On Wednesday Pat Archbold at Creative Minority Report expressed his satisfaction that Pope Francis at a General Audience was reading from a prepared text. Go here to read the post and to view the picture of the Pope reading from the text. No more ad-libbing hurrah!
However, it was then pointed out by one of the commenters that the Pope departed from the prepared text and did ad-lib.
One of the ad-libs:
The Church has her roots in the teaching of the Apostles, authentic witnesses of Christ, but looks to the future, and has the fixed awareness of being sent by Christ, of being Christ’s missionary, of bringing forth Christ’s name by prayer, proclamation and witness. A Church closed in on herself and the past, a Church who focuses only on minor rules and habits, betrays her own identity.
PopeWatch draws certain conclusions from this event. First, that the Pope is probably never going to be bound by a text that he prepares, or, more likely, is prepared for him. The second is that the Pope believes that the Church has been too focused “on minor rules and habits”. Popewatch wonders “what minor rules and habits” the Pope has in mind? The final conclusion is that the Pope believes that the Church has been “closed in on herself and the past”. PopeWatch thinks that is a surprising way to characterize the Church at any time, but especially since Vatican II. PopeWatch supposes however that the Pope will eventually explain his meaning, perhaps in a future ad-lib.
Perhaps the past the Pope is talking about is that “Spirit of Vatican II” that never was the true spirit of that Council. Perhaps he is talking to those who continue to push the outdated theology of the 70’s. Or perhaps he is criticizing the false and materialistic horizontal religion of human worship characterized by the horrendous English translation that burdened the Church until two year ago. Perhaps he is calling to mind those who set up an idol of class and identity politics instead of the worship of God.
Perhaps.
🙂
The Pope does sound pretty sick and tired of rules, himself.
My other take is that he is a Pope in a Hurry. He knows that he knows not the day nor the hour.
Bring on the specifics! I’m a natural-born quitter, just let me know which minor rules and habits can go, and I’ll ditch ’em.
(Please not the Rosary. Please not the Rosary. Please…..)
I am beginning to get an impression. It is only an impression, but one that is becoming stronger over time. The impression is this: Pope Benedict has been for us, Peter. Gentle, quiet, rooted in Christ, always seeking the communion or unity of the Church-as we witnessed in his untiring pursuit of reconciliation, reintegration and full communion with SSPX. We witnessed it as well with the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate, the first real fruit of our ecumenical work with the various ecclesial communities of the Reformation. Like Blessed John Paul before him, Benedict sought to prepare the Church for the New Evangelization, especially rooting the Church in the Gospel of Christ and interpreting Vatican II through its for Constitutions, with Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation being the foundational and interpretive principle.
Pope Francis, is very much like Saint Paul: zealous to the point of seeming to be impatient in getting the whole Church actually doing the New Evangelization. Paul’s encounter with Christ sent him to the Gentiles- those on the fringe, etc. if we really read his Epistles carefully we see that he too had little patience with minor rules, customs etc-especially if the got in the way of or worse threatened the proclamation of the Gospel. While he even had the corage to enter into the Aeropagus of Athens, using Greek poetry and their search for God as a basis for evangelization, he had little patience with such rules as circumcision, dietary rules and the self-focusing taking place among some Jewish Christians and their Gentile disciples. Paul never left anyone ambiguous. He was criticized roundly within such churches as Corinth. I could go on…
I must say I consider myself blessed to be living in such days
I am reminded of Bl John Henry Newman’s remarks about the Orthodox Church, “It is much to be feared, from what travellers tell us of the Greek priesthood and their flocks, that both in Russia and in Greece Proper, they are more or less in this state,—which may be called the proper disposition towards heresy and schism; I mean, that they rely on things more than on persons, and go through a round of duties in one and the same way, because they are used to them, and because in consequence they are attached to them, not as having any intelligent faith in a divine oracle which has ordered them; and that in consequence they would start in irritation, as they have started, from such indications of that Oracle’s existence as is necessarily implied in the promulgation of a new definition of faith.”
He suggests that such a faith “is but material not formal, and really has neither the character nor the reward of that grace-implanted, grace-sustained principle, which believes, not merely because it was so taught in the nursery, but because God has spoken; not because there is no temptation to doubt, but because there is a duty to believe.”
Are there really no Catholic countries where religious observance has merely this national and hereditary character?
This Pope is a nag.
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It strikes me as unnecessarily binary thinking to take the pope as meaning that at any given time the Church has been entirely “closed in on herself and the past… focuse[d] only on minor rules and habits”. At any given point, though, that’s a potential way of going wrong — seen more or less like any error, given that errors come and go according to fashion.
I can easily think of people caught up on minor rules and habits just in the year we’ve had Pope Francis, whether it’s the people who went absolutely bonkers because he didn’t wear the traditional fur-trimmed vestment when coming out on the balcony and because he asked people to pray for him rather than just blessing them, or the people who think that Francis is some kind of second coming of Christ simply because he lives in St. Martha’s house rather than in the papal apartments or is driven in an old car.
The Church “closed in on itself” probably has to so more with the grass roots level of people entering the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is very grass roots.
I suppose if one were to look at themselves (we can all look at ourselves, lawyers included 😉 ), ask yourself: how many people have you encouraged to know the Truth about the Catholic Faith to become Catholic?
I can give a very good example of “minor rules.” In Scotland, the Canon law, as it existed in 1560, remained the marriage law of the country, except where altered by statute. Similarly, a mass of material relating to benefices and teind was taken over from the canon law.
This means that we lawyers had constantly to delve into the undigested mass of the Decretals of Gratian, the Extravagantes, the Liber Extra and the Clementines. In this, we were luckier than the canonists themselves, who also had to cope with the all the new, undigested, material added ad hoc by pontifical legislation in the nearly four centuries after the Council of Trent. Anyone at all familiar with the old canon law will be struck by the mass of obsolete and contradictory material swept away by the Code of 1917, which itself underwent a thorough revision in the Code of 1983. Now, add to that the various administrative practices that developed round the law and one will understand Mgr Ronald Knox’s advice that “those embarked on the barque of Peter, should avoid looking into the engine room.”
This is perhaps the most charitable interpretation of Pope Francis’s remark. It may even be correct. If so, even the much talked-about New Evangelization fails to do much to address the issue. Most New Evangelization effort appears to be focused on better catechization of people who are already Catholic.
Well, I don’t think we need fear this pope achieving some agreement of dramatic unity with the SSPX. Bergoglio yet again emphasizes his preference for discontinuity of the post-Vatican II era, and his view of the irrelevance of mostly all that came before it (except for his trust in a primitivist, “pure” view of the Apostolic period and those wonderful first decades). Hmmm. He goes on: “A Church closed in on herself and the past, a Church who focuses only on minor rules and habits, betrays her own identity.” Pope Francis again shows he has a remarkably negative viewpoint of rule and discipline, almost to the point of being anti-nomialist. Going further, I find Pope Francis’ pointed emphasis on his peculiar personal understanding of Vat2 (which I am sure is not my understanding: my understanding is based on Romano Amerio’s Iota Unum and Robert de Mattei’s Second Vatican Council: an Unwritten Story) as “something that has never really been tried” is almost fantastic, based on the experience of those of us who have been there for the past four/five decades. I am certain he has never read either book; and I am certain he doesnt read much at all based on his opinionated and continuing intemperate statements. It is clear he is going to impose the same rules and fiats that he disdains aimed at but with a decidedly anti-traditional bias (witness the situation with the Franciscan Friars of Mary Immaculate).
I find it amusing that people are having a hard time understanding this pope. Jesus said “Love God and Love Neighbor”. Pope Francis is repeating this commandment in every which way possible. There are too many ‘traditional’ Catholics who are caught up in the Rubics of being Catholic. For example: There is only one way to do Stations of the Cross. There are certain prayers that must be said with every rosary. Guitars have no place in the church nor Mass. etc etc etc.
There are two things that we need to concentrate on: Loving God with our whole mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbor. I mean really loving our neighbor. Instead, too many Catholics experience of church is superficial. They don’t even know the person’s name in the pew next to them and they don’t care to know. They only care about fulfilling their Sunday obligation, and the priest better not do anything off the cuff during Mass or he is heretical. Why does this Pope bother people? He is preaching the Gospel at all times and challenging people to actually live the gospel instead of banging people over the head with the rules. People need conversion. When people are converted, they will want to follow the rules. We need to be connected to Christ so that when people meet us, they meet Jesus. He converts people. Look at the life of St John Vianney. He worked on his own holiness first and foremost. Thus, Jesus exuded out of him whenever he preached and talked with people. This is the Pope’s message – over and over again.
“There are too many ‘traditional’ Catholics who are caught up in the Rubics of being Catholic. For example: There is only one way to do Stations of the Cross. There are certain prayers that must be said with every rosary. Guitars have no place in the church nor Mass. etc etc etc.”
There are too many Catholics who would not know a station of the cross if it fell upon them. I think we tried the “all you need is love, forget the rules” approach to Catholicism back in the Sixties and the Seventies, and the fruits of that tragic experiment are self evident: Mass attendance has fallen off the cliff, generations of Catholics bone ignorant of the Faith, and many Catholics supporting the most hideous of sins, especially abortion. In regard to the life of Saint John Vianney he did penance for the sins of his parishioners when they had stopped coming to Mass. By his strict observance of the Faith, his zeal, his endless hours in the confessional, he won the souls of his parishioners to God. It is easy to mouth platitudes about love. Saint John Vianney’s love was demonstrated by his zeal and practice of the Faith, and that is precisely today what Catholics should emulate rather than replicating the misbegotten and idiotic strategies for Church reform that did such harm to the Faith in the wake of Vatican II.
In regard to Mass, it is time to heed the words of Francis, Saint Francis:
1. All of us who are clerics should be aware of the great sin and ignorance which some people have toward the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and His most holy written words which consecrate [His] Body. 2. We know that it cannot become His Body without first being consecrated by [His] word. 3. For in this world we have and see nothing corporally of the Most High except [His] Body and Blood, and the words through which we have been made and have been redeemed from death to life (1 Jn 3:14). 4. But let all who administer such holy mysteries—especially those who administer them carelessly—consider the sad state of the chalices, the corporals, and the altar-linens upon which the Body and Blood of our Lord are sacrificed. 5. And [the Body and Blood of the Lord] is left by many in dirty places, carried about in a miserable manner, received unworthily, and administered to others without discretion. 6. Even His sacred written words are sometimes left to be trampled underfoot; 7. for the person who does not have the spirit does not perceive the things of God (1 Cor 2:14). 8. Are we not moved by a sense of piety concerning all these things, since the good Lord offers Himself into our hands and we handle Him and receive Him daily with our mouth? 9. Or do we forget that we must come into His hands (cf. Hebr 10:31)? 10. Well then, let us quickly and firmly amend our ways in these and other matters; 11. and wherever the most holy Body of our Lord Jesus Christ has been unlawfully housed and neglected, let it be removed from that place and deposited and locked in a precious location. 12. Likewise, wherever the written words of the Lord may be found in unbecoming places, they are to be collected and kept in a place that is becoming. 13. And we know that we are bound to observe all of these matters above all else according to the precepts of the Lord and the constitutions of holy Mother Church. 14. And whoever has not done so, let him know that he will be bound to give an account before our Lord Jesus Christ on the day of judgment (Mt 12:36). 15. Those who make copies of this writing so that it may be better observed should know that they will be blessed by the Lord God.
The practice of the faith without love is ideology. People can find ideology anywhere they go. Our country is full of ideologies. People need Jesus. They don’t need the practice of the faith without Jesus. I find too many Catholics practicing the faith without Jesus.
For example, standing in church more worried about the rubrics of the Mass than their own soul or the soul of their neighbor. Standing in judgment.
I have worked for the church for 23 years. I have had Catholics tell me “get those kids in church”. Why would they want to go? Everyone looks as if they are having physical problems. No one smiles. We are touching heaven and no one smiles? Teens can walk into church and no one even talks to them or cares that they are there. No one knows their name. No one knows their story. No one cares to know their story.
The experience of 90% of Catholics coming to Mass on a weekend is superficial at best. How do I know? I talk with them. I ask them questions. I find out their story.
If Jesus is truly the center of our lives, we can’t help but reach out to those around us and share in the awesome and powerful relationship of God. It isn’t just about love love love love. It is about a God who is love and most Catholics don’t even know Him. They don’t know the first thing about the sacred liturgy. They don’t know the first thing about offering up a Mass.
St John Vianney didn’t just practice the faith. He lived it. He had an intimate personal relationship with Jesus. It was Jesus who inspired him. His prayer life was an intimate encounter with the Savior first and foremost. Then, he was able to lead his people into a deeper relationship.
“For example, standing in church more worried about the rubrics of the Mass than their own soul or the soul of their neighbor. Standing in judgment.”
What charism do you have to look into the souls of those who show up at Mass and pay your salary?
“Teens can walk into church and no one even talks to them or cares that they are there. No one knows their name. No one knows their story. No one cares to know their story.”
Cry me a river. We have been down this path before. Water down the Faith and concentrate on making the Parish a welcoming place with Walmart style greeters at the door. People will not bother getting out of bed on a Sunday morning for that type of tripe. They will do it if they believe the Church and its rites are the pathway established by Christ for their eternal salvation. People will die for that Faith. The other type of faith will endure as long as it is convenient. When people believe implicitly that the Church is their path to save their souls the rest will follow. If they don’t so believe, superficial forced friendliness at a parish is so much plowing the sea.
“The experience of 90% of Catholics coming to Mass on a weekend is superficial at best. How do I know? I talk with them. I ask them questions. I find out their story.”
And you are so glad that you are not like that wretched tax collector over there who has only a superficial understanding. I doubt if you intend to have that attitude, but that is what your comment sounds like to me. Your next comment is closer to the mark:
“It is about a God who is love and most Catholics don’t even know Him. They don’t know the first thing about the sacred liturgy. They don’t know the first thing about offering up a Mass.”
Why in the world should they know it if they have not been taught? Also, why should they care about the Mass if it is so frequently offered up with all the awe and ceremony of a Tupperware party? Faulty catechesis tends to lead to ignorant Catholics, especially if they emerge from family situations where their parents gave them bad examples. Priests who do not faithfully observe the rubrics add to the confusion of just what the Mass is: The creator of the Universe coming among us as He did 2000 years ago.
True story: Shortly after my wife and I moved to a city in Michigan that shall remain nameless, we (she more than me, as my outlook was way less Catholic then than now, and I’m still not Catholic) were looking for a Parish to join. We walk in and run right into the Walmart greeters Don describes hey, welcome to our Church, glad to have you! Would you like to carry the wine and the water up to the altar before the start of communion? (something like that, it was more than fifteen years ago). “umm, I’m not Catholic.” Oh that’s not important. (again something like that).
Long story short, we did it because we couldn’t think of a graceful way out of it, but neither of us felt comfortable about it, and I was really uncomfortable with it. Needless to say, we didn’t join that parish.
That might not be such a bad idea:
Granted, one can claim anything on the internet, and I’m not saying this guy is any way typical, but it seems to me one would be better at sharing one’s Catholic faith with others if one knew why he believed what he believed, and why he didn’t believe something else.
Let’s look at St John Vianney:
“How did he do it?
1) the conversion of his own life as a priest;
2) manifesting an approachable and available demeanor;
3) prayer and ascetical living;
4) channeling initial energy into those families already faithful;
5) giving special attention to the liturgy, preaching and catechesis;
6) addressing problems at their roots and not in their symptoms;
7) planting good habits of prayer and the works of mercy; and
8) doing it all with a strong priestly identity.” From Fr. John Cihak, S.T.D.
He wasn’t ‘a Walmart greeter”. He was trying to live an authentic Catholic life while reaching out to the people in a real way. Getting to know their stories. Getting to know them in a deeper way. This isn’t ‘Walmart greeting” stuff. Every Catholic is called to live out the same things that St John Vianney did. EVERY Catholic. Priest, Lay. Religious. EVERY Catholic. We were all baptized priest, prophet and king. This is the stuff that Pope Francis is talking about. Yes, he is not a theologian like Benedict. Yes, he is not a philosopher like JPII. He is a religious priest who became bishop and now Pope. He is talking in language that everyone can understand and he is hitting home because some people are having their consciences tugged. They are uncomfortable. They are lazy Catholics who think by praying the rosary and going to Mass every week (maybe in latin) that they (Like the protestants) have a free ticket to heaven because they are pious. Well, you only have to read the end of Matthew 25 to realize that it takes more than pious prayers to get to heaven. It takes loving your neighbor in a real way not some polite smile on Sunday or on the subway but real love and care which takes sweat and time. The Pope is trying his best to get everyone off of their backside and challenging us to get to work.
If I may loosely quote from Thomas More to Howard about taking the oath of Supremacy: If you do your conscience and you die and go to heaven and I do not do my conscience and I die and go to hell, will you accompany me for fellowship?”