Posted on 08/22/2003 5:31:18 PM PDT by Land of the Irish
WEST ALLIS — The connection between radical changes in the liturgy and widespread disobedience to the church’s teaching on contraception is the most serious moral problem in the church today, according to Fr. Ignacio Barreiro.
Fr. Barreiro, director of the Rome office of Human Life International, spoke to over 50 people on “The Mass of All Times” at St. Mary Help of Christians Church on Aug. 2. Prior to the lecture, Fr. Barreiro celebrated a Tridentine, or Latin, Mass for the group. The gathering was sponsored by the St. Gregory the Great chapter of Catholics United for the Faith.
“The Mass had had an unchangeable nature for generations,” said Fr. Barreiro in an interview with the Catholic Herald. “In the 1960s, there were drastic changes in the liturgy” and people “wrongly expected that the church would change on many other issues. The church did not. On certain issues, you know, it is improbable the church will change.”
The papal commission that Pope Paul VI put together to study the contraception issue issued a non-binding report in favor of ending the church’s ban. The report was leaked to the media, and so it was somewhat of a shock when Pope Paul VI upheld the ban.
Because European Catholics, in particular, have continued to use contraception, “Europe is in a ‘demographic winter,’ Fr. Barreiro said. There are not enough children to replace those dying.
“In Italy, the population has decreased 20 percent,” Fr. Barreiro said. “Nobody’s going to pay your pension or push your wheelchair if you don’t have children.”
The Rome office of Human Life International helps to establish a link with pro-life Vatican offices such as the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Academy for Life. It also provides scholarships for four priests from South America and Africa to work on doctorates in bioethics. Those students will then be able to teach in seminaries and universities, as well as serve as advisers to Catholic hospitals.
“Bioethical questions will become more important in the future to the development of life science,” said Fr. Barreiro. “People will have to decide if things are morally possible or not.” For example, one of the students is completing a dissertation on the moral possibility of women adopting frozen embryos, which live for only 10 years.
The office has a library of over 4,000 volumes on bioethics. “Priests must know reasons as well as teachings,” Fr. Barreiro said. “That’s the whole point of theology, to show reasons for our belief. We are not asking something absurd, but for the good of man.”
In his Aug. 2 lecture, Fr. Barreiro emphasized that the “new Mass,” or novus ordo, promulgated by Pope Paul VI, is “perfectly valid” and that those who still choose the Tridentine, or Latin Mass, are not promoting division within the church.
“These are complementary differences that enrich the church,” he said. “We are all marching together. Liturgy opens the window to heaven if said in accordance with the rubrics.”
Fr. Barreiro noted one difference that novus ordo followers often mention — the fact that in the Tridentine rite, the priest’s back is to the congregation.
“If the mayor of Milwaukee wants to see the governor of Wisconsin, he will talk to the governor face to face and his delegation will be behind him. He will not give his back to the governor and talk to the delegation. We localize God in the east (and establish) the relationship between God and the rising sun, which is a symbol of the risen Christ.”
There is not a syllable in the rubrics of the New Mass or in any Vatican document from Vatican II on that mandates turning the priest around to face the people. This is simply a liturgical abuse that few priests have the courage to resist, because there are few people in the pews who could ever be brought to comprehend why it should be resisted.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Need I say more?
Are we not all called to the Eucharist?
When we see the transubstantiation(sp?) take place during the Mass, are we not given to awe at the presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus?
No matter what order of Mass we tend to choose, we are blessed to be a part of something miraculous.
God has provided us with the freedom to choose, and his blessings are abundant to all who partake. It is those blessings that allow us to become better men and women who can serve God, and share in the apostolic to our friends and neighbors.
God Bless!
What I don't understand or agree with is the separation in the Church and the accusations of the NO which is a valid Mass whether they like it or not. I don't understand why they think that Jesus would want them to separate themselves from the main body of the Church to protect their own faith.
Where I think they are arrogant is that they'd rather separate, disparage other Catholics, believe in thier own intelligence rather than follow the path of Jesus who persevered to the end of His earthly life trying to make God's Kingdom known and promised to never abandon the Church that He had established.
If they want to separate because they truly find their spirituality in the Tridentine Mass then so be it. And if I see that the fruits of their decision is overwhelming and I want to start attending Tridentine Masses then so be it. But to trash the pope and trash anything to do with the NO Mass is just senseless and silly. Constructive criticism might be okay working within to correct error and promote faith would be even better.
I've said it before, the Church is not perfect. There are abuses but God is omnipotent and if Jesus died for us to save us then He loved us enough even though He knew our weaknesses. He gave us a Church to guide us and He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist. God is omnipotent. He can overcome man's obstinacy, man's pride and man's error. He is the protector of the faith and He has said that He would not let the gates of hell prevail over His Church. I think that losing faith in the Catholic Church is almost like losing faith in Jesus.
I also think that if you think that the Catholic Church of the past is the only solution then you think that the Holy Spirit is misleading the Church. Just as I don't sit myself in judgement of Jews, Protestant, or athiests I don't judge the Church as a body, God can handle that without me.
Nope, I'm into Catholicism, not a "New, World Church".
Agreed.
and I do not believe it has anything to do with changes in the mass.
Are you sure of that? Clearly it has something to do with changes in the Faith. People are no longer living their lives based on Faith and reliance on divine providence. Instead they are living a consumer lifestyle which may or may not include attending church on Sunday morning. Of all the changes to the Faith, all of which certainly are significant, isn't the change to the Mass the biggest one of all?
I don't believe that's the case. Fr. Marx was teaching NFP before Humanae Vitae, and before he founded HLI. But at that time there was still the concept of "grave reasons," it wasn't promoted as a lifestyle.
There was an ineter-regnum when Fr. Marx was forcibly committed to house arrest at his Benedictine order, and HLI was taken over by some liberals. These traitors temporarily agreed to withdraw the severe criticisms that Fr. Marx had made of the bishops' sex ed programs.
But after a year or two, there was a counter-coup, the liberals were thrown out, true followers of Fr. Marx were installed in all the key positions, and the first major statement by the new administration was that they were withdrawing HLI's temporary disclaimer of their opposition to sex ed programs.
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