VHE IV: The Witness of Dietrich von Hildebrand

If you haven't figured it out by now I am a huge fan [right word?] of Dietrich von Hildebrand and I want people to learn more of this man whom Venerable Pope Pius XII called "The 20th century doctor of the Church"


So, for your viewing pleasure and to better understand Dietrich John Henry Crosby of the Hildebrand Project did an excellent talk on him.  I would also encourage you to look at the other videos for the project HERE

Leithart (Eye's will bleed): What I Want from Catholics: Become More Protestant

Saw this in Patrick Madrid's twitter feed and I just had to go line by line on this one (my comments in red). The article is HERE:

What I Want from Catholics: Become More Protestant

By Peter J. Leithart | October 28, 2015

My wish list for Catholics is terribly old-fashioned and terribly assertive. There’s hardly space here to defend my positions or thoroughly critique the Catholic position, so this may end up sounding like a drive-by shooting or a childish tantrum. I trust that I can formulate my wish list with enough calmness that it doesn’t turn it into a bitch list.

Who in their right mind thought it a good idea to give protestants and other dissadents the right to make demands of the Church?  #Synod15… I’m just …well sort of kidding.

I want the Pope to give up his claim to infallibility. In our day, the Papacy stands as a global symbol of Christian faith, and popes of recent decades have been among the greatest Christian leaders of recent history. The Pope is a universal teacher, a stout defender of Christian morals, a living icon of charity, a father to princes and presidents.

Wait so you like him acting as a universal teacher, but to teach what?  When you don’t agree then its just up to each individual to dissent?  So when the Holy Spirit revealed that they would be lead into all truths… I guess Baptists and Lutherans are ok in disagreeing on the importance and necessity of Baptism.  But then again who am I to judge. Plus, in regards to morals, who is standing for morals when they are changing?  Lets be real protestants only stand for morals when they can be seen in the public square.  They frown on bolemia but are giddy to support contraception.  Note both are disorders with obvious ends that are not founded in truth.  And I’m not going to get into the Anglicans/Episcapalians that run from the abortion issue (Can anyone say “first among equals” for Welby? How’s that working out?)

 None of that makes him a definer of dogma.

He knows that is not an argument used but the praxis employed.

No matter how narrowly tailored papal infallibility may be, it is theologically and historically unfounded, as Lord Acton knew.

So Lord Acton was infallible in his defining of the papacy not being infallible?  Puleeze…

I want the Pope to give up his claim to exclusive primacy. Why not be content with being primus inter pares among the ancient sees?

Note: The office was not made by man and therefore cannot be changed in its essence by man.  And again see Welby, hows that working again?

Suppose Peter was the first Bishop of Rome: Didn’t he leave it to Paul to lead the mission to the Gentiles?

So Peter refused to speak with Gentiles?  Isn’t that going beyond scripture?  What of Luke?  Peter was not a theologian like Paul was, and the Pope does not have a guarantee that knowledge of theology will just be foisted upon him when he takes the chair.  Plus Peter and Paul worked together because Rome was the metropolis of its day. Plenty of room for Cephas to oversee with the help of a great Apostle like Paul, who both founded the Roman Church and both Choose Linus to succeed Cephas.

 Besides, should we not be open to the possibility that the center of Christian gravity will shift dramatically in the future? In 3000 years, might not the Bishop of Beijing or Lagos or Brasilia be the actual primate of the Church? In 10,000 years, will Vatican-centered Christendom be anything more than a distant memory?

Note that was and continues to be the argument of the Eastern Orthodox where Power is in constant flux with Constantinople still claiming authority while Moscow references itself as the third Rome.  As a side note, the Creed was not read in the Latin rite for a long time because the Roman See was the only one that never feel into formal heresy unlike the other Sees.

Catholics Should Give Up

I want Catholics to give up their sectarian exclusiveness. Jesus and His Spirit are present in the suburban Bible church, the Chinese house group, the Pentecostal assembly at one of Rio’s garbage dumps.

Well, your bread is still bread and your wine/grape juice/ water (Mormon joke) is still such.  Sure you have warm feelings but that’s noting objective to hang your hat on.

 The Son and Spirit have promised to be wherever word is preached and bread broken, where disciples strive together toward maturity in Christ.

Presuming that as Our Lord wished, “That they all might be one”.  Plus who decides what a mature Christian is or believes?  Again empty words.

These assemblies are no less churches than the congregation of St. Patrick’s.

Well someone missed out on reading the CDF letter on this which you can find HERE. Basically, you don’t have all seven sacraments, and you have no authority to speak on behalf of Christ, no matter how warm your words make others feel.

 Fellowship with Rome is not the same as fellowship with Jesus;

“He who hears you hears me, he who despises you despises me.” Christ and his Church are one.  When there is an argument among the faithful the final means are to take it to the Church (I’m confused do we take it to any street corner preacher to give us his interpretation of scripture?). If Christ founded His Church on Blessed Peter when to Peters successors go the power of the keys.  “The eye cannot say to the hand I don’t need you.” Christ prayed singularly for Peter to confirm his brothers, he made Peter the chief Shepard and changed his name as he did with the other leaders throughout salvation history.

 submission to Rome is not the same as catholicity. Jesus and His Spirit do not observe Vatican protocols.

“Whatever you bind on Earth is Bound in Heaven, whatever you loose is loosed.”  By the way what protocals do you reference?  This is a weak attack using nonsense.

I want Catholics to stop spreading pious falsehoods about Mary. Protestants have unjustly neglected Mary’s central role in the Bible and redemption, but Catholic Marian dogmas are a cure worse than the disease. I want Catholics to honor Mary by giving up inventions like the immaculate conception and the assumption.

So you decide what is a falsehood?  Who gave you authority to speak for this catholic community that you and CS Lewis are so fond of? There are reasons to believe in those dogmas, just as there are reasons to call her “Mother of God”, a perpetual virgin and even – dare I say it – Mediatrix of All graces. We only recognize what God makes known, it is not for us to poo-poo Our Lady since she is our Mother in the faith and the First and greatest Christian.  And if you do not cease speaking ill of our Lady it will not look good for you on the last day for no Son will put up with evil being spoken of with his mother.

Failing that, I would be content if these speculations were treated as speculative opinions rather than dogmas.

And who makes the decision what is opinion and is dogma?  You?  Perhaps the Arians? 

I want a Catholic to explain how Mary, a Jewish woman of the first-century A.D., can simultaneously hear the appeals of millions of people who speak dozens of languages that she never learned.

Since she is not in time and space she is not limited as such.  Plus why would it be impossible for her to be told by God in some way what people are asking prayers for?  She desires one thing, God’s will, therefore all she would need to do is pray that those that seek her intercession and conform themselves to God’s will be granted such a grace… she is the Queen mother after all… see Solomon and David.

 I know Catholics don’t believe Mary has become God, but that looks like something only a God could manage.

But isn’t that a theological opinion and not founded in anything other then your feelings that God is not interested in having both the living and those that have passed to work together because we are one body?

I want Catholic theologians to give up the pretense that the dogma of the Church has never changed. When they try to explain that nothing substantive has changed between Trent and Vatican II, when they distinguish between unchangeable doctrine and changeable formulations of doctrine, they appear disingenuous. I prefer the old free church Independents, who eagerly expected the Spirit to break out fresh light from Scripture.

So you want warm feelings… try Mormonism. But as far as Vatican II, it didn’t proclaim anything new that was binding.  The texts are ambiguous, unlike Trent that is specific.

Worse, the premise of unchangeability makes it impossible for the Church to repent of mistakes. Catholics don’t think Vatican I, for example, will ever need to be overturned; it cannot be. But that means either that there will never be full reunion with Protestants and Orthodox, or that Catholic theologians must find a way to massage Vatican I so that it doesn’t say what it manifestly says. The possibility of saying “the church erred” is excluded in principle.

Or that you recognize your error and pride and repent by coming back into communion with the only Church Christ founded… just saying.

When I attend Mass, I want Catholic priests to let me share the Eucharist with my Catholic brothers. I want Catholics to accept my invitation to celebrate Eucharist with me and my Protestant brothers, and give up any doubts they might have that what we Protestants celebrate really is Eucharist.

The Eucharist is not a matter of warm feelings where you can feel like its something while it is still not.  Its like you support people saying that they are women when they are really men.  The feeling is not watch transubstantiates but the authority.  An authority you foolishly deny in your pride.

I want Catholics to give up veneration of the consecrated host and other sacred objects.

And worship the podium and the doctor behind it?  If that is Christ as he promised then adoration is the proper action to take because it IS God.  We venerate because some things are Holy and in doing so we glorify God.  Would DiVinci complain that you were honoring the Mona Lisa too much?  No, because it’s a part of his work that gives him the ultimate honor in the end.

 Jesus gave us His body and blood to eat and drink, not to admire.

So you cant even gaze upon the host?  Really, what is this a third grade author?  Puleeze you are looking foolish here.

Whatever Catholics think they are doing, to Protestants they appear to be indulging a form of liturgical idolatry.

Well, if protestants are disordered whos fault is that… other then the Bishops that refuse to help them see their error of course.

 At the very least, they are distracting from Jesus’ purpose for the Eucharist: “Take, eat; take, drink.”

Why is it an an either or case?  Why cant he spend time with the Actual presense of Christ.  Then go to Mass and Adoration.  Problem solved.

Everyone, Become More Catholic

My rants are typically directed against my own tribe of conservative Protestants, and typically I am urging them to become more Catholic: to acknowledge church authority, to cultivate sacramental piety, to embrace the glories of the whole Christian tradition, to honor Mary and the saints, to conform worship to the pattern of the ancient Church, which is essentially the pattern of Scripture.

But who gave you this scripture and what authority did they determine the canon by?

 Typically, I am urging Protestants to receive Catholics and Orthodox as Christian brothers, which they are.

I am not contradicting myself when I rant against Catholics and urge them to become Protestant. What I want above all, for both Catholics and Protestants, is full reunion and reconciliation in the truth.

But truth is definitive and doesn’t change based on warm feelings.  To reconcile in the truth we don’t run away from it but learn to humbly accept Gods will before our own. Oneness based on a ceasefire is no oneness but cowardice.

 What I want is a Church where the old names of Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, or other, are discarded so that we can all wear the old/new baptismal name: Father, Son, and Spirit. And I want that because I am persuaded it is what Jesus wants.

So what of the oneness pentacostles then?  Or the Mormons.  Are you the authority to exclude them on the basis of their baptisms?

Peter J. Leithart is president of the Theopolis Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, and an adjunct senior fellow of New St. Andrew’s College in Moscow, Idaho. He is the author of many books, most recently Gratitude: An Intellectual History (Baylor) and Traces of the Trinity (Baker). An ordained minister, he is a member of Evangelical and Catholics Together.

The Vortex: Blame for the synod? Look a little deeper

Pulls no punches in today's Vortex.  And the hits are not directed at Francis P.P. but justly at those that put the wheels on this machine.  It reminds me of how Venerable Pius XII is lauded by many trads as great but no one ever looks at his appointments or how the Church was governed under him post WWII



Also, November 6th at St. Stans in Milwaukee, 7:30 pm - Christopher Check (President of Catholic Answers) gives a talk on Lepanto!  BE THERE!!!!

+JMJ+

A few questions for Tim Staples on Fatima and the Ancient Rite

Tim Staples

I have an on and off again relationship with Catholic Answers.  There are days that I am really excited to take in their various apologetic platforms and then... well some days not.

Before I go any father I want to remind you all that Sursum Corda Milwaukee will be hosting Catholic Answers President Christopher Check on November 6th at St. Stans. The talk is open to the public and you can find more on this by clicking HERE


So the other day on Catholic Answers Live was an Open Forum for Non-Catholics and the guest was Tim Staples.  There were two specific issues that came up that continually confuse me.

1) The question of Russia being consecrated by the Holy Father and the Bishops of the Church

2) The idea that the new rite of the mass is nothing but a translation of the old and that both are equal in every aspect.


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As I have stated in the past I don't take a specific stance on Fatima and the demands.  I indeed to believe in the events at Fatima but the poo-pooing that happens again and again is a real concern.

First we can expect huge miracles to occur (see the conversion of Mexico circa the time of the Protestant revolt)

Second the document put out by the CDF and confirmed by JPII on the third secret are probably exactly what was related by Sr. Lucia, but that does not mean that the opinion of the CSF on this particular private revelation is by no means binding on all the faithful.  Tim cant have it both ways saying that people can accept or reject Fatima because its a private revelation, but then double down saying that the CDF opinions are therefore binding on that faithful that the attempted assassination was what Our Lady warned Sr. Lucy of.  Now I'm not saying that this could not have been so, but come on its like trying to claim a definitive position on all that is in the Apocalypse of John

Third, I get it. JPII consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart.  The idea is that he went beyond what was asked and therefore did some greater deed is pretty absurd.  God loves obedience to what he asks, not for us to fancy ourselves as knowers of what must really happen.  God asked specifically through Our Lady that Russia be consecrated publicly together with all the Bishops of the world to her Immaculate Heart.  Now this could have been done anytime since the revelations hit the papal office but again and again it was ignored or slightly altered for political reasons.  Saying that consecrating the world is better then just consecrating Russia doesn't jive with basic theology.  When an exorcism takes place the exorcist must call out the specific demons name (ie Russia's errors), he cannot just do a blanket I command all unclean spirits. to leave.  Just consider that.  Again I dont know, but this is not an ended prophecy even according to BXVI.

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As to the OF and EF just being some translations of each other.  Anyone with a hand missal knows this is a joke.  Perhaps you could try and make the case that the Anglican Ordinariate's new missal is a translation of the Gregorian rite, but that is even pushing it.  Seriously we dont have to play games.  If it makes you feel good to call one the ordinary and the other the extraordinary form thats fine and dandy.  Its even ok to say that mutual enrichment needs to occur (without ever saying what is mutual that is).  But no games, one is not a translation of the other.


+JMJ+

Our Lady of the Underground: The humble abode of the Holy Family on the run from Herod

Our Lady of the Underground October 22:

It is held by tradition that the Blessed Virgin lived for some years in this subterranean chapel.

“Saint Joseph sought to purchase for a suitable price some dwelling in the neighborhood; and the Lord ordained that he should find a poor and humble, yet serviceable house, at small distance from the city, just such as the Queen of heaven desired.”

“Having therefore found this dwelling near Heliopolis, they took their abode therein. At the first entrance of the heavenly Lady with her Divine Son and Saint Joseph, She prostrated Herself to the ground, kissing it in profound humility and lovingly thanking the Most High for having secured them this place of rest after their prolonged and laborious journeying.”

“She adored the immutable being of God in this prostration, dedicating all that She was to do in this place to His honor and worship. Interiorly She made a sacrifice of all her powers and faculties, offering to assume readily and with joy all the labors by which the Almighty could be served during her exile; for in her prudence She foresaw and affectionately embraced them all. By means of her divine knowledge She set a great value on sufferings; understanding how highly they are esteemed at the divine tribunal, and how her most Holy Son looked upon them as a rich treasure and inheritance.”

Read more about today's feast day HERE

Dr. Taylor Marshall on the Synod and it's causes

Whenever madness reigns it is important to have some clear thinkers out there identifying the problem and offering solutions so we can move beyond the anger and rhetoric that feels good but does nothing.

Now Doctor Marshall is what many would call an approved speaker and that may put many people off because neo-conservatives or normalists tend to down play real problems.  However, Dr. Marshall has always approached these situations with prudence but does not hold himself out as naive with regards the workings of the synod. His writings tend to be more traditional in their construction and he has made it known that his family attends the FSSP Parish.

The first video is a calming video and many will say that he is down playing real issues, but he has his reasons and I think them genuine and obvious.



Later, on his facebook page he makes it clear that we should not be naive about the goings on of the synod, pretending that everything is ok.

In the past Dr. Marshall has wrote about the new rite of the liturgy and the various differences with the ancient rite. One of the things he has spoken on was the lectionary and how the three year cycle of readings was supposed to introduce greater scriptural competancy into the laity.  Today he took an interesting look at this once again but this time identified some real problems with what was put in the cycle and what was left out (distinctly different from the ancient rite)

hy do Catholics in America support homosexuality proportionately more than the general population?

Two reasons: lack of authentic Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality…and the Church removed one of the clearest Bible verses on homosexuality from the lectionary:

One of the very unfortunate results of the New Lectionary is that verses that might be deemed offensive have been removed from our liturgical celebrations. (I’ve written about how three “offensive” Psalms were removed from the Liturgy of the Hours after 1971 here.)

Verses against Homosexuality Removed from Current Lectionary

An example of the removal of offensive passages is from the readings of last week, where the reading of Saint Paul against homosexuality (including female lesbianism) in Romans 1:26-32 is notably removed from the cycle. Below are the readings for the 28th Week in Ordinary Time (Lectionary 468 and 469):

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 468
Reading 1 ROM 1:16-25

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 469
Reading 1 ROM 2:1-11

So what’s missing? Romans 1:26-32 is clipped out. Yet this passage at the end of Romans 1 is thelocus classicus for Paul’s theology against homosexual behavior and it also forms the cited passage in the Catechism of the Catholic Church for its teaching:

dff

The most powerful New Testament Scripture passage against homosexual acts is skipped over in the Catholic Mass Lectionary:
Posted by Dr. Taylor Marshall on Monday, October 19, 2015

One must have reverence even in producing the Eucharistic Bread

The book you need

“To the matter of the Sacrifice, already before its oblation, are due the most scrupulous care and the greatest reverence, as is evident from their more remote preparation.  Every precaution must be taken to procure genuine and freshly made hosts, to procure genuine pure wine for the Sacrifice of the Altar.  Let us recall the epoch of the Middle Age, so full of faith. Then it was that devout princes and princesses esteemed it high honor to be allowed to prepare and to provide the bread and wine for the Holy Sacrifice.  

In convents the preparation of the sacrificial bread was even accompanied with religious solemnity and with a kind of divine service. Thus was it prepared in the world-renowned Benedictine Abbey of Cluny.  At prescribed hours the monks performed manual labor; but that they might also be sanctified in the midst of their occupations, they worked amid the singing of Psalms. But of all manual labor especial care was bestowed upon the preparation of the bread for the Sacrifice. It was amidst the singing of Psalms that the seed destined for it was confided to the earth and the ripe grain gathered; amid the praises of divine power and love, grain after grain was selected carefully washed and carried in a special sact to the mill by one of the most exemplary monks.

Reverence in producing the altar bread

There he first washed the two mill-stones, covered them from top to bottom with cloths, robed himself in white, and then, with veiled face so that his eyes alone were uncovered, he began to grind the wheat. With similar care the sieve was then washed and the flour sifted. To prepare the bread from the flour was the duty of the highest official of the monastic church; two monks and a recently admitted brother, with no less care shared the holy labor with him. Being well washed and clothed in white garments, they baked the hosts in a blessed vessel. It is very proper that persons consecrated to God prepare with all devoted- ness and reverence the bread for the Holy Sacrifice, regarding this preparation as a work of love and of conscience.”

The preceding excerpt was from “The Holy Sacrifice of theMass” By Fr. Nicholas Gihr.  I encourageyou to buy the book as always!

As a further note, the Transalpine Redemptorists have a similar practice when they milk their cow’s they sing hymns that glorify God and honor our Lady as seen in the documentary from a few years ago.(Go to the 8:40 mark)

Christopher Check, President of Catholic Answers coming to Milwaukee November 6

So on November 6th the President of Catholic Answers, Christopher Check, will be at St. Stanislaus on Historic Mitchell Street to give a talk on Lepanto.

We welcome anyone and everyone to this talk which is sure to be a great time.  We suggest a donation of $35 per person which will go towards restoring St. Stanislaus to its former beauty.  However, if you are unable to donate in such quantity, discounts are likely to be made available.  We really want people to hear this great speaker so invite anyone and everyone to come!

Also, Mass will be said at 6:30pm in the Main Church, with confessions a half an hour beforehand.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at sursumcordamke@gmail.com

The flyer is below, feel free to share far and wide

Catholic Answers coming to Milwaukee

I will have more on this talk he will be giving tomorrow. 

Until then I will tell you that the good people of Sursum Corda MKE are exciting to be hosting this great speaker as he goes around the Midwest.

Proceeds will go towards the continuing restoration of St. Stanislaus which will be turning 150 in 2016!

Synod 15: Cardinal calls for Mosiac Divorce to be allowed once again (no joke)

Cardinal Jose Luiz Lacunza Maestrojuan, the president of the Panamanian Bishops' Conference, and Rapporteur at the Synod of the Family suggested on October 5, 2015, during his alloted three minute speech, that the Law of Christ be overturned and the Church adapt a position on divorce following Moses. The Cardinal was quoted by Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki (translated by Toronto Catholic Witness) as saying:

"Moses drew near to the people and gave way. Likewise today, the 'hardness of hearts' opposes God's plan. Could Peter not be merciful like Moses"?

However! A voice of Catholic sanity, from the Greek-Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, His Beatitude Gregory III Laham, responded:  

"One should always speak of the "sacrament of matrimony" and not "marriage".  To show the spiritual beauty of marriage. To assist spouses one must show them the unchangeable, spiritual vision of matrimony. Many times we are not united with the positive vision of marriage and the family. Jesus corrected Moses. Dissoluble marriage is against its nature".

He promises more to follow HERE

Von Hildebrands Everywhere Part Three

Seeing as it has been a while since I posted news on Deitrich and Alice von Hildebrand, I would like to take this opportunitee to bring a few things to light for your education and enjoyment.

This weeks keep the faith talk on the FSSP's North American site features a talk given by Alice in 1996.  The talk concerns platos philosophy of education and is well worth a listen. (eventually i will upload this to youtube, but for now it is only on their site and only for the week of October 5- 11th.

http://fssp.com/press/2015/10/keep-the-faith-talk-for-october-5-2015/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Fssp-NorthAmericanDistrict+%28FSSP+-+North+American+District%29&utm_content=FaceBook


Alice was also on The World over with Raymond Arroyo a few months back, I'm just now reposting this because I forgot about it:




The Washington Free Beacon did a review of "My Battle against Hitler" HERE

Oh and over at the Latin Mass Society Chairman blog they have made a point of posting on Deitrich's different views.  All of these posts are wonderful and well worth your time!

1: Aestheticism Dietrich von Hildebrand on beauty, 

2: Evangelical Poverty Dietrich von Hildebrand on beauty, 

3: Irrelevance Dietrich von Hildebrand on beauty, 

4: Raising Hearts to God

Rorate: The final synod documents are already finished?

I saw this in my facebook feed.  The article is from Rorate please spread far and wide!!!!  Then please, I beg you pray like mad for this synod and the Holy Father!


Summary: Italian journalist Marco Tosatti reveals that A SECRET PARALLEL SYNOD has been established in Rome, a cabal composed almost exclusively by Jesuits, with the occasional Argentinian presence (easy to guess who), to draft the necessary post-synodal documents to implement whatever the Pope wants to implement. And they will implement it, no matter what, as the secret committee to draft the Annulment reforms has shown; what everyone supposed was true in fact is true: the Synodal process is a sham.

Read and share the article in its fullness HERE