Pastor’s Corner — October 29th, 2023
Deacon Josh Presents: “Vatican II: Sixty Years Later” (Sat, Nov 18th at 7pm)
Before he graduates and is ordained a priest, each seminarian deacon must do what’s called an integrating practicum. The purpose of this practicum is to integrate his theological and pastoral formation by developing a presentation on a relevant topic in the Church. The seminarian submits their presentation to their professor, presents it in class, and then presents it at a parish. Because of the research that goes into these topics, they usually are well done
Since Deacon Josh is assigned here in the last year of his formation, he is going to do his integrating practicum here at St Pat’s. His topic is “Vatican II: Sixty Years Later.” which is very relevant in light of the rather misguided attack on Vatican II from both the Catholic left and traditionalist right. I’ve spoken about this tendency multiple times before but it’s worth repeating.
In an attempt to try to explain the chaotic aftermath of the Church since Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)—the crisis of faith, the theological dissent and confusion, liturgical abuse, the disobedience of both clergy and faithful alike, and many leaving the Church in the United States—some Catholics try to locate the problem in the Council itself. “Everything was great in the Church, then Vatican II happened, now everything is bad.” This is a classic example of a post hoc, propter hoc logical fallacy. (Because x follows y, then y must have caused x.) In my experience, most people who promote this simplistic and fallacious line of reasoning not only have a very naïve view of what was going on in the Church and in the world before the council, they also can fall into a rather Protestant way of thinking about Catholicism itself.
Of course, in all of this, I’m not talking about the Catholic faithful or scholars asking sincere but serious questions about how to understand and/or apply council teaching. I’m more referring to the popular but sometimes sophisticated attacks on the council itself which have been presented to the faithful through problematic teachers promoting forms of conspiracy theories about the Church. This would be laughable if people didn’t believe them. Attacking the Church’s own Council doesn’t solve any problems in the Church; it simply exacerbates evil in the Church because it causes good Catholics to doubt Jesus who promised to be with his Church. The sad result of conspiracy theories is that otherwise good people can really begin to struggle with trust in Jesus.
The vast majority of Catholics thankfully don’t fall into this, but it’s out there. So if you want to learn more about what Vatican II taught and why if we follow it we can be lead to authentic renewal, then Deacon Josh will be addressing what the Council taught and the renewal of Church life called for by the council. His presentation is on November 18th at 7pm at the PLC. For those who are interested, Bishop Barron has an excellent FAQ on Vatican II that I find to be helpful.
Day of Prayer, Fasting and Penance: Friday October 27th
For those who read my bulletin column early when it comes out in the midweek on Wednesday, please know that Pope Francis has called for this Friday to be a day of prayer, fasting and penance for peace in the Middle East. Please consider praying, fasting and doing penance for peace on Friday. We have Eucharistic Adoration all day from 9am until Saturday morning around 7:45am. Feel free to stop by and pray for peace.
The Problem of Unbelief Is Not Just Eternal
The ever so brilliant Monsignor Charles Pope has written a powerful column on why unbelief in God is quite detrimental to society. Essentially, while we know that unbelief is bad for the individual soul in eternity, it also has devastating effects on society in this life as well. Here is a small excerpt:
“But, frankly, all of us should be concerned at the rise of unbelief in our culture, whether it is atheism, agnosticism, indifference, or the rampant secularism that relegates God to a marginal place. We should be concerned because unbelief on a wide scale (as we are seeing today) is not only unhealthy for a culture, it is dangerous to it.
This danger is fairly obvious when one considers that, in the end, unbelievers think they answer to no one. When one no longer acknowledges that God exists and that He sees everything, when one doesn’t understand that he will ultimately have to answer to God for what he has done or failed to do, important aspects of the moral life can easily be ignored.
Realizing that we will one day answer to God is an important reminder that we are not a law unto ourselves. Knowing that we will not ultimately escape if we treat others with contempt, engage in serious injustice, live unchastely, or indulge greed is an important curb on sin, or at least a call to repentance.
This observation does not mean that every atheist lives a reprobate life. There are atheists who live exemplary lives, who exhibit natural virtues, whether they do so because it is to their benefit or simply because they have some ethical sense which comports with the right reason.
But, other things being equal, having large numbers of unbelievers who do not think they are ultimately accountable for what they do or fail to do is never healthy to good order, morals, or virtue.”
Click here to read the whole thing.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias