Newsletter of the District
of Asia
Jan
- June 2003
St
Pius X :
“The Saint and the Guide for today’s men!”
(Pope
Pius XII, 1954)
By Fr. Daniel Couture
" By
his person and by his work, God has willed to prepare the Church
to the new andhard
duties a troubled future was preparing. To timely prepare a Church
united in itsdoctrine,
firm in discipline, efficient in its pastors, generous laymen,
an instructed people,a
youth sanctified in its first years, a well-formed conscience
in relation to the socialproblems.
If nowadays
the Church of God, far from backing up in the face of the forces
destructive of every spiritual value, suffers, fights, and by
the divine power progresses and continue to
redeem, that is thanks to the foreseeing action and sanctity of
Pius X.
It appears
manifest today that his whole Pontificate was supernaturally directed
according to a loving and redeeming plan to prepare souls to face
our own struggles and to ensure our victories and the victories
of future generations." Pius XII, sermon for the Beatification
of Pius X, June 3, 1951
"As apostle
of the interior life, he is given, in this age of machines and
technology, as the Saint and Guide of today’s men." Pius XII,
sermon for the Canonization of Blessed Pius X, May 29, 1954
The following
parallel between the writings of St. Pius X and some of the Conciliar
Church’s texts - a parallel that would need more development -
gives a striking illustration of the words
of the great Pope Pius XII quoted above, "to prepare souls
to face our own struggles..." We
mean here the struggle to keep the Catholic Faith in this day
and age when modernism, "the
synthesis of all heresies", has made its way to all aspects of
the Church’s life.
It is certainly
providential and admirable that the name and the whole program
of St Pius X is being kept well alive throughout the whole universe,
on the five continents, in all the world’s main languages, thanks
to a small "band of Gideon" called after the saintly Pope. It
is no accident. The welfare of His Immaculate Bride, the Church,
is too important for Our Lord not to provide at all times the
means to preserve its deposit of faith and its channels of grace,
the sacraments.
1) Christ-centered or man-centered religion?
St
Pius X
Encyclical
‘E Supremi Apostolatus’
Oct. 4, 1903
To restore all things in Christ.
"We
proclaim that We have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate
but that "of restoring all things in Christ" (Ephes. 1,
10), so that "Christ may be all and in all" (Coloss. 3,
2)... The interests of God shall be Our interest, and for
these We are resolved to
spend all Our strength and Our very life. Hence, should
anyone ask Us for a symbol as the expression of Our will,
We will give this and no other: "To restore all things in
Christ. (...)
When
all this is considered there is good reason
to fear lest this great perversity may be
as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning
of those evils which are reserved for
the last days; and that there may be already in
the world the "Son of Perdition" of whom the
Apostle speaks (II Thess. 2, 3). Such, in truth,
is the audacity and the wrath employed everywhere
in persecuting religion, in combating
the dogmas of the faith, in brazen effort
to uproot and destroy all relations between
man and the Divinity! While, on the other
hand, and this according to the same apostle
is the distinguishing mark of Antichrist,
man has with infinite temerity put himself in the place
of God, raising himself above all that is called God; in
such wise that although he cannot utterly extinguish in
himself all knowledge of God, he has condemned God’s majesty
and, as it were, made of the universe a temple wherein he
himself is to be adored. ‘He sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself as if he were God" (II Thess. 2, 2). (...)
But,
Venerable Brethren, we shall never, however much we exert
ourselves, succeed in calling men back to the majesty and
empire of God, except by means of Jesus Christ. ‘No one,’
the Apostle admonishes us, ‘can lay other foundation than
that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.’ (I Cor.,
3, II.) It is Christ alone ‘whom the Father sanctified and
sent into this world’ (Is. 10, 36), ‘the splendor of the
Father and the image of His substance’ (Hebr. 1, 3), true
God and true man: without whom nobody can know God with
the knowledge for salvation, ‘neither doth anyone know the
Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son
to reveal Him.’ (Matth. 11, 27.) Hence it follows that to
restore all things in Christ and to lead men back to submission
to God is one and the same aim. To this, then, it behoves
Us to devote Our care - to lead back mankind under the dominion
of Christ; this done, We shall have brought it back to God.
When We say to God We do not mean to that inert being heedless
of all things human which the dream of materialists has
imagined, but to the true and living God, one in nature,
triple in person, Creator of the world, most wise Ordainer
of all things, Lawgiver most just, who punishes the wicked
and has reward in store for virtue." |
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The
Conciliar Church
Vatican II
Closing
Discourse of Paul VI, Dec. 7 1965
"Yes,
the Church of the Council has been concerned,
not just with herself and with her relationship of union
with God, but with man - man as he really is today: living
man, man all wrapped up in himself, man who makes himself
not only the center of his every interest but dares to claim
that he is the principle and explanation of all reality.
Every perceptible element in man, every one of the countless
guises in which he appears, has, in a sense, been displayed
in full view of the Council Fathers. (...)
Secular
humanism, revealing itself in its horrible anticlerical
reality has, in a certain sense, defied the Council. The
religion of the God who became man has met the religion
(for such it is) of man who makes himself God. And what
happened? Was there a clash, a battle, a condemnation? There
could have been, but there was none. The old story of the
Samaritan has been the model of the spirituality of the
Council. A feeling of boundless sympathy has permeated the
whole of it. The attention of our Council has been absorbed
by the discovery of human needs (and these needs grow in
proportion to the greatness which the son of the earth claims
for himself). But we call upon those who term themselves
modern humanists, and who have renounced the transcendent
value of the highest realities, to give the Council credit
at least for one quality and to recognize our own new type
of humanism: we, too, in fact, we more than any others,
honor man. (...) But one must realize that this Council,
which exposed itself to human judgment, insisted very much
more upon this pleasant side of man, rather than on his
unpleasant one. Its attitude was very much and deliberately
optimistic. A wave of affection and admiration flowed from
the Council over the modern world of humanity. Errors were
condemned, indeed, because charity demanded this no less
than did truth, but for the persons themselves there was
only warming, respect and love. Instead of depressing diagnoses,
encouraging remedies; instead of direful prognostics, messages
of trust issued from the Council to the present-day world.
The modern world’s values were not only respected but honored,
its efforts approved, its aspirations purified and blessed.
(...)
Another
point we must stress is this: all this rich teaching is
channeled in one direction, the service of man, of every
condition, in every weakness and need. The Church has, so
to say, declared herself the servant of humanity, at the
very time when her teaching role and her pastoral government
have, by reason of the Council’s solemnity, assumed greater
splendor and vigor: the idea of service has been central.
It might be said that all this and everything else we might
say about the human values of the Council have diverted
the attention of the Church in Council to the trend of modern
culture, centered on humanity. We would say not diverted
but rather directed. (...)
Hence
no one should ever say that a religion like the Catholic
religion is without use, seeing that when it has its greatest
selfawareness and effectiveness, as it has in the Council,
it declares itself entirely on the side of man and in his
service. In this way the Catholic religion and human life
reaffirm their alliance with one another, the fact that
they converge on one single human reality: the Catholic
religion is for man. In a certain sense it is the life of
man. (...)
Our
humanism becomes Christianity, our Christianity becomes
centered on God; in such sort that we may say, to put it
differently: a knowledge of man is a prerequisite for a
knowledge of
God." |
John Paul II
The 25th
anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul II will be celebrated
next Oct. 15-18, 2003. To prepare the commemoration "of this
Pontificate at the service of man and to put its historical value
in service" a colloquy has been held in the Vatican last May
8 –10, 2003.
Another
congress was held at the Lateran University at the same time on
the theme: "The Church at the service of man".
John
Paul II has expressed his satisfaction to the organizers of this
congress for having chosen this theme. "During all the periods
of my university life and of my pastoral ministry, he stated,
one of the essential points of reference has been for me the attention
to the person, put at the center of all philosophical or theological
research." (DICI, May 17, 2003)
2) The Sacred Liturgy : for God or for Man?
St
Pius X
Motu Proprio ‘Tra Le Sollicitudine’
Nov. 22, 1903
On Sacred Music, and the respect in
churches
"Among
the cares of the pastoral office, not
only of this Supreme Chair, which We, though unworthy, occupy
through the inscrutable dispositions of Providence, but
of every local church, a leading one is without question
that of maintaining and promoting the decorum of the House
of God in which the august mysteries of religion are celebrated,
and where the Christian people assemble to receive the grace
of the Sacraments, to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the
Altar, to adore the most august Sacrament of the Lord’s
Body and to unite in the common prayer of the Church in
the public and solemn liturgical offices. Nothing should
have place, therefore, in the temple calculated to disturb
or even merely to diminish the piety and devotion of the
faithful, nothing that may give reasonable cause for disgust
or scandal, nothing, above all, which directly offends the
decorum and sanctity of the sacred functions and is thus
unworthy of the House of Prayer and of the Majesty of God.
Sacred
Music
Today
Our attention is directed to one of the most common of them,
one of the most difficult to eradicate, and the existence
of which is sometimes to be deplored in places where everything
else is deserving of the highest praise - the beauty and
sumptuousness of the temple, the splendor and the accurate
performance of the ceremonies, the attendance of the clergy,
the gravity and piety of the officiating ministers. Such
is the abuse affecting sacred chant and music. And indeed,whether
it is owing to the very nature of this art, fluctuating
and variable as it is in itself, or to the succeeding changes
in tastes and habits with the course of time, or to the
fatal influence exercised on sacred art by profane and theatrical
art, or to the pleasure that music directly produces, and
that is not always easily contained within the right limits,
or finally to the many prejudices on the matter, so lightly
introduced and so tenaciously maintained even among responsible
and pious persons, the fact remains that there is a general
tendency to deviate from the right rule, prescribed by the
end for which art is admitted to the service of public worship
and which is set forth very clearly in the ecclesiastical
Canons, in the Ordinances of the General and Provincial
Councils, in the prescriptions which have at various times
emanated from the Sacred Roman Congregations, and from Our
Predecessors the Sovereign Pontiffs." We do therefore publish,
motu proprio and with certain knowledge, Our present Instruction
to which, as to a juridical code of sacred music (quasi
a codice giuridice della musica sacra), We will with
the fullness of Our Apostolic Authority that the force of
law be given, and We do by Our present handwriting impose
its scrupulous observance on all. (...)
Sacred
music should consequently possess, in the highest degree,
the qualities proper to the liturgy, and in particular sanctity
and goodness of form, which will spontaneously produce the
final quality of universality. It must be holy, and
must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself,
but in the manner in which it is presented by those who
execute it. It must be true art, for otherwise it
will be impossible for it to exercise on the minds of those
who listen to it that efficacy which the Church aims t obtaining
in admitting into her liturgy the art of musical sounds.
But
it must, at the same time, be universal
in the sense that while every nation is permitted to
admit into its ecclesiastical compositions those special
forms which may be said to constitute its native music,
still these forms must be subordinated in such a manner
to the general characteristics of sacred music that nobody
of any nation may receive an impression other than good
on hearing them." |
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The
Conciliar Church
Vatican II
Constitution
‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’
Dec.
4, 1963
Latin
& Vernacular
"36.
(1) The use of the Latin language, with
due respect to particular law, is to be preserved in the
Latin rites. (2) But since the use of the vernacular, whether
in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or in
other parts of the liturgy, may frequently be of great advantage
to the people, a wider use may be made of it, especially
in readings, directives and in some prayers and chants.
Regulations governing this will be given separately in subsequent
chapters. (3) These norms being observed, it is for the
competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned
in Article 22:2, to decide whether, and to what extent,
the vernacular language is to be used.
Norms
for adapting the Liturgy to the temperament and traditions
of peoples
37.
Even in the liturgy the Church does not wish to impose a
rigid uniformity in matters which do not involve the faith
or the good of the whole community. Rather does she respect
and foster the qualities and talents of the various races
and nations. Anything in these people’s way of life which
is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error
she studies with sympathy, and, if possible, preserves intact.
She sometimes even admits such things into the liturgy itself,
provided they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.
38.
Provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is
preserved, provision shall be made, when revising the liturgical
books, for legitimate variations and adaptations to different
groups, regions and peoples, especially in mission countries.
This should be borne in mind when drawing up the rite and
determining rubrics.
39.
Within the limits set by the typical editions of the liturgical
books it shall be for the competent territorial ecclesiastical
authority mentioned in Article 22:2, to specify adaptations,
as regards the administration of the sacraments, sacramentals,
processions, liturgical language, sacred music and the arts,
according, however, to the fundamental norms laid down in
this Constitution.
40.
In some places and circumstances, however, an even more
radical adaptation of the liturgy is needed, and this entails
greater difficulties. For this reason: (1) The competent
territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Article
22:2, must in this matter, carefully and prudently consider
which elements from the traditions and cultures of individual
peoples might appropriately be admitted into divine worship.
Adaptations which are considered useful or necessary should
then be submitted to the Holy See, by whose consent they
may be introduced. (2) To ensure that adaptations may be
made with all the necessary, the Apostolic See will grant
power to this same ecclesiastical authority to permit and
direct, as the case requires, the necessary preliminary
experiments over a determined period of time among certain
groups suitable for the purpose. (3) Because liturgical
laws usually involve special difficulties with respect to
adaptation, especially in mission lands, men who are experts
in the matters in question must be employed to formulate
them."
Comments:
Liturgical inculturation has destroyed the four marks of
Sacred Liturgy: Universality or Catholicity:
the liturgy has become a local - sometimes not even national
- ‘product’, un-exportable, unusable outside its immediate
circumstances; Unity is gone with the
vernacular and the promotion of liturgicalcreativity - which
is not an abuse as can be read in the text above (n.38);
Apostolicity, that is the link
with apostolic and multi-secular rites and prayers - gone
at the profit of the spur-of-the-moment rites, rites even
borrowed occasionally from non-Christian religions...(see
n.37) Sanctity: perhaps the
most striking and significant absentee in this reform. |
3)
Holy Communion
St
Pius X
Decree ‘Sacra Tridentina Synodus’
Dec. 20, 1905
On the dispositions for frequent
communion
“
1.Frequent and daily communion being greatly desired by
Our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Catholic Church, must be
made accessible to all faithful of whatever class and condition
they be, in such a way that, none if he be in the state
of grace and approach the Holy Table with a right intention,
may not be denied.
2.
The right intention consists in approaching the Holy Table,
not by habit or vanity, or for human reasons, but to satisfy
the Will of God, to be more united to Him by charity, and
thanks to this divine remedy, to combat his defects and
infirmities.
3.
Although it is highly desirable that they who receive frequent
and daily communion be free from affection to venial sins,
at least fully deliberated, it is enough that they be without
mortal sin with the firm resolution not to sin in the future.
With this firm purpose, it is not possible that those who
do communicate daily do not also overcome venial sins and
the affection to these sins.”
Decree
‘Quam Singulari’ Aug. 8, 1910
On
the age of First Holy Communion
“This
practice of preventing the faithful from receiving on the
plea of safeguarding the august Sacrament has been the cause
of many evils. It happened that children in their innocence
were forced away from the |
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The
Conciliar Church
Code of Canon Law (1983)
Proper
dispositions
“Can.
916 Anyone who is conscious of grave sin may not celebrate
Mass or receive the Body of the Lord without previously
having been to sacramental confession, unless there is a
grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in
this case the person is to remember the obligation to make
an act of perfect contrition, which includes the resolve
to go to confession as soon as possible.”
Comment:
The case of the priest in the state of sin who has to offer
the Holy Mass is different — as the common good is involved
— from that of the faithful. The practice of simply making
an act of contrition rather than going to confession has
been frequently recommended to the faithful, especially
in the case of penitential ceremonies with general absolution.
This leads to a very Protestant attitude of confessing directly
to God.
“An
interior disposition of devotion is necessary for the reception
of the Eucharist.” Archbishop Nicolas Chia of Singapore,
‘Catholic News’, June 22 & 29, 2003, p. 1.
Comments
What
remains of the other requirements: of being Catholic, in
the state of grace, fasting, modestly dressed, etc..?
Frequency
“Can. 917 One who has received the
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