NINE SHORT SUBJECTS
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
1. Supporters of Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, note that over the years other priests have had their faculties removed when serious charges were levied against them, only to be rehabilitated later when the charges were shown to be false. Padre Pio is the name most usually cited. But are there not two distinctions to be made?
First, in the old days, accused priests lost their faculties at once, and then the Church made an investigation into the charges. (Shoot first, ask questions later.) Nowadays the procedure usually (not always) is the other way around: investigate first and then, if there seems to be at least prima facie evidence, penalize the priest.
Second, it is one thing for a priest to have his faculties suspended. It is another for him to be invited to live the remainder of his days doing penance. The first can be interpreted as merely cautionary, like a preliminary injunction, but the second carries a clear note of penalty. When, in pre-Vatican II years, accused priests were told to cease their priestly ministries for a time, were they also told to take up a life of penance? Not that I remember.
2. Bishop Michael Jarrell, of the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana, walked out of a high school graduation ceremony after members of the audience repeatedly made loud noises when diplomas were being distributed. "Four times they were asked not to engage in this behavior," said Jarrell. "When it continued I chose to leave the auditorium before the presentation of diplomas was completed. It was a matter of respect."
The audience had been admonished not to interrupt with "cheering, hoots, and hollers." The problem, said the bishop, was not the students, whom he described as "perfect young ladies and gentlemen," but their parents, relatives, and friends.
The local newspaper quoted one mother, with the curious name of Mona Ozone, as saying the bishop acted like a "spoiled brat." She was not quoted as saying anything uncomplimentary about anyone in the audience.
3. In today's Mass are remembered those who died in the first great persecution of the Church, under the Emperor Nero in the 60s of the first century. Among the slain were Peter and Paul.
If you plan to visit Rome, make sure you sign up for a tour of the Scavi, the necropolis beneath St. Peter's Basilica. The Scavi is not to be confused with the Crypt, located one level below the Basilica, where many papal tombs are found. The Scavi is one level lower still and was excavated by archaeologists only as recently as the 1940s. No tickets are needed for the Crypt, but you must reserve tickets well in advance for the Scavi. See:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/rome/scavi_tour.htm
The highlight of the exclusive Scavi tour--exclusive because no more than 11 or 12 people are taken at a time and only about 150 per day--is a close-up view of the little monument that was built over Peter's tomb and a look at the clear, airtight box that contains what are believed to be his bones, which were found directly under the high altar.
4. Nearly every reviewer says "The Da Vinci Code" movie is a bore and, worse than that, a confusing bore, but don't let this cheer you too much. The movie still reeks of anti-Catholicism, and, no matter how big a cinematographic mess it may be, the "facts" it portrays are believed by millions. (It is good to keep in mind Mencken's quip about no one ever going broke underestimating the intelligence of Americans.)
5. In 1336 Petrarch climbed Mount Ventoux in Provence, just for the view. This was centuries before such climbs became popular. At the top he randomly opened Augustine's "Confessions" to a passage chastising those who marvel at the height of mountains while neglecting their spiritual lives. Perhaps there is a lesson here for me, as I prepare for summer backpacking trips in the High Sierra.
6. The 1582 reform of the calendar under Pope Gregory XIII produced--what else?--the Gregorian calendar, which replaced the Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar, who instituted it). Catholic countries soon adopted Gregory's reform, but Protestant countries rejected it. They didn't want anything to do with a "popish calendar." Eventually they had to give in (astronomy eventually trumps prejudice), with Britain adopting the calendar only in 1752. There it was called the New Style calendar so no mention need be made of a pope. The Julian calendar was termed the Old Style.
7. On Saturday Archbishop John Myers of Newark ordained 17 new priests, tops in the nation this year. The next largest ordination class is in Washington, D.C., with 12 ordinands, followed by Denver with 11. The numbers in most American dioceses are in the single digits, and distressingly often that digit is a zero.
8. Friday was the feast of Philip Neri (1515-1595), founder of the Oratory and favorite saint of John Henry Newman. It is said that one day the Roman saint was preaching a plenary indulgence in a crowded church. While preaching he received a vision that of the hundreds in the church only two had the requisite dispositions to obtain the plenary (as distinguished from a partial) indulgence, the saint himself and an old washerwoman.
Mind you, this was back when most Catholics believed in indulgences and actually went to Mass every Sunday, and yet only two people in that church had, at that moment, no attachment at all to sin, one of the requirements for receiving a plenary indulgence. If Philip Neri were to preach in a crowded church today--presuming he first could find a crowded church--I wonder whether the number who would qualify for the indulgence might be smaller still.
9. Please reserve these dates on your calendar: May 6-20, 2007. Those are the dates for Catholic Answers' first pilgrimage-cruise. We will begin with several days in Rome and then will embark on one of Holland America Line's newest ships for a ten-day voyage that will take us to seven cities in the eastern Mediterranean, including Dubrovnik, Athens, and Ephesus.
In past years, we styled our annual adventures as apologetics cruises, and most of the talks were, naturally enough, on apologetics. Beginning next year we will concentrate on Catholic history and culture, and what better places to do that than Rome (where we will have talks by Rome-based insiders) and cities that have played important roles in Catholic history?
Dubrovnik, in strongly-Catholic Croatia, is the best-preserved medieval city on the Adriatic. At Athens we will go to the Areopagus, where Paul spoke to the pagans about the "Unknown God" they worshiped (see Acts 17). At Ephesus we will learn about the Virgin Mary's house and the third ecumenical council, held in Ephesus in 431.
We are not yet ready to take reservations for this pilgrimage-cruise, but I want to give you plenty of notice about the dates so you can mark your calendar accordingly.
p.s., If you have a comment about anything appearing in this E-Letter, please do not hit your Reply button. Instead, go to Catholic Answers' discussion forums at
http://forums.catholic.com
where you may post your comment in the forum dedicated to the E-Letter. You will find a thread devoted to this issue of the E-Letter. Feel free to add your comment in the form of a reply to that thread.
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