Sandro Magister’s latest gives us some reason to reflect on this great pontifical feast of SS Peter and Paul. In “Roman Curia: The Reform that Isn’t There“, Magister makes plain that Benedict has put the reform of the curia, long anticipated and a job for which Benedict seemed well-qualified, on the back burner. After some early promising moves, such as collapsing the congregation or whatever-it-was for Interreligious Dialogue into the Pontifical Council or whatever-it-is for Culture, Benedict didn’t go much farther and has now even reversed course, bringing the Interreligious Dialogue losers back to life. The most positive spin on Benedict’s “progress” at reform thus far is that Benedict is biding his time, a tactic he learned from many years in the Curia. The less optimistic outlook is that Benedict isn’t going to expend his limited time (and, perhaps, political capital) on such an effort.

Some choice bits from Magister’s column: Continue reading

I chuckle sometimes when I see the way in which people handle news tips and links from around the Catholic web. What I have in mind in particular is the special credence which is often given to certain websites because they market and present themselves as something more than blogs. I’ve written about this before, but I think it’s worth saying again: many “news” sites are just glorified blogs. Sure, they may have some paid staff or more competence to speak to certain issues than NY Times reporters, but in many cases, they’re simply summarizing articles which they’ve read elsewhere on the web, often in other languages, and then presenting them as “breaking news” exclusively available through their own site.

Yesterday, in our Ephemeris column, I had posted a link to a story from Germany about how a Lutheran pastor had been jailed for comparing the scourge of abortion to the Holocaust. I had seen this story at LifeSiteNews, which I think is pretty good at tracking down unusual pro-life related stories. But it’s not as though they sent their own guy to Germany of investigate – they were simply, like the rest of us, reading an article on the internet. And since they are, they should present it as the presentation of someone else’s story, not their own.

Turns out, they got the story just a wee bit wrong: Continue reading

File this one under the category of “true things that nonetheless cannot be taken seriously when explained in this way.” A (non-Catholic) friend forwarded me this list of “Ten Commandments for Drivers” put out by Cardinal Martino and the Vatican’s office for migrants and itinerant people. The list is part of a 36-page document entitled “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road,” and it gives pastoral suggestions for how we might all better exercise Christian virtue in our driving.

I hate to seem cynical, and I don’t doubt that moral virtues can be relevant to many aspects of driving. (Indeed, road rage is one failing for which I sometimes chastise the good Doctor, who is of a somewhat more choleric temperament than I.) But in this case the presentation defies serious treatment. The second Driver’s Commandment, stating that “The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm” cannot help but bring a smirk. Communion between people? Must driving to work be a social or religious experience? I’m not even sure who the people in question are – other drivers, or people you might be going to visit in your automobile? It’s sheer silliness.
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New Jersey is now home to yet another full old rite parish. The F.S.S.P. is in Pequannock, in the Diocese of Paterson. The Institute of Christ the King has joined the party: They now have a home in the Archdiocese of Newark. (Also, not at a great distance, depending on where you live in the Archdiocese of Newark, is the Mater Ecclesiae parish in Berlin, NJ, in the Diocese of Camden.)

If Levada becomes the next Archbishop of New York, as some anticipate, will he finally allow an old rite parish in the City itself?

Dr. Joseph Shaw (read our interview with him here) has a report and pictures up about this past weekend’s procession through the streets of Oxford following “the route taken by the four martyrs of 1589 – the seminary priests Richard Yaxley and George Nichols, their gentleman helper Thomas Belson, and a Catholic inn servant, Humphrey Prichard – from the Bocardo prison in Cornmarket to the town gallows where thy were hanged, drawn and quartered.” Follow the links for the full report and pictures.

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I don’t think that the Catholic Church is the right faith community for Tony Blair. (Clara’s thoughts here.) From the sounds of it, he’s a very good protestant. “Last month Father Michael Seed, a Westminster priest close to the Blairs, predicted that Mr Blair would become a Catholic. But he later told The Times he did not know if Mr Blair would ever be received ‘formally’ into the Roman Catholic Church.” Will never “formally” be received into the Church? I don’t know what his plan is, but it sounds fishy. Apparently, Benedict wasn’t overly impressed with Blair’s plan for Great Britain over these past ten years; abortion, gay adoption and stem cell research highlighted the discussion between the two men, reports the London Times.

But this was an interesting part of the Times‘ article: Continue reading

At least that would be my greedy, bibliophile reaction. : ) I liked this picture of Papa perusing one of many wonderful books in one of the most wonderful libraries in the world (probably the most wonderful), the Vatican Library. This photo is in connection with this story.

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, one of only three Nativity feasts celebrated by the Church — since St. John the Baptist is one of only three people in history who left the womb without the burden of Original Sin (his having been cleansed by our Lord’s presence at the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin to St. Elizabeth).

There are two other notable things about today. First is that pictured in the chant above — the hymn from the Second Vespers of this feast is the origin of the note-names for the Solfege system, the famous Ut (later Do)-Re-Mi naming of notes, immortalized in that favorite film of a certain, slightly unbalanced, bishop of some uncertain amount of schismatism. For the full text of the hymn to St. John the Baptist from which the notes come, click here. Sing it today for the Forerunner!

Finally, today is traditionally known as Midsummer’s day, since starting today (actually, a couple of days ago), the days of the year start getting shorter — an echo in the natural world of the Baptist’s saying, Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui, He must increase, and I must decrease.

I’ve just finished reading — or, actually, listening to the audible audio version — of Pope Benedict XVI’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth: what a great service he has done for us all in writing it! It is a fine, orthodox, compelling, and densely packed invitation to get to know Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, the Second person of the Holy Trinity, better, in the way He wishes us to know Him. What could be better?

There’s too much in the book to summarize its contents usefully, and since I have only the audio version thus far (I plan on buying the book itself soon), it is hard for me to pull direct quotes. In brief, the book’s goal is to expose Jesus to us as He — God — presented Himself to us. That is to say, through the mediation of scripture, tradition, and the Church. The pope early on dismisses most tracts concerned with the so-called “historical” Jesus as being mere portraits of their authors and their authors’ preconceptions, rather than giving any insight into the real Jesus.

So what does Pope Benedict give instead? Continue reading

Would someone who knows something about these sorts of things tell me why the Pope and the assisting cardinals are vested in red at a funeral – dare I call it a “requiem” – Mass? I know, of course, that they can no longer wear black because such a color insufficiently expresses the hope and joy of the People of God as they contemplate the face of the Risen Christ. But isn’t red the color appropriate for a martyr? Cardinal Felici may have been many things, but he wasn’t a martyr. Another article here.

(Updated 6/22): “Papa luget in rubro.” Thanks, Scott!