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December
01, 2008
The
rot starts from within. The enemy has infiltrated
from within. And if Catholics are to be salt and leaven
in the world, then we need to look to being purified,
so that the Church can be the holy vessel that God
can truly use for His purposes.
We
the laity have been given the privilege and the responsibility
to participate fully in the life and mission of the
Church. Let us do our part. The times we live in are
very critical. The Church is under intense attack.
We must act.
This
article gives many examples and suggestions. Let us
take it from there. Our brethren in the First World
(particularly the USA, Canada and Europe) are especially
called, since the Church in the First World have so
many of these broken windows.
And
let us not forget the rot within our own community.
From the experience of the split in CFC, we see how
so many of our brethren, especially top leaders, have
failed, and even now are still failing, in acting
as Christians. So many basic teachings and Christian
values seem to have been ignored or discarded. Indeed,
the enemy has been quite effective in infiltrating
the body of Christ on earth.
There
is much to be done. Let us start with ourselves, moving
on to our own community, moving on to our parishes
and the larger Church (this is not linear, but interactive).
Our hope is in the reality that God does want us holy,
and God does want to establish His kingdom on earth,
and God does want to bring His children back to Himself,
all the way to eternal life in heaven. And Jesus is
already victorious over the enemy. And the Holy Spirit
provides the power and strength we need for the work.
Let
us trust in Jesus, and always maintain our joy. Now
let us get to work.
God
bless.
frank
The
Broken Windows in the US Catholic Church
Part IV of US Election Message to Catholic Bishops
Commentary
by Steve Jalsevac
See
links to Parts I, II, and III at end of this report
November
28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It is often an overwhelming
trial for a faithful North American or European Catholic
bishop to begin the process of undoing the damage
of up to 40 or more years of severe lack of leadership
or even corruption in his diocese. Nevertheless, it
is important for all citizens that Catholics clean
up these diocesan problems.
If
this were to happen Catholics would once again play
a strong positive role in the culture, rather than
the current situation in which Catholics are often
no different than others on critical issues. Who to
trust and where to begin are always the big questions
for a reform-minded faithful bishop.
The
"broken windows" concept could be a useful
strategy for a beginning. However, as mentioned in
Part III of this series, the bishop would be wise
to first assemble a faithfully Catholic core staff.
A staff and advisors who clearly understand and are
committed to the authentic spiritual nature of the
Church will serve a bishop far better than those whose
primarily qualification is that they have an impressive
resume of theology or other paper degrees from questionable
"Catholic" colleges ().
When
post-grad education is necessary, it is crucial to
give priority to graduates from the few orthodox colleges
()
or at least to applicants who have had strong exposure
to faithful professors at some of the other colleges.
Peter Kreeft, for instance, is a gem of a professor
at the mostly otherwise dreadful, Jesuit-run Boston
College.
THE
BROKEN WINDOWS
1.
THE LITURGY
The first of the "broken windows," or signs
of disorder that most often communicates a message
that no one is in charge or that authority is weak
and rules are made to be broken, are the abuses of
the liturgy - the formal, very visible ceremonies
or rites of the Church.
Why
do we start with this one? Because Pope Benedict,
in his wisdom, has declared it to be of the highest
priority. He has seen that the sense of awe of God,
the wonder of His majesty and the faith of the people
have been gutted by theologians, pastors and bishops
who have given very liberal, unintended interpretations
to the documents of the Second Vatican Council. He
commented on one occasion about the original intentions
of the Council: "Anyone like myself, who was
moved by this perception in the time of the Liturgical
Movement on the eve of the Second Vatican Council,
can only stand, deeply sorrowing, before the ruins
of the very things they were concerned for."
It
is no accident that many diocesan liturgists have
since been found to be serious dissenters and an unusual
percentage to be practicing homosexuals. The liturgy
has power to form or to deform, to inspire or to corrupt.
The
numerous abuses or broken windows on this topic range
from the extreme to the more subtle, such as arbitrarily
inserting inclusive language (commonly done) or an
otherwise faithful priest not giving communion at
mass so that the women extraordinary ministers are
not offended by having less of a role. Liturgy has
often become entertainment.
Probably
by far the most widespread violation of Universal
Church norms, by both dissident and normally faithful
pastors, has been the vastly excessive use of lay
Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, who are often
wrongly called Ministers of Communion. Despite repeated
instructions on this from Rome, pastors and bishops
routinely ignore the rules and in doing so send their
flocks an especially visible disorder message, that
"we are determined to do things our own way"
or, that they are too afraid of the feminists in their
parish or diocese to do the right thing. To be fair
to a lot of the pastors who try to follow this requirement
are frequently not only not supported by their bishops
but are often even ordered to disregard the Church
discipline.
For
the broken window strategy to work, not one abuse
or liberty with the universal (versus the often inadequate
local diocesan or even national conference) liturgical
requirements, can be tolerated. Otherwise it cannot
work.
The
priest, deacon and bishop are the teachers and witnesses
of fidelity or infidelity to the people at every mass
and other liturgical events. Any contradiction by
them to what is clearly indicated in a faithful, Vatican
approved missal or other text, sends a corrupting
message to the people at that event. The message is
that authority is what you decide it should be and
that Catholics can ignore the order of love that has
been prayerfully developed by the Church for the spiritual
nurturing of the flock.
So
what is a faithful bishop to do? Well, this is the
most obvious of all the broken windows and one that
can be manageable.
He
can first make certain that in his cathedral and at
all events directly arranged by his chancery, every
single liturgical event would be conducted in a manner
that would be approved by the Pope.
He
can also do more than the basic requirements by changing
the often man-centered emphasis of much of today's
interior church arrangements. He can encourage those
who wish to receive communion kneeling and on the
tongue, as Benedict has made clear he prefers. He
can ensure that the music at all events under his
immediate control is truly uplifting and reverent,
with many traditional hymns, which Pope Benedict has
also emphasized ().
And finally, he can ensure that the cathedral building
itself truly inspires prayer, is clearly seen and
felt as a place of Catholic worship of God and at
all appropriate times facilitates silent prayer for
those who come to fulfill that need.
After
that is well under way the bishop could begin to regularly
instruct all his priests on the importance of these
changes and begin to have them implemented first by
those pastors who he is confident will follow his
instructions. Then, parish by parish, school by school,
he should cajole and inspire imitation of his faithful
example throughout the diocese.
What
does that have to do with Catholics voting for pro-abortion,
pro-homosexual politicians? A lot. It is all about
restoring a unity of understanding of what it truly
means to worship God. From that eventually follows
a tendency to desire to go further and to begin to
live and act as Christians in the community with resulting
improvement to the culture.
There
is far more that could be said on this issue, but
the main thing is that repairing the many broken windows
in the liturgy in most dioceses is feasible and will
likely lead to considerable positive effect on the
more overwhelming problems. That is how the broken
window strategy works.
2.
DIOCESAN LITURGICAL TEXTS AND HYMNALS
It is up to the bishop to approve or disapprove liturgical
texts and Mass Hymnals used in his diocese. This has
been a serious source of problems for many years with
feminnist gender neutralized, politically correct
and ideologically altered texts weakening the faith
and fidelity of Catholics.
Just
one of many jarring examples in the gender neutralized,
heavily politically correct Catholic Book of Worship
III hymnal is the change in Amazing Grace of "saved
a wretch like me" to "saved and strengthened
me." It just doesn't convey the same message
and former slave trader John Newton, who wrote the
hymn, would likely have responded with disgust to
this dumbing down of his phrase. There are completely
faithful, non-social engineered texts available for
dioceses to choose from that would repair the scandal
of these glaring broken windows.
3.
DIOCESAN MEDIA
Just one article or advertisement questioning or undermining
an important matter of Catholic faith or morals in
a diocesan newspaper or other communications media
is a broken window. It undermines all the good that
is otherwise published in such media. It sends a strong
mixed message about truth and certainly sends the
message that authority is weak and can be challenged.
Whether the publication is sent to just the clergy
or to the wider Catholic community, the damage, I
suggest, can be substantial and long lasting.
Why
are billions spent on newspapers, magazines and television
radio companies? Because they have been proven to
influence behaviour. Bishops often greatly underestimate
the damaging results of being laissez faire with the
editors of their various Church publications.
Even
if the publication is not under the direct control
of the diocese, but is perceived as being a diocesan
approved publication, the bishop must act. If he lets
this go, it undermines his efforts and is certain
to lead to greater problems as more such articles
continue to appear and the faith unity is eroded.
4.
SCHOOL TEXTS
Religious education texts should require the approval
of the diocese. There have been many dreadful religious
education texts foisted on Catholic students and teachers
for many decades. The damage caused by them has been
incalculable. If the bishop can't reform the teachers
or some of the publishers, he can at least permit
only faithful texts to be used for Catholic education
in his diocese. This broken window is very common
and has been poorly addressed.
5.
DIOCESAN CLERGY DRESS
Either a priest is a priest or he is a layman. The
same goes for religious sisters. However, when a priest
is often seen in a sweater and jeans, and just can't
seem to wait to get his clerics off after a mass,
that sends confusing and damaging messages to others.
This is a bigger broken window than most clergy realize.
Rome
and the Popes have repeatedly emphasized the importance
of appropriate religious dress by clergy as a sign
to the people of their availability for ministry and
their consecration to God. It is mandatory, and yet
not just priests, but also bishops, frequently violate
this discipline of love.
They
give witness to a sprit of disobedience and pride
and then wonder why the people are weak in their faith
and religious practice. They also discourage vocations
by their example, which seems to say the priesthood
is just a nine-to-five job and priests are embarrassed
or uncomfortable about always being seen as a priest,
a servant of God and His people.
I
will always remember a diocesan function for all the
priests of a large diocese at which the local archbishop
was dressed in a gaudy Hawaiian shirt, while most
of his priests were in their black vestments. It was
awkward and embarrassing.
6.
HEAD OFFICE
Especially in large dioceses, the chancery (diocesan
offices) is often called Head Office by the priests
of the diocese. That is due to the fact that some
diocesan centers look and function like a cold, corporate
headquarters. The bishop acts like a CEO and the priests
are greatly intimidated by the chancery staff. Rather
than being their father's house where they go for
nurture, support and inspiration, it is more often
the place for orders, correction or formal functions.
Lay people who visit are also intimidated by this
startling, business-like formality when they go to
see their bishop or visit some other functionary of
the diocese.
Lawyers,
academics and other professionals seem to abound and
have undo influence in some of these Head Offices.
Where
this situation exists, it is a large plate glass broken
window that needs repair and it can be repaired by
a good bishop.
7.
MARRIAGE PREPARATION COURSES
Serious errors of theological and moral teaching are
common in marriage prep courses or else crucial moral/sexual
aspects are missed or downplayed because the teachers
either disagree with the Church or are afraid to present
the issues as they should. These broken windows can
generate disorder in the marriage preparation and
marriages of these vulnerable couples. A common mandated
program and materials will repair this problem.
8.
INAPPROPRIATE SPEAKERS USING DIOCESE FACILITIES
Pro-abortion or pro-homosexual politicians or other
inappropriate persons speaking at functions at Catholic
facilities in a diocese is another large plate glass
broken window needing repair. The same goes for special
events involving out-of-diocese dissident clergy or
religious sisters.
This
list if eight items is by no means comprehensive.
Undoubtedly, there are other visible problems in dioceses
that could fall under the same category as "broken
window" items - visible, relatively less serious
disorders, Church graffiti, that have been neglected,
but which add to a climate that perpetuates or encourages
the worst "crimes" or corruption in a diocese.
In
the end, where a bishop is faithful and understands
the great need to rebuild the Church in his diocese
as the first task for restoring the positive cultural
influence of the Church, the broken window approach
may be of enormous help to him.
LifeSiteNews
hopes some bishops will benefit from this series and
Catholic readers will communicate the articles to
their bishops.
Lastly,
if some readers respond with hostility to their bishop
or any bishops because of the articles then they have
sadly misunderstood their tone and purpose.
We
are not about running down bishops or others in the
Church. Rather, in light of the evidence that a majority
of Catholics, not only in the United States, but also
in Canada and Europe, see no problem in voting for
militantly pro-abortion, pro-same-sex "marriage"
candidates, it is obvious that a majority of Catholics
do not comprehend their faith. The fact that perhaps
90% of Catholics in these nations contracept and most
accept abortion and homosexuality, pre-marital sex
and more clearly also reveals it is time for the Church
to clean house and repent, renew and rebuild. Only
by first doing that will the Church regain its positive
influence on the culture.
Catholics,
and other Christian denominations that have many of
the very same or similar broken windows, are desperately
needed to save what is left of our civilization lest
we descend much further into barbarity and loss of
basic freedoms.
The
only real answer, we believe, to the frightening problems
that face us today is a large-scale return to traditional
religious belief and practice. The broken window strategy
could be of great help in launching that renewal.
Lastly,
for those Catholics who rant, "who are you to
tell bishops what to do", well, that has been
a favourite strategy of dissidents - belittling the
lived wisdom and experience of faithful Catholics
and denying their right to appeal to their shepherds
to do their job.
The
worst scandals and failings of the Church in recent
decades might have been prevented if Catholics had
better understood that they do in fact have a right
and an obligation, not to run the Church, or to to
tell bishops what to do, but to appeal for fidelity
and obviously needed strong corrective actions and
shepherding.
Faithful
Catholics have been far, far too timid and quiet about
this. They are themselves partly responsible for the
trashing of the Church by dissidents and abusers and
have left the few that have done the correct things
tragically alone and hanging in the wind
Now
is very much the time to encourage, cajole, persistently
press (without anger or rudeness) and especially help
the bishops and other clergy to renew the faith. Let
it be clearly known that broken windows in the Church
cannot be allowed to stay that way and need to be
repaired - for the good of all.
See
the previous three articles in this series:
Part
I
U.S. Election Message to Catholic Bishops: Time to
Clean House
Part
II
US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part II: This
week's Bishops' Assembly
Part
III
US Election Message to Catholic Bishops Part III:
The Broken Window Strategy
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"For
to me life is Christ, and death is gain." (Phil
1:21) |