RORATE CÆLI

The Rupnik Affair: How Deep Priestly Perversion Was Normalized By Francis and His Jesuits

A Guest-post

by Mark Lambert

You could be totally forgiven for not having the slightest idea who Marko Rupnik SJ is, but you are more likely to remember some of his strange contributions to the Franciscan papacy.

As Dr. Peter Kwasniewski remarked this week “I'm not the only one who finds Fr. Rupnik's art creepy? It's just plain weird, these bulbous pop-eyed slinky figures with cartoon cut-out profiles... to me there's something inhuman about it. I'm not saying one can deduce from his art that he was a mega-pervert who, in spite of being a priest sworn to celibacy, slept with 20-something nuns (sometimes 2 at a time), blasphemed the Trinity and the Eucharist, and abused the sacrament of confession, but I *am* saying that his art should never have been so celebrated, as if he was some kind of great church artist of our times.”

In case you haven’t guessed, Rupnik is the man responsible for recent Vatican favourites like the three eyed figure chosen for the world meeting of families earlier in this pontificate:

The O Antiphons: History, Theology and Spirituality

Note: this is a slightly revised version of an unpublished catechetical talk, given by the author in December 2015.

History of the O Antiphons

The history and origins of the O Antiphons is unclear. Though we possess a large number of early liturgical texts, comparatively few of them go back to before the seventh century. It is possible that a passing reference to the antiphons is made by Boethius (c. 480-524) in his work The Consolation of Philosophy, [1] which would indicate that the antiphons were known in northern Italy in around the sixth century. However, what we can say for certain is that the antiphons were known by Amalarius of Metz, a monk and scholar of the ninth century (c. 780-850). Amalarius attributes them to an anonymous cantor who probably lived in the 7th or 8th century. By the ninth century, they had also been known in Rome for some time, as they appear in the Roman antiphonaries of the period. Numerous other liturgical books of the Middle Ages from around the ninth century onwards also contain the antiphons.

On November 17 and 24, 2022, the American Catholic newspaper The Wanderer published articles by Fr. Brian Harrison about the statement ‘The Teaching of the Catholic Faith on the Reception of the Holy Eucharist,’ concerning Pope Francis’s Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi (DD). The statement in question was signed by 56 Catholic clerics and scholars, and was issued on September 16, 2022. It accused Pope Francis of teaching heresy in the Apostolic Letter, as follows:

The singing of the young men in the furnace is central to the day's liturgy

We present a translation of Michael Charlier's article published today in German.

In the traditional liturgy, the Masses of the Ember Days in Advent are characterized by an extraordinary richness of readings and chants -- especially the Ember Saturday. While Wednesday has only two readings in addition to the Gospel, this Saturday has as many as 6 additional readings. With one exception, these Advent readings are all taken from the prophet Isaias, the great herald of the coming Messiah from the time of the 8th century BC. Then, on Saturday, there is the reading from the 2nd Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, in which the apostle prepares the congregation for the Second Coming of the Lord. Between these readings there are psalm chants (Graduale) and intercession-like orations, as on Good Friday; they are also introduced, as there, with the Oremus -- flectamus genua -- levate.

Mass outside the church in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, at 28° F... Whose fault is that?

The following is Paix Liturgique Letter 905 of December 16, 2022. Translated for Rorate.

For almost two years, the faithful of Saint-Germain who are attached to the traditional liturgy, who attend Mass on the square in front of an empty church that has been closed for almost the hundredth time, have been led astray. Certainly, on Friday, December 9, there was a dramatic turn of events: Mgr Luc Crepy, the bishop of Versailles, THEIR BISHOP, finally agreed to receive those whom he had until then considered as a kind of terrorist. At the end of a one and a half hour meeting, a common communiqué was even signed, lenient but vague. We asked our friend Germain, a good source on the local situation, to enlighten us on the reality of the situation.

Ember Days for the Beginning of Winter - Article by Michael Charlier

Posted at Summorum-Pontificum.de on December 14, 2022 and translated for Rorate. Link to original.

According to tradition, the Wednesday after the 3rd Sunday of Advent, shortly before the onset of astronomical winter time, marks the beginning of Winter Ember Days. In the course of the post-conciliar liturgical ruptures, the traditional dates were abandoned or left to the discretion of local bishops' conferences. In Germany, Winter Ember Days moved to the week after the first Sunday of Advent. No factual reason for this "shift" can be discerned. It took place probably above all from desire to do "everything differently," and to "self-determine" -- so it is in the long run only consistent that the millennia-old custom so kindly detached from the cosmic reference and made arbitrary was almost completely forgotten and got lost.

The inaccuracies, difficulties of interpretation, and problems of concrete application of Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa ad Dubia have raised many questions among canonists, pastors, and institutes whose proper law binds them to the liturgical forms of the Latin tradition.

“The Current Crisis of Faith in the Church Has Its Ground in the New Mass” — Analysis by Fr. Michael Gurtner

The following superb article by Austrian priest Fr. Michael Gurtner appeared in German at the site katholisches.info on November 27, 2022; the translation is published here with permission.—PAK

At present, the modern Church is working to change its internal constitution, transforming itself and by its own initiative from a hierarchical Church, as willed and instituted by God, to a “synodal” (and therefore humanly constructed) Church. In the one and only Church of Jesus Christ, which is the Catholic Church, a process of successive detachment from divine revelation and from Christ Himself has been underway for decades: it is thus a process of self-destruction. The Church is currently tearing itself apart from within. Unfortunately, the question is now very legitimate as to how Catholic the Catholic Church on earth still is. Is it really still as Christ intended and wanted it to be?

Bishop Heiner Wilmer, of Hildesheim, Germany

The German Hierarchy, with its revolutionary “Synodal Path”, is leading the charge to destroy Catholic unity.

What better way to encourage this than for the pope to elevate one of their bishops to the most prominent doctrinal position of the Church? And this might happen very soon, according to the highest sources of our friends at Italian traditional blog Messa in Latino:

News - a Christmas present: new modernist Prefect at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith?

Our sources "in the highest places" would now confirm (though we know that the Holy Father is unpredictable to the last) that the next Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will be Bishop Heiner Wilmer [whose doctoral thesis deals with none other than the Modernist-adjacent Maurice Blondel, and not in a critical way], current Bishop of Hildesheim, replacing current Prefect Card. Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, in prorogatio since July 1, 2022.

Eleven years ago, in 2011, we in RORATE were proud to be the first to make available online, for the first time, a document that had then become extremely rare: the very first GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), published together with the 1969 Novus Ordo Missae.

From our post:

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7. Cena dominica sive Missa est sacra synaxis seu congregatio populi Dei in unum convenientis, sacerdote praeside, ad memoriale Domini celebrandum. Quare de sanctae Ecclesiae locali congregatione eminenter valet promissio Christi: "Ubi sunt duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi sum in medio eorum" (Mt. 18, 20).

"7. The Lord's Supper, or Mass, is the sacred meeting or congregation of the people of God assembled, the priest presiding, to celebrate the memorial of the Lord. For this reason, Christ's promise applies eminently to such a local gathering of holy Church: 'Where two or three come together in my name, there am I in their midst' (Mt. 18:20)."

This is the original complete definition of the Mass according to the 1969 Novus Ordo Missae: they were arguably the most influential liturgical words written in the 20th century and signaled a watershed moment - in a sense, closing the book written since late antiquity and the chapter begun in Sessions XIII and XXII of the Council of Trent.

The primacy of Mary as Immaculate Conception - By Fr Serafino M. Lanzetta

In omnibus Ipsa primatum tenens

The primacy of Mary as Immaculate Conception

By Fr Serafino M. Lanzetta

Christ is first

In order to execute a project, or to turn a vision into action, one first needs to have an idea or a plan. The idea precedes the action, as the intention precedes the actual achieving of the goal. Likewise, an artist, to give an example very expressive of this reality, must first conceive in mind what he wants then to depict on a canvas. If his intelligence is uninspired, it is higly likely that the canvas will not represent anything. And in order to paint something in on a large scale, the artist will also need to portray that idea realized on a very small scale: he needs to make a sketch. When God created all things he also needed to have an idea, and he did indeed have a vision. This idea was his very reason for making all things. And God’s idea could not but be as perfect as He Himself is. In fact, in God ideas are not something (as they are in us) but Himself. Who, then, was God’s original idea, guiding Him in carrying out his project of creation? It could be none other than Christ, His Son, the Word incarnate.

St Paul, in his Letter of to the Colossians (1:15-20), speaks about this centrality of Christ, who through his human nature manifests the perfection of the divine nature. Christ, he says,

Today is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, and his collect in the traditional Roman Missal alludes to his Greek title of "wonderworker", and the "innumerable miracles" he worked during his life:

Deus, qui beátum Nicoláum Pontíficem,
innúmeris decorásti miráculis:
tríbue, quǽsumus;
ut eius méritis et précibus
a gehénnæ incéndiis liberémur. (CO 1463)

O God, who made the holy Bishop Nicholas
renowned for innumerable miracles,
grant, we beseech you,
that by his merits and prayers
we may be saved from the fires of hell.

III Features of the Texts Influential for promoting the Council’s Work

We here consider:

- 4. Novelty;

- 5. Deceit;

Keeping Faith Traditions Alive Throughout the Year

With Christmas around the corner, traditional Catholics are looking for resources that are true to the Faith for themselves and loved ones. Here are some new titles that I recommend. Share the gift of Faith with family and friends and “cozy up” with these fine books.

The Springtime that Never Came

This riveting and climactic interview with Bishop Schneider tackles every controversial issue of our time. It is a compendium of straight, authoritative answers that elucidate the truths of our Faith with a piercing light and offer real-world solutions to combat the darkness. The Springtime that Never Came will make you cheer as it reorients you on your journey with Christ. Be encouraged as Bishop Schneider provides inspiring insights for the battle, with trust in God and following the examples of the saints in our chaotic times.

The Catholic Mass

Triors is a beautiful village outside of Romans-sur-Isère, in the Drôme department in Southeast France, not far from where the Rhône and Isère rivers meet. In the 1980s, the heir of a beautiful property including a chateau and the remains of an old abbey decided to donate it for the foundation of a new daughter-house of Fontgombault.

Notre Dame de Triors (Our Lady of Triors) is one of the most beautiful new abbeys of France and, following the lead of Fontgombault, has always kept the Traditional Mass. Its work in the recording of the entire Gregorian music of the liturgical year in a CD collection made it very famous among many Traditional Catholics worldwide.

Just recently, the community elected their new Abbot, Dom Louis Blanc, just 35 years old -- a living example of how Traditionalist families are revitalizing the Church in France, as a smaller but much more vibrant and faithful church. Dom Blanc granted an interview to the latest edition of French Catholic monthly La Nef:

Triors: a path marked out by the centuries

La Nef

December 2022

Interview by Christophe Geffroy

Triors was founded by Fontgombault in 1984 and erected as an abbey in 1994 with Dom Hervé Courau as its first Abbot. Elected Father Abbot of Triors on November 30, 2021, Dom Louis Blanc, 35 years old, received the abbatial blessing on February 2, 2022.

La Nef - Could you first tell us about your itinerary and the reasons for your entry into Triors?

St. Junipero Serra Institute: Spanish immersion course for seminarians and clergy, in a traditional environment

Rorate is pleased to share the following information.

The St. Junipero Serra Institute offers a unique curriculum that has been developed for the specific purpose of equipping those in pastoral leadership with both a secular and a Catholic vocabulary in Spanish, so often needed today in the daily pastoral, sacramental, and evangelical aspects of the priestly vocation.

Dr. Kwasniewski’s Upcoming Lectures in Jacksonville, FL and Savannah, GA — December 8–10,

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2022

“Our Lady Teaches Us the Meaning of the Mass”

Jacksonville, FL, 7:00 pm
For more information and to RSVP, write to:
tlmjaxnewsletter@gmail.com

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9

“What’s Really Required for a ‘Eucharistic Revival’: Rethinking How We Approach the Holy Eucharist”

6:30pm Talk with Q&A and booksale
Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Gymnasium)
1707 Bull St.
Savannah, GA 31401

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10

“Gregorian Chant: Perfect Music for Divine Worship”

Talk & Chant Workshop, 9:00 am
For more information and to RSVP, write to:
tlmjaxnewsletter@gmail.com

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10

“Our Response to God’s Greatest Gift: The Urgency of Eucharistic Reverence & Reparation”

6:30 pm Talk with Q&A and booksale
St. Patrick Catholic Church
601 Airport Center Dr E
Jacksonville FL 32218

The same information in poster form:

The Council and the Eclipse of God by Don Pietro Leone: CHAPTER 10 (Part 6a.) III. FEATURES OF THE TEXTS INFLUENTIAL FOR PROMOTING THE COUNCIL’S WORK: 1. Authority; 2.Appeal to Charismatic Inspiration; 3. Appeal to the Senses

https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_counci

l/index.htm

III Features of the Texts Influential for promoting the Council’s Work

Do you want your child to sing but don’t know where to start? Does your child enjoy music and need some inspiration to sing? Whether your child has been singing for years, or not at all, Children’s First Chants will help them grow in their love for sacred music!

Fontgombault Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent: "God is He who is, and for us, from the very first moment of Creation, He also is He who is to come."

First Sunday in Advent

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Father Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, November 27th, 2022

Appropinquat redemptio vestra.

Your redemption is at hand. (Lk 21:28)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

The first Sunday in Advent opens a time leading us through an admirable crescendo towards the feast of Christmas, the Advent time, the time when we wait for the Emmanuel. During these days, we shall share in the hope for the coming of the Messiah promised to the Jewish people, whom they are still awaiting.

Yet, the word ‘wait’, which for many is characteristic of this time, may well obfuscate the true meaning of these days.

‘Waiting’ too often implies a negative note. One waits for some- thing, for an event because it’s not yet there, because it’s dragging on: a delayed train, the water or gas bill with a potentially worry- ing amount, the monthly wage... He who waits is never far from showing impatience. Very often, he who waits spends his time, and finally squanders it, since what he considers is himself, more than the thing or the event he’s waiting for.

What then of the wait proper to the time of Advent? Even though the feast of Christmas tends nowadays to be tempered down under the more neuter and global name of ‘festive season’. Many of our contemporaries yearn during these weeks for family gatherings and the exchange of presents.

Don’t let us mistake the true meaning of this liturgical time. In Latin, Adventus doesn’t evoke a wait, but a coming, an arrival, an accession. During these days, the Church awaits her Saviour who is to come. Here is a true mystery. God is He who is, and for us, from the very first moment of creation, He also is He who is to come.

The Book of Apocalypse reveals Him under this name:

Earlier today, Dr. Joseph Shaw posted his brief response to the five-part Church Life Journal series by Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy (CHW). I would like to add a few thoughts on CHW's embarrassing exposé of intellectual ignorance, of which its authors should be ashamed—not to mention the Journal in which it appeared, whose reputation has been thereby tarnished.

First, and not to put too fine a point on it, they really haven’t a clue what they are talking about, either academically or experientially. The scholarship is slipshod, superficial, and highly selective. They appear to have no sustained experience with traditional liturgical rites of either East or West (as evidenced by certain remarks about, e.g., ad orientem and “repetition”). It’s like the blind talking about colors, or the deaf talking about music.

Rubrics erased in the Reform

It would try the patience of readers, and more than exhaust the time I have available, to comment on the whole series of five articles published in Church Life Journal by John Cavadini, Mary Healy, and Thomas Weinandy (hereafter, CHW). Instead I will focus on just two points in the concluding article of the series: ‘The Way Forward from the Theological Concerns with the TLM Movement’.

Traditional Mass at a side Rosary Altar, St. Vincent Ferrer* (New York City)

"Words of thanks to someone I knew well as a child:

"I had an old great-aunt. She was my grandfather’s sister. Her name was Mary Jane Byrne but we called her Jane Jane. When I first encountered her, in the 1950s, I was a little child and she was ancient—about 60.

"She lived in New York and went to a local parish, St. Vincent Ferrer. When I was little she told me it was the pennies of immigrants that made that great church. I asked why they did that. She said, 'To show love for God. And to show the Protestants we’re here, and we have real estate too.'

...

"If we were together on a Sunday, she [great-aunt Jane Jane] took me to Mass. I loved it. They had bells and candles and smoke and shadows and they sang. The church changed that a bit over the years, but we lost a lot when we lost the showbiz. Because, of course, it wasn’t only showbiz. To a child’s eyes, my eyes, it looked as if either you go to church because you’re nice or you go and it makes you nice but either way it’s good.

Papal High Mass with Pope John XXIII in St. Peter's Basilica for the opening of the Council

(Published in German on November 19, 2022: source.)

Funny question — of course there is. It is the Mass celebrated by 10,000 participating priests and bishops on all days of the Council, and by the Roman clergy as well: the Mass whose Ordo had been purged of some of the errors of the then-modern age after the Council of Trent on its behalf, and so promulgated by Pope Pius V in 1570. Not as a "new" Missal — in many respects rather restored to the state of the 13th century — and a fortiori not as a new and exclusive form of the lex orandi of the Roman rite, but as the Holy Mass as it had been since time immemorial (Pope Damasus in the 4th century, Pope Gregory in the 6th century) and always should be in the future.

You can buy this here from the Latin Mass Society's online shop, which dispatches all over the world. Just in time for Christmas: for the bishop in your life?

The Bishops at the Second Vatican Council

Old Latin Mass Finds New American Audience, Despite Pope’s Disapproval
An ancient form of Catholic worship is drawing in young traditionalists and conservatives. But it signals a divide within the church.
By Ruth Graham
The New York Times

Nov. 15, 2022

DETROIT — Eric Agustin’s eight children used to call the first day of the week “Party Sunday.” The family would wake up, attend a short morning Mass at a Catholic parish near their house, then head home for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and watching football.
But this summer, the family made a “big switch,” one of his teenage sons said on a recent Sunday afternoon outside St. Joseph Shrine, the family’s new parish. At St. Joseph, the liturgy is ornate, precisely choreographed and conducted entirely in Latin. The family drives an hour round trip to attend a service that starts at 11 a.m. and can last almost two hours.
The traditional Latin Mass, an ancient form of Catholic worship that Pope Francis has tried to discourage, is instead experiencing a revival in the United States. It appeals to an overlapping mix of aesthetic traditionalists, young families, new converts and critics of Francis. And its resurgence, boosted by the pandemic years, is part of a rising right-wing strain within American Christianity as a whole.
...

When you’ve lost Enzo Bianchi…

Bianchi is well known as the founder of the “ecumenical” monastic community of Bose. He was removed as lay prior a few years ago not due to personal scandal, but to unclear issues of "the exercise of authority". Regardless, he has always been a consistent voice for radical liberalism in Catholic Italy, and a staunch defender of all things Francis.

Up until now.

Even Bianchi is shocked and embarrassed with the mistreatment and shunning of Traditional Catholics in the current pontificate. In the current issue of "Vita Pastorale", the also very "progressive" monthly of "progressive" Italian Catholics, Bianchi had some choice words regarding a Church that listens and wants dialogue with everyone -- everyone, except Traditionalists:

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Ecclesial communion

Mass cannot be a place of contestation and fraternal division.
And the liturgy if it is not celebration of the Gospel cannot attract anyone. Vita Pastorale - 10 November 2022
By Enzo Bianchi

Pope Francis writes in his apostolic letter Desiderio desideravi that the tensions, unfortunately present around the celebration, cannot be judged as a simple divergence of sensibility towards a ritual form, but that they should be understood as ecclesiological divergences. This is why he felt it his duty to affirm that "the liturgical books promulgated by the Holy Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II in comparison with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" (TC, art. 1).

The expression is strong and peremptory, but it certainly does not deny that the Vetus Ordo in force until the Liturgical Reform was in those centuries an expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.

‘The Council and the Eclipse of God’ by Don Pietro Leone: Chapter 10 (part 5 b – the Devil’s Agency continued: vi) Anti-Realist Subjectivism: more on the universal and systematic scope of the Council’s anti-realist subjectivism.

Christ the King Statue in Świebodzin (POLAND)

‘The Council's anti-realist subjectivism is directed uniquely towards the dethronement of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the enthronement of man in His place.’

Cross-posted from the FIUV blog.

Since the PCED and its successor, in the form of the 4th Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, lost its responsibility for the Traditional Mass, the Ordo it used to publish for the 1962 Missal has also ceased to appear.

In recent times, we have witnessed, here and there, the use of cathedrals and other sacred buildings for conferences and other events for politicians, social leaders and members of other groups of different orientations. In this way, for example, recognition is sought for the ten years since the pontifical election. And the Pope himself endorses them with words such as: "It comforts my soul that my person has made possible this moment of communion, of encounter beyond differences." In these meetings, the Holy Father's teachings in the encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti are invited to be taken up.

James Bogle: was Queen Elizabeth to blame for the Abortion Act?

In the Octave of the Feast of Christ the King…

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the one only God, be honour and glory forever…

By James Bogle Esq

2008 photo by 'brokenkey' via
Wikipedia commons.

The article on the web-site of the British-based lay initiative, Voice of the Family, formed to defend Catholic teaching on the family, headed “To God alone be the honour and glory” by my good friend, Dr Alan Fimister, has all the good intentions that I have learned to associate with him. However, it misrepresents the true position of the British monarch, not least our late Queen Elizabeth II, and that on a very serious and important issue.

I respond now to Alan’s piece in fraternal charity with the sole aim of arriving at the truth which, of course, should be the first concern of all Catholic journalists and writers. I am grateful to Rorate Caeli for publishing this article and saddened that Voice of the Family was unwilling to do so or to correct the highly misleading and damaging impression left by Alan’s article.

Gregorius Magnus: new edition of the FIUV magazine published

Cross-posted from the FIUV blog.

A new edition of our biannual magazine Gregorius Magnus is published! The magazine is free and available to all; you can read it online, we handed out 150 copies to participants of the Summorum Pontificum Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage in Rome, and a small number will receive it in the post.

The following speech was given at the Pax Liturgica conference on Friday, October 28, 2022, at the start of the Populus Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage weekend. Mr. Valli graciously sent me the text for translation and publication at Rorate Caeli.

“The Traditional Mass—The Rediscovered Treasure”

Aldo Maria Valli

Rome, October 28, 2022

I wish to speak to you about the ancient Mass -- but perhaps it would be better to call it the Mass of Ages -- as a rediscovered treasure. A precious pearl, a priceless treasure long hidden from generations of Catholics, including myself, but finally rediscovered, by divine grace and the commitment of so many courageous believers.

"And the Word became ideology": At the Synod, a falsified Church

Luisella Scrosati

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

November 7, 2022

(source)

On Oct. 27, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, spoke first during the press conference presenting the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod, a document summarizing what emerged from all the diocesan consultations. "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent" (this is the title of the document) is the "synthesis of syntheses."

Review of New Edition of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre's "Catholic Liturgy: Its Fundamental Principles"

Review of the new and expanded edition of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB's "Catholic Liturgy: Its Fundamental Principles" (Romanitas Press, 2022).

Dutch Bishop: “God is out of the picture in this damned synodal process. The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Once again, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, auxiliary of Den Bosch, the Netherlands, has the right words for the right time.

In a better age, like Cardinal Pie, he would have long been created a Cardinal. Alas…

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Synodal process as an instrument to change the Church?

Bishop Robert Mutsaerts

November 4, 2022

On Thursday, Oct. 27, the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in Rome presented the working document for the Continental Phase of the Synod "For a synodal Church: communio, participatio, missio.” This took place at a press conference chaired by Cardinal Grech held at the Holy See press center in Rome. The document was entitled "Increase the space in your tent" (Isaiah 54:2). Based on all the final documents of the meetings in the various Continents, the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops then compiles the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the 2023 and 2024 Synod meetings.

'The Devil Entering Through A Window In The Church'(Detail from St. Anthony the Hermit in the Isenheim Altarpiece)by Matthias Grünewald (late 15th early 16th century)

II The Principal Agents of the Council

“Church” without sacraments and priests? On the desacerdotalization of the German Church

The following article by Michael Charlier appeared in German at his website on November 3, 2022. It is translated for Rorate Caeli.

The diocese of Mainz has published by circular letter the liturgical form for a "death blessing," which would be able to be given by lay people. It is apparently intended to replace the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick/Last Rites, which has been completely abandoned in many places and the administration of which is reserved to the ordained priest. After kath.net published a theological critique of this procedure by Msgr. Schroedel, several readers wrote in to say that this practice is by no means new but has gone on in several dioceses for ten years or more. The "Handreichung zum Sterbesegen" (Handout on the Blessing of the Dying) of the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart dating from 2012 proves this (link).

Vatican Sec. of State Parolin to French Bishops: Help Trads "disoriented" with Traditionis Custodes

Message sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Card. Parolin, to the French Episcopal Conference meeting this week in Lourdes:

The Holy Father Pope Francis wishes to assure you and all the members present [at the 2022 Fall Plenary Assembly] of his prayer and his fraternal and spiritual support.

At a time when the Church of France is once again shaken by the drama of abuse on the part of some of its pastors, he invites you, with your eyes fixed on the cross of Christ, not to be discouraged but to persevere in the assurance that the Holy Spirit will accompany your efforts, which will once again be the object of your work. He knows your determination to give the Church of France its true missionary face, and he encourages you to go forward with audacity and discernment.