Cardinal Avrey Dulles, S.J. On Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J.

Fr. Karl Rahner, S.J.

In September 1968 issue of the America magazine, Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J. summarized the views of his fellow Jesuit, Karl Rahner S.J., published in Stimmen der Zeit, on the then recently published encyclical of Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae.

 

In the first place, Rahner points out that Human Life cannot reasonably be considered irreformable doctrine. But this does not mean that it may be ignored. Since Catholics believe that the magisterium ordinarily operates under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the presumption should be in favor of the Pope’s declaration. Any such presumption, however, must also allow of the possibility that a Catholic can arrive at a carefully formed and critically tested conviction that in a given case the fallible magisterium has in fact erred. 

Nobody today denies that there are cases in which official, reformable teaching of the Holy See has in fact been erroneous. As examples, Rahner cites the views of Gregory XVI and Pius IX on liberal democracy, and various statements about the Bible issued in the aftermath of the Modernist crisis. It cannot therefore be assumed that a Catholic who conscientiously opposes the non-infallible doctrine of the magisterium, as it stands at a given moment, is necessarily disloyal.

 (In this connection an American Catholic might think of the long struggle of John Courtney Murray to obtain revision of certain papal pronouncements on Church-State relations.) In the present case, Rahner continues, the complexity of the issue is such that no one opposed to the encyclical can claim absolute certainty for his own stand. But it is normal and inevitable that some should be unable to accept the pope’s doctrine. The encyclical, although it claims to be an interpretation of the natural law, does not in fact give very persuasive intrinsic arguments. The encyclical seems to look on human nature as something static and closed–not open to modification by free and responsible human decision. But for some time many moral theologians have been teaching that what is distinctive to human nature, as distinct from plant and animal life, is precisely man’s power to modify his own nature according to the demands of a higher good. The pope, in fact, seems to allow for a measure of rational manipulation of human fertility in permitting the practice of rhythm and the use of the “pill” to regularize the menstrual cycle. Undoubtedly this differs somewhat from the use of the pill for directly contraceptive purposes, but in some instances the distinction is so subtle that many will regard it as hair-splitting. Since a notable majority of the Papal Commission is known to have come out against the position later taken in the encyclical, one can hardly expect the majority of Catholics to find the reasoning of Human Life convincing. 

Link (here) to the Monk's Hobbit

Regis High School Student Wins Olympic Gold Medal In Swimming

Melissa "Missy" Franklin

Missy Franklin didn't let a heavy heart slow her down. The 17-year-old swimmer, already a member of a bronze-winning relay team on Saturday, won the women's 100-meter backstroke today, making her first individual Olympic medal a gold one, but the high school student from Aurora, Colo., also must have been thrilled to provide some cheer for her still-grieving hometown. "Right now, all of my races are dedicated back home to Colorado," 

Franklin, who will be a senior at Regis Jesuit High School, 

told the Los Angeles Times last week in the wake of the July 20 shooting at a Dark Knight Rises screening in Aurora that left 12 people dead and 58 injured. "No matter how well I do, I'm going to give my best in every single race, and every single race, I'm going to have that Colorado incident on my mind." Happily, Franklin has been radiating good vibes since her arrival in London.

Link (here) to Eonline.com

Latin Mass

Fr. William V. Blazek, S.J., newly ordained for the Jesuit Chicago-Detroit province, celebrated his first Solemn High Mass (Traditional Mass) on June 24 (Nativity of St. John the Baptist) at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton, MA.  Serving as deacon was Fr. Charles J. Higgins of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes.  Serving as sub-deacon was Fr. John Rizzo, FSSP, visiting from his assignment in Australia. The music for the Mass included Mozart's Missa Brevis in C KV 220 ("Spatzenmesse") and full Gregorian chant propers. 

The parish of Mary Immaculate has been blessed with then Deacon Blazek's service since last fall and now Fr. Blazek's service until he embarks for a longer-term assignment in the coming fall. 

 The Traditional Mass is celebrated daily at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, including a Solemn High Mass every Sunday at 10:30am

Link (here) to Rorate Caeli

80 Years Of Jesuit Run Vatican Radio

Guglielmo Marconi and Fr. Giuseppe Gianfranceschi, S.J.

Vatican Radio, which is managed by the Society of Jesus, celebrated 80 years of broadcasting earlier this month. The station debuted with a broadcast of Pope Pius XI in Latin on February, 12, 1931. Jesuit Father Giuseppe Gianfranceschi was the first director of Vatican Radio, and today Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi holds the position. To commemorate the anniversary, there is an exhibition at the Vatican Museums and a book on the history of the last 30 years will be published in September. Fr. Lombardi explained why the pope wanted the radio station created: “To talk freely across borders in an age in which totalitarianism was spreading, there was Bolshevism in the East, there was Nazism on the horizon, there was Fascism and so on. Being able to speak freely with people around the world, also in particular, churches that were experiencing difficulty or being persecuted, was absolutely vital. Vatican Radio is a place in which many people prepare the news and information in different languages to give the pope and the church a voice in today’s world,” Lombardi said.

Link (here) 

Boston College: Gun-Toting and Pot Smoking

An Earth and Environmental Sciences professor at Boston College was suspended after allegedly threatening to bomb mining properties during a geological research trip with a number of students to a remote part of Northern Canada, according to The Boston Globe. On top of the allegations of threats,  Professor Dominic Papineau also faces charges of carrying a hunting rifle without the correct permits and possessing a small amount of marijuana, according to reports. Professor Papineau was suspended by the college pending the outcome of a criminal investigation, according to The Globe. Papineau was reportedly among a group protesting a government-led development project in the region. The professor called the charges “totally bogus” in an interview, and said they were the result of someone misinterpreting a joke that he had made.

“It’s totally bogus,” he told The Globe. “The idea of blowing up the mine, I was saying that as a joke. I was kidding. Someone misinterpreted what I said … I said a bad thing at the wrong time.” Papineau also reportedly said he had not realized the permits required to carry guns in Canada had changed since he was last in Canada.

Link (here) The Cardinal Newman Society

Meth Labs, Fluke And Sensitivity Training At Georgetown University

Harbin Hall Georgetown

Georgetown University is no stranger to scandals. In 2010 a meth lab was discovered in one of the student dorms (Harbin Hall) and Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student drew major attention to the school when she appeared in a hearing to discuss birth control; specifically the Jesuit institution’s refusal to cover birth control under the student health care plan. Could yet another scandal be brewing?

Enter the Community Scholars Program at the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access. The CSP reaches out to disadvantaged youth and provides full scholarships and assistance for to GU. By all accounts it is a wonderful program that has great intentions and has helped many young people achieve their dream of attending college. Here is how they explain themselves at their website: 

The Community Scholars Program provides Georgetown students with the unique opportunity to thrive. Scholars are carefully selected during the admissions process based on their academic achievement, impressive co-curricular accomplishments, and commitment to the transformative power of education. They typically represent diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and are often first generation college students.

Scholars attend a five-week summer intensive on campus to prepare for the upcoming school year. .

Here is what is listed at the website as the course curriculum.

• The summer residential component is constructed around two credit-bearing courses – Humanities and Writing 009, and a second Summer School course. The Humanities and Writing course is an intensive critical-reading and writing course taught by Georgetown faculty with graduate-student writing tutors. A second Summer Session course, chosen by each student’s academic dean, provides participants with an opportunity to get a head start on their credit hours before beginning their first semester. Courses include Theology, Philosophy, Government, and Math, depending on their school and intended course of study.
• Scholars live in a residence hall along with Resident Advisors, who provide an extended orientation to life at Georgetown.
• Continuation of Humanities and Writing 009 course into the Fall semester. This course counts as six (6) credits.
• Fourth Hour Study Group for Core Courses – Led by former students who excelled in the course. Fourth hour support will be offered for Microeconomics, Chemistry and Calculus.
• Freshman Year Support – This support includes mandatory attendance at College Readiness Seminar Series, meetings with the Academic Advisor, and various social events.
• Ongoing Support - Ongoing activities throughout the remainder of a Scholar’s Georgetown career, including one-on-one meetings with the Academic Advisor; special faculty seminars; cultural and social outings; and community service opportunities.    

Sounds pretty basic. What is not included in this summary is one other workshop that students were required to attend as a part of the CSP. It was an LBGT “Sensitivity Training” course and apparently it was a requirement for students attending the program. According to multiple sources who wish to remain anonymous, although many students were uncomfortable about being forced to attend the training they were told they would face disciplinary action if they did not participate. One student who has yet to be officially named refused and was allegedly escorted off campus by Georgetown Campus Police. He was expelled from the summer program but there is a possibility he will still be eligible to attend regular classes in the fall.  And in case you were wondering if this is true, here is video taken at the actual workshop and slipped to us exclusively here at kiradavis.net. Also see Talitha McEachin’s reporting on this story for more info.

Confusion In Omaha

Creighton University Medical Center

Creighton University, located in Omaha, Nebraska, recently embarked on a partnership with the Phoenix hospital to establish a regional campus of Creighton’s School of Medicine. This was disturbing to many because in 2010, Bishop Olmsted stripped St. Joseph’s of its status as a “Catholic” hospital after Mercy Sister Margaret McBride, who served on the hospital’s ethics panel, approved of an abortion because the mother was suffering from severe hypertension. That abortion led to the excommunication of Sr. McBride and the hospital’s loss of its status as a “Catholic” hospital. Because Creighton University is a Catholic institution, the recently announced partnership, Olmsted said, “led to some confusion” which he sought to clarify with this statement:

It has been recently announced that Creighton University has established a medical school in conjunction with St. Joseph’s Hospital. This has led to some confusion since Creighton University is a Catholic institution. Thus, to ensure clarity on the issue, I wish to affirm to all of the faithful that St. Joseph’s Hospital is not a Catholic institution. Secondly, St. Joseph’s Hospital does not faithfully adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Catholics, and all people of good will, are advised that they cannot be guaranteed authentic Catholic health care at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Bishop Olmsted prohibited the celebration of Mass on the hospital’s campus and had the Blessed Sacrament removed from the hospital’s chapel in 2010. As the bishop of Phoenix, Bishop Olmsted does not have jurisdiction over the university.  Calls to the Archdiocese of Omaha were not returned at the time of publication.

Link (here) to read the full Cardinal Newman Society Report

If Finn Gets

Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, will be tried on charges that he failed to report suspicions that one of his priests might be an abuser. If Finn is convicted, he would be the first bishop ever found guilty in the abuse scandal. “If Finn gets convicted, that is certainly going to send a message” to other church officials, said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and political scientist who is a fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Link (here) to The Washington Post

An independent rock band named Jesuit (here)

Pere Pierre Cholenec, S.J., Pere Claude Chauchetière, S.J. And The Lily Of The Mohawks

Lily of the Mohawks

The Jesuits’ record of  Catherine or Kateri Tekakwitha states that she was a shy and modest girl who avoided social gatherings and wore a blanket over her head because of the small pox that had destroyed her skin as a child. After smallpox killed her mother, father and brother and scarred her face she was adopted by family members. Tekakwitha was very skilled with traditional women’s work, which included making clothing, belts, mats, baskets, boxes, and preparing food, and a part of seasonal planting and intermittent weeding. Pressured to consider marriage around age 13, she would not agree to it and ran away. Although she had to suffer greatly for her faith, the young woman remained devout. Rejected at by her family and neighbours, Tekakwitha went to Kahnawake, the new aboriginal Christian colony in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at 4 a.m. and remained there until after the last mass. She was devoted to the eucharist (communion) and to Jesus crucified. Claude Chauchetière and Pierre Cholenec were Jesuit priests who played important roles in Tekakwitha’s life. Both were based in New France, an area which was considered dangerous and unappealing, due to wars with the Iroquois and the cold weather. Cholenec was present in New France before Chauchetière, having left for Canada in 1672. Both Chauchetière and Catherine arrived in Kahnawake in 1677. Chauchetière was the first to write a biography of Tekakwitha’s life, followed by Cholenec Chauchetière wrote that he was very impressed by Catherine. He had not expected an aboriginal to be so pious and he was certain Tekakwitha was a saint. 

Jesuits then believed that natives needed the guidance of Christians in order to be set on the right path. Chauchetière says that such close contact with natives in Kahnawake changed some of his set notions about aboriginals – mainly his ideas about human difference.

Tekakwitha died on April 17, 1680, at 24. Devotion to Tekakwitha is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the U.S.A. and Canada. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Tekakwitha erected at both St. Francis Xavier and Caughnawaga and at her birth place. Pilgrimages at these sites continue today and she is also honoured at the yearly Lac Ste. Anne Pilgrimage.

Link (here) to  Mayerthorpe Freelancr

A Jesuits Role In The Faith And Progess Of Souls In Christian Life And Doctrine

The 35 General Congregation

The Jesuit is a member of a Society founded chiefly for this purpose: to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. 

 Exposcit debitum of Pope Julius III, July 21, 1550

From experience, the Society has learned that pivotal to its fidelity in chastity has been the strong though humble and simple devotion to the Blessed Virgin that has flourished among us since the time of St. Ignatius. 

General Congregation 34, "Chastity in the Society of Jesus," §247

 Although serving God our Lord much out of pure love is to be esteemed above all, we ought to praise much the fear of His Divine Majesty, because not only filial fear is a thing pious and most holy, but even servile fear -- when the man reaches nothing else better or more useful -- helps much to get out of mortal sin. And when he is out, he easily comes to filial fear, which is all acceptable and grateful to God our Lord: as being at one with the Divine Love. 

Saint Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 18

When Ignatius wondered in Barcelona whether he should study and how much, it was a question of whether after his studies he should enter a religious order or go through the world as he was. And when he thought of entering a religious order, then he thought and desired to enter one that was corrupt and unreformed ... to be able to suffer more, and also perhaps thinking that God would help them.

 Autobiography of Saint Ignatius Loyola, §71

The fervour that characterized our beginnings, manifested in Ignatius and in his friends in the Lord, must also be apparent in our present day. Father Nadal, speaking in the name of the first Jesuits, noted that the Society is a light shining forth from Christ. It fills our beings, arouses strong desires and urges us to work for the salvation of all in a mission received from the Vicar of Christ on earth.

 Introductory Allocution of Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach 

 to the Congregation of Procurators, Sept 17, 1999.

Today the Jesuit is a man whose mission is to dedicate himself entirely to the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

 General Congregation 32, "Our Mission Today," §41

In like manner, we are to [call to mind the] sin of one who went to hell because of one mortal sin. Consider also countless others who have been lost for fewer sins than I have committed.... Enter into conversation with Christ our Lord. Recall to memory that of those who are in hell; some came there because they did not believe in the coming of Christ; others, though they believed, because they did not keep the commandments. 

St. Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, §§52, 71.

In the years after final vows, the ordained Jesuit experiences all the pressures and complexities of priestly ministry in the Society: he will probably be engaged in a ministry which makes constant and exhausting demands on him.

 General Congregation 34, "Jesuit Identity and Ministerial Priesthood," §189

Such men should be appointed superiors who enjoy a good reputation and authority among their subjects. 

Complementary Norms, 340

We do not publish this decree because we judge that infidelity in chastity is widespread within the Society of Jesus. On the contrary, we are convinced that, despite the challenges and testings of these years, fidelity in chastity characterizes the life of the Society today as it has characterized it in the past. 

General Congregation 34, "Chastity in the Society of Jesus," §228

It would be unreasonable for traveling Jesuits to expect local people to view their conduct as it would be understood in their own native land. 

General Congregation 34, "Chastity in the Society of Jesus," §255

Respect for the dignity of the human person created in the Image of God underlies the growing international consciousness of the full range of human rights. 

General Congregation 34, "Our Mission and Justice," §55

And touching our Society, be it known that we have made a league -- all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude most overreach all the practices of England -- cheerfully to the carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while he have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons.

 Saint Edmund Campion, S.J., final address to the Privy Council, 1581

The Society expects from every Jesuit not only fidelity to his vows but the normal public signs of this fidelity. Jesuits should embody in their ministry and in their lives an unequivocal "professional" conduct (modestia) that manifests their commitments as priests and as religious. Their manner of proceeding -- both as a community and as individuals -- ought to preclude any ambiguity about their lives, enabling those to whom they minister to rely instinctively upon their disinterestedness and fidelity. 

General Congregation 34, "Chastity in the Society of Jesus," 187

As servants of the Gospel, we are channels of the creative Spirit working in and through our persons to build the body of Christ. 

Introductory Allocution of Father General to the Congregation of Procurators, Sept 17, 1999

Obedience is to be offered by all promptly, cheerfully, and in a supernatural spirit, as to Christ.... Our holy Father Saint Ignatius desired that we should all excel in the virtue of obedience. Accordingly, with all our force and energy we should strive to obey, first, the Sovereign Pontiff, and then the superiors of the Society, not only in matters of obligation, but also in others, even at the mere hint of the superior's will, apart from any express command. 

General Congregation 31, "The Life of Obedience," §277f.

 In the light of our tradition, we can say that no ministry which prepares the way for the Kingdom or which helps to arouse faith in the Gospel is outside the scope of Jesuit priests. In recent years we have come to recognize that it is for the priest, as sign and minister of the Lord's active presence, to be present in or to collaborate with all human efforts which help in establishing the Kingdom. 

General Congregation 34, "Jesuit Identity and the Ministerial Priesthood," §172

Since Vatican Council II, at the request of the Church itself, consecrated life has not ceased being in motion. Still today, even under the pen of certain of our confreres, publications are not lacking which describe our deeds, and especially our misdeeds, in this time of permanent upheaval, showing a certain nostalgia for the times of stability, when the orientation of a religious institute seemed more sure of itself. 

Final Allocution of Father General to the Congregation of Procurators, Sept 23, 1999.

The mission of the Society derives from our continuing experience of the Crucified and Risen Christ who invites us to join him in preparing the world to become the completed Kingdom of God. The focus of Christ's mission is the prophetic proclamation of the Gospel that challenges people in the name of the Kingdom of his Father; we are to preach that Kingdom in poverty. 

General Congregation 34, "Servants of Christ's Mission," §31

 Few are called to the life of a Jesuit, but for the man who is called, chastity only makes sense as a means to greater love, to a more authentic apostolic charity. 

General Congregation 34, "Chastity in the Society of Jesus," 236

 Each Jesuit enriches the Society's mission and contributes to what Saint Paul calls "the priestly service of the Gospel of God." 

General Congregation 34, "Jesuit Identity and Ministerial Priesthood," §163

In Jesus Christ, we can accept the magnitude of this challenge: to work at the integration of faith and justice, to strive to understand how the Gospel is to be inculturated, to embark with new zeal on the task of interreligious dialogue, to continue to join our professional and pastoral skills to the Ignatian way of proceeding. The Crucified Jesus reminds us that in weakness and vulnerability God's love can shine forth mightily. 

General Congregation 34, "United with Christ on Mission," §7

No community life is possible, however, and no renewal can be truly fruitful unless each Jesuit "keep before his eyes God, and the nature of this Institute which he has embraced and which is, so to speak, a pathway to God." His vocation summons each Jesuit to find privileged time and space to pray with Christ, as friend to friend, learning from this encounter how to be a servant of his mission. 

General Congregation 34, "United with Christ on Mission," §11

The task for the Jesuit priest, in the midst of these multiple demands, is to continue a life of faith and a generous and humble service of Christ. Even if he is not primarily involved in direct pastoral service of others, it will help him to keep his priestly identity alive if he is able to minister regularly to a sacramental community; lay people, especially the poor, build the personal faith of those who serve them.

 General Congregation 34, "Jesuit Identity and Ministerial Priesthood", §190

In these years, throughout the Society, we have been purified in the faith by which we live, and have grown in our understanding of our central mission. Our service, especially among the poor, has deepened our life of faith, both individually and as a body: our faith has become more paschal, more compassionate, more tender, more evangelical in its simplicity. 

General Congregation 34, "Servants of Christ's Mission", §15

We never go into politics, never; politics as such. It is true we try, for instance today, in the whole question of international justice, to help the underdeveloped countries and so forth. We are for truth, for justice. If you call politics this high idea of justice, fine. But if you speak of politics in the sense of parties, or working for governments, we are completely out of this. 

Father General Pedro Arrupe, S.J., in a BBC interview by Malcolm Muggeridge, January 25, 1970

I think former Jesuits are Jesuits. You don't leave. I really believe that. Ignatius recognized that laymen are the core of the Society. Although it's not necessarily true canonically, I would say they are Jesuits.

 Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., quoted in Company Magazine, Fall 2000, p. 22.

 Nor can it be said that the pope was speaking of matters that do not involve our faith, since the essence of his teaching directly concerns the human and divine dignity of man and of love. In the enormous crisis of growth which envelops the whole world, the pope himself has been what the entire Church must be, and Vatican II affirmed, "both a sign and a safeguard of the transcendence of the human person" (Gaudium et Spes, §76). For this reason the service we as Jesuits owe to the Holy Father and to the Church is at the same time a service we owe to humanity itself. 

Letter of Father General Pedro Arrupe, S.J. to the whole Society, 
on the encyclical Humanae vitae, in Acta Romana Societatis Iesu. Vol. XV, Fasc. II, 1968

Link (here) to the must read full post at WFF

When you are finished and have returned from reading the full article, go (here) and watch the PBS video of Fr. James Martin, S.J. and Joseph Fessio, S.J. debate some of the issues mentioned.

Celebrity Jesuit Objects To The United States Constitution

The Second Amendment permits the private ownership of guns (though I doubt that the need for a “well-regulated militia” envisioned by the framers of the Constitution translates into easy access to assault weapons.)  But there is nothing to say that more stringent gun control laws that could prevent such horrible crimes cannot be judiciously balanced with constitutional rights. The Christian outlook on this of course has less to do with self-defense and more to do with the defense of the other person.  Jesus asks us to love our enemies, not to murder them; to pray for them, not to take vengeance; and he commends the peacemakers among us, not those advocating for more and more and more weapons.  Was Jesus naïve?  I wonder about that.  I often marvel how some Christians can say that in one breath, and proclaim him as the Son of God in the next.  Apparently, some believe that the Second Person of the Trinity didn’t know what he was talking about.  But Jesus lived in a violent time himself, under the heel of Roman rule in an occupied land, when human life was seen as cheap.  Jesus witnessed violence and was himself the victim of violence—the most famous person to suffer the death penalty.  It was not only divine inspiration but also human experience that led him to say: Blessed are the peacemakers.  Why am I saying this now?  Not because I want to score political points.  But because this week’s shootings horrified me, and reminded me of the need for religious people who stand for life, and for churches who stand for life, to stand for life at all times.  Why haven’t I written as much on other life issues?  Because the Catholic church’s stance on most of those issues is well known.  By contrast, religious leaders have seemed relatively silent on this other life issue.  Perhaps it is the kairos, as Jesus said: the right time, in this case for religious people to pray about these issues in a new light.

This stance will most likely be unpopular politically.  Some on the political right will object my stance on firmer gun control.  Some of the political left will object to my stance on abortion.  But that doesn't bother me, because I am not political.  I am religious.

Link (here) to the full post by Fr. James Martin, S.J. at the politically left leaning America Magazine.

Peace Jesuit Anarchist Sub Base Comic

Poor Richard's Mammoth Sunflower Practical Growing Guide

For Jesuit Priests, Catholic Nuns and other Anarchist Infiltrator Peace Activists (of TERROR!)

Link (here) to the original website mocking Jesuit Fathers Kelly and Bischel

Diocese Of Yakima Pays 205K In Case Involving Jesuit

The Catholic Diocese of Yakima agreed last month to pay $205,000 to a woman who sued over sexual abuse she said took place at the hands of a Jesuit priest in the 1970s. 

The woman, identified as M.P. in the suit filed in April 2010 in Yakima County Superior Court, settled last year with the Jesuits for $288,000. Both suits stem from abuse she said occurred in 1977 when she was 8 years old at St. Joseph’s Parish, which was run by the Jesuits until last summer. The priest in question, Fr. Francis Duffy, S.J., had been accused of molesting girls in Oregon before he was transferred to Yakima, where he served until 1989. He died in 1992.

The woman’s lawyer, Bryan Smith of Tamaki Law Offices in Yakima, hailed the settlement as an overdue acknowledgment of responsibility. Previously, he said, the diocese had placed all of the blame for Duffy’s abuse on the Jesuits. "The Yakima Diocese had not acknowledged any type of responsibility for Father Duffy despite the fact he preached in this town under their supervision for 20 years," Smith said. The Rev. Robert Siler, diocese chief of staff, characterized the settlement differently. The diocese needs "to prudently protect its legal rights" and taking the matter to court could have proved costly. But the diocese was unaware Duffy had abused anyone when he came to Yakima, Siler said. "We simply did not know," he said. 

The settlement, he noted, does not mean the diocese has accepted legal responsibility."Consistently, the Jesuits have always accepted responsibility for assigning and supervising the priests they’ve had come to Yakima," Siler said. The lawsuit acknowledged that the diocese may not have known, but still asserted that it bore responsibility. "We never got a jury determination on that," Smith said. "It’s our position that they knew or should have known. ... There is a long history of the diocese knowing about abuse committed within its jurisdiction and borders and doing nothing about it." 

Over the past decade, the diocese has confirmed the names of more than a dozen clergymen who have served in the diocese and who have been publicly accused of sexual abuse. And, though the diocese did not accept legal liability in this settlement, Bishop Joseph Tyson wrote a letter of apology to the woman and has offered to meet with her for discussion and counsel, Siler said. "We’re very sorry for any abuse the victim has suffered, particularly any abuse at the hand of Father Duffy," he said. But that language, "any abuse," falls short of the true mea culpa Smith said he would like to see from the diocese. Still, despite the diocese not taking legal responsibility, his client is relieved with the outcome, he said. "Any time the church pays money to settle a case, it’s an acknowledgment of wrongdoing," Smith said. "That’s how I view it."

Link (here) to The Yakima Herald

Fr. Bernard Basset, S.J. On The Council Of Nicea

The Nicean Creed in Greek

The year 325 is accepted without hesitation as that of the First Council of Nicaea. There is less agreement among our early authorities as to the month and day of the opening. In order to reconcile the indications furnished by Socrates and by the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, this date may, perhaps, be taken as 20 May, and that of the drawing up of the symbol as 19 June. It may be assumed without too great hardihood that the synod, having been convoked for 20 May, in the absence of the emperor held meetings of a less solemn character until 14 June, when after the emperor's arrival, the sessions properly so called began, the symbol being formulated on 19 June, after which various matters - the paschal controversy, etc. - were dealt with, and the sessions came to an end 25 August. The Council was opened by Constantine with the greatest solemnity. The emperor waited until all the bishops had taken their seats before making his entry. He was clad in gold and covered with precious stones in the fashion of an Oriental sovereign. A chair of gold had been made ready for him, and when he had taken his place the bishops seated themselves. After he had been addressed in a hurried allocution, the emperor made an address in Latin, expressing his will that religious peace should be re-established. He had opened the session as honorary president, and he had assisted at the subsequent sessions, but the direction of the theological discussions was abandoned, as was fitting, to the ecclesiastical leaders of the council. The actual president seems to have been Hosius of Cordova, assisted by the pope's legates, Victor and Vincentius. (here)

Listen (here part 1) and (here part 2) to a wonderful reflection on the history leading up to the First Council of Nicea by Fr. Bernard Basset, S.J.,

Lawsuit

Jane Doe VS Fr. Daniel C. O'Connell, S.J. (here)

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Named Haitian Victims Lawsuit

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. in Haiti

"Before many of these sexual abuse victims met Douglas Perlitz, they were homeless, without food and had very little clothing. Now, many of these victims are still homeless, without food, have very little clothing and are also suffering from the emotional and physical trauma Douglas Perlitz inflicted on them," Mitchell Garabedian said. "These victims are in a much worse position today than when they began attending Project Pierre Toussaint, met Douglas Perlitz and were sexually molested by him." Perlitz pleaded guilty in 2010 to traveling from the U.S. to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor. He is serving a 19-year, seven-month federal prison sentence. 

Days before his sentence, Perlitz claimed he became involved in a sexual affair with Carrier shortly after arriving at Fairfield University as a freshman in 1998. Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. was the school's director of campus ministry and chaplain. Shortly after that claim, Carrier's Society of Jesus, New England Province began an investigation and suspended him of clerical duties. Attempts to contact the Society of Jesus and Timothy P. O'Neill, his Boston lawyer, for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday. In the past O'Neill has denied his client did anything wrong and cast doubt on Perlitz' claimed relationship with Carrier. Court documents and Haitian sources claim Carrier and Hope Carter frequently visited Perlitz and his program in Haiti. 

The new suit alleges that Carrier saw Perlitz show a pornographic video to a student, heard Perlitz arrange a rendezvous with a boy, watched Perlitz press his body against a boy's back in an embrace and was a visitor when a boy slept in Perlitz's bedroom. "All of these circumstances should have alerted Father Carrier ... that something was amiss in Perlitz's dealings with the boys in his care at PPT," Garabedian wrote in the suit. The suit claims that Fairfield University raised over $600,000 for the Haiti Fund, which turned the money over to Perlitz. Stanley A. Twardy Jr., the school's lawyer, has maintained that Fairfield University is a "separate and distinct entity" from Project Pierre Toussaint. He and other defense lawyers are asking Chatigny to dismiss the cases. 

Link (here) to CT Post

Jesuit On The Nuns

American Nuns

SISTERS ALL THE WORLD OVER face a time of crisis, a fact clearly observable in America. A change of religious dress may seem a trivial trial to those outside the cloister: it causes great pain to sisters who have served God faithfully for many years, In one congregation, suggested styles and samples of fabric have been circulating since 1963. This particular Order will vote on its new dress, others are commanded from on high. The question is asked in whispers whether curial officials really know much about sisters or the religious life? Again, so many American nuns today carry theological diplomas in their wallets; they know as much about Catechism as the parish priest Yet when a sister told her First Communion class to masticate the Host, the pastor rebuked her and sent the curate to contradict her "before the kids". Inside the convents, too, there are certain irritations. While some sisters are often away at summer schools and conventions, others at home are washing the dishes. They day has gone when any priest may be used as a retreat director; the day is fast approaching when sisters will give their own retreats themselves.

Link (here) to The Catholic Herald to read Fr. Bernard Basset, S.J. 

Fr Bernard Basset, SJ was one of the best known and loved English Jesuits of the 1950s to the 1960s. Academically very able he, like Plater and Martindale before him, found the intellectual apostolate not his real calling. From the 1950s, he saw that this was to help the ordinary laity to better understand and live their faith. This he did, through the lay apostolate, in the Sodality and Cell movements, through parish work and as author, organizer, journalist and expert on the things of God - surrounded by the laughter and love of his friends. A true son of Ignatius,

Four Jesuits Ordained Priests In Indonesia

The Indonesian Catholic Church is celebrating the ordination of ten new priests in the dioceses of Semarang (Java) and Nias (North Sumatra). Two were ordained last week and will serve as diocesan priests in Semarang. Two young seminarians, missionaries of the Holy Family, were ordained on Tuesday.

 Four young Jesuit deacons are set to be ordained today. Mgr Ludovicus Simanulang recently ordained two Capuchins in Nias, one of areas most affected by the 2005 tsunami.  In a message to AsiaNews, Mgr Johannes Pujasumarta, archbishop of Semarang, said he was moved by the gift of these young men to the Church. "Each priestly ordination is not only a blessing for the parishes, dioceses and religious order, but for all Catholics," he explained. 

The prelate said he hoped that the presence of the new clergymen would provide an experience of faith and hope for all Catholics in order to bear new fruits for the Archdiocese of Semarang and the entire Indonesian Church. In a country of 232 million people, Christians represent 11.8 per cent, 6 million Catholics. Despite attacks and persecution by extremist Muslim groups, the Indonesian Church is very much active with some 3,000 priests in 36 dioceses.
Link (here) to AsiaNrws

Jesuit On The Last Free Election

Saint Paul the Apostle

Father George Rutler’s essay in crisismagazine.com (July 13), entitled. “Post-Comfortable Christianity.” Father Rutler is the well-known pastor of the Church of Our Savior in New York City. He is a man of many, many talents, a witty and insightful lecturer, often on EWTN. With his Scot origin, he has been known to appear in the kilt version of the Roman Collar at the Highland Games. Rutler is a convert Episcopal priest who speaks the King’s English, speaks it well and clearly. The title, “Post-Comfortable Christianity,” Rutler explains, is not used in place of “Post-Christian,” since “nothing can come after Christ,” a profound theological observation in itself. We have lived as Catholics in relative peace in recent times. We think we belong and are accepted by this culture. Indeed, we have sometimes bought an easy version of our faith that requires little sacrifice and no Cross. We have not had to worry, or so we thought, about ourselves being discriminated against or persecuted. Such despicable activities were, we thought, against the law. They were events that happened “elsewhere.” We never thought that our law could itself be “against the law.” The Third Millennium began with fireworks and Ferris wheels, Rutler commented, but is now “entering a sinister stage.” We have not anticipated that so many Catholics, often public leaders, when it came to a choice between God and Caesar, would opt for Caesar in his worst form. 

Rutler introduces his comments by recalling Father Bernard Bassett, S. J., on his death-bed. He told Rutler that, if he (Bassett) had to do life over, all he would do is read St. Paul. Rutler quips that for most of us “God gave us the Apostle of the Gentiles in order to have second readings at Sunday Mass, usually unrelated to the first reading and the Gospel.” 

But here Rutler is initially concerned with Paul’s encounters with Roman procurators, who were often enough decent men, stronger, it always seemed to me, than Pilate, one of their predecessors. Paul dealt with Antonius Felix, Procius Festus, and Junius Gallio; he handled those men shrewdly. They often protected him. How often in Christian literature, however, are we warned about what to say before “judges and governors?” Paul himself, when necessary, had no hesitation to appeal for protection to Caesar, to the Roman law, as was his by right of birth. But Nero, Decius, Marcus Aurelius, and Diocletian represented the same law that did not always protect Christians 

However, today, Rutler remarks, “the Christian veneer of American culture has cracked and underneath is the inverse of the blithe Christianity that took shape in the various enthusiasms of the nineteenth century and ended when voters were under the impression that they finally had a Catholic president.” “Blithe Christianity” is an amusing term. 

Yet, it is this “inverse” and “sinister” turn that Rutler is concerned to describe. Rutler applauds the effort of our bishops to deal with religious liberty, which is “now facing unprecedented assault.” How few citizens, however, recognize this assault for what it is! Rutler suggests that the November election “will either give Christians one last chance to rally, or it will be the last free election in our nation.” These are stark words—“the last free election in our nation.” We do not want to face this real possibility. 

Link (here) to read Blithe Christianity And The Last Free Election by Fr. James Schall, S.J.

Sadness And Isolation

Bishop Thadeus Ma Daquin

Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, who has been held in custody in a Sheshan seminary since his ordination as auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, has posted a new entry on his blog—his first public statement of any kind since he dropped from sight on July 7. 

The bishop’s new post included a picture and poems by an 18th century  Jesuit priest Fr Wu Yushan, aka Wu Li. The poems, characterized by themes of sadness and isolation, seemed to convey the mood of the bishop in detention. Shortly after the post appeared, Bishop Ma’s blog received dozens of responses from loyal Catholics assuring him of their prayerful support. 

Bishop Ma incurred the wrath of officials when he announced during his ordination ceremony that he was dropping his membership in the government-backed Patriotic Association. During that ceremony he also pointedly avoided sharing Communion with a bishop who was ordained illicitly, without the approval of the Holy See. Chinese officials have announced that the new bishop is being investigated for violations of the code of conduct set forth by the Chinese bishops’ conference, a body that the Vatican does not recognize. 

Link (here) to Catholic Culture

3 Dimensional Jesuit

Fr. Patrick Connolly, S.J.

Father Pat Connolly S.J., associate professor of film and television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said in a recent interview with the Jesuit Communications Center that films (or what he calls “animated stained glass windows”) should be used during Mass. He spoke in the interview about his plans for short religious-themed films that could be used during the liturgy. “The moving image should be used during Church,” he said. “I would create film that would be in fact evocative of the higher understanding and appreciate of water, light, what a leper’s like and what a blind person is like and I would deliberately craft them for that purpose.” 

He mentioned that he’d already done so at a Catholic school Mass for students. He labeled any objections to films being shown during Mass as antithetical to church and worship services as “nonsense” and “silly.” 

He said many Protestant churches are doing this already and he’s confident that the Catholic Church will soon follow suit.

You can listen to the interview here.

Link (here) to The California Catholic Daily

Lie About It On The Stand

Jeff Rosen and Vicki Gemetti

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said Friday it's investigating whether to file perjury charges against Los Gatos Jesuit priest Jerold Lindner, the victim in the high-profile William Lynch assault and elder abuse case. The trial for Lynch, 44, ended July 5 with his acquittal by a Santa Clara County jury of the two felony charges stemming from an admitted confrontation he had with the priest, now 67, whom he says raped and sodomized him and his brother while children in the '70s. Last week, the DA's Office announced it wouldn't retry Lynch for a misdemeanor assault charge on which the jury hung 8-4. However, even before the county's top prosecutor announced he wouldn't be refiling the charge, Lynch's supporters were calling for Jeff Rosen to file perjury charges against the priest. On June 20, the first day of the trial, Lindner, 67, took the stand to testify under oath how Lynch had walked into the Los Gatos Sacred Heart Jesuit Center the afternoon of May 10, 2010 and had punched him causing him some bruises and injuries. Under cross-examination by the prosecution, the priest denied abusing Lynch and his brother. The denial came after the surprising admission to the jury by Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Vicki Gemetti that the priest had indeed molested the brothers and would lie about it on the stand.

Link (here) to The Patch

Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, S.J. "Violate The Lex Orandi And You Must Inevitably Destroy The Lex Credendi."

Once again we find that Cardinal Newman foresaw another serious attack upon the Christian Faith. This time he warned Christians against innovators who would relax Christian forms and usher into the Church liturgical frenzy. Such devotees of change question every Christian form of prayer, every posture of devotion, every devotion itself and the very personal or traditional symbols of the faith. Their lust for innovation is used as a battering ram against the stability of long-established, time-tested sacred rites, which have been witnesses and types of precious Gospel truths for Christian communities. Hurriedly, even violently, they replace divine forms with new diluted Masses, new prayers, new sacraments, new churches, new terminologies - all of which confuse the faithful. Newman writes: "No one can really respect religion and insult its forms. Granted that forms are not immediately from God, still long use has made them divine to us for the spirit of religion has so penetrated and quickened them, that to destroy them is, in respect to the multitude of men, to unsettle and dislodge the religious principle itself. In most minds usage has so identified them with the notion of religion, that one cannot be extirpated without the other. Their faith will not bear trans planting . . . . Precious doctrines are strung like jewels upon slender threads." [John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. II, Christian Classics Inc., Westminster, Md., 1966, pp. 75, 76]

Liturgical détente has led to the loss of the sense of the sacred. To realize this tragic event we must reflect on what the sense of the sacred really comprises. The sacred is a mystery. It heralds the presence here and now of the world above, the world of the divine, and it fills man with incomparable reverence. The sacred reveals that the religious sphere is set apart, wonderfully superior and distinct from the rest of man's existence. But this apartness, far from precluding contact between the religious and natural spheres of man's existence, is actually a precondition for their fruitful intercommunion. 

Sacredness is one of those ultimate data perceived in and by itself, unexplainable, indivisible, mysterious. Sacredness is a reality which does not exist solely outside man as a knower, but it invades and involves the whole man as a free person. 

The sacred seizes each man in his ontological, intellectual, psychological and historical developments. [Alice von Hildebrand, Introduction to a Philosophy of Religion, Chicago, Franciscan Herald Press, 1970, Chap. IV, pp. 32-39] Thus the sacred must be approached, not with curiosity the way we approach an objective problem, but with awe and trembling, the way we approach mysteries. For the sacred represents the divine call from above, forcing the man of good will, like Moses before the burning bush, like the three Apostles before the transfiguration of Christ, to his knees in a prostration of adoration. The challenge emanating from the sacred is so powerful that man cannot remain indifferent to it. In the presence of God, the Source of Sacredness, man either adores with the prayer, "Thy Will be done," or rebels with the cry, "I will not serve!" Thus God is the ineffable Someone at the summit of every experience of the sacred. This Summit of the Sacred claims the first place in every intelligent being's life, angels and men. Religion is man's response to the sacred, to God, the Supreme Ruler, Prior, Independent yet ever-present Other. The sence of the sacred presents man with these paradoxical experiences. God is presented as totally Other, transcending man, yet He is simultaneously experienced as being intimately present, nearer to man than man is to himself, filling man with awe and yet desiring to give Himself to man in intimate communication and communion. St. Paul reminds us that "in Him we live and have our being."

The sacred also brings man the experience of God's brilliance and luminosity. Thus man's response to God is his response to the numen or the numinous, that is, to the wholly illuminating, fascinating and ravishing Reality who is God. The experience of the Mysterium Tremendum suffuses the being of man with awe, a mixed feeling of reverence, fear and wonder accompanied by an acute, grateful consciousness of one's creatureliness in the presence of an infinitely good Creator. In the experience of the sacred a "shudder" moves the whole person which, speechless, trembles to the deepest core of its being. The sacred presents God as the Mysterium Fascinans before whom the posture of prayer and adoration is the only adequate response called for by the whole of man's being. Thus religion and the sacred always go together. Indeed, religion vanishes with the loss of the sacred, and vice versa. Religion flourishes with growth in the consciousness and love of the sacred. The moment the sense of the sacred diminishes in a people, it is a sure sign that the faithful are becoming secularized, materialized, paganized. For them they have lost an awareness of the presence of God and of His Kingdom that descends from above. [Rudolph Otto, The Idea of the Holy, Oxford University Press, N.Y., p. 6]

The sacred applies not only to God but to all beings and things that have a special connection with Him- angels, saints, miracles, churches, sacraments, etc. Moreover, there are sacred places and times. The Holy Land where Christ lived, died and redeemed man is a sacred place. Then too, sacred times reenacts, relives historically events, e.g. the daily Mass liturgy and especially, Holy Week which relives the events of man's salvation. But in all sacred instances, eternity is not pulled down to the level of time, rather time soars into eternity. For the sacred is above time, though inserted in time and capable of ransoming time. Thus, the sacred, as essentially related to religion can redeem and blot our man's faults committed in time. By transcending and transforming time through a life and liturgy of faith in the true religion, the sacred does not obliterate time, but saves and sanctifies it. The Source of the Sacred embraced man and his history when the Son of God forever embraced in His divinity the sacred humanity he received from Mary, His Mother.

Man, therefore, is capable of transforming his domain of the non-sacred, of the profane, with the sense of the sacred or of degrading that domain and himself by obliterating in himself his love for the sacred. Man attacks the sacred when he rejects God and the true religion. The Antichrist will be the hater and destroyer of the sacred par excellence. For he will promote himself and his affairs on this earth as his only and ultimate concerns- and those will be the destruction of the image of Christ in the souls of men and the branding of those same souls with his own and Satan's seal. Thus the Antichrist would find modern times much to his liking. For in our generation a social climate charged with hatred of God has produced what even the atheist men of culture have sardonically referred to as the "Savage Sixties" and the "Sick Seventies." For once man rejects God, man becomes what Kierkegaard calls "the eternal zero." This is logical and necessary for, since his awareness of himself is founded on his awareness of God, the godless man, rootless and directionless, is at sea in an absurd world. Of course, he has an identity crisis. And with his animus against God and the sacred, he becomes a menace and a plague to the faith and holiness of his fellowmen. For when he breaks the sacred chains of love that bind him to God, he ends up breaking even the chains of civility and decency that should bind him to his fellowmen. Moreover, it is not surprising that the man who has rejected God and the sacred continues to talk about God, religion, liturgy and the Church. Now, however, he speaks of man from infancy to maturity. Now he experiments with these sacred realities as if he were tinkering with toys or automobiles. Now this "uncommitted interest," this neutrality toward divine, sacred realities is a typical game of ridicule played by the spiritually defeated and exhausted "playboys," choosing to be smart and clever rather than sacred and serious. These atheistic, intellectual snobs refuse to realize that God, religion, the liturgy and the Church can never be merely interesting or amusing myths. The sphere of the sacred is really uninteresting in the shallow, cute sense of that term. For the sacred sector demands one's total self-donation to God, one's eternal salvation being jeopardized if one refuses to say "yes" to God. Trivial things and affairs can be the subject of interest and cleverness. But adherence to the sacred realm is a tremendously serious, ultimate, tragic affair. It is the awful, shuddering one thing necessary for which all else must eventually be put aside, even temporal life itself. When one jokes about the sacred, one is well on the way to participating in the sacrilegious.

For the rejection of the sacred as revealed in the dynamics of ridicule or in the cult of the clever always degenerates into the dynamics of hate and the cult of self, both of which lead to hatred of God, of the Church, of others and finally of oneself. Thus, in our times a social climate charged with hatred of God, poisoned with irreducible religious-moral-political tensions and with hourly seditious preachments bereft of all truth, of all objectivity, of all love is the logical, violent result of the loss of the sense of the sacred. A society sickened from its rejection of God and the sacred necessarily produces a sick culture. In a modern play, Prometheus Unbound, Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from Zeus, the god of the gods, is confronted by the foul furies and asks them wonderingly: "Can anyone exult in his own deformity?" Dostoevsky's Underground Man answers with a soul-searing affirmation: "I am a sick man . . . , I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man." Underground Man then adds that he finds his only enjoyment "in the hyper-consciousness of his own degradation." [Duncan Williams, op. cit. p. 57] Today the Christian and post-Christian savage is idealized in philosophical, political, ethical, literary and theological works as the authentic man-come-of-age- the Rebel Hero of Paradise Lost, the Promethean Savior of a Cosmos Regained. From the heights of this hateful, overweening pride such a man has created a culture in which he defines his fellowman as "that most precious capital," "that useless passion," "that walking bag of sea water." This is the spirit of the Antichrist who will hate everyone made in the image and likeness of God. For as sacrilegious man he will hurl these slogans against his fellow man from a rhetoric of hatred that takes satanic joy in destroying the dignity, sacredness and divinity with which God has endowed men created and redeemed by His Son. Much of the new liturgy has been drained of the numinous and the sacred. The new forms are without splendor, flattened, undifferentiated. Why was kneeling replaced by standing? Jesus himself fell on his knees and on his face as he prayed to his heavenly Father. Satan too knows the meaning of worship and man's need for it. He tried to get Jesus to fall down and worship him. Why has the liturgical year and the Mass been so unfortunately mutilated against the wishes of the faithful? In fact, the faithful are now confused about the Mass, the feasts of the saints, the holy seasons. 

Why was the Gloria, that prayer of total concentration on God's Majesty and Goodness, restricted practically to Sundays alone, and only to those Sundays outside of Lent? Moreover, is the faith really renewed and vivified by obscuring our sense of community with the Christians of apostolic and ancient times? 

The new liturgy no longer draws us into the true experience of reliving the Life of Christ. We are deprived of this experience through the elimination of the hierarchy of feasts and the at random changing of the dates of famous feasts. [Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Devastated Vineyard, Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago, 1973, pp. 70ff] Then too, the new forms are the result of experimentation. But one experiments with things, with objects that one wants to analyze. Experimentation is the method of science. The wretched idolatry and vulgarity of tinkering with sacred realities has, unfortunately, penetrated the Church and produced a mediocrity-ridden liturgy, a show for spectators that distracts from the holy, frustrates intimate communion with God and trivializes, where it does not suppress, sacred actions, symbols, music and words. In reality such diminished liturgies have renewed nothing. Rather these innovations have emptied churches, dried up vocations to the priesthood and sisterhood, driven off converts and opened the doors wide to a flood of renegades. Even though valid in its essence, such a new liturgy cannot inspire for it is colorless, artificial, banal, without the odor and flavor of sanctity. A humanized and popularized, man-oriented liturgy will never produce saints. Only a divinized, God-oriented liturgy can accomplish that miracle. One suspects that many priests realize the banality of the new liturgy. That is why they often become, during the Mass and other ceremonies, actors and entertainers. They put on a show in order to gain the attention of the congregation. These comedians in chasubles preach a utopian Christianity rather than the true Christianity. Their treasure is man rather than God; their emphasis this-worldly rather than other-worldly; their goal progress rather than sanctity; their apostolate is immanent rather than transcendent; their means to their goal is the way of revolution rather than the way of the cross; they preach a secular Church instead of the Sacred Church founded by Christ; the essence of their morality is self-assertion rather than self-denial; the Christ they present to the congregation is the Humanist Christ rather than the God-Man crucified Christ; they speak in tongues of protest rather than in tongues of fire, the fire of love flaming forth from the Holy Spirit; they genuflect before the world and stand before Christ; they work for a democratic Church instead of a hierarchic Church; they are moved by resentment and envy instead of radiating the joy of Christ. In our times, then, it is not any longer a secret that the enemies within and outside the Church want to destroy belief in the divinity of Christ. Once the liturgy is humanized, Christ the center and Object of it becomes the humanist, par excellence, the liberator, the revolutionary, the Marxist ushering in the millennium; he ceases to be the Divine Redeemer. We must be alerted to these shadows of the Antichrist who plan, by convincing us to abandon our sacred forms, at length to seduce us into denying the Christian faith altogether. The Church is attacked by these children of Satan in and outside her fold, because she is a living form, "the sacrament- the sign and instrument- of communion with God and of unity among all men"; because she is the visible body of religion. 

Hence these shrewd masters of sedition know that when her sacred forms go, religion will go also. Violate the lex orandi and you must inevitably destroy the lex credendi. That is why they rail against so many devotions as superstitions; why they propose so many alterations and changes, a tactic cleverly calculated to shake the foundations of the faith. 

We must never forget, then, that forms apparently indifferent in themselves become most important to us when we are used to using them to nurture our lives in holiness.

Places consecrated to God's honor, clergy carefully set apart for His service, the Lord's Day piously observed, the public forms of prayer, the decencies of worship, these things, viewed as a whole, are sacred relatively to the whole body of the faithful and they are divinely sanctioned. Rites sanctified by the Church through ages of holy experience, cannot be disused without harm to souls. Moreover, in the words of Newman, "Liturgical reformists must ever be aware of the following truth; Even in the least binding of sacred forms, it continually happens that a speculative improvement becomes a practical folly, and the wise are tripped up by their own illusions." [Newman, op. cit. pp. 78] Bishops would be wise to follow Newman's conclusions in this war on the sacred liturgy:

Therefore, when profane persons scoff at our forms, let us argue with ourselves thus - and it is an argument which all men, learned and unlearned, can enter into: "These forms, even were they of mere human origin (which learned men say is not the case, but even if they were), are at least of a spiritual and edifying character as the rites of Judaism. And yet Christ and his Apostles did not even suffer these latter to be irreverently treated or suddenly discarded. Much less may we suffer it in the case of our own; lest stripping off from us the badges of our profession, we forget that there is a faith to maintain and a world of sinners to be eschewed." [Newman, op. ct. pp. 78,79]

The Fathers of the Church emphasize the corruption of the liturgy that will prevail at the last days. As the end draws near, the Church will be subjected to a fiercer, more diabolical persecution than any previously suffered. There will be a cessation of all religious worship. "They shall take away the daily sacrifice." Some Fathers interpret these words to mean that the Antichrist will suppress for three and a half years all public religious worship. Others remind us that the Antichrist will set up his throne within the Temple of God and demand worship of himself from his depraved followers. We are living in times so wicked that many nations will not allow innocent, defenseless human beings natural birth much less the opportunity to receive the grace of supernatural birth. St. Augustine wondered whether in the days of the Antichrist Baptism would be administered to infants of Christian parents. The reign of the Antichrist will be effected before Moses and Simon the Sorcerer displayed before Peter and John. St. Cyril writes: "I fear the wars of the nations; I fear divisions among Christians; I fear hatred among brethren But enough! God forbid that it should be fulfilled in our day! However, let us be prepared." [John Henry Newman, Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects, p. 102. Newman quotes St. Cyril's Catechism, xv, 16, 17] Unfortunately, it has happened in our day; the liturgy is a sign of contradiction among Christians today; 

the Holy Mass that once united Christians now, with the new liturgy, fiercely divides Christians. Many Catholics, because of the dilution of the sacred in the new liturgy, and the breezy manner in which many radical priests celebrate it, cannot attend such liturgies; they find it morally impossible to have to endure the desacralized antics allowed by the liturgical storm troopers. Hence they stay away. Thus we see that, over and above the persecution of blood and death, there is even today a persecution of craftiness and subversion. 

The precursors of the Man of Sin are very effective in splitting up and dividing Christians. They are successful in dislodging many from the rock of salvation, in driving many into heresy and schism, depriving them of their Christian liberty, strength, peace and their household in Christ. How do we recall a sacrilegiously sick society that functions on the fashionable fallacy that murder is the best therapy for the world's problems to the sanity and sanctity of the sublime? We, especially all true followers of Christ, must help man return to the nature and deep significance of the sacred. Only when men grasp and appreciate the nature, meaning and value of the sacred will they be equipped and willing to understand and courageously confront the moral disvalues of their dying society. Truly an awareness of the sense of the sacred is a barometer that accurately indicates the vitality of the religion, morals and culture of a people. A blindness to the nature of the sacred is a sure preparation of society and mankind for the coming of the Antichrist. On the other hand, a clear vision and love of the sacred will enable mankind to see the unearthly beauty of the holy and to fall in love with God who is Holiness itself.
Link (here) to Mary's Touch to more of Fr. Vincent P Miceli, S.J. work

Vincent Peter Miceli was born into an Italian immigrant family in New York City in 1915. One of ten children, Vincent manifested a scholarly propensity from the earliest age. He also developed a staunch work ethic which he exhibited throughout the 77 years of his life. While still in school he would leave school and begin work at 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. delivering books six days a week. When he was 21, he became interested in the Society of Jesus and received his degree from Spring Hill College in Alabama in 1942. Following major seminary, he was ordained in St. Mary's Kansas which was then still a Jesuit school.  He acquired his S.T.L. from the Jesuits' St. Louis University in 1950 and was privileged to be in Dietrich von Hildebrand's last class in 1960 before receiving his Ph.D. from Fordham University in 1961.