CULTURE IS ENOUGH TO SAVE DISTRESSED PRIESTS? MAYBE NOT, IF THE SENSE OF PATERNITY OF BISHOPS IS LACK AND A REDISCOVERY OF ONE'S PRIESTLY IDENTITY

Most of the time I find myself meeting priests, the most common sufferings they feel they share are given by the abandonment and loneliness they experience on the part of their shepherds, not to mention some who experience outright ridicule. This non-affective mode of relationship between bishop and priest should make us reflect a lot, because in front of a priest incapable of pastoral love towards the faithful, sometimes, hides a bishop incapable of love towards his own priest.

- Church news -

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp..

PDF print format article

.

When I was a young cleric of the two-year philosophy course, I had the grace of knowing and being a pupil of a holy Jesuit the Father Joseph Pirola, one of the few Jesuits I have known in my life and of whom it can be said with evangelical frankness that there is no falsehood, as well as Christ said about the Blessed Apostle Nathanael [cf.. GV 1, 47-51].

The good father he held the course of phenomenology of religion and metaphysics every Thursday at our student residence. Already on Wednesday evening he settled at our convent in Cremona and normally presided over the celebration of the evening mass and then lent himself to listen to the confessions of us young student friars.

I remember, during one of those celebrations, perhaps in the liturgical memory of Saint Albert the Great or some other Doctor of the Church, that his homily deeply touched the hearts and minds of us young clerics with these words:

«You guys know why Sant'Alberto, St. Thomas and the others whom we recognize today as Doctors of the Church are saints? Do not think that they are saints only for their academic culture, because they have studied so much. These people are holy because above all with their faith they sought Jesus and desired to be with him. From this desire then arose the theological study enlightened by the Holy Spirit which made them what they are"

and then concluded:

“You are not studying for culture alone, you are studying to continue a journey of faith that will lead you to be with Jesus and to know him intimately".

These words still today for me they represent the compass of my priestly ministry, so that I remember that theological culture can easily become vanity or empty erudition if it is not accompanied by the service rendered to the truth and the charity of Christ. But after all, what did we become priests for??

The Blessed Evangelist Mark he is clear in this regard when he mentions the institution of the Twelve, he says: “He chose them to be with him» [See. MC 3,13-19]. Jesus calls us to be with him, he asks his priests for an exclusive bond of life, not a patronage or merely intellectual relationship between teacher and student, between rabbi and disciple.

We are knowing times when a doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University or the Lateran is no longer denied to anyone. Indeed, these goals are aimed at the sole purpose of curriculum in view of the career ladder. It is not so rare those who already from the seminar are identified as episcopal and that during their academic training in Rome they usually frequent the right environments such as the Almo Collegio Capranica and other magical circles where they can get to know some good devil to bring them so as to promote the fall of a few mitres that they receive unworthily and with suffering on their heads with all the humility of the case.

We are faced with that phenomenon of pretini trendy which I wrote about some time ago [you see who] whose well-known climbing skills reach out to infinity and beyond, only to fall disastrously at any moment and conclude their success with a disorientation that is the antechamber of the crisis. With all honesty, while recognizing in some minds undoubted qualities, often one experiences a certain fragility of faith combined with that difficulty in being with the Lord which is the only essential prerogative for every disciple but above all for every theologian.

And all this is said without judgment but relying solely on a priestly style widely documented and exhibited away social by those who increasingly stand out as real professionals of the sacred. If we then focus on their publications, which delight a certain Catholic publishing house, we can see that the troubled editorial gestation serves no purpose other than to make a fine display on the shelves of the most renowned Roman bookshops in Via della Conciliazione and Borgo Pio, positioning themselves as certain avant-garde works of Catholic progressive thought. But how much of these works is an expression of intimate knowledge of the Risen Lord and of that effort to remain with the Master? We must say it frankly that even religious and theological culture "must be preceded by an intense life of prayer, of contemplation, of seeking and listening to the will of God" [See. R. Sarah, The power of silence. Against the dictatorship of noise, Siena, 2017, ed. Cantagalli, p. 35].

It is no exaggeration to consider certain intellectual works the work of formal and substantial heretics if not outright avowed atheists. Often reading these books we notice a similarity of thought and intent already present in some exponents of sociology, of anthropology and secular psychology that speak of the religious world from their privileged observatory and claim to suggest to the Church the path to pursue for a religious renewal from a faith considered obsolete and which must be rejuvenated by compromising with the world and its logics.

Among the many scholars of today the need is felt to have in the Church and in the ranks of the clergy men who have a strong faith, who converse with God and who desire to learn that the wisdom of the cross which cannot be learned from books alone.

This reading of the situation of the clergy is not mine, Cardinal Robert Sarah already expresses this concept in his latest book when he says that: “We already have far too many eminent religious specialists and doctors. What the Church lacks today are men of God, men of faith and priests who are worshipers in spirit and in truth" [See. R. Sarah, Catechism of the spiritual life, Siena, 2022, ed. Cantagalli, p. 12]. Affirming this certainly does not mean being against culture but placing it in the right perspective.

Today it status of worshiper of God is a rare commodity among priests, since the early years of the seminary. It implies that spiritual need to let oneself be read within by the Lord as we see done in the relationship with the Samaritan woman [See. GV 4,1-30], whose relationship with the various husbands is not ascribable to a condition of marital or sexual disorder but to a relationship of fidelity with God which has failed in favor of convenience and which unfortunately also constitutes the cause of that thirst which cannot be satisfied if not returning to the true God. there, dear readers, when we priests satisfy our thirst at other fountains that do not derive from God and lead to him, we often fall into the risk of being lost and being easy prey to a crisis of meaning and identity.

Why do I say this? Because I came across an interesting article by Ida Bozzi in the Sunday insert Reading from The Corriere della Sera entitled "A magazine explores the world in the time of lost priests". In this article we read the point of view of the director of the "Rivista del Clero Italiano" the theologian Giuliano Zanchi who addresses the issue of the condition of confusion and disorientation of priests in the current ecclesial situation.

I am particularly sensitive to this topic because more than once in my ministry as confessor I have experienced the unease of fellow priests and the intimate disorientation that is debated within them. The discomfort today is tangible and is accompanied by the inevitable human frailties that lead to the secularization and hybridization of the Catholic priesthood in what has increasingly become a free profession, where the priest becomes the neighborhood social worker or the president of an NGO [see an example who e who].

If we pay attention to the cases of priests in crisis or who abandon the priesthood, we often find ourselves faced with subjects of proven culture who should in some way be preserved from this type of drift. but yet, this does not always happen and we realize that culture alone is often not enough, if this culture is not subordinated and directed to familiarity with Christ. If the book does not lead me to the tabernacle and the tabernacle to the book, I will have wasted my time.

Giuliano Zanchi, presbyter and theologian, in his analysis, reports that today the clergy suffer a certain social disregard of their own status and a demolition of one's authority. I am perplexed when one speaks only of authority and not of authority why present the model of priestly authority of Jesus to the clergy on the basis of the pericope of MC 1,21-28 it might seem a bit too right-wing today, then we need to be cautious and, like good academics, differentiate between authoritativeness and authority.

Like this, the article continues, in the face of a common sense of the sacred which has certainly not disappeared but which has certainly degraded, we witness a transition of the boat of the Church to other shores, towards different theological and ecclesial directions with respect to those traditional and institutional forms that we are used to knowing.

The solution proposed by the director of the Journal of the Italian Clergy – which I feel like sharing up to a certain point – consists in investing in culture, privileged tool with which the clergy can respond to the theological challenges that new times require and an antidote to the rampant confusion among priests. This cultural proposal is also presented by bringing illustrious models such as the theologians Tomáš Halík and Pierangelo Sequeri.

I will be frank, talking about culture in a general sense is of little use if then the boundaries and the spheres of intervention and the aims are not clearly delimited. What culture do we need? That culture suggested by human wisdom or that taught by the Holy Spirit? [See. Color 2, 1-16] There is no doubt that the clergy today need a good formation, to realize it, it is enough to see the liturgical and canonical havoc that is carried out almost daily to the detriment of the sacraments of the Church [you see who, who, qui, who, who, who, who, who]. That's why I ask, good culture always and automatically corresponds to good training? I would have some doubts. Theological training courses for future priests have multiplied with the integration of infinite academic exams but never as in these times does the quality of the training of the clergy appear embarrassing.

As a somewhat naive priest and vintage I am convinced that culture alone is not enough to give formation and knowledge of God, on the contrary, we often run the risk of falling into personal complacency and convincing ourselves that we are the sole holder of the truth and of a correct vision of the world (your own!).

The priest is formed not only with mere academic culture but remaining in the constant company of the Master who teaches from the chair of the cross, it is strenuous mystical learning, which consists of hours in front of the tabernacle, of skinned knees and martyrdom. So it was for the Apostles and so it will be for the future.

The article then goes on to give a pun to a certain kind of rigid priestly style, towards that bigoted devotion combined with that intransigent and obscurantist apologetic tendency which according to Giuliano Zanchi is "very strong today". In short, just to understand, if the priest teaches the faithful to recite the rosary and to meditate on its mysteries with the same purity of intention of Saint Bernadette in Lourdes or the little shepherds in Fatima, he must perhaps be considered a bigot? Or when he wants to keep the bar straight with a certain paternal firmness on apologetic positions in defense of the faith, of doctrine or morality in the face of the opening-touring challenges of modernity to which some fringes of the Church wink, he must be considered a strict obscurantist? I'd like to know the answer, but above all I would like to know the reference models that are not the usual Maggi, Bianchi, Mancuso and Melloni or those who, although pastors in the care of souls, are practically unobtainable because they are too busy holding conferences and consuming the predellas of the theological faculty.

Culture is therefore the one and only possible panacea for the evils of bewildered priests? Not always. If by culture we mean the one that dialogues and fraternises with today's man without demanding daring and tiring objectives, without asking for conversion, surely not. We ask ourselves then - borrowing a thought from Benedict XVI -, whether dialogue combined with cultural fraternization can truly replace mission, with the real risk of obscuring the truth and corrupting the faith. Because this is the focal point on which we must insist, it is the faith of priests that must be protected so that the Truths they transmit in the name of the Church direct the dialogue with the world and not vice versa. Men of God who, through an enlightened and lived faith, know how to make God credible in this world. Above all men of God, and only later learned scholars of a theological discipline.

The Blessed Apostle Paul equipped with the sole the wisdom of the cross at the Areopagus of Athens, temple of culture and dialogue of the ancient world, he did not hesitate to affirm the truth of the Resurrection at the cost of being pitied and derided by those who held the keys to Greek culture. The renunciation of the Truth today seems extremely realistic and perhaps opportune, even in the face of a possible peacemaking dialogue with modern culture or with other religious faiths, but it can be lethal for the faith that risks losing its binding character and its seriousness [See. Benedict XVI, What is Christianity, Milan, 2023, ed. Mondadori, pp. 9-11].

For this reason in front of the bewildered priests it is important to re-propose a spiritual therapy of return to Christ, to that spirit of prayer and devotion that the Seraphic Father Francesco recommended to the wise doctor Antonio of Padua in one of his letters:

«To Brother Antonio, my bishop, Friar Francesco wishes health. I am pleased that you teach sacred theology to the friars, as long as in this occupation, does not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion, as it is written in the Rule» [See. Franciscan sources NN. 251-252].

Therefore together with culture it is necessary to start afresh from prayer and devotion, elements that favor the adoration of God in Spirit and Truth and which in my humble opinion form the antibodies for a healthy and wise culture. Real life puts an evidence before us: when a priest enters a crisis or is disoriented, the reasons are almost always to be found in the fact that he feels alone and that he has lost the points of reference that he once had clear. The crisis in men of God is never primarily cultural but of meaning and identity. Fundamental, in these cases, it is knowing how to count on the paternal heart of one's own bishop or ordinary whose first duty is to accompany and protect one's own priest. In Presbyters of the Order of Paul VI, the Pontiff explains that a priest is intimately and inseparably linked to his bishop and to his particular Church in communion with the universal Church. This bond is not only of a juridical nature but above all spiritual and human. The bishop is the one who possesses the fullness of the priesthood of Christ, and as such it expresses Christ in his very being and working. They, like Christ, he is called to express his concern for the Twelve and the disciples, never letting them miss his presence in times of trial and loss. Most of the time I find myself meeting priests, the most common sufferings they feel they share are given by the abandonment and loneliness they experience on the part of their shepherds, not to mention some who experience outright ridicule. This non-affective mode of relationship between bishop and priest should make us reflect a lot, because in front of a priest incapable of pastoral love towards the faithful, sometimes, hides a bishop incapable of love towards his own priest. But love was not the sign that should have distinguished the life of the Apostles and disciples of Christ? [See. GV 13,1-15; 13, 34-35].

We all know loyal bishops in punctually organizing retreats and the ongoing formation of their clergy, even with enviable cultural profiles but who are terribly distant from those over whom they should exercise that paternal custody from which the term derives episkopos which in ancient times referred to a divine patronage of custody.

Bishops who do not find the time to devote to their elderly priests, ill or in difficulty and who draw information from other sources: “They told me that…”, instead of exposing yourself personally with a phone call and say: "I'm worried about you, how are you? I can do something? I want to come to you for lunch". If the priest goes into crisis, oh what i donde, it's because it experiences all of these and so much more, not just because it is culturally deficient.

The solitude of the clergy today it is increasingly becoming the first pathological emergency to heal which joins the second more markedly spiritual pathological emergency which is given by the lack of familiarity with Christ. I wonder, what can be done in the face of these emergencies? The suggestion may be enough to broaden one's culture? Irony of fate, the priests who most often go into crisis are the most qualified and culturally most prepared, that seem to be self-sufficient. Where does the identity of these brother priests reside?? Certainly not in culture alone, but in a mystical relationship with Christ that has failed. The characteristic of the priesthood, explains Benedict XVI, it consists in nothing but being priest in the sense defined by Jesus Christ on the cross. This means that the priestly crisis is not essentially a cultural crisis but the inability to stay - in the sense of taking up residence - together with the Lord on the cross.

This speech leads us to mercilessly acknowledge that we are witnessing, much more today than in the past, to a crisis concerning the priestly identity which is no longer rooted and understood in those who choose to respond to the vocation. So let us first of all try to understand that the priest does not live by his own light and that his being a priest is true only in relation to the unique and eternal priesthood of Christ who calls man to be united with him in the ministry of mediator.

In this dynamic of mystical and sacramental union to the one and eternal priesthood of Christ man is called to a progressive stripping of himself - not only from goods but above all from his own ego - which recalls that necessary search for perfection which was proposed to the Rich Young Man and which the Apostles undertook in following the Master, abandoning everything [See. MC 10,17-22; 28-31]. For priests this stripping represents the only valid foundation that informs the "necessity of celibacy, as well as liturgical prayer, of meditation on the Word of God and the renunciation of material goods" [See. R. Sarah with Benedict XVI, From the bottom of our hearts, Siena, 2020, ed. Cantagalli, p.26]. The more we know how to undress and decentralize ourselves, the more Christ, his Word, his prayer and essentiality of life will clothe our priestly and human identity.

These essential elements they help us understand what the crisis of priestly identity consists of and where it is necessary to intervene for a recovery. A bewildered priest is one who no longer considers his ministry as an exclusive work of Christ but above all a personal work. This replacement of the characteristic of the priesthood it is very sneaky and reveals itself in the craving for activism and narcissism. At a time when the priest assumes he is indispensable, indulging the desire to appear always and in all circumstances, shunning that salutary concealment which allows Christ to act in him, one falls into that diabolical temptation which eliminates the work of God favoring the work of man as we see happening in those who wanted to make a name for themselves during the construction of the Tower of Babel [See. GN 11,4].

Likewise managerial activism, it becomes the new Liturgy of the Hours that needs to be celebrated, eschewing the static nature of contemplation at the Master's feet ― now considered a waste of time ― in favor of commitment in various areas, even in those who do not properly belong to the priestly ministry. Today it is not uncommon to see priests playing politicians, Of influence, Of TikToker, of social workers, of psychologists, of television pundits, Of manager of commercial or welfare enterprises, of teachers and so on to follow. With the presumption that doing well and for the good is equivalent to being a good priest equally, ending up eliminating the specifics of the priestly vocation as Christ conceived and understood it for the Church.

In the eagerness to make a name for yourself and exercise power by doing, the priest becomes depersonalized, his day is no longer marked by prayer, it becomes more and more difficult to fulfill all the hours of the breviary, and Holy Mass is just a parenthesis to be celebrated quickly, preferring the II Canon of the missal and in no more than fifteen minutes. Stopping in the confessional is increasingly rare because an undefined theology of mercy has led to the understanding - both in the laity and in the clergy - that the reality of sin no longer exists and if it exists there is official forgiveness without the need for repentance and conversion of life.

Visiting the sick and communion on the first Friday of the month they are increasingly rare, as well as the pastoral care of the suffering which is left to a few specialists in the sector as well as that of families and engaged couples.

Other examples could be given but these are already more than enough to draw an updated profile of what the priest experiences today. We want to invest in culture? A commendable position but primarily we seek to strengthen its priestly identity. We call the priest to fervent and constant prayer, to the valorisation and rehabilitation of that fraternity with one's bishop and with one's confreres, let us help him not to come down from the cross of Christ. Above all, let us instill in the hearts of young clerics the duty of charity combined with that mutual love which leads to forgiveness and which does not rival and does not struggle in the egocentric narcissism of the cold careerist of the sacred.

Loving priests is a great and demanding task, a responsibility of the whole Church that it is no longer possible to procrastinate without weakening the sanctification of the people of God and betraying that institution of the sacred ministry that the Lord wanted on Holy Thursday.

Laconi, 24 February 2023

.

.

______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.

THE RADICAL LEFT OF MICROMEGA RESISTS THE “VIOLENCE” OF BAPTISM. THAT IS TO SAY: THE RIDICULOUS PARADOX OF GOD-OBBSESSED ATHEISTS

Circles of anti-clerical atheists could run the serious risk of being asked a much more dramatic and realistic question: if a father and a mother who bring a newborn to be baptized would commit violence to them by means of baptism, those fathers and mothers who decide instead to prevent their children from coming into the world through the practice of abortion, what kind of violence they commit, on the children?

- Church news -

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp..

PDF print format article

.

“Why Baptism for Minors Should Be Banned” is an article appeared on Micromega signed by Alessandro Giacomoni, in which the editorialist claims that the Catholic Church subtly forces them to baptize their children to avoid being discriminated against in the context of their own social community [see article: WHO]. According to this thought, parents would therefore be blackmailed into taking their children to the baptismal font, under penalty of being seen as "rare animals" to be avoided, to sympathize and therefore to discriminate.

These statements of the reporter they only denote a visible ignorance enriched by clichés about the sacramental and pastoral realities of the Church. Moreover, Nowadays, among the majority of those who define themselves as "non-practicing Christians" this problem is not contemplated in the slightest, least of all do they face the problem of being reprimanded by their own priest. As the parish priests know well, it is easier for the opposite to happen and for a "non-practicing Christian" to blame the priest and say what is right to do, sometimes even bordering on personal offense or aggressive verbal attitude.

We wonder: it will not be, perhaps, that this Micromega columnist is referring to the usual familiar faces of anti-clericalism? The list is soon done: let's start with the small Italian circles of the UAAR association (Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics), to then move on to some nostalgic for Communism and the most vulgar Socialism, ending with those mythological figures of the activists who set up a gazebo in Piazza del Popolo at the weekend, deeming it possible to democratically decree the end of the Catholic Church and of the Christian message through a collection of signatures.

If this is the level of dispute, then we really are at the tragicomic farce. So that, just to lighten things up a bit, one could paraphrase that expression of the nice Obelix ― the friend of Asterix ― who reinvented the acrostic S.P.Q.R. from the well-known meaning «the senate and the Roman people» translating it into «sThese Romans are crazy". Just so: "these atheists are crazy" who talk about God and the things of God more than the priests themselves talk about it. Their "secularist dogmatisms" are hilarious but smell of mothballs like grandmother Abelarda's old lace, to quote another mythical figure from classic comics. Robust nurses are therefore urgently needed to accompany the compulsive obsessions of atheism which claims to refute an entity, the divine one, that it shouldn't exist and therefore shouldn't even create any problems for sane people: "these atheists are crazy".

But let's go ahead, the good columnist begins by sifting through the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law with the same attention and awareness with which one leafs through the newspapers on the barber's table and then extrapolates some definitions by operating a mash-up of secular exegesis which concludes with this rare pearl of "wisdom":

«It follows that even to this day, every prelate can easily afford disparaging utterances against the baptized».

The question arises spontaneously: but what sci-fi film has the good columnist seen? How many churches did he enter, how many Masses or homilies he attended, how many baptisms has she seen to be able to say these things with such certainty? We are not given to know, but let us assume none of these things, what we know, however, is that in front of a certain snooty moral superiority it is not possible to do anything, except to recognize that in some individuals critical thinking is clinically dead.

The apex of the article, how not to expect it, comes to ask for the abolition of baptism and the inclusion of secular baptism as the confessional one would violate the "convention on the rights of children, ratified by Italy in 1991", and again «every decision, legislative action, legal provision, public or private initiative must safeguard the best interests of the child» which obviously for ours, baptism does not do. So baptism for a child would be an occasion for harm? Of what entity? What aggravating injuries are to be prevented? It would be interesting and we would have an easy game in inviting the journalist to do the same with other religious faiths, for example the Abrahamic ones, which provide for the practice of circumcision as a sign in the flesh, which is decidedly more invasive than the gesture of pouring a little warm water on the head of a newborn, you don't think so? And if by chance, once he becomes an adult, the young Jew or young Muslim wanted the foreskin back, what do you plan to tell him, the wise columnist of Micromega so shocked by a little warm water poured on a baby's head? Because a few drops of warm water leave no visible mark, while the removal of a foreskin from the male genital organ leaves an indelible mark for life. It is not by chance, the Jews, they define circumcision with a beautiful expression full of spiritual meanings: Circumcision (Brit please), which literally means “covenant covenant”. But we already know that at certain addresses it is better not to knock, because you find bread for your teeth and sometimes even more. So better attack Christians, especially Catholics, because they don't say anything and don't defend themselves, to then take the applause and i likes of the dominant modern thought with its own icone pop who dominate on TV, on the web and in parterre of the Sanremo festival.

The theory that has always been the most popular is that the child will have to decide once he becomes an adult, whether to be baptized or not. Theory that would like to be presented as logic, but that in fact it is not, nor are all those statements based on pure and ill-concealed prejudice. Soon said: by applying this pseudo-logic, parents should not take any initiative aimed at growth, to the training and even to the physical care of the child, that once he becomes an adult he may deem it appropriate to be completely different, compared to what his parents have chosen for him. This is true for everything, from the choice of school to orthodontics through which the dentist applies a special appliance to correct crooked teeth, or to widen a narrow tooth opening. What if, once he becomes an adult, the son says he would rather go to another school, or have crooked teeth and a narrow dental arch, rather than wearing braces for several years? How can, a parent, choose and decide to have a child undergo orthopedic surgery to correct flatfoot, or have him wear a growth-phase brace for a few years to correct a form of scoliosis? How dare they, the parents, choose for him what they see fit, better and healthier? Maybe it's not violence? What if his son preferred flat feet and scoliosis when he came of age, instead of being operated on by an orthopedist or instead of wearing a brace for years? Because, these atheists-agnostics-rationalists do not try to leave their children free to choose what they instinctively deem appropriate to do? It would be very interesting to see what a child of a few years who has not yet acquired a sense of danger would choose to do.

I wish to remind our Readers that objections to infant baptism are not a recent discovery, but this problem had already been posed in the first centuries of Christianity and the arguments of the opponents were not very different from those of today. Seems useful to me, so, to remind and enlighten the faithful on the subject by making the Fathers of the Church speak who wrote wonderful pages on baptism, both to defend it from opposition and to enlighten minds with that thought of the Apostolic Church which has always believed and lived baptism as conformation to Christ and the beginning of a serious journey of conversion to the Gospel and renunciation of sin. In this regard, the holy bishop Augustine of Hippo responds in his Letter to Bonifacio [See. Letter 98 of Sant'Agostino in Bonifacio 7-10,11]:

“Because of your usual intense aversion to the slightest lie, in your last question it seemed to you that you had proposed a very difficult question. "If ― you say ― I presented you with a child and asked you if, gives adult, he will be chaste and will not be a thief, no doubt you would answer me: “I do not know”. Likewise if I asked you if the child was still at the same tender age, think something good or bad, you would say: “I do not know”. If, therefore, you dare not guarantee anything certain as to his future conduct and present thinking, why not when they are presented at baptism, the parents, on the other hand, answer to them as guarantors and affirm that they do what that age cannot think or, if he can, remains unknown to us? In reality, to the godparents who offer us a child to be baptized, we ask if he believes in God and in the name of the little one, who doesn't even know if God exists, they answer: “Believe”. All the other individual questions addressed to them are answered with the same certainty. I am therefore amazed that parents respond in place of children with absolute certainty since these are such serious and demanding things, affirming that the child performs such important actions on which the questions asked by the minister of baptism at the moment that he is baptized concern; while at the same time if I asked them this other question: “This baby, who is now being baptized, he will be chaste or he will not rather be a thief?”, I don't know if anyone would dare to say: “It will or it won't be”, as without a shadow of a doubt I am told that he believes in God”. Eventually, conclude your reasoning by saying: ” Use the courtesy to briefly answer these questions of mine, not attaching the rule of custom but citing the reason and explanation".

In this answer one can perfectly see the role that the Bishop of Hippo attributes to the faith of parents and godparents who freely and voluntarily accompany their children to baptism. The baptized child is made faithful not by an act similar to that of faithful adults, but from the Sacrament of the same faith which is transmitted as a good thing by those who have already experienced Christ and wish to transmit it. In the same way, for St. Augustine, both parents and godparents respond to their children's baptism by affirming their beliefs, free and non-coercive will, in times where calling oneself a Christian was much more uncomfortable and dangerous than today. We understand that the baptized child is called faithful - in the sense of united with Christ - not simply by giving the personal assent of his intelligence, but with receiving the Sacrament of the same faith that was transmitted in one's family. When then the child, crescendo, will begin to understand, he will no longer need a new baptism, but he will understand the Sacrament received and will comply, with the consent of his will, from the spiritual reality represented by baptism.

After this description so clear, we can understand that all things considered good are transmitted from parents to children and that often the passions of the fathers become those of the children, but no one would ever dream of saying that the child is the victim of violence.

In the Rite of Baptism the priest asks: "What do you ask of the Church of God?» is a simple question that defines a very free will to proceed on a journey of faith through baptism. But this is not enough, the priest informs the parents of the baptized of the responsibility for this request: «asking for Baptism for your child, you are committed to educating him in the faith, Why, in keeping the commandments, learn to love God and neighbor, as Christ taught us. You are aware of this responsibility?». If this awareness exists, well, otherwise wait, there is no hurry in the things of God, it is useless to baptize your child for other reasons than because you want him to live the same life as Christ. Baptism is the beginning of every discipleship and that evangelical change (Metanoia) ― involving the whole family, Home church, to constitute the fulcrum of the first announcement of the faith.

St. Fulgentius of Ruspe in Rule of true faith [See. 30,14] he claims:

«[…] no man can receive eternal salvation, if he has not converted down here from his sins with penance and faith, and that through the sacrament of faith and penance, that is, by means of baptism, he didn't get rid of it"

The “Institutional Church”, let's call it that for the less skilled in these matters, subsequently takes over this awareness and accompanies the family's journey of faith, strengthening it and directing it to the fullest with the grace that comes from the Holy Spirit. But the same is not the case with learning? When the six-year-old enters first grade, he doesn't already know many things and is able to speak. Where did he get this information from if not the house? Attending school and following the learning path is just the continuation of what the family has already done, structuring it in a robust way and opening to the pleasure and desire for knowledge the young minds that tomorrow will be able to govern themselves in the world as mature people.

Finally, we cordially invite the journalists of Micromega to exempt himself for the future from these embarrassing utterances that would have made men of great talent and intellect of the caliber of Enrico Berlinguer and Marco Pannella pale, or which would lead an authentic liberal like Daniele Capezzone to hastily call them ignorant without any hesitation. Indeed, let it be clear: the exponents of the old Italian Communist Party, or the Radicals who grew up in the political school of that brilliant mind of Marco Pannella - of whom we share little or perhaps nothing, but which we recognize however as having undoubted political qualities ―, with certain vulgar subjects they have nothing in common both on the level of ideality and on that of the exposition of the criticisms formulated against the Catholic Church.

The proposal of lay baptism? It is certainly the best gimmick of atheist "dogmatism"., after the one that led them to propose the figure of ... "lay hospital chaplain". All done to pursue the desperate desire to become the new priests of secularism with all that liberal-clerical baggage that derives from it. The Roman poet Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, who in terms of criticism of the Church was second to none, taking up the acrostic S.P.Q.R. translated it into "Solo Priests Qua Regnano". Yup, you pursue this dream to be the new reigning lay clergy of worldliness, but remember one thing, if after two thousand years the Church is still present and baptizes by command of Christ it is because there is that something more - we ask the atheists, maybe it's God? ― who supports and defends it. Perhaps a little more attention would be better on your part, at least a little more caution. Also because anti-clerical atheist circles could run the serious risk of being asked a much more dramatic and realistic question: if a father and a mother who bring a newborn to be baptized would commit violence to them by means of baptism, those fathers and mothers who decide instead to prevent their children from coming into the world through the practice of abortion, what kind of violence they commit, on the children?

Laconi, 6 February 2023

.

.

______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.

THE NECESSARY PASTORAL CARE OF THE CHRISTIAN FUNERALS OPENS TO THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION NOT TO THE EXTERNAL BIZARRE OF THE CELEBRATING PRIEST EVEN WHEN A BISHOP IS PRESIDENT

[…] in Rome itself we were forced to assist in the 2012 at the funeral of the most famous director of porn films, during which famous porn-actors and porn-actresses anything but repentant, after having received the Most Holy Eucharist in a sacrilegious way, not satisfied, they went up to the ambo during the liturgical action to give a real and proud praise to pornography before the end of the Holy Mass.

- Church news -

Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp..

PDF print format article

Who like me is a parish priest - even before I was chaplain of a large city hospital - he will be able to understand me when I say that one of the greatest difficulties for a priest is to make the faithful understand - but also to those who are a little less so - that with the Sacraments it's just a joke. The Sacraments are not comparable to a ductile modeling clay, useful to shape according to the times and circumstances, fabulous when it comes to meeting artistic needs, so as to express the inspiration of the creator, but without demanding more than what this humble material really can give outside of what it was created for by the mind of man.

With the Sacraments some think they can do it all, absolutely everything. And if something cannot be done, it is invented from scratch: find your soul mate, fix the economy, mend broken ties or forge new ones, bring together chronic delays and put the thermometer of faith back on par. Or use the Sacramento as a political or musical podium to convey certain messages or amarcord, organize kermesse of various potentates in which profanation invariably escapes us, up to the belated request for forgiveness complete with a fake tear in front of the coffin of the one who until recently did not deign to even look at. For this I repeat: with the Sacraments one cannot and must not joke because through the right understanding and celebration of these sacred signs we publicly reveal our faith and in doing so we express our belief and the greatness of our dignity as Christians within the Catholic Church which is its faithful guardian on behalf of Christ the Lord.

Both liturgical and sacramental theology start from a fundamental axiom that says that the The law of prayer And The law of belief (the law of prayer is the law of believing). This means that my way of praying or celebrating makes my faith manifest. Obviously this axiom is true even if formulated in reverse, the The law of belief And The law of prayer and my faith makes it possible for me to pray and celebrate well. However, I leave this type of insight to our liturgist brother Simone Pifizzi who will be able to explain the matter better than me. I am interested first of all in clarifying the dogmatic and subsequently the pastoral aspect. Because it is from what we believe and what we defend within the Tradition of the Church that a good pastoral care is born that the most perfectines would call Practical Theology.

The practical aspect of our pastoral care reflects the most intimate aspect of the relationship with God, what the Catechism of the Catholic Church [cf.. NN. 2095-ss] calls the virtue of religion and which disposes us to adoring recognition of the Lord, first reality and commandment sanctioned by the Decalogue and messianic truth that Jesus strongly rejects before the devil in the desert when he says: «It is written: "The Sir, Your God, will love: him alone shall you serve"" [Mt 4,10]. Therefore, if in my practical faith there is no recognition of having to worship and adore the living Lord, in Spirit and Truth [cf.. GV 4,24], I will also do beautiful things but they will always remain limited to the glorification of man and transient realities that do not save and do not help for eternal life.

He is with the Lord in his Church that we intend to compromise our lives, till death, event in which most of the screens of mortals fall apart to leave uncovered the true sore nerve of our creatures sick from sin: we are afraid to die because we do not believe in a living and resurrected God!

In the hypothetical ranking of the most scrambled Sacraments, you don't even have to ask, in the first place that of the Eucharist stands out, meaning both the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, Eucharistic Communion, Holy Viaticum and Eucharistic Adoration. Thanks to the fact that if the majority of the faithful and priests no longer believe in the living and real presence of the Lord present in his true body, blood, soul and divinity of that consecrated unleavened bread, everything else follows accordingly. And I say this not because I want to launch defamatory accusations against the People of God or some confrere - something that would immediately attract the ire of those beautiful devout souls with scandalized virgin hearts whose only priestly sin consists in the bad word or in that area geographical below the waistband of the pants ― but I say this because today with the Smartphone e i social network everything is taken up, all recorded and documented and reproduced in real time as it happened for the Cycling Mass Kobram cup, the Put on the mat in the sea and still others of which traces can easily be found in the boundless archive of the web.

At this point it is only a matter of viewing the video documents and to draw the necessary conclusions ... in this regard someone would have to say «the argument against the fact is not valid». But we, here from The Island of Patmos, we want to add the arguments to the facts, not so much to defend such desolates Mexican butchers of liturgical and sacramental indecorousness but those believers of Christ who have the right to have good antibodies to resist in faith these oddities that now seem to constitute the objective normality in many communities.

Before moving on to present the facts I would like to recall that in Rome itself we were forced to assist in the 2012 at the funeral of the most famous director of porn films, during which famous porn-actors and porn-actresses anything but repentant, after having received the Most Holy Eucharist in a sacrilegious way, not satisfied, they went up to the ambo during the liturgical action to give a real and proud praise to pornography before the end of the Holy Mass. Episode reported in detail by our Father Ariel in an article of 2017 to which I refer you [see article WHO].

Holy Mass is the heart of the Church and it often happens that some Eucharistic celebrations become the framework for expressing something else or the complete opposite of what a Catholic Holy Mass should be. Often this happens in delicate circumstances, such as for example at religious funerals in which the rule now in vogue seems to be only that of the search for human respect which is thought to be superior and more urgent than that attitude of toilets which is due and pertains only to the Lord really present in the Sacred Species. And incidentally it is good to remember that in the Catholic faith we usually indicate with toilets the cult reserved to God and to the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, which is a cult of worship; with hyperdulia the one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary which is not a cult of adoration but of veneration, likewise that of the Angels and Saints indicated with the term of dulia.

The fact that the Eucharistic celebration is used to “say or do anything else” is wrong in itself, precisely because the celebration of the Holy Mass is used. The flaw of inappropriateness of a deformed faith is evident, because already the Holy Mass with its redemptive mystery says something infinitely more powerful and definitive: "We announce your death, man, we proclaim your resurrection in anticipation of your coming!» (acclamation of the assembly after the Eucharistic Prayer). Which we can also express in this way: “Death and life faced each other in a prodigious duel: the Lord of life was dead; but now, vivo, triumphs!» [from the hymn of praise Gregorian].

What could we possibly add more and better before this announcement that characterizes the blessed hope to which all men are called by the risen Christ? but yet, the case of funeral masses revisited it is very common and the confrere parish priests will understand me very well, some of whom will have already resigned themselves to passing the time of the funeral living it as a penitential moment to avoid finding the relatives of the deceased who list all the most offensive and poisonous litanies about priests and the "rigid Church".

Still others resist stoically and they try to make people understand that a funeral Eucharistic celebration, like the one recently celebrated in the church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in the presence of the Venezuelan prelate H.E. Monsignor Riccardo Lamba auxiliary bishop of Rome [you see WHO], it can be quite another thing, prophetic announcement of hope and consolation in the face of the nullification of death.

We have to state decisively that the concept of Christian death is different from that of pagan death. Here we do not wish to examine the very serious tragedy of the news story of Martina Scialdone killed in Rome by her ex-partner. We are more interested in bringing into this event of absurd death a Christian response of faith that goes beyond the sentiment highlighted by the entire national press and to which the celebrating Bishop seems to have implicitly consented by allowing a song by the singer Irama to be performed: «Wherever you are: the farewell to Martina Scialdone and those words that break the silence of the church at the funeral» [cf.. WHO].

We are aware or not what does it mean to propose such a song in memory of a deceased who, making a clear reference to reincarnation, literally says: «Wherever you are / if you will come back here / if more / you know that I will wait for you»? [cf.. WHO]. A Christian shouldn't already know what eschatological destiny his deceased brothers are destined for? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in n. 1013:

“Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, it is the end of the time of grace and mercy that God offers him to carry out his earthly life according to the divine plan and to decide his ultimate destiny. When is “the one course of our earthly life over”, we will never return to live other earthly lives. “It is appointed for men to die once” [EB 9,27]. There is no "reincarnation" after death.".

Understand this first we are also accompanied to see the definitive condition in which our dead are destined to stay, the Christian vision of death is expressed in an incomparable way in the liturgy of the Church that says:

«To your faithful, man, life is not taken away, but transformed; and while the home of this earthly exile is being destroyed, an eternal habitation is prepared in heaven" [See. Preface of the dead I: Roman Missal].

This new home in which life is transformed after death leads directly into the glory of Paradise with God, in that mystery called the Communion of Saints which constitutes us as a triumphant Church, purgative and militant. It is therefore not sensible and useful to ask ourselves, from the point of view of a mature faith, the "physical place inhabited" by the deceased: rather the deceased must be found alive in God awaiting the final resurrection and in that communion of love that we mortals must seek with God and which allows us to be close to them every time we pray, we participate in the Holy Mass, we perform works of mercy in their memory, we strive to live a life of conversion and union with the Lord in the expectation that we too will be united with theirs in Heaven.

In conclusion, I pause to briefly comment on the liturgical indications of the funeral ritual in use in the Catholic Church that a priest in the care of souls, and much more a bishop, should know and apply not out of a sense of cold formalism but to preserve the strength of faith in the Church and nourish the hope that does not disappoint in the people of God.

From the clarifications to the General Premises the Funeral Ritual [cf.. pp. 29-30] we read in the paragraph 6:

«after the introductory remarks to the last recommendation and farewell, according to local customs approved by the diocesan bishop, short words of Christian remembrance regarding the deceased can be added. The text is previously agreed and is not pronounced from the ambo. Avoid using recorded text or images, as well as the performance of songs or music extraneous to the liturgy».

Above all at the end of the funeral Mass, after celebrating the sacrifice of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ who rises victorious before death and the coffin in the church, there would be little to add, if not a solemn: I believe. But the Church, in her maternal care, still wishes to be a balm of tenderness and to recommend the deceased to God and to say goodbye to him in the hope of a new encounter in Paradise. For this reason, he allows an affectionate and familiar farewell as long as it is in a Christian spirit, reverberating that mystery that has just concluded in the Eucharist celebrated.

This greeting is to be agreed with the priest which verifies its suitability and the opportunity of an undue spectacularization, so that values ​​that clash with the Christian faith are not expressed, just as the pagan expression is abundantly fashionable today: "may the earth be light on you". All this is done not from the ambo, which is the place where the Word of God alone must resound, but from a suitable place.

As explicit as necessary is the clarification to avoid singing, music or anything else that is extraneous to the liturgy and that could create confusion even if in some way a connection can be found with the history of the deceased or his family. We repeat that the sacraments are not modeling clay that I can adapt or modify according to my wishes.

If we really have to look for suitable words or songs that may have the strength to break the silence of a church funeral, let us make use of what the treasure of the Church already places in our hands, in that Easter hymn ofExulte

“This is the night when Christ, destroying the bonds of death, He rose as victor from the tomb. No advantage for us to be born, if he hadn't redeemed us".

We forget too often that we have been called into existence to be redeemed and ransomed by Christ and this is what allows us to see death as a passage and not an end. In every funeral Christ is there to remind us that he has broken death and with it the absurd pain of a life that can be violated or insulted in the eyes of the most, just believe it. And the first to believe it should be the sacred pastors as celebrators and zealous custodians of the sacred mysteries.

Laconi, 27 January 2023

.

.

______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.