Den amerikanske (katolske) bispekonferansen har sitt høstmøte denne uka, og Father Z. merker seg at de har snakket positivt om internett og om blogger. Han er glad for denne oppmerksomheten, selv om «Catholic Bishops in general today know as much about most social issues – in this case the Internet and social networking – as they did about astronomy in the 16th century.»
Svein Egil Omdal i Stavanger er en dyktig og erfaren journalist, som de siste åra har brukt mye av sin tid på (å arbeide med og skrive om) digitale medier. Han skrev nylig en artikkel om debatter på ulike nettsider, som faktiske ofte blir så dumme at de må forbigås i stillhet. Men det fins en løsning på problemet, mener han, og tar fram to eksempler;
Ennå debatteres det på de store nettavisene, skjellsord og saklige innvendinger om hverandre. Men leserne er ikke lenger prioritert. Dagbladet har gått lengst i å dytte dem inn dårlig opplyste rom der få beslutningstakere noensinne ferdes, men også Aftenposten, VG og de fleste regionavisene har tonet ned den folkelige samtalen som var så viktig for et par år siden. Vox Populi ble ganske enkelt en belastning på merkevaren.
For halvannen måned siden gjorde Dagsavisen det motsatte. De opprettet nettstedet Nyemeninger.no og gjorde det til selve motoren i nettavisen. Debattene løftes på forsiden, alle nyhetsartiklene har tydelige oppfordringer om å skrive kommentarer, og avisens egne menere deltar aktivt i diskusjonen. Vårt Land hadde allerede gjort det samme med Verdidebatt.no, som er i ferd med å bli en av landets viktigste arenaer for de som vil diskutere livssyn, toleranse, …
Les hele denne artikkelen her.
Jeg har selv lest verdebatt.no – litt i rykk og napp – og finner at selv om nettstedet er av interesse, så er det fortsatt så pass mange troll (dvs. folk som ødelegger nettdebatter) der, at de (selv om de må registrere seg med fullt navn) klarer å ødelegge mange debatter. Men Omdal mener likevel at Vårt Land her har lyktes langt på vei.
I dag – tirsdag i første uke – begynner vi å lese fra den kjente, lange og avanserte salme 119 (118 i Vulgata) i non-bønna i tidebønnene. Salma er konstruert slik at åtte vers starter med den første bokstaven i alfabetet på hebraisk, de neste åtte vers starter med den andre bokstaven i alfabetet etc. Og siden hebraisk har 24 bokstaver (konsonanter) i alfabetet, får salme 119 til sammen 196 vers.
Første bokstav i det hebraiske alfabetet er alef (som egentlig ikke uttales), og vers 1 og 2 starter med ordet asjer (salig), andre vers starter med nektiongsordet, af, noen med ata, som betyr ‘du’. Hele salme 119 kan leses på hebraisk og engelsk her – under den norske oversettelsen av v1-8:
Salme 119 (118),1-8 (Alef)
v1 Salig er den som er hel i sin ferd og følger Herrens lov.
v2 Salige er de som holder hans lovbud og søker ham av hele sitt hjerte,
v3 de som ikke gjør urett, men vandrer på hans veier.
v4 Du har gitt dine påbud for at de skal holdes nøye.
v5 Å, om mine fottrinn ble faste, så jeg kunne holde dine forskrifter.
v6 Jeg skal ikke bli til skamme når jeg gir akt på alle dine bud.
v7 Jeg priser deg av et oppriktig hjerte når jeg lærer å kjenne dine rettferdige dommer.
v8 Dine forskrifter vil jeg holde, du må ikke rent forlate meg!
Én av de fem anglikanske biskopene som har annonsert at de vil konvertere, forteller at det var pave Benedikts brev Angecalorum Cætibus som forandret situasjonen:
The Anglican Bishop of Richborough, Keith Newton, told his flock that he plans to become Catholic because Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution “completely changed the landscape” for Anglo-Catholics and he now believes that he must lead the way to union with the Universal Church. … …
… Bishop Newton explained that although the issue of the ordination of women as Anglican bishops has been an important factor in his decision, it is “not the most significant.”
Noting the “surprise” of the Pope’s action on Anglican-Catholic relations, he said that most Anglicans have prayed for union with the Catholic Church. However, this union has seemed less likely because of “the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.”
“Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope,” Bishop Newton said. The ordinariates provide an opportunity for “visible unity” and Anglicans are able to retain “what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church.”
“I hope you will understand that I am not taking this step in faith for negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord’s prayer the night before he died the ‘they may all be one’,” the bishop continued.
While expressing sympathy with the position that Anglicans with traditional views need leadership at a “vital” time, he rejected the example of a leader who should “stay to the bitter end like the captain of a sinking ship.” Rather, he noted the scriptural image of the shepherd, who must lead his flock from the front rather than follow it from behind.
I ett av sine nyhetsbrev skriver Windsor Latin Mass Society om et eksempel på hvordan en brudemesse blir feiret etter Novus ordo, på en måte som fikk mange til å tro at det var den tradisjonelle latinske messen som ble feiret:
… Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has on several occasions spoken of the need for a “Hermeneutic of Continuity” between the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms of Holy Mass. By this he means that the Ordinary Form should demonstrate a lineage to its roots in the classic Roman liturgy. This wedding did exactly that. Rubrics of the Ordinary Form were followed precisely as in the Missal. If something was unclear or unspecified, the Tridentine custom was maintained. While there were characteristics unmistakably from the new rite, such as the presence of a concelebrant and the inclusion of Prayers of the Faithful, it might surprise some of our readers to see just what is possible and permissible in the modern liturgy:
• Celebration of the Mass ad oriéntem at the High Altar
• Celebrant and concelebrant wore Roman “fiddleback” vestments, maniples, and birettas
• Introit, Offertory, and Communion Antiphons, Gradual (instead of Responsorial Psalm) and Alleluia chanted by the choir from the 1974 Graduále Románum
• Chanted Opening Prayer, Prayer Over the Gifts, Preface, and Prayer After Communion
• Chanted Kyrie, Glória, and Credo (the latter because Sunday Propers were chosen for the 5:00 PM Mass time)
• Readings set to Gregorian Chant, one in English, one in French, and the Holy Gospel in Latin.
• Eucharistic Prayer I, the Roman Canon
• Holy Communion distributed at the Communion Rail… In 1998, then-Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned in a speech that the average Catholic would find far less difference between the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form celebrated as this wedding was, than between such a Mass and the Ordinary Form as typically celebrated in Western countries. Indeed, the experience, while in many ways different from the Extraordinary Form, was not all that different rubrically. If we exclude content differences in the texts of the Mass and focus on the externals only – which are what most people will remember from the Mass – there were many similarities. So many so, that a priest in attendance asked, “Is this what they call a ‘Tridentine’ Mass?”
Les hele dette nyhetsbrevet HER (pdf). (Samtidig må vi kanskje spørre oss om det er ønskelig eller nyttig å gjøre de to formene av messen så like.)
På nettsidene til foreningen Windsor Latin Mass leste jeg også (pdf-fil) om Michael Davis, som i mange år hadde kjempet for at den tradisjonelle latinske messen måtte brukes mer – før han døde i 2004. Vi kan bl.a. lese om forholdet mellom Davis og kardinal Ratzinger:
After retiring from teaching in 1992, he was in 1995 appointed President of the International Federation Una Voce, the world’s largest advocacy group for matters pertaining to the Tridentine Mass. … In this leadership role, Davies spent the last years of his life traveling, giving speeches, and continuing to write, becoming the world’s top lay advocate of the Extraordinary Form.
Davies took the interesting path of having defended the positions of both then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Many Catholics find the latter’s actions grossly imprudent and disobedient. Some traditionalists did not believe the former had been acting aggressively enough to advocate the traditional liturgical views His Eminence expressed in his writings. Davies would have been more than interested to learn that the former Cardinal Ratzinger, in his new capacity as Supreme Pontiff, is pursuing reconciliation with Lefebvre’s organization.
Largely through his work with Una Voce, Davies had met several times with our present Holy Father. Indeed, Davies memorably shared the stage with Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome in 1998 at the event commemorating the tenth anniversary of both the Motu Proprio Ecclésia Dei Adflícta and the founding of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. It was at this event that His Eminence made the now-famous statement that we would have to wait for a “new generation of prelates” before a “juridic” solution freeing the Tridentine Mass would be enacted. That statement was rather depressing for many who believed Cardinal Ratzinger to be the most likely member of the Curia to pursue such legislation. After the event, Davies assured skeptics that His Eminence would push for such legislation if it were possible. In 2007, Davies was vindicated when the now-Holy Father issued his Motu Proprio, Summórum Pontíficum, allowing any priest to celebrate the Tridentine Mass on his own volition.
Cardinal Ratzinger made a kind statement upon Davies’ passing. With his advanced theological and liturgical knowledge, and understanding of Vatican politics, it is telling that the now-Pope Benedict XVI saw value in Davies’ writings and work. …
I grenseområdet mellom Canada (Ontario) og USA (Michigan) drives det et ganske aktivt arbeid med å feire og utvikle den tradisjonelle latisne messen. Foreningen Windsor Latin Mass har et nettsted med ganske mye informasjon – som jeg har sett en del på i dag. Bl.a. hadde de en biskop fra staten Michigan – biskop Earl Boyea fra bispedømmet Lansing – som feires messen i deres kirker og også i et foredrag etter messen sa:
After Mass, Bishop Boyea attended the Flint Tridentine Community’s annual Anniversary Dinner and spoke briefly about Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio, Summórum Pontíficum.
His Excellency began by stating that he had recently re-read the Motu Proprio. He was struck by our Holy Father’s cover letter intending to quell fears of divisiveness that might arise over the classic Liturgy. He explained that learning to celebrate the Extraordinary Form at St. Josaphat a few years ago has affected his own celebration of the Ordinary Form of Holy Mass. He discovered a “sacrality” in the Traditional Mass which is too often missing in today’s vernacular Masses. The Tridentine Mass makes it clear that the Church’s Liturgy is not about “us”, but about offering worship to Almighty God. Having the EF as a valid liturgical option should remind clergy and laity to strive for reverence in all Masses, both Ordinary and Extraordinary Form.
He mentioned that Pope Benedict envisions the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms enriching one another, and gave the example of the possibility of adding Prefaces and new Feasts to the Traditional Mass, and expanding the readings used.
His Excellency stated that any priest in his diocese is welcome to start offering the classic Liturgy. He told a questioner that if she would like it in her own parish, that she should talk to her pastor. He did, however, caution against having too many small Low Mass sites. He would rather there be fewer, but larger and better quality Mass sites, offering High Masses with music programs befitting the Extraordinary Form.
Les hele nyhetsbrevet med denne informasjonen HER (pdf).
Sandro Magister oppfatter pave Benedikts hilsen til de italienske biskopene nylig (som jeg nevnte her), som en kritikk av deres holdning til liturgien. Han skriver:
The Pope Rattles the Bishops: «Learn from Saint Francis»
He really knew what true liturgical reform is, writes Benedict XVI in a message that is a severe rebuke to the Italian Catholic hierarchy. Where, in the liturgical field, Ratzinger’s opponents continue to prevail.
The last two popes, on numerous occasions, have pointed to the Italian Church and its episcopate as a «model» for other nations. There is one field, however, in which the Italian Church does not shine. It is that of the liturgy.
This was made clear by the severe lesson that Benedict XVI gave to the Italian bishops gathered in Assisi for their general assembly from November 8-11, an assembly centered on an examination of the new translation of the Roman missal.
In the message that he addressed to the bishops on the eve of the assembly, pope Joseph Ratzinger did not limit himself to greetings and good wishes. He was the one to dictate the criteria of a «true» liturgical reform.
«Every true reformer,» he wrote, «is obedient to the faith: he does not act in an arbitrary manner, he does not appropriate any discretion over the rite; he is not the owner, but the custodian of the treasury instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us. The whole Church is present in every liturgy: adhering to its form is a condition of authenticity for what is celebrated.» …
… (a bishop) who distinguished himself by proclaiming a sort of protest «bereavement» when in 2007 Benedict XVI issued the motu proprio «Summorum Pontificum,» which liberalized the use of the ancient rite of the Mass.
In electing the members of the commission for the liturgy, the Italian bishops have always given preference to their colleagues of this tendency, whose inspiration comes from the architects of the liturgical reform following Vatican Council II, in particular Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro and the main conceptualizer and executor of that reform, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini.
The negative results of that reform are what Benedict XVI is working against. But Paul VI had already seen its abuses, and was so pained by them that in 1975 he removed Bugnini and sent him into exile in Iran as the apostolic nuncio there.
But the sentiment of the majority of the Italian bishops and clergy continues to be influenced by the «Bugnini line.» The excesses seen in other European Churches are rare in Italy, but the predominant style of celebration is more «assembly-focused» than «turned toward the Lord,» as pope Ratzinger wants it to be. …
Jeg nevner dette uten kommentarer. Og vi tenker ikke på messer på katolske skoler eller i forbindelse med katekese (der må det selvsagt være messer for barna, selv om man gjerne må diskutere hvordan slike messer bør være), men hva slags plass har de om søndagene?
«In this week’s print edition of The Catholic Herald, Andrew M Brown argues that children’s liturgy might make badly behaved toddlers worse. … « Les mer om det her.
De italienske biskopen har vært sammen i Assisi denne uka, og pave Benedikt sendte dem en hilsen, der han ikke bare hilste vennlig på dem, men også tok opp viktige liturgiske spørsmål. Zenit.org har oversatt brevet til engelsk, og her er litt av det:
… The Fourth Lateran Council itself, considering with particular attention the sacrament of the altar, inserted in the profession of faith the term «transubstantiation,» to affirm the presence of the real Christ in the Eucharistic sacrifice: «His Body and Blood are truly contained in the Sacrament of the altar, under the species of bread and wine, as the bread is transubstantiated into the Body and the wine into the Blood by the divine power» (DS, 802).
From attendance at Mass and reception with devotion of Holy Communion springs the evangelical life of St, Francis and his vocation to follow the way of the Crucified Christ: «The Lord — we read in the Testament of 1226 — gave me so much faith in the churches, which prayed simply thus and said: We adore you, Lord Jesus, in all the churches that are in the whole world and we bless you, because with your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world».
Found also in this experience is the great deference that he had toward priests and the instruction to the friars to respect them always and in every case, «because of the Most High Son of God I do not see anything else physically in this world, but his Most Holy Body and Blood which they alone consecrate and they alone administer to others»
Given this gift, dear brothers, what responsibility of life issues for each one of us! «Take care of your dignity, brother priests,» recommended Francis, «and be holy because He is holy». Yes, the holiness of the Eucharist exacts that this mystery be celebrated and adored conscious of its greatness, importance and efficacy for Christian life, but it also calls for purity, coherence and holiness of life from each one of us, to be living witnesses of the unique Sacrifice of love of Christ.
The saint of Assisi never ceased to contemplate how «the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, humbled himself to the point of hiding himself, for our salvation, in the meager appearance of bread», and with vehemence he requested his friars: «I beg you, more than if I did so for myself, that when it is appropriate and you regard it as necessary, that you humbly implore priests to venerate above all the Most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy names and words written of Him that consecrate the Body».
The genuine believer, in every age, experiences in the liturgy the presence, the primacy and the work of God. It is «veritatis splendor», nuptial event, foretaste of the new and definitive city and participation in it; it is link of creation and of redemption, open heaven above the earth of men, passage from the world to God; it is Easter, in the Cross and in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; it is the soul of Christian life, called to follow, to reconciliation that moves to fraternal charity. ….
La meg begynne med et eksempel som ligner en del: Når ortodokse kirker ønsker fullt fellesskap med paven og Den katolske Kirke, så må de forandre sine synspunkter på pavens plass, hvordan Kirken ledes, og underlegge seg dens struktur og disiplin. Men de kan beholde 100% av sin liturgiske tradisjon, teologi og sine biskoper. Når protestanter søker enhet med Den katolske Kirke (og nå tenker jeg mest på anglikanere og lutheranere), må de selvsagt oppgi en hel del mer, men det skulle også være mulig å la dem få beholde mye fra sin egen tradisjon.
Etter Vatikankonsilet var det samtalene med anglikanerne (bildet over er fra 1966) som kom raskest i gang (og man må nok i dag kunne si at man var overoptimistiske), mens samtalene med lutheranere kom mer gradivis, men ble etter hvert svært fruktbare. Og til noen anti-økumener som av og til kommeneter på denne bloggen: Man misforstår nok pave Paul VI når man tolker hans uttrykk «united but not absorbed» som noe annet enn det jeg har skrevet over – at man på alle punkter godtar den katolske lære, men samtaidig kan få beholde tradisjoner som er forenlige med denne lære.
Det er det jeg har har introdusert så langt, som William Oddie skriver om i et innlegg i The Catholic Herald:
Some cradle Catholics still just don’t get it. Why do they want their own little enclave: if they want to be Catholics, why don’t they just join? What is this stuff about an Anglican “patrimony”? Isn’t that just what they want to get away from?
The first thing to say about the usage of Anglican “patrimony” is that it wasn’t coined by an Anglican, but by Pope Paul, in the days before the aspiration of an eventual corporate reunion of Canterbury and Rome (always, with the benefit of hindsight, an impossible dream) had been rudely shattered by the Anglicans’ unilateral decision fundamentally to redefine their orders in a way impossible for Catholics ever to accept.
But in those days, the ordination of women seemed a very distant – and unlikely – possibility which many (I was one of them) chose to ignore. The way forward to reunion seemed to be open; the pace seemed to be quickening. At the beatification of the English and Welsh martyrs in 1970 (which offended many Anglicans at the time), Pope Paul went out of his way to make an overture to the Anglican tradition (of which he was a genuine admirer: he used to listen to LPs of Anglican church music in moments of relaxation). “There will,” he said, “be no seeking to lessen the legitimate prestige and usage due to the Anglican Church when the Roman Catholic Church … is able to embrace firmly her ever-beloved sister in the one authentic communion of the family of Christ…” He made it clear that what he called the “worthy patrimony” of Anglicanism would be preserved in a united Church. A few years later, he said that he believed that “these words of hope ‘The Anglican Church united not absorbed’ are no longer a mere dream”.
Alas, he was wrong. The wholesale reunion of Canterbury and Rome was always a mere dream; and soon it was brutally shattered. But Pope Paul’s vision of an Anglican “patrimony” united with the Catholic Church but (like the Eastern Catholic patrimony) not wholly absorbed, were not forgotten, either in Rome (where Cardinal Ratzinger remembered them) or by those Anglicans who for nearly two decades have been talking, firstly to him at the CDF, and then to his successors at the CDF who have remained in charge of the process throughout: it was their decision, entirely justified, that the English bishops should not be consulted, since they would have done everything they could to wreck it, as they had once before in the 1990s.
Dr. William Oddie skriver i The Catholic Herald og ga i 1997 ut en bok som heter The Roman Option, som forteller om hva som skjedde etter at hundrevis av anglikanske prester i England ble katolikker (og mange av dem deretter katolske prester) i 1992. Skulle disse måtte glemme alt de hadde gjort tidligere i livet og fra første stund bli helt vanlige engelske katolikker (også sosialt og liturgisk), eller skulle man i større grad ønske velkommen deler av den anglo-katolske tradisjonen (ting som ikke bryter med katolsk lære)? Jeg leste boka da den var ganske fersk, og den gjorde ganske sterkt intrykk på meg siden jeg opplevde lignende ting selv i Norge fra 1994.
Vatikanet, representert først og fremst ved kardinal Ratzinger vil gjerne være generøse, og ville la disse personene ta med seg fruktbare ting fra sin egen tradisjon. I England virket det som bare kardinal Hume støttet en slik holdning, men han måtte gi seg da nesten alle andre biskoper og katolske prester i England ikke var enige. Og det er med denne historiske kunnskapen i bakhodet at Dr. Oddie skriver om det som nå holder på å skje i England for andre gang – med veldig mange nye konvertitter.
På Amazon kan man lese mer om denne boka, og bl.a. se denne anmeldelsen:
… … The book actually has quite a different object: to discuss the circumstances in which bodies of Anglo-Catholics might move collectively to Rome rather than having to convert one by one. In Oddie’s view there were serious possibilities of such collective conversions following 1992 but the opportunity was lost, mainly through the timidity of English Roman Catholics. The great appeal of this book is the nuanced way in which Oddie sketches the many and various versions of, and perspectives on, the so-called «Roman Option»; he keeps all the balls in play with considerable skill, using them to form a narrative that gradually builds (as the Roman Option appears more and more likely) before reaching an impasse that the reader knows from the start will eventually block further progress. To maintain our interest in a somewhat arcane subject matter when the denouement is thus predetermined would be impossible were Oddie’s writing not commendably precise and energetic at the same time.
It helps, of course, that his real story moves quickly away from the specific issue of women’s ordination to embrace such central issues as authority within the church and such questions as the meaning of Catholicism itself. That Oddie is so helpful on these huge topics, whilst keeping their coverage within bounds as a framework for his main narrative, is another tribute to his skills.
I have described the story of this book as being that of the Roman Option following the decision of 1992, but Oddie is at pains to place this story within the context of a broader «realignment of English-speaking Christianity»: one in which those of Catholic mind enter into full communion with Rome, but also one in which mainstream English non-conformism reunites with a Church of England that, in Oddie’s view, is now irreconcilably Protestant (if, for the moment, reluctant to see itself in such terms).
Den engelske teologen (og tidligere anglikaner), Dr. William Oddie, skrev i The Catholic Herald nylig om hvordan anglikanerne som nå konverterer kan regne med å bli mottat i Den katolske Kirke. Godt i Kirken som helhet, håper han og regner han med, men ikke så greit blant engelske biskoper og prester:
… We have in fact seen all this before, in the case of two parishes in the Anglican diocese of London and Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster. Until they were without notice brutally closed down, these Anglican convert parishes existed successfully for around two years in the early 90s, in the aftermath of the C of E’s original decision to ordain women; both stayed happily in their original church buildings.
The suddenness of – and total lack of consultation surrounding – the Archdiocese of Westminster’s suppression of these convert parishes was scandalous; it is a precedent, indeed, which does something to explain why the potential Anglican converts do not wish, this time, to be under the direct authority of the English hierarchy. They do not trust our bishops; and I do not blame them.
One of these parishes in particular, St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, was pastorally immensely successful. Relations between the two congregations using the building were excellent. The new Catholic parish grew to over twice its original size; in the end, only about one third were members of the original parish. It had become an accessible way into the Church, not only for former Anglicans, but for lapsed Catholics to return.
I believe that this model could become normal; and my confidence that the Ordinariate will be an immensely fertile and creative pastoral enrichment of the life of the Church in this country is not based only on wishful thinking. It has happened before. And I am sure it will happen again, many times. The convert Anglicans have a great deal to learn, of course; that goes without saying. But they also have a great deal to teach. …
En erkebiskop skapte mye oppstyr helt på slutten av bispesynoden for Midt-Østen, som nylig gikk av stabelen i Vatkanet. Denne artikkelen i First Things tar opp skaden som skjedde, og er overrasket over at ikke noen har prøvd å korrigere uttalelsen. (Men aller siste nytt er at erkebiskop Bustros selv har presisert hva han mente – se her.)
The Archbishop for Greek Melkites in the United States, Cyril Salim Bustros, declared at the end of the synod that the biblical concept of a promised land for the Jews “cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel” because the original promise made by God to the children of Israel “was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people.”
Bustros seemed to be trying to reverse the positive momentum in Jewish-Catholic relations of the last forty years. Though speaking for himself and not the Vatican, he was reverting to the first days of the Vatican’s relations to modern Israel that Rome might rather forget. On May 14, 1948, the semi-official Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, declared, “Modern Israel is not the heir to biblical Israel. The Holy Land and its sacred sites belong only to Christianity: the true Israel.”
The attitude to Israel changed over the next fifteen years as the church began to refine its understanding of the Jewish people. In the years following the Holocaust both Catholics and Protestants realized they had failed to recognize the radically Jewish character of Jesus, Paul, and Christianity itself. ….. “These three chapters (Rom. 9-11) emphatically forbid us to speak of the church as having once and for all taken the place of the Jewish people.” …
Partly stimulated by this new scholarly discussion of the Jewish covenant Paul calls “irrevocable” (Rom 11.27-29), the Second Vatican Council proclaimed in Nostra Aetate that “the Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for He does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the call He issues.” Pope Paul VI famously declared the Jews “our fathers in the faith” in a trip to the Holy Land in 1964. John Paul II spoke of the Jews “as our elder brothers in the faith,” and insisted in Crossing the Threshold of Hope that “this extraordinary people continues to bear signs of its divine election.”
…. Pope Benedict has also affirmed this continuing Jewish covenant. In Many Religions—One Covenant, he writes that Jesus’ mission was to transform the history of Israel into the history of all, but “without the abolishment of the special mission of Israel.” Jews are still “the Chosen People,” but now because of Jesus the nations “become People of God with Israel through adherence to the will of God and through acceptance of the Davidic kingdom.” …
Vi har nå (endelig, etter to år) fått pave Benedikts POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION VERBUM DOMINI OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL ON THE WORD OF GOD IN THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH.
Dokumentet kan leses i sin helhet HER (pdf-fil) på engelsk, og de ca 200 sidene avlsuttes slik:
… I remind all Christians that our personal and communal relationship with God depends on our growing familiarity with the word of God. Finally, I turn to every man and woman, including those who have fallen away from the Church, who have left the faith or who have never heard the proclamation of salvation. To everyone the Lord says: “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).
May every day of our lives thus be shaped by a renewed encounter with Christ, the Word of the Father made flesh: he stands at the beginning and the end, and “ in him all things hold together ” (Col 1:17). Let us be silent in order to hear the Lord’s word and to meditate upon it, so that by the working of the Holy Spirit it may remain in our hearts and speak to us all the days of our lives. In this way the Church will always be renewed and rejuvenated, thanks to the word of the Lord which remains for ever (cf. 1 Pet 1:25; Is 40:8). Thus we too will enter into the great nuptial dialogue which concludes sacred Scripture: “ The Spirit and the bride say: ‘Come’. And let everyone who hears say: ‘Come!’ ” The one who testifies to these things, says: ‘Surely I am coming soon!’. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ”. (Rev 22:17, 20).
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 30 September, the Memorial of Saint Jerome, in the year
2010, the sixth of my Pontificate.BENEDICTUS PP XVI
Jeg har skrevet lite om pave Benedikts besøk i Spania sist uke, men her er han foran det berømte røkelseskaret i St Jakobs kirke i Santiago de Compostela.
Jeg nevnte sist uke at vi hadde funnet noen messekort fra ca 1960 i et gammelsk skap i vår menighet – og spurte om noen vet hvordan disse kortene i praksis ble brukt, uten å få noe skikkelig svar. Men vi fant også andre og eldre kort av samme type, og nedenfor kan man ca 1/3 av disse.
Vårt Land har flere bilder fra pave Benedikts innvielse av den berømte kirken i Barcelona – som jeg besøkte for 7-8 år siden.
I går feiret vi minnedagen for pave Leo I – pave fra 440-461. Les mer om ham på katolsk.no, bl.a.: «Leo ble pave i en krisetid både for Kirken og keiserriket. Han var en energisk og målbevisst pave, og selv hans motstandere betegnet ham som en av tidenes beste paver, «løven (=Leo) av Juda stamme». Hele hans politikk og alle hans uttalelser var fylt av hans overbevisning om at den øverste og universelle autoritet i Kirken, opprinnelig gitt av Kristus til Peter, hadde blitt overført til enhver etterfølgende biskop av Roma. Leo påberopte seg da Matt 16,18. Som apostelens arving overtok paven Peters funksjoner, fulle autoritet og privilegier. …»
Han har sitt eget sidealter i Peterskirken, som vi kan lese mer om på NLM-bloggen, bl.a. følgende:
On the Calendar of the Ordinary Form of Roman Rite, November 10 is the feast of Pope St. Leo I, who died on this day in the year 461; his reign of slightly more than 21 years is the tenth longest in the history of the Papacy, and certainly on of the most important. His relics are in one of the altars of the Basilica of St. Peter, which faithfully maintains the tradition of decorating the various side altars on the feasts of the saints to whom they are dedicated. Over the altar stands the extraordinary relief sculpture of Pope Leo putting Attila the Hun to flight, one of the last works of Alessandro Algardi, a great rival of Bernini.
En av de fem anglikanske biskopene som nylig gjorde kjent at vil gå av og at han vil bli katolikk, biskop Keith Newton, skriver at han konverterer med en positiv begrunnelse – ikke negativ, ikke pga problemene i den anglikanske kirke:
… I am sure it will be said that I am leaving because of the issue of the ordination of women to the episcopate. While it is true that this has been an important factor in my thinking it is not the most significant factor. The publication of the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, just one year ago, came as a surprise and has completely changed the landscape for Anglo Catholics. Since the inception of the ARCIC process, set up by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in the 1960s, most of us have longed and prayed for corporate union with the Catholic Church; union which in our own time has seemed less likely because of the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.
Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope. The creation of Personal Ordinariates within the Catholic Church provides an opportunity for visible unity between Anglicans and the Catholic Church now, while still being able to retain what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church. This is a hope which has been expressed many times by Forward in Faith and many others within the catholic tradition of the Church of England So I hope you will understand that I am not taking this step in faith for negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord’s prayer the night before he died the ‘they may all be one.’ …
