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I was listening to Traditional Catholic Radio last night when a program came on about St. Athanasius and the Arian Heresy. It went into history and talked about how St. Athanasius bravely fought the Arian Heresy when 80% or so of the bishops in the world bought into it. The speaker (I believe it was a Society priest) went on to say that Archbishop Lefebvre was a modern day St. Athanasius, bravely fighting the Modernist Heresy after Vatican II was promulgated. I tend to disagree with this assessment. Here's my thinking...- St. Athanasius DID stand up to the Arian Heresy, but it needs to be remembered that he was defending what the Pope was teaching, even though 80% of the bishops at that time went against what was being taught.
- Archbishop Lefebvre ordained three bishops against the wishes of Pope John Paul II.
- So you have defending the Pope (St. Athansius) against disobeying the Pope (Archbishop Lefebvre).
The conclusion I come to is therefore this: Nope.
Archbishop Lefebvre had some good ideas, though; any Indult Catholic needs to admit that without Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X, there would be no Tridentine Indult Mass at all, let alone a Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. And facing facts, like it or not, he was also right about Modernists running amuck in the Church after the Second Vatican Council. This was not the fault of the Council itself but mainly the fault of a poor implementation of it afterwards. Latin was never supposed to be completely eliminated from the liturgy, and Gregorian Chants were still supposed to be used as well. If you are truly supposed to give your best to God, why on Earth would anybody choose Marty Haugen or David Haas to represent that musically?
I just wish that Archbishop Lefebvre wouldn't have went off and gotten himself excommunicated and gotten the Society suppressed/suspended/whatever. There are people in various places thirsting for a Mass that's celebrated in a holy and sacred manner. And the Society could have provided that, within the confines of the Church, had this whole fiasco not happened. If confronted with "saying even one Novus Ordo Mass", it should have been pointed out that the Eastern Rites aren't bound to the Novus Ordo, nor are various religious orders in the Western Rite (these orders weren't even bound by Quo Primum), and it would have made sense to allow the Tridentine Mass for all those who wanted it. I honestly believe that had Archbishop Lefebvre worked with the Church instead of against it, there would be no Pontifical Commision Ecclesia Dei but rather a Ponitifical Commission Quo Primum, overseen by Archbishop Lefebvre himself. And he wouldn't have had to sell out. Not one bit.
I think that in time, things will be patched up between the Society and Rome, and Archbishop Lefebvre will be in some way vindicated. However, I don't think a comparison to St. Athanasius would be appropriate; let Archbishop Lefebvre's work stand by itself, and time will tell whether or not he's vindicated.
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
Seeing that I'm typing this upstairs right now, that means that the wireless is working. Not a huge feat by any means, but an important one nevertheless. I should have my office cleaned up this weekend and my NEC server moved in. Then I can start my playlist computer...
And I also found my copy of Evil Entity Linux. It wasn't working, of course, and it seems as if the project has been abandoned altogether, but at least SourceForge had a copy of it. Evil Entity was a very minimal linux distro that was multimedia friendly. The concept behind it was great, but I could do without much of the dark imagery. Perhaps I can get into it someday and change it to something a little more, well, Catholic. Perhaps instead reverse engineer it to be a tribute to the League of Evil Traditionalists...
Time to go to bed...
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
I finally got the "new" desk put into place. This will not only help in the organization of my office but also mean that I won't have something that was literally collapsing around me. Also, I installed a new router that I've had for a few months, and while I need to get a few things straightened out with the wireless on that, it works. Also, I put a newer eMachines monitor online. One more thing I got from Freecycle.
I hate to cut this short, but for some reason, there is some serious lag while updating this log, and I don't know if it's my laptop, the connection at my day job, or Blogger itself. In closing, say a quick prayer that we're able to find the resources to purchase a couple of films I'm tracking on eBay. They'd both be fantastic to add to the Mater Dei Television collection!
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
Two Rosary Rallies for Bishop James M. Moynihan
When: June 21, 2007 at noon and June 24, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Where: Outside the Cathedral, 259 East Onondaga St, Syracuse, NY
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim Reilly
(315) 682-9366
Those in the Diocese of Syracuse To Hold a Rosary Rally on the Feast of John the Baptist to Aid Bishop. 100's Expected for grass roots Marian Event In Syracuse
At the Cathedral - 259 East Onondaga St., Syracuse, NY 13202; Sunday June 21 th Noon
At the Cathedral - 259 East Onondaga St., Syracuse, NY 13202; Sunday June 24 th 4:30 PM
Concerned our Bishop is moving in the wrong direction? PRAY FOR HIM !
● When Massive church closings are hailed as a solution not a tragedy
● He an expert in Canon Law, saying there is no appeal to church suppression!
● Support for Openly Gay Priests and acceptance of lifestyle. Call Sin a Sin!
● Replaced Religious Education with an awful Sex Education Class.
● Stifles and limits legitimate sacraments to the faithful.
● Homosexual priest scandal and attempts to reassign them.
● Closes growing healthy parishes.
Sidewalk procession around block of Bishops residence while saying the full 15 decades of the rosary.
We pray our Bishop will reconsider his actions in the light of long standing traditions of Holy Mother Church. Renounce his support of ill-formed homosexual priests. Rethink church closings. Accept offered help from priests and help from outside the diocese. For more information on the Rosary Rally or to register an organization for the events, contact Jim Reilly (315) 682-9366
Looks like Cardinal Bertone is finally setting the record straight on Pope Pius XII...
The part that stuck out was this:
"Cardinal Bertone said the legend about Pope Pius' supposed "silence" during the war had its roots in the postwar period, specifically 1946-48, a time when the state of Israel was being formed and when the pope was calling for respect and justice for Palestinian residents of the Holy Land."
I'm surprised nothing was said about the propaganda that Radio Moscow was sending out about the Vatican shortly after the war. The Catholic League brings up a few good points about the relationship of the Vatican and the Third Reich during World War II.
Of course, I'm sure Abe Foxman will have a problem with this.
I don't have a problem with Jewish people. I've got good friends who are Jewish. I respect Judaism on the whole. But Foxman telling the Vatican to hold off on the canonization of a man who really was pontiff during a difficult time in the world, in a difficult place is just wrong. The ADL, like it or not, has no say in who the Catholic Church canonizes, and while I understand their concerns, perhaps Mr. Foxman needs to read the documents that have already been released before making any comments on a Faith about which he has no vested interest.
The Catholic League won't start making demands to the Jewish people on how to practice their Faith. What makes Mr. Foxman think he can do that to Catholics?
The bottom line is this: Many died during the Nazi Holocaust during World War II; Jews, Catholics, Polish dissidents, Gypsies, and many, many others were brutalized by an evil ideology, and nobody but nobody should have to ever deal with that kind of evil. But to have facts in front of you and to reject them based on your own prejudice is wrong too. Venerable Pius XII did everything he could to help the Jews during World War II, and had to do it on the down-low because it was critical to their survival.
I'm just kind of surprised that Mr. Foxman is going to take the word of Radio Moscow over the word of the Catholic Church herself.
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
First, check out the nifty new banner. It only took me having this blog up for almost three months to figure out that Blogger would take my own banner and that using the MDTV logo would make things look so much better. I guess Gerald did it on The Cafeteria is Closed, but for some reason, things just didn't click until now...
Second, once again, thanks to Paul Nichols from the Catholic Cartoon Blogspot for not only the plug, but the custom cartoon!
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
Most of you already have seen Paul Nichols' cartoons satirizing the state of some dioceses around the country. Paul's now got his own blog where he keeps his cartoons...
http://www.catholiccartoonblog.blogspot.com/
Worth your time to check it out. Paul and I were on several email discussion groups together and knows what we're trying to do with Mater Dei Television. He's a good guy. Go check out his blog.
Now.
ICTM,
Chuck, MI
