MOST HOLY TRINITY PARISH
10,000 PHEASANT RD.
EL PASO, TEXAS 79924
FR. TOM O’MAHONY, PASTOR
FR. PAUL D. O’TOOLE, ASSOCIATE
SATURDAY EVENING MASS SUNDAY MASSES
WEEKDAY MASS (MON-FRI) FIRST FRIDAY
HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
FIRST FRIDAY:
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
PERPETUAL NOVENA IN HONOR OF OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
PARISH SECRETARY: MRS. VIRGINIA REYNOLDS
FEBRUARY 20, 1983
Rosary is publicly recited each Sun. before the 10:00 a.m. mass.
“Dearly Beloved, let us give greater emphasis to the Sacrament of Penance in our lives. Let us strive to safeguard what I described in my first Encyclical as Christ’s ‘right to meet each of us in that key moment in the soul’s life constituted by that moment of conversion and forgiveness.'”
—POPE JOHN PAUL II (in England)
“Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow. The same Everlasting Father — who cares for you today — will take care of you tomorrow and everyday … Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
—ST. FRANCIS DE SALES
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“… those who wish to remain Catholic and grow in their faith must nourish a deep love for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and receive Our Lord in the Eucharist as often as possible.” — Fr. Kenneth S.J., HOMILECTIC & PASTORAL REVIEW, January 1983, p. 80.
THE SACRED READINGS (C)
1. Book of Deuteronomy 26, 4-10:
(a) The first five books of the O.T. form a collection, which the Jews call the “Torah” (law) and the Greeks called “he pentateuchos biblos” (the book in five volumes). Tertullian translating it into Latin called it “Pentateuchus liber”, from which our English word “Pentateuch” is derived. The Council of Trent called it “The Five Books of Moses”. In the O.T. it is given various titles: “The Book of the Law of Jahweh” (II Chronicles 17, 9), “The Book of the Law of Moses” (Nehemiah 8, 1), “The Law of Moses” (II Chronicles 23, 18), “The Book of Moses” (Nehemiah 13, 1).
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth volume or book. Unfortunately the title is derived from a faulty translation of Chapter 17, 18 into Greek in the Septuagint version of the Bible, which work was done between 250-100 B.C. The correct translation is “a copy of the law” (Mosaic) while the faulty translation is “deuteros nomos”, which means the “second law”.
Steinmueller rightly states that “Deuteronomy does not contain a second law distinct from the sinaitic legislation, as the book’s title might imply, but furnishes a partial repetition and explanation of previous legal enactments. It consists of three main discourses, which Moses delivered in the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the Exodus from Egypt and shortly before his death. A few historical appendices are added, one of which records the death and burial of the great prophet and legislator.” (A COMPANION TO SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. 2, p. 13).
(b) “Deuteronomy is one of the most important books of the Old Testament measure of that importance is the frequence with which it is cited in the New Testament; in many ways it is close to the spirit of the gospel” (Harrington O.P., RECORD OF THE PROMISE).
The greater part of this book is composed of three discourses given by Moses shortly before his death, and is often described as “a homiletic exposition of law in an historical setting” (R.A.F. McKenzie, S.J.).
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(c) Moses is the inspired author of the Pentateuch. More than likely, he had to depend under divine guidance on ancient documents and oral tradition when writing Genesis, but he was an eyewitness of the events recorded in the other four books.
The substantial Mosaic authenticity of the Pentateuch was upheld by the Pontifical Biblical Commission on June 27, 1906 (A.S.S. 39, 1906, 377), though it allowed scholars, subject to the judgment of the Church to maintain that in the course of centuries some slight modifications were introduced, as, for example, the account of the death of Moses by Joshua.
In the 18th Century, with the rise of rationalism, the existence of a personal God distinct from creation was denied and supernatural dogmas were regarded as the mere subjective feelings of their authors, and so changeless truths and objective revelation were denied, and religion was regarded as subject to the laws of evolution.
The Rationalists developed in the 19th Century the “documentary theory” by which they sought to decide the authenticity and date of composition of each of the books of the Bible from internal evidence. German Protestants were the pioneers in this field and from their work came the critical system known today as “higher criticism”. Though a useful tool in the hands of a Catholic biblical scholar, it proved to be a disaster in the hands of Rationalists. The Pentateuch was dated centuries after Moses’ death on the undemonstrated and undemonstrable postulate that there is no personal God, that human reason is subject to no authority, and that the Bible is a purely natural book, and merely reflects the progressive religious experience of men.
The Catholic Church, under Pope Leo XIII, formally took up the defense of the Bible with the publication of the famous encyclical PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS (November 18, 1893).
Unfortunately, some Catholic biblical scholars uncritically adopted the principles of “Form Criticism”, the offspring of Higher Criticism, and dispute the dates of composition and authorship of some of the Books of the Bible.
(d) The passage read today is a Creed or Profession of Faith which every Israelite said when he presented a basket. of the first fruits of his harvest to God on the Feast of the Harvest Thanksgiving.
(e) “My father was a wandering Aramean” — This refers to Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, the father of the chosen people. Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel (see Genesis 32, 18). Through Abraham there was a connection with an Aramean clan which occupied Northern Syria. Jacob or Israel was a “wanderer” because he journeyed to Syria (see Gen. 28, 5; 31, 20) to avoid the anger of his brother Esau and led his people into Egypt to avoid death by famine (see Exodus 1, 5).
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2. Romans 10, 8-13:
This passage contains the Christian profession of faith or Creed in its simplest form: “Jesus is Lord” i.e. God becomes Man.
When we make this profession of belief we thereby imply that we accept Christ’s teaching in full, and that we recognize His suffering, death and resurrection as the means whereby He saved us. It further implies that we are now willing to follow in His footsteps by taking up our cross and following Him to Calvary.
How often is there a vast cleavage between what we profess and what we actually do!
Lent is the time to put our spiritual house in order. There is, as Pope Paul VI warns, no “easy Christianity”.
3. Luke 4, 1-13:
(a) According to the three synoptic gospels, the event narrated in today’s gospel pericope took place after the baptism of Christ by John and before the beginning of the public life. Mark merely mentions that Jesus was tempted, but Matthew (4, 1-11) and Luke (4, 1-13) give a full account of it.
(b) The place of the temptation was the wasteland or desert area near the Jordan, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. In Jewish imagery the “desert” was regarded as the dwelling-place of evil spirits and wild animals dangerous to man (see Isaiah 13, 20 and 30, 6). It was also considered to be a place of purification since God originally tested and purified the Hebrews in the Sinai Desert before leading them into the Promised Land. The N. T. tells us that John the Baptist lived in the desert before beginning his life of preaching.
(c) The temptations of Christ were real because the devil did not know that the Messiah was also a divine person. More than likely, they were internal, like our own temptations, and the dramatic style they are presented in is merely a literary dress.
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(d) Luke sets the temptations in a different order to Matthew, since it suited his theological purpose to focus attention on Jerusalem. Note that his gospel ends in Jerusalem and the Acts of the Apostles begins there. Christ’s life tended toward this city, in which He would die and rise again, and from it He would send His apostles over the face of the world.
(e) The temptations are symbolic of the temptations we suffer from and can be summarized thus: the seeking of one’s own honor and glory in all our actions, the temptation to be so attached to worldly goods that we neglect our spiritual duties, and the temptation to seek salvation without following the path God pointed out to us, namely, the way of suffering, which includes mortification or self-denial.
(f) “Forty-days” — In the O.T. we are told that Moses fasted for forty days before his encounter with God in Mount Sinai (Exodus 34, 28), and Elijah the prophet fasted for forty days on his journey to Mount Horeb or Sinai (I Kings 19, 5).
(g) “To await another opportunity” — this refers to the passion of Christ. Luke in Chapter 22, 3 says: “Then Satan took possession of Judas, the one called Iscariot, a member of the Twelve”, and in the same chapter, Verse 53 he quotes these words of Christ during His agony: “But this is your hour… the triumph of darkness.”
4. PSALM 91.
5. REFLECTIONS:
(1) Lent is an Old English word for Springtime. It is, therefore, the time to sow the good seed of God’s word in our hearts and keep it well watered, so that it may grow and mature.
Lent is also a time for taking a good look at our lives in the light of the gospel teaching and making the decision to rectify what is wrong. Lent is a time of special grace. We neglect these graces at our peril.
(2) In his Apostolic Constitution issued on February 7, 1966, Pope Paul VI reminded us that “the ancient celebration of Lent is not a matter of other times, not a thing fossilized in given exterior forms; but it is a living thing, and of great interest today, just for us, men of our century, in such need of finding ourselves again, God, and the church in the paschal mystery of Christ the Lord.”
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In Part II of this Constitution the Holy Father says: “True penitence cannot ever prescind from physical asceticism as well. Our whole being, in fact, body and soul, must participate actively in this religious act whereby the creature recognizes the divine holiness and majesty. The necessity of the mortification of the flesh also stands clearly revealed if we consider the fragility of our nature, in which, since Adam’s sin, flesh and spirit have contrasting desires.
“Mortification aims at the liberation of man, who often finds himself, because of concupiscence, almost chained by his own senses.
“Through corporal fasting man regains strength, and the wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by intemperance is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence.”
(d) During Lent we must imitate Christ in the desert by devoting more time to prayer and practicing mortification.
There are many ways to do penance or practice mortification:
(1) Shutting off the TV for several hours a day and devoting the time to prayer or reading the Bible and good spiritual books;
(2) Canceling or curtailing outside recreations and spending more time at home;
(3) Giving up tasty dishes, liquor, snacks, candy, etc.
(4) Giving more generously to the church so that Christ may more effectively carry on His work on earth.
(5) Helping a neighbor, visiting the old in nursing homes or at home, writing letters to neglected members of one’s family.
NEXT WEEK’S READINGS
(1) Genesis 15, 5-12 and 17-18.
(2) Philippians 3, 17 — 4, 1.
(3) Luke 9, 28-36.
Responsorial Psalm 27.
The father kept bringing home work from the office every night. When his first-grader asked why, Dad. explained that he had so much work he couldn’t finish it during the day.
“In that case,” reasoned the boy, “why don’t they put you in a slower group?”
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THE HOLY SEASON OF LENT
1. No one will deny that “modern times are dominated by Satan” (St. Maximilian Kolbe O.F.M.) and that “the Kingdom of evil and infernal cunning uses all means and all forms to destroy faith and morality” (Pius XII, 1952). Consequently, penitential exercises are almost anathema to our permissive and pleasure-seeking society.
Catholics are not immune to the prevailing ideas and attitudes, and so it is no surprise that few regard the practice of penance as important. Rather, as a recent survey made by the National Opinion Research Centre reveals, a large percentage refuse to accept the papal teaching on birth control, hold that pre-marital sex is not a moral evil, and reject the defined teaching of the Church on divorce and re-marriage.
To speak to such an age on this divine precept of penance appears to be an exercise in futility, but Christ and His apostles did not hesitate to do so to an age equally permissive.
So, the Catholic Church through Christ’s Vicar on earth, the Pope, once again speaks out boldly and fearlessly at the beginning of the great penitential season of the liturgical year.
In the following paragraphs the church’s message will be taken from three modern documents: Encyclical POENITENTIAM AGERE, July 1, 1962, of Pope John XXIII, the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI, February 7, 1966, and the statement of the U. S. Bishops issued February, 1967.
2. In his encyclical, requesting prayers, good works and penance, to obtain God’s blessings on the outcome of Vatican II, Pope John made the following statements in regard to penance, showing the importance of such acts in the mind of the church:-
(a) “Behold … John the Baptist, the precursor of the Lord, who begins his preaching with the cry: ‘do PENANCE, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
(b) “As our predecessor, Pius XI, of venerable memory, justly stated: ‘PRAYER AND PENANCE are the two powerful means given to us by God to lead back to Him wretched humanity which is erring here and there without guidance; prayer and penance remove and repair the first and principal cause of every upheaval, that is, the rebellion of man against God.'”
(c) “Interior penance is necessary above all. That is, remorse and purification from one’s own sins which is obtained especially by means of a good confession and communion with the aid of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
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“All the faithful must be invited to perform this kind of penance …. Exterior forms of penance would be useless in fact if they were not accompanied by interior cleansing of the soul and by sincere remorse for one’s sins.”
(d) “Moreover, the faithful must be invited also to practice EXTERIOR PENANCE, either through the body which must be governed by honest reasoning and by faith, or through the expiation of our sins and of those of others. St. Paul himself, who ascended into the third heaven and who had reached the summit of sanctity, did not, in fact, hesitate to say of himself: ‘I chastise my body and bring it into subjection’ (I Cor. 9, 27). Elsewhere be admonished: ‘And they who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires’ (Gal. 5, 24).
“St. Augustine insisted on the same admonition in this manner: ‘It is not enough to prove one’s own conduct and cease to do evil, if one does not also give satisfaction to God for the sins committed, by doing penance, by practicing humility, by the sacrifice of a contrite heart accompanied by alms-giving.'”
(e) “The first EXTERIOR PENANCE that all of us must practice is that of accepting from God, with a resigned and trusting spirit, all the sorrows and sufferings that we encounter in life and that which involves effort and inconvenience in fulfilling the obligations of our condition in our daily life and in the practice of Christian virtues.”
“This necessary practice serves the purpose not only of purifying us, of appeasing the Lord…, but it also makes our punishment lighter and almost sweeter, inasmuch as it holds out to us the hope of eternal reward: ‘the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us’ (Romans 8, 18).
“In addition to the penance, which we must necessarily face because of the inevitable sorrows of this mortal life, Christians must be generous enough to offer also to God VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATIONS in imitation of Our Divine Redeemer ….”
2. In his Apostolic Constitution on Lent issued on February 7, 1966, Pope Paul VI reminded us that Lent has always been and still is a season of penitence, of a turning away from sin and doing penance for the insults offered to God by men. On February 19, 1969 he returned again to this point: “The ancient celebration of Lent is not a matter of other times, not a thing fossilized in given exterior forms; but it is a living thing, and of great interest today, just for us, men of our century, in such need of finding ourselves again, God, and the Church in the paschal mystery of Christ the Lord.”
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3. Repentance and Penance are two different things, though acts of the same virtue. Repentance is an interior act of sorrow for sin with a firm resolution of amendment, while penance is a voluntary act of reparation involving self-denial or mortification by which one repairs the effects of sin by giving back to God the honor and glory sin has robbed Him of. Both the Old and New Testaments mention these acts: “Repent … for the forgiveness of your sins”. (Acts 2, 38: “. (Acts 2, 38: “Unless you do penance, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13, 3); “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matt. 16, 24).
In Part II of his Constitution on Lent (1966) the Holy Father says: “True penitence cannot ever prescind from physical asceticism as well. Our whole being, in fact, body and soul, must participate actively in this religious act whereby the creature recognizes the divine holiness and majesty. The necessity of the mortification of the flesh also stands clearly revealed if we consider the fragility of our nature, in which, since Adam’s sin, flesh and spirit have contrasting desires.
“MORTIFICATION aims at the liberation of man, who often finds himself, because of concupiscence, almost chained by his own senses.
“Through CORPORAL FASTING man regains strength, and the wound inflicted on the dignity of our nature by intemperance is cured by the medicine of a salutary abstinence.”
In the New Testament, says the Pope, the duty of penance “is motivated above all by participation in the sufferings of Christ”; but let it not be Forgotten, he adds, that the New Testament also stresses the necessity to chastise one’s body and thus bring it into subjection.
4. Part III of the Constitution lays down rules in accordance with the doctrine dealt with in the two previous parts.
After reminding us again that the inner conversion of heart must be accompanied by “the voluntary exercise of EXTERNAL acts of penitence”, the Holy Father points out that the VIRTUE OF PENITENCE is to be exercised:-
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(a) First of all “in persevering faithfulness to the duties of one’s state in life, in the acceptance of the difficulties arising from one’s trials of earthly life and of the utter insecurity which pervades it.”
(b) Moreover, “those members of the Church, who are stricken by infirmities, illnesses, poverty or misfortune, or who are persecuted for the love of justice, are invited to unite their sorrows to the sufferings of Christ in such a way that they not only satisfy more thoroughly THE PRECEPT OF PENITENCE but also obtain FOR THE BRETHREN a life of grace and FOR THEMSELVES that beatitude which is promised in the gospel to those who suffer.”
(c) Besides this, the Pope says, “the Church invites all Christians without distinction to respond to the DIVINE PRECEPT OF PENITENCE by some voluntary act apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life.”
5. Every Christian, then, must bear in his body and soul the suffering and death of Christ. As Pope Paul puts it: “Following the Master, every Christian must renounce himself, take up his own cross and participate in the sufferings of Christ.” This is a divine precept, not a mere law of the Church. And so, during Lent, we should examine our consciences and see how we practice this virtue during the year. If we have become slipshod and careless in the matter of physical asceticism, this Holy Season gives us an opportunity to set our spiritual house in order. And this is all the more urgent nowadays since the constant pursuit of pleasure is a characteristic of our age and finds many devotees even among the ranks of the so-called followers of Christ crucified.
6. The Pope concluded his Apostolic Constitution with three important statements, which deserve mention here: (a) “By DIVINE LAW all the faithful are required to do penance”; (b) “The time of Lent preserves its penitential character”; (c) “It is strongly desired that bishops and all pastors of souls, IN ADDITION TO THE MORE FREQUENT USE OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, PROMOTE WITH ZEAL, PARTICULARLY DURING THE LENTEN SEASON, EXTRAORDINARY PRACTICES OF PENITENCE AIMED AT EXPIATION AND IMPETRATION,”
Parents should remind their children of this divine precept. As Pope Paul said on February 19, 1969: “As regards those of lesser age (i.e. under fourteen years) pastors of souls and parents should see to it with particular care that they be educated to a true sense of penitence.”
Teachers of religion should remember that, as representatives of the parents and magisterium, they have an obligation to explain in simple language the meaning of repentance and penance to the young children committed to them. With proper encouragement these young souls will generously give themselves to such spiritual exercises and thus become with Christ saviours of the world. The proliferating evils of our age point up the urgency of mobilizing these innocent souls into an apostolate of reparation.
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7. In 1952 Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on THE MYSTICAL BODY told us that “in this most decisive hour of history, the KINGDOM OF EVIL AND INFERNAL CUNNING uses all means and all forms to destroy faith and morality … the battle the most bitter, the most ferocious the world has ever known … has been joined.” And the cure? “The salvation of many”, he wrote, “depends on the PRAYERS AND VOLUNTARY PENANCES which the members of the Mystical Body offer for this intention.”
On May 13, 1917 Our Blessed Mother asked the three children at Fatima: “Are you ready to offer yourselves to God, to accept every suffering God wants to send you in REPARATION for the sins of men and the conversion of sinners.” In August of the same year she repeated her request: “Pray, pray very much, make sacrifices for sinners.”
The lives of the saints exemplify this doctrine. For example, the saintly Cure of Ars who said: “It is only by sacrifice and suffering, offered as penance (reparation) that you will be able, by the grace of God, to convert sinners.”
8. THE CURRENT CANONICAL DISCIPLINE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES:
(a) Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat and also of fast, that is, limited to a single full meal.
(b) The OTHER FRIDAYS OF LENT are days of abstinence from meat.
(c) The FRIDAYS OF THE YEAR OUTSIDE LENT remain days of abstinence, but each individual may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of voluntary self-denial or personal penance: this may be physical mortification or temperance or acts of religion, charity or Christian witness.
(d) With regard to the degree of seriousness of these obligations, the document says: “The teaching of Pope Paul may be simply paraphrased: the obligation to observe, as a whole or substantially the penitential days specified by the Church, is … serious.
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“No one should be scrupulous in this regard: failure to observe individual days of penance is not considered serious; rather it is the failure to observe any penitential days at all or a substantial number of such days which must be considered serious. People should seek to do more rather than less.”
As the Chicago Lenten (1970) Regulations stated: “A single violation of these Lenten practices is not a serious sin, but general neglect of the Lenten discipline would be a serious matter.”
The Los Angeles Archdiocesan Lenten Regulations for 1973 were more specific:-
(1) There is a grave obligation to fast and abstain on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. To excuse oneself from this obligation a grave reason is required.
(2) There is also a grave obligation to abstain from meat on ALL Fridays during Lent. To excuse oneself entirely from the obligation to abstain on ALL FRIDAYS during Lent would demand a grave reason. To excuse oneself on a PARTICULAR FRIDAY, a proportionate reason would suffice e. g. a special celebration, an anniversary or a birthday.
A TRUE MODERNIST
During a lecture delivered at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Fr. George McCrae, S.J., Professor of New Testament at the Harvard Divinity School, defended the errors of some modern biblical scholars and showed how far from orthodoxy many have strayed. This has been due in no small way to Bishops and Religious Superiors, who allow priests and religious to study at non-Catholic universities and to accept teaching posts therein.
Here are some of the highlights of his lecture, as given in the NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER, February 6, 1983:-
a) “Many people who love the Bible think of it as immediately relevant to our lives. That is not true. The New Testament scholar recognizes the Bible as distant and operant in a different culture. So the New Testament scholar tries to bridge the gap between the Bible and modern culture.”
b) “Luke is ambivalent about whether Jesus is divine or human.”
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c) “The books of the New Testament are not meant to harmonize, to fit together. They are totally different interpretations of faith and virtue.” So, instead of searching for biblical consistency, he argued, we must ECLECTICALLY apply biblical knowledge in our changing conditions. (“Eclectic” means selecting what is considered best from different systems or sources).
d) He criticized Pope Pius XII for excommunicating Fr. Alfred Louisy, who was one of the leaders of Modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies”.
e) Faith for the New Testament scholar is “never thought of in privatistic, individualistic terms”, he said. It implies commitment to a community of believers, who, however, should NOT feel compelled to agree about all aspects of doctrine or church teaching.
f) He defended the ordination of women priests and called the Church’s understanding of scripture which forbade this “atrocious”.
g) He personally opposed abortion, but “I’m not opposed to people who favor abortion. You can favor abortion and be a good Catholic”.
h) With regard to biblical authority on abortion, he claimed that “no solution was ever meant to answer questions that were not formulated when the solution was written.”
U. S. AND EUROPEAN BISHOPS DISCUSS NUCLEAR ARMS
A two-day meeting at the Vatican, January 18-19, 1983 of Archbishop John Roach of Minneapolis-St. Paul and Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, eighteen bishops from other countries, as well as ten Vatican officials, highlighted the importance of the nuclear arms issue as well as the strong opposition to the first and second drafts of the U. S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter.
The criticisms of the European hierarchy echo those given at the last meeting of the U. S. Bishops in November, 1982 by several outstanding prelates. They concern the dubious use of sacred scripture, the poor handling of the question of non-violence and the just war theory in church tradition, and the doctrinal authority with which Bishops can speak on specific military systems and tactics. More importantly, the whole question of deterrence has not received proper consideration.
One of the main criticisms, to which the secular press gave little consideration, was the use of the false moral theory of consequentialism or proportionality in considering the morality of deterrence. According to this theory, there are no intrinsically immoral actions, so that a bad or immoral means (deterrence) can, say the drafts, be acceptable if directed toward a good end (world peace). St. Paul (Romans 3: 8) condemned this view.
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Parenthetically, some of our liberal moral theologians allow contraception and even abortion by the application of this theory.
Whether the final draft of the Pastoral Letter will be approved in May is questionable, due to the severe criticisms voiced by so many Bishops, both here and in Europe. Although Cardinal Bernardin has stated publicly that no substantive changes will be made. Vatican pressures as well as the chorus of opposition from several Bishops and theologians in the U. S. may force a complete re-writing of the entire letter.
SELF-DEFENSE OR PACIFICISM?
Catholics, who are interested in having a full discussion of the pros and cons of nuclear defense, the Catholic just war theory, and the published comments of Bishops opposed to the second draft of the U. S. Bishops’ Letter on War and Peace should order the “Nuclear Packet” prepared by St. Joan Peace Institute, Box 618, Alton, Illinois 62002, price $20.00.
THE HAT PROBLEM
“Provocative sexual inuendo dominates prime-time television and prestigious magazines. Films made to attract teen-age audiences are blatantly erotic. So, too, the lyrics of popular songs, as well as the passionate plot lines of soap operas.
Of them all, television is perhaps the most successful exploiter of sex. Toothpaste ads promise a sexy smile. Skin-tight jeans promise popularity. Automobile manufacturers hint at suggestive relationships with one’s car. Diet sodas make the pitch for sensuous bodies, while sensuous bodies are sirens for faraway places.”
Read without knowing who the author is, this piece would be accepted by most people not only as a true description of what is happening to TV shows and articles in well-known magazines, but as a condemnation thereof.
But, dear reader, it is nothing of the kind. The author is none other than Alfred F. Morgan, Executive Vice-President of PLANNED PARENTHOOD. He is not condemning explicit sex on TV and other forms of the communications media, but is making a strong plea for PLANNED PARENTHOOD’s services. Sex is here to stay and no one is able to stop “sexually active teenagers”, so why doesn’t the media, especially TV, allow contraceptive ads. “If they (teenagers) are sexually active”, said Mr. Moran, “they need to know how to avoid pregnancy”. That is the morality of PLANNED PARENTHOOD, but not that of Christ.
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PLANNED PARENTHOOD would separate sex from procreation by providing contraceptives and abortion, but in doing so it is in direct opposition to the dictates of the Natural Moral Law.
Mr. Moran’s view is a classic example of what Chesterton called the “HAT PROBLEM” (‘generally speaking’). Instead of applying the proper moral cure to modern society, Moran is like the person who said “Heads are not suited to the sort of hats now in fashion” and so would go around “cutting off people’s heads to meet the shortage or shrinkage of hats” (Chesterton).
NEWS AND VIEWS:
1. According to Beverly Hills (CA) Municipal Judge David A. Kidney, 82 percent of the crimes are committed by young people twenty-five years or younger, some by children as young as twelve.
Citing society’s moral erosion and “the lack of influence” of family church and school, the Judge reminded his audience that in colonial days schools were conducted by local clergy, and the curriculum included religion, In 1789 even secondary and collegiate education was conducted by religions of various faiths.
But, “with the advent of the public school system in the 1840’s, a wellmeaning institution, religion gradually was shut out until today mere mention of the words God or prayer in a school causes certain organizations to take to the courts to forbid such a terrible thing from happening to the young people.”
In churches, he said, “the 15-25 year-old group is conspicuous by its absence.
As regards family life, in California, he pointed out, “for every marriage there is a divorce.”
Another fact cited by the Judge is that murder statistics reveal that 73 percent of the victims were slain by a spouse, blood relative or acquaintance.
2. Miami’s City Commission has banned the transmission of pornographic films over the metropolitan area’s as-yet incomplete cable TV system.
3. The New Code of Canon Law will come into force on the First Sunday of Advent 1983. It reduces the number of canons from 2414 to 1752.
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PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR A FULL RECOVERY FOR FATHER TOM.
FROM THE CCD OFFICE: The Sacrament of Confirmation will be conferred in this Parish Thursday evening, April 21st. All adults who wish to be confirmed, kindly print your name, address and phone number on an index card at the church entrance. Deposit the card in the box marked CONFIRMATION. Thank you.
Baby cribs and bassinets are desperately needed at the CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER. Anyone wishing to donate baby items of all kinds please call 779-8030 or 593-6474.
PARISH MISSION
Fr. Kohler, a La Salette priest, will give the Parish Mission this year (1983) during the second week of Lent (beginning February 28th). Please do not make any other appointments for this week.
He will also give a special talk on the Message of Our Lady of La Salette, with slides depicting the story of these apparitions.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Ralph C. Flees, one of our parishioners who passed away during the week.