An Empty Husk?

I hope the Altar-cave for the Cofton Park beatification Mass turns out to be more dignified on the day than the artist’s impression suggests. Messa in Latino has come up with this rather extravagant description of it: “Like the fearsome interior of the carapace of some enormous dead grub”. Perhaps it’s not as bad as that, but we shall see! We can’t always judge from a drawing what the reality will look like. This is why I’ve held back from adding my two-penn’orth to the reactions that have appeared in the Catholic blogosphere. All I will say is: that’s an optimistically blue sky for 19th September …

However, I think MiL has hit very close to the mark with its evocation of the idea of an empty carapace. It feels to me like an uncomfortably accurate metaphor for the current condition of the Church in England and Wales. I’m sorry to say that I’ve thought for some time that our part of the Catholic Church demonstrates, in some respects, the deceptive attributes of an empty or nearly empty husk.

A great part of the illusion of health comes from our Catholic education system. School after school refers to itself as having a “Catholic ethos”. If this ethos does not express itself in the form of sound Catholic teaching, does it have any reality, or is it just a fuzzy feeling?

The post-school lapsation rate appears to be catastrophically high. This cannot all be due to adolescent rebellion against devout parents. A large percentage of the pupils must surely belong either to non-believing and non-practising families, or to church-going families who quite sincerely but misguidedly follow the Cherie Blair variety of “Catholicism”, not knowing any better.

I wonder also how many families attend Mass as a form of school fees, as the price to be paid just until their youngest child leaves school, and then they are off. Parish clergy must surely be aware of this phenomenon. However, one never knows: the good habit may be formed, at least in the parents, even if their children lapse. God takes His opportunities to find a way into the most unsuspecting hearts.

Do our parochial and diocesan schools, then, create a great illusion of health in the local Church, and indeed in parish churches? A deceptive impression of fullness, when there is, in large part, only emptiness?

While lamenting these signs of hollowness within the external appearance of the Church in E&W, I must say how much I admire those truly Catholic families, in which the parents know the Church’s teachings and are fully committed to them, in spite of our current adversities; and all credit and honour to them, and to their children who are properly taught by their parents, and who hang on to the true Faith, and come out at the end of their school years with their belief intact.

So, I’ll try not to be too bothered about the physical appearance of the Altar-hood, because there are far worse things, seriously so, swirling around in the English and Welsh Catholic scene. It may well be that a number of things are biding their time to emerge when the Holy Father is safely back in Rome. Will we then see the claws unsheathed? I have a heart-sinking feeling that this may be so.

Dear Heavenly Father, please keep Pope Benedict safe, and may his visit bear the good fruit which we so desperately need.

The CDF on doctrine, authority, assent and dissent

The Italian-language blog Messa in Latino, which is always an interesting read, had a particularly interesting post yesterday. It was the text of a doctrinal commentary by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dating from 1998. You may already be familiar with the document, but I thought it was worth publishing here, for those of us who were not aware of it.

The document was linked to the publication of a new Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity, which were to be made by those assuming any office that is to be exercised in the name of the Church. The profession and oath, which superseded earlier forms, were issued to conform to Pope John Paul II’s Ad tuendam fidem.

This may at first sight seem a little dry, but in fact it was a treasure trove. It set out - in a remarkably concise way for so complex a subject - the sources of the Church’s teaching, and of Her authority to teach, the various categories of Her teaching, the assent that is required on the part of all the faithful, and the position of those who do not assent.

My initial dismay at the thought of battling through such a long translation was soon dispelled when I realised that an English version must already exist somewhere on the internet. And so it does, thanks to EWTN.

Here is the doctrinal commentary.

Here are the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity.

This is a very helpful summary of the categories of belief, prepared – I think – by EWTN.

And finally, Ad tuendam fidem.

There is a good deal of reading matter here, for those of you who are interested; but fortunately it is broken up into quite manageable chunks. Take your time; no rush! I hope you will find it useful.

Second Post of Friday: The Bishops and the Recognition of Dissent

On 1st February, the Holy Father said to our bishops:

In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate.

I’d be very interested to know what the bishops of England and Wales are planning in response to this exhortation. I very much look forward to hearing what steps they are going to take to guide the faithful in this respect.

First Post of Friday: That CES Appointment, in the Light of the Ad Limina

It was as recently as 1st February that the Holy Father told the Bishops of England and Wales, during their Ad Limina visit:

Make it your concern, then, to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission.

Now we have the appointment of retiring Labour MP, Greg Pope, with his voting record on life issues, to be the deputy director of the organisation that calls itself the Catholic Education Service. Fr Finigan's account of it, with many useful links, is here.

What does this say about our bishops’ desire to carry out Pope Benedict’s wishes? And not only his wishes, but to carry out their solemn duty as teachers of the whole truth, and as facilitators of those they appoint to teach the whole truth on their behalf?

Schism, the Mute Key and Antipopes

Here are some extracts from an interesting article in Messainlatino. It was pasted from the Amici del Papa Ratzinger blog but was originally published in L'Occidentale on 21 March 2010.

The schism tearing the Catholic world apart

… it now seems that there exist, as it were, two Churches, that there is a schism in action …

…Many Catholics do not accuse the Pontiff openly, but they press the mute key on his teachings, they do not read the documents setting out his teaching, if they read them they do not take account of them or they write and speak in support of the exact opposite of what he says …

… Benedict XVI has given teachings about Vatican II which very many Catholics openly dispute, promoting forms of systematic parallel teaching guided by many “antipopes” who live inside the Church. He has given teachings on the “non-negotiable values” which very many Catholics minimize or reinterpret … He has given teachings on the primacy of the apostolic faith in the wise interpretation of events, and many continue to speak of the primacy of the situation, or of praxis, or of the evidence provided by human sciences. He has given teachings on conscience and on the dictatorship of relativism, but very many prefer democracy …

… Teachers … journalists … priests … who are in charge of liturgical centres in the various dioceses: the church which actually works against the Pope is very widespread and has now also split the clergy. I have occasion to travel a good deal in the dioceses for meetings and conferences. … I often have in front of me an audience that is divided in two. Even when the audience is composed of priests. From one side the primacy of faith, the idea that the world has need of salvation, that ecumenical and interreligious dialogue does not involve the renunciation of the uniqueness of salvation in Christ, that Tradition is one, that Christianity is the true religion, that conscience without truth is caprice; from the other side the primacy of the situation which inspires the Gospel, the idea that the world saves the Church … that dialogue does not involve any Catholic identity, that Vatican II is the start of a new phase in the life of the Church, that Christianity has nothing to do with truth which is always ideology, that personal conscience is the ultimate tribunal …

… Many bishops no longer succeed in drawing a clear line, in theological studies many strange doctrines are taught, the faithful are often confused, in the deaneries and parishes there is no life in the pastoral letters that are issued because the priests themselves are divided into two groups, the synods are often places of harsh confrontation between the two ways of thinking, the heated themes of life, the family, relations with other religions, are imposed in very diverse ways from parish to parish and from diocese to diocese.

… In reality and in daily practice there seem to be two churches here, it is a schism in process of happening or perhaps already in place, merely that the accentuated pluralism of today is not formalized.

Pope Benedict's Address: Mining the Nuggets of Gold

What a magnificent address by the Holy Father to the Bishops of England and Wales!

Much attention has been given – and rightly so, for it’s an absolute cracker – to the following passage:

“… see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission. In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free.”

Also of great significance, I believe, are these earlier passages [with my impressions]:

“Your visit to Rome strengthens the bonds of communion between the Catholic community in your country and the Apostolic See, a communion that sustained your people’s faith for centuries, and today provides fresh energies for renewal and evangelization.”

[The Church in England and Wales cannot go it alone: our communion with Peter, willed by our Lord Jesus Himself, sustains our faith and energises us for the adventures ahead.]

"Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales.”

[I find it interesting that the Holy Father refers specifically to the Catholics, rather than the Church.]

Oh, how exciting! Now, I wonder what our Bishops’ response will be, in practical terms?