For the birds

After my last post on church politics, I did a lot of soul searching and came to the conclusion that I would take a short hiatus from Catholicism and religion. I’m too confused at this point by everything that has been going on in the Church and I need sometime to think things over before I come back. That does not mean, however, that I will stop posting about my religious convictions and my life. In fact, I will continue to post about that here and on another blog that I have started earlier today that may not be as interesting because the topics are more secular. Please comment if you would like the address; otherwise, you can continue to read here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how little we manage to experience our lives if we only live them through religious lenses. Religion is important, no doubt about that, but there is more to life than constant Mass attendance and reading the Lives of the Saints or the Liturgical Year day after day and month after month. Sometimes, it’s useful for us to read secular literature and secular authors as well. If nothing else, we will learn something about ourselves in the process. After all, that is what great literature is supposed to do.

I understand, however, that there are certain people out there who believe that reading certain “scandalous” books can be a problem for those that are easily scandalized. That’s understandable, but even such books can be great art. I remember that when I read D. H. Lawrence’s classic, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” for the first time, I wasn’t at all shocked by the graphic sex scenes. In fact, I found it to be very well written up and true to experience. The point is that art sometimes has to imitate art whether we like it or not.

There are times, too, when reading can be something dangerous and we should be able to think for ourselves about whether or not what we are reading is dangerous to our souls. After all, the Index of Forbidden Books no longer exists and the Vatican as well as various bishops do not place Imprimaturs in the books that come off the press. We need to be informed about what we read and we need to make judgments based on what we can learn from the books that we hold in our hands.

For example, I have been reading a series of novels by the famous American Jewish writer Philip Roth. Do I find Roth to be offensive sometimes and even obscene? Of course, I do. But these thoughts do not detract for the greatness of the satire that he has been able to compose for so long. In fact, his writing is not so much about our sexual mores or lack thereof, but about people and what makes those people tick. Even if he is derisive of religion, his books also show to what extent religion can be turned on its head and become something that only attracts fanatics.

Anyway, I hope that every one of you has a blessed New Year. I will write again in January.

Church Politics: A Personal Story

I have often wondered about what it means to be truly converted to something. Although it may sound from my posts that I am a really holy person, the truth is that I’m not. I’m relatively new to the Faith and I am sorting a lot of things out.

As I was driving in my car today from an experience at a shopping center, I was thinking about this entire year since the time that I converted and I began to wonder if I had really changed. Of course, many things have changed in my life this year and probably a lot of it is due to God. But there are other things that I need to work on including my attendance at Mass and my reception of the Sacraments.

The crux of the problem is that I have been caught for the last year between two point of views that are extremely opposed to each other.  Both of these groups consider the other to be a bunch of nut jobs and schismatics. As I will explain later, this whole thing is enough to make one’s head reel.

On the one hand, I have been attending two traditional Roman Catholic parishes. By traditional, I do not mean “orthodox” parishes in the post-Vatican II sense of the wor.d Rather, these are both parishes that celebrate the Mass that was promulgated by the degrees of the Council of the Trent, which is the Tridentine Mass.

Due to my background in Orthodox Christianity, I have found that the Latin Mass is probably closest to the Liturgies of the Orthodox Church. I recently found an interesting book called “The Liturgy of the Mass” by Dr. Pius Parsch, which opened up my mind to how it is possible for the Mass to grow organically. In fact, I saw the Latin Mass as a mirror for the Liturgies that I had experienced as a child in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Of these two traditional parishes, one of them is very large and is run by the priests and sisters of the CMRI (Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen). The CMRI, founded in 1967, is a sedevacantist group that does not acknowledge the Second Vatican Council or the fact that the last four popes have been true Popes. Rather, they believe that the last four popes were heretics who did away with the traditional Mass and the Sacraments and replaced them with a new religion. That’s what they say. Whether they have done so or not is not for me to say.

The preaching at the large parish is very good and sometimes succinct. Unfortunately, I do not believe that guilt trip sermons are necessarily the best and most potent means for people to amend their lives. I do understand that priests have an obligation to talk to their parishioners and to urge them to repent of their sins, but is it truly necessarily to use the guilt option? Couldn’t you just use an interesting and short sermon that includes repentance rather than an extensive sermon.

I like the traditionalism of this parish and the other parish in town. I would like to add some words, however, about those other parishes that I have attended.

The other parishes are parishes that are associated with the Roman Catholic diocese in the city in which I lived. For a city of around half a million, the amount of parishes is truly staggering. I have attended services at several parishes in the area, but I have not found any of them to my liking.

When I was inquiring into the Faith and didn’t know any better, I attended these parishes and swallowed what was preached to me hook, line, and sinker. After I went to the Latin Mass and returned, I found myself walking out during sermons because I couldn’t stand what the traditionalists would call liberal preaching.

I know and understand, however, that there are traditionally minded priests within the Church. I have attended these parishes too, but I have not found what I was looking for.

Yet I know that the traditional parishes that I attend are in schism with Rome and the Vatican. With the recent Motu Proprio, the problem has become compounded because Latin Masses are offered at the local parishes. I do not know what to do and where to go. On the one hand, I would like to continue to attend the parish that I have been attending off and on since converting, but I would also like to be in union with Rome.

I’ve been praying about this, but no solution has presented itself. There are other issues too, but the one of obedience is the most important to me. I hope that any of you that read this forum will pray for me that I come to a good decision about all of this.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us

Champions for Christ: St. Stephen

Today is the feast day of St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr or the First Martyr depending on who you ask. I would like to take this opportunity to write a short meditation for the feast on the meaning of martyrdom and what it means to us in our own day.

Before I say anything about St. Stephen or any other martyrs, I think that I should first define what the word means. The word martyr comes from a Greek root that means witness. When St. Paul speaks of the tremendous cloud of witnesses in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he is talking about the martyrs, but he is also referring to the Communion of Saints and all of the saints that are contained within that mighty cloud.

To a certain extent, each of the saints has been a martyr in his or her own unique way. Although some may not have suffered the excruciating physical torture of others, each of them has died to the world and become renewed in Christ.

St. Therese of Lisieux is not one of those saints that we would ordinarily associate with martyrdom. After all, she was a Carmelite nun that lived in a cloistered convent. In her letters, however, St. Therese expressed the desire to plant the Cross on every shore and to be a missionary. She died to herself in countless ways during her final illness and, most moving of all, the account of her martyrdom is contained in her autobiography.

Another saint that people would not associate ordinarily with martyrdom is St. Paul of Thebes. During the reign of a pagan emperor, St. Paul was taken to be tortured for being a Christian. Paul, however, escaped from his torturers and went to live in the desert. He lived there for over ninety years and died at extreme old age.

When St. Anthony the Great finally visited St. Paul, he asked him how he had managed to live alone for such a long time. St. Paul replied that God and the angels kept him company and that there was a bird that had brought him half a loaf of bread every day ever since he had settled in the area.

As we can see, the martyrdom that St. Paul of Thebes endured was not phyical at all, but spiritual and social. He was away from the society that he had lived in and had sought to devote his life to God in the desert. Like St. Anthony and countless other monastics after him, the martyrdom of living in community is as much a penance as a physical martyrdom. To quote St. John Berchmans, “The community is my penance.”

Yet what about St. Stephen? The Acts of the Apostles tell us that Stephen was a young Hellenized Jew that had been chosen by the people and ordained by the Apostles themselves as one of seven deacons that were to assist the young Church. Such was Stephen’s zeal and charity that he aroused the hatred of the Sanhedrin. He was led outside the city and stoned to death. As he died, he saw Heaven open and he begged Jesus to convert his persecutors.

St. Stephen died only a few months after Our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. While Our Lord became the King of Martyrs by His Passion, St. Stephen became the first of that glorious army that has continued to our own time. Through Stephen’s martyrdom and prayers, God was able to convert a man that was holding the robes of those that went and stoned Stephen to death for blasphemy. His name was Saul (Paul) and after his conversion, the Christian world and history would never be the same.

Let us pray on this St. Stephen’s day for the strength to endure whatever martyrdom God is pleased to send our way and let us ask God us to give us the consolations that we need.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us

St. Stephen, pray for us

St. Paul of Thebes, pray for us

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us

Champions for Christ: St. Robert Bellarmine

One of the finest minds of the Counter-Reformation, St. Robert Bellarmine was responsible for writing numerous books on theology. 

His most famous work, On the Controversies, is an attempt to systematically refute every known controversial belief that existed in Europe at that time. No one Protestant theologian was able to answer him and several countries set up committees that would attempt to formulate answers to his questions, but to no avail. To this very day, this work has not been surpassed in the world of theology. Indeed, St. Alphonsus Liguori’s book on heresies is probably the closest to St. Robert Bellarmine’s magnum opus.

In addition to his work as a theologian, Bellarmine was also a renowned thinker in terms of science. His role in the controversy surrounding Galileo Galilei has been well documented and there is no need to go into details here.

Another important role that was fulfilled by Bellarmine was that of confessor to a number of young Jesuit novices in Rome. Among his charges was none other than St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Patron of Young People. It was Bellarmine’s  privilege to hear the confessions of this most angelic youth as well as to give him the Last Rites of the Church before his death. Upon his own death, St. Robert Bellarmine requested that he be buried next to his charge where he lies to this day.

Hodie Christus Natus Est!

Yesterday, I was sampling some of the new audio files from the 2007 Fatima Conference at (www.traditionalcatholicsermons.org). I found Kathleen Plumb’s presentation on the need for a Catholic press to be an enlightening one, while some of the others smacked of the same old, same old sedevacantism conspiracy theories. One of the things that was really interesting, however, was a talk that was given by Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI, about the Modernists. I am not one to believe that the Modernists have taken over the Church by any stretch, but I found some of his points to be quite fascinating and insightful.

One of the things that Hughes mentioned was the fact that various documents from Vatican II could be interpreted in almost any light. He also mentioned the fact that none of the modern Popes’ writings have referred to any other documents than those that were published following the Second Vatican Council such as the encyclicals and apolostic constitutions of Paul VI and John Paul II. He tried to illustrate the point that these Popes were not in line with Catholic tradition.

It seems to me that the Church has always referred back to the past. Open up any book by St. Alphonsus, St. Thomas Aquinas, or an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, and you will find references to other Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils. Sometimes, these are used to buttress the point being made. Many of St. Alphonsus Liguori’s writing at first glance may seem like one of long list of quotations that are meant to illustrate a point. This method of referring to past writings has been around since the time when the Four Evangelists wrote their Gospels. In the Renaissance, there was even a special name for this kind of writing: the florilegium (a bouquet). 

I personally believe that just because the modern Popes don’t refer to the past does not necessarily mean that they are outside of tradition. For example, many of Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals are founded soundly on the Gospels. While he may not have utilized exegesis to the same extent as Pius XII, Pius X, or Leo XIII in their great encyclicals, his writings still ring authentically true to many Catholics around the world because they are based in the Gospels.

In my travels around traditional circles, I wonder why so many traditional priests and religious cherry pick various points that they want to talk about. For example, we know that sedevacantism is one of three theories that were proposed by St. Robert Bellarmine in his book “De Romano Ponitificis” (On the Roman Pontiff), but what are the other two and why have we not been told about them? Is there any particular reason for this?

I do not mean to turn over any sacred cows by asking these questions, but they are important to me and I will attempt to answer them in future posts on this blog.

For the moment, I wish all of you once again a Merry Christmas. May the Infant Jesus bless all of you.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us

St. Joseph, pray for us

St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us

Meditation on Christmas

Today is the end of the Christmas novena that is traditionally recited between the 16th and the 24th of December every year. This year I used the meditations that were written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, which led me to a true appreciation of the Christmas season and especially of Advent. I plan to use his book on the Passion for my meditations during Lent. I highly recommend that some of you get it for yourselves.

I think that the meaning of Christmas and Advent are different depending on who you are and where you live. During Communist times, Christmas was not celebrated at all because it was a religious holiday. The New Year was elevated to the place of Christmas and Father Frost replaced St. Nicholas or Santa Claus as we call him in the West.

Although atheism was the order of the day, I think that there was still a semblance of Christmas. Many people would get together on the holiday and traditional foods would be baked that had been around for centuries. The New Year, of course, was when people got together with their families and talked about Christmas cheer. But presents, at least in my family, were always exchanged on Christmas Eve. Although there were traces and shadows of religion, it was not the main portion of the picture.

I think, though, that too many people in our day and age do not focus on the true meaning of Christmas enough. While it is nice to know that there are good people all over the nation that will plaster their cars with bumper stickers and that the Knights of Columbus will try to reach the masses with their billboards and other campaigns, I believe that there are many people that still believe that Christmas is all about gifts and giving and not about Christ. For crying out loud, Christ has been taken out of Christmas and a lot of people refer to this time of year as the holidays, XMas, Solstice, or Saturnalia. Yet Christmas is none of these, Christmas is Our Lord’s birthday and a time for us to celebrate all of the things that He did for us.

One of the most important things that we can learn from the writings of the great saints is that Christ did not have to endure what He endured on the cross and in His Passion. Yet He willingly did it and He died so that He could save all of us that had fallen through Adam’s sin.

Let us pray on this Christmas Eve for those of our brothers and sisters that do not know or understand what Christmas is all about. Let us pray to the Infant Jesus that He may enlighten them.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us

Growing up

From my earliest years, religion has always had a special place in my heart. It seems to me that part of this attitude was shaped by the fact that I was born in a Communist country. At the time of my birth, most churches were closed or were turned into museums. Great monasteries had been turned into tourist destinations, while Christian believers of all denominations had gone underground or were being persecuted.  In this atmosphere of enforced atheism, religion was not mentioned because it was a well known fact that God didn’t exist.

From my earliest days, I was drawn to churches. In the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, there are a great number of beautiful Orthodox churches and parishes. One of the grandest is the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky that is located in the middle of the city. With its golden domes and tall bell tower, it was built as a memorial to Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who had liberated the Bulgarians from the Turks.  Since its completion in 1913, this has been the largest church in the Balkan Peninsula in terms of size.

In my childhood, however, I didn’t know any of this. I would simply walk into St. Alexander Nevsky and admire the magnificent murals of various saints, the Blessed Mother, and Our Lord. I distinctly remember how large this church was and how its size made me feel like a tiny ant. Wandering through it, I wondered who those people were that were depicted on the iconostasis and the walls. Yet none of the adults could tell me.

Neither of my parents had been raised in a Christian environment. Indeed, their early days had been filled with nothing but Lenin, Marx, and Engels. These were the trinity that had replaced the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All of the Communist world bowed towards them. Indeed, their ideology pervaded aspect of people’s lives and disobedience was a crime that was punishable by prison sentences, death, and disqualification from every major appointment that one could wish for.

Without knowing it, I had been disobedient because I was asking about things that were forbidden. Although it was possible to study and talk about religion, one was not allowed to proselytize. The churches that were open had priests that were forbidden to teach catechism and educate their young. In this environment, Christianity was being bled dry.

Yet there were people, hundreds and thousands, that continued to believe in God. Like the early Christians, they lived their lives in the catacombs. In an atmosphere of absolute fear, they continued to do those things that otherwise were not possible. They educated their children in the faith, took them to church, and went on pilgrimages to monasteries.

Yet lay people were not the only ones in the catacombs. No. There were priests, monks, and nuns that continued to minister to those that needed it. Some of them courageously preached the truths of the Christian faith in the midst of Godlessness, while others spent their lives living their vows in secret. Their habits were ordinary clothes, but these were tonsured souls. Hundreds of these secret priests and nuns existed in Russia.

When Communism fell, Christianity was restored, but the revival was not what many people wanted. During Communist times, many Protestant sects had managed to go to the USSR to create converts. Many of them were incredibly successful and converted hundreds of people to their cause. In the face of this, some of the new independent governments started to legislate on matters of religion. If one did not belong to the official religion (Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism, etc.), then one was forced to leave the country. Many fled and came to the United States, while others stayed back home.

The fall of Communism also brought new opportunities. Christianity came out into the open and a revival took place in terms of religion. Yet nominalism is still a disease that wracks these countries. Many people simply call themselves Orthodox or Catholic and yet live completely pagan lives. Indeed, nominalism is a disease that has been insidious even in America.

In the end what we should do and think about is how pernicious Communism truly was to those who lived through it and how Christians were persecuted. It is my hope that the thaw in church-state relations will allow Our Lady of Fatima’s promise of the conversion of Russia to be fulfilled. Let’s pray together for this and hope that our prayers will be answered.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us

St. Joseph, pray for us 

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us

St. Josaphat, pray for us