A Short Haitus...

Battle for the Core will return next week!

No Christmas In Brussels

THE END OF CHRISTIANITY IN BRUSSELS - NO CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR
According to Brussels city government's representative Bianca Debaets Brussels will not place a Christmas tree on its historical Grand Place square, because the tree, as a symbol 

of Christianity, could harm the feelings of people of other faiths. The electronic timber that has been granted and already placed is called "winter tree". The "Christmas market" thus receives a new name, from which the word "Christmas" is missing. (The muslim community reached 25% of Brussel's total population. According to most analysts the size and influence of the muslim community in Belgium was a key factor in making the decision.)
What do you think?

The slow but steady advance of secularism continues. 

Just like the "old days": Metaphysics Guides Science

I know this isn't news to any of the readers of this blog, but I thought it was important to post articles that fit right in with the purpose of my writing here. My emphasis is bold and comments blue

 Why do I say "Just like the old days"? Well, in the papal encyclical Aeterni Patris, Leo XIII talks about restoring philosophy to its former glory--to the days when philosophy entailed more than just explaining our own subjective consciousness and the results of modern science.  

Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski said that the study of that which lies beyond the physical realm can help scientists reflect on the meaning of their work, and avoid putting their knowledge at the service of evil.

During the International Metaphysics Congress held in Rome on Nov. 8, Cardinal Grocholewski told EWTN News that science has unfortunately led to the creation of instruments that bring evil to the world [always because of human actions as the objects are never evil in themselves--but it is possible to make something that is for the purpose of evil actions], and that people must address this reality.

“We have to reflect profoundly on the question of what the meaning of science and its research is. What is the meaning of man and what does it consist of?” said the cardinal, who serves as the prefect for the Congregation for Catholic Education.

In the modern world, Metaphysics must be acknowledged as something “absolutely necessary for carrying out science and using it in the correct way.” [He is referring to teleology mainly and that in itself means that there is a "correct way" to use something.]

“We have to ask ourselves, what is the meaning of science? What is science for? These are difficult questions, but they are necessary, because science ought to contribute to the good of humanity,” the cardinal added.

He also pointed out that the human being is capable of distinguishing between good and evil and scientists are not exempt from this. 

“We all know well that the great scientific and technological discoveries can be used for both good and evil. They have often been used for evil: for wars that are increasingly more horrific, for injustices, for terrorism and oppression,” he said.

Cardinal Grocholewski said metaphysics [including natural law] would alleviate humanity of numerous threats, such as weapons of mass destruction or drugs that pose a danger to human life.

“There has been much progress in the world, but the reality is there is misery and injustice.” [This is a slightly unrelated statement...I wonder if it was taken out of context...]

Without metaphysics, he continued, “neither philosophy nor religion would exist, nor the great ideals that can change history.” [Well put.]

“Doing” must never overshadow “being,” the cardinal said. http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=6560#ixzz2CR3ziMVn

I wonder how many people out there in the world actually know what metaphysics is beyond its phony section in Barnes and Noble...

UN: Contraception is a "Universal Human Right"

The humanist agenda continues:

United Nations Declares Access To Contraception A ‘Universal Human Right’ 

For the first time, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) explicitly described family planning as a ‘universal human right.’ In its annual report, the organization said that improved access to contraception and other methods of family planning could greatly improve the lives of women around the world: ‘Family planning has a positive multiplier effect on development,’ Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the fund, said in a written statement. ‘Not only does the ability for a couple to choose when and how many children to have help lift nations out of poverty, but it is also one of the most effective means of empowering women. Women who use contraception are generally healthier, better educated, more empowered in their households and communities and more economically productive. Women’s increased labor-force participation boosts nations’ economies.’

"Progress continues." Being able to control whether you get pregnant or not is now considered to be on the same level of importance as food, water and shelter. 

Natural law teaches that contraception is morally illicit because it interferes with the very purpose of sex to begin with--its fruition in human life. Another way to look at it is...the purpose of your stomach is to digest food and you desire food because your body seeks health, just by its very nature. Who seeks death? The type of bulimic who on the other hand desires food and consumes food because it is pleasurable and then throws it up (even if it is on a schedule to ensure not taking in too many calories)...nearly everyone recognizes that there is a problem with this. Why? You are starting a process  with the intention of not finishing it. You are rolling the bowling ball down the lane with the intention and hope that you don't get a strike, batting with the intention of hitting a home run but not winning the game or....starting a war for the fun of getting in battles, but intending or, at least being open to, finishing it. 

After Vatican II, the Lamps of Europe Continue to be Extinguished

As we have clearly seen secularism grow in the United States (and support for it) in the past 4 years...and surely we will see it continue in the next 4, the effects of it are clear and still being seen in Europe. The difference is that in Europe the secularisation happened so much faster and during a time while the Church itself was open to various ideologies and didn't not hold its ground confidently, unlike the United States now where the bishops are holding on confidently to defending at least religious liberty.

From Rorate, the secularisation continues:

The Church of Vatican II: the lamps are going out all over Europe

1. In Vic (Catalonia, Spain), the Franciscans are leaving after nearly 800 years of continuous presence. On October 28, a farewell (new) Mass  for the Franciscans was celebrated in the Shrine of the Mother of God. (Source: Catalunya Religió - tip: La Cigüeña)

2. In Dieburg (Hesse, Germany), only four elderly Capuchins were left, and the local province decided to end 400 years of presence in the city; they are leaving in a couple of weeks. (Source: German Capuchin portal; tip: reader)

3. In Le Havre (Normandy, France), the large former convent, including a large chapel, that housed the Recollect Franciscans for over a century is about to be demolished. The last two friars left a few months ago, and the property was sold to investors. (Source: 76actu)

Obama Dividing the Church in America says Vigano

The nuncio to the United States made a few strongly worded statements a few days ago with regard to the attempt to advance secularism in the US...even going to far as to say "one party" has this as part of its basic principles.

‘He lamented the fact that many Catholics are publicly supporting “a major political party” that has “intrinsic evils among its basic principles.” 

“There is a divisive strategy at work here, an intentional dividing of the Church; through this strategy, the body of the Church is weakened, and thus the Church can be more easily persecuted,” the nuncio said. 

Archbishop Vigano observed that some influential Catholic public officials and university professors are allied with forces opposed to the Church’s fundamental moral teachings on “critical issues” like abortion, population control, the redefinition of marriage, embryonic stem cell research and “problematic adoptions.” [You also have the power to do something about that you know...]

He said it is a “grave and major problem” when self-professed Catholic faculty at Catholic institutions are the sources of teachings that conflict with Church teaching on important policy issues rather than defend it. 

The nuncio also discussed threats to religious liberty in the USA:

The nuncio said it is “essential” to pray for a just resolution to religious freedom controversies, including the controversy over the new federal mandate requiring many Catholic employers to provide morally objectionable insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some abortion-causing drugs. 

He cited a Massachusetts public school curriculum that required young students to take courses that presented same-sex relations as “natural and wholesome.” Civil authorities rejected parents’ requests for a procedure to exempt their children from the “morally unacceptable” classes. 

“If these children were to remain in public schools, they had to participate in the indoctrination of what the public schools thought was proper for young children,” the archbishop said. “Put simply, religious freedom was forcefully pushed aside once again.”

Catholic Charities agencies have also been kicked out of social service programs because they would not institute policies or practices that violate “fundamental moral principles of the Catholic faith.” 

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano talked about different manifestations of persecution:

Archbishop Vigano cited several countries that have witnessed severe persecution like China, Pakistan, India and the Middle East. He praised the martyrs past and present who would not compromise on “the principles of faith.” 

While some forms of persecution are violent and cruel, others aim to incapacitate the faith by encouraging people to renounce their beliefs or the public aspects of their faith, in the face of “great hardships.” [It has yet to be seen whether this type does strengthen the Church]

Fidelity to God and the Church has “hastened martyrdom and persecution for many believers of the past, and of today,” he said. 

“In all of these instances, we see that the faithful persist in their fidelity to Jesus Christ and his Holy Church! For throughout her history, the Church has gained strength when persecuted,” the archbishop said. 

Religious liberty is a human, civil and natural right that is not conferred by the state, he said, adding “religious freedom is the exercise of fidelity to God and his Holy Church without compromise.” 

“What God has given, the servant state does not have the competence to remove,” Archbishop Vigano affirmed. (Credit to CNS news)

The modern form of persecution he talks about I believe was specifically formulated to avoid the typical reaction Christians have when they are persecuted. This type of persecution is subtle and most don't care, just like when a frog is put in boiling water it jumps out...but when the heat is slowly turned up, the frog is cooked alive. Russia used to be a Christian land. Now look at it after communism. How's France doing after the Revolution?

I agree with Vigano on everything except I'm hesitant about that last point. The first thing we need is unity in the Church...and the bishops are the regulators of who is "in" and "out".

CNS is on a roll. Sacred Music and Mysterium Tremens (Part II)

Pope Benedict continues to try to promote a correct understanding of Vatican II. It did not intend to change every aspect of religious life. CNS continues to make good videos, in addition to these: 1, 2, 3.

If you are interested in this idea of the a non-rational conversion or conviction, consider this post made months ago: Faith or Feelings? A Non Rational Aspect of Religious Experience

Pontifical Academy of Latin Established

The long and short of it is that the Church's doctrine has always been available in many languages, even during its development in the Roman empire. However, the language which everything has been translated into and used as official was Latin. To not maintain knowledge of this, is to throw away the key to unlocking your past.

Apostolic Letter

given motu proprio

LATINA LINGUA

On the founding of a Pontifical Academy of the Latin language

1. The Latin language has continuously received the great esteem of the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiffs, inasmuch as they consider it their own language, and they have assiduously taken pains to make this language widely known, because it was capable of transmitting the message of the Gospel to the entire world, as our predecessor, Blessed John XXIII justly and rightly decreed in the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia.

Of course the Church from the time of Pentecost has spoken and prayed in all the languages of mankind. Nevertheless the Christian communities of the first centuries for the most part used the Greek and Latin languages, since in those places in which they dwelt these were the universal means of communication, and in this way the newness of the Word of Christ encountered the heritage of Roman and Hellenistic culture.

After the Roman Empire in the west ceased to exist, the Roman Church not only continued to use the Latin language but also in a certain way was the custodian and patronness of this language, in Theology and the Liturgy, as well as in the realm of education and the transmission of knowledge.

2. In our day as well a knowledge of the Latin language and culture is vital for looking into the springs from which very many branches of learning draw, such as Theology, liturgical studies, Patristics, and Canon Law, as the Second Vatican Council teaches (see the decree on the education of priests, Optatam Totius, 13).

Furthermore, to manifest the universal nature of the Church, the liturgical texts of the Roman Rite have their paradigmatic form in the Latin language, as do the principal documents of the Magisterium and the solemn, official acts of the Roman Pontiffs.

3. Nevertheless in today’s culture, in which humanistic studies have diminished, there is danger that the knowledge of Latin will be superficial, something which is noticed in the Theology and Philosophy curricula even of future priests. But on the other hand, in our world in which science and technology hold pride of place, a renewed interest in the Latin language and culture may be observed, and not only on those continents which have their cultural roots in the Greek and Latin patrimony. This is particularly remarkable because not only does this fresh interest involve the realm of universities and education, but it extends even to young people and to students from the most diverse nations and traditions.

4. For this reason it seems necessary to support efforts to learn the Latin language more deeply and to use it in a fitting fashion, whether in ecclesiastical affairs or in the broader field of culture. It is perfectly reasonable, for the success and propagation of these efforts, to employ new methods of teaching Latin that correspond to new conditions and to advance likewise the links among academic institutions and among students of the language, so that the rich and diverse patrimony of Latin may be promoted.

To attain this plan, we, following in the footsteps of our predecessors, establish a Pontifical Academy of Latin by means of this Apostolic Letter issued today motu proprio. This Academy will report to the Pontifical Council on Culture. A president will direct this Academy, assisted by a secretary and those nominated by us, while a council of academics will provide these aforementioned with their aid.

The Latinitas Foundation, established by Pope Paul VI with the letter Romani Sermonis on June 30, 1976, is suppressed.

We decree that this Apostolic Letter, given motu proprio, by which we approve the statutes below for a period of five years, be published in the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on November 10, 2012, the memorial of Pope Saint Leo the Great, in the eighth year of our Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

[With two minor formal alterations, this translation is gently provided by Ave Maria University's Department of Classics.]

* * *

[Statutes of the new Pontifical Academy:]

Pontificiae Academiae Latinitatis Statutum

Art. I

Pontificia Academia Latinitatis conditur, cuius sedes in Statu Civitatis Vaticanae locatur, quae linguam Latinam et cultum promoveat extollatque. Academia cum Pontificio Consilio de Cultura copulatur, cui est obnoxia.

Art. II

§ 1. Haec sunt Academiae proposita:

a) ut linguae litterarumque Latinarum, quae ad classicos, Christianos, mediaevales, humanisticos et recentissimos pertinent auctores, cognitionem iuvet studiumque provehat, praesertim apud catholica instituta, in quibus vel Seminarii tirones vel presbyteri instituuntur atque erudiuntur;

b) Ut provehat diversis in provinciis Latinae linguae usum, sive scribendo sive loquendo.

§ 2. Ut haec proposita consequatur, Academia studet:

a) scripta, conventus, studiorum congressiones, scaenica opera curare;

b) curricula, seminaria aliaque educationis incepta procurare, etiam iunctis viribus cum Pontificio Instituto Altioris Latinitatis;

c) hodierna quoque communicationis instrumenta in discipulis instituendis adhibere, ut sermonem Latinum perdiscant;

d) expositiones, exhibitiones et certamina apparare;

e) alia agere ac suscipere ad hoc Institutionis propositum assequendum.

Art. III

Pontificia Academia Latinitatis Praesidem, Secretarium, Consilium Academicum ac Sodales, qui Academici quoque nuncupantur, complectitur.

Art. IV

§ 1. Academiae Praeses a Summo Pontifice in quinquennium nominatur. Praesidis mandatum in alterum quinquennium renovari potest.

§ 2. Ad Praesidem spectat:

a) iure Academiae, etiam coram quavis iudiciali administrativaque auctoritate, sive canonica sive civili, partes agere;

b) Consilium Academicum et Sodalium Congressionem convocare eisque praesidere;

c) Congressionibus Coordinationis Academiarum Pontificiarum Sodalis loco interesse atque cum Pontificio Consilio de Cultura necessitudinem persequi;

d) Academiae rebus agendis praeesse;

e) ordinariae administrationi, Secretario opem ferente, atque extraordinariae administrationi, suffragante Consilio Academico necnon Pontificio Consilio de Cultura, consulere.

Art. V

§ 1. In quinquennium a Summo Pontifice nominatur Secretarius, qui in alterum quinquennium confirmari potest.

§ 2. Praeses, si forte absit vel impediatur, Secretarium delegat, ut ipsius vice fungatur.

Art. VI

§ 1. Consilium Academicum constituunt Praeses, Secretarius et quinque Consiliarii. Consiliarii autem a coetu Academicorum in quinquennium eliguntur, qui confirmari possunt.

§ 2. Consilium Academicum, cui Academiae Praeses praeficitur, de maioris ponderis quaestionibus, ad Academiam attinentibus, decernit. Ipsum Rerum agendarum ordinem comprobat, quae a Coetu Sodalium tractanda erunt, qui saltem semel in anno est convocandus. Consilium a Praeside convocatur semel in anno atque quotiescumque porro id saltem tres Consiliarii requirunt.

Art. VII

Praeses, suffragante Consilio, Archivarium, qui Bibliothecarii partes quoque agit, atque Thesaurarium nominare potest.

Art. VIII

§ 1. Academiam constituunt Sodales Ordinarii, qui numerum quinquaginta non excedunt et Academici vocantur, quique studiosi sunt cultoresque linguae ac litterarum Latinarum. Ii a Secretario Status nominantur. Cum autem Sodales Ordinarii octogesimum aetatis annum complent, Emeriti fiunt.

§ 2. Academici Ordinarii Academiae Coetui, a Praeside convocato, intersunt. Academici Emeriti Coetui interesse possunt, at sine suffragio.

§ 3. Praeter Academicos Ordinarios, Academiae Praeses, Consilio audito, alios Sodales nominare potest, qui "correspondentes" nuncupantur.

Art. IX

Aboliti Operis Fundati Latinitas patrimonium inceptaque, compositione editioneque commentariorum Latinitas addita, in Pontificiam Academiam Latinitatis transferuntur.

Art. X

Quae hic expresse non deliberantur, Codice Iuris Canonici et Status Civitatis Vaticanae legibus temperantur.

Bishop Paprocki Raises $10,000 For Vocations In Marathon Run

Bishop Paprocki Raises $10,000 For Vocations In Marathon Run

(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=26024)

ST. LOUIS, MO., November 10 (CNA) .- Bishop Thomas John Paprocki finished the St. Louis Rock-N-Roll Marathon on Oct. 21 in four hours, 22 minutes and 53 seconds. It was his 19th marathon.

"I placed 743 out of 1,749 overall ... and was 508 out of 931 in the men's division," said Bishop Paprocki in an email to employees at the Catholic Pastoral Center and Catholic Charities in Springfield. Additionally, he finished fifth out of 25 in his age division.

Bishop Paprocki ran with the LIFE Runners, the only pro-life marathon team in the nation.

"We had the largest team registered for the St. Louis Rock-N-Roll half/full marathon," said Air Force Lt. Col. Pat Castle, one of the co-founders of the LIFE Runners. He said that 245 LIFE Runners from 24 states geared up for the race. Another 245 LIFE Runners did other races across the country.

"Our 2012 team is up to 490 runners/walkers, ages 5 to 73, in 36 states and three foreign countries," Castle said. "We raised over $52,000 for our beneficiaries." LIFE Runner money was designated to St. Louis ThriVe baby bus, St. Louis Good Shepherd (which provides post-baby family support), and Sioux Falls Alpha Center baby bus.

In the marathon, Bishop Paprocki wore a LIFE Runners T-shirt and bib number 4165.

As the chaplain for the National LIFE Runners Team, he concelebrated Mass for the LIFE Runners and their families and friends at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and prayed the blessing before the race. He was also presented with the 2011 LIFE Runner of the Year Award.

Like all the LIFE Runners, he helped donate to the designated charities, but also raised money to be used locally for diocesan seminarians.

"To date, $10,000 has been donated in support of my marathon run for vocations to help pay for the education and formation of our seminarians," Bishop Paprocki said. "I am grateful for the generous support for the training of the future priests of our diocese."

Bishop Paprocki is already looking forward to his 20th marathon. He is planning to run the Crazy Horse Marathon in Hill City, S.D., on Oct. 6, 2013. Running with the LIFE Runners he will support pro-life causes but hopes to also once again support seminarians and says he would welcome seminarians and priests from the diocese who would run with him.

For information on pledging, go to www.dio.org/marathon.

Posted with permission from Catholic Times, official newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield, Ill.