Thursday, October 28, 2021

 THE CALL FOR SYNODS

Pope Francis’ call for a Church-wide synod is likely to put fear, even dread, into the hearts and minds of some members of the hierarchy  because it opens the door to raising possible  changes and challenges which have previously been “settled.”

Issues on the local as well as world-wide level (parish, diocese, episcopal conference, bureaus in the Vatican, Canon Law)  are likely to be raised and promoted when the opinions of the faithful at large are invited.

Segments of God’s people will call for the re-instatement of the ordained diaconate for women; some will question and reject Pope John Paul’s 1994 declaration that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful”; still others will humbly suggest that parish congregations should have some input in which priest is assigned as their pastor.

To many a Church-wide synod is opening a can of worms.

Pope Francis, however, in a 2015 speech at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops, said “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium,” and his praise for the synodal process was not confined to the hierarchy.

As the International Theological Commissions study of synodality in the life and mission of the Church has announced with papal approval, “The entire People of God is challenged by its fundamentally synodal calling” (#72 in the Commission’s document).

The Commission met between 2014 and 2017, and concluded by means of a written vote their approval of the text of their study.

A synod can be described as a Church assembly convoked “to discern, by the light of the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, the doctrinal, liturgical, canonical and pastoral questions that arise as time goes by” (4).

Now it is the admittedly daunting task of diocesan bishops to convoke such assemblies  as “an essential dimension of the Church” (42, 70).


Saturday, September 18, 2021

What would you do?

 If your car ran out of gas would you get rid of your car?

If you want to brighten your neighborhood at night would you begin by eliminating street lights?



Monday, August 23, 2021

Priest Shortage

 Many dioceses across the country are facing priest shortages. Diocesan bishops have been told there are programs to deal with the problem.

These programs tend to be based on a business model., even though the Church is a great deal more than a business. Francis of Assisi finally figured out what God meant by "Repair my Church."

The Church exists to build the kingdom of God on earth. The criteria for judging the building of  the kingdom differs from the criteria for building business. 

Without denying the need to deal with the problem, we have to ask, "What is the problem?"

The problem is not "We have too many parishes"  The problem is "We don't have enough priests." It's the priest shortage that needs attention.

Walmart (if you will allow a comparison to business) does not close stores because it doesn't have enough managers. It gets more managers. 

As  Pope Benedict XVI said on December 10, 2006,  "The parish is a beacon that radiates the light of  the faith and thus responds to the deepest and truest desires of the human heart, giving meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families."

Closing parishes extinguishes beacons that radiate the light of faith. Isn't that counter-productive? 

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The Pontius Pilate Syndrome

 Lies, lies, lies --from political ads to scam phone calls about compromised social security numbers..

Truth has become the victim. 

Among many people the end justifies the means.

"It's All About Me:" has become the theme song of a disappointingly large segment of the population.

Rioting in the streets, looting, destruction of property are justified by selfishness and the demise of reason.

Opinions are no longer conclusions drawn from a search for what is true and moral. The assumption "I'm entitled to my own opinion" is used to justify prejudice, greed, self-indulgence, hatred.

It is disheartening to be bombarded by mendacious, manipulating, and misleading reports and rumors.

It must have been more than frustrating for Jesus when he explained to the Roman procurator that he had come into the world "to testify to the truth" only to hear Pontius Pilate respond, "What is truth?"

Covid-19 has been a threat for all humanity, but I have come to believe that a culture of lying is an even greater danger.

Whom do you trust?

Jesus' affirmed, "I am the way, the truth and the life."

It is to him that we must turn.





Friday, July 3, 2020

Damnatio Memoriae




I suspect many in the cohorts of iconoclasts destroying the statues, memorials and icons of our country’s history are bent on their destruction because they have no vested interest in modern America.



Past generations struggled to form this “one nation under God.” People from across the Atlantic and the Pacific came to the shores of the new world, enticed by the hope of living under a government that was dedicated to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And they paid a price for that dream.



Wars, economic depression, social philosophies that would undermine freedom were frequent threats to the hopes, dreams and promises which made up the American spirit. And the cost of protection and preservation was high.



Perhaps because the current generation of iconoclasts received rather than earned the peace and prosperity that the United States preserves, they can easily find fault with and eagerly dismantle the gift they have been given.



No thinking American can deny the nation’s many faults and failings. Slavery, racial discrimination, and unjust legislation have pockmarked the face of the nation. Many of the historical memorials and statues have reflected both America’s failures and defeats, but each is preserved to record a stage in the development of what many of us nonetheless consider “the world’s best hope.”



I suspect that part of the effort to blot out our history (damnatio memoriae) by destruction of icons is the result of a loss of historical perspective and personal investment in the home of the free and the brave. Education is failing us.



 It is so much easier to destroy than to build.



And two other corollaries may also come into play: 1) Those filled with hate can’t think straight; and 2) as historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., once opined, “We suffer today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Archbishop Vignao's Analysis of the Times and Situation Facing the U.S.

The following is the June 7, 2020, letter to President Donald Trump from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.




June 7, 2020

Holy Trinity Sunday

Mr. President,

            In recent months we have been witnessing the formation of two opposing sides that I would call Biblical: the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light constitute the most conspicuous part of humanity, while the children of darkness represent an absolute minority. And yet the former are the object of a sort of discrimination which places them in a situation of moral inferiority with respect to their adversaries, who often hold strategic positions in government, in politics, in the economy and in the media. In an apparently inexplicable way, the good are held hostage by the wicked and by those who help them either out of self-interest or fearfulness.

            These two sides, which have a Biblical nature, follow the clear separation between the offspring of the Woman and the offspring of the Serpent. On the one hand there are those who, although they have a thousand defects and weaknesses, are motivated by the desire to do good, to be honest, to raise a family, to engage in work, to give prosperity to their homeland, to help the needy, and, in obedience to the Law of God, to merit the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, there are those who serve themselves, who do not hold any moral principles, who want to demolish the family and the nation, exploit workers to make themselves unduly wealthy, foment internal divisions and wars, and accumulate power and money: for them the fallacious illusion of temporal well-being will one day – if they do not repent – yield to the terrible fate that awaits them, far from God, in eternal damnation.

In society, Mr. President, these two opposing realities co-exist as eternal enemies, just as God and Satan are eternal enemies. And it appears that the children of darkness – whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you in these days – have decided to show their cards, so to speak, by now revealing their plans. They seem to be so certain of already having everything under control that they have laid aside that circumspection that until now had at least partially concealed their true intentions. The investigations already under way will reveal the true responsibility of those who managed the Covid emergency not only in the area of health care but also in politics, the economy, and the media. We will probably find that in this colossal operation of social engineering there are people who have decided the fate of humanity, arrogating to themselves the right to act against the will of citizens and their representatives in the governments of nations.



We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population. The same thing is also happening in Europe, in perfect synchrony. It is quite clear that the use of street protests is instrumental to the purposes of those who would like to see someone elected in the upcoming presidential elections who embodies the goals of the deep state and who expresses those goals faithfully and with conviction. It will not be surprising if, in a few months, we learn once again that hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom: Solve et Coagula, as the Masonic adage teaches.

            Although it may seem disconcerting, the opposing alignments I have described are also found in religious circles. There are faithful Shepherds who care for the flock of Christ, but there are also mercenary infidels who seek to scatter the flock and hand the sheep over to be devoured by ravenous wolves. It is not surprising that these mercenaries are allies of the children of darkness and hate the children of light: just as there is a deep state, there is also a deep church that betrays its duties and forswears its proper commitments before God. Thus the Invisible Enemy, whom good rulers fight against in public affairs, is also fought against by good shepherds in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is a spiritual battle, which I spoke about in my recent Appeal which was published on May 8.

 For the first time, the United States has in you a President who courageously defends the right to life, who is not ashamed to denounce the persecution of Christians throughout the world, who speaks of Jesus Christ and the right of citizens to freedom of worship. Your participation in the March for Life, and more recently your proclamation of the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, are actions that confirm which side you wish to fight on. And I dare to believe that both of us are on the same side in this battle, albeit with different weapons.



For this reason, I believe that the attack to which you were subjected after your visit to the National Shrine of Saint John Paul II is part of the orchestrated media narrative which seeks not to fight racism and bring social order, but to aggravate dispositions; not to bring justice, but to legitimize violence and crime; not to serve the truth, but to favor one political faction. And it is disconcerting that there are Bishops – such as those whom I recently denounced – who, by their words, prove that they are aligned on the opposing side. They are subservient to the deep state, to globalism, to aligned thought, to the New World Order which they invoke ever more frequently in the name of a universal brotherhood which has nothing Christian about it, but which evokes the Masonic ideals of those want to dominate the world by driving God out of the courts, out of schools, out of families, and perhaps even out of churches.

            The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters. However, it is important that the good – who are the majority – wake up from their sluggishness and do not accept being deceived by a minority of dishonest people with unavowable purposes. It is necessary that the good, the children of light, come together and make their voices heard. What more effective way is there to do this, Mr. President, than by prayer, asking the Lord to protect you, the United States, and all of humanity from this enormous attack of the Enemy? Before the power of prayer, the deceptions of the children of darkness will collapse, their plots will be revealed, their betrayal will be shown, their frightening power will end in nothing, brought to light and exposed for what it is: an infernal deception.

 Mr. President, my prayer is constantly turned to the beloved American nation, where I had the privilege and honor of being sent by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Nuncio. In this dramatic and decisive hour for all of humanity, I am praying for you and also for all those who are at your side in the government of the United States. I trust that the American people are united with me and you in prayer to Almighty God.

            United against the Invisible Enemy of all humanity, I bless you and the First Lady, the beloved American nation, and all men and women of good will. 

+ Carlo Maria ViganĂ²  Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana,  Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

Saturday, May 9, 2020

Personal Sacrifice During Pandemic


It’s encouraging to hear of the many, many examples of people reaching out to others during the pandemic lockdown.

Today's pandemic and subsequent lockdown provide ample arena for practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy, the criteria by which we will be judged worthy or unworthy of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven  (cf Mt 25:31-46).


Instead of expecting the government to respond to every need, our fellow citizens are finding ways of providing food, offering support, and mitigating loneliness and isolation for family, neighbors and even strangers.


The stories of taking on personal responsibility to assist others remind me of one of Peter Maurin’s “easy essays.”


Maurin was the French peasant with social action concerns who teamed up with Dorothy Day to begin the Catholic Worker movement.


Maurin wrote brief essays, in a poetic form, for The Catholic Worker newspaper. Though he died in 1949 his vision, critique and advice are still au currant for our day.


The essay which strikes an obvious chord today was titled “At A Sacrifice.”

In the first centuries

of Christianity

the hungry were fed

at a personal sacrifice,

the naked were clothed

at a personal sacrifice,

the homeless were sheltered

at personal sacrifice.

And because the poor

were fed, clothes and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice,

the pagans used to say

about the Christians

“See how they love each other.”

In our own day

the poor are no longer

fed, clothed and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice,

but at the expense

of the taxpayers.

And because the poor

are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered

at a personal sacrifice

the pagans say about the Christians

“See how they pass the buck.”