asked: “What name do you give [or have you given] your child?” The Diocese of La Crosse is comprised of 162 parishes across nineteen Wisconsin counties and is home to more than 200,000 Catholics. These are the top ten names attached to parishes in the Diocese of La Crosse:

Holy Rosary – 3 Parishes

St. James, St. Anthony, Holy Family – 4 Parishes

St. Peter, St. Paul – 5 Parishes

St. John the Baptist, St. Patrick – 7 Parishes

Sacred Heart (of Jesus) – 13 Parishes

St. Joseph – 14 Parishes

St. Mary [with her various tiles] – 30 Parishes

Names are important; choose holy ones.

Posted in Catholic Church, Reflection | Leave a Comment »

On Praying with Separated Brethren

November 21, 2015

This evening, I received an email from a concerned parish visitor who was responding to a pair of area ecumenical Thanksgiving services being promoted in our bulletin:

Dear Father. I was severely shocked and disappointed to see this in a CATHOLIC bulletin. I am a devout Roman Catholic visiting family in the area. Not only is this confusing to to parishoners. It is outright contradicting to Church doctrine. You have beautiful homilies, and seem to be a devout priest ! Which is why I’m so confused and outright shocked !!! I will also be emailing the Bishop to address this issue with him. God bless [F]ather. And may the Sacred Heart [guide] us both ! [-Signed-]

In case there is wider confusion and concern on this subject, here is the reply I sent.

Dear —,

Thank you for your note. Properly representing our Catholic Faith and preventing scandal are important to me and I’m glad you wrote me.

The Catholic Church calls Protestants our “separated brethren.” This is because we are united as brothers and sisters in Christ though, at the same time, divided in non-trivial ways. (I hope this teaching of the Church is clearly reflected through my preaching, for I believe our Lord desires all of his disciples and all people to come into full communion with his Catholic Church.) While Catholics and Protestants are certainly not in full communion with each other, we share and revere many of the same elements of Christian Prayer, Scripture, and Tradition. Without compromising on the truth, the Church allows Catholics to come together with other Christians for ecumenical prayer events such as the upcoming Thanksgiving gatherings you saw advertised in the bulletin.

This evening, I spoke with Mr. Christopher Carstens, our (solidly orthodox) diocesan director of liturgy, regarding your concerns. He confirmed that these ecumenical events are not condemned by the Church. In fact, The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism promulgated by St. Pope John Paul II in 1993 states that, “In liturgical celebrations taking place in other Churches and ecclesial Communities [i.e, Protestant churches], Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns and common actions of the Church in which they are guests. If invited by their hosts, they may read a lesson or preach.” (#118) The upcoming area Thanksgiving ecumenical services are celebrations of this sort, consisting of scripture readings, psalms, prayer responses, hymns, and talks (without common communion.) And so, Catholics may feel welcome to take part.

Through our participation in such ecumenical events and gatherings, while remaining firmly and unabashedly Catholic, I hope that our separated brethren may be drawn from (perhaps) prejudice against Catholicism, to curiosity, to understanding, to attraction, and finally into full communion with Mother Church. Sharing the truth with love and showing love informed by truth through encounters like these will be key to the reunion of all Christians.

Thanks again for writing me with your concerns, which are hopefully now relieved.

God bless,
Fr. Victor Feltes

Posted in Catholic Church, Reflection, Unity | Leave a Comment »

Annual Appeal Videos

November 19, 2015

The story of a new, young priest, Rev. Billy Dodge.

About the La Crosse Diocese’s work with social ministries & concerns.

The good work of the diocesan TV Mass.

Posted in Catholic Church, Television | Leave a Comment »

Charles Dickens’ Otherworldly Visitor

November 17, 2015

Charles Dickens by Frith, 1859 One night in 1844, the year after he published A Christmas Carol, a 32-year-old Charles Dickens seemingly encountered a visitor from beyond while vacationing in Venice, Italy. Within this dream or vision, Dickens thought himself speaking to his dearly-beloved sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, who had died in 1837, yet he also observed that the spirit “bore no resemblance to any one I have known.” Dickens recorded this experience soon afterward in a letter to a friend:

“Let me tell you of a curious dream I had, last Monday night; and of the fragments of reality I can collect, which helped to make it up. [I] had laid awake nearly all that night…. [W]hen I fell asleep and dreamed this dream. Observe that throughout I was as real, animated, and full of passion as [the English actor William Macready] in the last scene of Macbeth.

In an indistinct place, which was quite sublime in its indistinctness I was visited by a Spirit. I could not make out the face, nor do I recollect that I desired to do so. It wore a blue drapery, as the Madonna might in a picture by Raphael; and bore no resemblance to any one I have known except in stature. I think (but I am not sure) that I recognized the voice. Anyway, I knew it was poor Mary’s spirit. I was not at all afraid, but in a great delight, so that I wept very much, and stretching out my arms to it called it “Dear.”

At this, I thought it recoiled; and I felt immediately, that not being of my gross nature, I ought not to have addressed it so familiarly. “Forgive me!” I said. “We poor living creatures are only able to express ourselves by looks and words. I have used the word most natural to our affections; and you know my heart.” It was so full of compassion and sorrow for me—which I knew spiritually, for, as I have said, I didn’t perceive its emotions by its face—that it cut me to the heart; and I said, sobbing, “Oh! give me some token that you have really visited me!”

“Form a wish,” it said. I thought, reasoning with myself: ‘If I form a selfish wish, it will vanish.’ So I hastily discarded such hopes and anxieties of my own as came into my mind, and said, “Mrs. Hogarth is surrounded with great distresses (observe, I never thought of saying ‘your mother‘ as to a mortal creature) will you extricate her?” “Yes.” “And her extrication is to be a certainty to me that this has really happened?” “Yes.”

“But answer me one other question!” I said, in an agony of entreaty lest it should leave me. “What is the True religion?” As it paused a moment without replying, I said—Good God in such an agony of haste, lest it should go away! “You think, as I do, that the Form of religion does not so greatly matter, if we try to do good? or,” I said, observing that it still hesitated, and was moved with the greatest compassion for me, “perhaps the Roman Catholic is the best? Perhaps it makes one think of God oftener, and believe in him more steadily?” “For you,” said the Spirit, full of such heavenly tenderness for me, that I felt as if my heart would break; “for you, it is the best!” Then I awoke, with the tears running down my face, and myself in exactly the condition of the dream. It was just dawn.

I called up [my wife] Kate, and repeated it three or four times over, that I might not unconsciously make it plainer or stronger afterwards. It was exactly this. Free from all hurry, nonsense, or confusion, whatever.”

One’s Catholic imagination wonders if this tender, compassionate, glorious “Mary” who visited Charles Dickens that night was actually the Blessed Virgin. Like Our Lady of Lourdes responded to Bernadette’s initial requests for her name with a silent smile, this visitor holds back at first to finally reveal a climactic answer. Whether this was a true vision or merely a dream we cannot say, but this visitor’s answer to his religious question does not disqualify our Blessed Mother: the glorious woman told him, “For you, [the Catholic religion] is the best!”

Would this statement imply that Catholicism would not be the best religion for some? Dickens himself held that the form of one’s religion did not greatly matter if someone tried to do good, and his strong distaste for formal religion had drawn him to Unitarianism. If our Mother Mary, who knew Charles through and through, wished to lead him into full communion with the Catholic Church, she would speak truth to him in the way which he could best receive it. Indeed, for him the Catholic faith truly would be best, but he may have balked-outright at her teaching that it is best for everyone. If his was a vision of the Blessed Virgin sent from God, the plan was to bring him into the fullness of the truth over time, as we often see God patiently doing with others.

Charles Dickens never did become a Catholic during his lifetime, but after 1847 (three years after this experience) he began attending the Anglican church near his home and prayed each morning and night. A year before his death, he wrote in his 1869 last will and testament, “I commit my soul to the mercy of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ….” Today his body lies buried in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Posted in Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic Church, Supernatural Phenomena | Leave a Comment »

Five Seeming Liturgical Abuses That Are Actually Legit

August 27, 2015

These five liturgical practices may seem unorthodox, but the Roman Catholic Church officially allows for each of them:

1. Receiving the Blessed Sacrament Twice in the Same Day

The Church limits the number of communions the faithful may receive in a day, lest people misguidedly pursue sanctity by filling their days with numerous communions, and to keep the reception of this most sacred gift from feeling common by receiving too-frequently. According to the Code of Canon Law (which governs Church practices) the faithful may receive Our Eucharistic Lord twice daily. And, unless someone is in danger of death, the second time must be while participating at Holy Mass. (Canons 917 & 921)

2. A Priest Eating Between His Sunday Masses

Ordinarily, a person who is going to receive Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain from all food and drink (besides water or medicine) for at least one hour before holy communion. This is done to prepare oneself to worthily receive this most precious food (though the elderly, the infirm, and those caring for them are exempted from the fast.) The Church, recognizing that a priest could have difficulty finding time for needed nourishment, allows priests who celebrate the Eucharist two or three times in the same day to take something between their Masses, even if there is less than one hour between them. (Canon 919)

3. Offering Mass for the Soul of a Notorious Person

May a priest offer a Mass for the soul of Osama Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, or Judas Iscariot? Pastoral prudence may advise him against doing so publicly but the Code of Canon law affirms, “A priest is entitled to offer Mass for anyone, living or dead.” (Canon 901) While the Church has declared many saints and blesseds to be now in Heaven, she has never declared any particular human being to be presently in Hell. Since Jesus warns us so strongly and frequently about damnation, and we know that the devil and ‘one third’ of the angels are eternally consigned to Hell, it seems very unlikely that all people will be saved. (Revelation 12:4 & 9, Matthew 25:41, Catechism of the Catholic Church #393) However, even if hoping against hope, we may still offer our prayers (capable of transcending space and time) for the salvation of any and all human souls.

4. A Wedding Couple Processing into Church Behind the Priest

At weddings in the United States, the groom typically takes his place near the altar to await his bride’s walk down the aisle. But the Catholic Rite of Marriage, while allowing for local custom, presents a different entrance as the norm: “If there is a procession to the altar, the ministers go first, followed by the priest, and then the bride and the bridegroom.” (Rite of Marriage, no. 20) The ministers of the sacrament of marriage are actually the bride and groom themselves — the priest (or deacon) simply presides as the Church’s official witness. (Catechism #1623) Thus, it is fitting that the couple enter the church on their wedding day side-by-side in liturgical procession.

5. A Priest Dipping Hosts Into the Precious Blood at the Distribution of Communion

Host and Chalice - Sacred Heart Catholic Church - Wauzeka WI A minister of the Holy Eucharist who steeps the Host into the Precious Blood before placing it upon a communicant’s tongue is distributing by “intinction.” The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (or GIRM, which governs liturgical practices for Holy Mass) states, “The Blood of the Lord may be consumed either by drinking from the chalice directly, or by intinction, or by means of a tube or a spoon.” (GIRM, no. 245) While noting that “distribution of the Precious Blood by a spoon or through a straw is not customary in the Latin dioceses of the United States of America,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reiterates that a bishop may allow distribution by intinction in his diocese. (Norms, no. 48 & 24, citing GIRM no. 283)

As the GIRM describes it, “If Communion from the chalice is carried out by intinction, each communicant, holding a Communion-plate under the mouth, approaches the Priest who holds a vessel with the sacred particles, with a minister standing at his side and holding the chalice. The Priest takes a host, intincts it partly in the chalice and, showing it, says, The Body and Blood of Christ. The communicant replies, Amen, receives the Sacrament in the mouth from the Priest, and then withdraws.” (GIRM, no. 287) The U.S. Bishops further emphasize that the faithful, including extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, are never to self-communicate by intinction. (Norms, no. 50) May an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist distribute by intinction? The GIRM passage above speaks of “the Priest,” but I would refer people to their local bishop’s norms on the distribution of Communion for a judgment on this question.

Posted in Catholic Church, Hell, Last Judgment, Marriage and Family, Mass | 14 Comments »

The Biggest Catholic News Stories of 2014

December 17, 2014

January:
Tens of thousands of pro-lifers, mostly young people, ‘March for Life’ in Washington, D.C.

February:
A report by a U.N. committee on children criticizes the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, contraception, and abortion.

March:
Nearly 200 associated Catholic groups file a class-action lawsuit against the HHS contraceptive-abortifacient-sterilization insurance coverage mandate.

April:
Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul the Great are canonized by Pope Francis, with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in attendance.

May:
A planned satanic ‘Black Mass’ at Harvard University is canceled following a strong public outcry.

June:
Vatican theologians approve a miracle for the beatification of Bishop Fulton Sheen (however, the process is indefinitely suspended in September due to an inter-diocesan impasse.)

July:
The U.S. Supreme Court rules 6 to 3 in favor of Hobby Lobby’s religious liberty (boding well for Catholic religious conscience cases.)

August:
After atrocities against Christians and Muslims, the U.S. begins airstrikes on ISIS.

September:
Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, WA is named the new archbishop of Chicago, replacing the ailing Cardinal Francis George.

October:
The Extraordinary Synod on the Family meets at the Vatican and reaffirms Catholic teachings.

November:
Cardinal Raymond Burke is appointed the new patron of the Knights of Malta.

December:
Pope Francis announces a consistory to name new cardinals in February of 2015.

Posted in Catholic Church, Church Year, Pope John Paul the Great | Leave a Comment »

Praying with a “Marked Deck”

October 19, 2014

Meditating on the Gospels helps us to grow closer to Jesus, but which passage should we bring to our time of prayer?

With the 1st Sunday of Advent (coming liturgically the evening of November 29th, 2014) we’ll begin exploring the Gospel of Mark in our Cycle B Sunday readings. One option for prayer is to meditate on next Sunday’s Gospel in order to enter more deeply into the Mass.

Or, to contemplate Mark’s entire Gospel, you can pray with it bit by bit, day by day, from start to finish.

On the other hand, you can let yourself be completely surprised by whatever divine providence deals you. In my Holy Hours, I’m planning to randomly draw my Marcan passage for lectio divina from this list, and you can do the same:

2♠   Mark 1: 1-15
3♠   1: 16-31
4♠   1: 32-45
5♠   2: 1-12
6♠   2: 13-22
7♠   2: 23 – 3: 6
8♠   3: 7-19
9♠   3: 20-35
10♠ 4: 1-9, 14-20
J♠   4: 10-13, 21-25
Q♠ 4: 26-34
K♠ 4: 35-41
A♠  5: 1-20

2♥   5: 21-24, 35-43
3♥   5: 25-34
4♥   6: 1-16
5♥   6:17-29
6♥   6:30-44
7♥   6:45-56
8♥   7: 1-13
9♥   7: 14-30
10♥ 7: 31-37 & 8: 22-26
J♥ 8: 1-10
Q♥   8: 11-21
K♥   8: 27 – 9: 1
A♥   9: 2-13

2♦   9: 14-29
3♦   9: 30-37
4♦   9: 38-50
5♦   10: 1-16
6♦   10: 17-31
7♦   10: 32-45
8♦   10: 46 – 11: 11
9♦   11: 12-25
10♦ 11: 27 – 12: 12
J♦   12: 13-27
Q♦  12: 28-37
K♦  12: 38-13:2
A♦  13: 3-23

2♣   13: 24-37
3♣   14: 1-11
4♣   14: 12-26
5♣   14: 27-42
6♣   14: 43-52
7♣   14: 53-65
8♣   14: 66-72
9♣   15: 1-15
10♣ 15: 16-24
J♣   15: 25-38
Q♣  15: 39-47
K♣  16: 1-13
A♣  16: 14-20

Posted in Catholic Church, Church Year, Inspired Scripture, Reflection | Leave a Comment »

Popes Are Not Perfect — Wednesday, 27th Week of Ordinary Time—Year II

October 8, 2014

Readings: Galatians 2:1-2,7-14; Luke 11:1-4

[W]hen Cephas came to Antioch, I [Paul] opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas [Peter] in front of all, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, …forgive us our sins….”

The Church on earth is both human and divine — it is holy, yet made up of and led by sinners. When the apostles asked Jesus how they should pray he told those men who were to become the Church’s first leaders to always ask that God the Father would forgive their sins.

Some bulk at the doctrine of papal infallibility asking, “How can a pope, a sinful man, be infallible?” (One could likewise ask how sinful men could write the Sacred Scriptures.) A pope is infallible when he proclaims a doctrine by a definitive act as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful regarding faith or morals, but nothing guarantees that he and the Church’s other leaders will never make sincere yet unwise decisions, or that they will never commit serious sins. Infallibility is not the same as impeccability. Imagine the Church as car on the interstate. The Holy Spirit provides guard rails to prevent us from crashing, but we do not always drive as straightly and speedily as we could.

In today’s reading from Galatians, St. Paul recalls the time he gave some fraternal correction to the first pope. St. Peter had not been teaching error regarding the Gentiles and the Mosaic Law, but his personal example (withdrawing from their company so as not to offend the circumcised) was sending a mixed and wrong signal. Even St. Peter could make a mess of things sometimes. Popes, bishops, and priests need the help of our prayers. Like St. Augustine observed: for you, they are leaders; but with you, they are Christians. They are disciples of Jesus Christ who, like yourself, must strive and follow after Him daily.

Posted in Catholic Church, Homily, St. Paul, St. Peter, Weekday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Comparing Catholic Bibles

September 6, 2014

The Douay-Rheims

This was the earliest Catholic Bible in English (New Testament published in 1582; Old Testament in 1610.)
It pre-dates the most famous Protestant Bible, the 1611 King James Version.
It is a very literal translation from St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate from 382 AD.
It uses archaic English words, like “thou.”

The New Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE)

The RSV was a translation for American readers from the original languages by thirty Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox scholars in the 1940’s & 50’s and was adapted for Catholic use in 1966.
It is considered a very literal & readable translation by many orthodox Catholic scholars.
It is often used in university or seminary courses and by important Catholic & Protestant biblical scholars.
The New RSV (or NRSV) was published in 1989 and has gender-neutral (or inclusive) language.

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB)

The 1966 Jerusalem Bible was an English translation of a French Edition published by Dominican scholars in Jerusalem in 1956.
The 1985 New Jerusalem Bible revises the Jerusalem Bible directly from the original languages and contains inclusive language.
The NJB has a very literary style but is comparable in quality to the NRSV in scholarship.
This is the most widely used Catholic Bible in English outside of the United States.

The New American Bible (NAB)

The NAB was translated from the original languages according to the principles of the Second Vatican Council in 1970.
The 1980’s revised edition (the NAB-RE) restored some traditional phrasing and added inclusive language in the New Testament and Psalms.
The Holy See approved some use of inclusive language where the speaker or author intended a mixed audience (e.g. “brothers and sisters”, instead of the older “brethren,”) but rejected this in references to God or Christ, and to man, where the word has anthropological and theological significance.
Since Pentecost 2002, the revised NAB’s lectionary is the only one approved for use in U.S. English Masses, so faithful Catholics are already familiar with its readable style.

Translation Comparison of Matthew 18:15

Douay-Rheims: “But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother.”

NRSV-CE: “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.”

NJB: “If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.”

NAB-RE: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”

Primarily Used Sources:

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Pope Paul VI Has Died

August 6, 2014

Thus begins my new blog presenting the day-to-day happenings in the papacy of His Holiness, Pope John Paul I.

Posted in Catholic Church, Pope Paul VI, Saintly People | Leave a Comment »

Ten Things Catholics Don’t Believe

June 15, 2014

The Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once wrote, “There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing.”

Mending the mistaken notions of our non-Catholic friends and relatives about what we actually believe is both a spiritual work of mercy and an important step in the reunion of all Christians. Below is a list of ten common misconceptions paired with what the Catholic Church really teaches:

1. Catholics don’t believe that Mary is a goddess, but that she is the holy mother of God and of all Christians.

2. Catholics don’t worship statues, but images help us connect with our friends in Heaven.

3. Catholics don’t believe that the pope is sinless or inerrant about everything, but that he is the successor to St. Peter and can teach infallibly on faith and morals.

4. Catholics don’t believe that people shouldn’t read Sacred Scripture, but that we won’t interpret it well apart from Sacred Tradition.

5. Catholics don’t believe that we are “saved by works,” but that we must cooperate with God’s saving graces.

6. Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is re-sacrificed every Mass, but that the Mass re-presents (makes present) his one sacrifice and applies its power here and now.

7. Catholics don’t believe in cannibalism, but that the Eucharist truly is the real, living person of Jesus Christ.

8. Catholics don’t believe that married couples must have as many children as humanly possible, but that it is harmful to separate what God has joined in the marital embrace.

9. Catholics don’t believe that purgatory is a second chance or “temporary hell,” but that God perfects us to be in his holy presence in Heaven.

10. Catholics don’t believe that all non-Catholics will go to hell, but we want everyone to come into full communion with us in Christ’s one Church.

Posted in Blessed Virgin Mary, Bp. Fulton Sheen, Catholic Church, Mass | Leave a Comment »

Freed from Error — Friday, 5th Week of Easter

May 23, 2014

Readings: Acts 15:22-31, John 15:12-17

The first-century Church faced an important doctrinal question: was it necessary for Gentiles (i.e., non-Jews) to keep the full Mosaic Law in order to be saved? Self-professed Christians argued on opposing sides of the issue. Yet, after the Council of Jerusalem, the Church’s ordained leaders decreed to the Gentile Christians:

“‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities…”

This conclusion was not merely the opinion of “the apostles and the presbyters.” As they themselves declare and Sacred Scripture affirms, the Holy Spirit was infallibly working with and through them. In his explanation of Why I Am a Catholic, G.K. Chesterton explained that, “[Catholicism] is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” Jesus said:

“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.”

The Church is the bride of Christ. She is his intimate friend with whom Jesus shares everything. And, by the power of the Holy Spirit, she offers us protection and deliverance from the limitations and blind spots of our own particular cultures, eras, and intellects in questions of our Faith.

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