Tradicat

 + JMJ I've been thinking about Murrax's question and realized that I missed a key principle: Respect. So this article is on that topic and in particular meaning #2: Due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights and traditions of others. In "others" I would include Family, Friends, Authority and God (not necessarily in that order).     Thinking critically, I wondered what does "With Due regard to ..." mean? According to Merriam-Webster (link) , "with due regard to ..." means: With the proper care or concern for ...   Putting this together we have the following composite definition for respect: With the proper care or concern for the feelings, wishes, rights, traditions, of God, authorities, family, elders, friends, and others. So, holding a person in respect means that we will consider them as we make decisions and take action.  This becomes critical when the 'feelings, wishes, rights and traditions' run counter to our own personal desire...

 + JMJ  This is definitely one for the Chronicle. Cardinal Josef De Kesel, together with the other Flemish bishops of Belgium, published a liturgical text intended for the blessing of homosexual couples. An announcement, released on September 20, 2022, presented this blessing. Courtesy of FSSPX.news There is a lot of talk about wanting to present the Catholic Church as inclusive or more correctly that no one is excluded. This has been around since the Second Vatican Council and in the search for an 'inclusive Catholic Church", the teachings of Sin, Hell, Divinity of Christ have effectively been suppressed to the point where some people question whether anyone is in Hell. Here is the challenge from the perspective of Catholic Teaching: A person who is in a State of Grace and commits a mortal sin, falls into a State of Mortal Sin. They can regain the State of Grace only when they obtain forgiveness either via the Sacrament of Confession by making a good confession, the Last R...

 + JMJ   In post 3 I ended which some questions that I wanted to understand. Who has a right to an unambiguous answer? Examples include: when a pastor questions parties preparing for marriage,  when a person who is about to be inducted into office is asked about his freedom from disqualifications,  when a witness in court is interrogated about matters on which he can testify, when one party to a contract seeks from the other necessary knowledge about the contract;  What rights could be injured? Examples include: against the common good, in favor of a private good). When are you bound to keep the truth from a questioner? those who are questioned about secrets which sacramental or professional confidence forbids them to disclose (e.g., confessors, doctors, lawyers, statesmen, and secretaries) should deny knowledge, or, if hard-pressed, even the facts. .     The answer, "I do not know" or "No," in these cases simply means: "I have no personal or ...

 + JMJ I had recourse to Jone's Moral Theology to augment the other resource. A mental reservation is essentially that a "speaker puts a meaning into words which is different from that which the words taken into themselves have in ordinary conversation". Strict Mental Reservation:  Forbidden Used when the actual meaning of the utterance can in no way be inferred from the external circumstances. e.g. I have not stolen - adds mentally - with the left hand but with the right. Broad Mental Reservation: Permissible sometimes with sufficient reason If the meaning of the expression can be inferred either from the circumstances of the question of the answer, of from customary usage, even if, as a matter of fact, such inference is not actually made; such as the conventional polite phrases, e.g. The mistress is not at home, meaning, not at home to receive visitors.    From my reading I have concluded that the use of mental reservations or ambiguities are governed by the follow...

 + JMJ   2399. Mental Reservation.--Mental reservation is an act of the mind by which a speaker restricts or limits his words to a meaning which they do not naturally or clearly convey; or it is an internal modification of an external speech delivered without any or without clear external modification. There are two types of mental reservation: Strict and Broad. Strict mental reservation is a 'modification' of the meaning without any external signs and is always sinful. Broad mental reservations are those in which the internal modification can be perceived.  Depending on some factors this type of reservation can be sinful or allowed. Finally, there are ambiguous answers. There are answers that have multiple interpretations, one of which coincides with the truth and the other(s) are simply a misinterpretation. However, the context can render an ambiguous answer a lie. P^3

 + JMJ Introduction  The truth matters to me and there are few things that trigger me as strongly as the truth of a matter (pun). This may be due to my Mother's ability to always catch me in a lie or my inability to lie well :-).  Nonetheless, I am strongly triggered by falsehood and being who I am, I don't back down in an argument as I believe that by having discussions we can drive towards the truth of a matter ... at least as close to it as possible in this life.  However, being the the son of a man who escaped a communist regime, I also realize that speaking the truth in an imprudent manner could lead to unpleasantries. This is the reason why I decided to study the Catholic principles of mental reservations. The fruit of my labours will be this new series.   Mental reservations are the act of withholding some information when answering a question without directly lying. There are conditions where it is unlawful to conceal the truth, there are times when...

 + JMJ    When Steve Skojec sold 1P5, I subscribed to his post 1P5 newsletter. I had suspected that, from some of his writing, Skojec was experiencing a crisis of Faith. In other words, that he was losing the faith. I was not incorrect and [since then] I've noticed him go off in various directions.  Recently, I came across his responses to people who challenged his opinion on the existence of "Aliens", meaning other species.  Frankly, some of the arguments that were advanced by his opponents were simply expositions of ignorance, which Skojec treated as such.  [I found a note of derision in his responses but that may have been unintended.] Moving on ... Here's a screen shot from the latest bit that arrived in my inbox. There is a lot of language around the world that makes you want to 'sit up and take notice'.  However, I think we need to dig a little deeper into some sub-surface issues. The first is trust.  Ultimately, if you want to believe somet...

+ JMJ The sustained attack of the Tridentine Mass and the Ecclesiology that it represents continues. The opinions about it are decending into the ludicrous as one Cardinal (Roche) has stated that it is protestant to adhere to the Tridentine Mass: The Novus Ordo Mass, born out of and after the Second Vatican Council, was part of a necessary “reform,” said Roche. “After two world wars which had been initiated in the heart of Christian Europe, it was obvious that there needed to be an enormous reform within the Church,” he stated. Citing this “reform,” Roche criticized “those who are dragging their feet,” suggesting that by opposing this “reform” they are becoming “Protestant.”   That reform is taking place, but it’s a slow process because there are those who are dragging their feet with regard to this and not only dragging their feet but stubbornly opposing what the Church has actually decreed. That’s a very serious matter. In the end, people have to ask themselves: am ...

 + JMJ    Well this was upsetting. The Catholic Family News reported that: Pope Says Trads Have “Dead Faith” (link) . Instead, for those people who are looking backward, who call themselves traditionalists, it is the dead faith of the living.  If true Traditionalists have a dead Faith, then in what does the hierarchy have faith? P^3   https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-07/pope-francis-apostolic-journey-inflight-press-conference-canada.html Claire Giangrave (RELIGION NEWS SERVICE) Many Catholics, but also many theologians, think that development is needed in the Church's doctrine regarding contraceptives. It would seem that even your predecessor, John Paul I, thought that a total ban perhaps needs to be reconsidered. What are your thoughts on this, in the sense: Are you open, in short, to a reevaluation in this regard? Or does the possibility exist for a couple to consider contraceptives? This is something very timely. But know that dogma, mor...

 + JMJ    Photo by Michael Foran, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11785530 Do you remember where you were when you learned of the attacks on Sept 11, 2001?  I was in a training course when the organizer popped his head into the room to let us know.  We carried on with the training and yet knew that something significant had occurred. I remember my mother reminiscing about the assassination of President Kennedy.  In a similar way, I remember the Terrorist attacks.  I've read of people who go to great lengths to explain away the attacks as being the work of the US Government.  Every theory that I've read or watch was a simply garbage reasoning by people who either lacked the ability to think through the facts and gaps of information ... or should have been able to but didn't. This galvanized me in delving into critical thinking because if you can't think rationally, then you can be manipulated.   So - keep prayin...

 + JMJ  The Four Marks of the Church define the visibility of the Catholic Church ... the Church Of Christ.  Our Lord Jesus Christ did NOT found the Luthern's, Baptists, Anglicans etc.  They may have taken with them some of the Sacraments (Marriage, Baptism).  So if we interpret these vestigial elements being active ex opere operato, then you can say that the Catholic Church operates on a one-to-one basis.  If these people meet the qualification (4 points) they can achieve salvation, but it is not because of what their religions teach on their own (ie heretical or schismatic) that they will be saved. For some clear perspectives I have attached a link to the Vatican 'clarification' and the SSPX article on this topic. P^3   Vatican:  Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine of the Church, published by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2007 Courtesy of FSSPX.org Vatican II agrees that "the Cathol...

 + JMJ A Church without a Hell isn't Worth  Damn!  or If the Catholic Church isn't the Church of Christ - why did the martyrs and missionaries sacrifice their lives to convert people to the Catholic Church???   From my perspective, the concept that the Church of Christ subsists within the Catholic Church and therefore exists outside the Catholic Church is responsible for the death of the missionary spirit. Why give people the narrow path when the wide path of their respective religions is equally valid?  The word for this is, I think, syncretism. So once the 'subsistit' part gets cleared up, the Church will be in need of a great many Catholics like St. Francis Xavier to go and work Our Lords vineyard! This doesn't mean that you can't start with your own family, in all the virtues, to help them grow in the Faith!!! P^3    

+ JMJ As hinted at in the earlier post, a cynicism accompanied the modernism that permeated the Catholic Church from the seminaries upward. Words such as legends, myths came to be used in describing the miracles worked by saints and eventually even Our Lord Jesus Christ. One reference that I came across was an article titled GROWTHS OF LEGENDS OF HEALING THE LIFE OF XAVIER AS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE written by Andrew Dickson White in 1896.  In it the author claims that: The letters given in it [Collection of Letters by Emanuel Acosta - published ~20y after Francis' death.] Fr. were written by Xavier and his associates not only from Goa, which was the focus of all missionary effort and the centre of all knowledge regarding their work in the East, but from all other important points in the great field. The first of them were written during the saint's lifetime, but, though filled with every sort of detail regarding missionary life and work, they say nothing regarding any miracles by ...

 + JMJ     Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has been in the icy grips of self-skepticism ( doubt ) and self-cynicism ( disbelief ).  This extends to the claims of the supernatural, I suppose, because this runs counter to the modernist belief that religion emanates from within humans and therefore miracles didn't really happen.  It is truly a matter of wonder that one man in the short space of ten years (6 May, 1542 - 2 December, 1552) could have visited so many countries, traversed so many seas, preached the Gospel to so many nations, and converted so many infidels. The incomparable apostolic zeal which animated him, and the stupendous miracles which God wrought through him, explain this marvel, which has no equal elsewhere. The list of the principal miracles may be found in the Bull of canonization. St. Francis Xavier is considered the greatest missionary since the time of the Apostles, and the zeal he displayed, the wonderful miracles he p...

 + JMJ  While many yearn for the return to the 'glory days' of Pope Benedict XVI, this is just a recency effect. It is true that Pope Benedict XVI tried the experiment of the Tradition and that Pope Francis weighed it and found it wanting. In a sense it is important to look forward and not backwards for the solution.  I know that probably sounds like heresy. However, I very much doubt that we'll have another Pope Pius V, IX or Xth.  If we're good we may, just may get another pontiff of the quality of Pius XII. There's a saying that a people gets the leader they deserve.  Well looking around, it appears that we deserve worse that Pope Francis and it is only a mercy of God that He didn't give us one. Pray and do penance, that is the way to right the ship. P^3 Courtesy of Rorate-Caeli “The Motu Proprio cut off the head of Benedict's line, and Desiderio buries its corpse” — Article by Luisella Scrosati In the city of Rome they seem not to have digested th...

 + JMJ     By Sailko - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1026316  Pope Francis has been taking particular care of the Knights of Malta: The Pope explains how through the years he has followed the journey of the Order "with paternal care and concern," and expresses appreciation for its outreach in various parts of the world and his gratitude for "the generous contribution of Members and Volunteers," while "also noting the need to begin a profound spiritual, moral and institutional renewal of the entire Order." ( Source VaticanNews.va ) For the outside looking in, I don't see a non-political reason for the Pope supporting the usurpation of the Order ... similar to that of the FSSP and FFI. P^3    Sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-dissolves-knights-malta-leadership-issues-new-constitution-2022-09-03/ https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-09/pope-promulgates-new-constitution-order-malta.html  ...

 + JMJ  Heroism is needed to live as a Catholic in any age and I suspect that we look back with longing on the Catholics who lived in the 50's. Only, I don't think that it was as easy as it looked because the 50's beget the 60's and the 60's the 70's.   Time is a continuum, not a bunch of separate rooms, so we have to deal with the reality of this lingering crisis of the Church and work for our salvation and those for whom we are responsible. Fr. Pagliarani highlights three weapons at our disposal! Mass Rosary Immaculate Heart of Mary  P^3 Courtesy of FSSPX.news   Letter of the Superior General to Friends and Benefactors n. 91 IF GOD ALLOWS, AS NEVER BEFORE, THIS UNIVERSALITY OF EVIL, THIS NEW PAGAN EMPIRE, IT IS CERTAINLY WITH THE AIM OF AROUSING CHRISTIAN HEROISM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. Dear faithful, friends and benefactors, It has happened quite often in history that the world has had the sudden impression of waking up as ano...