<\/p>\n
When I first received This book is a compilation of a life’s The “Signs of the Times” columns were As a convert and someone that often writes What I really enjoyed about Father’s “One of the abused words is A thought I totally concur with. <\/p>\n One of the best aspects of Fr. Gilsdorf One of my favorite pieces in the book was The book though is chock full of great Several chapters of the book also address There were in fact so many great pieces in When I first received The Signs of the Times “Understanding the Church since Vatican II by Fr. Richard W. Gilsdorf I wasn’t much enthused. I thought “Oh great a 500…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSigns of the Times “Understanding the Church since Vatican II by Fr.
\nRichard W. Gilsdorf<\/a>
\nenthused. I thought “Oh great a 500 plus page book from someone I
\nhadn’t heard of and it is probably a crank complaining about Vatican
\nII. ” A chapter into the book though I was spending any of
\nmy spare time racing through this book and finished it in relatively
\nshort order. I am quite thankful to have been introduced to
\nthe writings of Fr. Gilsdorf who passed away in 2005.<\/p>\n
\nwriting from a former seminary professor, parish priest, and scripture
\nscholar. The books main title comes from a series of columns
\nhe wrote for The Compass, the newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.
\n The book contains these columns along with a wealth of his
\nother writings that were published in places like Homiletic &
\nPastoral Review and the The Wanderer. Also included
\nwere various speeches he gave at conferences along with
\nseveral book reviews. The book is edited by Patrick F. Beno who took on
\nthe task from Fr. Gilsdorf to take his published as well as unpublished
\nwritings to be made into a book for publication. The editor
\nhas provided copious footnotes to give the reader context and
\nbackground information on persons and events describes as well as
\ntranslations for Latin phrases used throughout.<\/p>\n
\nwritten during the Pontificate of Paul VI and largely address the
\nerrors that were being promulgated in the aftermath of Vatican II.
\n Father describes himself as a “Vatican II liberal” where
\nliberal is meant in the older and truer sense of the word. He
\nfully supports the Council and the documents of the Council and it is
\nthe dissent and the “spirit of Vatican II” that he sets himself in
\nopposition to. One phrase used a couple of times in his
\nwritings is that he is “As liberal as the Pope is liberal and as
\nconservative as the Pope is conservative.” I think this is a great
\ndefinition and much better than the left\/right descriptions so often
\nbandied about that contain so little clarity.<\/p>\n
\non dissent within the Church I found it quite interesting to see a
\nhistory of some of the errors that are now quite familiar and how they
\ndeveloped in the first place. Father’s writings often include
\nthe history of how certain theology and practices entered the Church in
\nthe first place. Practices like no confession before First
\nCommunion, Communal penance services without integral sacramental communion,
\ndownplaying of devotional practices, and the loss of Eucharistic piety.
\n He details these movements and the lack of response to these
\nerrors by the large majority of diocese. As a priest who
\nlived during these times and saw first hand these practices he has
\ngreat insights into the reasons for these developments, but most of all
\ngreat insights into the error of these practices and the harm they
\ncause.<\/p>\n
\nwritings that even though there were on contentious subjects he writes
\nwith great charity and sometimes great humor. At multiple points in the
\nbook he will write something that made me laugh out loud such as when
\nhe described the “Holy Office of Greeley” or when he writes about a
\npriest-lecturer who had found “a fertile crop of itching ears.” Another
\nexample is:<\/p>\n
\n‘relevance.’ It nauseates me even to type the blasted word.
\n Where is the emesis basin?”<\/p>\n
\nwritings is that he never lets bitterness creep in or to show
\nfrustration at the lack of response to dissent and liturgical abuses.
\n He never falls into name calling and while he has severe
\ndisagreements with the thoughts of several people addressed in the
\nbook, his criticisms are always pointed to the subject of the
\ndisagreement itself. He was not the type to just whine and
\ncomplain, but to respond with thoughtful commentary and to take action
\nwhere he could. I found reading this book that he was the
\nfounder and first president of the excellent
\nwhich continues to do great work and is totally faithful to the
\nMagisterium of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
\na short column that appeared in his parish bulletin called “A little
\ncorner of Heaven” It is quite touching his reflection of his
\nsmall parish Church and the baptisms, marriages, and funerals that took
\nplace there. His great love for his parish shines through.
\n The editor of the book notes that because of Fr. Gildorf’s
\nforthright orthodoxy he was likely relegated to this parish in
\na town of of only 550 persons where his influence would be minimal and
\nwhere he served for the large majority of his life.<\/p>\n
\nwriting and some influential pieces that evoked a lot of support.
\n One of these excellent pieces is “The Pirates of Penance” (I
\njust love that title) on the bad times that the great sacrament of
\npenance has fallen on and the theology that lead to the downplaying of
\nconfession. No doubt the downplaying of sin is the error that lead to
\nthis. He gave me lots to think about from this essay and
\nseveral others that addressed this sacrament and will certainly lead me
\nto post on this in the future. Another great piece
\nis The plight of the papist priest” which at the time was
\nprinted anonymously. This addresses the tension of being
\ntotally faithful to the Pope and the Magisterium of the Church while at
\nthe same time being faithful to your Bishop who is not faithful for the
\nmost part to either. This article was great encouragement to
\nother “papist priests” throughout the world and ended up being printed
\nin five different languages and the most requested piece at Homiletics
\n& Pastoral Review. <\/p>\n
\nthe writings of scripture scholar Father Raymond Brown and how
\ndestructive some of his ideas were especially regarding the
\nconsciousness of Christ and how the “Ignorant Jesus” came to be taught
\nin seminaries and every outlet of Catholic education. He
\nshows multiple instances where Father Brown’s writing totally conflict
\nwith Magisterial teaching and wonders just how it is that he became so
\ninfluential and supported by so many bishops without an qualms.
\n Since Fr. Gilsdorf is a scripture scholar himself he is able
\nto ask some excellent questions and give some rebuttals to the some of
\nFr. Raymond Brown’s writings. His scripture scholarship also
\nis quite evident is several other pieces he writes on the papacy and
\nthe priesthood, and really throughout the book.<\/p>\n
\nthe book that I could easily turn this review into a summary of every
\nchapter in the book since I just plain loved and enjoyed this book so
\nmuch. Instead I would encourage everyone to pick up this book
\nfor their own enjoyment. For those already aware of Fr. Gilsdorf they
\nwill be rewarded with his other writings and for those such as myself
\nfor who this was a new introduction – the joy and education
\nreading his works<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"