This could be cleared up in a few minutes. Caridnal McElroy do your job

 The Catholic Biblical Association just announced that its new president is Amy-Jill Levine. Although she doesn't say so in her CBA biography, it is widely reported that  she's not Catholic and is actually Jewish. People are scandalized. I've read comments expressing fear that this appointment will lead to a Catholic version of the Scofield Bible. That's not a completely invalid fear. The association was instrumental in the revision of the Challoner-Rheims New Testament in 1936. I can't find anything stating that they are working on a new bible  translation but according to Google the CBA did partner " with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to perform a comprehensive new translation and revision of the NAB New Testament for unified use in liturgy, study, and private prayer," between 2013-2025. 

The 90 year old organization is not run by the Vatican or the Washington DC diocese. It's a private entity that calls itself Catholic and publishes scholarship but Pope Leo didn't personally appoint this woman and the people who are now screaming that he did may be making a mistake in that they look foolish by not having all the facts straight. 

Cardinal Robert Walter McElroy has only to make a statement on the diocesan website  that the CBA is not a church run organization. It's been done before. In 2011, the  Archdiocese of Detroit announced that  Michael Voris's  media outlet could not use the word "Catholic" in its name. Voris responded by changing the name from Real Catholic TV to Church Militant. A bishop is supposed to make things clear for the Faithful and making statements clarifying that a particular group, school, business or apparition site isn't part of the diocese does just that.  By saying nothing about this matter, people can  only infer that the cardinal fine with whatever comes out of the CBA under this woman's tenure. 

The CBA is influential and still has that close relationship with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that needs to examined and explained. It's probable that the homilies you've heard over the decades and the bible your kids study in school came about as a result of the organization's work so you might need to check the material you've received from OCRIA and your children's catechetical material and calmly as your pastor a few questions. 

He saved me

 Last week I had surgery to remove a tumor. It was very large and through the grace of God, it was benign. Due to the size, if it hadn't been benign I almost certainly would've been toast.  When my surgeon told me that I am in the clear I almost couldn't speak because of the absolute shock wave of relief.  Our Lady Health of the Sick, thank you! Dear Saints Peregrine, Bernadette and Therese thank you.  I feel like Jonah when the whale spat him back onto land.

 

The Rupnik scandal just keeps on festering

 My late Father-in-law, Big Daddy used to say, "Everybody pisses in the pool but you/he had to do it from the diving board." He was using a metaphor for someone making an extraordinary faux pas or for when someone got caught sinning publicly.  I've been seeing these tentative reports that Fr. Marko Rupnik is going   free from the many accusations against him.  So far the  Vatican denies that he's been acquitted but it's not looking good. If Rupnik is acquitted or gets the Vatican version of the old Scottish verdict of "not proven" and remains a priest in good standing, the effect will be devastating. All the people who have been watching him up on the diving board for years will be left sick to the heart and that just might drive some them out of Our Lord's Church. 

I just can't take Taylor Marshall seriously

This is cute .  A lot of people have noticed how inconstant Dr. Taylor Marshall is and they have been taking notes for years.  He managed to emerge pretty much unscathed from his presidential "run" embarrassment but I think  he's made one too many of his mercurial position changes this time. 

Man of Sorrows...

 

    I have not been rebellious,
    I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
    my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
    from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
    I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
    and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
    Who then will bring charges against me?
    Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
    Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
    Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
    the moths will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God.
11 But now, all you who light fires
    and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
    and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
    You will lie down in torment.

Random thoughts on a day off

• When I read about Stephen Spielberg's comment that his latest movie Disclosure Day would make Christians question their Faith, I laughed. This silly man thinks he is more important than he is, but God has humbled him in this. The movie got poor reviews and didn't make an impact financially and certainly not socially. Nobody is talking about this movie. The interesting thing is how he exposed and embarrassed himself with this. He didn't say Jews, Muslims, Hindus or Zoroastrians will doubt their faiths, he just had try to strike at Christians. I think even people who idolize Spielberg were uncomfortable and he managed to close a million wallets. 
  
  
  
  
  
•  Bishop Burbidge approved the Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory for the Arlington diocese but what does that mean? Apparently they wont' be getting a new parish so what are the FSSP Fathers going to be doing? How is this going to work and will people be able to have a semblance of a parish or oratory life under this system? Rocky and I used to go to a diocesan TLM  once or twice a week along with a Sunday Novus Ordo Mass.  Between Bishop Burbidge and Cardinal McElroy that's all gone. 
  
  The FSSP was created as an alternative to the SSPX and since the bishop consecrations and the excommunications are fresh on my mind I have to say something that I've said before but will repeat now. If it wasn't for the SSPX I would never have had the chance to go the indult/ Eclesia Dei/diocesan approved TLM.  I thank the SSPX folks for that and I wish them well and to anyone who is grieving over the current situation, I am so sorry.

• My mother is not feeling well and  I'm asking for your prayers for her and for me. I love my job but I don't always love the people and right now one of my colleagues is causing me headaches. 
  
  
  

Is the Church in America out of touch with working class people? I'd say yes.

I've just read an article in the Catholic Herald about how the Church in America doesn't seem to know or care about working class Americans anymore. I've thought that for years. In my diocese unless you belong to a parish that has a large Hispanic, Vietnamese or Korean population it's just about impossible to find a Sunday Mass after 4PM in the suburbs and of course those Masses are not in English.  People like my husband who do not live a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday life have to make a huge effort to get Mass in a lot of places. Check your parish for the times of the  Pre-Cana or the Baptism class and you'll find they're usually at times when a blue collar person has to take off from work.  Want to become Catholic? You may need to attend the Spanish OCIA or race over to the English OCIA without any time to change out of your work clothes or shower. Want to join the young adult group at your parish? Sorry, unless you are in a rural area it's probably for "professionals,"---strictly white collar parishioners only. 

 It's not just working class people who have been saying they don't feel like their concerns are being taken seriously either.  I've seen comments from Americans who have fallen on hard times and  say they feel invisible at church. Years ago I read a very sad story in a secular magazine that had an interview with a newly widowed woman who went from middle class to struggling overnight. After years of faithfully supporting the parish charities she felt terribly betrayed and humiliated by the cold reception she received from the ladies  running her church's food pantry. Although she saw people whom she thought to be migrants receiving  groceries with no questions about their legal status asked,  the pantry volunteers demanded that she provide proof of her neediness and wouldn't give her anything. When she sat in her pew during Mass and had to listen to her priest bang on about Americans being selfish if they weren't helping their undocumented brethren she wanted to ask how he felt  about kindness to  his American parishioners. It sounded like her Faith was badly  shaken. I hope the poor lady found another parish or at least got the chance to tell Fr. how the pantry was being run.