The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Great Oz

March 1, 2008

Nobody can replace the Great Oz !

Who can forget as a child watching the terrifying scene of the meeting between Dorothy, the Scarecrow (I hope my immediate neighbors don't read that comment - there now appear to be two babies in the nest), the Tin man and the Lion with the Great Wizard of Oz ? Our knees were trembling as much the characters in the film all until Toto pulls back the curtain. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain !" and all of us begin to say "Oh yes ? Who's this fraud ?" We are as tough as the next of us now ! Well one clerical friend had this question of late:

Do you know if the Great Oz will ever again condescend to post on-site anytime before the Parousia in general or even his personal repose in particular? Do you think he might consider at least posting after the Parousia?

Oh my, how bereft of posts are we all the Oz's faithful readership during the winter of his discontent!

It would be quite redundant to post after the Parousia so "Oz" returns to his "wizardry" again. Note, however, that I do not refer to myself as "great", Frank Morgan's "wizard" is the only Oz that can be called "great" ! (There are others who are also called "great" but their "wizardry" was such that this author hasn't been at all convinced of their greatness, that excludes, of course, longevity alone which may be considered by many to be the sole criterion upon which "greatness" is measured.) Frank Morgan rests secure in his arrogated title - I shall not contest it !

So Oz (the lesser) returns to posting after his "winter of discontent" ! The reference has been dealt with before in this column, how apposite to see it applied to myself ! The subject of my last column was the source of my "discontent". However, my discontent also provoked another's discontent about which we will treat here. The following e-mail with commentary and response was received the same day as the request that "Oz" return to posting (which all goes to prove that one and the same column can produce so many varied reactions such that the axiom "You can't please everybody" so readily springs to mind !)

Conversion is a dirty word in the modern Catholic world. And what is the point if everyone has a free ticket through the pearly gates? Which makes hell redundant. All these positions come crashing down in the pursuit of peace, equality and heaven on earth.

"Conversion" may be a dirty word for some but for me that is hardly the case. I am a convert ! It is true that everyone does get a free ticket to Heaven, many choose to throw it in the waste basket, few are saved. As concerns the redundancy of hell, it reminds me of the American catholic bishop who asked the confirmation class: "As Catholics do we have to believe in hell ?" "Yes !" piped a whippersnapper. "Do we have to believe anyone goes there ?" asked the bishop closing in on his quarry. "No !" the same child blurted out. "Correct !" responded the clerical inquisitor.

Such a readjustment in thinking would of course necessitate a rewriting of theology and liturgy.

Indeed, but then a reform was mandated by the Council, was it not ? The document on the liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium springs to mind... The problem with the reform is surely one of excess, not defect.... I mean the worldwide jam session taking place on Vatican Television as I'm writing this column is proof positive that many Catholics have just plain lost their minds but that doesn't exclude the possibility that the Lord God could infuse such a torrent of grace that they could abandon their insanity in favor of Catholicism again. It's all in the obediential potency latent in many, nascent in a few, don't you know ? As to rewriting the liturgy because of a rewritten theology, I simply point out that the first document discussed was the liturgy so since it was the first, it came before the other documents. So rewritten theology cannot explain the thinking behind Sacrosanctum concilium - the theology came later...don't put the cart before the horse !

A concentration on liturgical change alone is a big mistake for traditionalists especially for those who boast about being in communion with conciliar Rome.

Ah, yes the Laguérian model suggested by the compromise of the Institute of the Good Shepherd. How does one account for such a thing without the use of the Neural Neutralizer ? Fr. de Tanouärn still doesn't have an apostolate in Paris does he ? But wait a minute... what do I see ? I see a reference to "conciliar Rome" oh, not that dratted Two Romes Theory that the SSPX trots out every time they try to straddle the fence - does that mean the Pope is simultaneously the head of the Church and another conciliar church at the same time ? Don't they teach the principle of non-contradiction in logic classes in the SSPX seminaries any more ?

In fact, the management of change that has occurred since Vatican 2 need not be such a concern of serious traditionalists who by now know what to expect.

"Serious traditionalists" ? Or just "seriously challenged Trads" ? Even Pius XII warns us not to preclude the fact that despite the best endeavors of men, the Holy Spirit of the Lord God is still in charge despite the feeling of cynicism that seems to cloud the thinking of many Trads and leads them into despair. I knew a poor lady, once, and an Englishwoman at that, who had to be institutionalized because the crisis in the church led to a crisis in her own life. We might not, in fact, know what to expect at all !

The continuing Good Friday prayer farce is such a meaningless distraction. Papal playing around with words as part of worldly politics in no way advances the cause of tradition, quite the opposite.

If it were a "meaningless distraction" I doubt you would be paying it any attention at all, instead you devote a paragraph to it - (why don't people mean what they say ?). "Papal playing around" ? Well if he's the Pope he can do it (and do it he did) but then we read later "Ratzinger's church" by which I take you to mean that the Catholic Church is not the same as "Ratzinger's church". When you make up your own mind if he is or if he is not the Pope then perhaps we can dialog but when one is not sure if he's supposed to be playing cricket or golf or tiddly-winks... cum negante principia....

The change in the prayer has nothing to do with "worldly politics" and everything to do with the Liturgy. Liturgy, it seems to me, has a cosmic dimension far beyond the fingering of beads, the recitation of old words in Latin, the mumbling of formulae whose origins are lost in the annals of time. Liturgy is the presentation of the world, its needs, its wants, every man and woman, myself, Christ and his Sacrifice to God, that He would, in virtue of Christ's Sacrfice answer our needs and wants, forgive our sins, heal the rupture caused in souls by sin. Thus the conversion of the Jewish people, indeed of all to Christ, to acknowledge him as the only Savior is exactly what the liturgy is all about. By His Incarnation, God has united himself with human nature, the Creator with creation - all things are present to Him.

The special status granted Jews has and will be reinforced and resented as Ratzinger's church gets smaller and less Catholic.

The Ratzingerian church - well we dealt with that, but one obvious fallacy: how does the Church get "less Catholic" ? Either the Church has the mark of Catholicity or She is no "church" at all. The universality (i.e. Catholicity) of the Church cannot increase or diminish. It is like saying that Christ's priesthood is increased or diminished by the number of men being ordained or dying off. It is like saying there is more "Jesus" in the Blessed Sacrament by counting whether there are 10 or 500 hosts in the ciborium. Christ is not numerically increased or decreased in His priesthood or in His Sacramental Presence so likewise the Church cannot become "less Catholic" !

Lay off them shoes - OK ?

So the moral of the story is this, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, the Great Oz is in charge, and one thing is certain the ruby slippers will get us back to Kansas again, this time without the need for magic, but by a whole lot of grace !

+TF

Follow the fellow in the shoes !