Widespread Panic!!

It has been a busy week and weekend, and the time I normally used for blogging was directed to writing - I am putting some stuff together on the Acts of St Genesius and pondering publishing. 

In the meantime I have had a look at what is occupying some of the bloggers around the world and I see that the forthcoming Instruction on Summorum Pontificum is taking up a lot of cyberspace.  I see Damian Thompson has reported that 10,000 traditionalists have signed a petition calling on the Pope not to pull back on the freedom he granted for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.  This is the latest contribution in a saga which included one blogger telling us that "Strange, violent, and dark forces wish to derail the application of Summorum Pontificum".  Hmmm????

Now I welcomed the Holy Father's decision in granting greater freedom to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, and though I do not celebrate it myself (as of yet), friends of mine do, including one who does so every day as appointed by his bishop.  And yes, I do think our seminarians should be trained to say it, as Pope Benedict has requested.  I think the Novus Ordo will benefit a great deal from the Extraordinary Form, and hopefully, with the two side by side the celebration of the sacred liturgy in general will improve.  I am, however, cautious of what might be (might be) a tad of an overreaction with regard to this Instruction.  

Surely if the pope wanted to give more freedom and he sees the value of it, he is hardly going to restrict it, unless, having kept a close eye on things are going, he feels certain limitations may be in order and good for the the Church.  I do not accept that dark and violent forces will hoodwink the pope and he will assent to the new Instruction without even reading it.   Our Holy Father is a wise and shrewd man, few get to the pull the wool over his eyes - not even arch-deceivers who managed to con the future Blessed John Paul II could do so with Ratzinger.

That said, there needs to be a lot of common sense injected to some of these liturgical debates.  I remember speaking to a man who had been missing Sunday Mass for thirty years, only attending a montly Mass with the Society of St Pius X, refusing to attend the Novus Ordo because he said it was invalid.  I was told by him that I had never attended in my life, or my seven years as a priest celebrated, a valid Mass.  And then there is the other side with women dressing up in vestments made from flowery curtains, elevating sliced pans and cups of grape juice!  

Pray For Asia

The Catholic News Agency has an interesting article on Asia Bibi, the Catholic woman in Pakistan who has been condemned to death for alleged blasphemy against the Islamic religion.  The Holy Father has made a personal appeal on her behalf and the Governer of the Pakistani province of Punjab was murdered for defending her. 

The case has all the hallmarks of a stitch up.  It seems the accusations have been made following a dispute between Asia's family and a Muslim neighbour whose cattle had damaged their property.  When working in the fields she brought water to others working with her, they refused to drink from the cup because as a Christian she was unclean and so too the cup she carried.   A very Biblical situation - she brings a cup of cold water to people working in the heat and they managed to start an argument and find an excuse to have her put on trial for blasphemy. 

It is obvious she is being punished for her Christian faith and the unjust and easily manipulated blasphemy laws in Pakistan are faciliating her condemnation.   Extremists have put a price on her head - $5,000 to the one who kills her - I believe that is what they call a fatwa.  We must pray for her.  Things seem bleak, but God can do all things.  Reading this article I am impressed with her - she has great faith and while she wants to get out and go home to her suffering family, she seems to demonstrate a deep serenity.  Are we watching the making of a great Christian martyr?  

I see from Catholic Culture that another Christian woman has now been charged with blasphemy - the charges seem strangely similiar to those brought against Asia.

New Series On EWTN

I have been asked by a number of people as to when the next series of Forgotten Heritage will air.  Our next series begins in the US and Canada on Sunday, February 27th and is entitled: Forgotten Heritage: Europe and Our Lady.   The European channels are still showing our series on the Eucharist.  If you go to EWTN's website you will get the schedule, and if you do not have the channel beaming into your TV, you can watch any of EWTN's channels anytime online, so European viewers can catch our new series before it comes here.

The new series looks at Our Lady and her importance in the spirituality and culture of Europe.  Following the same format as the last series, which proved popular, we will be discussing various devotions, apparitions and devotees of Our Lady, always with a view to encouraging a renewal of devotion to the Mother of the Lord in these times. 

The schedule for the new series (US and Canada):

Sundays       8pm (Pacific),  11pm (Eastern)

Tuesdays     12.30am (Pacific), 3.30am (Eastern)

Saturdays    1.30pm (Pacific), 4.30pm (Eastern)

We are scheduled to record series three, Fr Owen and myself are working on that at the moment, and series four is in the planning stages.  Our first series is available on DVD, you can order it from EWTN Religious Catalog here.

The Rite: A View

Well, last night myself and Caroline of the St Genesius Blog donned the glam gear and headed out on the town to the European Premiere of the The Rite in the Savoy.  Thanks to Warner Brothers for the invitations.  It had been a long day - the Divine Mercy Conference kept Frat volunteers busy - thanks to all of them, and welcome to the many new members who joined the ranks of our family of prayer over the weekend.  After a hard day's work we looked forward to the film.   There was a good crowd, though the auditorium was not full, afterwards there was a party at Whelan's - Colin O'Donoghue's band provided the music - good group.

So what did we think of the movie?  Well I do not want to spoil it, so I will not give the plot away.  Performances - very good.  By far the best was Anthony Hopkins - and he is being praised for his role by critics.  He plays the part of a crusty old priest very well, balanced between unorthodoxy of approach, humanity, faith, struggle and fatherly tenderness: there is also a tough side to him.  Unfortunately while Hopkins is a great actor, you  cannot escape his most famous role - Hannibal Lector, and I'm afraid there are lots of Hannibal moments.  While the image of Hannibal Lector in a stole may be a bit extreme, it's not too far off the mark either.  But his performance is great - and he gets all the great lines - and he has some brilliant lines.

Colin's performance was excellent.  You probably expect me to wax lyrical about him, but I think I can be objective as well.  Colin plays the serious young man role very well, and the part of seminarian Michael Kovak is made for him.  I know a number of online reviews are not positive, but I would have to argue with them.  No, he is not bubbling over, hamming it up, or doing the extreme hero, he is playing the quiet and conflicted seminarian who finds himself confronting a reality which he refuses to acknowlege even exists, and he does it very well.   Interestingly he provides a good contrast to Hopkins who is hamming it up and making a meal of his role.  Having seen Colin in a number of roles in various productions, this is his best and that is a good thing given it is his big screen movie debut.   In fact le he manages to quieten down the movie: perhaps this is what the American critics didn't like, but to be honest, the director needed a character to bring depth to the film, to quieten it down given the subject matter that is very necessary - it is very easy to turn exorcism into Vaudeville - in this movie you are dealing with serious subject matter.  I think Colin manages to do that and provide a contrast which keeps the movie rooted (in the first part anyway - more on that later). 

Ciaran Hinds is the other actor I was very impressed with.  Hinds is one of the finest Irish actors working at the moment.  He plays a Dominican priest who is teaching the Exorcism course and puts the seminarian in touch with the crusty old exorcist.  Hinds, or Fr Xavier, is the confident even arrogant academic who sknows his stuff, who knows he's right most of the time and a thorn in the side of the doubting seminarian.  I have one complaint about Hind's role - it is not developed enough.  I think there was so much potential in the role and Hinds has the ability to bring it much further, but the writers seemed content to leave him as he was and to allow him drop out altogether as the movie moves towards its climax - that is a pity.  I would have loved to have seen the relationship between Hinds and Hopkins - there would have been endless possibilities there - including some comic ones, which would have been good. 

What about the movie itself?  It is really a film in two parts.  The first is good.  The researchers did their work and seemed content to present the reality of exorcism in the Church today rather than the Hollywood conception.  Overall the movie's presentation of the Church and exorcism is positive and it is great to see movies like this being made.  Mingled with Kovak's personal history, there is an interesting story there and it will keep you engaged, although his personal story comes as no surprise - stock material for conflicted young man.  But it works.

However, for me, the second part does not live up to the first - I think the movie turns "Hollywood" at that stage.  While there are a few factual errors in the first part (seminarian giving the Last Rites?) you can ignore them and get on with it.  In the second part there are a number of errors, and one particularly glaring one which really cannot be ignored.  If the writers had done any research they would have known this error was a no-no.  This error, however, forms the basis of the storyline in the second part, so to be true to reality the writers would have had to take the movie in a different direction.  But I think that was the moment the writers/director etc felt they had to work to a climax and had to shift gear to please an audience.  I was disappointed with that.  However, the performances were still excellent and, if you can suspend your critical faculties, the second part was entertaining and we enjoyed it.  The last scene was very good - the outcome of the seminarian's faith crisis: full marks to writers and director for that one.

So - verdict? Very good.  Second best exorcism movie I have seen so far - Emily Rose is still the best.  I would advise you to go and see The Rite, critique my critique if you wish (don't forget the competition).  You will enjoy it.   It presents a positive view of the Church, takes a chance on trying to understand it from within, and for that the movie deserves our praise and support. 

"The Rite" Premiere

Tonight sees the European Premiere of The Rite in the Savoy Cinema, O'Connell Street, Dublin.  The movie will go on general release in Ireland and the UK from Friday next - so go and see it. 

Warner Brothers have kindly given the Fraternity tickets to the premiere and the bash afterwards, so Father Director here will be getting the extra big starched collar on to walk the red carpet.  Pray I do not fall into temptation!  We got two tickets, so we had a raffle for the second and who won but the Lady of the Blogs herself, Caroline over the St Genesius Blog.  I have told her to bring a big handbag for all the St Genesius prayer cards!

I hope it is a great night for Colin.  He has had the triumph of the World Premiere in LA, but there is always something special about your home country.   In the meantime, the movie is getting lots of good reviews, and what I am happy to see, the Catholic blogosphere is impressed with the treatment of exorcism and the Church in general: we shall see tonight.   I hope this is another positive factor which will help develop better relations between Hollywood and the Church.  For this we pray!

Don't forget our competition to write a review: closing date 9th March.  Open to all readers of this blog anywhere in the world; only condition: you have had to see the movie.

Wanderly Wagon Blog Post Of The Week

And this week's Wanderly Wagon Blog Post of the Week goes to........Damian Thompson who has discovered that the Brits were cannibals.  Don't know how that is going to down with our dear neighbours next door, but you have to admit good old Damo has reached a new high!

New Translation of Missal: Online

A quick post.  A friend of mine alerted me - the text of the new translation of the Missal has come online.  WikiSpooks has the entire text. 

Divine Mercy Conference

The annual Divine Mercy Conference takes place this weekend in Dublin - in the RDS, Saturday and Sunday.  The Fraternity will have a stall there again this year, so please, if you are around pop over and say hello.  And if you are not a member of our family of prayer, you might even consider joining us. 

Brick By Brick Deconstructing Love

Is God the eternal optimist?  We might think so.  No sooner had he made the covenant with Noah than the shenanigans begin again.  In our last reading from Genesis in these weeks of the lectionary, we read of the attempts by some of Noah's descendants to build a great tower to reach up to heaven.  Full of pride, they seek to make a name for themselves.  We see here the temptation of the serpent in the garden again: the self-glorification of man and woman.  We are back to where we started! 

The story of the Tower of Babel is interesting on a number of levels.  First, on a etiological level, the writer is trying to explain why there are so many languages.  He equates this with division, a division God has imposed on humanity to prevent them getting in to even more trouble than they are already in.  This division will be healed in Christ who incorporates all humanity in himself, in his body.  When he is lifted up he will draw all people to himself, uniting them in his offering to the Father as he returns to the Father the kingdom he has been given. 

The desire to reach for heaven is not wrong in itself - as we know from the example of the saints it is a noble desire.  The problem for this lot in Genesis emerges when we see they want to do it themselves - they think they can storm heaven on their own initiative, which of course they can't.  Not only are they overreaching themselves but they are committing the sin of presumption.  I do not think we need to point out examples of this in modern life, they are all too clear.   In humility, like the saints, we must recognise that Christ brings us to heaven, so we must not trust in ourselves and our abilities, but trust in him.  In Christ humanity will indeed reach up to heaven, we will not need to build a tower - Christ is the tower.

Archeology tells us that the most likely model for the Tower of Babel was the ziggurat, the ancient temples of Mesopotamia.   As we read this passage, can we see humanity constructing a temple to a pagan god and in this way - the worship of this being, they hope to attain heaven?  As with the fertility rites of ancient paganism, they seek to bribe this non-existent god with a magnificent tower-temple.  If we can read this as an interpretation, an ancient Jewish commentary on the worship of false deities, we may see an allusion to the later Golden Calf incident.  Only the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the one who lives, the one who saves.

Finally as we read this passage the story of Pentecost always comes to mind, for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the infant Church is the healing of the division we witness here.  At Pentecost language was no longer a barrier to understanding, the power of the Spirit and the Gospel overcame the different languages, and so the apostles and disciples preached the Word and everyone heard them in their own language.  As the people building the tower gradually deconstructed love as they laid presumptive brick upon presumptive brick, the Holy Spirit knocks down these walls and begins the construction of a edifice of love - the Church founded on Christ who offered his life for the sake of love.

At this point, Genesis is ready to begin the construction of that Church, first with Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob - the family.  Then the sons of Jacob, particularly Joseph who brings them into Egypt where God forms a nation - in the desert he will make a covenant with this nation.  Then, as they face the ups and downs, fidelity and infidelities of life in the Promised Land, they are prepared for the coming of Christ who founds his Church, a Church for all the nations bound in love to him and brought by faith, hope and love, professing the truth, back into the garden of paradise, not to hear the Lord walking in the evening, but to see him in the full light of his majestic divinity.

Are We Agreed?

God makes a covenant with Noah and his family.  As we read today's reading from Genesis we hear God repeat the blessing he first uttered at creation: "Be fruitful, multiple and fill the earth".  He re-establishes man as the preeminent creature on earth, but also as one which must be the most responsible.  He outlaws the murder of other human beings because they are created in the image and likeness of God.

The covenant God makes here is with all the earth, all creation, and the sign of this covenant is the rainbow.  This covenant prepares for the one the Lord will make with Moses and then the New Covenant in Christ.  God is making peace with the earth and humanity as the first step towards redemption.  In this covenant God promises to sustain creation and the natural order - he will not send another flood.  As God makes this promise, his side of the covenant, Noah and his descendents must fulfil theirs, and this is symbolised by the ban on consuming blood.  This is of course a looking towards the kosher laws of the Mosaic covenant, but here I think we can see another meaning. 

Blood, for the Jews and other ancient peoples was seen as the principle of life, as God points out in verse 4, so it has to be respected.  Here God is telling humanity to respect life and the natural order, and the law which will govern this is the natural law: that which is written in our very humanity.  The natural law is that which is the most basic of laws and it provides the foundation for the divine law when it is revealed to Moses and then by Jesus.  When that law is heeded that peace which existed between God and the earth following the flood is maintained, order is maintained. 

Some examples: natural law tells us murder is wrong (and so abortion is wrong since it is murder - the killing of the innocent).  Stealing is wrong.  Adultery is wrong since it is the betrayal of an intimate relationship.  These are basic transgressions that we know are wrong by instinct.  But natural law also tells us that certain relations are wrong - between people of the same sex, between humans and animals, since such relations contradict the natural order of our bodies and the process of reproduction.

We live in an age when natural law is denied and fought against.  Goverments and legislatures have abandoned this most basic and sound rule of life, and as they do so society begins to suffer.  People may ask, why is society in melt down mode in so many places? Perhaps it is because we no longer want to adhere to what is most human and natural, but seek to manipulate it and when we do find we create problems for ourselves.