Fr. George Rutler, of Our Saviour’s Church in Manhattan, has a blistering, delightful review of Piero Marini’s book on the reform of the liturgy in the newest edition of First Things. Since it’s only for subscribers now, I thought I’d pull a couple of choice bits out to encourage people to read the whole thing. It’s a sore point among traditional Catholics, but I maintain that, whatever unfortunate material sometimes appears on its pages, First Things is a magazine that should be read by most thoughtful Catholics. But leaving that argument for later, a bit from Fr. Rutler:

“To young people today, Vatican II reposes in a haze with Nicaea II and Lateran II. Their guileless ignorance at least frees them from the animus of some aging liturgists who thought that the Second Vatican Council defined a whole new anthropological stage in the history of man. The prolix optimism of many interpreters of that council has now taken on a patina—not that of fine bronze but more like the discoloration of a Bauhaus building.”
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There is an old and learned priest, presently my confessor, of whom I heard an illustrative story. He heads a college seminary, and once when he was in the confessional a seminarian, writing a thesis on moral theology, came to him to confess. When the boy had finished, Father began his remarks by explaining the difference between a mortal and a venial sin. When the seminarian interposed that he didn’t need the explanation, noting that his thesis was on a related topic, Father shot back, “that’s not relevant here!”

The point, if I may expand, is that in this present darkness we humans can easily reach firm convictions and comprehension in our intellectual considerations that utterly fail to penetrate our lives generally. While this is an old theme, I return to it now because of late there has been some back-channel discussion among this site’s contributors about what does and doesn’t constitute prudent matter for discussion in this forum. I don’t want to address that question directly, though readers may leave their thoughts if they wish. Rather, I think a more interesting question is how a Christian views himself, his intellect, and his work in light of the demands of virtue, living under the shadow of the cross.
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My apologies for the long silence here at CSGT. I took a trip to Ithaca this last week, to give a paper and to settle some things concerning my academic program. The trip was very successful in all its intended goals, and carried the additional benefit of putting me back in company with those members of the Cornell Society for a Good Time who still reside in the Ithaca area. (Particular thanks go to Iosephus and Catharina Oxoniensis for their warm hospitality!) As usual, it brought me back with multiple posts in my mind, but I’m going to start with a small one just to get things warmed up again.

To which saints to you often appeal throughout the day or week? The practice of asking for the intercession of saints, throughout the day and in normal situations, has grown on me gradually in the years since I became a Catholic. I don’t believe I was ever explicitly recommended to do it. It becomes very natural, though, as you develop devotions to particular saints, that their help should be asked in situations where it seems they would be sympathetic. Appealing to God and to Our Lady can and should be done at all times of day, naturally. But more and more, I find particular other saints coming to mind for particular occasions.

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From modernist monstrosity to traditional altar in 15 mins. Courtesy of the FSSP in France.

An issue that has been raised on this blog is the merit of post-secondary school education. Central to the issue is how the Faith is affected and influenced in the college environment. Evaluating something like this is not easy. Is it possible to effectively and accurately evaluate the academic and social environment as consistent with Catholic teaching and ideals? One possible solution is to attend a Catholic college.

Unfortunately, even a college or university with a Catholic name attached does not guarantee that Catholic ideals and values are upheld and defended.

This disappointing fact has led most of us to agree with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., that parents should “send their children to secular colleges and universities that have an active and involved campus ministry loyal to the Catholic faith rather than use what I call a phony Catholic school.”

Not all is lost, however, in the pursuit of higher education. In the same essay from Fr. Groeschel in the Foreword to “Choosing a Catholic College” (pdf link) where this quote is taken from, he says encouragingly: “There is, however, cause for hope, and it is manifested in those oases of Catholicism profiled in this publication.”

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When you have to turn to the Muslims to explain traditional Christian liturgical seasons. But that’s what’s happened in the Netherlands, where the Catholic charity Vastenaktie is has taken to branding Lent the “Christian Ramadan.” Noting that only a tiny minority of the 400,000 Catholics in the Netherlands still fast during Lent, they decided to turn to the more familiar concept of Ramadan to illustrate what the Lenten season is really about.

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Last summer I wrote a post about the Pallium Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th). In case you do not recall, the pallium is the ceremonial scarf worn by metropolitan archbishops of the Latin Rite. Every June 29th, the archbishops appointed during the last year come to St. Peter’s to be invested with the pallium by the Pope. These vestments have spent the previous night in the confessio, or tomb, of St. Peter. Here are the photos, which I hope you will enjoy. I took the photo above from the left side of the nave during the processional. (Unfortunately, much of the clarity of the original photo has been diminished by shrinking the file, which is necessary to post the photo to the blog.) Continue reading

This is the head of St. Valentine, from the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. He was a Roman priest martyred in the second half of the third century. Two other martyred Valentines, one a martyred bishop of Terni and the other an African martyr, are also honored on February 14. (Before anyone tries to critique these historical claims, I got them from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. It is certainly not infallible.)

“We do not pray to change divine decree, but only to obtain what God has decided will be obtained through prayer. In other words, as St. Gregory says, ‘by asking, men deserve to receive what the all-powerful God has decreed from all eternity to give them.’”

St. Thomas Aquinas
Summa theologiae II, II, Q 83, Art 2

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As Fr. Z would say, some Trad nuptial Mass eye-candy (though ours is clearly better). The celebrant is the Society’s honorary chaplain. The venue is Founders Chapel at the University of San Diego, June 9, 2007. Photo credit to studio m / michael spengler photography.