Retired pope's secretary says 'mystical experience' story is untrue

VATICAN CITY (CNS)

Archbishop Georg Ganswein, retired Pope Benedict XVI's longtime personal secretary, said a story about the pope resigning after a "mystical experience" was completely invented.

"It was invented from alpha to omega," the archbishop said Aug. 24 in an interview on Italy's Canale 5 television news. "There is nothing true in the article."

In a report Aug. 19, the Italian service of Zenit, a Catholic news agency, said someone who had visited Pope Benedict "a few weeks ago" had asked him why he resigned. "God told me to," the retired pope was quoted as responding before "immediately clarifying that it was not any kind of apparition of phenomenon of that kind, but rather 'a mystical experience' in which the Lord gave rise in his heart to an 'absolute desire' to remain alone with him in prayer."

When Pope Benedict announced his resignation in February, he said he had done so after intense prayer and that he intended to live the rest of his life praying and studying.

Some Vatican officials and Vatican watchers were surprised by Zenit's report of Pope Benedict telling an anonymous visitor that his decision was the result of some form of extraordinary "mystical experience" rather than a decision made after long and careful thought and deep prayer. Catholics traditionally would consider that kind of intense prayer a "mystical experience," although not something extraordinary.

Explaining his decision to resign to a group of cardinals Feb. 11, Pope Benedict had said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry."

He also told the cardinals that he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to serving the church through his prayers.

Since stepping down Feb. 28, retired Pope Benedict has led a very quiet life, far from the public eye, although he did accept Pope Francis' invitation to be present July 5 for the dedication of a statue in the Vatican Gardens.

Living in a remodeled monastery in the Vatican Gardens, along with Archbishop Ganswein and four consecrated laywomen, he occasionally welcomes visitors, especially friends, former students and small groups accompanying former students. The meetings are private and rarely reported in the news.

How Liturgical Abuse Impacted the Family

Catholic Education Daily August 26, 2013:

The connection between the Sacred Liturgy and the family may not be the most obvious thing, but two excellent papers on this topic were delivered at the conference on Friday, June 28th
Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro Carámbula, the executive director of Human Life International’s Rome office, gave a talk on “Sacred Liturgy and the Defense of Human Life.”  He stated that “a man who does not adore God in the liturgy will not be grateful to God for his greatest gift – life.”   However, he spent much of his talk arguing that there was a connection between the rejection of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and the way the reform of the Sacred Liturgy was carried out in the 1960s.  In Monsignor Barreiro’s opinion, the rejection of Pope Paul’s reiteration of the Church’s teaching on contraception was at least partly the result of the radical changes that were already occurring in the liturgy.
The expectations of change in this central moral teaching were fueled by the liturgical changes or, as the Latin axiom puts it, Lex orandi, lex credendi.  In other words, if the law of worship was so suddenly and radically to change, why not the law of belief?
Monsignor Barreiro also made the interesting point that the main reason to have children is “to populate heaven with more souls who will enjoy the eternal contemplation of God . . .but if the liturgy does not give us that beautiful contemplation of God, we are going to be less motivated to have children who will enjoy it.”  As those of us very sensitive to the beautiful have sometimes felt – at an exceptionally bad liturgical celebration (I must add!) – “if this is supposed to be a foretaste of heaven, then I am not so sure why I would want to go there . . . . ”
Professor Miguel Ayuso, a sociologist from Spain, gave a talk entitled “Sacred Liturgy as the Heart of the Life and Mission of the Family.”  His talk, which took for granted the importance of the family, touched on the nature and necessity of Christian institutions in a society.  He said that “there cannot be a Christian people without Christian institutions.”  His main point had to do with the tendency of contemporary thinkers, over the past fifty years or so, to criticize mere “practices” of religion.
While it is true that merely “going through the motions” is never good enough for a Christian believer, who has to worship in spirit and truth; nonetheless, there have to be“public motions” to go through.  The Catholic religion is an incarnational religion, a religion that has to be manifested in the public square.  It is a religion of processions, feasts and solemnities.  It is neither a religion for angels nor for private individuals.   It has always been a Protestant tendency to belittle the physical/communal aspect of Christian life in favor of the individual having a private relationship with the Divine.
Finally, this is where the Catholic college and its role in the liturgical formation of the students comes into play.  Certainly Catholic students need to be taught right doctrine – both faith and morals – however, a non-traditional liturgy can set up a real cognitive dissonance.  If the liturgy and its music change to keep up with and reflect the times, why should doctrine not change likewise?  We are to be in communion with the Church not only throughout the world, but also through time.  Although some might disagree, I contend that one of the best ways for a Catholic college to teach students intuitively that we believe the same things about marriage and the family as in the 12th century, is to worship in continuity with the way Catholics did in the 12th century.

15 Major Heresies and Those Who Fought Them

Ascending Mount Carmel July 1, 2013:

The history of the Catholic Church is full of all sorts of heresies that have assailed the truths of the faith.  From the earliest days of the Gnostics and Docetists all the way down to the Jansenists and Quietists of later centuries, it seems there has never been a shortage of heretical thought.

But in each age, God has brought forth great members of the faithful to combat each one.  Each one gave their life in service to Christ and His Church in their own way, either as martyrs, confessors, or simply as servants to others for the sake of the love of Jesus.

The following is a list of fifteen of the major heresies that the Church has faced, and the illustrious persons who stood against them. 

1.  Pelagianism and St. Augustine of Hippo

"There is an opinion that calls for sharp and vehement resistance - I mean the belief that the power of the human will can of itself, without the help of God, either achieve perfect righteousness or advance steadily towards it."1 

Pelagianism radically corrupted the Church's teachings on grace, sin, and the Fall.  Its namesake, the British monk Pelagius (who was startled by some of the words of St. Augustine in his Confessions), taught that the sin of Adam had no bearing on subsequent generations; essentially, man was inherently good and unaffected by the Fall.  In practice, this meant that a man could come to God by his own free will, no grace needed.  Many saints fought against this doctrine - St. David of Wales stands out among them especially - but it was St. Augustine of Hippo, arguably the greatest of the Latin Doctors and "the Church's mightiest champion against heresy"2, who rose to fight against this inherently venomous strand of thought.

Against Pelagius, St. Augustine upheld the truth that God's grace is entirely necessary for any movement of ours towards God to occur at all.  As he himself puts it, "We for our part assert that the human will is so divinely aided towards the doing of righteousness that, besides being created with the free choice of his will, and besides the teaching which instructs him how he ought to live, he receives also the Holy Spirit, through which there arises in his heart a delight in and love of that supreme and unchangeable Good which is God; and this arises even now, while he still walks by faith and not by sight."3

2.  Gnosticism and St. Irenaeus of Lyons

"How can they say that the flesh goes to corruption and has no share in life, when it is nourished by the Lord's Body and Blood?"4

Gnosticism was arguably the biggest heresy of the early Church, a Hydra-like species of varying sects and figureheads that espoused all manner of profane mysticism, asceticism, and produced many false gospels.  Among its central tenets was that Christ was merely a spiritual being, and not a flesh-and-blood man, that God the Father was actually a malevolent Demiurge, and that all matter was inherently evil.

The chief saint who fought Gnosticism, and dismantled all aspects of it was St. Irenaeus of Lyons.  St. Irenaeus' monumental work, Adversus Haereses, is a systematic account and refutation of every Gnostic sect presumably known by St. Irenaeus at the time.  He tenaciously held that Christ was God in the flesh, for if Christ was merely a phantasm, then He did not suffer and die at all.  His writing is essential for understanding the heresies that assaulted the Church in the first two centuries of its existence, as well as being an incredible account of apostolic tradition up to his time.

3.  Arianism and St. Athanasius

"And thus, taking a body like to ours, because all men were liable to the corruption of death he surrendered it to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father..."5

Aside from the various Gnostic sects that plagued the early Church, it is Arianism that is arguably the most famous of all Christian heresies.  It struck at the very root and core of Christian teaching, that Jesus was God Himself in the flesh, and relegated the person of Jesus Christ to that of a mere created thing.  It lives on today in varying forms, from well-known sects like the Jehovah's Witnesses all the way to the bizarre world of Apollo Quiloboy; moreover, it still lurks within the sentences of some modern theologians who ambiguously state that Jesus is "the Christ" but no more than an exalted man.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria was the walking cure for this heresy.  Stubborn and unshakeable, I think it not a stretch to say at times that this great man stood alone against wave after wave of Arian attacks on the truth of the Christian faith.  By emphasizing and stubbornly holding to the truth of Christ as both God and man, St. Athanasius (along with others such as St. Hilary of Poitiers) effectively ended the reign of the Arian heresy within the Church.

4.  Nestorianism and St. Cyril of Alexandria

"Truth reveals herself plain to those who love her."6
St. Cyril of Alexandria was not known for his subtlety when it came to those who would attack the revealed truth of the Christian faith.  When Nestorius arose on the scene, Pope St. Celestine I sent St. Cyril to quell the heresies spread by this man.  Nestorius' error was essentially (and might I say,  ironically) two-fold: the Blessed Virgin Mary was not the Mother of God but merely the Christotokos (meaning "Christ-bearer")  and who also effectively claimed that Christ was really two persons accidentally united in one body (one divine, one human). 

Against this, St. Cyril defended the unity of Christ's person as both God and man with a ferocity that I have personally not witnessed in writing since St. Jerome defended the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary against Helvidius in 383 AD.  St. Cyril's brilliant defense of the person of Christ at the Council of Ephesus forever set up an impenetrable fortress against all those who would attack both the Incarnation and the Mother of God. 

5.  Monothelitism and St. Maximus the Confessor

"I have the faith of the Latins, but the language of the Greeks."7
Monothelitism declared that Christ had only one will (divine).  Much like Monophysitism which had declared that Christ had only one nature (divine), Monothelitism is viewed by some as a compromise aimed at bringing Monophysites back to the Church.  But by declaring that Christ had only a divine will, it amounted to little more than essentially stating that Jesus was not God in flesh but merely a human controlled by a divine will - Justin Holcomb of the Reformed website The Resurgence humorously describes it as "Jesus is controlled by Skynet"8.

Against this heresy arose the valiant St. Maximus the Confessor, who is to this day one of the most revered theological minds of the Christian East.  His defense of the orthodox doctrine that Christ had both a human will and divine will was met with fearsome resistance - he ended up having his tongue torn out and his right hand cut off for refusing to acquiesce to the Monothelite Emperor Constans II, before being exiled and dying soon after.  

6.  Albigensianism and St. Dominic Guzman

"...his heart was well-nigh broken by the ravages of the Albigensian heresy, and his life was henceforth devoted to the conversion of heretics and the defence of the faith."9
Gnosticism again reared its ugly head in the Middle Ages, this time in the form of what was known as Albigensianism.  With its dualist worldview and inherent dislike for the Church due to corruption within her own ranks among the clergy, Albigensianism began to attract an incredibly large following, divided into the "perfect" and "believers." Though often romanticized nowadays due to the revival of interest in Gnostic ideas and history within the New Age movement, from my point of view, it was anything but.  In fact, it was alarming in its view of all matter as evil - suicide by starvation was encouraged among its members, in order to free the soul from the body.  In fact, when a run-of-the-mill "believer" was given the spiritual baptism whilst seriously ill and/or dying, and happened to recover somehow, they were "as often as not smothered or starved to death (endura) in order to assure [their] salvation,"10 because only once could this ritual be performed.

Though the Cistercian order had been enlisted to combat this heresy, its success was minimal at best.  St. Dominic instead founded the Order of Preachers, because in all practicality "what was needed was a new policy with missioners travelling in poverty, but well-equipped intellectually to deal with the errors in a charitable but effective way."11  The accounts surrounding his battles against the heresy of the Cathari (as the Albigensians were also known) are incredible - his staying up all night in discussion with an Albigensian innkeeper in order to save his soul, the Virgin Mary's arming him with the Holy Rosary, his singing hymns aloud along the roads where Cathari assassins lay in wait to murder him (much to their astonishment!), his only book that he carried being a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew.  It is even said of the Dominicans that "Our Lady took them under her special protection, and whispered to St. Dominic as he preached."12

Though the murder of a papal legate by the Albigensians sparked a massacre in the form of the Albigensian Crusade, "Dominic himself took no part in the violence of the crusaders."13  In the end, due to his zeal for, love of, and devotion to Christ, "he revived the the courage of the Catholic troops, led them to victory against overwhelming numbers, and finally crushed the heresy."14

7.  Latin Averroism and St. Thomas Aquinas
"This then is what we have written to destroy the error mentioned, using the arguments and teachings of the philosophers themselves, not the documents of faith. If anyone glorying in the name of false science wishes to say anything in reply to what we have written, let him not speak in corners nor to boys who cannot judge of such arduous matters, but reply to this in writing, if he dares. He will find that not only I, who am the least of men, but many others zealous for the truth, will resist his error and correct his ignorance."15

One does not exactly hear of the movement known as Latin Averroism too much these days.  But it was indeed a kind of heresy, if you will, a school of thought that attacked the truth of Christian dogma and belief at its core.  Influenced by the Islamic philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd, labelled by the Scholastics as "the Commentator" due to his extensive commentaries on Aristotle), the Averroist Scholastics taught a kind of double truth.  For the Averroist, something that was true in religion and theology could be at the same time false in philosophy and practicality.  Mixed in with this paradoxical notion of "true and not true at the same time", the Averroists also held that the world had always existed, and that there was only one collective soul in humanity.

Against this school of thought, St. Thomas Aquinas rose like a mighty fortress to protect Holy Mother Church.  Instead of outright dismissing the thought of Aristotle like some (due to its being associated with this new movement in thought, as well as some of Aristotle's ideas themselves), St. Thomas Aquinas answered the Averroists by using Aristotle himself.  With precision and common sense, the Angelic Doctor pointed out the corruptions in the translations of Aristotle used by the Arab philosophers, corrected abuses of Aristotle's thought, and harmonized faith and reason rather than separating them into two spheres of truth.  All in a day's work for one of the greatest minds the Church has ever known.

8.  Calvinism and St. Francis de Sales
"In fact I thought that as you will receive no other law for your belief than that interpretation of the Scripture which seems to you the best, you would hear also the interpretation that I should bring, viz., that given by the Apostolic Roman Church, which hitherto you have not had except perverted and quite disfigured and adulterated by the enemy, who well knew that had you seen it in its purity, never would you have abandoned it."16 
In the inital aftermath of the Reformation, the varying schools of Protestantism had begun to take root.  But none had shown themselves to be as staunch in resisting the Catholic faith as the followers of John Calvin.  Though he makes extensive use of the thought of St. Augustine, he does so with hardly any reference to the rest of the Fathers (even a cursory glance at an index in a copy of his magnum opus, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, shows this), ignoring "all that Catholic foundation on which the Doctor of Grace built."17 

Enter St. Francis de Sales.  Only 27 years old at the time, he was sent into one of the most anti-Catholic regions of all, the Chablais, wherein Calvinism had especially fortified itself.   To do so was to invite being despised, rejected, misunderstood, threatened, and turned away.  In many respects, St. Francis' missions to the Calvinists call to mind the words of St. Paul himself - "I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.  Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?" (2 Cor. 11:26-29)

With the Calvinist population staunchly refusing to listen to his words, St. Francis began to write and distribute pamphlets on the truth of the Catholic faith.  These writings were compiled later on into one work, probably the greatest apologetic work against Protestant objections ever penned - Les Controverses.  Known as "the gentleman saint", St. Francis' untiring love for souls (especially seen in his other great work, Introduction to the Devout Life), his knowledge of the faith and history, and his incredible ability to adapt and endure all manner of obstacles and hardship sent against him make him arguably the greatest of the Doctors who went forth against the errors of Calvinism.

9.  Monophysitism and Pope St. Leo the Great
"Keep your hearts free, my beloved, from poisonous lies inspired by the devil."18

Monophysitism was essentially the opposite of the Nestorian heresy mentioned above; where Nestorius emphasized that in Christ "there was both a human hypostasis or person and a divine"19, the Monophysite heresy declared that Christ had only one nature, that His humanity was absorbed into His divinity.  While the heresy of Nestorius was largely vanquished twenty years earlier by St. Cyril of Alexandria at the Council of Ephesus, it was Pope St. Leo the Great who arose to do battle with the heresy of Eutyches and the Monophysites.

Against Monophysitism, he taught the truth of the two natures of Christ (human and divine), saying of Christ that "we could not overcome the author of sin and death, unless He had taken our nature and made it his own..."20.  "After three years of unceasing toil, Leo brought about its solemn condemnation by the Council of Chalcedon, the fathers all signing his tome, and exclaiming, 'Peter hath spoken by Leo.'"21

10.  Iconoclasm and St. John of Damascus

"Conquest is not my object.  I raise a hand that is fighting for the truth - a willing hand under the divine guidance."22

Iconoclasm, the rejection of the use of religious imagery in worship (icons, statuary, and even extending to the use of candles, incense, etc.) had a complicated history.  In the early centuries, it was to be found amongst the heretical Paulician and Nestorian camps, but it was also espoused by some within the Church (including, very early on, St. Epiphanius of Salamis who "fell into some mistakes on certain occasions, which proceeded from zeal and simplicity."23).  Moreover, the heresy of Iconoclasm found much of its influence and fuel in the rise of Islam, which was fiercely opposed to the use of imagery in worship.

The chief heretic in this struggle was Emperor Leo II the Isaurian, who issued an edict forbidding the use of imagery in religious worship.  St. John Damascene, considered the last of the Greek Fathers and the first of the Scholastics, immediately set to work defending the use of imagery by Christians since the earliest centuries of the Church.  St. John was arrested by the Emperor, and (much like St. Maximus the Confessor) had his right hand severed as a punishment for his resistance to the heresy by way of his writings.  Iconoclasm was eventually condemned by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, but was resurrected again in the Protestant Reformation.

11.  Jansenism and St. Alphonsus de Liguori

"He who does not acquire the love of God will scarcely persevere in the grace of God, for it is very difficult to renounce sin merely through fear of chastisement."24
The errors of Calvinism were not only to be found within the Protestant realm, but within the Church too did they take root as well.  This Catholic/Calvinist hybrid was founded by the theologian Cornelius Jansen, who, like Calvin, took the writings of St. Augustine and ran with them to the most extreme conclusions.  A species of ridiculous moral rigorism and religious fear spread its shadows over the Church.  It discouraged frequent Holy Communion, espoused a form of moral perfectionism as being arequirement to even receive the Eucharist at all.  So successful was its influence that it even found adherents in such brilliant Catholic minds as Blaise Pascal.
Many great men and women stood firm against the pessimistic theology and destructive results of Jansenist doctrine, but it was St. Alphonsus de Liguori's writings and thought which effectively sounded the death-knell of this particular form of heresy.  Against the rigorism and fear espoused by Jansenism, St. Alphonsus encouraged frequent Holy Communion as a remedy for sin as long as one was not in a state of mortal sin, and developed a finely-tuned moral theology that became the standard textbook of all Catholic moral theology since.  He is to this day not only revered as a Doctor of the Church and founder of the Redemptorist order, but as the most excellent of teachers on the subject of Catholic morality.

12.  Brethren of the Free Spirit and Bl. John of Ruysbroeck

"This is that Wayless Being which all fervent interior spirits have chosen above all things, that dark stillness in which all lovers lose their way. If we could prepare ourselves through virtue in the ways I have shown, we would at once strip ourselves of our bodies and flow into the wild waves of the Sea, from which no creature could ever draw us back."25

The heresy of the Brethren of the Free Spirit is not one that much heard of these days, but its influence is more widespread than is commonly known.  Finding its beginnings in the Beguine and Beghard movement in the 13th and 14th centuries, this heretical movement found major inspiration in the sermons and writings of Meister Eckhart (though he himself denied any involvement with the movement).  Emphasizing a form of indifference to salvation (a kind of proto-quietism), union with God in this life, and attacking the sacraments of the Church, this mystically-charged heresy began to spread itself all about central Europe.

Though some of the followers of Meister Eckhart himself (especially Bl. Henry Suso) either denied involvement with the Free Spirit movement and/or attempted to correct its teachings and combatted its influence with that of orthodox mysticism within the bounds of the Church, it was the greatest of the Flemish mystics, Bl. John of Ruysbroeck, that led the charge against this particular brand of mystical heresy.

The life of Bl. John is a fascinating one to peruse - spending much of his time in prayer and contemplation in the Sonian Forest near Groenendaal, his concern for the welfare of souls being led astray by the quietistic Free Spirit movement was such that he began to engage in open theological combat with them.  His writings are some of the best ever penned on the Holy Trinity, as well as on the mystical life.  Instead of writing linguistically remote treatises that could never be accessed by the average person at the time, Bl. John wrote many pamphlets in the vernacular that defended the faith against heretical attacks by such Free Spirit figureheads as Bloemardinne.  By emphasizing the deepest aspects of mysticism within Church orthodoxy, he effectively brought about the end of this movement, though not without being persecuted intensely by adherents of this heresy.  

13.  Modernism and Pope St. Pius X

"That We make no delay in this matter is rendered necessary especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; they lie hid, a thing to be deeply deplored and feared, in her very bosom and heart, and are the more mischievous, the less conspicuously they appear. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, nay, and this is far more lamentable, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, feigning a love for the Church, lacking the firm protection of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious daring, they reduce to a simple, mere man."26 

Modernism is quite possibly the most controversial heresy mentioned on this list, because we are indeed, right up to this very moment, still in the throes of it.  As for my own view, it seems to me to be the most ambiguous and chameleon-like of all heresies, and it can often be hard to pinpoint exactly where it is entrenched or where it has already passed through and damaged the faith.

Modernism seems to have had its beginnings, somewhat officially, in the 19th century.  Figures such as Maurice Blondel, George Tyrrell, Alfred Loisy, Friedrich von Hugel and many others are considered major figures within the movement within the Catholic Church; in Protestantism, I would argue that much of it was to be found initially in the thought of Friedrich Schleiermacher.

The words of the modernist thinkers themselves is especially startling - Alfred Loisy wrote that "Christ has even less importance in my religion than he does in that of the liberal Protestants: for I attach little importance to the revelation of God the Father for which they honor Jesus. If I am anything in religion, it is more pantheist-positivist-humanitarian than Christian."27

Its effects are highly destructive - central to it is the idea that the truths of the Christian religion must be subjected to Enlightenment-style rationalism, relativism and secularism.  The truths of the ancient faith are viewed as outmoded, and consequently subjected to rigorous demythologization.  Additionally, the notion of the evolution of dogma effectivelly brought to bear a devastating assault on the truths of the Christian religion.

The effects of a modernistic viewpoint are seen to this day in much theological thought, both Protestant and Catholic, in the writings of many major thinkers such as Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeeckx, Rudolf Bultmann, Karl Rahner, and a whole host of others.  The status of whether many theologians and writers are actually modernistic is a hotly-debated topic.
On the Protestant end of it, it was resisted mightily by the Reformed theologian Karl Barth, especially in his clarion call against liberal theology entitled The Epistle to the Romans.  Though beforehand, the Syllabus of Errors of 1864 and the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII entitled Providentissimus Deus had begun to defend the Church against Modernism, it was the great Pope St. Pius X who arose as the greatest defender of the Church by warning of modernism's threat to the faith.
Calling it the "synthesis of all heresies"28, Pope St. Pius X released Lamentaboli Sane(Syllabus Condemning the Errors of the Modernist) and his monumental encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis against the modernist school of thought.  Reading the work is a frightening wake-up call to the insidious nature of the heresy itself - unlike the dangerous yet frankly clumsy assaults of earlier heresies upon the faith such as Arianism and Montanism, Modernism was said to have infected the Church from the inside.  One is reminded of a deadly illness more than an attack.
Pope St. Pius X also wrote the famed Oath Against Modernism which was required to be sworn to by clergy and others in the Church, and sought to warn the faithful before it was too late.  Much work was done to extinguish modernist trends of thought within the Church thanks to this most venerable and saintly Pope, and to this day, he remains the most important saint to have ever fought against the poisonous infections of the movement.  
14.  Origenism and St. Methodius of Olympus
"Shun not, man, a spiritual hymn, nor be ill-disposed to listen to it. Death belongs not to it; a story of salvation is our song."29

Without a doubt, the Alexandrian theologian Origen was the greatest mind of the early Church.  Many of the great saints of the early Church were enthralled by his brilliance and his devotion - I would make mention of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. John Cassian especially.  Even St. Jerome, who became a bitter opponent of Origen's thought later on, still held him to be one of the most admirable and brilliant minds the Church had yet known.  St. Francis de Sales and St. Elizabeth Schonau, writing many centuries later, also spoke of his great services to the Church.

Nevertheless, some of the thought of Origen was exceedingly problematic.  Being one of the first theologians proper of the early Church, he was prone to stumble when going too far deep into the truths of the faith.  His tendency to over-allegorize, his teachings on the pre-existence of souls, amongst other things, ended up getting him into trouble later on.

But, in all fairness to Origen, there is a huge difference between the man and what later came to be known as "Origenism".  Origenism took latent elements in the experimental and speculative thought of Origen and often ran with it, much in the same manner, I would argue, as such men as John Calvin and Cornelius Jansen had done with the thought of St. Augustine.

Several saints began to criticize Origenism as such, notably St. Jerome and St. Epiphanius of Salamis.  But the first to systematically attack the errors in Origen's thought was one St. Methodius of Olympus.  Himself well-trained in Platonist philosophy as well as the theology of the Church, St. Methodius vigorously critiqued the major errors in the thought of the great Alexandrian, including the eternity of the world and certain teachings of his on the resurrection.  Though a devoted opponent of the thought of Origen, it is interesting to note that he still recognized his service to the Church.

The errors of Origenism were finally condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD, though The New Catholic Encyclopedia promulgated under the pontificate of Pope Pius XI says that "it is not proved that he incurred the anathema of the Church at the Fifth General Council."
15.  Religious Indifferentism and Pope Pius XI
"For union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it."31

Religious indifferentism is, in essence, a kind of sub-species of modernism.  It undermines the truth of the Catholic Church as the one true Church founded by Christ, and essentially states that it is a matter of indifference which church one belongs to.  In many ways, it amounts to what might be termed "pan-Christianity".

Against this notion, Pope Pius XI wrote the encyclical entitled Mortalium Animos, which again underlined that the Catholic Church was the Ark of Salvation, and attacked the idea of a kind of watered-down pan-Christian collective of churches.  All that it amounts to, in essence, is a unity based upon false ecumenism, a kind of "whatever" pseudo-Christianity.  This religious indifferentism essentially espouses the notion that "Controversies... and longstanding differences of opinion which keep asunder till the present day the members of the Christian family, must be entirely put aside, and from the remaining doctrines a common form of faith drawn up and proposed for belief, and in the profession of which all may not only know but feel that they are brothers."32
Though many had condemned religious indifferentism beforehand (Pope Leo XIII, Pope Gregory XVI, Pope Benedict XV, as well as the 1864 Syllabus of Errors), it was Pope Pius XI who decisively defended the Church against it, quoting the early Church Father Lactantius: "The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind."33 
1 - The Spirit and the Letter, IV
2 - Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St. Augustine of Hippo", 1894 edition 
3 - The Spirit and the Letter, V
4 - Against the Heresies, IV:18:5 
5 - On the Incarnation, VIII
6 - Second Letter to Succensus, I 
7 - From here. 
8 - From here.
9 - Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St. Dominic", 1894 edition 
10 - Rev. John Laux, Church History, IV:1 
11 - David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, "Dominic", pg. 146
12 - Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St. Dominic", 1894 edition
13 - David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, "Dominic", pg. 146
14 - ibid.
15 - De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroistas, 124
16 - The Catholic Controversy, "Author's General Introduction" 
17 - William Barry, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Calvinism"
18 - "Sermon 28", VI 
19 - The New Catholic Dictionary, "Monophysites and Monophysitism"
20 - Ep. xxviii, II 
21 - Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St. Leo the Great", 1894 edition
22 - On Holy Images, I 
23 - Butler's Lives of the Saints, "St. Epiphanius of Salamis", 1894 edition
24 - From here.
25 - The Spiritual Espousals, found here.
26 - Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 2
27 - Memoires II, pg. 397
28 - Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 39
29 - Concerning Free Will
30 - The New Catholic Encyclopedia, "Origenism"
31 - Mortalium Animos, 10
32 - ibid., 7
33 - Lactantius, Divine Institutes, IV:30:11-12, cf. Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, 11

Benedict XVI Resigned After ‘Mystical Experience’

From http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/report-benedict-xvi-resigned-after-mystical-experience

VATICAN CITY — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has reportedly said that he retired from the papacy after a “mystical experience” and because “God told me to.”
The news comes from an anonymous source who visited the former pope a week ago, according to the Zenit news agency.
Asked why he resigned, the pope emeritus said, “God told me to,” but added that he had not received any kind of apparition or similar phenomenon. Rather, it was a “mystical experience” in which the Lord planted a seed of “absolute desire” in his heart “to remain alone with him, secluded in prayer.”
According to the source, this mystical experience has lasted throughout these past months, increasing “more and more” his longing for a unique and direct relationship with the Lord. It has not been an “escape” from the world, he reportedly said, but a means of seeking “refuge in God and living in his love.”
He also said that the more he sees of the “charisma” of his successor, Pope Francis, the more he realizes that his decision to resign the papacy was “the will of God.”
Despite living a cloistered life in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens, Benedict XVI does occasionally receive visitors privately. A few weeks ago, a seminarian at the North American College was surprised to be invited to the pope emeritus’ quarters to have a private conversation.
But during these meetings, Benedict XVI remains very prudent and typically discreet. He doesn’t reveal any secrets or say anything that may weigh on the new pontificate. He wishes to avoid declarations that could be thought of as “words said by the other pope”, Zenit reported.
At most, he will express wonder at how the Holy Spirit is working through his successor or he will talk about how his decision to resign was the result of Divine inspiration.
Although the source of last week’s meeting is anonymous, various Vatican officials have confirmed the veracity of his remarks. A senior curial official also told the Register that he believes the source is "reliable" and that the account "completes" what Benedict XVI has said about his resignation on previous occasions.
The news comes after Benedict XVI paid a three-hour visit to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on Sunday. During his brief trip, he prayed the Rosary, took a stroll in the Vatican Gardens and attended a small, private piano recital held in his honor.
Pope Francis, who has chosen to stay in the Vatican to work, invited his predecessor to stay at Castel Gandolfo in his stead. Benedict reportedly turned down his offer in order to keep a low profile and to avoid drawing attention to himself when transferring to the papal villas.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/report-benedict-xvi-resigned-after-mystical-experience#ixzz2cj18m6IN

1600 Year Old Church to Our Lady destroyed in Egypt

From http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324108204579022951847863272.html?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp

No one knows exactly when the Virgin Mary Church was built, but the fourth and fifth centuries are both possible options. In both cases, it was the time of the Byzantines. Egypt's Coptic Church—to which this church in modern-day Delga belonged—had refused to bow to imperial power and Rome's leadership over the nature of Christ. Constantinople was adamant it would force its will on the Copts. Two lines of popes claimed the Seat of Alexandria. One with imperial blessing sat in the open; the other, with his people's support, often hid, moving from one church to the other. Virgin Mary Church's altar outlasted the Byzantines. Arabs soon invaded in A.D. 641. Dynasties rose and fell, but the ancient building remained strong, a monument to its people's survival.
Virgin Mary Church was built underground, a shelter from the prying eye. At its entrance were two ancient Roman columns and an iron door. Inside were three sanctuaries with four altars. Roman columns were engraved in the walls. As in many Coptic churches, historical artifacts overlapped earlier ones. The most ancient drawing to survive into the 21st century: a depiction, on a stone near the entrance, of two deer and holy bread. Layers and layers of history, a testament not only to the place's ancient roots but also to its persistence. Like other Coptic churches, the ancient baptistery was on the western side, facing the altar in the east. Infants were symbolically transferred through baptism from the left to the right. The old icons were kept inside the church, the ancient manuscripts transferred to the Bishopric in modern times.
Once there were 23 other ancient churches next to it, all connected through secret passages. Only Virgin Mary Church remained. Decline and survival, loss and endurance, the twin faces of the story of the Copts who built it.
Why Virgin Mary Church endured until modern times is a mystery. Some churches in Cairo survived because Coptic popes made them their residence. Being built on a place Jesus and his mother had visited gave others in Egypt a claim to fame and a chance at survival, while in still others the miracles performed by the patron saint were a reason for pilgrims to visit and donate. Virgin Mary Church had none of these. For hundreds of years, its sole claim to miracles: a Roman column that, according to parishioners, produced oil once a year on Good Friday. The church was probably too small and too remote from the center of authority to merit notice. Its flock never abandoned it. Most of the Copts had converted to Islam over the centuries, but in Delga a critical mass remained that kept putting candles in front of the old icons.
Then, in 1829, a boy named Boulos Ghobrial was born in a village nearby. He was baptized in Virgin Mary Church's ancient baptistery and taught to read and write in its small school. He would become St. Abram, the Bishop of Fayoum, a man of deep spirituality, who performed thousands of miracles and resembled his master in his poverty. He died in 1914, and the Holy Synod would declare him a saint in 1963. Many churches would be built under his name, and his residence in Fayoum would become a huge attraction to pilgrims. His birthplace would reap some of the benefits.
Two newer churches were built next to Virgin Mary Church: St. George, about 100 years ago, and the modern St. Abram. Other buildings were soon added. A church that was a shelter from persecution under the Byzantines became a shelter from increasing discrimination and banishment from the public space in modern times. A large meeting room was built, as were a theater and retreat house. In the open space, a soccer field. Church permits became harder to get in Egypt and the small complex served 30,000 Copts.
Miracles are rare in modern times. More common is hardship, and plenty befell the churches of Delga. St. George was attacked a number of times and its domes destroyed. An enthusiastic bishop built two minarets only to have the Egyptian police destroy them. More threatening than a persecuting state was the mob. The ancient churches were attacked several times in the past. On July 28, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown. The churches survived that day.
But survival was not destined two weeks later. The army's violent crackdown on Mohamed Morsi's supporters in Cairo unleashed a wave of attacks on churches the like of which Copts had not seen in centuries, thus laying waste to examples of a unique byway in the history of architecture, religious structures that are a hybrid of Egyptian, Greco-Roman and Christian Byzantine styles. Dozens of churches were burned and destroyed in the largest attack on Coptic houses of worship since 1321. A complete tally is still to be written. But in its latest report, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt's best human-rights organization, documents a total of 47 churches attacked, of which 25 were burned, seven looted and destroyed, five partly damaged, and 10 attacked without sustaining heavy damage.
In this maelstrom, the ancient Virgin Mary Church was not spared. In a day of brutality, the people of Delga distinguished themselves. All three of Delga's Coptic churches were destroyed. So were a Catholic and a Protestant church in the city. In place of Virgin Mary Church, the mob placed a sign: The Martyrs Mosque.
Other areas in the country attempted to compete. The school run by Franciscan nuns in Beni Suef was destroyed. It had been opened in 1889 and provided education to thousands of Egypt's girls. A symbol of a bygone time. Lost with the building were many artifacts, statues and paintings. A museum in Malawi was also destroyed. About 1,200 ancient artifacts have been looted.
A Coptic exodus has been under way for two years now in Egypt. The hopes unleashed by the 2011 revolution soon gave way to the realities of continued and intensified persecution. Decades earlier, a similar fate had befallen the country's once-thriving Jewish community. The departure of the people is echoed in the decay of the buildings. The landscape of the country is changing along with its demography. A few synagogues stand today as the only reminder of the country's Jews. Which churches will remain standing is an open question.
Mr. Tadros is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and the author of "Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity."

A version of this article appeared August 22, 2013, on page D4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: A Coptic Monument to Survival, Destroyed.

Egypt: at least 60 churches attacked in 4 days of violence

From http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=18767&amp

CWN - August 19, 2013

Following four days of violence against Christian institutions in Egypt, “nearly 40 churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged,” the Associated Press reported.

Earlier, the press office of the Catholic Church in Egypt had released a list of 58 Christian institutions, 14 of them Catholic, that had suffered attacks.

The Islamist attacks on Christian targets followed police and military action against Muslim Brotherhood protestors, who support ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

Father Rafic Greiche, the spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic bishops' conference, remarked to the Fides news service that the attacks on Christian targets occurred mostly in areas where Islamic militants are strongest. "This is not a civil war between Christians and Muslims," he said. "It is not a civil war but a war against terrorism."

In its wire story, the Associated Press offered extensive coverage of an attack on a Franciscan school in Beni Suef, a city of 230,000 in north-central Egypt.

“We are nuns. We rely on God and the angels to protect us,” said Sister Manal, the school’s principal. “At the end, they paraded us like prisoners of war and hurled abuse at us as they led us from one alley to another without telling us where they were taking us.”

A Muslim woman who formerly worked at the school “offered to take us in and said she can protect us since her son-in-law was a policeman,” she continued. “We accepted her offer.”

Sister Manal added that she saw two female employees of the school being sexually assaulted as they made their way through the crowd.

Assumption of Our Lady

The Assumption of Mary: 12 things to know and share

From http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/the-assumption-of-mary-12-things-to-know-and-share/

August 15 is the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.
In the United States, it is a holy day of obligation.
What is the Assumption of Mary, how did it come to be defined, and what relevance does it have for our lives?
Here are 12 things to know and share . . .

1) What is the Assumption of Mary?
The Assumption of Mary is the teaching that:

The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory [Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus 44].

2) What level of authority does this teaching have?
This teaching was infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950 in the bull Munificentissimus Deus (Latin, “Most Bountiful God”).
As Pius XII explained, this is “a divinely revealed dogma” (ibid.).
This means that it is a dogma in the proper sense. It is thus a matter of faith that has been divinely revealed by God and that has been infallibly proposed by the Magisterium of the Church as such.

3) Does that mean it is an “ex cathedra” statement and that we have to believe it?
Yes. Since it is a dogma defined by the pope (rather than by an ecumenical council, for example), it is also an “ex cathedra” statement (one delivered “from the chair” of Peter).
Because it is infallibly defined, it calls for the definitive assent of the faithful.
Pope John Paul II explained:

The definition of the dogma, in conformity with the universal faith of the People of God, definitively excludes every doubt and calls for the express assent of all Christians [General Audience, July 2, 1997].

Note that all infallibly defined teachings are things we are obliged to believe, even if they aren’t defined “ex cathedra” (by the pope acting on his own).
The bishops of the world teaching in union with the pope (either in an ecumenical council or otherwise) can also infallibly define matters, but these aren’t called “ex cathedra” since that term refers specifically to the exercise of the pope’s authority as the successor of St. Peter. (It’s Peter’s cathedra or “chair” that symbolizes the pope’s authority.)

4) Does the dogma require us to believe that Mary died?
It is the common teaching that Mary did die. In his work, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott lists this teaching as sententia communior (Latin, “the more common opinion”).
Although it is the common understanding of that Mary did die, and although her death is referred to in some of the sources Pius XII cited in Munificentissimus Deus, he deliberately refrained from defining this as a truth of the faith.
John Paul II noted:

On 1 November 1950, in defining the dogma of the Assumption, Pius XII avoided using the term "resurrection" and did not take a position on the question of the Blessed Virgin’s death as a truth of faith.

The Bull Munificentissimus Deus limits itself to affirming the elevation of Mary’s body to heavenly glory, declaring this truth a "divinely revealed dogma."

5) Why should Mary die if she was free from Original Sin and its stain?
Being free of Original Sin and its stain is not the same thing as being in a glorified, deathless condition.
Jesus was also free of Original Sin and its stain, but he could—and did—die.
Expressing a common view among theologians, Ludwig Ott writes:

For Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin.

However, it seems fitting that Mary’s body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death.

6) What are the earliest surviving references to Mary’s Assumption?
John Paul II noted:

The first trace of belief in the Virgin's Assumption can be found in the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae [Latin, “The Crossing Over of Mary”], whose origin dates to the second and third centuries.

These are popular and sometimes romanticized depictions, which in this case, however, pick up an intuition of faith on the part of God's People.

7) How did the recognition of Mary’s Assumption develop in the East?
John Paul II noted:

There was a long period of growing reflection on Mary’s destiny in the next world.

This gradually led the faithful to believe in the glorious raising of the Mother of Jesus, in body and soul, and to the institution in the East of the liturgical feasts of the Dormition [“falling asleep”—i.e., death] and Assumption of Mary.

8) How did Pius XII prepare for the definition of the Assumption?
John Paul II noted:

In May 1946, with the Encyclical Deiparae Virginis Mariae, Pius XII called for a broad consultation, inquiring among the Bishops and, through them, among the clergy and the People of God as to the possibility and opportuneness of defining the bodily assumption of Mary as a dogma of faith.

The result was extremely positive: only six answers out of 1,181 showed any reservations about the revealed character of this truth.

9) What Scriptural basis is there for the teaching?
John Paul II noted:

Although the New Testament does not explicitly affirm Mary’s Assumption, it offers a basis for it because it strongly emphasized the Blessed Virgin's perfect union with Jesus’ destiny.

This union, which is manifested, from the time of the Savior’s miraculous conception, in the Mother’s participation in her Son’s mission and especially in her association with his redemptive sacrifice, cannot fail to require a continuation after death.

Perfectly united with the life and saving work of Jesus, Mary shares his heavenly destiny in body and soul.

There are, thus, passages in Scripture that resonate with the Assumption, even though they do not spell it out.

10) What are some specific Old Testament passages?
Pope Pius XII pointed to several passages that have been legitimately used in a “rather free” manner to explain belief in the Assumption (meaning: these passages resonate with it in various ways, but they don’t provide explicit proof):

Often there are theologians and preachers who, following in the footsteps of the holy Fathers, have been rather free in their use of events and expressions taken from Sacred Scripture to explain their belief in the Assumption.

Thus, to mention only a few of the texts rather frequently cited in this fashion, some have employed the words of the psalmist:

"Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark, which you have sanctified" (Ps. 131:8);

and have looked upon the Ark of the Covenant, built of incorruptible wood and placed in the Lord's temple, as a type of the most pure body of the Virgin Mary, preserved and exempt from all the corruption of the tomb and raised up to such glory in heaven.

Treating of this subject, they also describe her as the Queen entering triumphantly into the royal halls of heaven and sitting at the right hand of the divine Redeemer(Ps. 44:10-14ff).

Likewise they mention the Spouse of the Canticles "that goes up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh and frankincense" to be crowned (Song 3:6; cf. also 4:8, 6:9).

These are proposed as depicting that heavenly Queen and heavenly Spouse who has been lifted up to the courts of heaven with the divine Bridegroom [Munificentissimus Deus 26].

 

11) What are some specific New Testament passages?
Pius XII continued:

Moreover, the scholastic Doctors have recognized the Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God as something signified, not only in various figures of the Old Testament, but also in that woman clothed with the sun whom John the Apostle contemplated on the Island of Patmos (Rev. 12:1ff).

Similarly they have given special attention to these words of the New Testament: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women"(Luke 1:28), since they saw, in the mystery of the Assumption, the fulfillment of that most perfect grace granted to the Blessed Virgin and the special blessing that countered the curse of Eve [Munificentissimus Deus 27].

12) How can we apply this teaching to our everyday lives?
According to Pope Benedict XVI:

By contemplating Mary in heavenly glory, we understand that the earth is not the definitive homeland for us either, and that if we live with our gaze fixed on eternal goods we will one day share in this same glory and the earth will become more beautiful.

Consequently, we must not lose our serenity and peace even amid the thousands of daily difficulties. The luminous sign of Our Lady taken up into Heaven shines out even more brightly when sad shadows of suffering and violence seem to loom on the horizon.

We may be sure of it: from on high, Mary follows our footsteps with gentle concern, dispels the gloom in moments of darkness and distress, reassures us with her motherly hand.

Supported by awareness of this, let us continue confidently on our path of Christian commitment wherever Providence may lead us. Let us forge ahead in our lives under Mary's guidance [General Audience, August 16, 2006].

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/the-assumption-of-mary-12-things-to-know-and-share/#ixzz2c2BeoHbc

Pope to consecrate world to Mary's Immaculate Heart

Vatican City, Aug 14, 2013 (CNA).

Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Oct. 13 as part of the Marian Day celebration that will involve the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.
“The Holy Father strongly desires that the Marian Day may have present, as a special sign, one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world and, for that reason, we thought of the beloved original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima,” wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
Archbishop Fisichella, who serves as president of the pontifical council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, made his remarks in a letter to Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima.
According to the Portuguese shrine's website, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima will leave for Rome on the morning of Oct. 12 and return on the afternoon of Oct. 13. The statue normally resides in the shrine’s Little Chapel of Apparitions.
The archbishop said that “all ecclesial entities of Marian spirituality” are invited to take part in the celebration. Hundreds of movements and institutions that emphasize Marian devotion are expected to attend, the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima says.
The two-day observance includes an Oct. 12 pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter and moments of prayer and meditation. On Oct. 13, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three shepherd children in the village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. She warned of violent trials in the twentieth century if the world did not make reparation for sins. She urged prayer and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
At the request of Pope Francis, Cardinal Jose Polycarp, the Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrated the Pope’s pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, her feast day.

Irish Bishop issues directive to remove liturgical abuses from funerals

From http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dumbing-down-fears-lead-to-ban-on-eulogies-29491151.html

FUNERAL eulogies including songs, poems and readings which are not within strict religious guidelines are to be banned in one of the country's largest Catholic dioceses.

Bishop of Meath Dr Michael Smith has issued the new directive to priests in his diocese, which includes most of counties Meath and Westmeath, plus parts of Offaly, Longford, Louth, Dublin and Cavan.The bishop warned against "dumbing down'' at Catholic funeral services, and emphasised that priests must uphold the "integrity of the Mass''.
Appreciations or eulogies should not take place in the church, he says.
However, they may take place after the Rite of Committal in the cemetery or at a later stage.
The guidelines also state that secular songs, poems and texts, devoid of a Christian content are out of place in the funeral liturgy.
'PRAYERFUL'
A "reflection of a prayerful nature" can be given after Communion but this should be agreed beforehand with the relevant priest.
It should not be used "as a cloak for a eulogy''.
The new directive also states it is important that clear arrangements are in place for the signing of books of condolence. Some priests believe these should not be allowed in the church.
Clear arrangements, allowing people the opportunity to offer sympathy to the family of the deceased, should be put in place in each parish.
In some places a person described as a 'funeral planner' is involved, but priests should only engage directly with the family in relation to relevant funeral arrangements.
The background to the Bishop's new guidelines is that in recent years there has been a growing trend for family members and friends of the deceased to make their own contribution to a funeral Mass.
This can take the form of a personal verbal tributes from the altar.
There has also been the practice of special readings such as quoting lines of poetry.
These usually have no direct religious connection, prompting fears that Catholic funeral services are being increasingly "dumbed down''.

On the errors of "canonising" the departed at funerals

See http://www.catholic.com/blog/peggy-frye/st-dearly-departed

Ireland to be consecrate to Immaculate Heart of Mary

From http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=23052

Ireland will be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The consecration will take place at Knock Shrine, during the annual Novena to Our Lady of Knock.
Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland will lead the Act of Consecration. Archbishop Eamon Martin, Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh will be the principal celebrant and preacher at the Mass on that day. Bishops, priests and people from across the country will be in attendance.
The Prayer of Consecration will entrust families, homes and the dioceses of Ireland to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary and call on her to watch over the young people of Ireland. As the universal Church is currently celebrating a Year of Faith, it is fitting that the Act of Consecration calls to mind the woman of faith par excellence and asks for her prayers for the people of this country.
Commenting ahead of the Consecration Cardinal Brady said: "In his recent encyclical for the Year of Faith, Pope Francis invited us to turn to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our Faith. I am very pleased that the Irish Catholic Bishops decided at their June meeting to consecrate Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I am looking forward to being at our National Shrine in Knock on the 15 August to ask Mary's maternal blessing on the people of Ireland. The Feast of the Assumption is one of the biggest days of the year in Knock, with bishops, priests and people present for the opening of the Novena. I invite the people of Ireland to come along to Knock on the day or to join in this beautiful devotional act by praying the prayer of entrustment in their homes and parish churches."

Gay ‘Marriage’ the ‘Inevitable’ Outcome of the Sexual Revolution

LifeSiteNews  July 30, 2013:

The government’s “gay marriage” bill is nothing more than the logical and “inevitable outcome of a process that has been gathering pace since the sexual revolutions of the 1960s,” an English Catholic bishop has said in a pastoral letter.
Bishop Philip Egan, recently appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the diocese of Portsmouth, said that with the legislative and social changes in Britain in the last few years, Catholics now find themselves “in an alien land that speaks a foreign language with unfamiliar customs.”
“For what we mean by the matrimony, sexual intercourse and family life is no longer what today’s world, the government, the NHS and policy-makers understand by marriage, sex and the family.”
At its core, the Sexual Revolution promulgated the rejection of the “intrinsic link between the unitive and procreative aspects of sexual intercourse,” that had always been legally protected in natural marriage.
“Lifted from its natural context within married love and commitment, and coupled to pleasure without responsibility, sexual intercourse could now be experienced outside marriage, and thus, in time, take on a new meaning in human relationships,” Bishop Egan wrote.
The bishop said that this “has led to the ‘contraceptive mentality’ Pope Paul VI spoke of so prophetically in his 1968 Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae,” the encyclical letter reiterating the Church's teachings against contraception that was widely rejected in the Church, notably by many bishops and national bishops’ conferences.
Egan called the government’s attempt to redefine marriage “Orwellian” and said it “radically changes the social context” in which Christians must act. Among the changes proposed in the government’s bill is the requirement that the term “wife” be applied to men and “husband” to women.
Egan called the legislation a “legal minefield,” and warned that it will have serious repercussions for all Catholics who have anything to do with marriages, from priests to parents attempting to raise their children as Catholics, to teachers in Catholic schools.
Although the full implications of the legislation will have to be fully assessed, he said that the Catholic leadership will “certainly need to review our preaching, teaching and school curricula.”
“Our Catholic system of meanings and values is strikingly different from what secular culture now deems normal or acceptable.”
He added that “it goes without saying” that the Church must offer serious pastoral support for people struggling with same-sex attractions. The Church must demonstrate the “inner freedom, chastity and perfection which Christ offers.”
“Living up to the ideal of Christian chastity has always been demanding,” he said, “even when the cultural context was supportive of Christian values and the pursuit of holiness.
“Christians are committed to the natural way of life, but thanks to original sin, that natural way of life has always needed the supernatural means Christ offers us, if we are to achieve it. Even so, however demanding, the Way of Christ is truly the way to happiness, and as disciples of the Lord, we have to give witness to this.”
He urged Catholics to “continue compassionately to warn our society of the wrong turns it is taking”.
The letter is a dramatic break from the style of most of the English/Welsh Catholic episcopate, who have preferred to maintain silence on the 45th anniversary of the promulgation of Humanae Vitae. It isnot the first time, however, that Philip Egan, appointed to Portsmouth in July 2012, has spoken strongly in support of the encyclical, calling it “prophetic.”
In December 2012, Egan wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron warning, “Marriage and the home” are the “foundation and basic building block” of society. “If you proceed with your plans, you will gravely damage the value of the family, with catastrophic consequences for the well-being and behavior of future generations.”
Forty-five years on, Humanae Vitae remains one of the greatest challenges facing the Catholic hierarchy, Janet Smith, a professor of ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, wrote in anop-ed in the National Catholic Register today. The division on moral issues within the Catholic Church, she said, “began with the rejection by many of Humanae Vitae.”
Smith, who is one of the encyclical’s leading defenders in the North American Church, said, “It is scandalous but true that priests were trained not to teach the truths of Humanae Vitae.”
“Since dissent spread to virtually every other teaching, Catholics have been woefully ignorant of the teachings of their own Church.”