Theology
Americanism Triumphant and Explained
(Much of this formed the basis of a panel discussion on August 26, 2021 on the Youtube channel of Aurelio Porfiri, “Ritorno a Itaca.”)
Francis was reported as saying by the Associated Press on September 15, 2021, in one of his famous airplane moments, that “And what should pastors do? Be pastors, and not go condemning, condemning.” This statement was in response to questions concerning Joe Biden’s support for abortion rights and whether he could be denied Holy Communion as a result. It was a brewing controversy with various bishops publicly denying Communion to some pro-aborts, and this all lead to the American Catholic bishops feeling the need to address it with some sort of a statement from the USCCB.
Inter Mirifica: A Way to Evaluate the Chatterers
(As I think more about this, and as I told someone just a few hours ago, we have a structural problem here. Liberalism co-opts its enemies and it subverts the good intentions of those whose primary loyalty should be to their people, the Church, the Faith, and truth. This subversion happens through a combination of pride, greed, necessity which is all made possible without any realistic checks by the system of freedoms — free press, free speech, religious liberty. As the Church became like America due to the USA’s doctrinal warfare, the leadership is unable to deal with the problems this presents. The loss of the Index of Forbidden Books and the abandonment of the process of issuing Nihil Obstat’s as Peter Helland observed, has meant that truth is up for sale and such actions are perfectly consistent with an Americanized Church. So Inter Mirifica steps in to try and regulate the whole thing to give consumers and producers a set of criteria by which to act to insure truth is presented. Still, we have a structural problem that I suggest can be solved or at least addressed by all the Catholic chatterers signing a statement to support Inter Mirifica.)
The big uproar on social media and elsewhere regarding the latest actions of Pope Francis in connection with the Traditional Latin Mass is subsiding. I have been asked to weigh in, and I do so in summary form as I believe less is more.
Let’s summarize. Pope Francis issued a “Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops of the Whole World That Accompanies the Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Data `Traditionis Custodes’” along with “Traditionis Custodes” (TC) on July 16, 2021. Francis in his letter noted that many people, including the young, had been drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) over the years especially since Benedict XVI issued “Summorum Pontificum” (SP) in July, 2007. Francis is apparently motivated, as he says in his Letter, by a fear that the TLM is the source of unity in opposing the validity of the Vatican II Council. He writes
Fratelli Tutti: Francis’ Latest Opinion as Weapon For International Capitalism
“Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo
Tutti frutti, oh Rudy
Tutti frutti, woo”
–Little Richard, Tutti Frutti
(On October 3, 2020 Pope Francis issued a document known as Fratelli Tutti. It claims to be an encyclical, or a teaching document from the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, but as explained below, it is yet the latest corruption of the Petrine Office and perhaps most importantly is a document showing the total devotion of the Church to the international capitalists.)
(This is an exchange of letters. The staff of Culture Wars magazine forwarded the letter of Mr. Harrington to me. I responded in a letter dated October 13, 2020.)
Mr. Edward F. Harrington
September 8, 2020
To Culture Wars:
I hesitate to disagree with an ad in Culture Wars for David A. Wemhoff’s book on John Courtney Murray and the CIA. “Catholic doctrine did not change” with Dignitatis Humanae personal; rather it was the interpretation of the conciliar document that followed the Council.
By David Wemhoff
(This is the outline of a talk delivered August 25, 2020 in Sterling Heights, Michigan.)
Good evening and thanks for having me. I shall address as best I can the questions put to me about integralism and Americanism.
But first let’s recognize that today is the feast day of King St. Louis IX of France who reigned from 1226 to 1270. He is said to have ruled wisely and fairly, earned the trust of fellow rulers and countryman, exhibited the greatest charity, lived an exemplary Catholic life, served the church protecting her rights and fighting for her in two Crusades, and ushered in a golden age for France.[1] Certainly France was considered a Catholic Confessional State (CCS) under his reign, and today’s Catholic leaders would undoubtedly denounce him as a Nazi, a Fascist or maybe even a Communist but in any event authoritarian if not a tyrant.
The evils that so many commentators rail against today are the natural result of the fundamental error that organizes Liberal society (hence, America). That is the timeless teaching of Pope Leo XIII in Inscrutabili Dei Consilio (1878) in which he wrote: “A religious error is the main root of all social and political evils.”
Every right carries with it a correlative duty. Every duty is meant to accommodate a right. The Declaration of Independence sets forth this paradigm:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.– That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men….”
According to the American Founders, the protection of individual rights is the purpose of government. Government has a duty therefore to “secure these rights”. Individual rights, government duty.