Archbishop Cordileone, Archdiocesan Director of Communication Defend Faith, Marriage

Very good to see, from LifeSiteNews:

Archbishop to Pelosi, critics: No, I won’t drop March for Marriage

"San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has responded that, despite criticism from political leaders in his home state, he will attend the March for Marriage this week, because his position requires him to act as a defender of the Catholic faith.

In a letter released today, Cordileone wrote that he is required “as a bishop, to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing ... especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife,” Cordileone wrote. “That is what I will be doing on June 19th.”

Christine Mugridge, the Director of Communications for the Archdiocese, was excellent as well:

"Dr. Christine Mugridge, head of the Archdiocese of San Francisco's department of communications and outreach, told LifeSiteNews that the politicians had allowed ideology to blind them to an archbishop's mission. 'They are forgetting the fact that he has an obligation to teach the faith,' she said. 'In the public arena, they are not responsible for every speaker’s opinion at a public meeting.'

 'It isn’t his personal opinion; it is the teaching of the Church,' she said.

Both letters quoted an off-the-cuff remark by Pope Francis, 'If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?' The statement has been used to confuse the faithful and public at large about the Church's stance on homosexuality – confusion Archbishop Cordileone aims to dispel.

'The Holy Father is being misquoted repeatedly to defend acceptance of the gay lifestyle,' Dr. Mugridge told LifeSiteNews. 'The Pope has said he is a son of the Church and that he does not defend the gay lifestyle and opposed lobbyists for that lifestyle.'

 'His 'who am I to judge?' quote is now being used to condone the active homosexual lifestyle, which is in complete contradiction to our Catholic faith,' she said."

Absolutely right.

Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form for Fr. Walker Friday

Speaking of events at Star of the Sea, the home of the traditional Latin Mass Society of San Francisco, this Friday the parish will celebrate a High Requiem Mass for Father Kenneth Walker, FSSP,  the 29 year-old priest shot and killed by a robber in Phoenix last week.

Star of the Sea Church is located at 8th Avenue and Geary in San Francisco. The Mass is at 6:30PM. 

Eucharistic Pride Conference at Star of the Sea, San Francisco

This looks like a great series of events. From today's California Catholic Daily:

Eucharistic Pride 2014
San Francisco Mission Conference faces “challenges of modern paganism”
"From June 19-27, San Francisco’s Star of the Sea parish, the home of the Traditional Latin Mass Society of San Francisco, will host a parish mission conference called The Source and Summit of Catholic Life. The conference will be led by Father Paul Nicholson, a diocesan priest incardinated in the diocese of London, Ontario.

The conference begins on the Feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday, June 19, with a 6:30 p.m. Mass in the Extraordinary Form, followed by a Eucharistic procession. In each of the following eight days Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form. On Sunday, June 22, there will be a Solemn High Mass in the Ordinary Form celebrating Corpus Christi Sunday, which will also be followed by a procession...."

Read the whole thing.

SF Politicians try to dissuade Archbishop Cordileone from attending Marriage March

Good luck with that.

A group of San Francisco politicians is trying to convince Archbishop Salvatore Cordleone, the USCCB's point man for the defense of marriage, from attending June 19's March for Marriage in Washington, DC. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about it this morning, and NBC Bay Area News did a segment on it, too, in which reporter Mark Matthews interviewed me.

They cropped my segment radically, which is a pity. They asked what the feeling about same-sex marriage was at Saints Peter and Paul, and I said that “the feeling here is the feeling of the Catholic Church in general: That marriage is only between a man and a woman, anything else is not marriage.” They only aired the last sentence. You can watch the story below.

They did not air the part where Mr. Matthews said he'd spoken to people at "100 Diamond Street" (which is the address of Most Holy Redemeer) who had said that the Holy Father said not to worry about marriage, and "Who am I to judge?" I put that in context for Mr. Matthews, and added that the Holy Father had said same-sex marriage is a tool of the devil, and that Holy Father, the Bishops of the Church, and Archbishop Cordileone are all on the same page.

NBC's lack of objectivity is non-existent: their text version of the story contains a link to the petition that asks the Archbishop not to attend the March. You can learn more about the March for Marriage by visiting www.marriagemarch.org/

UPDATE: His Excellency is promoting the march in New Orleans.

From LifeSiteNews:

Defending marriage tops agenda on first day of US Bishops spring meeting

Much of the opening day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2014 Spring General Assembly on Wednesday was devoted to the defense and promotion of marriage.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, led the charge by telling his brother bishops: “We are at a critical point in this country as it comes to defense of marriage in the law.”

Archbishop Cordileone outlined the rave situation for the defense of traditional marriage and resulting threatsto religious freedom. He noted that if the Supreme Court takes up one of the state marriage amendment cases, by next June 2015 we could have a decision.

“A negative decision by the Supreme Court would undoubtedly have a profound impact on the nation,” he said. The archbishop ended by promoting the March for Marriage in Washington, DC on June 19.

Four new Priests of God for the Archdiocese of San Francisco!

Today His Excellency Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone ordained four men into the priesthood at St. Mary's Cathedral. I did not get a chance to attend, but those who did said it was like heaven on earth. The four, from left to right, are Fr. Mark Doherty, who will serve at St. Peter's in San Francisco and as part-time Chaplain at Sacred Heart High School; Fr. Roger Gustafson, who will serve at St. Hilary in Tiburon;  Fr. Andrew Spyrow, who will serve at St. Raphael in San Rafael; and Fr. Tony Vallecillo, who will serve at St. Matthew's in San Mateo and as part-time Chaplain at Serra High School.

(The news that two of the good young priests will serve as high school chaplains is very heartening to anyone who has been following California Catholic Daily's recent expose of the catastrophic state of the departments of religious studies at S.F. Archdiocesan High schools. CalCatholic's site was hacked but you can read the google cached versions of some the stories here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

Archbishop Cordileone's homily for the Mass of Ordination is below.

“PASTORAL CHARITY, THE HEART OF THE VOCATION OF THE PRIEST”

HOMILY – MASS OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD

June 7, 2014

(Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4; John 10:11-16)

          Introduction

The earliest examples of Christian art we have are wall paintings found in the catacombs of Rome.  There we see the first image of our Lord depicted in Christian art: the figure of a young man with a lamb on his shoulders and feeding lambs at his side – precisely the image of the Good Shepherd which we hear Jesus ascribe to himself in the Gospel reading just proclaimed.  From the very beginning, this has been one of the most beloved images our Lord uses to describe himself in the gospels.

          Pastoral Charity

It is a beloved image which goes all the way back to Old Testament times: there, through His prophets, God refers to Himself as the Shepherd of Israel.  But God had human instruments.  Recall the story of the choosing and anointing of David to be king.  He was the youngest of Jesse’s sons, not even present when the prophet Samuel came to him to determine which one of Jesse’s sons God had chosen.  No, David was off tending the sheep.  He is the shepherd-king; the role of a king is to rule, to govern.  But the kings of God’s people were to govern as a shepherd caring for his sheep.  This is indicated even in the very language spoken by God’s original chosen people, in which the word that means “to rule” also means “to shepherd.”  We just prayed the most beloved of all psalms: “The Lord is my shepherd.”  In Hebrew, this means, “The Lord rules me.”

Now, this might sound quite strange to our ears, we who are English speakers in this contemporary culture.  But let us think again of who this Good Shepherd is who rules us: “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….  I know mine and mine know me … and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”  This is good!  It is also how we make sense of the fact that in our religious tradition the head is the servant.

I am very grateful to the faculty of Saint Patrick’s Seminary for the formation they give to our future priests.  I am grateful for many things, but one of them is the solid grounding the seminarians receive in the foundational document on priestly formation, Pastores dabo vobis.  There, St. John Paul II explains at length the key to understanding how it is that the head is the servant: it is pastoral charity.  He explains that Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd because “[h]is whole life is a continual manifestation of his ‘pastoral charity’” (n. 22).  Jesus lives out this pastoral charity through the compassion he shows to the crowds, feeding them spiritually and physically, healing them, teaching them, and, ultimately, offering his life for them through his death and Resurrection – literally laying down his life for them.  This pastoral charity of Jesus gives to the priest the very meaning and definition of his identity: “By virtue of their consecration, priests are configured to Jesus the good shepherd and are called to imitate and to live out his own pastoral charity” (n. 22).

Charity is love in action, the practical, concrete ways that love is lived out and realized.  For the priest, the highest expression of this kind of love in his vocation is his pastoral charity, which John Paul defines as “the virtue by which we imitate Christ in his self-giving and service.”  He says that pastoral charity “is not just what we do, but our gift of self, which manifests Christ’s love for his flock.  Pastoral charity determines our way of thinking and acting, our way of relating to people.  It makes special demands on us” (n. 23; emphasis added).

It makes special demands on us.  Those special demands manifest themselves in a whole myriad of ways: how the priest spends his time, his attention to detail in caring for the people of God, meeting them in their moments of need, instructing them, preaching to them, leading them in divine worship, being truly and totally present to them.  This is the way in which he lives his Priesthood with integrity, the way in which he fulfills what John Paul calls “the essential and permanent demand for unity between the priest’s interior life and all his external actions and the obligations of the ministry” (n. 23).

          Total Gift of Self

For the priest, a most particular and great demand which pastoral charity requires of him is priestly celibacy.  I fear that this ancient discipline of the Church is sorely misunderstood and under-appreciated in our time, seen as just a practical provision so that the priest can have more time to do his job, or, even worse, as something oppressive.  Rather, this is a way in which the Church seeks to preserve our understanding of the truth that the Priesthood is a vocation, and not simply a job.

In Pastores dabo vobis, St. John Paul makes a particularly compelling statement on the rationale for this extraordinary commitment of the priest.  He says:

It is especially important that the priest understand the theological motivation of the Church’s law on celibacy.  Inasmuch as it is a law, it expresses the Church’s will ….  But the will of the Church finds its ultimate motivation in the link between celibacy and sacred ordination, which configures the priest to Jesus Christ the head and spouse of the Church.  The Church, as the spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her head and spouse loved her.  Priestly celibacy, then, is the gift of self in and with Christ to his Church and expresses the priest’s service to the Church in and with the Lord [n. 29].

Total and exclusive: this is the love of spouses, which opens us up to the true meaning of the priest’s commitment to celibacy.  As John Paul also says in this passage:

In … celibacy, chastity retains its original meaning, that is, of human sexuality lived as a genuine sign of and precious service to the love of communion and gift of self to others.  This … makes evident, even in the renunciation of marriage, the ‘nuptial meaning’ of the body through a communion and a personal gift to Jesus Christ and his Church which prefigures and anticipates the perfect and final communion and self-giving of the world to come.

This is a profound truth of our human nature: chastity exists for the sake of communion, it enables the individual to live his or her vocation as the way God calls that individual to love according to what love truly is.  In the words of John Paul II – to cite that phrase of his used here and which he used repeatedly in all of his teachings, and is the key to understanding his thought – the true meaning of love is the “gift of self.”  The free and total gift of self is what love is and is how we attain true happiness in life, and chastity is what enables us to get there.  This is why, when treating the three evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity and obedience), the Second Vatican Council taught that, of the three, chastity is preeminent (Lumen Gentium, n. 42).

For the priest this means that his pastoral charity, as expressed and lived out in his priestly celibacy – a total and exclusive gift of himself to Christ’s bride, the Church – is paramount to all he is and does.

 Vocation

This brings into everyday reality those “special demands” that pastoral charity places on him.  That is, it doesn’t simply remain at the level of theory, but is played out in very real, concrete ways for the sake of his own personal holiness, so that he can then in turn sanctify his people.  It is one’s vocation that brings the demands of love down into the concrete.

Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah already foresaw this at the time of his call, and therefore is why he was resistant to that call.  He tried to find excuses to get out of it – he doesn’t know how to speak, he’s too young, and all that.  But in the end he can’t fight it; as with everyone else, God put that vocation in his heart at the very first moment of his existence, and to turn away from it would be to violate his very identity, no matter how high the price.  And for Jeremiah, that was a very, very high price.

So it is with the priest: the priest whose Priesthood has become a job has turned his back on his vocation, he has become the “hired man, who is not a shepherd” whom our Lord describes in the Gospel, who “works for pay and has no concern for the sheep”; he does not see the sheep as his own, and when he “sees a wolf coming [he] leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.”  This can happen easily, even imperceptibly.  This happens when those special demands seem just overwhelming; it is then that the priest becomes stingy with his time, stingy with his affection, selective in what he does.  He easily refuses to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, in whatever form of suffering that might take, whether simply inconvenience or ridicule or loss of popularity.  Ultimately, the priest ends up not knowing his people.  Yet, charity is love, and love means presence.  When you love someone, the most important, most delightful, thing is simply to be with them.  The essence of pastoral charity is pastoral presence.

In his homily at the ordination of priests a month ago, Pope Francis cited the well-known sermon of Saint Augustine on this point.  He said:

[C]onsider what St Augustine said regarding pastors who seek to please themselves, who use God’s sheep to feed and clothe themselves, to invest themselves with the majesty of a ministry they knew not whether it was of God.  Finally, participating in the mission of Christ, Head and Shepherd, in filial communion with your Bishop, seek to bring the faithful together into one single family, so that you may lead it to God the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit.  Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to seek out and save those that were lost.

          Conclusion

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our priests in the Archdiocese who do precisely that, who keep the example of the Good Shepherd before their eyes.  In the opportunities I have had to be with you in your parishes, I have seen your pastoral charity in action, your presence to your people and the positive rapport you have with them.  I have been encouraged by the love our people have for their parish and their priests, and their energetic commitment to the wide array of ministries in which they are involved.  Thank you!

And to you, my dear brothers and sons who are about to be ordained priests: it is now for you to continue this legacy.  You are no longer your own.  No, you now belong to Christ and his Church; you belong totally and exclusively to Christ’s bride, with all that this vocation demands.  You will live this out in concrete, day-to-day ways with those brothers and sisters of yours you are called to serve with your pastoral charity.  Love them with the love of Jesus Christ, and at all times live, proclaim and witness to his truth in charity, in compassion, laying down your life for them as the Good Shepherd for his sheep.

Pope Francis: The Devil Wants to Destroy the Family

All on the same page...

In our last post, Bishop Paul Loverde quoted Pope Francis on the defense of marriage and the family. And here is what the Holy Father said on June 1 to 52,000 Catholics in Rome, from Vatican Insider:

Francis at Rome’s Olympic Stadium: “The devil wants to destroy the family”

"'Married couples are sinners just like everyone else, but they want to continue with love, in all its fecundity. They continue in the faith, bearing children.' This was Francis’ response to the words pronounced by a young bride who greeted Francis on behalf of all families. 'Let us pray to the Lord and ask him to protect the family in the crisis with which the devil wants to destroy it,' the Pope said. 'Families are the domestic church where Jesus grows in the love of a married couple, in the lives of their children. This is why the devil attacks the family so much,' Francis explained. The devil doesn’t want it and tries to destroy it. The devil tries to make love disappear from there.'”

The family is the image of the Blessed Trinity. We've all heard that at many homilies. That's why the devil hates it so much. He can't do anything about the Trinity, so he tries to destroy it's image, the family. And Pope Francis has been very clear from the beginning on the demonic nature of counterfeit, same-sex "marriage." Remember what he said in 2010, when same-sex "marriage" was being debated in Argentina:

"In the coming weeks, the Argentine people will face a situation whose outcome can seriously harm the family…At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”

Cardinal Bergoglio continued: “Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is not just a bill (a mere instrument) but a ‘move’ of the father of lies who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”

People don't like to hear that, it hurts, but it is true, despite those who have attempted to spin his "who am I to judge" statement. Let's also remember that in 2009, a year before then-Cardinal Bergoglio's statement our own good Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (then-Bishop of Oakland) said:

"'The ultimate attack of the Evil One is the attack on marriage,' he said. 'If you take marriage apart, everything comes unraveled. It's been frayed at the edges, and now moving more and more toward the center. But you take marriage out, it all comes unraveled. It all comes tumbling down. And again, the evangelicals, they understand that. They understand this is an attack of the Evil One at the core institution.'"

Pope Francis, Archbishop Cordileone, Bishop Loverde, Archbishop Chaput, Bishop Paprocki...they're all on the same page.

Bishop Loverde of Arlington on Marriage and the Defense of the Family

Our Catholic Bishops (including the Bishop of Rome, our Holy Father Pope Francis) are united in defense of marriage and the family, God bless them! Here is a May 28 column by Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, VA:

Stand for Marriage, Stand for Faith

"Eight years ago, the will of the people of Virginia was expressed clearly and decisively as citizens cast their ballots to safeguard in the state constitution the age-old definition of marriage as between one woman and one man. At that time, along with Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, I wrote to you about 'the unique and vital role the institution of marriage has in society' and how the result of the referendum would have 'profound significance for the future of the family, the most fundamental social structure of our society.' We noted that marriage 'had a design and purpose long before any nation, religion, or law was established,' and that 'the proper role of both church and state is one of stewardship, to preserve our Creator's great gift of marriage from one generation to the next.' Now, these words are all the more true as the challenge seems ever greater.

In the time since the vote here in Virginia, when only Massachusetts, under pressure by state court order, had redefined its marriage law, seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized marriage between individuals of the same sex. It is true, we have seen public opinion shift to some degree under the relentless advocacy of those who would change marriage from its basic meaning and purpose. This is all the more reason for us to make the case for marriage and its importance to children, society, and, yes, God’s plan for us.

St. John Paul II spoke of the transcendent role of marriage this way:

'In a marriage, a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another in an unbreakable alliance of total mutual self-giving. A total union of love.

Love that is not a passing emotion or temporary infatuation, but a responsible and free decision to bind oneself completely, 'in good times and in bad,' to one's partner. It is the gift of oneself to the other.
The love of husband and wife in God's plan leads beyond itself, and new life is generated, a family is born. The family is a community of love and life, a home in which children are guided to maturity.'

And Pope Francis affirms this basic teaching:

'Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensable contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple,' (“Evangelii Gaudium,” n. 66).

These words truly convey the Lord’s plan for those called to marriage. It is the ideal, yes, and one we pray that all who enter into this union may achieve. Of course, there are failings sadly visible all around us — adultery and high rates of divorce, broken and suffering families — but that does not change the intrinsic worth of marriage and family willed by the Lord and proclaimed by the Church. Further, we know that traditional marriage bolsters society and is best for children. The social science is clear that children do best when raised by a mother and father in a stable marriage.

I know that some of you have resigned yourselves to the redefinition of marriage, or perhaps are not convinced that defending the true definition of marriage is essential to the well-being of society, but I urge you, by example and prudent and thoughtful words, to stand for marriage at this critical time in our history. This is a fight worth having, and the time is now! As I wrote to you when we voted on marriage here in Virginia, 'Preserving and promoting marriage is an integral component of our shared civic responsibility.'

Finally, I would encourage you to participate in the March for Marriage 2014 in Washington, D.C., being held this year on June 19th. The unchanging reality of marriage is being tested right now, perhaps to the point of no return, and our diocesan participation is very necessary. To learn more, go to marriagemarch.org."

Archbishop Cordileone at March for Marriage June 19!

On June 19 the March for Marriage will take place in Washington D.C. Our good Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will lead a stellar group of speakers, including Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, former Arkansas Governor Tim Huckabee, Doug Mainwaring, a same-sex attracted man who supports natural marriage, Ludovine de la Rochere, the co-founder and President of France's La Manif Pour Tous (A March for All) who have brought millionsn of French people to the streets in support of natural marriage and more.

Brian Brown writes:

"We’re in a historic battle, a fight for one of the great truths of civilization – that marriage as one man and one woman is an essential element of a thriving society based on strong families. It’s not only God’s design for humankind, it’s been proven throughout history to be the most beneficial relationship for men and women, for any children born of their union, and for society as a whole. How fortunate we are to be able to demonstrate our support for preserving marriage in the law!"

If you can't go to Washington, you can be part of the Virtual March by going to the March website: www.marriagemarch.org. Check out this video from the March organizers:

More on Fr. Illo and the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri

Jim Graves at Catholic World Report has a nice interview with Fr. Joseph Illo, who will head the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri in San Francisco. Here's an excerpt:


CWR: What is your plan for the new San Francisco Oratory of St.Philip Neri?

Fr. Illo: It is our hope to establish it as a community for secular priests, living in community, with a common prayer life and a common rule of life. It will support the work of priests called to work in parishes.

We hope it will be one solution to the problem of priests living in isolation, which has become a deepening difficulty in the Church. Even in a rectory with multiple priests, they can be like ships passing in the night, with little contact with one another and no common prayer life. This is an issue that bishops and diocesan personnel boards speak about all the time. I served as a vocations director for four years, and this was a big concern among men considering the priesthood. They were afraid if they gave up wife and family, they’d be lonely and isolated.

A priest in this situation has little or no accountability. Take the case of Father John Corapi. Although he was in a religious community, he lived on his own, and he got into trouble. A good prayer life is essential to the well-being of a priest; if he prays regularly, he is protected from many evils.

A priest needs support, and he needs to be kept accountable. There are many ways to do this, the oratory being one of them. There are many oratories throughout the world today, and many oratorians. [Bl.] John Henry Newman was famous for bringing the oratory to England in 1848. Today, there is still a large oratory in England, and another in Toronto. In the United States, you can find them in places like St. Louis and Cincinnati; I’ve been in touch with one in Lewiston, Maine, the Fraternity of St. Philip Neri. They have a wonderful life together and do much good work in their diocese.

Mr. Graves also gives this heartening description of Fr. Illo, which reminds me of our dear departed Fr. Malloy:

"Known for his outspoken fidelity to Catholic teaching, Fr. Illo made the news when he wrote his parishioners in 2008, “If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position, and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving Communion.”

Praise God!

Valerie Schmalz, at Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, also has a good article on the Oratory. Check it out here.

Fr. Joseph Illo's Farewell to Thomas Aquinas College

In August, Father Joseph Illo will come to San Francisco, to lead the new Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The Oratory will be at Star of the Sea Church, at 8th Avenue and Geary Boulevard. In the post below, Fr. Illo gives a hint as to the role of the Oratory.

The change is bittersweet, as are many things in life. Fr. Illo's coming to San Francisco means leaving his flock, the students of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paul, CA. From his blog:

Thank you for coming to say good-bye to someone who was with you only briefly. It’s a good reason to have a barbecue—many thanks to the cooks!

Briefly indeed—I hardly got to know you, but what I did get to know has been with a Tolkienesque affection and reverence. I feel like Bilbo at his eleventy-first birthday speech, but I won’t repeat his cryptically ambivalent modalism on that occasion (something about not knowing half of you half as much as I’d want). It’s been brief—I had intended to be at TAC for 3 years, but Archbishop Cordileone asked if we could get moving on the San Francisco Oratory this year. “Are you bound by contract with TAC?” he asked me last year. “Just bound by fraternal charity,” I told him, “and there’s lots of that here in Santa Paula.”In fact, I discovered “love” right away at TAC. I had interviewed with several other Catholic colleges, all of whom offered me chaplaincy positions, but only TAC offered me a job with these words: “We love you father, and we hope you will take this position.” So devastatingly disarming—you might guess that our esteemed Dean uttered those words, so characteristic of our beloved Dr. Kelley.
My Dad was a college professor, and I’ve always wanted to be a college professor. I was on my way to becoming one when I sensed a call to the priesthood, so I switched from literature to theology. But these two years have been a kind of dreamy sabbatical between parish assignments, at least living with college professors and strolling through breezy quadrangles between classes.

TAC is all about truth, but even more obviously for brief sojourners like me, the College manifests beauty. The afternoon sun on Santa Paula Ridge, for example; the morning sun that first touches the Topa Topa bluffs; young voices ringing out the glory of God in a perfectly-proportioned chapel; students sprawled under spreading oak trees with Plato and Aquinas, or playing soccer on broad green swards; spirited Shakespeare plays and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas somehow rehearsed to near-perfection alongside ambitious academic loads.

I hope the San Francisco Oratory will be counted among TAC’s many friends and supporters for years to come. I hope we can send students to you, and you can send an occasional “discerning young man” to us (if he can escape the titanic forces emanating from TAC’s lovely females). Much good work has already been accomplished at the future Oratory parish in San Francisco: a healthy elementary school and the Latin Mass every day. It is close to a few universities and Archbishop Cordileone has indicated we put particular energy into youth and young adults, as is consistent with the charism of St. Philip Neri. I thank you for affording me a brief stay with you; I ask your prayers for our fledgling Oratory of priests in SF, and assure you of ours.

California: "Mother" and "Father" Too Discriminatory

One of our ongoing themes at A Shepherd's Voice is the flight from reality that is central to contemporary society. We've even created the blog post tag "Equality at the expense of sanity" to categorize posts covering this pathology. The flight expresses itself in many ways, but no group is more guilty than homosexualist activists. That particular aspect of the flight is covered extensively in Robert Reilly's new book "Making Gay OK," which I have not yet finished. Reilly explores how the acceptance of homosexuality inevitably becomes a war on the family and requires the upending of society.

Here's a recent example, from Breitbart News:

"In the most recent California effort to 'modernize' family convention, the state Assembly on Thursday passed AB 1951, a new bill that would allow all California parents to list themselves as 'mother,' 'father,' or 'parent' of a child in order to reflect same-sex marriages, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The bill passed by a vote of 51-13, with several Republicans voting in favor. No Republicans spoke in opposition."

Equality California describes the bill as "...allowing parents to choose to self-designate as 'father,' 'mother' or 'parent, eliminating inaccurate designations and confusion for same-sex parents."

We see the wholesale lying required to maintain the fantasy world:"eliminating inaccurate designations and confusion" when the truth is the precise opposite. Also the Satanic attempt to dominate reality:"Self-designate." And of course, while the adults in these households fool themselves, the children will see through it soon enough.

CDF Cracks Down on LCWR

And about time. Fr. Z reports that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has laid the smackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

The letter, from Cardinal Gerhard Muller, is excellent. We have reproduced it in full. All emphases are ours. Today, there are in the Church groups of people whose highest synthesizing orientation is not Catholicism--as his Eminence says, in the context of the LCWR, "religious moving beyond the Church or even beyond Jesus."  We discussed exactly this attitude  (or tried to) in our 2007 review of Fr. Donal Godfrey's book Gays and Grays.


Meeting of the Superiors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
with the Presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious(LCWR)

April 30, 2014

Opening Remarks
By Cardinal Gerhard Müller

I am happy to welcome once again the Presidency of the LCWR to Rome and to the Congregation. It is a happy occasion that your visit coincides with the Canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, two great figures important for the Church in our times. I am grateful as well for the presence and participation of the Delegate for the implementation of the LCWR Doctrinal Assessment, Archbishop Peter Sartain.

As in past meetings, I would like to begin by making some introductory observations which I believe will be a helpful way of framing our discussion.

First, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the progress that has been made in the implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment. Archbishop Sartain has kept the Congregation appraised on the work regarding the revision of the LCWR Statutes and civil by-laws. We are glad to see that work continue and remain particularly interested that these foundational documents reflect more explicitly the mission of a Conference of Major Superiors as something centered on Jesus Christ and grounded in the Church’s teaching about Consecrated Life. For that collaboration, I thank you.

Two further introductory comments I would like to frame around what could be called objections to the Doctrinal Assessment raised by your predecessors during past meetings here at the Congregation and in public statements by LCWR officers. We are aware that, from the beginning, LCWR Officers judged the Doctrinal Assessment to be “flawed and the findings based on unsubstantiated accusations” and that the so-called “sanctions” were “disproportionate to the concerns raised and compromised the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission.” This principal objection, I note, was repeated most recently in the preface of the collection of LCWR Presidential Addresses you have just published. It is my intention in discussing these things frankly and openly with you to offer an explanation of why it is that we believe the conclusions of the Doctrinal Assessment are accurate and the path of reform it lays before the LCWR remains necessary so that religious life might continue to flourish in the United States.

Let me begin with the notion of “disproportionate sanctions.” One of the more contentious aspects of the Mandate—though one that has not yet been put into force—is the provision that speakers and presenters at major programs will be subject to approval by the Delegate. This provision has been portrayed as heavy-handed interference in the day-to-day activities of the Conference. For its part, the Holy See would not understand this as a “sanction,” but rather as a point of dialogue and discernment. It allows the Holy See’s Delegate to be involved in the discussion first of all in order to avoid difficult and embarrassing situations wherein speakers use an LCWR forum to advance positions at odds with the teaching of the Church. Further, this is meant as an assistance to you, the Presidency, so as to anticipate better the issues that will further complicate the relationship of the LCWR with the Holy See.

An example may help at this point. It saddens me to learn that you have decided to give the Outstanding Leadership Award during this year’s Assembly to a theologian criticized by the Bishops of the United States because of the gravity of the doctrinal errors in that theologian’s writings. This is a decision that will be seen as a rather open provocation against the Holy See and the Doctrinal Assessment. Not only that, but it further alienates the LCWR from the Bishops as well.

I realize I am speaking rather bluntly about this, but I do so out of an awareness that there is no other interpretive lens, within and outside the Church, through which the decision to confer this honor will be viewed. It is my understanding that Archbishop Sartain was informed of the selection of the honoree only after the decision had been made. Had he been involved in the conversation as the Mandate envisions, I am confident that he would have added an important element to the discernment which then may have gone in a different direction. The decision taken by the LCWR during the ongoing implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment is indeed regrettable and demonstrates clearly the necessity of the Mandate’s provision that speakers and presenters at major programs will be subject to approval by the Delegate. I must therefore inform you that this provision is to be considered fully in force. I do understand that the selection of honorees results from a process, but this case suggests that the process is itself in need of reexamination. I also understand that plans for this year’s Assembly are already at a very advanced stage and I do not see the need to interrupt them. However, following the August Assembly, it will be the expectation of the Holy See that Archbishop Sartain have an active role in the discussion about invited speakers and honorees.

Let me address a second objection, namely that the findings of the Doctrinal Assessment are unsubstantiated. The phrase in the Doctrinal Assessment most often cited as overreaching or unsubstantiated is when it talks about religious moving beyond the Church or even beyond Jesus. Yes, this is hard language and I can imagine it sounded harsh in the ears of thousands of faithful religious. I regret that, because the last thing in the world the Congregation would want to do is call into question the eloquent, even prophetic witness of so many faithful religious women. And yet, the issues raised in the Assessment are so central and so foundational, there is no other way of discussing them except as constituting a movement away from the ecclesial center of faith in Christ Jesus the Lord.

For the last several years, the Congregation has been following with increasing concern a focalizing of attention within the LCWR around the concept of Conscious Evolution. Since Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed the Assembly on this topic two years ago, every issue of your newsletter has discussed Conscious Evolution in some way. Issues of Occasional Papers have been devoted to it. We have even seen some religious Institutes modify their directional statements to incorporate concepts and undeveloped terms from Conscious Evolution.

Again, I apologize if this seems blunt, but what I must say is too important to dress up in flowery language. The fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian Revelation and, when taken unreflectively, lead almost necessarily to fundamental errors regarding the omnipotence of God, the Incarnation of Christ, the reality of Original Sin, the necessity of salvation and the definitive nature of the salvific action of Christ in the Paschal Mystery.

My concern is whether such an intense focus on new ideas such as Conscious Evolution has robbed religious of the ability truly to sentire cum Ecclesia. To phrase it as a question, do the many religious listening to addresses on this topic or reading expositions of it even hear the divergences from the Christian faith present?

This concern is even deeper than the Doctrinal Assessment’s criticism of the LCWR for not providing a counter-point during presentations and Assemblies when speakers diverge from Church teaching. The Assessment is concerned with positive errors of doctrine seen in the light of the LCWR’s responsibility to support a vision of religious life in harmony with that of the Church and to promote a solid doctrinal basis for religious life. I am worried that the uncritical acceptance of things such as Conscious Evolution seemingly without any awareness that it offers a vision of God, the cosmos, and the human person divergent from or opposed to Revelation evidences that a de facto movement beyond the Church and sound Christian faith has already occurred.

I do not think I overstate the point when I say that the futuristic ideas advanced by the proponents of Conscious Evolution are not actually new. The Gnostic tradition is filled with similar affirmations and we have seen again and again in the history of the Church the tragic results of partaking of this bitter fruit. Conscious Evolution does not offer anything which will nourish religious life as a privileged and prophetic witness rooted in Christ revealing divine love to a wounded world. It does not present the treasure beyond price for which new generations of young women will leave all to follow Christ. The Gospel does! Selfless service to the poor and marginalized in the name of Jesus Christ does!

It is in this context that we can understand Pope Francis’ remarks to the Plenary Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General in May of 2013. What the Holy Father proposes is a vision of religious life and particularly of the role of conferences of major superiors which in many ways is a positive articulation of issues which come across as concerns in the Doctrinal Assessment. I urge you to reread the Holy Father’s remarks and to make them a point of discussion with members of your Board as well.

I have raised several points in these remarks, so I will stop here. I owe an incalculable debt to the women religious who have long been a part of my life. They were the ones who instilled in me a love for the Lord and for the Church and encouraged me to follow the vocation to which the Lord was calling me. The things I have said today are therefore born of great love. The Holy See and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith deeply desire religious life to thrive and that the LCWR will be an effective instrument supporting its growth. In the end, the point is this: the Holy See believes that the charismatic vitality of religious life can only flourish within the ecclesial faith of the Church. The LCWR, as a canonical entity dependent on the Holy See, has a profound obligation to the promotion of that faith as the essential foundation of religious life. Canonical status and ecclesial vision go hand-in-hand, and at this phase of the implementation of the Doctrinal Assessment, we are looking for a clearer expression of that ecclesial vision and more substantive signs of collaboration.