Thursday, May 20, 2010

Poody Tat


GeoTagged, [N39.04820, E76.97958]

Meow.

Tiberius is an American Domestic Short-hair, gray and white (although in photos he appears black and white like his predecessor, Sylvester, who was a tuxedo cat). Like his namesake, the Emperor of Rome, His Majesty lies around the palace waiting to be served ;-)

Monday, May 17, 2010

Nun excommunicated over Phoenix hospital abortion - CathNewsUSA

Nun excommunicated over Phoenix hospital abortion - CathNewsUSA

[please read above link first]

A Bishop who is a real shepherd, i.e., one who corrects and disciplines as well as teaches and protects. One could say Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona, is a MANLY Bishop (not macho, but strong --- FORZA, as we would say in Italian). No one relishes impoing penal sanctions on anyone, least of all on a nun, but at the same time, to ignore a nun's participation in abortion would have been tantamount to gross spiritual negligence if not indirect participation in evil (through silence).

Sister McBride should know well Catholic morality is adamant: the ends never justifies the means. Evil may NEVER be directly intended. One may never deliberately perform an abortion even if it would save the life of the mother. Conversely, one may never deliberately kill the mother to save the life of the unborn baby. One must seek the preservation of all innocent human life and not choose one person as being more important than another. Unborn babies are as much a child of God as are full grown adults, toddlers, teenagers, young adults, middle agers, elderly and especially the termimally ill and severely disabled.

There is NEVER any medical condition which requires the doctor to directly and deliberately kill the unborn baby in the womb. There are some rare conditions where the mother absolutely requires immediate treatment which in all likelihood would induce premature labor, but that is morally permissable under the Principle of Double Effect. IF the unborn baby dies by natural consequences, it is a sad event but it is not considered abortion. If the physician injects poison into the fetus or crushes the baby's head, it is abortion (and MURDER).

Sister should know this. It is in every ethics and Catholic morality textbook. That she consented to the abortion is being a formal as well as material cooperator in evil. She is ipso facto excommunicated by her own actions. Bishop Olmsted did not excommunicate her, she excommunicated herself when she gave the green light to the abortion (in a Catholic hospital, of all places) Every ordinary means must be employed to save the lives of EVERY human being who enters the hospital. Only extraordinary means can be optional. Nutrition & hydration (food & water) and ordinary care (clean clothes, adequate shelter, pain relief, etc.) are non-negotiables. Only when the body itself rejects food and hydration (e.g., when the organs shut down, like the kidneys and stomach) and digestion cannot take place, then you merely make the patient comfortable WITHOUT ever being the direct cause of death (overdose of painkillers, e.g.). But directly killing an unviable fetus is a classic case of abortion and is immoral, unethical and unacceptable. I am sure the mother's life could have been saved using moral means. It may have been more inconvenient and/or more complicated, but it would have been acceptable and not murder.

The real scandal is that a Catholic nun who was also administrator of a Catholic hospital gave permission for an abortion to be done. Were it a parent of a teenager, one could at least blamed some of the error on misguided compassion. While still gravely evil, it is intensified that someone who took vows as a Bride of Christ and who represents the Church in the medical community is the one who sanctioned this nefarious deed. Then the usual non-sequiturs come out of the woodwork when you read some of the comments in the secular press: 'well, at least it was not a bishop covering up another incident of sexual abuse of children by the clergy.'  Both are grave evils. Killing the unborn and abusing children are evil, sinful and immoral. Sadly, silence has been the response in both types for too long in too many places. The same motive which impelled Bishop Olmsted to speak out in this case of abortion will also animate him to protect children from any form of abuse. Whether it is the 5th or the 6th Commandment, they both come from the same source.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » Using the new translation “ad experimentum”

What Does The Prayer Really Say?»Blog Archive » Using the new translation “ad experimentum”



Although the actual English translation of the Roman Missal will not be available for public use in the USA until probably November-December 2011 (First Sunday of Advent), it would make tremendous good sense if the USCCB granted permission for priests to PRACTICE (from now until then) using the new text in 'private Masses' (i.e., Missa Sine Populo).

This would make the transition more smoothly and organic. If the first time the priest says the new verbiage is the first day the people hear it in church, it may be more awkward since many of us ordained post V2 have a lot of the Ordinary Form (alias Novus Ordo) pretty much memorized if not just well known by heart. While we still need the Sacramentary for the variable parts, many if not most priests are extremely well versed in the current English translation.

That does not mean that we like it, however. Me and my 500+ colleagues at the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (and our Australian brethren of the ACCC) eagerly and enthusiastically embrace and welcome the new and IMPROVED translation (thanks to Vox Clara and the efforts of His Eminence Cardinal Pell, et al.).

Our only desire, however, is to make the transition as painless as possible. We priests who are the celebrants of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass need time to PRACTICE before we implement with the entire congregation. The gestures and essence of the Ordinary Form remains the same but the exact verbiage has changed not just in 'and with your spirit' instead of 'and also with you.' The Eucharistic Prayers are the very heart and soul of the Mass. While substantially the same, the needed and welcome improvements will require time to LEARN as we have been using the current text for quite some time.

All we ask is that we be allowed to USE the new text in Masses celebrated without a congregation from now until the full and official day of total implememtation. Sounds like a reasonable request, does it not? Many of us have been practicing the Extraordinary Form by celebrating the Low Mass sine populo before doing it solo cum populo.

One obvious beneficial by-product will be for Advent 2011 is that BOTH priest and congregation will NEED to focus on the exact text in the Missal (and missalettes) since the verbiage is slightly new and both will need to say the words a little more SLOWLY, DELIBERATELY and of course with the improved translation, more ACCURATELY. This will impel a more REVERANT celebration of Mass. All too often where the priest knows the entire Mass by heart as well as his congregation, the SPEEED at which the words are pronounced tend be much more fast-paced than say someone who does not speak English as their first and primary language.

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