Punditry

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, made clear that the Catholic Church remains adamantly opposed to the president’s health-care law because of what the Church considers its assault on conscience rights. “We bishops have been really kind of in a tough place, because we’re for universal, comprehensive, life-affirming health care,” Dolan said on Meet the Press, noting that the Catholic Church in the United States has supported the goal of universal and affordable health care for almost a century.

But the so-called HHS mandate, which requires coverage of contraception, sterilization, and drugs that may be abortifacients, without any co-pays, on all health-insurance plans, has made it impossible for Catholics to support the president’s efforts, Dolan said. “Mr. President, you’re really pushing kind of aside some of your greatest supporters. We want to be with you, we want to be strong, and if you keep doing this, we’re not going to be able to be one of your cheerleaders,” Dolan said. “That sadly is what happened.” (source)

While I can certainly understand some of the points Cardinal Dolan is making here. I think it also plays down or ignores other aspects. For example it was not the tacking on of the HHS mandate that made Obamacare morally unacceptable. The mandate just made it even worse. The U.S. Bishops were in the majority opposed to this act before the HHS Mandate which occurred only after the passage of the law. The very law itself had significant moral problems.

His statement “Mr. President, you’re really pushing kind of aside some of your greatest supporters.” also seems rather hyperbolic or a kind of diplomacy in place of truth. The assault on our faith by this President has extended across multiple lines beyond just the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” The idea that Catholics could be his greatest supporters if only he put aside the HHS Mandate is rather laughable. Yeah if he would just put aside his support for abortion, infanticide, contraception, so-called same-sex marriage, ordered drone strikes with oversight or accountability, assault on religious liberty, IVF, three-parent embryo creation, and a whole laundry list of morally problematic thrusts by his administration we would be great friends! We are called to love our enemies not whitewash away what makes them enemies.

Maybe I am being too hard on the Cardinal here who is obviously trying to balance prudentially calling out something without being belligerent. Yet I wish this prudence included not making a statement so obviously untrue.

Photo credit: BostonCatholic via photopin cc

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 10 November to 24 November 2013.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Francis. Jimmy Akin came up with this idea when he started “The Weekly Benedict” and I have taken over curation of it.

Angelus

• 17 November 2013 – Angelus

General Audiences

• 17 November 2013 – General Audience

Homilies

• 24 November 2013 – For the conclusion of the Year of Faith on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Letters

• 10 November 2013 – Preface to a collection of writings and addresses by Card. Bertone on papal diplomacy in the globalized world, L’Osservatore Romano

Messages

• 16 November 2013 – To participants in the pilgrimage-meeting at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe [Mexico City, 16–19 November 2013]

Motu Proprio

• 15 November 2013 – Approving the new Statutes of the Financial Intelligence Authority

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

• 18 November 2013 – Lord save us from the subtle conspiracies of worldliness
• 19 November 2013 – A society that doesn’t care for its elderly has no future
• 22 November 2013 – Pope reflects on temples where we worship God

Papal Tweets

• “Confessing our sins may be difficult for us, but it brings us peace. We are sinners, and we need God’s forgiveness.” @pontifex, 18 November 2013
• “The Saints were not superhuman. They were people who loved God in their hearts, and who shared this joy with others.” @pontifex, 19 November 2013
• “To be saints is not a privilege for the few, but a vocation for everyone.” @pontifex, 21 November 2013
• “The Kingdom of Heaven is for those who place their trust in the love of God, not in material possessions.” @pontifex, 22 November 2013
• “The Sacraments are Jesus Christ’s presence in us. So it is important for us to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion.” @pontifex, 23 November 2013

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a letter to all of the U.S. bishops about Medjugorje. So yeah just another quite Catholic news day.

Jimmy Akin as usual has provided his usual excellent service of distilling what this means with things to know and share about the new letter on Medjugorje.

One thing I find interesting is that the letter was sent to the U.S. Bishops specifically. Possibly other Bishop conferences are receiving similar letters. Or maybe the majority of visitors to Medjugorje are from the United States. It seems to me that many bishops have seemed to turn a blind eye to “unofficial official” pilgrimages there despite the 1991 letter from the Bishops of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In my own diocese these “unofficial official” pilgrimages appear in parish bulletins and on local Catholic radio along with parish priests “unofficially” going along.

Another thing of interest was the way the letter was written with language such as “so-called visionaries” and later “apparitions” used with scare quotes.

Years ago I reviewed Donal Foley’s book “Understanding Medjugorje Heavenly Vision or Religious Illusions”. Information since then has only confirmed my belief that it is a hoax on some level. When I first came into the Church I was very interested in apparitions. I think my previous atheism was seeking for evidential proofs to confirm I had not gone crazy with this “faith thing.” Medjugorje interested me and I had even gone to a parish where one of the “seer’s” spoke. Not long after that though I found out what the Bishop’s of Medjugorje had said and decided to pay no more attention to it along with the whole idea of seeking apparitions. After all even such apparitions that the Church considers worthy of pious credence and declaring them constat de supernaturalitate might emphasize an area of the faith, but teach nothing new.

The situation reminds me of the rich man who had feasted sumptuously while ignoring the plight of Lazurus.

And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ (Lk 16:27–30)

We are in the same situation where we have the scriptures, sacred tradition, and the teaching authority of the Church and yet look for other sources instead of “hearing them.” Still I think God in his mercy does act via some apparitions to call us to what has already been revealed. Valid apparitions (and valid with all necessary caveats) are a sign of our weakness and not favor.

When it comes to Medjugorje I find it fascinating that it produces two contradictory fruits. That of disobedience and conversion. There has been so much shameful disobedience surrounding followers of the so-called seers and disobedience to their bishop from the “seer’s” themselves. Yet around this there have been genuine conversions. Evidence that God can draw straight lines out of anything and of course anywhere there is the Mass, the sacraments, and repentance; there will also be conversions.

Since I was under ten at the time and had no connection to the Catholic Church the Second Vatican Council was a total non-entity for me. Still in retrospect I have wondered about the disconnect between what the Council actually taught and how it was perceived by Catholics and the world-at-large. Information about the Council was almost entirely filtered through the media. Even for Catholic who were watching closely there was a lot of misinformation to wade through and as the actual documents were published there were relatively few who read them. So partly it is easy to comprehend how the “Spirit of Vatican II” developed in an atmosphere of cultural upset and expectation of change.

I think I have a better understanding now how this dynamic worked. The reason I say this is I believe there is a “Spirit of Pope Francis” dynamic working right now. Once again change seems to be expected and that dogma and doctrine is up for grabs. The media amplifies anything interpreted to be in this direction; a grasping at straws and straw-men. It has been quite ludicrous when it comes to dogmatic teachings related to abortion, homosexual acts, women’s ordination are going to result in a total rewrite of the Catechism. Areas concerning discipline and not dogmas spin out of control on something totally unsubstantial. For example Archbishop Pietro Parolin’s answer regarding clerical celibacy that was anything but a signaling of future change. More recently all the talk about women Cardinal’s being appointed.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said yesterday:

“Being a cardinal is one of the roles in the church for which, in theory, one does not have to be ordained as a priest,” Lombardi said. “But to move from that point to suggesting the pope will name female cardinals for the consistory is not even remotely realistic.”

So of course the media reports “Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi fuels rumours on female cardinals”

More evidence of the “Sprit of Pope Francis” at work. You don’t need actual statements or documents just and expectation of change. The media, non-Catholics, and some Catholics not exactly friendly to the Church see Pope Francis as a “breath of fresh air.” So since they like him many assume that he can’t possibly be a “dogmatic” Pope and someone that actually believes all that the Church authoritatively teaches. The Pope’s repeated claims that he is a “son of the Church” is rather lost on them. He’s a humble guy with an obvious love for the poor so of course that means he is a political liberal. Some of the imprecision in the Pope’s language also contributes to agenda interpretations regarding what he has said. Some missteps such as the interview with Eugenio Scalfari that was not recorded and published based on Scalfari’s memory. There are reports that the Pope “regretted” the publication of the interview in “L’Osservatore Romano” and “complained of it to the director, Gian Maria Vian, in Assisi on Oct. 4.”

So there are many things that lead to the “Spirit of Pope Francis” and once again obvious contradictions don’t matter. Pope Francis can preach repeatedly about the reality of the devil and at the same time is expected to eject everything that went before. So just like the “Spirit of Vatican II” the “Spirit of Pope Francis” is full of contradictions between what is actually written and what is expected. The question is how is this to be overcome? Just the fact that the Pope won’t be changing these teachings will not be enough for those Bullwinkle Catholics who keep thinking “This time, for sure!”

With the pontificate of Pope Francis there has been a growing of two kinds of Chicken Little’s. One kind sees the sky is falling and the Church teaching is being corrupted and the other see things falling – their way. Often both seem to have the same level of theological understanding as most media reporting. The same headline sends some into panic and others into ecstasy with stories that cover the Vatican are as accurate in prediction as hepatomancy – the reading of entrails. The media also greatly distorts/misunderstands anything Catholic, the difference is that you have what I see as a growing number of people listening to their nonsense.

For example the lastest example of this regarded allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion. To be specific allowing Communion to those who have remarried where either their spouse was still alive or did not receive a decree of nullity in a case where no marriage was actually contracted.

The amount of attention this was getting lead to Archbishop Gerhard Muller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writing a lengthy article in the L’Osservatore Romano putting a kibosh on the speculation. Funny I also remember how when Archbishop Gerhard Muller was selected by Pope Benedict XVI there were also cries of doom as he was suppose to be some sort of “progressive” theologian.

Part of the problem is how the term “acting pastorally” has come to mean different things to different people. Some think the term is a politically correct term for ignoring sin and doing nothing in response. Others that mercy means there is no sin or consequences and acting pastorally is about affirming people. The Pope’s repeated talking about mercy gets translated into a narrative instead of what he is actually saying and doing.

As Jimmy Akin ends his recent post on the subject:

12) So what is going to happen with the Church’s approach to the civilly remarried?

It’s a given that the Pope will continue to stress the need to be pastorally close to them and to help them draw closer to the Church.
Benedict XVI did that, and Francis is certain to continue the approach.

We’ll have to wait and see what practical forms this takes, and it will be a major point of discussion at the forthcoming Synod of Bishops, but I would be gobsmacked if the discipline regarding receiving Holy Communion were simply dropped.

That discipline is too closely based on biblical principles and infallible Catholic teaching, and Archbishop Muller’s article seems written precisely in order to communicate that the idea of dropping it is not on the table.

Moses compromised due to people’s “hardness of heart”, but that is not a solution available to us.

SANTA CLARA – A decision by Santa Clara University’s president to drop health insurance coverage of elective abortions for the Catholic university’s faculty and staff has triggered a serious rift at the school.

Many faculty members say they were blindsided by the move at an institution that has long prided itself on open communication and governing by consensus.

The thorny issue echoes a nationwide debate at Catholic universities over their institutional identities and ability to consider the convictions of those who do not identify with – or who disagree with – certain principles the Catholic tradition holds as central.

The uproar at SCU comes on the heels of a contentious vote this week by trustees of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, another Jesuit school that decided not to provide coverage for elective abortions. And, ironically, the controversy came to a boil on the same day that California Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminarian, went off in a different direction by signing two bills aimed at increasing access to abortion in California.

“This really makes Santa Clara University’s express commitment to openness, diversity and inclusiveness ring hollow,” said history professor Nancy Unger, who is Catholic. (source)

Because nothing says “openness, diversity and inclusiveness” quite like funding abortion. Seems to me murdering a child leads to less diversity and is not exactly inclusive. When disallowing abortion coverage is what angers you as a Catholic educator – your’e doing it wrong.

Still the good news is that two Jesuit schools are taking action regarding something that should never have happened in the first place.

This article only tangentially notes the recent law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown regarding abortion. He signed a law to allow non-physicians, including nurse practitioners to perform abortions. Pro-abortion activists freak out if a doctor doesn’t operate an ultrasound machine in a pro-life women’s clinic and yet have no problem with non-doctors slicing and dicing the unborn in woman’s wombs. Safe, legal, rare.

Another thing comes to mind regarding Gov. Moonbeam or is that Gov. Unborn Death-ray. I remember watching the installation Mass for Archbishop Michael C. Barber, SJ last May which the Governor attended. I was very annoyed by the comments during Mass yucking it up with the Governor and the mention of his being “Jesuit trained.” Sure I didn’t expect them to attack the Governor even if he calls himself a “uncompromising champion of a woman’s right to choose” along with other intrinsic evils. Politics shouldn’t enter the Mass, but it really is political pandering the way he was acknowledged. He just shouldn’t have been mentioned at all.

(CNN) – A Catholic priest has gone to court, saying the partial government shutdown is preventing him from providing religious services– even voluntarily– on a U.S. military base.

Father Ray Leonard filed a lawsuit Monday in federal district court in Washington, saying he “wishes to continue practicing his faith and ministering to his faith community free of charge… but has been told that he is subject to arrest if he does so.”

Leonard is a newly hired civilian employee, scheduled to start work October 1 to provide Catholic religious services at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia.

The priest was one of thousands of civilian military employees and contractors furloughed because of the failure of Congress to reach a deal on funding the federal government. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has since recalled some Defense Department workers, but civilian military chaplains were excluded.

Leonard and co-plaintiff Fred Naylor, a veteran who attends Catholic services, said their First Amendment right of religious expression and outreach was being violated. (source)

The weekend before last I was experiencing car problems and thought about just walking to the chapel on base for Mass. Good thing I checked their Facebook first since it turned out Mass was canceled and continues to be.

I do wonder if any of these military bases affected had arranged for transportation of service members to a nearby parish? Especially for those Catholics living in barracks without cars. Of those in this situation I wonder how many are aware how serious the obligation is to attend Mass?

Not being a Canon lawyer and having not even played one on television I still wonder about the canonical questions regarding this obligation (Canon 1247, 1248). I would think just because the closest convenient parish was closed would not be a sufficient grave cause when other parishes are available in the area. I faced this question myself realizing that just because our car wasn’t working didn’t mean we couldn’t call a taxi. Thankfully we did end up getting a ride to Mass that day.

Remember when Pope Francis said “Thank you. It is true that I do not give interviews, but why, I do not know, I can’t, it’s just like that.”? Good times.

I never got around to really posting about the interview Pope Francis gave to La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal. Besides that interview I have read a good amount of thoughtful commentary regarding it both pro and con and ranges in between. When I saw yesterday that another interview was going to be released I certainly had mixed feelings. This time he was interviewed by La Repubblica’s founder, Eugenio Scalfari. This was the atheist he had previously dialogued with.

First off it seems Pope Francis is keeping Jimmy Akin very busy. It seems every time he says something in the public forum outside of the normal speech, homily General Audience, etc – it seems Jimmy Akin has to do another article explaining what we need to know concerning it. For example todays Did Pope Francis just say that evangelization is “nonsense”? 8 things to know and share. In addition regarding the newer interview translation problems are being reported such as by Sr. Anne Flanagan and Fr. John Zuhlsdorf.

So far the commentary by Thomas L. McDonald at God and the Machine on the latest interview expresses some of my own thoughts.

• I think he has a particular style and we need to get used to the rapid change in tone. It shouldn’t come as much surprise that a Argentinian Jesuit is not a Polish Thomist Philosopher or a German Augustinian Theologian.
• He’s not a scholar, he’s a pastor. I’m more comfortable with scholars, less so with the pastoral thing. I’m happy with my books and my Germans. Pastoral work has to do with getting down on the street with people in all their messy fallibility and failings, but also with the potential for beauty and faith and love.
• I think that’s wonderful, but there are inherent dangers in it as well. Sometimes you need to be out there on the knife-edge taking risks in order to lure new souls to the kingdom.

Adding to this the interview format is certainly not an ideal vehicle for a balanced expression of what the Church teaches. Especially considering that two of the interviews were to some extent hostile. In one you have reporters asking typical questions in pursuit of a headline and not real understanding. The latest interview with Eugenio Scalfari is also partially combative.

I especially liked Thomas L. McDonald’s closing paragraph:

• The world is not our little Catholic bubble. I like my bubble. I stay in it most of the time. The classroom and the computer and the page allow to me to leave it from time to time, but the preaching and teaching required in the bubble is of a different quality to that required in the world.
• Francis makes me nervous, because his words can be spun by those enemies we have within the Church and without. On the other hand, we shouldn’t get twitchy and skittish about a genuine attempt to engage non-believers and non-Catholics with unguarded language. No teachings are changed. The faith is as it always has been. The messiness of debate and dialog doesn’t alter the truth.
• Those of us in the Church–we who have made the commitment to teaching and preaching the word and following Her in all things–are the 99 sheep, safe at home with our Mother. That’s not to say our salvation is assured, but merely that the shepherd doesn’t have to worry about us quite as much, for the moment.
• Are we then to begrudge the shepherd when he leaves the safety and comfort of the stable to retrieve our lost brother?

Anytime you speak about evangelization and emphasize certain aspects of it, it can seem that you are downplaying others. The both/and so often gets lost in communication and on the receiver’s side the same exists. We all have our hobby-horses and can see everything through them. If the Pope doesn’t sooth us by repeatedly mentioning our hobby-horses we can get suspicious. When you make a broad outline of strategies for evangelization from a top level it can be like a flu vacine where a forecast is made as to what strains should be concentrated on. This does not include all the various strategies at all the levels of the Church down to the Gospel call that we all receive and are to act on. The reality is their is no homogenous culture where one pastoral emphasis will be effective for everyone. The barriers to conversion are many and while there are generalities in conversion stories there is no one-size-fits-all evangelical response. As Pope Francis says in this interview we have to get to know people and to listen to them.

When Thomas L. MacDonald writes “I’m more comfortable with scholars,” I can heartily agree. Frankly Pope Francis’ writings leave me rather cold. When I was reading Ratzinger/Benedict the path was filled with empty highlighter pens. Pope Francis not so much. Maybe it is my vanity and the fact that Pope Francis emphasizes a lot of the basics and is a bit repetitive in his homilies and speeches as he emphasizes a certain point. I probably need lots of work on the basics and it is annoying to hear them mentioned.

Overall I can read the various interviews he as given and to some extent see what he is trying to say in context along with limitation of the interview format. Still if he didn’t give any more interviews I would not see that as a bad thing. The Pope is of course going to get misinterpret by the culture. This does not mean he has to help them along with phrasings that can be so easily misinterpreted.

When it comes to critiques of the Pope’s last interview there is one I would recommend. Long time Catholic blogger Dale Price is a hyperbolic word-smith extraordinaire and while I don’t fully agree with his critique I was often nodding my head in agreement with the thrust of what he was saying.

There are all sorts of small rhetorical problems with the interview, easily sound-bitten parts that are being used by the Left–and occasionally the knife-happy non-left that hates pro-lifers–with glee: “obsessed,” “small-minded rules,” etc. Can you find any soundbites to fling back at the retrograde, unChristian behavior of progressives? Let me know.

Hint: there aren’t any.

Now culling anything for sound bites is a losing proposition. We have reduced the political sphere to this. Yet there is a reality that these are what propagates and is unfortunately the only doctrinal content that many receive. This is why many faithful Catholics might feel they are on the receiving end of stones while revisionist Catholics and those not friendly with the Church are glowing in excitement of “best Pope ever.”

To suggest that they have all misread it and/or are delusional is itself delusional. When was the last time they were this energized? Never. Not in my Catholic lifetime.

Anybody on the left feeling betrayed, cast aside, discounted, demoralized, even a sense of disquiet? Nope. That’s a telling datum, don’t you think? To which I hear NO, FROWNY FACE, IT IS NOT. GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

I for one do think that it is highly probable that most of the new people on the papal bandwagon have misread him, are delusional, or both. While I think the lack of precision in what he says at times is a problem, I don’t doubt at all as he has also repeated in two of the interviews that he is a “Son of the Church” and totally orthodox.

I find it an easy temptation to dismiss those who now like the Pope. Especially as I suspect if they really understood that Pope Francis is not changing any doctrinal content they would be less enthused. I keep waiting for the media honeymoon to be over. Yet it is easy to forget that there will be some that will be drawn into the Church even under an initial misapprehension.

I especially liked Matt Archbold column regarding an atheist co-worker Pope Francis Did What I Didn’t.

Other commentary I liked:

• Fr. Dwight Longenecker on the last interview
• John Zmirak on What Is Pope Francis Saying to the Right?
• Archbishop Chaput on the Jesuit magazine interview