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New blog post: Daily Digest for June 10th http://bit.ly/Y7Pbq [#]
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@AlohaArleen Can you make turtles with Macadamia nuts rather than pecans? [#]
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New blog post: How can someone so Cutié be so wrong http://bit.ly/BRxIJ [#]
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New blog post: June 10 – Scream On The Vistula by Marian Hemar http://bit.ly/xLFfP [#]
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New blog post: June 11 – Laud Sion your Salvation by St. Thomas Aquinas http://bit.ly/2UnI24 [#]
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Sion, lift up thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King,
Praise with hymns thy shepherd true.All thou canst, do thou endeavour:
Yet thy praise can equal never
Such as merits thy great King.See today before us laid
The living and life-giving Bread,
Theme for praise and joy profound.The same which at the sacred board
Was, by our incarnate Lord,
Giv’n to His Apostles round.Let the praise be loud and high:
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt today in every breast.On this festival divine
Which records the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.On this table of the King,
Our new Paschal offering
Brings to end the olden rite.Here, for empty shadows fled,
Is reality instead,
Here, instead of darkness, light.His own act, at supper seated
Christ ordain’d to be repeated
In His memory divine;Wherefore now, with adoration,
We, the host of our salvation,
Consecrate from bread and wine.Hear, what holy Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending
Leaps to things not understood.Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden,
Signs, not things, are all we see.Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine,
Yet is Christ in either sign,
All entire, confessed to be.They, who of Him here partake,
Sever not, nor rend, nor break:
But, entire, their Lord receive.Whether one or thousands eat:
All receive the self-same meat:
Nor the less for others leave.Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food:
But with ends how opposite!Here ‘t is life: and there ‘t is death:
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remains
What was in the whole before.Since the simple sign alone
Suffers change in state or form:
The signified remaining one
And the same for evermore.Lo! bread of the Angels broken,
For us pilgrims food, and token
Of the promise by Christ spoken,
Children’s meat, to dogs denied.Shewn in Isaac’s dedication,
In the manna’s preparation:
In the Paschal immolation,
In old types pre-signified.Jesu, shepherd of the sheep:
Thou thy flock in safety keep,
Living bread, thy life supply:
Strengthen us, or else we die,
Fill us with celestial grace.Thou, who feedest us below:
Source of all we have or know:
Grant that with Thy Saints above,
Sitting at the feast of love,
We may see Thee face to face.
Amen. Alleluia.
Translation from Wikipedia
Lauda Sion Salvatórem
Lauda ducem et pastórem
In hymnis et cánticis.Quantum potes, tantum aude:
Quia major omni laude,
Nec laudáre síºfficis.Laudis thema speciális,
Panis vivus et vitális,
Hódie propónitur.Quem in sacræ mensa cœnæ,
Turbæ fratrum duodénæ
Datum non ambígitur.Sit laus plena, sit sonóra,
Sit jucíºnda, sit decóra
Mentis jubilátio.Dies enim solémnis ágitur,
In qua mensæ prima recólitur
Hujus institíºtio.In hac mensa novi Regis,
Novum Pascha novæ legis,
Phase vetus términat.Vetustátem nóvitas,
Umbram fugat véritas,
Noctem lux elíminat.Quod in cœna Christus gessit,
Faciéndum hoc expréssit
In sui memóriam.Docti sacris institíºtis,
Panem, vinum, in salíºtis
Consecrámus hóstiam.Dogma datur Christiánis,
Quod in carnem transit panis,
Et vinum in sánguinem.Quod non capis, quod non vides,
Animósa firmat fides,
Præter rerum ordinem.Sub divérsis speciébus,
Signis tantum, et non rebus,
Latent res exímiæ.Caro cibus, sanguis potus:
Manet tamen Christus totus,
Sub utráque spécie.A suménte non concísus,
Non confráctus, non divísus:
Integer accípitur.Sumit unus, sumunt mille:
Quantum isti, tantum ille:
Nec sumptus consíºmitur.Sumunt boni, sumunt mali:
Sorte tamen inæquáli,
Vitæ vel intéritus.Mors est malis, vita bonis:
Vide paris sumptiónis
Quam sit dispar éxitus.Fracto demum Sacraménto,
Ne vacílles, sed memento,
Tantum esse sub fragménto,
Quantum toto tégitur.Nulla rei fit scissíºra:
Signi tantum fit fractíºra:
Qua nec status nec statíºra
Signáti miníºitur.Ecce panis Angelórum,
Factus cibus viatórum:
Vere panis fíliórum,
Non mittendus cánibus.In figíºris præsignátur,
Cum Isaac immolátur:
Agnus paschæ deputátur
Datur manna pátribus.Bone pastor, panis vere,
Jesu, nostri miserére:
Tu nos pasce, nos tuére:
Tu nos bona fac vidére
In terra vivéntium.Tu, qui cuncta scis et vales:
Qui nos pascis hic mortales:
Tuos ibi commensáles,
Cohærédes et sodales,
Fac sanctórum cívium.
Amen. Allelíºja.
Let me preface my comments by saying that, in general, clergy in the PNCC are married. The PNCC has had married clergy since the Holy Synod of 1921. Some of our clergy have the gift of celibacy and have lived so all their lives.
That said, I did want to delve into the issues and the drama surrounding the Rev. Alberto Cutié, a former Roman Catholic priest, who left the Roman Church to join the Episcopal Church. If you want to read the details of the drama you can look here (and here, here, here, and here).
I think my readers know my position in regard to forced celibacy. It is wrongheaded and dangerous. It involves a demand on the Holy Spirit for gifts the Spirit gives freely to those whom He chooses. Forcing a promise from a priest without the necessary grace inevitably leads to all sorts of negative consequences, for the priest, for those around him, and in particular for the victims these men reach out to in an attempt to fill the void in their lives. The victims are more often than not left behind as damaged goods.
Here’s how I see the rights and wrongs in this case:
The right
Rev. Cutié did the right thing in leaving the active Roman Catholic ministry and in making a commitment to the woman (Ms. Ruhama Buni Canellis) he was illicitly involved with. He did right in treating her with dignity. He could have used her and cast her off as so many clergy do. He could have abandoned her to financial settlements his bishop would arrange. Rather he regained some shred of honor in not treating her like yesterday’s dirty laundry.
The wrongs
He used another human being: He did wrong in using her in the first place, and that’s what it was, using another person. Holding a position of power and prestige, with broad license to reach out to his community, he put his self interests first – not because he entered into a relationship, but because he entered into a relationship dishonestly. He failed to judge by any positive standard: honor — no, vows to his bishop — no, sin — no, his office — no, his people — no, his God — no. All that mattered was that he fulfill his need to ‘get some action.’ This was selfish, abhorrent, and based on his position — abusive. Again, he recouped a bit in so far as he finally committed to her, but the start shows a certain attitude toward the world. ‘I do it because it feels good;’ without regard for any objective standard of right and wrong.
He left the Catholic faith: He left for a form of Protestantism that’s so out there you can’t even call it Christian anymore. Sure it still has some of the words right, it uses a few of the books, but the essential marker in his new denomination is ‘We believe in anything we define as feeling good.’ The National Post’s religion blog, Holy Post, describes Rev. Cutié’s philosophy this way:
Father Cutié had worked to show the church was in touch with modern concerns.
Which is why he seems to fit in this new denomination. This statement means that he, like his denomination, believes nothing really, except whatever may happen to be a modern concern. Yesterday it was green jobs, today Adam Lambert’s sexuality, tomorrow… who knows.
I’m not saying that he belongs in the Roman Church, but if Catholicism, core Catholicism were of any value to him it would have played out differently. If he had any concern for objective truth he would know that he is in need of repentance for the wrongs he committed against his bishop, his people, his vows, and Ms. Canellis. Rather than glory and center stage, he would have made his commitment to Ms. Canellis, and would have gone into prayerful seclusion. Emerging, I’m sure he could have reached out to other Catholic Churches for acceptance. That would have been the choice made by a person caught in his situation who was Catholic in his attitudes, in his core.
Living for modern concerns will leave Rev. Cutié empty in the end. If the National Post article had said: Father Cutié had worked to show the church was in touch with the truth much of the outcome would be different. Rather, what Rev. Cutié is left with is this: What is modern is what is today. If his commitment to Ms. Canellis is to mean anything it will have to set aside today, because tomorrow’s today won’t be marked by a lovely young woman in a bikini on Miami Beach. Today may be marked by the spotlight, but tomorrow’s today will be marked by a failing congregation in a broken down parish, a congregation of needy sheep with their small problems and petty sins. Tomorrow’s today’s will leave Rev. Cutié not quite the cutie anymore and perhaps then he will understand that there are truths that surpass today, a relevancy that is eternal.