Michael Voris has given us 15 minutes of sound teaching on
Vatican II this week. Ah, if only every parish in the US would make a
presentation like this just once during the Year of Faith!
This is the kind of teaching I was hoping for when the Year
of Faith was announced, and the Holy Father encouraged all to review the
Vatican II documents and the Catechism. Maybe your parish or diocese engaged in
such an endeavor…I haven’t seen much of it in my neck of the woods.
A link for the script is presented below each Vortex
episode. I’m giving you the highlights here.
In the July 10 Vortex, entitled “You Don’t Say”, MV reviews
some of the “misconceptions” that abound
concerning what Vatican II said and didn’t say, especially about the Mass. He
references Sacrosanctum Concilium, the document on the sacred liturgy.
Here’s MV’s list of things that were NEVER SAID by Vatican
II:
Latin should be thrown out.
Vestments should be changed.
The altar should be turned
around.
The priest should face the
people.
Communion rails should be
ripped out.
Statues and paintings of saints
should be tossed out.
Gregorian chant should be
dumped.
Holy Communion should be given
in the hand.
So-called Eucharistic ministers
should be the usual and common distributors of Holy Communion.
People should hold hands at the
Our Father.
Kneelers should be discarded
and people just remain standing.
Appropriate dress for Mass
should be abandoned.
Guitars and drums should become
primary instruments.
The musicians should be
applauded for their service.
Altar girls should become a
norm.
The sign of peace become an
opportunity for socializing.
Preaching and homilies should
rarely if ever mention traditional Catholic teaching.
Certainly, I thought some of those things when I first came
into the Church. Then I read the documents…
MV explains:
What happened is that when the
door was cracked for change – a type of change that could be fairly
characterized as tinkering around the edges – many people got it in their minds
that they could bring the wrecking ball and re-invent the Mass as though
nothing had ever existed before 1965.
There are a hundred reasons for
this and loads of people were involved with many different intentions, and all
of that is worthy of much discussion; and we have those discussions here in the
Vortex frequently.
But one thing is certain: the
Mass has suffered greatly in the wake of Vatican II and the proponents of
change. The door was opened for abuses and misunderstandings and an entirely
new attitude that was different from that which went before.
And we are seeing the
consequences of all that now. In many cases, the Mass has more the look and
feel of a protestant service than the representation of the sacrifice of
Calvary.
Many things have entered into
the Mass that Vatican II NEVER legislated or even imagined. And likewise, many
things have been removed from the Mass or have fallen by the wayside that
again, Vatican II NEVER legislated or imagined.
MV
suggests you read Sacrosanctum Conciliumyourself; and if’ you’ve read it before, why not review it? He quotes
specifically paragraph 116: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as
specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it
should be given pride of place in liturgical services”. Then he suggests we ask
ourselves:
… is the situation in my parish
every Sunday what was envisioned by the Second Vatican Council?
Does that square with what
happens in your parish each Sunday? When is the last time you heard Gregorian
Chant as a staple in your parish? Vatican II said it should have pride of place,
so what happened?
And that is just ONE topic. The
question, “what happened?” can be asked A LOT.
If
only, if only, if only our shepherds would address these questions! I wish I
had seen a hundred notices online that a parish or diocese was holding a
conference or a weekly “adult religious ed” meeting that addressed the
implementation of the Vatican II documents!
Next: the
July 11 Vortex addressed the question of whether Christians, Muslims, and Jews
do in fact, worship the “same God”. MV answers the question in the context of
remarks made recently by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in which he said that Muslims “worship
the same God” as Christians, and that they should “hold on to their faith”.
Michael
Voris answers the question this way:
First – when it comes to the
question about worshiping the same God - there are two substantially different
levels – because we as Catholics do adore God always as Trinity.
Adoring
God as Trinity requires supernatural faith, says MV; to worship God as Creator
only does not requires only natural faith, not the supernatural variety. He
explains:
Every human person is able only
by his reason, through NATURAL reason, without the light of faith, to recognize the
existence of one god as creator; and consequently to worship him according to
his knowledge of natural reason.
This is the Muslims. They have
no supernatural faith, and therefore they have no
supernatural act of worship.
And even the Jews, who rejected Jesus as God as Trinity…have no faith. And
therefore their worship also is natural, not supernatural.
… Jews and Muslims do NOT
worship God the way God has commanded to be worshipped because they do not have
supernatural faith; therefore their worship is not supernatural. The same
applies to Hindus and every other religion.
There is only ONE TRUE FAITH –
one true religion and those others are not it – The Catholic Church is it – no
others – however, well-intentioned and sincere they may be – they are sincerely
wrong.
…The whole issue here is the
salvation of souls, not sugar-coating that reality in nice socially acceptable,
non-offensive terms so that we will be liked by the crowd. All things being
equal – those who are not faithful Catholics have a more difficult endeavor
getting to Heaven than those who ARE.
I highly recommend you watch the entire Vortex, or read the
script. He makes very good points about this question and about why it was
harmful for Cardinal Dolan to make the comments he did recently in which he
said that Muslims “worship the same God” as Christians, and that they should “hold
on to their faith”.
This is the kind of “meat” we need in this “Year of Faith”!
Click for the script.
Click for the script.
