The Pope On Confession

Further to yesterday's post on John Cornwell's attack on Pope St Pius X and the Sacrament of Confession. The Holy Father was speaking about confession at his General Audience this morning.  He offered a lovely reflection on the sacrament and its importance for us.

The text of the Pope's catechesis:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters: Through the Sacraments of Initiation, we receive new life in Christ. This life we carry in earthen vessels, however, and we still experience temptations, suffering, and death. Because of sin, we can even lose this new life. Jesus therefore willed that the Church continue his works of salvation for her members, in particular through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which flows from the Paschal Mystery. The forgiveness we receive is not the result of our own efforts, but is the gift of the Holy Spirit reconciling us to God and to each other. While the celebration of the Sacrament is personal, it is rooted in the community of the Church, in which the Holy Spirit is present, uniting us all in Jesus Christ. When confessing our sins then, we confess to the priest who represents not only God but also the community of the Church that accompanies us on the path of conversion. Though this Sacrament is a great treasure, we may be tempted to dismiss it, perphaps due to laziness or embarassment, or because of a diminishing sense of sin and its effects. Too often, we see ourselves as the centre and measure of all things, and our lives can go adrift. The Sacrament of Reconciliation calls us back to God, and embraces us with his infinite mercy and joy. May we allow his love to renew us as his children and to reconcile us with him, with ourselves, and with one another."

As The Truth About Pius XII Is Slowly Coming Out, Cornwell Goes For Pius X

I was not going to comment on the latest offering from John Cornwell, but I want to link to a great article by Ed Peters which will be a handy resource for dealing with another batch of lies about the Church, our faith and our popes.

Cornwell, famous, or infamous, for his inaccurate account of Pope Pius XII's activities during World War II in Hitler's Pope, has now moved on to St Pius X and is connecting him with child abuse.  How so, you might ask?  Well he maintains that Pope Pius X facilitated the abuse of children by requiring children from the age of seven to go to confession.  I know, it's crazy, but there will be people out there who will latch on to this and run with it in the hope of having yet another stick to beat the Catholic Church. It is also a snide attack on the sacrament of confession, a sacrament much despised by many "progressives" in the Church.

Anyway, here is the link to Ed Peter's response to Cornwell and the Daily Mail which published extracts from his book.  Cornwell's hypothesis is, as I suppose we have come to expect, littered with inaccuracies. Sadly I note what Dr Peters says at the beginning of his piece: "It always takes longer, sometimes much longer, to correct mistakes than it takes to make them".  How true.  As Cornwell laughs all the way to the bank yet again, we Catholics are left for years trying to undo the lie.

Of course attacks on Pope St Pius are not new.  Liberals and "progressives" have been complaining about him for decades for his clarification and condemnation of modernism, the mother of religious relativism.  Even as recent as when I was in seminary a theology lecturer was making snide remarks against him. Interestingly Pius has a good deal in common with Pope Francis - both came from humble backgrounds, and both lived a ascetic, simple life embracing radical poverty.   

Another One....

 

The Pope has given another interview.  I got a text from a friend of mine telling me about it and I could hear the remorseless groan wafting through cyberspace or whatever that thing is that sends texts flying around the world.  But  no need to groan, this is a welcome interview conducted by the reliable Andrea Tornelli, and in it the Holy Father clarifies a number of issues - clarifications which are badly needed and may knock down some resistance to him.

 

Here is the text of the interview.  Of all the commentators I direct you to Jimmy Aiken who provides a brief and clear summary of the main controversial issues. 

 

But in brief:

 

The Pope is not a Marxist, and he believes Marxism is wrong.  Note that he does not say that Marxism is misguided or erroneous: he does not offer a brief rebuttal of Marxist theory, he uses a word that not only says it is incorrect, but also makes a moral judgment of the system.  But, as always, he sees the human beings in the midst of it and he makes a distinction between Marxism and those who follow it, and sees that they can be good people.

 

The Pope is not going to make women cardinals.  That, he said, would be a clericalization of the laity and the clericalization of women.  I hear an echo of Blessed John Paul II's writings on the laity and on women in particular in which he acknowledged the unique and venerable role of the laity: clericalizing the laity is ultimately a denial of the lay state and its place in the mission of the Church.  The way forward is to see how the laity may be incorporated more into the mission of the Church without making them faux-clerics.  Of course I'm not sure if people are aware of this or not, but this will mean a lot more work being put on the shoulders of the laity and that will effect personal and family time.  At the end of the day the mission of the Church is not about power, it is about service, and those who want a greater role in the life of the Church had better get ready to abandon themselves to a greater service: believe me, I know!  And the reality of a life of service is not about self-affirmation and self-fulfilment, it about self-denial and sacrifice - lots of sacrifices.  And perhaps, as the laity take up a greater share of the work it may eventually be seen why God calls certain individuals to a celibate life of total service with no other obligations or responsibilities other than complete availability to service in the Church (with little or no pay!). 

 

It seems the Pope is not in favour of the German bishops's plans to give Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried.  Or at least that is what I discern from his comments on the issue. Francis says clearly: "The exclusion of divorced people who contract a second marriage from communion is not a sanction": it not a punishment imposed by the Church, rather, as Jimmy Aiken correctly points out: "The exclusion is caused by the fact that people who are civilly remarried are not validly married in the eyes of the Church...As a result, unless they are living as brother and sister, they are committing grave sexual sin and it is the grave sexual sin that creates the barrier to receiving Holy Communion."   As I said before, it is a moral issue and the Pope cannot (cannot not won't) change the moral law.  It does not mean we are not to be compassionate or exclude people in these unions from the life of the Church, no, but there is a problem that excludes them from full sacramental participation and that element of exclusion will remain until the problem is resolved.

 

Those issues aside, there is some lovely stuff in the interview, including his reflection on Christmas which I think is worth quoting:

For me Christmas is hope and tenderness...

It is the encounter Jesus. God has always sought out his people, led them, looked after them and promised to be always be close to them. The Book of Deuteronomy says that God walks with us; he takes us by the hand like a father does with his child. This is a beautiful thing. Christmas is God’s meeting with his people. It is also a consolation, a mystery of consolation. Many times after the midnight mass I have spent an hour or so alone in the chapel before celebrating the dawn mass. I experienced a profound feeling of consolation and peace. I remember one night of prayer after a mass in the Astalli residence for refugees in Rome, it was Christmas 1974 I think. For me Christmas has always been about this; contemplating the visit of God to his people.

It speaks of tenderness and hope. When God meets us he tells us two things. The first thing he says is: have hope. God always opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who opens doors for us. The second thing he says is: don’t be afraid of tenderness. When Christians forget about hope and tenderness they become a cold Church, that loses its sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and worldly attitudes, whereas God’s simplicity tells you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you. I become fearful when Christians lose hope and the ability to embrace and extend a loving caress to others. Maybe this is why, looking towards the future, I often speak about children and the elderly, about the most defenceless that is. Throughout my life as a priest, going to the parish, I have always sought to transmit this tenderness, particularly to children and the elderly. It does me good and it makes me think of the tenderness God has towards us.

Now that is lovely.  I note the scud against ideology and worldly values.  I think Francis wants all of us see ourselves as the salt of the earth and light of the world, a people who are different, a people who challenge the world through holy lives.  That may well be the key to our survival as Western civilisation collapses under the weight of decadence and greed.

 

And on another issue: Pope Francis is urging greater adherence to the Sacrament of Confession.  He is asking his curial staff to spend time in the confessional in the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, the Divine Mercy Church in Rome.  And if he wants more priests hearing confession he certainly wants more Catholics coming to the Sacrament.  I hope all his liberal fans will heed that call.  Let's hope that his admirers in the media will be forming an appropriately repentant queue (with the rest of us!)at the nearest confessional very soon.  I would be more than happy to make myself available to shrive the denizens of RTE and the Irish Times in time for Christmas.  We'll see how the new papalists respond to that invitation!

A Gift To Priests

Today is the feast of St Charles of St Andrew, also known as St Charles of Mount Argus.   Canonised in 2007, he is the most recent "Irish" Saint - I put Irish in inverted commas because St Charles was actually Dutch, but became "more Irish than the Irish themselves" (as the saying goes) by spending most of his priestly ministry here among us.

Born Joannes Andreas Houben in Holland in 1821, he joined the Passionists in Belgium in 1845, and was professed as Br Charles of St Andrew in 1847.  He was ordained priest in 1850.  Sent to England two years later, he met with many Irish emigrants and ministered to them.  Fr Charles fell in love with the Irish: saw their strengths, but also their weakensses and difficulties - particularly their problem with alcohol.  In his ministering to them, he heard a call to go to Ireland and spend his life there.

That call was confirmed in 1857 when he was sent with other Passionists to found a new community in Dublin.    With the exception of two years, he would spend the rest of his life in Ireland, travelling around the country raising money to build St Paul's Retreat and its church at Mount Argus in Dublin, and ministering to those who came to the monastery.  

He quickly became known as Fr Charles of Mount Argus and he endeared himself to the faithful.   He was gifted with numerous charismatic gifts, among which were the gift of healing and discernment which revealed the heart of his mission: that of hearing confession and healing the sick.  Up to the day of his death, people made their way out to Mount Argus to be healed, to go to confession, and to attend his Mass during which he often fell into ecstasy.

Recognised as a Saint by many, he had his enemies - some of those who attended Mass in Mount Argus, for example, thought his Mass was too long, and so were forever complaining: his superior eventually had to stand by him at the altar and put pressure on him.  Whenever he entered a mystical ecstasy, his superior would shake him until the came out and continued the Mass.  It seems these people did not really appreciate the presence of a Saint or the manifestation of the mystical - unfortunately it is an attitude still to be found in Ireland: we have many "watch gazers" and "time keepers" at Mass on Sundays: the obvious sign of a serious need for renewal. 

Fr Charles was a victim to false allegations during his lifetime.  A man arrived one day at the monastery and asked the Saint to bless a barrel of water: Charles did so gladly.  However, the man bottled the water and sold it throughout Dublin city as Holy Water blessed by the Saint of Mount Argus.  Complaints flooded in to the Passionists, and even though Charles pleaded innocence, his superiors did not believe him and he was sent back to England in disgrace.  When the truth emerged two years later, he was rehabilitated and sent back to Ireland.

Charles died on the 5th January 1893 with a reputation for holiness.  His Cause was opened in 1935 and reached a successful conclusion on the 3rd June 2007 when Pope Benedict XVI canonised him.  Sadly, he is unknown by most Irish people, very little effort was made in the run up to his canonisation -  another opportunity missed by the Church in Ireland.  His tomb is in the Passionist Church in Mount Argus and is a wonderful place to go and pray in the presence of the sacred remains of a holy priest who followed Christ with deep fidelity.  It is worth a visit.

I believe that St Charles was given to Ireland as a gift, and indeed he is a gift to all priests.  In his life and virtues we see how a true Christian is to live, and for us priests we see what is most important in our vocation.  At the heart of St Charles's ministery, indeed his life as a priest, was the Mass, confession and prayer.   The Mass was the centre of his life - in his offering it we see another Padre Pio - indeed St Charles is Ireland's St Pio.  Like St Pio, his ministry in the confessional reminds us of the importance of that sacrament - a message we need to hear as many today abandon the sacrament.  In his healing ministry he always told those who came to him that true healing was to be found in confession.

This morning in Rathkenny we celebrated the Saint's feast, although, strangely, the new translation of the Missal (Veritas version) does not include the texts for his memoria. 

Turning Over A New Leaf

When Adam and Eve were trying to hide their nakedness they desperately made a desperate suit of clothes for themselves from leaves - the fig leaf has become the iconographical expression of their fall.  In our reading from Genesis today we have another leaf - that of the olive, now symbol of peace, which informs Noah that the flood has subsided - the new creation is emerging from the waters.

As I was praying this reading today I was struck, in my imagination, by the silence which must have greeted Noah and his family as they opened the doors and walked out on to earth again.  First there was probably all sorts of noises from the animals on the ark - imagine the sleepless nights there - they must have had a few tense moments during the weeks in the ark, perhaps even a few tense words were spoken.  Going outside to an empty earth must have been strange.  But then there is the silence which emerges when the cacophony of sin and chaos has gone - that silence which most equates with peace.  Perhaps at that moment, perhaps even for just that moment, there was peace on earth.  Noah then offers sacrifice, a thanksgiving, but also a desire to remain in that peace - to remain in friendship with God.

Noah and his family represented God's attempt to begin again: as Noah foreshadows Christ, his family foreshadows the Church, the silent earth and saved animals, the new creation.   Here in this mysterious event the sacrifice of Jesus and the establishing of the New Covenant is prepared for, alluded to, promised.  

Here also we see the new beginning - a second chance, hopefully to get things right.  Noah, a righteous man, in peace with God, represents the hope that human beings can finally undo the damage and rise again to what God intends us to be.  It was not to be so for some time.  Noah's descendants would fall again: humanity would have to wait for the Messiah to come, and he, God and Man would fulfil the hope the silent and peaceful earth after the flood longed for.

This reading today brings to mind the new beginning all of us may experience in the Sacrament of Confession.  In that Sacrament the waters of grace pour over us like a flood putting to death within us our sinfulness and seeking to heal the original wound of Adam's sin which manifests itself as weakness and pride.  Emerging from the Sacrament - the confession box is a worthy image for the ark, we too face the silence and peace of reconciliation, of God's presence now felt more profoundly thanks to the grace of our encounter with him in his mercy.   Like Noah, emerging from the ark, the first thing we must do in that moment is offer sacrifice, offer ourselves, so we will remain in his peace and become stronger and holier.

Will Apple Give In.....Again?

The Guardian newspaper reported that the gay rights movement is complaining again about another App - this time one which prepares people for the sacrament of confession.  This particular App has been the subject of lots of media reports and blog posts and seems to be a good promoter of the sacrament.  It is also doing very well in the Apps charts.   However in its examination of conscience it includes the question "Have I been guilty of any homosexual activity?".   The gay groups are describing this as "cyber spiritual abuse" (that last word has been chosen carefully, I suspect).  Maintaining that gay Catholics do not need to confess but simply come out of the closet, they say that this App is facilitating and furthering harm, and creating neurotic individuals who are ashamed of who they are. 

Two things, as a friend of mine would say.  First, in this we have reached a stage where we as Catholics are no longer allowed to believe the teachings of our Church even within our Church, nor are we allowed to make available materials which reflect what we believe.  This organised gay movement is using its power to dismantle the Church's teaching without regard for those who choose to believe it.  This is an attack on freedom of religion and it is very organised.  Secondly, can we expect Apple to remove this App now, as they did the Manhattan Declaration?  I think that will happen - they gave in the last time, can they withstand the pressure to give in again?  Maybe I am a pessimist, but I think the pink dollar is more important to Apple than religious freedom and what the Americans call the First Amendment: guaranteeing the free exercise of religion and free speech. (Thread which may confirm this)

So, will we work out the odds and open a book ? 

Saint of the Confessional

Here in Padua, St Anthony is not the only saintly notable.  Another Franciscan elbows in for the limelight, St Leopold Mandic - a Croatian who settled in Padua and gained a reputation for holiness through his ministry in the confessional.  We priests always need renewal in our ministry and how we administer the sacraments.  It is too easy to get lax and dish out grace as if it was ordinary food.  So close to the mystery, there is always the danger we become too familiar with it, too casual.  We need to realise that when we administer the sacraments we are immersed in a great ocean of grace, a great mystery, which God in his goodness, has ordained us to pass on to our brothers and sisters.  Confession is a great mystery - the mystery of God's mercy, the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus poured out on sinners with the intention of forgiving them their sins, regenerating them and strengthening them to pursue a life of holiness.  St Leopold understood: I pray we priests may do the same.

There is a wonderful story from the life of St Leopold and St Pio.  Both were Capuchins ministering around the same time, Leopold in Padua and Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo; both were renowned for their gifts in the confessional.  One intrepid lady decided to compare and contrast the two.  So she went to St Leopold in Padua, and came away delighted with his gentleness and kindness.  She then popped down to the south of Italy to see how St Pio compared.  She should have known better: Pio turned out to be very harsh with her during the confession.  Indignant (funnily, I expected that!), she tore into Pio, proclaiming that he was not as nice as his brother Capuchin in the north: Padre Leopold was kind and gentle.  Quick off the mark, St Pio turned and said: "He gets the easy ones: he sends all the difficult ones to me!"  Touche, Padre Pio!!

Lovely videos on the life of St Leopold produced by his brother Capuchins: