“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

Fatherhood
The Sacredness of Fatherhood
Fatherhood and Authority
The Father’s Role in Today’s World

September - October 2013

Fatherhood:
An Imitation
of the Divine
St. Thomas tells us that we call God “Father” for
three reasons. First, because He created us in
a unique way, distinct from the rest of creation.
Second, He governs us while respecting our free
will, which He does not do for other creatures.
Third, because He has adopted us and, in the
words of St. Paul “if sons, heirs also.”
As we are called to imitate our Divine Father,
we here provide some reflections to those
who participate in the Divine Fatherhood on
earth. The Angelus is meant in a special way
to help families. We will feature soon an issue
specifically for mothers also.

Letter
from the
Publisher

Although The Angelus is aimed at traditional Catholics in general, we want to help
parents in particular. So much depends on the formation of the next generation;
it’s why we all labor so much and sacrifice for the success of our schools, camps,
and apostolates. And it’s almost never been harder to raise children! We have thus
decided to dedicate two issues to parents: one to fathers, and another (January –
February 2014) to mothers.
We begin with the issue meant especially for fathers. We must first consider
the paternity of God, in which all fathers, spiritual or physical, participate to some
degree. Therein we find not only our model and ideal, but many other considerations
which the articles will make clear.
As an example, what does authority mean today? Is it something arbitrary, or is
it rooted in the responsibility of the superior to lead those under his charge to the
good? When so many ecclesiastical and civil authorities misuse their authority, it
makes it all the more difficult for parents to make use of and explain the principles
to their children. Why listen to dad if the bishops are wrong? We need to be able to
answer such questions and draw the necessary distinctions.
There will also be some practical considerations from traditional Catholic men
in the world today. Indeed, there are still vocations which God calls, and more often
than not, these vocations are called from homes where we might learn something
about the practice of virtue, moderation, and balance. I encourage you fathers especially to help one another in your parishes and communities: it is much easier and
much more normal to work together than to do it on your own. And, of course, if you
find this issue helpful, please share it with others who may find it so!
Sincerely yours in the Sacred Heart,
Fr. Arnaud Rostand
Publisher

September-October 2013
Volume XXXVI, Number 5
Publisher
Fr. Arnaud Rostand
Editor
Mr. James Vogel
Assistant Editor
Mrs. Lesly De Piante
Editorial Assistant
Miss Anne Stinnett
Editorial Team
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Fr. Dominique Bourmaud
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Fr. Pierre Duverger
Design and Layout
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(Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
Mr. Simon Townshend
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Director of Marketing and Sales
Mr. Mark Riddle

		
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Contents
Letter from the Publisher

4

Theme: Fatherhood
– Fatherhood and Authority
– The Sacredness of Fatherhood
– Fidelity to Fatherhood
– The Father’s Role in Today’s World

6
10
16
20

Faith and Morals
– Doctrine: God Is Knowable
25
– Acts of the Magisterium: Guiding Principles of the Lay Apostolate 32
– Book Review: A Twice-Crowned Knight
37

Spirituality
– Spirituality: Suffering Explained by Saints

38

Christian Culture
– History: A Visit to the Catacombs
– Education: On the Education of Young Men
– Family Life: Looking Back on Your Fatherhood

46
52
56

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©2013 by Angelus Press. Official Publication of the
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– Book Review: Religious Freedom: A Debate

62

– Questions and Answers
– Church and World
– Theological Studies
– Letters to the Editor
– The Last Word

66
70
77
84
87

Theme Fatherhood

Fatherhood

&
Authority

by Fr. Arnaud Rostand, SSPX

1

6

Allocution to the Fathers of
Families, given by Pope Pius
XII on September 18, 1951.

The Angelus

It is no mystery for any Catholic that all authority comes from God. Being
the Creator of all things, He is the Master of all creatures and has absolute
rights over all of them. In His Divine wisdom, He also wished to share that
authority with His creation, delegating His own power to some, but not all,
of His creatures. Some are elevated to the rank of kings, presidents, priests,
or parents, receiving directly from God a conditional but real authority over
others, entering the Divine Plan of God, receiving the responsibility to lead
others and having to render account for this.
There is no doubt that a father of a family participates in the authority of
God. “If the mother is the heart, the father is the head of the family,” as Pius
XII says.1 He has authority over his family, his wife and children. But this
authority, as a participation in the Divine authority, has specific goals: first,
a natural happiness of the family, that is, to take care of his family, to foster
order, peace, and virtue so as to reach a certain happiness in this life. He
must also lead everyone towards a supernatural happiness, that is, to foster
and lead everyone towards knowing, serving, and loving God, by this means
saving their souls. The authority entrusted to him is not for his own benefit

September - October 2013

but for the good of those dependent on him. In other words, he has received
power over his family and must exercise it. He will have to render an account
of this. “Since God has given the family its existence, its dignity, its social
function, it must answer to God for them,” added Pius XII.

Having Power and Exercising Power
However, there is a difference between having power or authority and
exercising it. It is indeed two different things: to be entrusted a mission and
to execute it. To take an example, teachers have authority over their students
by their very function. However, some know how to be respected; others
have a more difficult time. All of them have received from God the same
authority but not all will exercise it as well as they maybe should. It is the
same with parents and therefore with fathers.
As a matter of fact, there is a natural disposition to being respected
and obeyed, but not everyone receives this gift. Some indeed will have no
difficulty in imposing themselves; they have a natural disposition to it. Those
should be careful not to abuse it. Their natural tendency will be to overuse
it, and therefore they need to temper that natural ability with patience,
affection, and gentleness, encouraging and supporting the efforts they ask.
In this case, obedience is not so much the challenge as the effort to be loved.
But others will not have such a natural facility; they will find it more difficult
to impose their will on others, to give direction and be obeyed. They need
to acquire an effective authority essentially by a growing firmness in the
direction or order they give, as well as constancy. In this case, they will

7

Theme Fatherhood
easily be loved but need to emphasize the importance of obedience. One has
to soften his firmness; the other has to strengthen his gentleness. There are
qualities, means, or even rules necessary for exercising and strengthening
authority, which all fathers must work on improving, whatever their natural
dispositions are. Let us try to see what are the most important ones.

Virtue Is Essential
The personal acquisition of virtues is essential for a father. It must be a
constant care for parents to form themselves in these good habits so as to
be able to pass them on to their children. Giving a good example follows
as a natural effect of developing and practicing the virtues. How would
children obey their father if they see, especially as they grow older, that he
is not himself obeying God’s commandments or when there are constant
expressions of disrespect for other authorities, civil or religious? The main
way for children to learn the difference between good and evil is the example
their parents give them. A good prayer life is one of the good examples a
father must take care to give to his children, showing them the importance of
it by practicing it daily, praying with them, praying with his wife, praying on
his own. Blessed are the children who see their parents praying the rosary
together daily!
But what is most important in order to acquire a true and effective
authority over others is to learn self-control. A lack of self-discipline
always diminishes authority. To lead others, one needs to learn to control
his temper, his passions, and his feelings. It is too common a practice,
for instance, to correct children because of feelings of the moment. It is
not because it is wrong but because one becomes frustrated or annoyed.
Passions or feelings lead one to act too permissively at times and too
strongly at others, even for the same actions. They lead one to be unjust in
many ways, but especially in the very important function of all authorities:
correcting faults and mistakes.
This point needs some attention. Indeed, one of the most difficult and
delicate, but most important roles of a father is to correct and punish his
children when necessary. It is delicate because no one likes to correct others,
especially those he loves. It is always painful. On the other hand, no one likes
to be corrected either. That is why the first disposition and even the only goal
must be the good of the child. What is good for him? What will help him to
become a man, a woman, a better Christian? Without that disposition, any
correction or even punishment is not only useless but counter-productive. In
order to reach the goal, the amendment or the improvement of a child, one
has to move progressively.

Prevent and Correct Faults
Correction should come first. By means of exhortations, parents can
prevent faults by giving advice and appealing to their good will. The second
8

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September - October 2013

step when a child is at fault will usually be a reprimand not in anger but with
calm and peace. The child must indeed understand little by little that he is
reprimanded because his actions or behavior were wrong, not just because
he made others angry. If this remains without effect, without amendment or
change in behavior, then punishing is necessary.
But as mentioned before, punishing is difficult because it must lead to
better behavior, to virtue and not to rebellion. That is why some rules will
help to reach this goal:
-- The first one is to remain calm. Anger shows a personal reaction but does
not express that the correction is due to an objective fault.
-- Punishment when necessary should be given without many warnings.
-- It is advisable to punish rarely but firmly when necessary.
-- Any punishment should always be proportionate to the fault.

Father Arnaud Rostand is
currently District Superior of the
U.S. District of the Society of St.
Pius X. He was previously District
Superior of the District of Canada
and has also served as headmaster
of a school in France, as well as
spending time in the missions of the
Philippines and Sri Lanka. He was
ordained in 1993.

Parents should not give in to the resistance of children. A parent might say
no to a request and sooner or later give in simply because of the tears, noise,
or because the child is being too grouchy. This is very confusing for the
children and attacks the very principle of authority. Correction is no longer
for the good of the child but for our own good. On the contrary, to be able to
fulfill the divine mission of leading, one must keep a just and equal treatment
at all times and for all.
Finally, giving encouragement and compliments for signs of good will
when visible also helps the children to accept more willingly the necessary
corrections or punishments. It also consolidates the authority. One is more
able to accept the reprimand of a father who is able to see also the efforts.
The balance between the two simply brings respect.
All authority comes from God, from God who is a Father to us: “Our
Father who art in heaven.” Anyone in authority should therefore imitate
God in His Fatherhood. It is so true that all authority on earth must be a
fatherhood, and all fatherhood must exercise authority. There is no other way
to be a good father of a family than to imitate God, to become little by little,
by efforts of virtues, to His likeness. Fathers, in leading your family, imitate
God in His patience, in His love, and in His justice.
“It is clear that your first duty in the sanctuary of the family home is
to provide—with due respect and the perfection, humanly possible, of its
integrity, of its unity, of the natural hierarchy which unites the members
among themselves—for the preservation of the physical, intellectual, moral
and religious sanctity of the family,” teaches Pius XII.

9

Theme Fatherhood

The
Sacredness of
Fatherhood
by Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, SSPX

Many adults have said that the most striking
childhood offense they can recollect was when
they talked back or even raised their hand
against one of their parents.
Although it may not be the most serious
infraction, it strikes a chord which runs deep
in the human heart: to offend the one who gave
one’s life is like cutting the branch on which
one is sitting. It is attacking something more
important than the persons involved. It is
uprooting the very foundation of human life and
human authority. It is as if one struck at God’s
face itself.
This alone tells us the sacredness of parents
and especially of the father, the head of the
family. Without getting too deep into the subject,
it might prove useful to explore the role of the
father in antiquity, the respective subjects which
10

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September - October 2013

this common name covers, and offer some
guidelines as to his powers and limits.

The Human Origins
of Paternity
In his Ancient City (Baltimore and London:
John Hopkins University Press, 1980), the 19thcentury French historian Fustel de Coulanges
defends the thesis that the origin of the State was
the gens, that is, the tribe or family. A family was
composed of a father, a mother, children, and
slaves. This group required discipline. To whom,
then, belonged the chief authority? To the father?
No. There was in every house something above the
father himself: it was the domestic religion. This
is that god whom the Greeks called the hearthmaster, whom the Romans called Lar familiaris.

This divinity of the interior was what fixed
rank in the family, and the father was first in
the presence of the sacred fire which was the
altar place for all religious rites, especially in
connection with the dead ancestors turned into
half-gods, the manes. The father was not only
the strong man, the protector who commanded
obedience; he was the priest, heir to the hearth,
the continuator of the ancestors, the parent
stock of the descendants, the depositary of the
mysterious rites of worship, and of the sacred
formulas of prayer. The whole religion resided
in him. He could almost say, Hindu-like, “I
am the god.” When death came, he would join
his ancestors and become also a god whose
protection his descendants were to invoke.
His name, pater, is the same in Greek, in Latin,
and in Sanskrit. This name, which was given
to gods and to celibates, does not necessarily
include paternity, which receives a distinctive
term in these Indo-European civilizations
(Gânitar; gennètèr, genitor). The word pater
had another sense. In religious language, it was
applied to the gods; in legal language, to every
man who had a worship and a domain. It was
synonymous with the word king. It contained in
itself, not the idea of paternity, but that of power,
authority, majestic dignity.
The diverse rights which Greek and Roman
laws conferred upon the father consider him as
the master of the patrimony or as a judge over
his subjects, but especially as a religious chief.
The father is the supreme chief of the domestic
religion. He is responsible for the perpetuity of
the worship, and for that of the family. Whatever
affects this perpetuity, which is his first care and
his first duty, depends upon him alone. Hence,
he has rights to recognize the child at its birth or
to reject it. Barbarous as this custom is, it is not
contrary to the principles on which the family is
founded. This is because, even when the filiation
is uncontested, no one is admitted into the
sacred circle of the family without its chief and
an initiation into its worship. Likewise, the father
has the right to repudiate the wife, either in case
of sterility, because the family must not become
extinct; or in case of adultery, which would bring
foreign blood into the tribe. He has also the right

to give his daughter in marriage—that is to say,
to cede to another the power which he has over
her. He has a foremost right of marrying his son
as this concerns very closely the perpetuity of the
family.

Who Is My Father?
The fourth commandment, written at the head
of the second table of the Mosaic Law, orders
man to honor his parents. Oddly, it adds also the
reason for this precept and a temporal sanction.
“Honor thy father, forget not the groaning of
thy mother: remember that thou hadst not been
born but through them…” (Eccl. 7:29-30). “Honor
them…that it may be well with thee, and thou
mayest be long lived upon earth” (Eph. 6:2-3).
To practice piety towards one’s parents is to
remount to the source of our human existence
and to merit that its course may last as long and
as happily as we may wish for.
If we need to venerate our progenitors in
the flesh, we need to recall that, in the present
economy, there is also another life, higher and
more divine than that of nature, that is to say, the
supernatural life. As heaven is above earth, so
the life of the soul is above that of the body. Our
soul is granted the life of grace which is given us
by God through human channels. This paternity
which has begotten us to this higher life has a
right also to our love and gratitude. Our homage
must be consistent with the blessings received.
If the worship due to our ancestors in the flesh
is great, no less is that owed to our spiritual
leaders. If we love dearly those who taught us the
rudiments of speech, how much more need we
love those who taught us firstly the language of
God?
And, ultimately, our gratitude must rise all the
way to heaven, to God, “from whom all paternity
in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. 3:15),
God who is the source of all authority and power,
as Christ testified before Pilate: “Thou wouldst
have no power against me unless it were given
thee from above” (Jn. 19:11). God has fathered
the whole of creation, drawing everything out
of nothing by His simple word. Beyond all
11

Theme Fatherhood
others, He can be called the father of all things;
He enjoys supreme dominion over things. He
enjoys authority over all as its Creator, and also
as He fulfills truly the meaning of authority which
comes from the Latin augere—giving increase.

What Is the Scope of Paternity?
In Greek and Roman antiquity, as seen above,
the powers of the father were almost limitless,
including that of life and death over the minors
under his care, his wife included. Not so with the
advent of Christianity. The post-Judaic economy
of salvation is a rupture from the past specifically
in that it emancipates the soul from the slavery
of sin and affords us the liberty of God’s children.
Does this translate into a free-for-all in domestic
matters? Not quite!
In one of his homilies (Le Cardinal Pie de A
à Z [Éditions de Paris], 2005, p. 686), Cardinal
Pie illustrates the limits of parental authority.
St. Martin, against his parents’ will, became a
catechumen at age ten. Then what of the natural
law? Does it not, in conjunction with revealed
law, tell the son to obey his parents? Yes, and
yet the Gospel adds another statement: “He
who loves father or mother more than Me is
not worthy of Me” (Mt. 10:37). And St. Gregory
observes that “if we weigh the nature of the
divine precept, we may by a wise distinction both
obey and disobey. Thus, honoring our parents
because of the ties of nature, we may flee away
from them if we find them adverse to the road
which leads to God.”
In another case, Cardinal Pie (ibid., p. 688)
brings up a passage in St. Paul where the ancient
sense of paternity seems utterly preserved:
“both he that giveth his virgin in marriage, doth
well; and he that giveth her not, doth better” (I
Cor. 7:38). At first sight it seems as if the Creator
had given all our rights to our procreators, and
that he entrusted to them the choice of our
state in life. A closer examination shows that
this is not quite the case. Human fatherhood
is subject to the higher domain of the Celestial
Father, the author of all fatherhood. And God’s
will is signified by a multiplicity of signs and
12

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September - October 2013

circumstances which direct the paternal
exercise, the first of which is the free will of the
child. No one, not even a father, can violate this
domain. Neither for a nuptial contract nor the
sacred vows of religion can a father do away
with the free consent of his child. Here are two
rights, two forces, not vying against each other
as they proclaim foolishly today, but harmonizing
mutually to fulfill the designs of God over His
creatures.
Blessed is the father who, under God’s eye,
gently helps the burgeoning of each of his
children according to the vocation which they
have been assigned in heaven! Blessed these
Christian marriages where the spouses need
only remember the teachings of the domestic
tradition!

Fr. Dominique Bourmaud has spent the past 26 years teaching at the Society
seminaries in America, Argentina, and Australia. He is presently stationed at
St. Vincent’s Priory, Kansas City, where he is in charge of the priests’ training
program.

108pp – Softcover – STK# 8601 – $9.95

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The most striking artwork in the Church of
Saint Simpliciano, Milan, is the “Crowning of the
Virgin” (early sixteenth century) by Ambrose of
Fossano, also known as Bergognone, which is
located in the vault of the apse. The work depicts
the moment when the Virgin Mary was crowned
by Christ in the presence of God the Father and
the heavenly choir.

Theme Fatherhood

Fidelity to
Fatherhood
by Randall C. Flanery, Ph.D.

1

16

Joseph Pleck in his book,
American Fathering in
Historical Perspective
(1987) documents the
steady decline of the role of
fathers in family life over
the past 200 years

2

David Blankenthorn,
Fatherless America (1995).

3

David Lykken, after an
illustrious research career
was recognized by the
American Psychological
Association in 2001 with
an award for Distinguished
Scientific Applications of
Psychology. His acceptance
speech is a half serious
argument that prospective
parents should at least meet
the requirements for those
wishing to adopt before
being granted license to
have children. This is in no
way a Catholic argument
but it does highlight the

The Angelus

Fidelity: Strict Observance of
Duties and Obligations
Contemporary fatherhood is in a sorry state. Dad, as an active presence
in family and the public life, has been disappearing since the birth of our
country.1 Social scientists recognize the cultural costs of fatherlessness,
identifying it as the most urgent social problem of our time.2 A striking
number of social and psychological difficulties afflict children who are
raised without their fathers.3 Girls raised without fathers are more likely
to be promiscuous, have an eating disorder, and be depressed and suicidal.
Boys without dads are more likely to be delinquent, spend time in prison,
abuse substances, and themselves be absent or abusive fathers. It is not just a
modest increase; it is seven times more likely.
The immediate reasons for absence are failure to marry the mother
or divorce after marrying. Apparently the minimum requirements for
fatherhood are beyond the scope of many young men. Two of the many
reasons for this sorry state of affairs are the marginalization of fatherhood
and societal seductions to neglect parental responsibilities.

September - October 2013

dreadful consequences for
society and for the children
themselves to be raised
without the biological father
in the household.
4

The original personal
impetus for appreciating
the unique contribution of
fathers was Fr. Kenneth
Novak’s (and former
Angelus editor) preface to
the collection of Integrity
essays, Fatherhood and
Family. Lest we think I have
contributed something new,
the articles address some
of the issues discussed
here and were originally
published between 1947 and
1954.

While the marginalization of fatherhood undermines men directly, it
indirectly heightens suspicion of men’s behavior by others, like wives, who
are subject to the same derogatory cultural influences. Since the masculine
manner is derided, those men who act against the prevailing pressures
and make the commitment to be present in the home, may still be seen
suspiciously by their wives resulting in further masculine retreat from full
male participation in family life.

The Marginalization of Fatherhood
Today fatherhood has been marginalized in three ways: it has been
minimized, devalued, and decultured.4
What is considered uniquely characteristic of fatherhood is ever
diminishing, namely, providing for the family, asserting authority as the
head of the family, and defending the family. Since women are achieving
comparable economic power today, the necessity of male earnings to support
the family is less, and increasing numbers of women are choosing to do it
alone. Technology such as in vitro fertilization has advanced to the point that
the dad need no longer be present at conception. With legalization of samesex marriage, men are no longer needed to even have a marriage.
A second diminishment is that men’s unique contributions to society are
not valued. Fathers were expected to defend home, family, and community,
and protect the weak. Defending the weak entails a willingness to be
aggressive in a good cause. Today, any hint of aggressiveness is viewed
suspiciously and needs to be contained. With women in the military now
fighting on the front lines, men are no longer the only warriors.
Third, fatherhood has been decultured. Fathers no longer have a
distinctive and authoritative role to play in the larger social life of our
civilization. A measure of a culture used to be how well the fathers did their
job. Fatherhood used to convey distinction and status. The community
would look to its fathers for leadership and sacrifice for the common good.
Nowadays men are no longer expected to keep their commitments. A nonprofit organization, Promise Keepers, has men publicly vow to keep their
promises. Family court and government programs are dedicated to getting
men to pay child support. The goals are admirable, but their existence
implies a glaring failure by many men to do what they ought.

Societal Seductions to Neglect the Family
We live in a culture that defines the best in a man by what he accomplishes
individually—personal achievement, impressive acquisitions, status, and
recognition in the world. Every man has some urge to make his way in the
world, to have an effect, to be noticed. These are not harmful desires in and
of themselves. A man of any ambition would have these impulses. What is
not part of the equation is what he does at home. It is judged to be largely
irrelevant, if not an obstacle to workplace success. If what happens
17

Theme Fatherhood
outside the home is of the essence and the extent of manhood, what happens
within the home can be and perhaps should be neglected.
A man’s work commitment might be questioned if family obligations
are given too much consideration. Professionals—lawyers, accountants,
engineers, even psychologists—spend on average 55 hours a week at work.
Responsible Catholic men with families take on second jobs ostensibly to
provide better. Those hours at work are not spent fulfilling other duties,
equally important in the supernatural scheme of things. Is that extra work
necessary, or is it personal aggrandizement? Is it food on the table or a
vacation on the calendar?
It is a matter of personal prudence to decide what the balance ought to be
between work and home, but note that the scale is heavily weighted against
the obligations of the home. If a man is defined, not by how well he models
himself after St. Joseph, but by his standing in the world, it will be hard to
resist material allurements of the world. The Catholic man will not only
meet the minimum requirement to be present, he will be actively engaged—
intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually—in the well-being of his family.

Marginalization Leads to Feminization
Many societal trends, including the diminishment of fatherhood, have
resulted in the feminization of lay Catholicism. Religion, even in traditional
practice, has been narrowed to be primarily the duty of the church and
school, and of the mother, to see that children know their catechism, the
fundamental principles of faith, their prayers, and all the daily acts that
demonstrate a faith that operates 24/7, not just on Sunday morning. When
men are absent from the lives of families, the living of Catholicism loses its
masculinity and muscularity.
Catholic men take seriously the responsibility for the souls of children.
Fathers will show up for Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, a
child’s marriage, but who leads the family rosary? Church processions?
Pilgrimages? Yes, they are typically a full-day affair on a Saturday. What is
the choice? Golf? Your alma mater’s football game? Or the salvation of souls,
especially your own?
It does not take long to notice how the women often outnumber the men
at daily Mass, at First Friday devotions, on pilgrimages. Let us be honest,
gentlemen: they predominate on these occasions because they show up. It is
not that men are being excluded; we are abdicating!

Fathers Are Not Male Mothers
Men and women are different, most certainly when it comes to
relationships. Women cultivate relationships by tending, that is, focusing,
on the other person’s needs and by expressing affection verbally. Men, in
comparison, are action-oriented and build the relationship by aiding the
person in some way and protecting them from malefactors. Same purpose,
18

The Angelus

September - October 2013

Randall C. Flanery, Ph.D.
obtained his doctorate in Clinical
Psychology from the University of
Wisconsin in 1983. He is an adjunct
associate professor in Family
Medicine at St. Louis University
School of Medicine and is Director of
Webster Wellness Professionals, St.
Louis, MO. Despite being an adult
convert and a child psychologist,
two of his ten children are currently
pursuing religious vocations.

different means; but because the masculine mode is devalued, the distinctly
masculine mode of relating will be discouraged in favor of the feminine
example of achieving the same ends.
In parenting, fathers are active, assisting, and protective, sometimes to
the consternation of their wives. Men will do something, e.g. play physical
games, work together, “rough house” even with the girls. Any talking is in the
context of the activity and not particularly expressive of feelings. Affection
is likely to be conveyed by helping or protecting the loved one, purchasing a
desired object, taking the family on vacation, or doing physical tasks.
Their spouses will do it differently. Should, in the course of roughhousing,
a child get injured, dad will advise the child to tough it out and keep playing
while mom will “feel their pain” and want to tend to the injury. Nearly
all children experience some bullying in its milder forms, or for girls,
shunning—exclusion from social interaction with peers; both forms are very
unpleasant and harmful. Fathers might propose a solution that is physical
and action-oriented or try to intervene in the child’s behalf. Mothers will
lament the misery the child is experiencing and attempt to make it feel
better.
Another difference applies to disciplining. Mothers will attempt to
reason, negotiate, or withdraw emotionally to correct behavior. Fathers
are physically demonstrative regarding correction, acting quickly and
emphatically to deliver a negative consequence, and will be little swayed by
emotional appeals. It is worth noting that fathers get better compliance with
behavioral requests from children, although mothers might have a warmer
relationship.
Mothers are understandably discomfitted by the father’s actions, seeing
them as too harsh or neglectful of the feelings involved. Remember: fathers
are not male mothers. Much of fathering and mothering overlaps. Mothers
can help their spouses by appreciating the gender differences, and not
insisting that both do it the same. Allow each to reflect their own natures
in the partnership to turn ruthless barbarians (the children) into civilized
human beings.
Traditional Catholic men have a good start at being good men because
they do not doubt for a moment that being a man means being a father.
Cultivating the proper mindset will make the man present in the lives of the
family, but a faithful man is obliged to do more; he is to be fully engaged, not
simply occupying space and basking in the love of spouse and children. It is a
daily dedication to a higher purpose with little expectation of encouragement
or appreciation, except rarely at home, and almost never outside the home.

19

Theme Fatherhood

The Father’s
Role in
Today’s World
An interview with a traditional Catholic father

Angelus: What was your family background?
Father: My mother and father married in
1953. My mother was raised Catholic and my
father converted to the Church shortly after they
were married. I am the oldest of six children. My
parents obliged us kids to attend Mass every day
walking several blocks to and from church.
Angelus: Regarding your parents and their
family life, what are you most grateful for?
Father: I am most grateful to my parents
for passing along the Catholic Faith, saying
the daily family Rosary, and teaching me how
to work. I am also especially grateful for their
example in living a simple life—not being caught
up in materialism. My father provided for the
family with modest means. He did not believe in
purchasing items that could not be paid for. Thus,
20

The Angelus

September - October 2013

other than a home mortgage (which did not last
too long), he was never in debt.
Angelus: Define the family heritage which you
sought to preserve as you went on your own path.
Father: Definitely reciting the daily family
Rosary, frequenting the Sacraments—especially
the Mass, frequent reading of the Bible and of the
Lives of the Saints, the Catholic education of my
children, and adorning our home with religious
pictures and statues. I would also add the
collection of good Catholic books, subscribing
to good traditional Catholic publications,
and establishing good Catholic friends were
exemplified by my parents. Fortunately, these
practices were also strong in my wife’s family,
thus making it more natural for us to continue
these habits in our own family.

Angelus: What was your ideal of the family
then? How good or warped was it?
Father: My ideal of the family was to have
as many children as God saw fit to give us. Like
most traditional Catholic families, my wife and
I never discussed how many children we should
have. My wife was the oldest of 14 children and I
was the oldest of 6 children so it was a foregone
conclusion that our family would, God willing,
consist of several children. In the early years
of our family I would say that I considered the
ideal family was one that said its prayers, went to
church on Sunday, and lived good lives. Looking
back, I don’t think this was necessarily a good or
warped ideal. I would say, however, this ideal was
incomplete. Now I would add that for a family
to be ideal its members should be formed to be
good in the sense that they understand and fulfill
their duties of state during the course of their
lives using the means available, and they should
be reminded that they will be held accountable
before Almighty God on how well they fulfilled or
failed in their duty of state.
Angelus: Was it easier to found a Christian
family then?
Father: Without a doubt, it was not easy. If
young adults today think it is next to impossible
to find a good Catholic spouse, it was even much
more difficult in the 1970s. For all practical
purposes there were virtually no social venues
to bring young traditional Catholics together
(other than an occasional weekday Mass every
once or twice a month in someone’s house).
No pilgrimages, no conferences, no soccer,
volleyball or basketball tournaments. Without a
spouse, no founding of a family. My mother used
to encourage me by reminding me to ask Our
Lady, who would surely find a spouse for me. My
mother was right, and Our Lady responded with
the perfect spouse—the one who would help me
and our children to go to heaven some day.
Angelus: What qualities did you look for in
your helpmate?
Father: I looked for a young lady who took her
faith seriously, who was not materialistic, was
near my age (preferably younger), knew a little

bit about raising a family (i.e. hopefully from a
family with several siblings), and who I could
beat in tennis.
Angelus: What dreams did you have regarding
your children’s future?
Father: My hope was to emulate the positive
things from my parents and my wife’s parents to
help nurture my own family. Similarly, my hope
was also to not continue certain practices from
my own and my wife’s family that seemed to work
against the proper nurturing of the family.
Angelus: Today, do you think that you have
been able to realize your ideals?
Father: Yes, many of my ideals have been
met. My oldest children have married traditional
Catholic spouses and have started families of
their own. One is a traditional Catholic priest.
All of our children are still practicing their faith.
All of these ideals are solely through the grace
of God and one courageous bishop, Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre, and the many good traditional
Catholic priests that continue his work.
Angelus: Do you recall any problems you had
to face as a new dad?
Father: The only thing that I distinctly
remember is the sudden realization of
responsibility for a helpless little baby. It was not
about me anymore, or about my wife and myself.
It was a sudden awareness. You grow old right
away.
Angelus: Did God get it wrong by allowing for
large families? Aren’t large families more difficult
to run than those today typically with one or few
children?
Father: God did not say “be fruitful and
multiply” only if it is convenient, affordable or
socially acceptable. I would say, in general, as
the family grows it is definitely more difficult
(physically, financially, emotionally, etc.) to
run. There are corresponding challenges to any
growing society, and the family, which is the most
basic society, is no exception. However, there
are certain benefits that naturally arise with
a growing family. What 3-year-old does not
21

Theme Fatherhood

22

want to “help” mommy or daddy? As the children
grow and mature, they certainly take the load
off the parents by chipping in and helping with
household chores both inside and outside the
house, including taking care of the toddlers and
babies, and even helping school age children with
their homework. When I was once asked “how

It is the duty of Catholic parents to see that
their children are raised Catholic. On judgment
day, we will be held accountable for how well or
poorly we fulfilled this duty. Objectively, it seems
to me if a traditional Catholic school is available,
this must be seen as God’s will for traditional
Catholic parents to enroll their children there

in the world does my wife manage with nine
children,” I simply replied that they weren’t all in
diapers. When my wife and I went out for dinner,
we were able to eventually “employ” the cheapest
baby sitters we ever had—our older children. In
large families, good clothes can often be handed
down to an eager younger brother or sister, which
helps the clothing budget. One of the hardest
financial challenges for large families is sending
the children to a Catholic school. My answer
to this challenge is that it is certainly a huge
sacrifice. But that is what God demands of all of
us: sacrifice.

even if the financial means seems inadequate.
I have seen too often that God will provide no
matter what the obstacles might be to those who
trust in His Providence. If there is no traditional
Catholic school available, then other means must
be pursued to provide a traditional Catholic
education to their children.

The Angelus

September - October 2013

Angelus: Is it assumed that the man is the
boss at home? How does he fulfill this role? How
can he be a failure and leave the position?
Father: I would say in most families the man
is considered the head of the house; yes, the boss.

He best fulfills this role by being a leader who
cares for the good of his household, both spiritual
and temporal. When he fails to lead, the family
will suffer.
Angelus: What value makes one really the
‘head’ of the family: the vision, the financial
support, the time with the children, the direction
given to Mum and kids?
Father: I think the value that makes one really
the head of the family is a man’s leadership. The
head is at the top of one’s body, and what goes
on at the level of the head leads the rest of the
body. The head has the eyes and ears to perceive,
the mouth to talk matters over with others
(especially the spouse and those from whom
one wishes to seek counsel); the head encloses
the brain to process information, evaluate,
consider alternatives, and make decisions. The
specific values of vision, financial support, time
with the children, and direction to Mum and the
kids, it seems, are all under the larger value of
leadership.
Angelus: How do you define authority? How
does one exercise it?
Father: For parents of a Catholic family, I
would define authority as the God-given power
to exercise his or her duty in a complementary
fashion of nurturing, educating, and leading
their children to become beneficial citizens in
this world and saints in the next world. It seems
to me the best way to exercise this authority is
by educating one’s self on raising a family (good
books, tapes, conferences, etc.) and putting the
education into practice without forgetting the
importance of one’s good example, perseverance,
and patience.
Angelus: How does your wife see you?
Father: My wife often tells me that I’m a
good Catholic father and husband. I tell her she
needs to go to confession. Deep down I know
her unfailing prayers and support are behind
anything good that may be attributed to me.
Angelus: How do the children (all or some
diversely) see you?

Father: I hope they would say what I would
say about my own father, that “He was motivated
by trying to do what he thought was right.” They
would probably question some of my tactics and
vow to exercise more patience than me when they
got older and had their own families, but I don’t
think they would ever question my sincerity.
Angelus: What did they consider to have been
your strong point as father?
Father: I hope they would consider among any
strong point they may have observed that my only
real desire for them is to learn the faith, continue
to grow in the faith, and die in the faith.
Angelus: How would you define the role of a
father to children?
Father: I would define the role of the father to
(especially younger) children as the helpmate that
God gave to their mother to take care of and form
them into good Catholics and citizens.
Angelus: Is he firstly a teacher, a doctor, a
psychologist, a crisis manager?
Father: Again, I think his first role is a leader
because if he is a leader, he will care for those
under his charge in multiple ways, whether it’s in
the role of a doctor, psychologist, crisis manager,
etc.
Angelus: Is dad always solicited or does he
have some time of rest and peace?
Father: Younger children often solicit (not
much rest here). The older children seldom solicit
(not much rest here either because the older
children solicit with tougher—more difficult
issues). There is some rest as the children fly
from the nest—there needs to be because the
grandchildren are the next to do the soliciting.
Angelus: Does fathering consist firstly in
preserving from the world or preparing for it?
Father: I think the best answer here is that
both are of extreme importance. In the early
years while the child is being formed, it is
imperative to preserve him or her from worldly
danger much like a young child needs to be
safeguarded from touching a hot stove or
23

Theme Fatherhood
running into a busy street. In later years the child
can be given some liberties because he or she
has been both protected and prepared for certain
worldly dangers.
Angelus: How much trust did you put in the
SSPX priests, and did it make a difference for
your family?
Father: In 1991 I went on my first Ignatian
retreat preached by Society priests in Ridgefield,
Connecticut. I was about 35 years of age and
already had five children. At the time, our
family was attending the Ruthenian (Eastern)
Rite Catholic Church because there was some
disagreement amongst our respective families
whether the Society was, without going into
details, legitimate. As a compromise, we started
attending the Ruthenian Rite, were married there,
and had our first five children baptized there.
Anyway, in 1991 my wife suggested an
Ignatian retreat for my birthday—preached by
Society priests in Ridgefield. I’d always wanted
to go on a retreat but really didn’t have a clue
what a retreat was like. Without a doubt, this
was the most incredible experience of my life.
It changed everything and, for sure, it made a
huge difference for my family from this point
forward. After returning home I told my wife
to schedule her retreat. As important as it is for
the husband/father to go on a retreat, it is also
important for the wife/mother to go on a retreat
so that the spouses are in harmony. To describe
an Ignatian retreat to someone who has never
been on one is almost impossible. One has to
experience it for oneself. I would recommend
it to all Catholics and not to wait until their
mid thirties. I would recommend it to post high
school and early college-aged young adults. It
is the right way to get one’s public life started,
especially before making big decisions, especially
as it relates to one’s vocation. For those that
have already started their vocation in life, it
helps them re-assess one’s life and make changes
where necessary. So, to answer your question,
my family’s direction was greatly influenced by
the Society’s priests beginning with the Ignatian
retreat. The trust element grew from that point
onward.
24

The Angelus

September - October 2013

Angelus: Was there a time when you
questioned some of their acts if not altogether
their spiritual authority?
Father: Yes, I can say there was a time when
I didn’t fully understand their acts (i.e. the
consecrations by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988
and the subsequent consecration of Bishop
Rangel in Campos, Brazil, in 1991 by two of the
newly consecrated SSPX bishops). It seemed
to me the Archbishop might be suffering from
some type of dementia to want to proceed with
consecrating bishops without a papal mandate.
As I studied the crisis in the Church, read
Michael Davies’s Apologia trilogy, and went on
the above-mentioned Ignatian retreat, it became
more apparent that the Archbishop (together with
his co-consecrating bishop, Bishop de Castro
Mayer) were, in fact, the only sane bishops in the
world, and their actions were, without question,
motivated by their love of the Church and
fulfilling their duty of state.
Angelus: Any last comments?
Father: The only comment, which is really an
observation, is that I believe the next generation
of fathers will be faced with challenges related to
advances in technology that will inevitably work
their way into the home. Each past generation
has had to deal with these advances. There was
the radio, then the black-and-white TV, then the
landline telephone, then the color TV, then the
cordless phone, then the Internet, then the cell
phone, then the smart phone…
Like all advances in technology, they can
be used for good purposes; but, as sure as
original sin exists, the devil will find evil ways
for these advances to be used with the hope of
gaining more souls for hell. It will be up to the
next generation of fathers to be aware of these
advances and their potential harm—not only
for themselves but for the impressionable souls
whom God has entrusted to them.

Faith and Morals

God Is
Knowable
by Fr. Albert, O.P.

1

I, q. 12, a. 1.

2

Attributes which consist,
as we have seen, rather in
what He is not than in what
He is: simplicity (He is not
composite), perfection (He
has no potency), infinity (He
is not limited), immutability
(He is not changing), unicity
(He is not multiple).

3

This will be followed,
logically, by another
question (q. 13) about the
names of God, since the
names we give things are
simply tags we attach to the
concepts by which we know
them.

Having considered how God is in Himself, it remains for us to consider
how He is known by creatures.1
Thus St. Thomas begins a new section in his study of God. Having seen
that He exists (q. 2) and a certain number of His general attributes2 (qq. 3-11),
he now inquires about His knowability (q. 12).3 The immense practical
importance of this question is obvious; our life literally depends on it, our
eternal life. For Our Lord at the Last Supper prayed to His Father: “This is
eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God” (Jn. 17:3).

Knowing God As He Is
Unfortunately, however, the question is as difficult as it is important,
for, as we have already said, we cannot know what God is, but only what
He is not. Dionysius the Areopagite lays down very bluntly the reason for
this when he says that God is not being, but above being. But the object of
the intelligence is being. God, therefore, is unknowable. We reach the same
conclusion by reflecting on the fact that God infinitely surpasses us: thus
25

Faith and Morals

26

4

This truth has even been
defined as a dogma of faith
by Pope Benedict XII:
“We define by Apostolic
authority that (the saints)
see the divine essence by an
intuitive vision, face to face”
(Denzinger 530). This is
simply a restatement of St.
Paul’s affirmation that we
will see God “face to face”
(I Cor. 13:12).

5

He is, St. Thomas says,
“ipsum esse subsistens:
being itself subsisting” (not
just “self-subsistent being,”
as some translations say:
the idea is that in God we
have Being itself that exists
on its own, as a separate
thing, in a way similar to
the way we could say that
St. Francis de Sales was
“gentleness itself,” as if
gentleness had taken on an
existence of its own in him,
as if he were gentleness).
These three words come
as close as it is possible to
expressing God’s essence,
for God’s essence is,
precisely, His being, and it
is this that distinguishes
Him from creatures, in
all of whom essence is
distinct from being. Thus
God revealed to Moses His
name saying: “I am Who
am” (Ex. 3:14). This real
distinction between being
and essence in creatures
is the fundamental thesis
of Thomism, thesis denied
by the Jesuit theologian
Suarez, of whom we will
have to speak later.

6

I, q. 12, a. 1.

7

This is just one example
of the universal principle
which states: “Everything
is received in the receiver
according to the mode of
the receiver.” This is just
common sense because if
something is received in
something else, that means
that it begins to exist in that
thing and therefore must
begin to exist in the way
that the thing that receives
it exists. This principle
explains, for example,
why Our Lord spoke in
parables, using sensible
images to express spiritual
realities, because He knew
that men, who are corporal
beings, cannot receive
in their minds spiritual
things unless they take on a
sensible form.

The Angelus

there is no proportion between us and God that would permit us to
know Him.
Holy Scripture, nevertheless, assures us that, in spite of all this, we
can, indeed, know God: and know not just His existence, or what He
is not, but God Himself. St. John declares this wonderful news in a
phrase that leaves no room for ambiguity: “We shall see Him as He is”
(I Jn. 3:2).4
St. Thomas explains this saying that, in Himself, God is not only
knowable, but supremely knowable, because He not only has being, but
is Being itself.5
“But [he goes on] what is supremely knowable in itself may not
be knowable to a particular intellect on account of the excess of the
intelligible object above the intellect; as, for example, the sun, which is
supremely visible, cannot be seen by the bat by reason of its excess of
light.”6
We are all, then, literally as blind as bats when it comes to knowing
God “as He is,” and this goes not just for human intellects, but even for
the angels themselves. He is as far “above the intellect” of angels as He
is above ours, because their mode of being is just as far from His mode
of being as ours is, since He alone is Being (ipsum esse subsistens). St.
Thomas explains this, saying:
“Knowledge takes place in so far as the thing known is in the
knower. But the thing known is in the knower according to the mode
of the knower.7 Hence the knowledge of every knower depends on the
mode of its own nature. If therefore the mode of being of the thing
known exceeds the mode of the nature of the knower, it must result
that the knowledge of that object is above the nature of the knower.…
It follows therefore that to know being itself subsisting (ipsum esse
subsistens) is natural to the divine intellect alone; and that this is
beyond the natural power of any created intellect; for no creature is its
own being, but rather participates in being.”8
And yet, as we have seen, Revelation teaches us that we can know
God “as He is” and even that it is in this that the beatitude of all men
consists. It is a simple fact, then, that we must believe by divine
faith: we cannot even prove the very possibility of this knowledge
rationally, because even this possibility is something that is essentially
supernatural in its being, and therefore is supernatural as well in its
knowability.9

Natural Desire to Know
Nevertheless, we can refute by reason any attempt to prove that this
knowledge is impossible, and we can even show that it is fitting that
God give it to us (if He chooses to do so by grace even though it is not
“natural” to us).10 This is just what St. Thomas goes on to do, saying:
“For there resides in every man a natural desire to know the cause
of any effect which he sees; and thence arises wonder in men. If,

September - October 2013

8

I, q. 12, a. 4.

9

For, as we just saw, the
orders of being and of
knowledge correspond.

10

St. Thomas says that to
deny this knowledge is, first
of all, “against the faith”
(alienum a fide), and also
“not reasonable” praeter
rationem: to translate this,
as some do, by “against
reason” is a grave error in
Latin and an even graver
error in theology, for it
implies that God has to give
us this knowledge).

11

I, q. 12, a. 1.

12

This is why Pius XII, in
the encyclical Humani
Generis, condemned the
teaching of Henri de Lubac
who said that this desire
constituted a veritable
exigency for the beatific

therefore, the intellect of the rational creature could not reach so far as
to the first cause of things, a natural desire would remain void.”11
It is important to repeat, however, that this argument does not claim
to prove the possibility of this vision of the First Cause and much less its
necessity, but merely wants to show that it is fitting that it be possible.
For if one claims that this natural desire to see God proves that man
is naturally ordered to this end, one blurs the distinction between the
supernatural order and the natural order, because it implies that man
is naturally ordered to something supernatural (the vision of God’s
essence).12 This is a dangerous error that leads logically to Conciliar
ecumenism, for it places all religions on the same plane, since they all
express, more or less, this natural desire for God.
In reality, this desire to see God is, with regard to the object desired,
supernatural only from a material point of view, that is to say, what
is desired is the vision of the First Cause which cause is, in fact, God
Himself. Formally, however, this object remains merely natural, for what
is desired formally is the knowledge of the cause of the natural thing

27

Faith and Morals

vision, thus denying its
gratuity (Denzinger 2318).
The Jansenist Baius had
already been condemned
for a similar error
(Denzinger 1021).

28

13

Theologians express this
by saying that the desire
is to see God, the Author
of Nature. The Carmelite
theologians of Salamanca
sum this up perfectly in a
precise little phrase: “The
thing desired is materially
supernatural but not
the desiring: Tunc res
appetita esset materialiter
supernaturalis non
vero ratio appetendi.”
The desiring must be in
proportion with what is
desired, and what the
intellect desires is simply
the explanation of a
natural thing. In reality,
the explanation (God)
surpasses infinitely what
it explains (because
He infinitely surpasses
anything He creates or even
could create), but He is only
desired inasmuch as He is
the explanation, not as He is
in Himself.

14

Cf. I, q. 12, a. 4, ad 3: “The
sense of sight, as being
altogether material,
cannot be raised up to
immateriality. But our
intellect, or the angelic
intellect, inasmuch as it is
elevated above matter in its
own nature, can be raised
up above its own nature to a
higher level by grace.”

15

Thus even the blessed in
heaven, even Our Lady, and
even the soul of Our Lord
Himself do not comprehend
God. On the contrary, St.
John of the Cross says
that the more one of the
blessed knows God, the
more clearly he sees all that
he doesn’t see (Spiritual
Canticle, Strophe VII, verse
5).

16

Thus he writes, continuing
the example of air and fire:
“The disposition to the
form of fire can be natural
only to the subject that has
the form of fire. Hence the
light of glory cannot be
natural to a creature unless
the creature has a divine
nature; which is impossible”
(I, q. 12, a. 5, ad 3).

The Angelus

we see.13 With regard to its subject, this desire is merely conditional, that is
to say, we would gladly accept to see the First Cause if it be possible, but we
know that we have no natural claim to it.
Thomists have formulated a precise term to express this possibility
of human nature to receive the vision of God which strikes the balance
between, on the one hand, a natural desire that would be a veritable exigency
and, on the other hand, a repugnance that would make such a vision surpass
man absolutely to the point where it would not interest him (just as, for
example, a symphony of Beethoven doesn’t interest a monkey because it is
“over his head”). They describe this possibility as an “obediential potency,”
which means that even though man doesn’t have a positive potency or
ordination to this vision of God (as he does, for example, to the knowledge of
the essence of material things) he is capable of receiving it. In this he differs
from other animals which do not have this capacity because their knowledge
is limited to what is purely sensible.14
Thus it is not true, as it was said earlier, that there is no proportion
between God and man that would enable men to know Him, because there is
a proportion between God, ipsum esse subsistens, and the intellect of man,
in so far as man is capable of knowing being in itself and not just particular
being, as animals do. Also, when Dionysius says that God is “not being” he
doesn’t mean that He has no being at all, but simply that His being is not
like any other being because He is His very being and thus is above all other
beings. From this it follows, not that He cannot be known at all, but simply
that He is above all knowledge in the sense that He cannot be understood
completely.15

Supernatural Disposition Given
It remains to explain how this direct knowledge of God Himself takes
place. Since no created concept can represent God as He is in Himself, in
this act of knowledge it is not some created concept but God’s very essence
which must inform the human intellect. This, however, is something
that is above the nature of man, as we have said, so it is necessary that a
supernatural disposition be given to the human intellect so that it might
receive this supernatural form, just as, says St. Thomas, “if air is to receive
the form of fire, it must be prepared by some disposition for such a form.”
This supernatural strengthening of the intellect is what is called “lumen
gloriae—the light of glory.” It is called light by analogy with corporal light,
because just as corporal light renders the medium transparent and capable
of transmitting light waves, so this special gift strengthens the intellect so
that it can receive the essence of God as its form.
St. Thomas insists on the fact that this lumen gloriae is necessarily
essentially supernatural, because it is a disposition to receive a form (God’s
essence) which is supernatural.16 Suarez disagrees, saying that this added
supernatural disposition is not absolutely necessary because the obediential
potency in man is not just a passive capacity to receive the beatific vision but
already an actual disposition for it, although it cannot, obviously, pass into

September - October 2013

17

18

For Suarez, in fact, the
beatific vision is the result
of two co-ordinated causes,
the human intellect and
divine grace, each of
which acts on its own to
produce the result, like
two men pulling a cart.
For St. Thomas, on the
contrary, it is the result of
two subordinated causes,
which each exercise their
causality on the whole
effect, but in such a way
that the second cause acts
only in virtue of the first
cause, as, for example,
when a man writes with a
pen, the man and the pen
both cause the writing, but
the pen acts only in virtue
of the impulse given by the
man. This fundamental
difference between the
Jesuits and Dominicans in
theology is the cause for
the fundamental difference
between them in spirituality
(although it is perhaps,
at the same time, its
consequence too).
I, q. 12, a. 12.

act except by a special grace of God. Thus for Suarez the lumen gloriae is
not an essential elevation of man’s nature but simply a grace that actualizes
a potency already present in that nature.17 Thomists, however, reply that
this position involves a dangerous confusion of nature and grace, because it
implies that the obediential potency, which is natural, would have a positive
order to a supernatural object, the beatific vision. The error of Henri de
Lubac was already present in the error of Suarez.

Conclusion
St. Thomas concludes this question on the knowability of God by inquiring
about the knowledge we can have of Him by natural reason, quoting St.
Paul’s affirmation in his epistle to the Romans: “That which is known of
God is manifest in them” (Rom. 1:19), that is, explains St. Thomas, “by
natural reason.” This knowledge, however, does not extend to God’s essence,
because it consists in the knowledge of Him as cause of the effects which
are evident to our senses, and these effects do not adequately express God’s
power.
“But [he goes on] because they are His effects and depend on their cause,
we can be led from them so far as to know of God whether He exists, and to
know of Him what must necessarily belong to Him, as the first cause of all
things, exceeding all things caused by Him.”18
This leads us naturally to the very delicate question which follows about
the names of God, where will be explained more precisely this knowledge of
God “as the first cause of all things, exceeding all things caused by Him.”
Fr. Albert, O.P., was ordained by Bishop Fellay in 1994 and belongs to a traditional Dominican community based in Belgium.

29

SSPX’s Bishops’ Declaration for the 25th Anniversary
...
This love of the Church explains the rule that Archbishop Lefebvre always observed: to
follow Providence in all circumstances, without ever allowing oneself to anticipate it.
We mean to do the same: either when Rome returns to Tradition and to the Faith of all
time—which would re-establish order in the Church; or when she explicitly acknowledges
our right to profess integrally the Faith and to reject the errors which oppose it, with the
right and the duty for us to oppose publicly the errors and the proponents of these errors,
whoever they may be—which would allow the beginning of a re-establishing of order.
Meanwhile, faced with this crisis which continues its ravages in the Church, we persevere
in the defence of Catholic Tradition and our hope remains entire, as we know by the
certitude of Faith that “the gates of hell will not prevail against her” (Mt. 16:18).
...

Faith and Morals

Guiding Principles of

The Lay
Apostolate
Pope Pius XII, Address to the Second World Congress of the Lay Apostolate, October 5, 1957

All Should Be Active
It would be a misunderstanding of the
Church’s real nature and her social character
to distinguish in her a purely active element,
Church authorities, and a purely passive element,
the laity. All the members of the Church, as
We Ourselves said in the Encyclical Mystici
Corporis Christi (The Mystical Body of Christ),
are called upon to co-operate in building up and
perfecting the Mystical Body of Christ. (Cf. AAS
36, 1943, p. 241.) They are all free persons and
should; therefore, be active.
The term “emancipation of the layman” is
abused at times when it is used in a sense that
distorts the true character of the relations
existing between the “teaching Church” and the
“Church that is being taught,” between priests and
32

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laymen. Concerning these relations, let Us simply
note that the tasks before the Church today are
too vast to leave room for petty disputes. In order
to preserve the proper sphere of action of both
priest and layman, it is enough that all should
have a sufficient spirit of faith, disinterestedness,
mutual esteem, and mutual confidence. Respect
for the priestly dignity has always been one of
the most characteristic traits of the Christian
community; on the other hand, laymen also have
rights, and the priest must recognize them.
The layman is entitled to receive from the
priest all those spiritual benefits which are
necessary if he is to achieve the salvation of his
soul and attain Christian perfection. (Canons
87 and 682.) In what concerns the Christian’s
fundamental rights, he may assert his demands.
(Canons 467, 1; 892, 1.) The meaning and aim of

the Church’s whole life is involved here, as well as
the responsibility before God of the priest and the
lay man.
Exclusive consideration of the Church’s
social activity inevitably creates uneasiness.
This activity is not an end in itself—either in
general or in the Church—for the community is
ultimately at the service of the individual, and not
vice versa. History shows that from the Church’s
earliest days laymen have taken part in the
activity which the priest carries out in the service
of the Church, and today more than ever they
must co-operate with greater and greater fervor
“for building up the Body of Christ” (Eph. 4 :12) in
all forms of the apostolate, especially by making
the Christian spirit penetrate all family, social,
economic, and political life.
One of the reasons for this appeal to the laity
is certainly the shortage of priests, but even in
the past a priest expected the co-operation of
laymen. Let Us mention only the considerable
contribution which lay Catholic men and women
instructors, as well as Religious, have made
to the teaching of religion and, in general, to
Christian education and the formation of youth.
Think, for instance, of the Catholic schools of
the United States. The Church is grateful to
them for this contribution, for it was a necessary
complement to priestly work. There still remains
the fact that the lack of priests is especially
noticeable today and threatens to become even
more so. We are thinking especially of parts of
Latin America, whose people and countries are
undergoing rapid development at the present
time. The work of laymen there is all the more
necessary.

only the workers themselves can establish the
Catholic cells which must be created among
workers in every factory and bring back to the
Church those who have strayed from her.

Principle of Subsidiarity
In this matter ecclesiastical authorities should
apply the general principle of subsidiarity and
complementarity. They should entrust the layman
with tasks that he can perform as well as or
even better than the priest and allow him to act
freely and exercise personal responsibility within
the limits set for his work or demanded by the
common welfare of the Church.

Laymen’s Job
Furthermore, aside from the small number of
priests the relations between the Church and the
world require the intervention of lay apostles. The
consecratio mundi (consecration of the world)
is essentially the work of the laymen themselves,
of men who are intimately a part of economic and
social life and who participate in the government
and in legislative assemblies. In the same way,
33

Faith and Morals
It will furthermore be remembered that the
Lord’s words: “Dignus est...operarius mercede
sua” (“The laborer deserves his wages”) (Luke
10:7) also apply to him. We have often been
struck by the fact that the obligation to give
these coworkers the salary which is due them
is recalled in missionary congresses for the lay
apostolate. The catechist is often totally occupied
with his missionary work and, therefore, he
and his family depend for a living on what the
Church gives them. On the other hand, the lay
apostle must not take offense if he is asked not to
make excessive demands upon the mission that
supports him.
On a previous occasion We described those
laymen who assumed all their responsibilities.
They are, We said, “men constituted in their
inviolable integrity as the living images of God;
men who are proud of their personal dignity
and their healthy freedom; men justly jealous
of being the equals of their fellowmen in all
things pertaining to the most intimate matters of
human dignity; men attached in a stable manner
to their land and their tradition” (Speech to the
New Cardinals, February 20, 1946, in Discorsi e
Radiomessaggi, vol. VII, p. 393). Such a wealth
of qualities supposes that one has learned
self-control and self-sacrifice, and has learned
to draw constant light and strength from the
sources of salvation which the Church offers.
The materialism and atheism of a world in
which millions of believers must live in isolation
requires that all should be formed into strong
personalities. If not, how will they resist being led
astray by the masses which surround them? What
is true of all is true above all of the lay apostle,
who is committed not only to defend himself, but
also to win others over.
This does not in any way diminish the value
of precautionary measures, such as laws for the
protection of youth, the censorship of films, and
all the measures which the Church and state
adopt to preserve the moral climate of society
from corruption. In order that the young may be
educated in their responsibilities as Christians,
it is important that their spirit and heart be kept
in a healthy atmosphere. One could say that
institutions must be so perfect as to be able
34

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to insure by themselves the protection of the
individual, while the individual must be formed
with a view to the autonomy of his adult Catholic
life, as though he were to be left on his own to
surmount all difficulties.

Formation of Apostolic Spirit
We wish to draw your attention particularly to
one aspect of the education of young Catholics:
the formation of their apostolic spirit. Instead
of giving way to a slightly selfish tendency by
thinking only of the salvation of their own
souls, they should be made aware of their
responsibilities toward others and of the ways to
help others.
No one doubts that prayer, sacrifice, and
courageous action to win others to God
constitute very definite guarantees for personal
salvation. We do not in any way condemn what
has been done in the past because there have
been many remarkable achievements in this
respect. We refer, among other things, to the
many Catholic weeklies which have sustained
popular enthusiasm for the charitable activities
of the apostolate. Movements such as that of the
Holy Childhood have given proof in this respect
of fruitful initiatives.
But an apostolic spirit takes root in the child’s
heart not only at school, but long before the
school age, and it is engendered by the care of
the mother herself. The child should learn how
to pray at Mass and offer the Sacrifice with an
intention which embraces the whole world and,
above all, the important interests of the Church.
Examining his conscience concerning his duties
toward his neighbor, he will not only ask him self,
“Have I harmed my neighbor?” but will also ask,
“Have I shown him the way which leads to God,
to Christ, to the Church, and to salvation?”
As for the exercise of the lay apostolate, since
the observations We made earlier on matters of
principle dealt with this at several points, We
shall only refer to certain fields of the apostolate
from which an urgent appeal rises at present.

The Parish
Is it not a comforting sign that even today
adults consider it an honor to serve at the altar?
And those who contribute through music and
singing to the praise of God and the edification of
the faithful certainly exercise a praiseworthy lay
apostolate.
The lay apostle who works in a specific
neighborhood and is entrusted with a group
of houses belonging to the parish must try to
acquire accurate information about the religious
status of the inhabitants. Are the housing
conditions bad or inadequate? Who needs the
assistance of charitable organizations? Are there
marriages to be regularized? Are there children
to be baptized? What is the condition of the
news stands, bookshops, and lending libraries in
the neighborhood? What do the young folk and
adults read? The complexity and often delicate
character of the problems to be solved in this
type of apostolate make it necessary to call upon
the services of only a chosen elite who are gifted
with tact and true charity.

The Press, Radio, Movies,
and Television
Publishing houses and bookshops provide an
excellent field for the apostolate. We are glad to
hear that the majority of Catholic publishers and
book sellers regard their profession as a service
to the Church.
A parish library can be correctly run by lay
people, who normally should be experienced
readers. Good Catholics also have an opportunity
of doing good in lending libraries.
The Catholic newspaperman who exercises
his profession in a spirit of faith is quite naturally
a lay apostle. At the Manila Congress a request
was made for Catholic journalists and a Catholic
press for Asia. It is, furthermore, only normal
that Catholics should co-operate with the press,
even if only in matters of local interest.
In respect to the radio, movies, and television,
We refer to what We said in the encyclical
Miranda Prorsus (Remarkable Inventions)

issued on September 8 of this year. There is a dual
task to be accomplished here: avoid all elements
of corruption and promote Christian values.
There is by actual count an annual attendance
of 12 billion in places of entertainment. Yet too
many of the shows offered do not reach the
cultural and moral level which one has the right
to expect.
The most regrettable fact is that films very
often portray a world in which men live and die
as if God did not exist. The problem, then, is
to prevent mortal dangers to the faith and the
Christian way of life. One should never have to
go before God with the responsibility of having
tolerated such a situation, and one must make
every effort to change it. We are grateful, then,
to all those who, in the fields of radio, movies,
and television, carry on a courageous, intelligent,
and systematic work, which has already been
rewarded with results which give grounds for
serious hope. We commend in particular the
associations and movements whose objective it is
to make Christian principles prevail in the use of
moving pictures.
In the parishes, or at least in the deaneries,
working groups will train their members and
coworkers as well as the public in their duty with
regard to radio, movies, and television, and will
help them discharge these duties. In so far as
television is concerned, it is indispensable for
the Church to be represented on the committees
entrusted with organizing programs and for
Catholic experts to be among the producers.
Both priests and the laity are encouraged to take
part in this task. In this field the priest may be as
competent as the layman. But whatever the case
may be, the participation of the laity is required.

The Working World
Every year 20 million young people throughout
the world enter the ranks of labor. Among them
there are Catholics, but there are also millions
of others who are ready for religious formation.
You must feel responsible for them all. How many
does the Church keep? How many does she win
back? Since the climate of industrial work
35

Faith and Morals

is dangerous to young men, the Catholic “cell”
must intervene in workshops and also on trains,
buses, in families, and neighborhoods. It will
act everywhere to give tone, exercise beneficial
influence, and spread a new life. Thus a Catholic
foreman will be the first to take care of the new
arrivals. For instance, he will help them to find
decent lodgings and make desirable friendships,
and he will put them in touch with local church
life. He will assist them in adapting themselves
easily to their new position in life.
The appeal which We made last year to
German Catholics also applies to lay apostles the
whole world over, wherever there is technical and
industrial activity. We told them: “You have been
given one important task, that of giving the world
of industry a Christian form and structure....
Christ, by whom all things were created, the
Lord of the world, is also the Lord of the presentday world, because this also is called upon to
be a Christian world. It is up to you to stamp it
with the imprint of Christ.” (Broadcast message
to Cologne Catholic Day on Sept. 2, 1956, in
Discorsi e Radiomessaggi, vol. XVIII, p. 397.)
This is certainly the most onerous but also the
greatest task of the apostolate of the Catholic
laity.

Conclusion
There has always been a lay apostolate in
Christ’s Church. Saints such as Emperor Henry
III, Stephen, founder of Catholic Hungary, and
Louis IX of France were lay apostles, though
this was not consciously realized at first, and the
phrase “lay apostle” did not exist. There were
also women, like St. Pulcheria, sister of Emperor
Theodore II, and Mary Ward, who were lay
apostles.
There is a lively awareness of the lay
apostolate today, and “lay apostle” is one of
the terms most widely used in discussing the
activities of the Church. This is because the
co-operation of the laity with the Hierarchy
has never been so necessary or practiced so
systematically as today.
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This co-operation assumes a thousand
different forms, from the silent sacrifice offered
for the salvation of souls, to the kind word and
good example which compel the admiration
even of the Church’s foes. It also embraces those
activities of the Hierarchy which can be shared
with the ordinary layman, and feats of bravery
which are paid for with one’s life, which appear
among no statistics, and are known only to
God. This hidden apostolate is perhaps the most
precious and fruitful of all.

Objectives: To Preserve
and to Win Over
Like every other apostolate, the lay apostolate
has two objectives: to preserve and to win
over. The present-day Church must give the
closest attention to both of these. Putting it
succinctly, Christ’s Church has no intention of
yielding ground to her avowed enemy, atheistic
communism, without a struggle. This battle will
be fought to the end, but with the weapons of
Christ!
Set to work with a faith even stronger than that
shown by St. Peter when, at the call of Christ, he
left his boat and walked on the waters to meet his
Lord (cf. Matt. 14:30-31).
During these troubled years, Mary, the glorious
and powerful Queen of Heaven, has made her
help felt in far separate corners of the earth in
a manner so evident and so marvelous that We
have ultimated confidence in commending to her
care all forms of the lay apostolate.

Book Review

A Twice-Crowned Knight
By Maria Winowska

Our Lady’s Fool
If all you know of the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe
is the martyrdom he suffered at the hands of the
Nazis at Auschwitz, you know only a part of this
saint’s amazing story.
A Twice-Crowned Knight, in the best tradition of
hagiography, tells the story of a fool. A virtuous fool.
An ambitious fool. An obedient and tenacious fool.
In other words, it tells the story of one possessed of
the qualities that make a saint.
Father Maximilian’s short life was nothing if not
eventful. When he was ten, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him holding two crowns, a white one and
a red one. “Choose,” she said. Choosing the white
one meant he would always be pure; choosing the
red one meant he would die a martyr.
The fool chose both.
From that point Raymond (as he was then
called) was changed for good. “His heart,” as his
biographer notes, “was captured forever” by the
Blessed Virgin. Raymond joined the Franciscans at
age 16, and at 18, owing to his exceptional abilities,
was sent to Rome, where he witnessed the shocking scene of the Masons mocking the pope. That
spectacle, which led him to found the Knights of the
Immaculata to fight the agents of Lucifer, haunted
him for the rest of his life.
Burdened with tuberculosis and migraines, and
armed with two doctorates, Maximilian returned to
Poland and set out to fight for Mary. What was his
mission? Nothing less than to “conquer all souls
for Christ, in the whole world, until the end of time,
through the Immaculate.”
His weapon of choice was the printed word.
But if his health pestered him ceaselessly, his
soul was beset by ridicule, skepticism, and namecalling—from his fellow Franciscans!
But there was no stopping Maximilian—not with
Our Lady on his side.
With meager funds he and his growing community produced a modest monthly newsletter for
the masses called The Knight of the Immaculate
(eventually gaining a million subscribers), then a

magazine for children, one for clergy, and a daily
newspaper that beat secular papers in circulation
numbers.
His little community of printer-friars continued
to grow to the point where they needed new space.
True to form, Father Maximilian not only left the
matter to the Immaculate, he named the property
for her: Niepokalanow. The City of the Immaculate
was a state-of-the-art industrial complex that was
home to 700 Franciscan religious, men whose fervent spiritual lives complemented their technically
efficient approach to printing.
Had Father Maximilian’s story ended here, his
life’s work would have been regarded as a huge
success.
But a chance encounter with some Japanese
students made him think of those poor souls all
over the world who lived without Christ.
So he did what a saint does. With no money,
no knowledge of the Japanese language, and no
contacts in Japan, Father Maximilian received
permission to set up another Niepokalanow on
the other side of the world. Unsurprisingly, Japan
proved a huge success: conversions and vocations
abounded, and plans were made to establish a
beachhead in India before the war clouds of the late
1930s delayed the move.
A Twice-Crowned Knight contains first-hand
accounts of Father Maximilian’s remarkable courage and kindness towards other prisoners—and
even the guards at Auschwitz, who mercilessly and
sadistically beat and insulted him because he was
a priest. He prayed for his executioners, comforted
the sick and scared, heard confessions, and lifted
the spirits of those suffering from despair. The
narratives of him offering his life in order to save another’s, and his final days in the starvation bunker,
make for riveting reading.
His executioners were forced to admit that they
“have never seen a man like him.” No doubt St.
Maximilian would have given all the credit to Mary.
Scott Quinn

37

Spirituality

Suffering
Explained by Saints

by Dr. Gyula Mago

Suffering of every kind is evil. Man has a
horror of suffering, as did Our Lord Himself:
“My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice
pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt” (Mt. 26:39).
Yet Our Lord underwent unspeakable
sufferings and a shameful death on the Cross and
thereby redeemed the world.

Now we face the demand of the Man of
Sorrows that we follow His example:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”
(Mt. 16:24). So, following Christ, i.e., being a
Christian, requires that the Christian suffer with
Christ. And the saints also insist strongly that
some suffering is necessary for salvation:

“Since the Son of God obtained our salvation through suffering, He willed
to teach us that there is nothing more fitting than suffering to give glory to
God and to sanctify our souls.” 				
					
—St. Teresa of Avila
“Call to mind frequently that it was by suffering and endurance that Our
Lord saved us and that it is meet that we too on our part must work out our
38

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salvation by sufferings and afflictions, bearing injuries, contradictions, and
annoyances with the greatest calm and gentleness.”
						—St. Francis de Sales
“In bearing with suffering, be cheerful and constant, thinking that
suffering is the royal road along which one travels to heaven, and that the
present life lasts but a moment. The gain that there is in suffering lies in this,
that it is in imitation of Jesus, your Bridegroom.”
						
—St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
“It is terrible what treatment God allows his friends to suffer. But then we
should not really complain, for that is how He treated His own Son.”
						—St. Teresa of Avila
“That is why Christ tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the
way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go his way on
the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor: ‘The
disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant greater than his master.’ ”
							—St. John of Avila
To suffer and to endure is the lot of humanity.
Nothing begins and nothing ends
That is not pain and moan,
We are born in other’s pain
And perish in our own.		
There is a seemingly infinite variety of
sufferings. They may be classified in various
ways. The primary distinction is between
physical and spiritual, or moral, suffering.
Physical suffering includes all the kinds of
illness, injuries, blindness, deafness, loss of
limb, weakness, fatigue, hunger, thirst, the pain
of childbirth, fire, natural disasters, war, even
martyrdom. Spiritual or moral suffering includes
persecution, sorrow, fear, betrayal, humiliation,
failure, insults, calumny, contempt, contradiction,
ridicule, abandonment, mourning, loneliness, and
the inability to prevent moral corruption.
God is not the cause of evil. He permits moral
evil only to save human free will. Physical evils
He allows for some good. We here introduce the
second distinction: on the one hand, there is

—Francis Thompson

self-chosen suffering, such as discipline, fasting,
voluntary penances, and choosing to accept
humiliation. Then there is suffering which comes,
in some way, from God or neighbor: illness,
almost all spiritual suffering, or martyrdom.
If something is hard to bear or even
intolerable, and we resist it and want to banish it
from our life, it is suffering. An example is having
to take medicine with a particularly disagreeable
taste, which St. Francis Borgia used as penance.
Or maybe someone is constrained to eat potatoes
only, either because of poverty (Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn describes such a case in his novella
Matryona’s Place) or because he is allergic to
all other foods. The monotony of having to eat
the same thing all the time becomes increasingly
burdensome. It becomes true suffering.

“May God send us more trials to suffer for His sake—even if they are only
fleas, hobgoblins, and bad roads!” 			
						—St. Teresa of Avila
39

Spirituality

1

The Theology of Christian
Perfection by Antonio Royo
and Jordan Aumann (Priory
Press, 1962), p.271.

2

The Theology of the
Spiritual Life by Joseph de
Guibert (Sheed and Ward,
1953), p.95.

“My daughter, you will never do Me a greater service than that of patiently
bearing, in memory of My Passion, whatever tribulation befalls you, whether
internal or external, and of always trying to do those things which are most
contrary to your desires.” 				
						—St. Gertrude
“Every time I do not behave like a donkey, it is the worse for me. How does
a donkey behave? If it is slandered, it keeps silent; if it is not fed, it keeps
silent; if it is forgotten, it keeps silent; it never complains, however much it is
beaten or ill-used, because it has a donkey’s patience. That is how the servant
of God must behave. I stand before you, Lord, like a donkey.”
						—St. Peter Claver

How much is suffering worth?
Christ endured many of these sufferings, but not all. For example, His perfect body was not subject
to illnesses, so He was not able to suffer from illness. Saint Paul dared to say: “I now rejoice in my
sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ” (Col. 1:24). Christ
perfectly accomplished the Redemption with the sufferings that were possible for Him. Yet a cancer
sufferer may help Christ in His work of Redemption by suffering as Christ was not able to suffer, and fills
up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ.
“One ounce of suffering is worth more than a thousand pounds of prayer;
one day of crucifixion is more valuable than one hundred years of all other
holy exercises.” 			
—Venerable Sister Maria Vittoria Angelini
“You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and
affliction; the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward.
						
—St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
“Patience in suffering is superior to raising the dead or the performing
of miracles. It is a narrow way which leads directly to the gates of heaven.
Suffering makes us companions of the Martyrs.”
					—Blessed Henry Suso

One further consideration is needed. The fact remains that suffering is an evil. Therefore, the
Catholic cannot love suffering as such, for its own sake. But he can accept suffering, he may even love
suffering for the sake of God. So for suffering to be meritorious, it must be accompanied by the love
of God. Suffering and the love of God together make amends for sin and determine sanctification and
perfection.1 Greater suffering and lesser charity may have the same result as greater charity and lesser
suffering.2 Let us learn at the school of the saints what they teach us:
“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
					
—St. Therese of Lisieux
“Thank the Lord for all the things in which you feel pain, and thus you will
be perfect in a short time.”
—St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
40

The Angelus

September - October 2013

The sufferings of Our Lord were infinitely valuable because they were accompanied by God’s infinite
love for His creatures. But suffering and charity can not only accompany each other, there may even be a
fusion between them.
“Do you really want to love Jesus? Then learn first to suffer. It is by
suffering that one learns to love.” 		
						—St. Gemma Galgani
“He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an ardent
and constant desire to suffer for His sake.”
						—St. Aloysius Gonzaga

So suffering endured for the love of God, suffering accepted with charity indicates predestination,
because the sufferer is like Jesus Christ.
“If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for
you and He certainly intends to make you a saint.”
						—St. Ignatius of Loyola
“There is nothing more painful than suffering, and nothing more joyful
than to have suffered.…To the world, suffering is a reproach, but to Me it is
an immense honor. Suffering is an extinguisher of My wrath, and an obtainer
of My favor. Suffering makes a man in My sight worthy of love, because the
sufferer is like Me.” 				
						—Blessed Henry Suso
“We never have a greater reason to rejoice than when we are oppressed
and burdened by sufferings and afflictions, because these render us similar
to Christ our Lord, and this resemblance is a true sign of our predestination.”
							—St. Vincent de Paul

Suffering sent us by God that we cannot escape is much more valuable than anything chosen by us.
“Be it known that, in the eyes of God, one gains more merit in a single day
through trials given to us by God and neighbor, than in ten years of penances
and other practices chosen by us.” 		
						—St. Teresa of Avila
Very frequently prayers ask God to remove pain, suffering, and illness from someone’s life.
Unfortunately, wishing suffering away is an impediment to sanctification. So if you have it in you,
pray not for the removal of suffering, but ask for the grace to respond to the call of God and embrace
suffering wholeheartedly. Never is love for God purer than in suffering.
Dr. Gyula Mago was born in 1938 in Hungary and raised a Catholic. He lived there under Communist rule for 20 years. He obtained his Ph.D. from Cambridge University,
England, in 1970 and was Professor of Computer Science until 1999 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He now lives in retirement and attends Holy Mass at
the Society chapel in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

41

Behold I will send my angel,
who shall go before thee, and
keep thee in thy journey, and
bring thee into the place that
I have prepared.
Take notice of him, and hear
his voice, and do not think
him one to be contemned: for
he will not forgive when thou
hast sinned, and my name is
in him. But if thou wilt hear
his voice, and do all that I
speak, I will be an enemy to
thy enemies, and will afflict
them that afflict thee.
Exodus 23:20-22

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Christian Culture

A Visit to the
Catacombs
by Anthony De Piante

Strange as it may seem, despite having been
to Rome twice previously, I had not invested
the time necessary to visit the Catacombs. The
simple reason lay in the fact that the Catacombs
are not easily accessible from the city center.
However, because I had read extensively about
them and the martyrs buried in them, I already
felt a sort of understanding and connection
with them. Thus when the time came to choose
between visiting the Catacombs or a magnificent
Baroque church, I always chose the latter.
However, I was recently given the grace to see
what I had not seen, when my family and I moved
to Rome for a year. Living here in Rome, I told
myself that I would finally venture out along the
Appian Way, beyond the city gates, and visit the
tombs of the martyrs.
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September - October 2013

Blood of Martyrs,
Seed of Christians
The first opportunity to do so came, ironically
enough, at the request of a prominent American
Protestant minister. A friend of some friends
of my family, he was in Rome for a day, and
interested in seeing the sights. Knowing him
only through our mutual friends, my brother and
I accompanied him around Rome, showing him
the best the city has to offer. He did not have any
sights that he specifically wished to see, with the
exceptions of the Colosseum and the Catacombs.
As time has gone by, I have found out that many
Protestants are interested in these sights because
of their connection to the early Christians, whom
the Protestants identify with because of the fact

that they held the “true” faith before the Church
became “corrupt.” (You and I, however, know
that these early Christians were Catholics, not
Protestants.) As God willed, though, our bus to
the Catacombs arrived with just ten minutes to
spare before they closed. Faced with an eightminute walk to the entrance, we could do nothing
except enjoy a drink from a fountain, and begin
the trek back towards Rome.
Despite not having seen the Catacombs with
the Protestant minister, my family and I had
the opportunity to successfully visit them a few
weeks later. After having finally seen them, it is
the overwhelming treasure they are to our Faith
that I wish to speak of in this article.
It has been said that the blood of martyrs is the
seed of Christians. Certainly we can understand
this when learning about the great persecutions.
The sight of a martyr joyfully giving his life for
Christ no doubt inspired others to join the flock.
However, the Catacombs and the archaeological
evidence they give us continue to nurture our
faith even today. The blood spilled then has not
ceased to be effective in combating error, and
we have much to profit by turning to the ancient
martyrs.

Brutal Choice
The choice facing Christians during the
early centuries was often brutal, but perfectly
straightforward. Pagan prefects and judges
minced no words about their aims. Christians
were given the choice of sacrificing to the pagan
gods or being subjected to material and bodily
punishments, and even death. Despite these
brutal tactics, Satan was not able to curb the
growth of the Church. It survived the decay of
the Roman Empire, and grew and flourished,
especially in the Middle Ages. It also safely
weathered the storm of early heresies, such as
Manichaeism and Arianism, and the Moslem
invasions of Europe. Satan’s next great attack
in the form of the Protestant Revolt during the
16th century was certainly milder than the great
persecutions. However, although Luther and
his cronies may have initially led some astray,
the Faith held, and enemies of Christ such as
Elizabeth I of England and Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden had to once again resort to violence to
try to oppress it. Courageous Catholics such as
Philip II of Spain helped check this new threat,
and ensured that the Catholic Church would

47

Christian Culture
remain alive and well, even if not as widespread
as before. Thus having failed to destroy the
Church throughout history from the outside,
Satan is now relying on infiltrating the Church
and destroying it from within to continue his
futile battle against God.
Despite the outward differences in these
attacks upon the Church, their motives have
all been the same—to destroy our Faith by
eradicating the truths we hold to, the truths
that we profess in the Creed and that we have
come to know through Scripture and Tradition.
Visiting the Catacombs and turning back the
pages of time, however, enables us to combat
the errors presented by each of these attacks,
by understanding the Faith as our predecessors
understood it. Just as the blood of the martyrs
was the seed of Christians in ancient times, it can
continue to nurture us in our Faith, strengthening
us and enabling us to reach heaven by holding
onto truth.
With the goal of learning about our Faith by
a visit to the Catacombs, let us first turn our
attention to what exactly the Catacombs were.
Although the Romans practiced cremation,
the early Christians desired to bury their dead
because of the belief in the resurrection of the
body and the respect due to it as a temple of the
Holy Ghost. However, Roman law forbade the
burial of corpses within the city limits, so large
underground chambers were carved in the soft
limestone outside the city.
Contrary to popular belief, the early Christians
did not hide for long periods of time in the
Catacombs, simply because they did not offer
any real protection from pursuers, and they
were also uninhabitable. The Roman authorities
knew the general location of the Catacombs,
and despite some initial fear of spirits, did not
hesitate to enter them and apprehend Christians.
Because of the smell of decaying bodies and
the humidity (the humidity is 90 percent in the
Catacombs of Domitilla) the Christians could
not linger long in any case. Nevertheless, the
Catacombs did offer them a place where they
could respectfully bury their dead, in keeping
with the belief that on the last day our souls will
be united with our bodies. Although cremation

1

48

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September - October 2013

is practiced in the Novus Ordo today, the early
Christians saw its danger, and faithfully buried
their dead. This perseverance through much
difficulty and hardship (it is easier to burn a body
than carve a tomb out of rock, no?) illustrates
the understanding expressed centuries later by
Fr. John Laux, when he wrote: “On December 8,
1869, the International Congress of Freemasons
imposed it as a duty on all its members to do
all in their power to wipe out Catholicity from
the face of the earth. Cremation was proposed
as a suitable means to this end, since it was
calculated to gradually undermine the faith
of the people in the resurrection of the body
and life everlasting” (Fr. John Laux, Catholic
Morality [Imprimatur 1932], p. 106). Nowadays
when the expenses of funerals have skyrocketed,
and the prices of burial plots make cremation
an attractive alternative, be consoled as you
plan your Will that the early Christians went
through the same trials and difficulties you might
encounter.

Catacombs of Domitilla
Because they are the most useful in
illustrating the points in this article, I shall
use the Catacombs of Domitilla as a reference
throughout. The best way to appreciate them and
understand them is by exploring them, which
I hope to do with you as much as I can in this
article. The Catacombs of Domitilla lie about a
thirty-minute walk outside the city. They are the
oldest of the Catacombs, and the only Catacombs
where you can still view bones of the martyrs.
They were used until the fourth century, when
they fell into disuse and obscurity until their
rediscovery. They comprise a total of nearly
six miles of underground passageways on four
different levels. Immediately upon descending
below the surface one enters the ancient Basilica
of Nereus and Achilleus. The Basilica was built
around A.D. 390 and offers some suggestion of
how the early Christians worshipped. I believe
the Protestant minister accompanying me
would have been surprised to see that the early
“Protestants” he so admired worshipped in a

church containing a marble altar abutting the
wall, marble pedestals in front upon which were
statues of saints, and even a marble basin which
contained oil and was lit in front of the relics of
the martyrs. These relics were venerated in large
sarcophagi in the narthex of the church. These
elements of our Catholic church today exist with
such clarity in this underground basilica as to
inspire awe in any visiting Catholic.
Continuing out of the basilica, we enter the
crypt of Veranda. This crypt is important for
several reasons. The tomb of Veranda was the
type of tomb known as a mensa, or table, and
was used as an altar upon which priests would
say mass. Dated to the 350s, there is also a fresco
in the crypt showing the lady Veranda praying,
her head covered with a veil, contradicting the
modern notion that women may enter church
without showing proper respect for the Blessed
Sacrament. The veil is clearly a symbol of
prayer and not period dress, as Veranda’s friend
Petronella is standing to the right of her, not
praying, and unveiled.

Catholic Devotional Artwork
Our next stop is another crypt that provides
excellent examples of Catholic devotional
artwork. The best of these is the scene of Christ
surrounded by the twelve Apostles. This scene
occurs five separate times in the Catacombs
of Domitilla. Also interesting are the easily
recognized scenes of St. Peter and St. Paul with
their various symbols (Scriptural scrolls and
sword for St. Paul, keys for St. Peter). There is
also another fresco showing the Virgin Mary
holding the Christ Child, being adored by the
Magi. Once again, I wish that the Protestant
minister could have seen this ancient (fourth
century) display of Christianity, which in no way
supports the common Protestant rejection of
sacred images.
Combating the heresy of Arianism that Jesus
Christ was not equal to God the Father is the
marble fragment that bears an inscription of a
fish, and the acrostic “ichtus” in Greek for “Jesus
Christ, Son of God the Saviour.”

49

Christian Culture

50

Walking towards the exit we pass by two glass
cases containing hundreds of tiny oil lamps.
These miniatures were found in front of various
tombs of the martyrs, much the same way you or
I would light a candle in front of a relic or statue.
They repose in the green light of the Catacombs,
a dusty and yet shining example of the reverence
the early Christians felt for their heroes and the
devotion we should feel towards them and other
saints as well.

minds of these martyrs. No ecumenical ideas of
dialogue and understanding with other religions
permeated their thoughts. In fact we read of one
martyr who steadfastly refused to offer incense
to the pagan gods. Impressed by his constancy
his pagan lawyer attempted to free him by telling
the judge that he had offered incense in private.
Our hero quickly denied this loudly and ignored
the intentions of his pagan lawyer, remaining
steadfast until his martyrdom. It is the bodies of

Listening to the guide, and reading about the
Catacombs, we learn about the wide variety of
people who were put to death for steadfastly
cleaving to Christ. Deacons, priests, laypeople,
and even Pope Sixtus II, were all taken prisoner
in the Catacombs and put to death for refusing
to deny their faith. We can learn much from
their constancy. No thoughts of compromising
their worship of the One True God existed in the

saints like this that repose thirty feet under the
Roman earth. May their resting places continue
to inspire and strengthen the faith of those who
visit. Requiescant in pace.

The Angelus

September - October 2013

Anthony De Piante lived in Rome for two years, which afforded him the
opportunity to learn about and visit the Catacombs, as well as many other sacred
and historical sites. He currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, and
attends St. Anthony of Padua Chapel. He and his wife Lesly are expecting their
first child.

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Christian Culture

On the
Education of
Young Men
by Fr. Michael McMahon, SSPX

In the introduction to the modern classic The
Everlasting Man, the great G. K. Chesterton
says that a man might sometimes need to get far
enough away from home—which can be at times
“too close to be seen”—in order to rediscover
his proper perspective and understanding. The
following words and thoughts are meant to
provide men, especially fathers, the opportunity
to “get far enough away” to re-examine some
basic principles and ideas concerning their
elevated roles and responsibilities.

A Consecrated Man
With the sacramental words of Baptism and
the threefold pouring of the water in the form
of the cross, the wonderfully created human
soul is even more wonderfully restored. At that
crucial moment when the stain of Original Sin is
52

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September - October 2013

removed and sanctifying grace infused, a man’s
soul is marked with the eternal priesthood of Our
Lord and Savior and is forever consecrated to His
service. A marvelous transformation occurs, and
a man becomes a Catholic man, stamped so to
speak in his very being with the mark of Christ,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Made in the
image and likeness of Almighty God, this soul is
now filled with the Divine Life, equipped with an
amazing array of spiritual implements including
the infused Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Ghost.
He becomes the very dwelling place, tabernacle
and temple of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. This man, this consecrated man,
can never be the same again. He is now, and will
forever be, a Christian man.
At the opportune time of age and grace,
the second mark of Our Lord’s priesthood is
imparted to the soul at Confirmation. Here

strengthened (confirmed) as a soldier of Christ,
the Catholic man is now given a deeper and active
participation in the priesthood of Our Lord and
is meant to defend and dispose: defend his Faith
and the life of grace against “the world, the flesh
and the Devil,” up to and including the shedding
of blood as signified so aptly by the bishop’s slap;
and dispose others by word and work, action
and example to receive God’s grace. While not
a minister of grace through the Sacraments, as
only the ordained priest is in Holy Orders, the
confirmed Catholic man is nevertheless meant,
nay, is duty-bound to aid the Church and the
priest in casting Christ’s fire upon the earth.
Catholic Action, the spreading of the holy Faith
and the Kingdom of God on earth, leading to
the salvation of souls and the increase of the
blessed in Heaven, is not an option nor a matter
of choice for the confirmed soldier of Christ. By
the very fact that Our Lord has so honored a soul
with this signal grace, he is now obliged to help
change the world! The ceremony of Confirmation
is a real enlistment to service, to active Catholic
duty where the spiritual soldier daily shoulders
the Cross, denies himself and fights the good
fight. Reading, studying, praying and sacrificing
are the frequent spiritual exercises prudently
scheduled into one’s normal routine that keep
Christ’s soldiers in fighting shape. Confirmation
signals the real beginning of the man’s mature
participation in that constant warfare which is
our lot in this valley of tears. Here is true honor
and glory, true greatness; here is the action to
which all men of good will are called and by
which they can be only and finally fulfilled.

A Great Sacrament
The Apostle Saint Paul strongly encourages all
those who are able to be like himself: celibate,
entirely focused upon and uniquely dedicated
to the love of God and His service. At the
same time, he also boldly proclaims that Holy
Matrimony is a great Sacrament. Much more than
procreation, the response to the Divine dictate
to “increase and multiply,” this greatness is due
most profoundly to what the union of man and
wife signify: the union of Christ and His Church

(Ephesians 5:23): Because the husband is the
head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the
church. He is the savior of his body... Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ also loved the church,
and delivered himself up for it...
These inspired words should frequently be
meditated upon by all married men and those
who believe this state to be God’s will for them
someday. While there are many other beautiful
and even human reasons to get married, this
state, and the daily and life-long living of it,
must be permeated by a clear understanding of
the dignity and duties of manifesting Christ’s
union with His own beloved Bride, the one, holy
Catholic Church. This signification gives the
impetus and forms the necessary context of
married life. The practice of virtues both natural
and supernatural is incumbent upon the married
man who stands in the place of Christ within his
family, loving, leading, and guiding his “church.”
The virtues so perfectly and manfully manifested
by Our Lord are to be closely imitated by husband
and father. The Church was born in Blood and
that union was consummated upon the Cross—
so too is a truly Catholic marriage.

The Place of Courtship
Why do we so frequently urge our young men
to fight the spirit of the world and its insistent
propaganda about early and casual dating?
Primarily because of the reasons above: for
the elevated calling of this “great Sacrament”
demands maturity, at the very least to ensure a
good and solid choice of a fitting spouse. Clearly
and with an almost infallible certainty, teenage
dating will lead to impurity, as smoke comes
from fire. Yet as evil as these transgressions can
be, something too frequently overlooked is that
it takes a mature and fully formed man to make
such a life-affecting decision as the choosing of
a wife and mother. One’s own house must be in
order before one is capable of properly deciding
on a life-long helpmate. A young man must look
not at the surface but much deeper in order
to ascertain whether this woman is fit for him
and fit to be the mother of his children, to be
the “hand that rocks the cradle.” Puppy love
53

Christian Culture
and infatuation cannot normally lead to a wise
and prudent decision. Only a certain maturity
based on holiness and experience—a “house in
order”—can make that choice. A high school boy,
the best and brightest of them, is simply not ready
to make that commitment “until death do them
part.” If he cannot ask for her hand, if he is not
ready to raise children, be head of a household,
keep a job and direct himself and others well,
he cannot marry—he cannot date. This is basic
common sense. The contrary, the spirit of the
world, is base foolishness leading to chaos and
calamity.
Before and during the time of courtship,
however, the glory of the married state must be
carefully considered including frequent reflection
upon the ends and above all the primary end
for which Almighty God instituted marriage:
the begetting and proper formation of children.
The primary end is in the very nature of things;
the nature of man and woman simply cannot
be changed nor tampered with in any way. God
created “...and saw that it was good.” Ultimately
and most importantly, this is the reason for
getting married. No man nor institution, not a
government nor even the Church herself can
change this, can alter its essence in any fashion.
Contemplate for a moment the circumstances of
what begetting children actually entails and be
utterly stupefied by God’s inscrutable designs
and man’s participation therein. According to
the common opinion, when the marital embrace
results in conception, the matter (as scholastic
philosophers would relate) becomes apt to
receive a form which in the case of a human
being is the immortal soul. At that very moment,
God Himself creates a soul! Stop and reflect upon
this wondrous event and how it underscores and
emphasizes the grandeur of Matrimony and those
sacred acts which are safeguarded within. The
chaste love of husband and wife can result in the
omnipotent God performing an action greater
than the creation of the material universe,
the creation of a spiritual and immortal soul
endowed with intellect and will in the likeness of
God Himself.
Husband and wife lend a human hand to this
Divine power. God alone can create, and by His
54

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September - October 2013

Holy Will, only a man and woman can provide
the necessary matter for a human being. That is
a glorious gift and automatically places marital
relations in their proper perspective: co-operation
in the Divine plan of creation. Anything less than
reverence and respect in this area debases the
very plan of God and the true dignity of man.
With the Apostle let the sons of God loudly
proclaim and chastely live, not even speaking
among themselves of perversity, so as to protect
this human contribution to the Divine design. A
Catholic man cannot think, talk or act “dirty”; a
Catholic man cannot watch or listen to, partake
in or encourage anything which might even
slightly besmirch this power of procreation, cooperating in creation. A good father prudently
passes to his son the appropriate knowledge of
his own body’s elevated nature and potential
powers, both natural and supernatural. This
is a grave parental responsibility and fatherly
duty, not the work of teacher nor even priest
unless forced upon them by necessity. Let fathers
faithfully and prudently educate their young
men in understanding of and respect for this
gift of God. Too often this important duty is
embarrassingly unfulfilled, and our boys are left
to themselves to discover those “facts of life.”
Woe to the neglectful man in this domain, for he
sows the seeds of ruin; yet blessed and content
the father who faithfully recognizes and manfully
performs his duty, properly preparing his son for
the future. Not an easy task, but one absolutely
necessary for knowledge and order. The hard
duty done well bears the mark of the Cross.
With this brief journey “far enough away”
nearing its end, husband and father arrives back
home, hopefully with a renewed resolution from a
re-discovered perspective. For as Chesterton says
in that same introduction: “Being really outside is
only the next best thing to being really inside.”

Fr. Michael McMahon is Headmaster of Notre Dame de La Salette Boys
Academy, Georgetown, Illinois.

Therefore the Rosary
of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, combining in a
convenient and practical
form an unexcelled
form of prayer, an
instrument well adapted
to preserve the faith and
an illustrious example
of perfect virtue, should
be often in the hands of
the true Christian and
be devoutly recited and
meditated upon.
Magnae Dei Matris,
Encyclical of Pope Leo
XIII promulgated on
September 8, 1892

Christian Culture

Looking
Back on Your
Fatherhood
by Michael Rayes

Many thoughts enter your mind on this humid
summer day of 2033. Sure, there are current and
past events that annoy you. But the really deep
contemplation comes when you think about your
children. The last twenty years are almost a blur,
thinking back to 2013.
In the year 2033, you will most certainly
ponder, as all men eventually do, the last twenty
years and how you raised your children. You
may realize then that you actually had very little
impact on many of the things you were so worked
up about—national and local politics, taxation,
sports teams, civil liberties, the economy, and
so on. It is of course good to put forth Catholic
Action in these areas. But there is a small group
of people over whom you had more influence than
any other person. You made the biggest impact
over these people; they were most likely to follow
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your lead, and they were heavily influenced by
you personally: your own children. If only you
could go back! What if you could go back to 2013
and begin anew? What kind of father would you
be?

Foresight in Your Family
There are five domains of life that need to
be developed for a child to grow into a mature,
well-adjusted Catholic. These are physical, moral,
social, intellectual, and spiritual. Underpinning
especially the moral and spiritual domains is
emotional balance. The reflection in this article—
how you will spend the next twenty years—will
focus on your child’s emotional balance and the
potential pitfalls which may hinder the father’s

role. Regardless of your family situation or the
age of your children, there is always room to
reflect on your fatherhood.
If “children are the Future,” as humanists
say, fathers are the Right Now. You have the
power right now to Catholicize your future
family tree. Twenty years from now, you can
look back over the lives of your children with
a peaceful, contented heart, knowing that you
gave everything out of love for your children’s
souls. Consider how selfishness practiced today
will breed future regret and pain. Sacrifice made
today will grow to future peace.
Parents, especially busy mothers with young
children, naturally get caught up in the hereand-now. It falls to the Catholic father to have
the wisdom and foresight to plan for the child’s
long-term emotional well-being. You are raising
Catholic souls who will one day return to their
Creator.

Learning about God the Father
It is probably no exaggeration to say that God
the Father is the least understood of the three
divine Persons. Even Protestants can relate
to our divine Savior, despite their heretical
understanding of redemption as sola fide. The
Holy Ghost as a Person is often misunderstood,
but the Father remains almost nebulous to many
people. What is fatherhood? What does God the
Father do? How can we really grasp the paradox
of benevolent justice as a role of the Father?
The family can be seen as a way to understand
the economy of salvation. God is omnipotent
and redeems us. Blessed Mother is the highest
creature in Heaven and is our mediatrix. We
Catholics, in the state of grace, are the children
of God and heirs to Heaven. Now consider the
family: You are the father. You may find that your
wife comes to you with a request or a revelation
from one of your children, who went through her
instead of speaking directly with you.
In a strong family with clearly defined roles,
an approachable father, and a gentle mother,
children gain experience with intercession,
mercy, justice, sacrifice, and submission. They

see these traits occurring in the natural order
within their own family. If people today struggle
with inaccurate notions of the relationship
between God and man, and especially of God the
Father, it may be the result of not gaining a solid
idea of fatherhood and traditional family life.

Pitfalls Ensnaring Fathers
Let us consider four potential pitfalls in
fatherhood that may contribute to future
problems in grown children, and thus serve as
a serious hindrance to the Catholic soul as it
relates to God. The four pitfalls, listed in order
from the most obvious to the most subtle, are
paternal abuse, paternal abandonment, paternal
neglect, and internal preoccupation. Avoid these,
practicing instead a sacrificial, active fatherhood,
and you’ll reap a harvest of well-adjusted
Catholic men and women in your family tree.
Paternal abuse. We know we must not beat
the daylights out of kids. That’s simple enough.
But what about spankings? In young children,
spankings are appropriate after a warning.
Corporal punishment should be somewhat rare,
eventually and progressively disappearing as the
child grows into adolescence, and should never
be directed toward the child’s face.
Instead, wait until you are calm enough to
think while administering the punishment. Is
it for the child’s correction, or to make you feel
better? Are you consistent or do you only spank
when you become irritated enough? Does the
child see the connection between behavior and
consequences as a result of the punishment?
You want your children to fear offending you,
but not to be afraid of you.
Paternal abandonment. You may want to
jump in your car, keep driving away, and leave
them all. At least, sometimes you get that
thought. Brush it out of your mind. In the 1970s,
millions of fathers permanently left their families.
In the 1980s, mothers did the same thing. The
consequences of such ungodly selfishness are
everywhere today. You cannot leave your wife
57

Christian Culture
without leaving your children too. They will
either blame themselves or blame you and take
their mother’s side. Either way, Daddy’s gone.
You are stuck with your family for the rest of
your life. There is no escape. This is your family.
There is no starting over. A wise priest once said
that divorce is when the parents lay down their
cross because it’s too heavy, but then the children
must carry it for them.

the father can at least live with them while not
discussing areas of unresolved conflict. The
problem with this arrangement is that it builds a
wall of quiet tension between family members,
who thus do not learn to have an open, trusting,
vulnerable relationship with our crucified Savior.
Grown children may stop attending Mass because
it is not relevant to them. Why would it be, since
Mass is the re-presentation of a complete pouring

Instead, realize that your family is yours. Work
out whatever burdens you may experience, and
rejoice in the consolations that surely come from
living as a husband and father. Remember that
marriage is a sacrament. Who divorces himself
from his baptism? Who in his right mind would
wish to separate himself from extreme unction
once it’s received? Would you want to tear a
sacramental marriage asunder, if that were even
possible?

out of God Himself to make satisfaction for
sin? A Father giving the world His Son, and the
Son offering His life back to the Father, is the
complete antithesis of a father neglecting his
children.
Instead, re-arrange your priorities so you
can spend more time with your children—and
your wife. Take natural consolations in your
children’s lives. Remember to listen, listen, and
listen even more to your children when they
come to you with their seemingly insignificant
stories and problems that honestly might stretch
your patience beyond agony. Ask God to help you
persevere. Remember, hardly anything is more
important in this world than for you to spend
your energy and time as a husband and father.
Most everything else is secondary.

Paternal neglect. This is perhaps the most
common pitfall. A father may not leave his wife
and kids outright, but he doesn’t take care of
them. Some fathers fall into a sort of “functional”
level of misery in which they ignore the wife,
and perhaps the kids, as much as possible. Then
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Internal preoccupation. You didn’t leave
your family, but your mind did. Sometimes,
men need time to mull over problems or work
something out in their minds. This is normal. The
concern is when it becomes a habit that you may
not notice, but your children do. You may hear
comments such as, “Daddy is always too busy”
or “Daddy never listens to me.” You might find
yourself shooing away your children. Once in a

while is understandable. A daily habit of doing
this, however, will send them off as young adults
to find some other person who will listen, or at
least act that way. Will this be a fellow Catholic,
a worldly person, a hedonist, or an agnostic? You,
of course, will have no control over the situation
at that point.
Instead of remaining internally focused
when a family member wants your attention,
stop your thoughts. Offer it up to our Lord, and
then force yourself to be fully present with your
children or your wife. Look at the person talking
to you, showing you their new coloring page,
or practicing a recital, or whatever it is. Force
yourself again to focus on this person alone. It
gets easier with practice.

Serving God in Your
Own Fatherhood
Children can be terribly high-maintenance.
They want your attention. All of it. Remember
that you only spoil a child with things, not with
time and attention. When the devil tempted
our Lord, we thus learned what the devil offers
men (Matt. 4:1-10): First, he offers food or other

pleasures of the flesh, then he stimulates man’s
pride, and finally he offers power and worldly
glory. These are the things that cause problems
when raising children. My own children are
sometimes astonished at the nice brand-new toys,
clothing, and gifts that other children receive, but
my kids are gently reminded that many of those
children receive things from parents who do not
live with them.
Fathers who stay with their families and spend
active, loving time with their children and wives
will be able to look back one day with a serene
heart and realize that they served God through
their sacramental role as a husband and father.
These men can then say with the Lord, “Begone,
Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt
thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.”
59

Basilica of Saint Servatius
The present-day church is probably
the fourth church that was built
on the site of the grave of Saint
Servatius, an Armenian missionary
who was bishop of Tongeren and died
in 384 in Maastricht.
The Romanesque church was built
during a period in which the chapter
of Saint Servatius kept close ties to
the Holy Roman Emperors, which
resulted in a building that has the
characteristics of a German imperial
church.
The sculpted portal, at the south side
of the church, was begun around
1180 and can be considered late
Romanesque or early Gothic.

Book Review

Religious Freedom: A Debate
By Arnold T. Guminski and Fr. Brian Harrison, O.S.

The debate between two subtle minds turns
around the moot question of the compatibility
between religious liberty as taught by Dignitatis
Humanae of Vatican II and the pre-conciliar teaching,
particularly Quanta Cura and Mirari Vos. What is at
stake is only one aspect of the question, that is, for
any citizen, the right of immunity from civil coercion
regarding the public exercise of his religion as such.
This is what we usually understand by religious
liberty for every sect. The Middle Ages had one faith
across the board. Protestantism broke the unity
with the principle of religion by region, cuius regio
eius religio. Benedict XVI defines rightly the present religious liberty as liberty of conscience, cuius
conscientia eius religio.1
Fr. Brian Harrison, who has been writing on this
question for over 30 years, has thrown the glove to
an avowed atheist who, paradoxically, defends pretty
well and pretty much the SSPX position. (We take
exception against Guminski’s contention that the
pre-conciliar doctrine was never proposed definitively, that is, infallibly. We deem that the doctrine has
been taught infallibly, though without having been
dogmatically defined.) It is something of a mystery
to see a traditional priest coming to the rescue of
the very religious liberty which has, for instance, led
to the heresy of many millions of Latin Americans,
bereft of all ecclesiastical and civil protection.
The disputatio certainly is the echo of the doctrinal discussions between Roman theologians and the
SSPX. The interest of the latter, when they are made
public, will certainly be their clarity and brevity. One
cannot say the same of the long debate at hand. Yet
at least the book is raising the right questions, even
if much of the topic has been utterly covered in the
first inning by Guminski.
Father Harrison, because he is conservative, is
concerned by the issue of consistency between preconciliar doctrine and that of Dignitatis Humanae.
The thrust of his whole argument is to defend the
credibility of Vatican II, but this is a poor modus
arguendi because a side issue becomes the main
focus of his defense. He is forced to twist the mean-

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ing of the text to salvage the council. To do so, he
had to chip away on both ends the wall of contradiction dividing Quanta Cura and Dignitatis Humanae.
For this, he needs to give a very unecumenical
version of the “rights of citizens” and of the “public
order.” He surprisingly concludes that Quanta Cura
gives non-Catholic sects some religious freedom,
whereas Dignitatis Humanae limits religious freedom. Needless to say, this satisfies neither side:
the traditionalists condemn him for dethroning
Christ the King, and the conciliarists for destroying
ecumenism.
A Synthesis of Father Harrison on Religious
Freedom
According to the first version of Father Harrison,
Dignitatis Humanae (DH) propounds the doctrine
that:
-- Man has in principle a right to religious
freedom (immunity from civil prohibition
regarding peaceful non-Catholic propaganda in
predominantly Catholic countries, called religious
freedom from now on). (A)
-- This is a right founded on human nature. (B)
-- This constitutes a reversal of mere policy from
previous practice, not a doctrinal change. (C)
-- The “traditional Catholic doctrine” concerning the
“moral duty of men and societies towards the true
religion and the one Church or Christ” remains
“intact.” (D)
-- This right to religious freedom is protected by two
safeguards:
-- The rights of all citizens somehow includes
the right (in some sense) of a Catholic, even
though freely willing to be (or assuming the
risk of being) so exposed, to be protected
against temptations against his faith
presented by non-Catholic propaganda. (E)
-- The public order encompasses the divine
positive law and discriminates between the
True Church and sects. (F)
According to the second version of Harrison,
-- The ‘right’ of DH is not a natural right, but is “an

acquired right granted by the Church.” (G)
-- DH sounds more liberal than it really is. The
central doctrine of DH is that man’s religious
freedom is essentially limited (DH, Art. 2),
whereas freedom is incidental. (H)
Our objections to Father Harrison’s concept of
Religious Freedom (based on the first round of
Mr. Guminski)
Proposition (A). Man has in principle a right to
religious freedom (immunity from civil prohibition
regarding peaceful non-Catholic propaganda in
predominantly Catholic countries).
Response:
-- Father Harrison insists that what was condemned
was the following proposition: “All [and each]
peaceful non-Catholic propaganda has a right
to immunity from civil prohibition.” But this is
not identical to “some peaceful non-Catholic
propaganda has the natural right to be immune
from civil prohibition” (Vatican II position). He
argues: “The passage from a permissive to a
mandatory toleration is a harmonious bringing to
the surface of something which good Catholics
had traditionally observed in practice.”2
-- Here, he misconstrues pre-conciliar papal
doctrine as giving in principle some religious
freedom when in fact it denied to any nonCatholic religion any natural right whatsoever to
religious freedom.
(B) This is a right founded on human nature (DH 2.2).
Response:
-- If this is true, this means that the pre-conciliar
policy was objectively unjust. In other words, the
Catholic Church, for over a thousand years of
Christendom, has ignored and trampled upon
a natural right of the person. Father Harrison
himself recognizes that this could imply doubts as
to the Church’s infallibility.
(C) This constitutes a reversal of mere policy from
previous practice, not a doctrinal change.
Response:
-- It seems singularly unusual that the “authentic
interpretation” of DH by the Holy See after the
Council was manifested without a change of
doctrine.

-- But a change of policy does involve a change of
doctrine according to the text of Art. 7.3: “defined
and declared.” The Council “in treating of this
religious freedom intends to develop the teaching
of more recent popes [recentiorum summorum
pontificum doctrinam] on the inviolable rights of
the human person” (DH 1.3). Hence, DH declared
a doctrine concerning religious liberty (2.1).
-- The changes imposed by Vatican II over the
Spanish constitution are given as amendment
based on the immutable divine law.
(D) The “traditional Catholic doctrine” concerning
the “moral duty of men and societies towards the
true religion and the one Church of Christ” remains
“intact.” (DH 1)
Response:
-- DH 1 has nothing to do with the question of the
coercive power as to religious matters. The
preamble itself negatives this by, among other
things, referring to the “people’s demand for
religious liberty in carrying out their duty to
worship God concerns freedom from compulsion
in civil society.”
-- If other paragraphs de facto contradict the
traditional doctrine, this expression is a dead
letter.
(E) The “rights of all citizens” to religious freedom
somehow includes the right (in some sense) of a
Catholic, even though freely willing to be (or assuming the risk of being) so exposed, to be protected
against temptations against his faith presented by
non-Catholic propaganda.
Response:
-- It is true that this right of religious liberty must
be exercised “within due limits.” However, it is
nonsense to say there is a corresponding legal
right—within the meaning of the term “rights
of all citizens” in DH 7.3—of a Catholic not to be
exposed to such public teaching by a non-Catholic
religious community.
-- The same paragraph of DH proceeds to add a
proviso about the duty to abstain from improper
proselytizing, a qualification which is pointless
unless some proselytizing for some non-Catholic
religion is deemed within the scope of legitimate
public teaching.
-- DH 6.5 declares “that it is wrong for a civil power
63

Book Review
to use force or fear or other means…to prevent
anyone from entering or leaving a religious body.”
But the protection of believers from temptations
against faith presented by propaganda can be
done only if a civil power uses such “force or
fear…”
-- Father Harrison himself saw the flaw of DH
essentially banning religious freedom: “Even if it
does not contradict the letter of the Declaration,
it contradicts very definitely the primary intention
of many Council Fathers and periti, especially
those coming from mainly Protestant countries,
for whom the chief purpose of a conciliar
statement on religious liberty was to counteract,
for example, the discrimination against
Protestantism in countries like Spain…”3
(F) The public order encompasses the divine positive law and discriminates between the True Church
and sects.
Response:
-- This view of Father Harrison is the traditional
position which Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani
presented for consideration at Vatican II. The
schema (which was rejected) proposed that:
“Thus then, in the same way that the civil
Authority judges that it has the right to protect
public morality, likewise, in order to protect
the citizens against the seductions of error, in
order to keep the [Catholic] City in the unity of
faith, which is the supreme good and the source
of manifold, even temporal, benefits, the civil
authority can, by itself, regulate and moderate the
public manifestations of other cults and defend its
citizens against the spreading of false doctrines
which, in the judgment of the Church, put their
eternal salvation at risk.”4
-- The doctrine of DH on religious liberty is not just
a disguised codification of Cardinal Ottaviani’s
schema. “Public order” as used in DH 7 must
narrowly be construed in order to conform to the
clearly manifested legislative intent to exclude the
above-described traditional components of the
common-good coercive power.
-- DH nowhere authorizes repression of any
violations of the Catholic religion, as such. DH
vindicates religious liberty as a natural right, to be
universally recognized in all political communities
as a fundamental civil right. The principle of

64

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religious liberty, a natural right to be universally
protected by civil authority, applies to any
political community, whatever its official position
respecting religion.
-- If Father Harrison’s interpretation is right, how
does he explain the doctrine behind modern-day
rampant ecumenism?
(G) The ‘right’ of DH is not a natural right, but is an
acquired right granted by the Church.”
Response:
-- This is a gratuitous affirmation, contradicted
by the authentic teaching. DH 2.2 says that this
right “is firmly based on the dignity of the human
person as this is known from the revealed word of
God and from reason itself.…The right to religious
freedom is based on human nature itself, not on
any merely personal attitude of mind.”
-- In Veritatis Splendor, No. 56, Pope John Paul
II has explained: “The great concern of our
contemporaries for historicity and for culture has
led some to call into question the immutability
of the natural law itself, and thus the existence of
‘objective norms of morality’ valid for all people of
the present and future, as for those of the past.”
(H) DH sounds more liberal than it really is. The central doctrine of DH is that man’s religious freedom
is essentially limited (DH 2), whereas freedom is
incidental.
Response:
According to Father Harrison, in the “fine print”
and official commentary, which was not even published in Latin by the Vatican Press until thirteen
years after the Council, it is revealed that this language is not to be understood in a way which would
contradict the doctrine of the previous one and a
half millennia, which in fact allowed for many more
such governmental restrictions. Father Harrison
disarmingly acknowledges that “if that strikes you as
all rather confusing and less than straightforward,
then I am inclined to agree with you.”5 But would it
really be a good thing for the world to believe that the
Council Fathers were guilty of such a subterfuge?
-- If the essential doctrine of DH is to limit religious
freedom, this means that DH is essentially
vacuous. It reminds one of those sham legal
constitutional provisions in totalitarian states
which (in substance) affirm the right of the people

to be free, as to a particular matter, but only
within the limits of law.
-- There is something very wrong about an
approach which ultimately leads Father Harrison
to conclude that there is no natural right to
be free to publicly manifest or propagate any
non-Catholic religion in predominantly Catholic
countries; and that the doctrine of DH is
consistent with this position.
We make ours the conclusion of Guminski, who
reproaches Father Harrison for using the wrong
methodology. It is essential to employ the correct
method for the study of Dignitatis Humanae in order
to endeavor to determine its manifestly intended
meaning as disclosed by its text and legislative
history, rather than to construct what appears to

be a theory especially contrived in order to “save
appearances.”
Fr. Dominque Bourmaud
1

December 22, 2005, No. 17.

2

Brian W. Harrison, O.S., Religious Liberty and Contraception
(Melbourne: John XXIII Fellowship Co-Op. Ltd, 1988), p. 126.

3

Ibid., p. 86.

4

Michael Davies, The Second Vatican Council and Religious
Liberty (Long Prairie: Neumann Press, 1992), note 7 supra, p.
300.

5

Fr. Harrison’s remarks, National Wanderer Forum, September
24-26, 1993: “Roma…est.”

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65

Questions and Answers

by Fr. Peter Scott, SSPX

Is it permissible for a married
man to serve at the altar?
The serving at the altar for the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass is of such dignity that the Church has
consecrated the various functions of the altar
server by the minor orders. The Porter receives
the power to ring the bells and to hold the book,
the Exorcist receives the power to pour the water
for the Lavabo, and the Acolyte receives the
power to carry the candles and to bring the water

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and wine to the altar for the Sacrifice of the Mass.
In each case the consecration of the cleric to God
is symbolized by the exterior movements that he
performs on the altar, so that the Porter gives a
good example by his life to the faithful, so that
he can call them to prayer; the Exorcist gives an
example of purity of soul; and the Acolyte gives
the example of the light of goodness, justice, and
truth to enlighten the faithful and the Church of
God, and of the spirit of self-sacrifice through
a chaste life and good works (cf. Pontificale,
Ceremonies of Ordination).

The appropriateness of the service of the altar
by a cleric is consequently directly related to the
holiness of the function, which requires a man
consecrated to God. Furthermore, it is a public
function, which is why, as St. Thomas Aquinas
points out, “he takes the place of the whole
Catholic people, in whose place he answers the
priest who addresses him in the plural form” (III,
q. 83, a. 5 ad 12). Consequently it is eminently
appropriate that it be performed by a tonsured
cleric, having publicly put on “the new man, who
has been created according to God in justice and
in the sanctity of the truth” (ibid.), and this even if
no faithful are present.
Thus, if a tonsured cleric is present, he
should serve the Mass. However, this is rarely
the case, and yet the Church requires that there
be an altar server. In his 1947 encyclical on the
sacred Liturgy, Pope Pius XII taught this very
directly: “It is our duty and command—as it is
the command of Holy Mother Church—that out of
reverence for the dignity of this august Sacrifice
no priest should go to the altar without a server
to assist and answer the Mass, according to the
prescription of Canon 813” (Mediator Dei, §97).
This canon states, in effect, that the priest is not
to celebrate without a server (minister) to serve
him and make the responses, and furthermore
that this server must not be a woman, except that
in the absence of a man, and for a just cause, she
may make the responses from a distance and in
no way dare to approach the altar. In such a case,
of course, she is not an altar server at all. The
reasons to exclude a woman follow from what
was said above about the public and liturgical
nature of the function of serving on the altar,
which involves a kind of spiritual leadership of
the Catholic people.
In his commentary on this question, Father
O’Connell states: “Although he [the server] is
supposed to be a cleric, in practice, servers who
are not clerics are permitted” (The Celebration
of Mass, p. 365). This is confirmed by the section
on the Missal that lists the defects that can occur
in celebration, which states as a defect: “if there
is no cleric present, or another person who can
serve, or if the person present is one who must
not serve, such as a woman” (X, 1). This clearly

means that a man non-cleric can serve and that
this is not a defect, and such is the universal
custom.
If boys are customarily used to serve on
the altar, it is because they are all potential
vocations, presumed to be chaste and virtuous,
and to have at least the possibility of becoming
clerics in the future, if it be the will of God. It
certainly gives the boys a great opportunity
to develop their love of the Church’s beautiful
ceremonies, its sacredness and symbolism, and
they are wont to pay great attention to details, as
do clerics.
However, this does not mean that a married
man is in any way excluded from serving. The
key question here is to remember that it is a
public function, with a role of spiritual leadership
with respect to the faithful in assistance at the
Mass. It is consequently imperative that such
a man be chaste according to his state in life
(marital chastity is a virtue) and that he be an
example of virtue and that he live at least the
consecration to God of his baptism. In fact, it
would be much more appropriate for a married
man living in the state of grace to serve than for
an unmarried man or boy who is not able to go to
Holy Communion because he is not in the state
of grace, or whose life and works are a cause of
scandal. In each case, he cannot forget that he is
performing the role of a soul consecrated to the
greater honor and glory of Almighty God. The
important proviso, though, is that the married
man not become sloppy about the ceremonies,
movements, and Latin responses, and that he
pay as much attention to doing all these things
precisely as a cleric, or as a boy who is learning
them for the first time.

67

Questions and Answers

How do I answer someone
who affirms that his eternal
soul has had past lives?
The first point in any response is always
to recognize the element of truth in any such
statement. The element of truth is that the soul is
“eternal,” not in the sense that God is eternal, but
meaning, using a Catholic expression, that it is
immortal, that is, that it cannot die or otherwise
stop existing. Now, this soul that cannot die is
always the same soul as it was. It cannot be a
different soul or the soul of a different being and
still be an immortal soul.
From this we can exclude reincarnation,
which makes the same soul pass through a series
of different levels of being, such as animals.
If this were the case it would not be the same
soul, the same individual, identical to itself. It
would be a different soul, that is, a principle of a
different life than what it was. The reason for this
is that the soul is the principle of life, and that the
same soul cannot be the principle of two different
kinds of life, animal and human.
This person seems to be saying that he has
had different human lives. The first and most
obvious question is to ask him to prove it, which
obviously he cannot do. Any memories he might
have could just be imagination, and they have to

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be proven by some outside reference point if he is
to be taken seriously.
However, the same philosophical argument
can be used as with reincarnation. If a soul had
had a different life, then it would be a different
soul and a different individual being than what
it presently is. The one soul cannot change its
matter, and become now the form of one body,
then of another body; now of one being, then of
another being. It would have to be a different
individual soul to take a different individual body
or being. Hence it could not be the same person
who has different lives. The human person is
made up of body and soul, so that as soon as you
change one you immediately change the other.
This cannot be denied by anybody who
acknowledges that man has a spiritual side to
him (his faculties of intellect and will), as well as
a bodily side. The body and the soul go together,
the soul making the body human, and the body
being by nature the body of this soul. To say
that the two can be in some way separated goes
against all the evidence of the senses, which
point to the unity of man, body and soul. Hence it
is impossible to assert that one person has lived
different bodily lives.

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Church and World
Analysis of Pope Francis’s First Encyclical
Is Pope Francis’s first encyclical, Lumen Fidei,
in line with Tradition? DICI examines the text and
gives some conclusions.
Lumen Fidei [published on June 29, 2013] claims
to be “in continuity with all that the Church’s
magisterium has pronounced”; thus there is an
explicit reference—but only in a footnote—to
Chapter 3 of the Constitution Dei Filius of the
First Vatican Council (§7, note 7). It is also
about the “faith [that is] received from God as a
supernatural gift” (§4), and it specifies that faith is
a “theological” and “supernatural” virtue given by
God (§7).
Similarly we read: “Since faith is one, it must be
professed in all its purity and integrity” (§48); not a
single article of the Creed can be denied; there is a
need for vigilance to ensure that the deposit of faith
is passed on “in its entirety” (§48).
But those are the only traces of the traditional
teaching.
Affective Relation of Love
All the rest of the Encyclical buries these all too

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rare allusions in a context that is quite foreign to
them. This context connects the idea of faith with
the idea of experience and personal encounter,
which establishes a relation between man and
God without making it clear whether this is the
intellectual relation of knowledge1 or the affective
relation of love.2 Nor is it very clear whether this
personal encounter corresponds to the profound
requirements of nature or whether it surpasses
them by introducing man into a specifically
supernatural order.3 The problem is compounded
by the failure to cite the classical notions of natural
and supernatural in describing this relation: it is
above all a question of existence.4
The central idea is that faith is first of all
existential, the product of an encounter with
the living God that reveals love and leads to
communion (§4, §8). It is essentially dynamic,
openness to the promise of God and memory of
[that promise about] the future (§9), openness to
love (§21, §34), attachment to the source of life and
of all fatherhood (§11), an experience of love (§47)…
It consists of “the willingness to let ourselves be

constantly transformed and renewed by God’s call”
(§13).
There is no definition of what a theological virtue
is, and the reader will search in vain for a specific
definition of the three theological virtues, which
consequently are mixed up. Never is faith related
to the authority of God who reveals (the word
“authority” appears once, in §55, but in reference
to another subject). The revealed deposit of faith
is mentioned only in §48, but it is not defined—
particularly the fact that it was completed at the
death of the last apostle.
Article 18 recalls that “Christian faith is faith
in the incarnation of the Word and his bodily
resurrection; it is faith in a God who is so close to
us that he entered our human history.” But it must
be admitted that it is quite difficult to recite the act
of faith on the basis of the considerations proposed
here, according to which faith relies not on the
authority of God who can neither deceive nor be
deceived, but rather on the “utter reliability of God’s
love” (§17), and on the reliability of Jesus “based…
on his divine sonship” (ibid.). In other words: I
believe in God because He is love and not because
He is truthful.
Accept and Believe the Truth
We find in footnote 23 an excerpt from Dei
Verbum that speaks about “[willing assent] to the
revelation given by God,” which requires the grace
of God anticipating it and assisting it, as well as
the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the
heart and converts it to God, and opens the eyes
of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and
believe the truth (§29).
Yet further on the Encyclical reads: “The creed
does not only involve giving one’s assent to a body
of abstract truths; rather, when it is recited the
whole of life is drawn into a journey towards full
communion with the living God” (§45).
The necessity of faith in order to be saved is
presented in a non-directive manner: the beginning
of salvation is “openness to something prior to
ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and
sustains it in being” (§19). Or else: “Faith in Christ
brings salvation because in him our lives become
radically open” (§20). This is far from the Gospel
clarity: “Go ye into the whole world and preach the

gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not
shall be condemned” (Mk. 16:15-16).
On the contrary, §34 says: “The light of love
proper to faith can illumine the questions of our
own time about truth….As a truth of love, it is not
one that can be imposed by force; it is not a truth
that stifles the individual. Since it is born of love,
it can penetrate to the heart, to the personal core
of each man and woman. Clearly, then, faith is not
intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence
with others.”
Incidentally, one might wonder about the
catechetical effectiveness of the definition of the
Decalogue given in §46: “The Decalogue is not a set
of negative commands, but concrete directions for
emerging from the desert of the selfish and selfenclosed ego in order to enter into dialogue with
God.”
In short, faith, as it is presented in Lumen Fidei,
is first of all an experience of life and of love, fully
realized in the “encounter with Christ” (§30): “Faith
knows because it is tied to love, because love itself
brings enlightenment” (§26). Jesus is said to be the
one savior because “all God’s light is concentrated
in him, in his ‘luminous life’ which discloses the
origin and the end of history” (§35).
Open Church to the Modern World
It is much too early to propose, based on a first
encyclical, a key to reading the teaching of Pope
Francis; the next encyclical—which is said to be
dedicated to poverty—will be more personal and
will enlighten us more precisely. We will simply
be so bold as to point out that Lumen Fidei is
indeed in line with post-conciliar teaching. Vatican
II wanted to open up the Church to the modern
world, which is characterized by its rejection of the
argument from authority. Thus the Council claimed
to be pastoral, avoiding all dogmatic definition
so as not to give the impression of coercing
contemporary minds.
From this perspective, the considerations on
faith in Lumen Fidei are somewhat reminiscent of
what the immanentist philosopher Maurice Blondel
wrote:
“If faith increases our knowledge, it is not
initially and principally inasmuch as it teaches
71

Church and World
us certain objective truths by authorized testimony,
but rather inasmuch as it unites us to the life of a
subject, inasmuch as it initiates us, through loving
thought, to another thought and another love” (M.
Blondel in A. Lalande, Dictionnaire technique et
critique de la philosophie [Paris: PUF, 1968], p. 360,
emphasis added).
It is not learning objective truths, but becoming
united to the life of a subject and being initiated by
loving thought to another thought and another love.
Hence a problem arises: how can one be content to
propose to modern minds, which are smitten with
autonomy, what the authority of divine revelation
imposes on us? And how can we do this without
giving the impression to those minds that the
authority of divine revelation is contrary to their
aspirations to autonomy? And without diluting the
revealed deposit itself either or diminishing its
authority? These are the difficulties with which the
Magisterium has been struggling for fifty years.
Revelation as the Living Word
In a recent article, Fr. Jean-Dominique, O.P.,
recalls the interest with which the Protestants
of Taizé welcomed the non-dogmatic teaching
of Vatican II: “The Council’s intention is to drop
an excessively static and notional language so as
to adopt resolutely a dynamic, living language.
This whole magnificent document [Dei Verbum,
the conciliar document on Revelation—Editor’s
note] will consider Revelation as the living
Word that the living God addresses to the living
Church composed of living members….This whole
document on Revelation will be dominated by the
foundational evangelical themes of word, life, and
communion. The Word of God is the living Christ
whom God gives to mankind so as to establish
between him and them the communion of the Spirit
in the Church.”
Thus the Church gave up “speaking about the
acceptance of revelation in terms of submission
to authority” so as to speak primarily about a
“personal faith that accepts God’s revelation”
(Roger Schutz and Max Thurian, La Parole vivante
au Concile [Les Presses de Taizé, 1966], pp. 7778, cited by Fr. Jean-Dominique, “Concile ou
révolution?” Le Chardonnet, July 2013, p. 6).
This intention no longer to resort to dogmatic
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definitions is deplored by the Declaration of the
bishops of the Society of St. Pius X dated June 27,
2013: “We are truly obliged to observe that this
Council without comparison, which wanted to be
merely pastoral and not dogmatic, inaugurated
a new type of magisterium, hitherto unheard
of in the Church, without roots in Tradition; a
magisterium resolved to reconcile Catholic doctrine
with liberal ideas; a magisterium imbued with the
modernist ideas of subjectivism, of immanentism
and of perpetual evolution according to the false
concept of a living tradition [which is also found
in the writings of Maurice Blondel—Editor’s note],
vitiating the nature, the content, the role and the
exercise of ecclesiastical magisterium” (see DICI,
No. 278, July 5, 2013).
(DICI, No. 279, July 19, 2013)

1

Recall: Faith is defined as the adherence of our intellect to the
truths revealed by God, because of the authority of God who reveals
them. The spiritual life has faith as its principle, which receives
from revelation its properly intellectual and therefore conceptual
knowledge of the mystery. Without denying the fact that faith must be
enriched by charity and flourish in loving knowledge, we must firmly
maintain that, in order to be united in the actual spiritual life, faith
and charity must remain formally distinct in their definition, in the
eyes of the Magisterium and of theology.

2

“Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always
accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which
shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of
our history” (§13). “Faith transforms the whole person precisely to
the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending
of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith
entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps.
Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings
enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the
immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us
to see reality with new eyes” (§26). “Christian faith, inasmuch as it
proclaims the truth of God’s total love and opens us to the power of
that love, penetrates to the core of our human experience. Each of
us comes to the light because of love, and each of us is called to love
in order to remain in the light. Desirous of illumining all reality with
the love of God made manifest in Jesus, and seeking to love others
with that same love, the first Christians found in the Greek world,
with its thirst for truth, an ideal partner in dialogue. The encounter
of the Gospel message with the philosophical culture of the ancient
world proved a decisive step in the evangelization of all peoples, and
stimulated a fruitful interaction between faith and reason which has
continued down the centuries to our own times” (§32).

3

“The life of faith, as a filial existence, is the acknowledgment of
a primordial and radical gift which upholds our lives. We see this
clearly in St. Paul’s question to the Corinthians: ‘What have you
that you did not receive?’ (I Cor. 4:7)” (§19). Does this refer to the
gift of creation or to the gift of grace? “In accepting the gift of faith,
believers become a new creation; they receive a new being, as God’s
children”; this is well put, but it does not specify whether this newness
is part of the natural order and in continuity with creation or whether
it surpasses it.

4

“The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every

aspect of human existence” (§4). “For those early Christians, faith,
as an encounter with the living God revealed in Christ, was indeed
a ‘mother’, for it had brought them to the light and given birth
within them to divine life, a new experience and a luminous vision
of existence for which they were prepared to bear public witness
to the end” (§5). “The Second Vatican Council enabled the light of
faith to illumine our human experience from within, accompanying
the men and women of our time on their journey. It clearly showed
how faith enriches life in all its dimensions” (§6). “Thus wonderfully
interwoven, faith, hope and charity are the driving force of the
Christian life as it advances towards full communion with God” (§7).

“Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always
accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which
shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our
history” (§13). “The beginning of salvation is openness to something
prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains
it in being” (§19). “Those who believe are transformed by the Love to
which they have opened their hearts in faith. By their openness to
this offer of primordial Love, their lives are enlarged and expanded”
(§21). “The realization that God is light provided Augustine with a new
direction in life and enabled him to acknowledge his sinfulness and to
turn towards the good” (§33).

Jean Madiran Passes Away
Jean Madiran passed away on July 31, 2013.
He was the cofounder of the newspaper Présent
in 1982. La Porte Latine, the Society of St. Pius X
District of France’s website, pays homage to him
in these words: “Among the great figures of the
Catholic resistance to the aggiornamento, the
name of Jean Madiran will certainly be one of the
most frequently quoted, and if the list is reduced
to French laymen, few can vie with him for first
place. He was unquestionably one of the last
representatives of this generation to have written,
contradicted, and fought to warn the authorities of

the Church, to encourage her faithful priests, and to
form the generations for tomorrow.”
We owe to him the magazine Itinéraires, which he
founded in 1956, with the collaboration of, among
others, Fr. Calmel, Dom Guillou, Dom Gérard,
Fr. Berto, Fr. Dulac, Luce Quenette, the Charlier
brothers, Louis Salleron, Marcel De Corte, Charles
De Koninck, Gustave Corçao, Jacques Perret…
After constantly supporting the Society of St.
Pius X, particularly in a special edition of Itinéraires
(1976) entitled The Illegal [“Sauvage] Condemnation
of Archbishop Lefebvre, Jean Madiran distanced

himself from the Society after the episcopal
consecrations of June 30, 1988. However, when
questioned two years ago, in the movie Archbishop
Lefebvre: A Documentary, he made a point of
declaring: “If the Society of St. Pius X still exists
today, it is because Archbishop Lefebvre gave it
four bishops. What gives it the importance it has,
what makes the Pope consider it as something,
is the fact that it has bishops.” And he explained,
“In the Church, it counts to be bishops. And so the
founder was right; in any case, he made a durable
foundation and provided the conditions necessary
for his work to continue.”
In the many memories brought to mind with
his passing, allow us to mention the tribute paid
to his surgical style: “This micro-word-surgeon
relentlessly pointed out errors of logic and
weaknesses of thought and errors of style, but he
was moved by the good of his country and of the
Church” (Jeanne Smits). And “the sharp scalpel of
this thought-surgeon was unequaled when it came
to dissecting error; his biting irony, when it came to
ridiculing it; his insistence when it came to shedding
light on it” (Bruno Gollnisch). Indeed, we remember
the methodical dissection of the “religion of Saint
Avold” in his masterpiece, L’Hérésie du XXe siècle
(The Heresy of the 20th Century), published in 1968
by Nouvelles Editions Latines. In the afterword of
the second edition in 1988, he did not hesitate to
write: “If I had to leave behind me only one book,
it would be this one.” And he added in an interview
with Présent (May 13-14, 1988), “I have expressed in
L’Hérésie all the reasons for my refusals and also all
the ideas I fight for. All the combats to which I have,
in a way, consecrated my life.”
(Source: DICI)

73

Church and World
The Franciscans of the Immaculate under Surveillance
A Roman decision affecting the Franciscans of
the Immaculate has caused quite a commotion in
Rome, right in the middle of the summer. In fact,
following an Apostolic Visitation that began a year
ago, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued, with the
explicit approval of Pope Francis, a Decree dated
July 11, 2013, but made public only several days
later, which appoints an Apostolic Commissioner
to govern the Franciscans of the Immaculate
until their next General Chapter convenes in
2014, and which imposes the Mass of Paul VI on
all its members, unless they obtain the express
authorization from the Commissioner.
Franciscans Adopt Traditional Mass

The Congregation of the Franciscan Friars
of the Immaculate was founded in 1970 by two
Franciscans, Fr. Stefano Manelli and Fr. Gabriele

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Pellettieri. This congregation was approved
according to diocesan right by the Archbishop
of Benevento, Abp. Carlo Minchiatti, in 1990. On
January 1, 1998, it was raised to the status of an
institute of pontifical right.
The Franciscans of the Immaculate, who today
number around 400 religious in more than 50
houses, head several radio and television stations
throughout the world; they direct several websites
and a publishing house, Casa Mariana Editrice,
which has published dozens of volumes, among
them the book by Msgr. Brunero Gherardini, The
Ecumenical Vatican Council II: A Much Needed
Discussion. The female branch, the Franciscan
Sisters of the Immaculate, erected as an institute
of religious life of pontifical right in the same years
as the Friars, includes more than 400 nuns.
Now, six years ago, following the Motu Proprio
Summorum Pontificum dated July 7, 2007, which

acknowledged that the Mass of Saint Pius V had
never been abrogated, the congregation of the
Franciscans of the Immaculate began to adopt
habitually—but not exclusively—the Traditional
Mass. That is why the Roman decision raises
several questions.
The historian Roberto de Mattei asks
himself: “What is the intention of the supreme
ecclesiastical authority? To suppress the “Ecclesia
Dei” Commission and to abrogate the Motu
Proprio of Benedict XVI? Then it is necessary to
say so explicitly, so that the consequences thereof
can be drawn. And if that is not the case, why
issue a Decree that is uselessly provocative with
regard to the Catholic circles that adhere to the
Tradition of the Church? These circles are going
through a period of great expansion, especially
among young people, and perhaps that is the chief
reason for the hostility that is directed against it
today.”
The last five lines of the July 11 Decree are
the most astonishing: “In addition to the above,
the Holy Father Francis has directed that every
religious of the Congregation of the Franciscan
Friars of the Immaculate is required to celebrate
the liturgy according to the ordinary rite and
that, if the occasion should arise, the use of
the extraordinary form (Vetus Ordo) must be
explicitly authorized by the competent authorities,
for every religious and/or community that makes
the request.”
Decree Contradicts Summorum Pontificum

The Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister
emphasizes: “The astonishment stems from
the fact that what is decreed contradicts the
dispositions given by Benedict XVI, which for
the celebration of the Mass in the ancient rite
‘sine populo’ demand no previous request for
authorization whatsoever…. While for Masses
‘cum populo’ they set out a few conditions, but
always guaranteeing the freedom to celebrate.
“In general, against a decree of a Vatican
congregation it is possible to have recourse to the
supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura….
But if the decree is the object of approval in a
specific form on the part of the pope, as it seems
to be in this case, recourse is not admitted. The

Franciscans of the Immaculate will have to
comply with the prohibition on celebrating the
Mass in the ancient rite beginning Sunday, August
11.”
What are the reasons for this Roman decree?
The journalist Yves Chiron asked an Italian
historian, Fabrizio Cannone, in Aletheia (No. 204,
July 31, 2013), about possible dissension within the
community of the Franciscans of the Immaculate.
Here is his response: “For some time now there
have been differences among the members of
the Institute. Differences essentially of two
types. First, there have been increasingly strong
criticisms aimed at the Founder and Superior
General, who recently turned eighty, whom
some consider no longer capable of supervising
the many activities and the development of the
Institute….
“Tridentinization”

“The second internal criticism came to light
after the 2007 Motu Proprio: although the majority
of the priests accept the document and have
made extensive use of it, while nevertheless
always respecting diocesan pastoral guidelines,
some religious have not looked kindly on this
supposed “Tridentinization,” which was perhaps
unexpected. The significant reason, in my opinion,
is that the Institute is perhaps the only one in the
world, at least among those that have a certain
numerical importance, that has tried to go over
to the traditional liturgy, at least for the internal
celebrations within the community: and this, I
repeat, was greeted with great joy by most of the
priests, simple brothers, nuns and third-order lay
people. This was a sign that there should be and
there is a connection between their spirituality
and the typical spirituality of the traditional rite.
Some priests did not accept this development,
which was however foreseen by the text of the
Motu Proprio itself, and they began to find fault
with Father Manelli, with his co-founder Father
Pellettieri, and the other members of the [General]
Council. Hence the Apostolic Visitation, the
Decree and the nomination of a Commissioner.”
Fabrizio Cannone concludes: “This measure
seems to be a punitive measure, in the sense
that the possibly deficient government by the
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Church and World
Superiors and the supposed lack of a sensus
Ecclesiae are not the same thing as the liturgical
form that they may have adopted—far from it.
What is more, in this case one can observe also the
copious fruits of young vocations.”
When asked about the Decree, Fr. Federico
Lombardi, director of the Press Office of the
Holy See, stated that this was a decision aimed
at responding to specific problems and tensions
within the community of the Franciscan Friars of
the Immaculate, and he assured the reporter that it
was not a matter of contradicting the Motu Proprio
Summorum Pontificum that liberalized the use of

negotiations, meetings and dialogues”; the recent
statement of its bishops on the occasion of the
25th anniversary of the episcopal consecrations
(see DICI, No. 278, July 5, 2013) “is a categorical
and definitive refusal.” According to the french
bishop, the “new” secretary of the “Ecclesia Dei”
Commission might be able “to tell whether some
of the files can be reactivated,” whereas Abp.
Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith [and ex officio President
of the “Ecclesia Dei” Commission] “finds it more
difficult to understand” the refusal of the Society
of Saint Pius X to recognize the Second Vatican

the old rite.

Council as a whole, and Abp. Augustine Di Noia,
Vice-President of the “Ecclesia Dei” Commission
since June 26, 2012, “can only declare that the
dossier is complex.”
In Rome, an attentive observer of this story
informs us that “there are not yet any unofficial
or official explanations” for the reappointment
of Archbishop Pozzo. The only conclusion that
can be drawn from it is that for the moment no
one intends to abolish this Commission, as some
had rumored. “The strong reactions provoked
by the Decree concerning the Franciscans of the
Immaculate surprised more than one Roman
dignitary. Let us wait for what happens next….
For we are in the month of August, many are
on vacation, and it is difficult to get reliable
information.”
(Sources: Apic / IMedia / Aletheia / LaCroix
/ news.va / corrispondenzaromana.it / chiesa.
espressonline.it / private sources – DICI, No. 280,
August 9, 2013)

Reappointment

This was the context in which the public
learned, on Saturday, August 2, that the Pontifical
Commission “Ecclesia Dei” had a new secretary.
Indeed, the pope had just appointed to that post
Abp. Guido Pozzo, Archbishop of Bagnoregio in
Italy, who until then had been the Papal Almoner,
and who had already occupied that post from July
2009 to November 2012.
According to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard,
Archbishop of Bordeaux and a member of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to
which the “Ecclesia Dei” Commission is attached,
the reappointment “of someone who knows the
files very well” will allow this Commission to
“benefit from his experience and knowledge” at a
moment when it is confronted by several crucial
issues. In the August 5 issue of La Croix Cardinal
Ricard reflects that with regard to the Society of
Saint Pius X it is time to “recognize a failure of the
76

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Theological Studies

True and
False Ideas
of Tradition
The Crux of the Problem
By Fr. Davide Pagliarani, SSPX

The true or false concept of Tradition is, in a
certain sense, the crux of all the problems, all the errors, and all the problematic passages of the Second
Vatican Council, and John Paul II understood this
very well when he said, in the famous motu proprio
Ecclesia Dei Adflicta1 of 1988 “excommunicating” the
four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre,
that at the root of that act there was an incomplete
and contradictory notion of Tradition which does not
take into proper account its “living character.”
We are faced with a concept to which the adjective
“living” is added which qualifies it in a new way, even if
this adjective is not an invention of Vatican II, because Tradition had been called “living” earlier, but of
course, for quite different reasons. The supporters of
this concept of living Tradition put it in opposition to a
Tradition that is dead or fossilized, which would be the
Tradition of the so-called Lefebvrists, they claim. This
is our status quaestionis.
To understand this issue, we present a truly revealing sentence taken from a work of Von Balthasar. In

1952, ten years before the opening of the Council, Von
Balthasar wrote, in his book with the very significant
title Razing the Bastions,2 “The truth of the Christian
life is like the manna in the desert. It cannot be set
aside and preserved. Today it is fresh, tomorrow it is
rotten.” It is a reference to the manna which fell in the
desert, of course. God had commanded that the Jews
gather every day only a certain amount of manna
in order to teach them to trust in Providence, which
would make the manna fall again from heaven the
next day. Any extra manna that was collected would
be found rotten the next day. So the truth, according
to Von Balthasar, is like the manna: fresh today, rotten
tomorrow.
“A truth that only continues to be transmitted without being rethought thoroughly has lost its life force,”
continues Von Balthasar. “The vessel that contains it,
for example, the language, the world of images and
concepts, gets dusty, it rusts, it crumbles.” Just like
the manna of the next day. Thus the truth cannot be
simply transmitted over the years and the cen-

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turies, but must be reconsidered completely. What
does this mean? That what conveys revelation must
be thoroughly rethought continuously in order to be
always alive and always continue to be true. To be
faithful to revelation one must continually rethink it
thoroughly, Von Balthasar asserts.
We are once again facing the great theme of
hermeneutics, philosophical hermeneutics of the
twentieth century, and this is interesting because it
shows how all the doctrines related to the Second
Vatican Council are perfectly consistent with each
other. Error has its own logic, so it is normal that even
if you start with different analyses and from different
points of view, you end up with the same underlying
principles.
The Definition of Tradition
Tradition. But what is it? Why is it necessary? How
do you justify its presence and especially how and
by whom it is transmitted? Tradition is, along with
Sacred Scripture, the source of revelation. God, in
the course of the Old and New Testament, reveals
Himself, makes Himself known, and finally does so in
the fullest possible way, in the most perfect manner,
through the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who, in His own person, through His humanity, reveals
the Father, reveals God.
Jesus Christ, through His humanity performs
gestures and teaches, preaches. But where are the
sermons of our Lord? Where are His teachings? Who
collected them and, above all, those who listened
to them? Who heard our Lord? It is clear that two
thousand years ago our Lord preached in a particular historical context surrounded by twelve men
with a particular charism, with a particular mission.
After preaching and after ascending into heaven,
He left His twelve Apostles the mission to complete
Revelation. This is why the Apostles are fully considered the columns on which Jesus Christ founded
His Church. With the death of the last Apostle, St.
John, public revelation is closed, which terminates
the formation of the deposit of faith that the Church
will guard until the end of time. From the death of St.
John, the problem is something else, the problem is
guarding the deposit of faith, not increasing it.
Here we find the distinction between Sacred
Scripture and Tradition, a distinction that is necessary, a distinction which, if well understood, shows
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the absolute superiority of Tradition over Sacred
Scripture itself.
Why? Our Lord is the example of all perfection,
the example of the perfect revelation. He speaks,
preaches, teaches, but does not write anything. His
teachings are collected by the Apostles and are put
in writing, just as facts of His life and the miracles He
performed are written down. So Sacred Scripture
comes later. It is preceded by this oral teaching that
is at the origin of the foundation of the Church. Herein
lies the superiority of Tradition over Sacred Scripture.
The same applies to the Apostles. Most of them do
not write anything, at least not anything that was
revealed. St. Paul and the Evangelists write a lot, but
most of the Apostles are not sacred writers.
Another reason for this superiority—it is important to remember this today—which demonstrates
the superiority of Tradition over Sacred Scripture
is contained in the question: how do we know which
ones are the sacred texts? Who says that the Gospel
of St. John is not apocryphal? Who tells us? Luther?
No! The Church tells us. But who told the Church
that? The Church was told that by the Church itself,
that is, the testimony of the previous generation. If we
go back in time it is clear that we come necessarily
to the original source, which is Tradition, which is the
preaching of our Lord and the Apostles. The Canon of
Sacred Scripture comes, therefore, directly from the
initial preaching of the Church.
But the issue now is another one, which interests
us most closely. With the understanding of Tradition
made clear, the problem is how it can be transmitted over the centuries. The Evangelists, except St.
Matthew, write in Greek, and we do not all understand Greek. These books have been handed down,
and translated, always under the supervision of the
Church. But for Sacred Scripture, the problem does
not arise so much, because the sacred text is what
it is; there may be some translations, there may be
some philological studies, but they are anchored to a
text that cannot change. It can be translated but not
re-formulated.
With Tradition, however, we are faced with an oral
preaching. It is clear that when we preach, we use
expressions, images, and examples to illustrate a particular concept, [and these expressions] legitimately
and necessarily change over the centuries, because
for men of today to be able to tap into a certain teach-

ing, we need to speak to them with a certain language. This is perfectly true, and no one denies it. The
Church, over the centuries, did not simply limit itself
to celebrating Mass in Latin without ever engaging a
certain sensibility which, of course, changed over the
centuries. The Church has always taken into account
all of this.
Is Tradition Living?
Even the Councils have taken into account these
requirements and have more clearly defined some
truths of faith. But we are faced with a process, a
completely homogeneous development. There is
no new truth that is not contained in that baggage,
in that deposit closed with the death of the last
Apostle. There is no new truth. It is in this sense that
Tradition can be said to be alive—and the term is not
an invention of the Second Vatican Council—since it
is embodied concretely, is transmitted from a living
Church, attentive to the needs and sensitivity and
problems of men of every age.
In the past, this term was used by theologians, but
in some specific contexts, especially in contrast to
the dead letter of Protestants. Protestantism, from
the beginning, attaches itself to only one source of
Sacred Scripture, the written source. As there is no
mediation of the Church which explains, which gives
access to written texts, it is clear that you are in front
of something dead. In regard to this written text,
which is not enough in itself, Catholic theology spoke
even in the past—especially the Tübingen school in
the nineteenth century with the ontologist Müller3—of
living Tradition.
Just to give a concrete example, take the word
transubstantiation, a difficult word that neither Jesus
nor the Apostles ever uttered. So where do we find
this concept? Is it in Revelation or not? Of course it
is in Revelation, of course it is in Tradition, but it is a
new and old term at the same time. It is materially a
new term, but which expresses faithfully, perfectly, an
ancient concept, a concept contained in the deposit
of Tradition. Transubstantiation is a word that over
the centuries has revealed itself to be the best for
defining what happens on the altar during Mass:
the change of substance. Does this mean that there
can never be another word even more perfect, more
precise? Theoretically there may be a word even more
precise; this is possible, but what is not possible is to

revisit the concept of transubstantiation.
Who in particular has the duty to faithfully transmit
the revealed deposit? This really is the central issue,
the topic of topics. The task falls to the Magisterium.
The Magisterium is the organ that our Lord instituted
to faithfully preserve the deposit of Tradition, the
deposit of Faith, to explain the content in a manner
ever more suitable, ever more perfect. The relationship of Tradition to Magisterium is very delicate
because Tradition, in its content, is closed. The acts
of the Magisterium in relation to Tradition are defined
as active Tradition, in the sense that they translate
into more consistent and more precise language the
content which is not active, but which is objective. I
apologize for these concepts that can be a bit technical—objective Tradition and active Tradition—but we
need to better understand the current problem.
What is this current problem? After reading the
words of Von Balthasar which state that the truth
must be thoroughly rethought, we read some passages of the discourse of Benedict XVI on April
26, 2006,4 about a year after his accession to the
papacy. The text has been reported in L’Osservatore
Romano: “The Spirit appears as the guarantor of the
active presence of the mystery in history and the One
Who ensures its implementation over the centuries.
Thanks to the Paraclete, the experience of the Risen
One”—Pay attention to this part!—“had by the apostolic community at the beginnings of the Church will
always be experienced by succeeding generations to
the extent that it is transmitted and actualized in the
faith and in the worship and in the communion of the
pilgrim people of God in time. The Apostolic Tradition
of the Church consists in this transmission of the
goods of salvation that makes the Christian community the permanent actualization of the original
communion in the power of the Spirit.”
A Divergent Path
We are facing a completely different conception of
Tradition. Tradition, for Benedict XVI, is the communication over the centuries, under the guidance
of the Holy Ghost, of the original experience of the
Christian community. It is not the transmission of
dogmatic contents in the strict sense, of dogmatic
truths taught by Christ and the Apostles, of a deposit
explained perhaps in a new way, but with its precise
concepts. It is the transmission of an experience,

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Theological Studies
or in other words, the continuation of a life. Here the
Pope is even more precise: “This permanent actualization of the active presence of the Lord Jesus in His
people, worked by the Holy Spirit and expressed in
the Church through the apostolic ministry and fraternal communion, is that which is meant in a theological
sense by the term Tradition.”
Another passage that further highlights the link
between the initial experience and our experience is
as follows:
“Tradition is the communion of the faithful around
their legitimate pastors throughout history, a communion that the Holy Spirit nurtures, assuring the connection between the experience of the apostolic faith,
lived in the original community of disciples”—he is
very clear—“and the present-day experience of Christ
in His Church.” Tradition, in other words, what does it
guarantee us? That we have the same experience that
the first Christians had. Not that we believe the same
dogmas. They are two different perspectives.
In this next and last citation, Benedict XVI says
what Tradition is not, bringing up the concept of living
Tradition. “Tradition is not the transmission of things
or words,”—so it is not a transmission of dogmas or
formulas—“a collection of dead things.” On this we
can agree, but be careful: what is meant here by dead
things? Something that is not living. But what is it
that is not living, according to this line of thought?
Dogmas and formulas. “Tradition is the living river
that connects us to the origins, the living river in
which the origins are present. The great river that
leads us to the port of eternity.”
The idea of the
​​
river is very interesting. A river, by
definition, is what flows, what is flowing. What is flowing in this experience that goes from the Apostles,
through us, to the end of time? History flows. And
history is never the same. The protagonists of history,
in every moment, are different from what they were
before. In relation to this morning, you are much more
tired. This is obvious. Why? Because after a certain
number of hours it is clear that we are no longer the
same.
Thus, Tradition is not a collection of things, it is
not even a collection of words such as transubstantiation. So then, in this context, in this perspective, what
sense does it have to speak of transubstantiation?
Because, apart from the extreme Modernists, no one
denies the use of this term. In this perspective, the
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term transubstantiation manifests a linguistic modernity through which the Church expresses her experience of the Risen Christ, her own experience in a
particular historical moment and which is connected
to her origins. In this perspective, the term transubstantiation has a great value, a value which, however,
is tied to a historical moment. According to this line
of thought, this word is perfectly part of the Tradition
of the Church, but of a living Tradition, and cannot,
therefore, be anchored to any formulas, otherwise
it would betray itself and, paradoxically, could mean
something false.
What does all this mean? If the truth itself must be
rethought in every historical moment in order to be
spoken, to be enunciated always in a consistent way,
in a manner appropriate to the sensitivity of the man
who evolves and to history which evolves, the great
risk in the continued use of words used a thousand or
five hundred years ago, is to be anchored to a petrified Tradition, a dead Tradition, one that is no longer
alive and that, therefore, paradoxically, risks saying
something that is no longer understandable and
therefore risks conveying something false.
The Risk of Historicism
It is very logical as a principle. Let us return, however, to a Catholic point of view, to a traditional perspective. It is true that certain words can be replaced
with even more precise ones. That’s why throughout
history the Church has proclaimed new dogmas,
dogmas which, however, were already contained in
Revelation. The Church has explained and made them
more clear, but did not invent anything, did not rethink the truth. This is very important, because, if not,
one falls into a form of absolute historicism.
Benedict XVI, in his famous speech of December
22, 2005,5 says that the condemnation of religious
liberty and its promotion are contradictory only
in appearance, but which all forms part of the one
Tradition of the Church.
This is simply a way to revisit and then to explain
the same truths in different times and circumstances.
The hermeneutics or interpretation of the facts has
shown us that things are not exactly so. If really those
two statements mean the same thing, the course of
history would not have changed, along with all the
consequences that we know.
This constant revision of the truth, that truth which

Von Balthasar wrote must be continually rethought
(the key word is: rethought), this making present
in every day of the life of the Church of the original
experience that connects us to the origins is not done
so much under the guidance of the Magisterium,
because it is an experience, a communication of a life,
but rather it is done under the guidance of the Spirit.
It is the Spirit who, Benedict XVI says, makes present
this original life, which brings us back to this presupposed experience of the origins.
It is a rather pneumatic and spiritualist vision, because it gives us the guarantee of this experience, assuming that the Christians today are having the same
experience and still believe in something. Who can
guarantee that this experience is really the same as
that of the martyrs of the first centuries? Who guarantees it, if there is no Magisterium, but it is the Spirit
who acts? It is a bit of a neo-Protestant concept, if
you will. Just as in the Protestant world, the Holy
Ghost is the guarantor of a correct interpretation of
Sacred Scripture—we know well the consequences of
this “brilliant” idea of ​​Luther—so the Holy Ghost is the
guarantor of this continuity over the centuries.
On this point it is necessary to make a small
parenthesis, a small distinction. We are not computers, where you just bring a CD with the contents of
Tradition and these are captured in a perfect way
and we are sanctified. It is true that Christianity,
Catholicism in particular, is an experience, that the
spiritual life is an experience. It is not mistaken to
speak of the experience of God. When you embark on
a mission to evangelize the savages, you surely communicate to them the truths of the Faith, but you also
communicate a way of relating to the sacred, to God,
a way of praying, even a way of feeling. The missionary communicates what he himself has. In this sense
it is true that evangelization is the communication of
an experience, but this experience is bound by the
dogmatic contents that precede it. It is not the experience that precedes the dogmatic contents. It is clear
that when a missionary departs to evangelize a nation
of savages he brings an experience that is based on
very precise dogmatic contents, and he will communicate it through a Creed. Above all he must convert
their intelligence, but, at the same time and in full
dependence on these doctrinal contents, will convert
their souls, transmitting spiritual life to them. This is
very important.

Modernism, however, tends to replace completely,
to substitute any type of dogmatic content, with a life
experience. It is true that dogmas, materially speaking, are a collection of things and words, and are not
experiences. The Trinity is not an experience, the
Trinity is, above all, a dogma. It is clear that the dogmas are living. They are living, however, not because
we continuously rethink them to make them more
present. They are objectively living, because they
are the expression of a God who is living, true, and
unchanging. In this sense, every dogma is extremely
living. Is it the dogma’s fault if we lose the perception
of its intrinsic vitality? It is not the fault of the dogmatic formulation.
The Impact on the Magisterium
It is clear that in the [Modernist] perspective of
living Tradition, the Magisterium is blocked. What can
it teach? One cannot teach an experience. In some
way one may transmit it, but one cannot codify an experience through declarations. This concept of living
Tradition makes the Magisterium go, pardon the expression, completely haywire. And the most obvious
manifestation of this is the production of documents
upon documents. To explain what? Everything and
nothing. An experience, as such, cannot be explained.
A dogma, yes, that can be presented and explained.
Then this avalanche of paper, this avalanche of
documents, is not so much a sign of a precise
Magisterium, of a teaching authority that knows what
it has to say, but rather the sign of a Magisterium
grown desperate. It is symptomatic. Look in the past
at three, four encyclicals that are particularly dear
to us, for example: Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of
Pius IX, Pascendi and the decree Lamentabili of St.
Pius X, Humani Generis of Pius XII. They are texts that
made history, and that will continue to make history
because they are clear. The Nicene Creed is clear; it is
not a mountain of paper. St. Pius X did not produce an
avalanche of documents. The documents issued by
him are extremely clear texts.
It is important to understand the hermeneutical
problem because it is central. It is really the key to
everything. A concrete example: take the relationship
that exists today with Sacred Scripture, not only with
Tradition. It is the same problematic relationship.
Today people insist so much on the Bible. The liturgical reform has transformed the Mass into a real
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Theological Studies
Bible lesson, the Liturgy of the Word. The biblical passages are often difficult, extremely varied, extremely
rich and diverse: Year A, B, C, etc., even years, odd
years. The new lectionary is not easy: it is extremely
complicated and technically difficult to manage.
But what is today, the relationship with Sacred
Scripture? What is the most authentic relationship,
according to these same assumptions which we
have seen applied to Tradition, but that we can apply speculatively to Sacred Scripture? We find it in
resonance. What is resonance? It is nothing magnetic.
Resonance is a new way of reading the Scriptures.
People will gather, read a passage, proclaim it,
because Sacred Scripture is the Word, but make
a complete abstraction from the mediation of the
Church, the Magisterium of the Church, the Fathers
of the Church, then everyone considers the text and
presents to the others what reaction it has evoked in
him. It is a way of re-enacting the “experience” that, in
a sense, Sacred Scripture should convey.
Doctrine and Clarification
What, in all this, is missing? Doctrine is missing. A
clarification is missing. The light of the Magisterium is
missing. The Church Fathers are missing. What, then,
is present or at least assumed to be present? Life is
present, a direct perception, a personal perception,
both personal and communal at the same time, a perception that goes directly to the source, a perception
that is nothing more than what that reading evokes in
that moment. This is resonance.
The hermeneutical problem is the synthesis of the
philosophy of the twentieth century, and the Second
Vatican Council took up this philosophy. When one
speaks of philosophy one does not have to do so in
purely academic terms. We are not concerned so
much what one thinker said rather than another. What
must concern us is to understand what are the major
themes that have made an age and influenced an era.
Existentialism, with phenomenology backing it, the
Existentialism of Heidegger in particular, arrives at a
knowledge of reality that is absolutely new. Hegel is
exceeded, Kant as well. Existentialism is a philosophy
in which all boils down to a lived act, all is reduced to
life. In this perspective, when I know an object, is this
object real? Is it really known? It is known at the moment when my life allows me to know it, when I know
it with my perception.
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Here is a concrete example to understand all this.
You are now tired and whatever I say, you perceive
it as a tired person. Beyond the fact that you are
interested or not, you’re watching the clock. Why?
Because I am speaking to you at 18:10 and, at this
time, the conference should be finished. Certainly
some must return home, others have other things
to do, probably more interesting things. So, all I
could say at this time, if I read, for example, a text, a
passage from the Bible or text of the Fathers of the
Church, you perceive it through the ears or eyes of a
person who is tired. That is just how it is.
In this Existentialist perspective, the intellect, to
return to St. Thomas, is never a tabula rasa. In the
Realist, Classical, Catholic, Greek perspective—also
because Aristotle is on the same wavelength—when
I know something, it is my understanding that must
adapt itself to that object. That object is there
to modify, in a certain sense, my intellect which
must mold itself in relation only to the object itself.
This is realism. Instead, in the Existentialist and
Hermeneutical perspective, the prospect of Martin
Heidegger and Martin Gardner in particular, all the
authors to whom Benedict XVI is so attentive (in
this sense he is a true intellectual, very attentive and
responsive to the contemporary culture), when one
is tired, his vision is clouded, and he can, therefore,
only glimpse the object. If one is sad, one reads
Sacred Scripture in a certain way. But then how can
one be sure, and perfect one’s perception of reality;
how is that possible? It is not the Magisterium that
enlightens me according to this perspective. How can
I perfect my perception if I realize I am conditioned?
In this scheme of things, I perfect my knowledge of
reality simply by continuing to ask myself, continuing
to represent the same subject in a new condition. In
other words, if we were to follow this philosophy, you
should come back, rested and refreshed tomorrow
morning at eight o’clock, to listen again to these same
words. In this way you would have a new perception
of the same content, because theoretically I would
repeat the same things. In the meantime, though, I
too would be changed, but most of all you would be
fresher and maybe it would be a sunny day and we
would all be more joyful, because we are conditioned
by all these things.
In this perspective—excuse me if I present it in
such simplistic terms—if we put ourselves on purely

subjective terms, there is something true there, but
the dogma of Faith is not based on this. Here we are
in the world of emotions. The problem is that this perception, coming from emotions which are certainly
true and real, current conditions which are true and
real, transfers them to a plane that is strictly intellectual and cognitive. This hermeneutic circle is infinite,
says Martin Gardner, after Heidegger, the great theorist of this vision of things, this perception of reality.
In this sense, what is knowing? It is a vital experience
that continues and will continue forever.
What is it that underlies this concept of living
Tradition? What underlies it is this hermeneutic
circle that is nothing but the synthesis of contemporary thought, twentieth-century thought. Any text,
known, evaluated, and put in context determines an
outcome that becomes subject to further interpretation. I change, and then the context changes, history
changes. This is the process, this is historicism.
The conclusion is very simple. The paradox lies
in this Magisterium that produces an avalanche
of paper. For the good of the Church, we want a
Magisterium that is not paralyzed. The Magisterium
of today is a Magisterium that has entered into a condition such that it can no longer be exercised. Why?
Because to teach something you need to define, but
to define something, you must define the meaning of
a concept in an objective way. There is no definition if
there is not objectivity. But in the moment when one
espouses a concept of the truth in which truth follows
in lockstep with the flow of change, with the flow of
history, one is no longer able to form a teaching of
this truth. One is no longer able to frame a particular
concept with precise terms. And so it becomes a
value valid for that historic moment, a value that cannot presume to form any lasting concept.
If there is no objectivity, there is no teaching,
because the function that Christ left to His Church
and to the Magisterium is to transmit to us the eternal
Truth, the expression of eternity, a truth that is not
only not negotiable, but that cannot change in any
way.

1

John Paul II, Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, July 2, 1988.

2

Hans Urs von Balthasar Abbattere i bastioni (Jaca Book, 2010).
[Schleifung der Bastionen (Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag, 1952).]

3

Max Müller (1823-1900), Indologist and scholar of religion. He
founded the so-called school of comparative mythology on the
basis of comparative linguistics. His ideas largely determined the
direction of studies in the second half of the nineteenth century.

4

Benedict XVI, La comunione nel tempo: la Tradizione, General
Audience, 26 April 2006.

5

Benedict XVI, Discorso ai membri della Curia romana, December
22, 2005.

83

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Dear Angelus Press,
I loved the last issue on the Blessed Virgin Mary—this is exactly what I
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Judy R., Providence, R.I.
Dear Editor
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The
Last
Word
Dear Readers,
The main prayer of Christianity is taught by the Son of God himself. In its opening words,
this prayer directly addresses “Our Father,” two words charged with emotion. These words
touch every man’s center of existence and appeal to the most hidden corners of his heart.
Certainly anyone can say this prayer, but does it mean the same thing to us all? No, it
does not! What then determines the orientation of this prayer? Nobody else but our natural
father, for as St. Paul proclaims, “the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world,
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Rom. 1:20).
The meaning of the Our Father is thus dependent on the quality of our own individual,
biological father. The word “father,” then, can inspire a huge variety of emotional reactions,
ranging from intense love to profound hate and rebellion.
For example, Victor Perez (aka Tokusou Sentai Blessranger) recently composed a lyrical
parody of the band Deep Purple’s smash hit “Smoke on the Water.” Here is what he has to
say about his father: “I wonder if my father was trained by some evil force. He went crazy all
the time, he’s always dumb, of course. I hate my father! Will somebody kill him? I hate my
father!”
Contrasting these dark sentiments drastically, Saint Therese of Lisieux recalls her own
father: “All my life it has pleased him to surround me with affection. My first recollections
are of loving smiles and tender caresses.…You can hardly imagine how much I loved my
father and my mother.”
Clearly these divergent understandings of one’s natural father affect the way one
understands the “Our Father.” Saint Therese’s natural father was for her an open door to
God; he made it easy, natural, and almost obligatory to embrace the Faith. Contrariwise,
Perez’s father (as presented in his parody) creates a grave obstacle to the Faith; a child in
such situations may be able to forget the hardship caused by his dad, but (without God’s
healing grace) this child will not be able to express a prayer of tender love to “Our Father in
Heaven.”
Obviously, a child’s inclination to either love or hatred originates in his relationship with
his father. This father will either help the child to believe in God or will encourage him to
reject the Faith. Fathers, beware of your fateful responsibility!
Sincerely yours in Christ,

Father Jürgen Wegner

The Society of St. Pius X is an international priestly society of common life
without vows, whose purpose is the priesthood and that which pertains to it.
The main goal of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic
faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its
primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
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