A good vision for a school...

"a little classical learning, scholarly standards, a bit of Plato and Cicero, moderation, good sense, respect for the truth." Dr. Alois Fischer, in A Postcard from the Volcano, by Lucy Beckett (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2009).

A review of the novel forthcoming. Br. Bob, you'd like this one, I think.

Whether capitalism is capable of being a just system or not,....

...it is clear that there are certain vices that must be avoided and virtues to be cultivated by anyone seeking to pursue holiness while in the world. Can a person live as St. Teresa says and be a "successful" capitalist?:

3. Souls soon learn in this way; they perceive their faults very clearly, and sometimes the discovery of how quickly they are overcome by but slight earthly trials is more painful than the subtraction of God's sensible favours. I consider that God thus shows them great mercy, for though their behaviour may be faulty, yet they gain greatly in humility. Not so with the people of whom I first spoke; they believe their conduct is saintly, and wish others to agree with them. I will give you some examples which will help us to understand and to try ourselves, without waiting for God to try us, since it would be far better to have prepared and examined ourselves beforehand.

4. A rich man, without son or heir, loses part of his property, but still has more than enough to keep himself and his household. If this misfortune grieves and disquiets him as though he were left to beg his bread, how can our Lord ask him to give up all things for His sake? This man will tell you he regrets losing his money because he wished to bestow it on the poor.

5. I believe His Majesty would prefer me to conform to His will, and keep peace of soul while attending to my interests, to such charity as this. If this person cannot resign himself because God has not raised him so high in virtue, well and good: let him know that he is wanting in liberty of spirit; let him beg our Lord to grant it him, and be rightly disposed to receive it. Another person has more than sufficient means to live on, when an opportunity occurs for acquiring more property: if it is offered him, by all means let him accept it; but if he must go out of his way to obtain it and then continues working to gain more and more--however good his intention may be (and it must be good, for I am speaking of people who lead prayerful and good lives), he cannot possibly enter the mansions near the King.

By the way....

The 1962 Missale Romanorum is available online in toto here.

The priest and the words of consecration

I had once heard that the priest when consecrating the chalice speaks into the chalice, hence representing the Word and Holy Spirit effecting the consecration. I similarly thought the priest spoke into or toward the host. My son, the liturgical enthusiast, questioned this when I mentioned it, so I did some research. The current missal only says for both consecrations that the priest "parum se inclinat" when he speaks the words of consecration. He bows a little. It does NOT say he speaks into or over the chalice or into the host.

The instructions of the 1962 missal, says that the priest rests his elbows on the altar, inclines his head and speaks "over" the host and the chalice, elevating them slightly. You could interpret that as speaking into, but it certainly isn't a necessary interpretation.

I guess I'll have to read Parsch or Jungmann.

I love Journalists

Here is a nuanced, informed version of the Galileo "affair" in an article about finding some of the remains of his body.

Galileo, who died in 1642, was condemned by the Vatican for saying the Earth revolved around the Sun. Church teaching at the time held that the Earth was the center of the universe. In the early 1990s, Pope John Paul II rehabilitated him, saying the church had erred.

Episcopal Wall of Honor

Episcopal Signers of the Manhattan Declaration.

• Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, CO
• Most Rev. Salvatore Joseph Cordileone Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA
• Most Rev. Timothy Dolan Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, NY
• Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, KY
• Most Rev. Richard J. Malone Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, ME
• Most Rev. John J. Myers Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, NJ
• Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann Archbishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, KS
• Most Rev. John Nienstedt Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MN
• Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, AZ
• Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, CO
• Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
• Most Rev. David A. Zubik Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA

I'm going to assume that a couple of bishops who weren't on the list that I would expect to have been didn't get the memo in time.

St. Francis's comment on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, etc.

"Blessed (is) the servant, who when he speaks, does not reveal all his own (thoughts) in view of (some) reward, and is not swift to speak (cf. Prov. 29:20), but wisely weighs what he ought to speak and answer. · Woe to him religious, who does not retain in his heart (Lk 2:19.51) the good things, which the Lord shows him, and does not show them to others through work, but who in view of (some) gain desires rather to show them to men with words. · He himself receives "his wage" (cf. Mt 6:2; 6:16) and (his) hearers bring back little fruit." Admonition 21.

Bravery and heroism

I have begun a wonderful novel by Lucy Beckett (Ignatius Press), whom I met at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture conference this weekend. It is about the life of a man named Max who grows up in East Prussia during the period between the two world wars. His father is seeking to imbue him with a Prussian love for the glory of war. His tutor is a Jew who has fled Alsace-Lorraine because of the French persecution of the Jews.

When Max is eight he has a conversation with his tutor about the events which precipitated World War I, which had just started. They were discussing the Serbian youth who had plotted to kill Archduke Ferdinand. In this conversation Dr. Mendel makes a very useful distinction between bravery and nobility.

"So are they good, like heroes are good? Or bad, like murderers are bad?"
"They are murderers, not heroes. They thought what they were doing was brave, which it was. They also thought it was noble, which it was not. Some Serbs may think them heroes for a while, but they will be wrong. The lives they have given up [because they will be executed] would have been more use to Serbia than their deaths will be."

Then the possibility that they are martyrs is discussed.

"But they could still be heroes when they're dead? Like martyrs?"
"A martyr is a witness to the truth. Whether Bosnia is part of Serbia or part of the Empire is not a matter of truth, but a matter of politics. Politics is about power, not about truth. And now nearly all of Europe is at war because of these foolish boys."

Terrorists, no matter what side they are on or how just their cause, have lost all understanding of these distinctions. Islamic terrorists may be brave, because they've overcome fear and danger, but they are not heroes. We need to be clear and direct about this, and about any contemporary or historical act of terrorism. Bravery and a just cause does not make you a hero if you engage in ignoble acts.

I think this also applies to those who would promote a totalitarian state. Terrorists and totalitarians are cut from the same cloth. The difference is that one has the reins of state in hand, and the other does not. Neither is consistent with the Catholic faith. That is why Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators were not genuinely representative of the Catholic religion. Nor are those who commit acts of murder in the name of the pro life movement.

I think it interesting, by the way, that some of the earlier instances of both errors appeared in England--Fawkes and Cromwell.

I also think that burning figures of Fawkes in effigy doesn't rise much above the ignobility of Fawkes himself.

John Paul II and the Pater Noster

For you John Paul II and Latin fans out there, Nancy Carpenter Brown links to this video.

Retaining one's innocence in a depraved world

A question for conversation: how does one retain one's innocence (purity of heart, as the Catechism calls it) while at the same time becoming aware of the world as it really is (pretty dark). This is a helpful discussion for parents of teenage children. It is a perennial question in our home school group.

Collect of St. Martin of Tours

I am continually amazed at the inexplicable manner that ICEL translates the collects in the liturgy. Half the time I can't even detect a real ideological principle behind it. They just seem to have delighted in scrambling concepts around. Today's feast is no exception. I'm going to provide the Latin, then my translation, then the ICEL English. Someone explain to me why they changed it. I'm not saying the essential meaning was lost, but there is something lost.

Latin:

Deus, qui in beato Martino episcopo sive per vitam sive per mortem magnificatus es, innova gratiae tuae mirabilia in cordibus nostris, ut neque mors neque vita separare nos possit a caritate tua. Per Dominum....

This isn't difficult Latin. My literal translation:

[O] God, who has been exalted in blessed Martin, both though [his] life and through [his] death, renew in our hearts the wonders of your grace, that neither death nor life may separate us from your love. Through Our Lord....

Now ICEL (with my parenthetical comments:

Father [I understand why they do this, but it irks me nonetheless], by his life and death
[blessed?] Martin of Tours offered you worship and praise [in switching to the active voice, the focus on God is somewhat mitigated. also, it really doesn't say anything in the Latin about worship or praise].
Renew in our hearts [so far so good] the power of your love [okay, so what is wrong with the word "grace," and where did "mirabilia" go, and why is love put here, since it clearly belongs later--this last move distances the prayer somewhat from Romans 8, which is the obvious reference],
so that neither death nor life [okay] may separate us from you.
Grant this...

I just don't think the modification and paraphrasing helps us understand the prayer better.