Article on 2018 FOCUS Conference

Over the past couple months, I had posted some interviews with people I had met at the FOCUS SLS 2018 Conference in Chicago. Recently published in Christ Is Our Hope Magazine was my overview of the entire event. Again, this conference was awesome, and I only wish I had had the opportunity to attend something like this when I was in college.

In any case, you can read the digital copy of the magazine here, which includes a slightly edited version of my original essay, or you can read the full version of my essay below.

Jim Caviezel at the FOCUS 2018 Conference

Regarding Cardinal Sarah's Comments on Holy Communion in the Hand

A few days ago, Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, authored a preface to a new book by an Italian priest, Fr. Federico Bortoli, entitled "The Distribution of Communion on the Hand: Historical, Juridical and Pastoral Profiles". The full preface can be found here, and one can only hope the book will be translated into English at some point soon. In any case, Cardinal Sarah makes many good points throughout, quoting many saints and popes in the short preface. He points out the following:

Why do we insist on receiving Communion standing and on the hand? Why this attitude of lack of submission to the signs of God? May no priest dare to impose his authority in this matter by refusing or mistreating those who wish to receive Communion kneeling and on the tongue. Let us come as children and humbly receive the Body of Christ on our knees and on our tongue. The saints give us the example. They are the models to be imitated that God offers us! 

But how could the practice of receiving the Eucharist on the hand become so common? The answer is given to us — and is supported by never-before-published documentation that is extraordinary in its quality and volume — by Don Bortoli. It was a process that was anything but clear, a transition from what the instruction Memoriale Domini granted, to what is such a widespread practice today (...) Unfortunately, as with the Latin language, so also with a liturgical reform that should have been homogeneous with the previous rites, a special concession has become the picklock to force and empty the safe of the Church’s liturgical treasures. The Lord leads the just along ‘straight paths’ (cf. Wis. 10:10), not by subterfuge. Therefore, in addition to the theological motivations shown above, also the way in which the practice of Communion on the hand has spread appears to have been imposed not according to the ways of God.

Holy Communion of Mary Magdalene- Bernardino Campi

On Parishes Becoming "Sacrament Factories"

There's a term I've heard bandied about in some Catholic circles. The term is "sacrament factory" or "Mass factory". It has a negative connotation, that's used by priests and laity alike, and it refers to something like this: people show up for Mass on Sunday, maybe holy days, and they might go to confession once in a while. They'll baptize and confirm their kids as well, if they have any. There is no other involvement in parish life. Priests who use this term say they feel like they're just used for the sacraments and all they do is pump them out. One gets the image of a cow who continually pumps out milk until they're dry.

We need to stop this to get people more active in the parish, they say. We need to copy what our Protestant brethren are doing, they point out, because they are drawing people in who are joyful and "on fire". Here's the problem I have with this phrase, though.

What's At Stake With Heterodox Interpretations of Church Documents and Teaching

It's truly sad to see the confusion in the Church rising more and more. It comes from various places, from Cardinals calling Martin Luther a "common Church Father" with Lutherans, to theologians contradicting constant Church teaching by saying that capital punishment is always and everywhere intrinsically evil. But today I want to focus on something that has been generating controversy for quite some time now: heterodox interpretations of Amoris Laetitia, promulgated by Pope Francis in the spring of 2016. As many have written about this before, bishops are contradicting bishops, priests are contradicting priests, and what is considered grave matter for mortal sin in one diocese is not grave matter in another diocese. 

It's important to make a distinction that there are those that support an orthodox interpretation of AL, and there are those that support a heterodox interpretation. Those that support a heterodox interpretation of the papal document accuse those that hold to the "traditional"(that is, timeless) and orthodox interpretation of Catholic doctrine present in the document are "enemies" of Pope Francis. This couldn't be further from the truth. The bishops, priests, and laymen who have spoken out against heterodox interpretations of the document overwhelmingly love His Holiness and respect him and his office. That's why it's sad to see yet another priest throw his hat into the ring with heterodox interpretations of AL, accusing those such as Cardinal Burke or Archbishop Chaput of being "opponents" of the Pope, and further saying that such people are "dissenters, [who] assert that Christians who divorce from a valid marriage and remarry with adequate knowledge and consent enter the state of mortal sin. They insist that God gives the justified sufficient strength to bear whatever difficulties that may arise, that married couples can endure what comes their way if they take advantage of the grace offered to them."

These are the words of Fr. Gerald J. Bednar, Vice-Rector and Professor of Systematic Theology at Saint Mary Seminary in the Diocese of Cleveland. They come from a recent essay he penned in the English language weekly of L’Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of Vatican City. Several religious and laymen have commented on the troubling things related in this essay. Proponents of heterodox interpretations of AL might not want to admit it, and neither would it seem those who have not really looked into the ramifications of allowing reception of the Eucharist to the divorced and civilly remarried who live together more uxorio, but there are serious things at stake which are fundamental to the life of the Church: namely, the meaning of her Sacraments, what sin is, and what it means for doctrine to legitimately develop.

Apostle With Glasses