Hierarchy update

Bishop John Quinn, 62, an auxiliary bishop in Detroit, was named by the Holy Father as co-adjutor to His Excellency, Bishop Bernard Harrington, of Winona, Minnesota. Bishop Harrington turns 75 in 39 days. Of course, when he turns 75 he is required by canon law to submit his resignation to the Holy See. It remains to be seen if Bishop Quinn will become the ordinary at that precise point in time.

By not transferring another ordinary to Winona, the number of sede vacante dioceses in the United States still numbers seven: Cheyenne, Wyoming; St. Louis, Missouri; Gallup, New Mexico; Biloxi, Mississippi; Juneau, Alaska; Charleston, South Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee.

The number of bishops currently serving beyond the mandatory retirement age (i.e., bishops whose resignations the Holy Father has not accepted) is now ten. These ordinaries are: Cardinals Maida and Egan of Detroit and New York respectively. Archbishops Hughes of New Orleans and Curtiss of Omaha, NE. Bishops D'Arcy of Ft. Wayne/South Bend, IN; Murray of Kalamazoo, MI; Moynihan of Syracuse, NY; Tafoya of Pueblo, CO; Cullen of Allentown, PA: Higi of Lafayette in Indiana. Archbishop Brunette of Seattle turns 75 early in 2009. Bishops Peña of Brownsville, TX; Carmody of Corpus Christi, TX are both 74.

Fr. Julián Carrón at the Synod on the Word of God

Fr. Julián Carrón, who was personally chosen by the Holy Father to be a participant in the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God, now convened in Rome. Fr. Julián is the head of Communion and Liberation. He is one who for me and my fellow celini is a leader, one I look to for guidance. He was picked by Don Giussani, before his death in 2005, to head CL. I had the pleasure of meeting Fr. Carrón personally this past January in New York City. I was introduced to him by my friend Carlo, who is Memores Domini. As a participant in the synod, like the bishops, Fr. Carrón can speak, that is, make interventions during the sessions. The following, with a deep diaconal bow to my friend Suzanne over at Come to See, is his intervention:

"Interpretation of the Bible is one of the most worrisome problems in the Church today. The essence of the challenge brought up by the problem of modern interpretation of Sacred Scriptures was identified years ago by the then Cardinal Ratzinger: 'How can I come to a comprehension which is not based on the judgement of my suppositions, a comprehension that permits me to understand the text’s message, giving me back something that does not come from my person?'

"Regarding this difficulty, today’s Magisterium of the Church offers us elements to avoid any possible reduction.

"It was the Second Vatican Council’s merit to have recuperated a concept of revelation as the event of God in history. In effect, Dei Verbum permits understanding the revelation as the auto-communication’s event of the Trinity through the Son 'the mediator and the fullness of all Revelation' (DV 2). It is Christ who 'perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth' (DV 4).

"This event does not belong only to the past, to a certain moment in time and space, but remains present in history, communicating itself through the totality of the Church’s life that receives it. In fact, 'Christ’s contemporaneity to each human being of any time is realized through his body which is the Church' (VS 25; cf. FR 11).

"The encyclical letter Fides et Ratio characterizes the impact, that the revealed truth provokes in each person that encounters it, with two folded impulse: a) it widens one’s mind to adapt it to the subject; b) it facilitates the comprehension of its deep sense. Instead of mortifying the person’s intellect and liberty, the revelation leads to developing both the highest level of their original condition.

"The experience of the encounter with Christ present in the living tradition of the Church is an event and therefore becomes the determining factor of the interpretation of the biblical text. It is the only way to be in harmony with the experience witnessed by the Scripture’s text. In fact, 'the right knowledge of the biblical text is therefore accessible only to whom has a lived affinity with what is stated in the text' (PcB 70). Saint Augustine summarizes it realistically: 'In manibus nostris sunt codices, in oculis nostris facta'."

While I am on the subject of CL, Sharon, writing over on Cahiers has posted an article by Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete on The Ugly Campaign that is worth a few minutes of your time. Albacete's words are for me a bit of a correction. As I wrote yesterday, the selection of Gov. Palin has been a bitter pill for me to swallow. As a result I have been very hard on her, perhaps too hard. I am certain that Sarah Palin has a lot of good in her, has good qualities. Maybe in these last few weeks of the campaign she should let this side show. Anyway, as the election approaches, I once again find myself unexcited and apprehensive. It feels a lot like four years ago.

A stark realization

I am finally able to sum up what has been going on economically and financially. The answer came to me after listening to NPR Senior New correspondent, Daniel Schoor's editorial yesterday: the privatization of gains and the socializing of losses. It is the classic heads I win, tails you lose. It is crisis capitialism. All of this is the result of Republican-enacted deregulation during the six years of a Republican administration and Republican Congress and the stewardship of Alan "I don't know if I really exist or not" Greenspan, the Ayn Rand disciple, who was left in place during the Clinton Administration, too. Add to this war profiteering and you have Bush-Cheney o' nomics. Many ships have been steered aground by so-called captains of industry. In the Navy such captains lose their ships and are asked to resign their commissions.

Hesitancy and backpeddling

It is funny how things affect me. I am clinging this morning to what is past. This is not due to what lies ahead in anyway being unbearable, just a bit of hesitancy, of not wanting to let go, dragging my feet, wanting to stay where I feel safe. I feel oppressed by time today.

On an unrelated note, I am still mulling over kRad's comment last Saturday. It kind of brought me back, to borrow from our CL election statement, to what I hold dear in terms of the election. When I look at life issues, especially abortion, family issues, especially marriage, and education, especially school choice, Sen. McCain is clearly more in tune with I what I believe. I can state this in an up-front manner. I worry about healthcare and trickle-down economics. I also worry about the consequences of an aggressive, antagonistic, and exceptionalist U.S. foreign policy. On the other hand, being a bit more calculating, I am leery of one party holding the presidency, the House, and the Senate. The roots of our present difficulties, I believe, can be traced to this being the case for six of eight years during the current Administration. It brings things like the very troublesome Freedom of Choice Act and Supreme Court appointees to the fore. It sets back necessary reforms, like school choice, and creates an environment unfavorable in many ways to the bedrock institution of marriage. I have to admit, as if it were not already obvious, the choice of Gov. Palin as the G.O.P. vice-presidential nominee really complicates things for me. I am actually angry at Sen. McCain for choosing her, especially given his age and health. In most presidential elections the V.P. candidate does not require as much concern and scrutiny.

Again, the reason we have to use proportional reasoning to arrive at a prudent judgment is because, at least in this election, as in virtually all elections, there is no candidate about whom, as a Catholic, I do not have serious misgivings. It is important not to use that as an excuse to vote whomever.

Seattle, part II

My visit to Seattle concluded by attending the 9:00 AM Mass at Blessed Sacrament Parish yesterday morning before heading to the airport. It is a very vibrant community and very beautiful church. The Mass was presided over by Fr. Tom Kraft, OP. He is a dear friend, who was the associate pastor and chaplain of students while I was at the University of Utah. I had not seen or spoken to him during my visit. I was feeling guilty about it. I arrived at the church planning a visit to the priory after Mass, only to see Fr. Tom vested and standing on the church steps, in a truly Fr. Tom gesture, greeting people before Mass. Seeing him there in that moment was an answer to my prayer.

St. Dominic at the Cross

He is a dear friend and one who sealed the deal for me after I became Catholic by taking a personal interest in me, in my faith, in my struggles. It was with his encouragement and guidance that I began thinking about my vocation. He was more confident than I was that I actually had one. I explored the possibility of becoming a Dominican friar. He put me in touch with Fr. Anthony Rosevear, who was then the Western Dominican Province vocations director. Fr. Anthony helped me with my discernment. With Fr. Kraft's encouragement, I spent time at St. Albert's in Oakland, the Dominican house of formation, at the beginning of new novice class. I was not a novice, just an observer.

He witnessed our marriage and baptized our oldest son before going off to the Dominican mission in Mexicali, where he labored fruitfully for quite a few years. I commend him to your prayers as he continues his courageous struggle against cancer. His serenity, his humble trust in the goodness of God as shown forth in Jesus Christ, especially in the Eucharist, and his friendship with Sts. Dominic, Catherine of Siena, Francis, and Clare, is so beautiful.

On a related note, I cannot recommend too highly Fred's review of Frank Schaeffer's autobiography, Crazy for God. I was struck by a number of things that Fred wrote, but in a particular way by these words because they explain better than I am able the remarkable witness of Fr. Tom and others: "we should not act as if Christian ideas can save us from the sufferings and trials of human existence. This approach [is] triumphalist, dualistic, and reductionist". This way of looking at things is the ultimate abstraction. It is a lie about reality, about our experience. If our Lord himself was honest in these matters, not just in words, but in what he experienced, how can we justify not being honest? Such dishonesty is a betrayal of Christ and a denial of ourselves.

Hoping not to sound too trite or sentimental, I am thankful to Fr. Tom for showing me this truth by the honesty of his witness, by the way he bears his suffering and pain caused by cancer.

Seattle

Seattle was just amazing; the city, the people, the weather! It was truly an event that became for me an encounter. I cannot express in mere words my thanks for the invitation, for the hospitality of the CL community, especially to Suzanne, Greg, and Ben for making me feel at home, to Laura and Alex for ferrying me about, and to everyone for the love and friendship. My dear brother Alex has posted a few pictures, as well as a link to more pictures of our outing to the outdoor sculpture park along the waterfront in downtown Seattle over on his space Vitus Speaks. Thank you to all who remembered us in your prayers.

I have posted my notes from my presentation last night on Is It Possible?. The post is entitled An event that becomes an encounter.

"The love you gave me/nothing else can save me"

I found the first appearance of film-maker Chris Marker's le chat orange dans l'endroit le plus inattendu- an ABBA video, S.O.S., being worn by Norwegian singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad:

If you don't like ABBA, there is something really wrong with you.