Baby Got Book

Jesus the Christ

I noticed that I don't have an entry yet on who Jesus is for us - hence this entry. Jesus is obviously the reason for every other entry in this blog. In some special way that I cannot comprehend, the Word took flesh in Jesus, the natural born son of Joseph and Mary. Full humanity and full divinity found a place in one person.

Jesus came to remind us of God's grace, that is God's unending and ineffable love for us - most radically displayed in his crucifixion. In the resurrection of Jesus there is a radical hope - all things, however bad and gloomy, will be made new. It is made new because this is not a raising of the dead as with Lazarus, Jesus has a new body and even his own disciples do not readily recognize him.

On par with that love & hope that we find in the crucifixion and resurrection, is Jesus' example of a life lived in a truly human way. He teaches us what it is to be truly human. As the Eastern Churches say: God became human in order that humans may become divine. And as we are made in the image and likeness of God, it is truly divine to live out our humanity as Christ showed us. Jesus lived his message of the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom that reached out to all, no matter what a person's state in life. The only people we find Jesus regularly having a problem with are religious fanatics that think they have all the answers.

May God keep us humble.

-A Faithful Catholic

Self Love - Is It All Bad?

Continuing my "Is it all Bad?" series, I wanted to focus on masturbation. The classic reason I always hear from religious persons for masturbation being wrong is that it is all about the person doing it, it's all inward - and therefore selfish and wrong. Catechism 2353, states that it is an intrinsic evil because it's making use of the genital region in a sexual way that is neither part of married love nor open to procreation.

First the Catechism, as I don't always believe that sex need take place inside of marriage or be open to procreation (see my Fornication entry), the "official" Catholic prohibitions are not persuasive. As given the reason that church people normally give (inward & selfish), would that not make watching TV, playing video games, reading, or any other activity we often do by ourselves wrong, especially if it is a little self-indulgent and not for learning purposes. What about eating ice cream late at night while watching bad television!? And as I couldn't find anything on the American Medical Association website concerning the harm done by masturbation, I can only conclude that under normal circumstance, masturbation is fine in the eyes of God. This an another "teaching" of the Catholic Church that obviously needs to be reevaluated.

Good Friday Just Got Better

According to Catholic News Service, Pope Benedict is amending the Tridentine Good Friday service with regard to its prayers for Jews. The 1962 version has been well publicized for its anti-Jewish character, but appears to be in the process of being completely rewritten. The 1962 version prayed for the conversion of the Jews and referred to their "blindness." The Vatican has not officially confirmed this report, but sources state that the Vatican should officially release this information soon.

Benedict continues to make a better mark on our Church than John Paul II, although it would be better if he could accommodate those lovers of the post-Vatican II liturgy as much as he accommodates pre-Vatican II liturgy lovers. But all in all, his greater tolerance towards thoughtful theologians with whom he disagrees (such as the Dutch Dominicans & Hans Kung) is extremely admirable and step in the right direction.

Real Purpose of Vatican II's Liturgical Reform

A week and a half ago, Richard McBrien (theology professor at Notre Dame) wrote about Archbishop Marini, former master of ceremonies at the Vatican, and Marini's new book: A Challenging Reform: Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal, 1963-1975. As McBrien states: "[He] challenges those who would, some 40 years later, attempt to undermine those reforms, in opposition not only to Vatican II but to the expressed wishes of Pope Paul VI himself."

Marini, who should know, states that the resistance to the liturgical renewal of Vatican II has very little to do with changes to the vernacular and certain rituals and everything to do with the ecclesiology that these changes represent. This of course being an ecclesiology (theology of Church) of the People of God, priests & laity are equal - together. The old ecclesiology has the priest playing the part of a parent with the laity being the cared for, but simple-minded children. As McBrien states: "Communion is given in the hand because the laity should feed themselves rather than be fed like infants or very young children."

A Faithful Catholic

List of Restricted Priests in Lacking

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee keeps a posted list on the web of Archdiocesan priests who have had their ministry restricted because of substantiated reports of sexual abuse of a minor. But I don't understand why the list is not inclusive of priests who have served in this Archdiocese - but do not belong this Archdiocese - who have substantiated reports against them. A case in point is "Fr." Bruce MacArthur - a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MacArthur has been named in a lawsuit by three women who state that they were abused by him as girls while he was the hospital chaplin at the old St. Joseph's in Beaver Dam. He's already admitted to sexually abusing multiple minors, but there is no mention of him anywhere on the Archdiocesan website (try the search engine yourself. It works for Milwaukee priests under restriction).

I can only imagine the semi-convincing arguments concerning why the Archdiocese would not list this man somewhere on their website, but none of them seem very convincing. Why do lawyers have to pull teeth to get the Archdiocese to post information that should already be public. Even the aforementioned list of Milwaukee priests under restriction was only done after the metaphoric equivalent of 5 root canals.

A Faithful Catholic

Dutch Domincans Say Sacrament of Eucharist More Important than Ordination

Last September, the Dutch Dominican Order distributed Kerk & Ambt (Church & Ministry) to all 1300 parishes in the Netherlands. Within the Netherlands, communion services have been running rampant for years because of the priest shortage. At many parishes, rather than deny people communion because their parish has run out of previously consecrated hosts, the parish will add unconsecrated hosts beforehand without letting the congregation know.

The document states: "Though in theory the Eucharist is said to be the center of the church's liturgy, celebrating it is in fact made dependent on the person presiding at it, which in fact makes ordination the most important sacrament." This is a sad, but true assessment of our church.

In response, the Order wanted to make the Eucharist the center of the Church's life again by urging congregations to bring forth their own priestly candidates, whether man, woman, married, single, gay, or straight. These candidates should be presented to the local bishop. If the bishop refuses to ordain them, the present emergency situation would make it alright to have that candidate celebrate Mass. The document states of appropriate candidates: "For such a function we think first of all of the pastoral workers, male and female, who have been officially appointed, but also of the many volunteers. These men and women are the heart of the local community, often more so, in face, than the ordained priests [who are spread about among multiple parishes]."

Earlier this month, the Vatican decided to take no disciplinary action against the Dutch Dominicans who distributed the document or the three theologians who authored the document. They are asking that an "official" Vatican response to the document be distributed to all the parishes that Kerk & Ambt was distributed.

Kerk & Ambt is an excellent theological work and worth checking out. It is also of note that the Vatican (under Benedict) has not chosen to silence or expel the authoring theologians - very un-John Paul of him - and that's a positive sign for the future of our Church.

A Faithful Catholic