I am back from vacation but sick. I'm working on a roundup and a nap.
Big and confusing news, that Pope Benedict named a Liberation Theology proponent Abp. Müller to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Father Z thinks it's not as bad as it appears. Possibly could negatively affect the SSPX talks.
3 comments:
Fr Z is a company man when it comes to criticizing the Pope. All he is doing is damage control on the appointment.
This will have a very chilling effect on SSPX union, and probably has completely iced it together with the appt. of Di Noia.
It's a pretty obsurd comment to say the Prefect is nothing more than an administrator and doesn't shape Church doctrine. The CDF is supposed to be protecting doctrine, and that is "shaping" by another name, as failing in protecting has such a devastating effect.
If this quote of Muller is accurate:
In his 900-page work "Katholische Dogmatik. Für Studium und Praxis der Theologie" (Freiburg. 5th Edition, 2003), Müller denies the dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary claiming that the doctrine is "not so much concerned with specific physiological proprieties in the natural process of birth (such as the birth canal not having been opened, the hymen not being broken, or the absence of birth pangs), but with the healing and saving influence of the grace of the Savior on human nature."
...then this is a real problem. Not only is that quote abstract nonsense, but it denies the Tradion of the Church that the birth of Jesus was *supernatural*, not natural as is the current vogue. The Roman Catechism explicitly teaches that "just as He afterwards went forth from the sepulchre while it was closed and sealed, and entered the room in which His disciples were assembled, the doors being shut; or, not to depart from everyday examples, just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from His mother's womb without injury to her maternal virginity. This immaculate and perpetual virginity forms, therefore, the just theme of our eulogy. Such was the work of the Holy Ghost, who at the Conception and birth of the Son so favoured the Virgin Mother as to impart to her fecundity while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity."
The new Catechism teaches this implicitly. If you follow the footnotes you go back to the same sources of Fathers and doctors used to support the Roman teaching.
Finally, what sense would it make for the Church to declare her virginity "before, *during*, and after" if *during* didn't mean something. God goes to a great deal of trouble to fulfill all the signs that Jesus is Christ, and this sign is very important and a badge of honor for Mary.
I think we in America might not realize just how sensitive the situation in Germany/Austria/Switzerland is and while we tend to think English speaking world issues should get the Churches full focus (and we have been getting a lot of focus lately, the nun stuff, the new translation, the shake up in Ireland, seminary visitations in USA, etc.) the situation in the German speaking world is at a particularly fragile juncture.
(Brian from Illinois): I am/will continue to pray daily for Pope Benedict, Bishop Muller, and all our Church leaders; especially in these difficult times in which we find ourselves today. I have also been praying daily regarding the SSPX-Vatican talks. Also, we have 18 Dioceses in the U.S. who are waiting for new Bishops, so we all need to pray for them and their future leaders as well.
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