July 2005 Archives

CBC Radio, Canada's publicly-funded national radio network, has aired a commentary by Bob Ferguson, a retired professor from the Royal Military College, calling for state control over religion, specifically Catholicism. Here's a sample:

"Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate," Ferguson began his commentary in measured tones yesterday. "Couldn't we insist that human rights, employment and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood."

Ferguson sees the formation of legislation and a common code of behavior for all religious practitioners, an RRP designation for registered religious practitioners, such that no one could be a religious practitioner without it. Ferguson also suggests a few "obvious" prohibitions contained in such a code:

"A key item would have to be a ban on claims of exclusivity. It should be unethical for any RRP to claim that theirs was the one true religion and believers in anything else or nothing were doomed to fire and brimstone. One might also expect prohibition of ritual circumcisions, bans on preaching hate or violence, the regulation of faith healers, protocols for missionary work, etc."

These may be just the ramblings of a retired professor, but they were broadcast on Canada's national radio network. Where is this going to lead? Would it be alarmist to believe that holding orthodox Catholic views will very soon result in open persecution in Canada? Could the same thing happen in the US?

[Via LifeSite]

Our friends at St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum, in Auburn, Alabama, recently had a visitor from Torino, Italy, who made some interesting comments. Here is a paraphrase:

"To hear such beautiful sounds in a parish would be in impossible in Italy. The quality of music has declined decade by decade since the reform, so that you do not find the talent or the inclination to achieve this mastery. But here, in this small parish in Alabama, I experienced the greatest music that the human ear has ever experienced. It is music that can be loved by all, not just Catholics but also by Muslims and anyone else. You cannot move the cathedrals of Europe to the US, but you have moved the music and recreated the environment and spirituality. To me, this liturgy is further proof that the future of civilization has moved from Europe to the United States."

[Via St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum]

In an age bombarded with fast messages and short attention spans, Mary Jane Ballou writes on how this affects western church musicians.

Please carry on any discussion at Mary Jane's place, below.

[Via Sacred Miscellany]

In this article, we hear Marc Cardinal Oullet make a final impassioned plea, to the Canadian Senate, to stop final passage of the bill that will re-define marriage. Only a miracle could stop it now.

The Vatican recently published an Instrumentum Laboris for the upcoming Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, entitled, "The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church", due to be held in the Vatican from October 2 to 23, 2005.

In the document, and through the Synod, it is the hope of Benedict XVI to encourage a correct understanding of the Eucharist in the life of the faithful, and to correct various liturgical abuses, which have yet to be properly addressed.

Readers of this blog may be interested in any number of points raised in the document. However, I wish to reproduce here, in full, paragraphs 60 and 61, dedicated to Liturgical Song.

In Sandro Magister's explanation of why the new Compendium of the Catechism will include fourteen full-color sacred images, he notes Pope Benedict XVI's view of the matter:

The pope was just as explicit in this speech that he gave on June 28 during the ceremonial presentation of the new catechism:

"Image and word illuminate one another in turn. Art always 'speaks,' at least implicitly, of the divine, of the infinite beauty of God, which finds its reflection in the icon par excellence: Christ the Lord, the image of the invisible God. Sacred images, with their beauty, are also heralds of the Gospel and express the splendor of Catholic truth, showing the supreme harmony between the good and the beautiful, between the 'via veritatis [way of truth]’ and the 'via pulchritudinis [way of beauty].’ While they give witness to the age-old and prolific tradition of Christian art, they encourage all, both believers and nonbelievers, to discover and contemplate the inexhaustible wonder of the mystery of redemption, continually providing a new impulse for the lively process of its inculturation in time."

Although the pope did not include music in his description of beauty, one can be certain, given his appreciation of classical music and chant, that he believes the same holds true for it.

Sandro Magister has taken up the refrain of John Paul II, and now Benedict XVI, that the prevailing understanding of the Spirit of the Council, needs to be reined in once and for all.

[Cardinal] Ruini contests the contrast made between John XXIII and Paul VI, as seen in the history of Vatican II . . . [which] continues to dominate the scene:

“The interpretation of the council as a rupture and a new beginning is coming to an end. This interpretation is very feeble today, and has no real foothold within the body of the Church. It is time for historiography to produce a new reconstruction of Vatican II which will also be, finally, a true story.”

Ruini took from Joseph Ratzinger’s autobiography a few passages covering the time when he was a peritus [expert consultant] at the council:

“During the discussion leading up to the constitution ‘Dei Verbum,’ Ratzinger wondered aloud which came first in the order of faith: the historical-critical exegesis of the biblical texts, or the tradition of the believing community. He responded that tradition came first. And the council agreed with him. The alternative would have been to have transformed the Church into a parliamentary democracy dominated by theologians and exegetes.”

Today I added the Life Site News Ticker to my blog header section. This way, I hope to provide my readers with links to timely issues related to the pro-life cause of the Church. I hope you appreciate its inclusion here.

The on-again off-again archive of traditional Roman liturgical documents appears to be on-again. It is called the Archivum Liturgicum Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, and is located here.

Take a look. It has tremendous potential. It has been updated regularly throughout the month of June. Hopefully, that will continue.

[Via Recovering Choir Director]