The liturgical artwork of Egino Weinert in Southern California

One of the great experiences of my early priesthood was studying in Europe as I pursued by my post-graduate work in liturgical theology at the University of Louvain, in Leuven, Belgium, from 1977 to 1979.  While on an excursion to Cologne, Germany, in those years, I encountered the liturgical artwork of one of the giants in contemporary church art of the 20th Century, Egino Weinert. 

Born on March 3, 1920, in Berlin to devout Catholic parents the eldest of five children, the young Günter Przybylski heard Romano Guardini  (considered one of the Catholic Churches greatest philosophers of the 20th century) preach. It was to have a lasting effect on his deep faith. 

While preparing to receive his first Communion he was greatly attracted to the priesthood and in 1934 entered the Benedictine abbey at Münsterschwarzach. There he received the name Egino (years later his father changed the family name to Weinert). Egino had wanted to be a painter and a missionary, and was gradually allowed to apprentice in sacred painting, passing his goldsmith’s examination with distinction in 1941. 

Jailed for refusing to say “Heil Hitler,” Egino was later drafted into military service taking every opportunity to work with other artists during the difficult war years.  While visiting his parents in Berlin in 1945, he lost his entire right hand when an electrical fuse proved to have explosives hidden in it. He then taught himself to write and paint with his left hand. He returned after the war to the monastery and was finally sent to attend art school in Cologne. In 1949 he was refused final vows, leaving the monastery with his faith still intact, but alone in the world. 

In 1951 he married Anneliese Leopold and they had four children. Eventually he settled in Cologne near the cathedral, and built a house and studio where he did all of his art. 

It was this studio that I visited in 1977 and was utterly astounded by his magnificent liturgical art manifested in chalices, crosses, plaques, pectoral crosses and tabernacles.  I vowed that day that if I ever had the opportunity, I would introduce his singular contemporary artwork to Southern California. 

Commissions and honors gradually increased for the struggling artist. He was helped by the great popularity of the small crosses he made for children receiving Communion. His enamel designs proved to reproduce beautifully on cards and calendars. He delighted in crafting chalices for young priests and became popular with American visitors to his shop. Pope Paul VI admired a cup-shaped chalice that Egino told him the cathedral chapter in Cologne had considered unacceptable, but that the pope declared blessed through his own use. 

Chalice and Paten with in silver and gold with champlevé enamel work by Egino Weinert

Egino Weinert with Pope St. Paul VI

"The continuity of Egino Weinert’s work, artistically and religiously, is remarkable. His simplified, sinuous forms recall Ernst Barlach and seem of themselves to demand the bold colors, dramatic and yet tender, of his unblended palette. His unerring sense of scale, indebted to medieval stained glass and Netherlandish primitives, enables him clearly to distinguish principal figures and onlookers in settings that are detailed but never crowded.  

He has a miniaturist’s sense of intimacy and yet the elemental feeling of Georges Rouault, whom he has long admired. Perhaps the lovely miracle of his art has been possible because it has indeed been his mission. “I want to see the whole Bible with the eyes of our time and let it become plastic,” he says. “For me Christ is not an otherworldly figure floating over humanity in a long robe. He is in our midst as a simple farmhand or a cabinet-maker” - or as a good shepherd, as were generations of Egino Weinert’s ancestors." (Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., is president emeritus of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.)  

WEINERT LITURGICAL ART IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

One of the first churches in Southern California to introduce a Weinert crafted tabernacle was St. John Vianney in Hacienda Heights, the pastor engaged the well known Pasadena architect, John Bartlett, to design their new church.  Visionary in its contemporary design following the Second Vatican Council, the pastor introduced two exquisite Weinert tabernacles, one behind the main altar and another on a side altar.  Tragically, that church burned to the ground because of arson destroying the main tabernacle behind the altar. 

It is my understanding, however, that the tabernacle from the side altar had been given to the Archdiocesan Center in Los Angeles for their chapel.  Recently, I found out that that secondary tabernacle was given back to the newly built St. John Vianney and I’m presently pursuing the possibility of a photo.

WEINERT LITURGICAL ART IN THE DIOCESE OF ORANGE 

Holy Family Parish in Orange 

In 1999 while I was Rector of the then Holy Family Cathedral in Orange and at the expressed mandate of the third Bishop of Orange, Tod D. Brown, renovations began at the Cathedral to move the tabernacle from behind the cathedra to an appropriately adorned side area in the Cathedral.  Since the original tabernacle dated from the building of the permanent structure in the early 1960’s and was of little intrinsic artistic quality, a donor graciously provided monies for a new tabernacle.  After discussion with the representative of Egino Weinert in the United States, a large and worthy tabernacle was found in his studio in Cologne.  The marble company of Carnivale and Lohr in Los Angeles crafted the new pedestal for the monumental tabernacle as well as a new marble cathedra for the bishop, replacing the historic wooden one.  The new tabernacle was solemnly blessed in the Jubilee Year 2000. 

Like stained glass in a Medieval Cathedral that taught the Gospel stories visually, so too, is the liturgical artistry of Egino Weinert.  Each piece visually proclaims the Good News of Christ.  Through child-like simplicity, the six enameled panels of this magnificent museum quality work of liturgical art, portrays Eucharistic theology in all of its multifaceted beauty. 

The front of the Tabernacle depicts the foundational event that anchors our Eucharistic theology, the Last Supper.

 The first panel on the right depicts the gospel scene narrated in Luke 24 when the Lord encounters the two disciples on their way from Jerusalem to the small village of Emmaus.  They encounter the Risen Lord with the signs of his crucifixion on his hands and feet yet alive!  Their doubts are dispelled as their hearts burn in the presence of the Risen Lord.

 The finely intricate following panel depicts the miracle of the loaves and fishes where from a few small fish and bits of bread brought by a child to be blessed by the Lord, the multitude are feed.

 The back of the Tabernacle depicts another post-Resurrection appearance of the Lord to his disciples who find him preparing breakfast for them on the seashore and their eyes are opened as he feeds them with his Risen presence.

 The following panel depicts the Lord and his mother, Mary, at the wedding feast of Cana.  At Mary’s request to save the bride and groom from the embarrassment of running out of wine, the Lord miraculously multiplies the wine with the very finest of wine.  I always loved this depiction by Weinert where he portrays the bridegroom with a bowtie!

 The final panel depicts the Lord at the home of his dear friends, Martha, and Mary.  Martha is busy with hospitality, yet Mary is before the Lord in loving adoration.

It is by far one of the largest enameled tabernacles that Weinert ever crafted.  Its multisided panels depict Eucharistic themes so characteristic of the evangelical and catechetical focus of Weinert’s incomparable liturgical art.  We are truly fortunate to have this museum quality specimen of this great liturgical artist of the last century in our Diocese.

St. Vincent de Paul Church in Huntington Beach 

In the early 2000’s under the pastorate of Fr. Jerome Karcher, St. Vincent de Paul parish in Huntington Beach began the building of its permanent sanctuary.  Fr. Karcher, a priest of exquisite taste, commissioned Egino Weinert to craft not only the tabernacle for the new Church but also 14 Stations of the Cross.  This was providentially one of the last commissions that Weinert accepted before his death in September 2012 at the age of 92. 

Commissioned tabernacle at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Huntington Beach, CA

Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove 

With the bankruptcy of the former Robert Schuller ministries, the legendary Crystal Cathedral campus was eventually purchased by the Diocese of Orange in February, 2012, the herculean project of transforming and repurposing the iconic post-modern Philip Johnson glass structure into the mother church of the Diocese of Orange began.  Teams of architects and consultants began their intense and creative work to ‘make something beautiful for God.’  

I was fortunate to be one of the liturgical consultants to work with a gifted and legendary Christian Brother in liturgical art and renovation projects throughout the United States, the late Br. William Woeger, to creatively design the interior liturgical space for the new Christ Cathedral.  Working with the Los Angeles architectural firm of Johnson Fain, their principal architect, Scott Johnson, created a renewed and immensely creative interior space while respecting the original architectural lines of Philip Johnson. 

After some research, I became aware that Weinert had one remaining tabernacle that he had personally designed and crafted that was on permanent display in the museum dedicated to his liturgical art in Cologne, Germany. Originally commissioned for a convent in Germany, that convent merged with another community and there was no longer a need for a tabernacle.  Originally not keen on parting with this tabernacle, Egino’s widow eventually consented when she found out it would be destined for a new Cathedral in Southern California! 

Egino Weinert Tabernacle in Christ Cathedral Blessed Sacrament Chapel

We were grateful to the generous contribution of Tim and Steph Busch whose donation made it possible for the Cathedral to acquire this final tabernacle crafted by this legendary liturgical artist of the 20th century. 

Close up of bronze pedestal with Gospel stories and champlevé panels.

The following YouTube video was made by me shortly after the acquisition of the new tabernacle and explains its unique catechetical components together with the bronze pillar upon which it stands. 

The tabernacle is in a separate intimate chapel off the main worship area in the Cathedral.  It is simply adorned focusing the attention of worshippers on the divine presence within.

We are truly fortunate to have multiple liturgical art pieces of this iconic liturgical artist of the 20th century in our Diocese. His pieces are on permanent exhibit at the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

As St. Bonaventure so beautifully said, "The beauty of this world is a shadow of the divine beauty." May we look upon these images and indeed be reminded of our future glory. 

HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
 

What is faith? Do some folks have more faith than others? How can I increase my faith? 

Friends, there is probably no better definition of the reality we call ‘faith’ than the one we find in the Letter to the Hebrews quoted above.  However, defining faith and living out faith are two radically different things. 

So much of a priest’s life is engaging with the ‘faith-questions’ of the people he has served over the years.  A common question that has been posed to me down through the 51 years of my priestly service, asks something like this, “Father, I have doubts and wrestle with faith-questions.  Does that mean I’m not a good Catholic?”  Sound familiar? 

My response down through the years has sounded pretty much the same.  Faith and doubt naturally coexist.  The vast majority of Catholics, if they are truly honest with themselves, wrestle with their faith.  Is that a bad thing?  On the contrary, this is a normal and natural part in the maturation of faith and making it our own rather than the faith of someone else.  Young people often carry into their adulthood the faith of their parents.  While the Sacrament of Confirmation would normally mark the making of faith one’s own as the sacrament that completes our Christian Initiation, sadly and paradoxically, it often marks one’s exit from the Church, or at least the active practice of faith. 

So many parents agonize over this reality and ask the question ‘why?’ They wrestle with, ‘I did everything for my son or daughter to grow up in the faith; sent them to Catholic school and insured they went to Mass every Sunday.  And now, I feel like such a failure.  They left the Church.’ 

My friends, a vibrant and courageous faith that can sustain us in the present age cannot be the faith of others but it must be OUR faith.  Such ‘sabbaticals’ from the active practice of the Catholic faith should not be viewed as ‘leaving the Church.’  Often, times of questioning and doubt are necessary prerequisites in making faith our own.   

Often, it can be a crisis in life, or a moment of renewed commitment such as marriage, that can catapult one back into a faith that had laid dormant for years.  The work of the Christian community is always to fan the embers of newly found faith into a reality that can spiritually sustain us in our friendship with Jesus and his Church as adults. 

Does that mean that all doubts will fade away when we make faith our own?  Absolutely not!  Doubts in our faith can often be the catalyst for our faith to grow and mature as we gain deeper insights into the mysterious world of God touching our lives.  I dare say, that without doubt, faith can stagnate and grow weak.  Doubt can be a motivation for us to study, reflect, ponder and savor the reality of love that stands at the heart of all faith, God’s love for us and our love for God. 

Do some folks have more faith than others?  I suppose so.  However, such envious preoccupations are, in the end, a waste of time.  The Good Lord gives the exact amount of faith that each person needs as he invites our love, trust and surrender to his loving purposes in our life. 

In the end, faith is intimately bound up with the hopes that sustain us in this life to the life that will come when there will be no need for either faith nor hope, since what we have longed for will be ours for all eternity, love unending.

Homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
 

It was a simple text message I received this last week from a couple I’ve known for over 40 years.  It said, “I have sad news, Martin died in his sleep last night.  Pray for him.”  I was utterly shocked since I had just had lunch with this couple last year and he was in perfect health.  His wife, Marianne, a woman of deep faith, understandably devastated at this completely unexpected death, accepted this moment with characteristic surrender to the loving will of God.  I don’t know if I would be so accepting. 

Brothers and sisters, so much of our life’s preoccupations are concerned with things that from eternity’s perspective are of little worth or consequence.  There’s so much wisdom in the words of the first lesson in today’s Eucharist from Ecclesiastes:

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!

From God’s perspective there is only thing that is necessary in life’s pilgrimage and that is following the roadmap that St. Paul gives to the early Christians in Colossae where he reminds them that they have been ‘raised with Christ’ and are therefore challenged to ‘seek the things that are above.’  He then gives a litany of very practical behaviors for one who is privileged to bear the name of Christ if they wish to gain the eternal reward of heaven: 

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self…
 

Buried within this list is the simple admonition to stop lying to one another!  Friends, the daughters and sons of the Father are called to live daily in the truth.  We are to shun the one who is called ‘the father of lies’ so that we can let the truth shine forth in our lives. 

And what is that truth?  It is the profound reality that you and I have no earthly city here.  Rather, we are all immigrants yearning for our true homeland that is in heaven with all the holy ones who have gone before us. 

It is this reality that should be uppermost in our minds rather than ‘storing up treasures for ourselves.’  Rather, each day that is before us is an opportunity to grow rich in what matters to God.  Friends, that is not vanity but rather eternal wisdom!

EUCHARISTIC RESERVATION IN THE POST-CONCILIAR CHURCH

One of the most seminal theological times for me in my early priesthood was the opportunity to do post-graduate studies in Liturgical/Sacramental theology at the famed University of Louvain.  Founded in 1425, in the 1960’s due to the linguistic wars taking place in Belgium, the University split with the ancient campus in its historic setting in the town of Leuven where classes were conducted in Flemish and English, and a ‘new’ University built near Leuven in the French speaking section of the country called Louvain la Neuve. I took classes in English in Leuven.

Literally in the center of the old University town stood the collegiate church of St. Peter’s. Built in the 15th century, it was the principal church of the University town.  Unique to this beautiful Gothic Church is the Medieval Sacrament Tower where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.  This positioning of the Sacrament, not on the High Altar but near it, reflected the divergent practice that was commonly replaced in the post-Tridentine Church with the Tabernacle affixed to the High Altar.  Such a positioning was not always the practice in the Church. 

Eucharistic Tower in St. Peter’s Collegiate Church, Leuven, Belgium

Eucharistic Reservation in the Early Church 

Scholars of liturgical history tell us that the earliest places for the reservation of the Sacrament were in homes that were often freed from persecution. The primary reason to this day for Eucharistic reservation is that those who cannot be at the Eucharistic celebration due to illness can be taken communion from the reserved Eucharist. I’m sure many of us remember the charming story of St. Tarcisius, a young layperson, taking communion to others during the time of persecution and dying in martyrdom to safeguard the Eucharist.

Alexandre Falguière, Saint Tarcisius

  As the Church eventually emerged from being persecuted to receiving status within the state under Constantine and the legitimate practice of Eucharistic adoration ensued in our theology of the Eucharist, Eucharistic reservation varied in this early churches and Basilicas.  The emergence of a permanent place on the principal Altar housed in an ornate Tabernacle gradually became the norm.

Baroque Tabernacle in a Church in Germany

 An alternative ancient practice was reserving the Eucharistic presence in an ornate and enameled dove suspended over the Altar of Sacrifice. 

Eucharistic Dove suspended above the Altar

 With the development of a heightened Eucharistic Piety, it was only natural that in time greater prominence would be given to the consecrated element of bread now reserved in elaborate Tabernacles such as can be seen in St. Peter’s Church in Leuven.  It was during this time, especially from the 12th century on that the development of Eucharistic processions especially connected with the pious custom of “40 Hours Devotion” developed and continue to this day with a renewed resurgence.

40 Hours devotion at St. John Cantius in Chicago

 Sadly, superstitious practices also crept into the piety of the Eucharist at this time, such as gazing at the Eucharist during the Elevation of the elements during mass would suspend time and hence, one would not age! 

To curb such superstitions, the Council of Trent in her subsequent reform of the Missal that eventually witnessed the Missal of Pius V, brought standardization to the Eucharistic ritual and practice.

First edition of the Missal of Pius V

 With the rise of Jansenism that took an overly pessimistic view of human nature, the practice of frequent communion diminished. So much so that the Church was forced to legally require that all Catholics in good standing had to receive the Eucharist at least once a year – the Easter Duty.   

It was Pope St. Pius X who encouraged frequent and even daily communion and lowered the age of First Communion to 7 or 8, the age of reason that is the practice today. 

To encourage even more frequent communion, Pope St. John XXIII prior to the Second Vatican Council mitigated greatly the Eucharistic Fast, from the old fast from all foods and liquids from midnight until communion to a three hour fast before communion with water never breaking the fast.  That was even mitigated by subsequent Popes to a one hour fast from solid food prior to communion. 

Eucharistic Presence and Reservation after the Second Vatican Council 

The Great Ecumenical Council (1962-1965) called for by Pope St. John XXIII was a Council of renewal and reform in the Church.  In keeping with the ancient maxim, ecclesia semper reformanda est (the Church is always in the process of reforming), the Council was one of twenty-one moments in the Church’s history that called for reform and renewal to enable the Gospel of Christ to ring out with greater clarity in the times in which the Church found herself. 

The first major issue that the Council dealt with was the reform and renewal of the Sacred Liturgy – the public worship of the Church.  This conciliar reform in worship was preceded by nearly one hundred years of scholarship that revealed ancient sources to our common liturgical life.  This ressourcement of ancient sources to our liturgical tradition was called The Liturgical Movement.  While the Liturgical Movement had a variety of goals, common elements in time emerged: 

·      A recapturing of worship as a communal experience of all God’s Holy People

·      A move toward a vernacular liturgy moving away from celebrations in a language little understood by people today

·      A move from a preoccupation with the ‘static’ presence of the Lord in the Eucharistic elements to a renewed appreciation for the ‘dynamic’ presence in the Eucharistic celebration – the Mass. 

In December 1963 the Council solemnly promulgated the first of the eventual 16 formal documents, Sacrosanctum Concilium, on the reform and renewal of the Sacred Liturgy.  This document received the overwhelming approval of the council fathers with only 4 dissenting votes! (2147 votes in favor, 4 against, 2 invalid votes)

Council Fathers in the Aula of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Second Vatican Council

 That document set in motion liturgical and canonical legislation that would eventually witness the first practical fruits of the Council, the most obvious with the gradual introduction of a vernacular liturgy. 

The Liturgy Constitution and subsequent legislation also witness changes in church architecture to support a liturgy now reformed and renewed, that is, facilitating communal worship verses a clerical priest-centric liturgy. 

The move from an emphasis on the dynamic presence of Christ in the Eucharistic celebration verses the static presence in the Eucharistic elements led to some practical changes in church architecture and sanctuary arrangement. The most obvious and evident change was a move from a fixed altar at the far East end of the nave to a free-standing altar to accommodate Mass facing the people. 

Liturgical legislation prohibited a tabernacle affixed to the principal Altar to a separate area of reservation.  The separate area of reservation could take three forms: 

·      Eucharistic reservation in a separate chapel clearly identifiable from the main area of the church.

·      A separate area in the church proper that would be clearly visible and properly ornamented away from the sanctuary

·      An area behind the altar  

Sacrament Chapel in Christ Cathedral

It is important to note that the post-concilar documentation does not give priority to these areas but leaves it up to the Diocesan Bishop and Pastor to determine what would be most fitting in the local setting. 

By way of example, when Bishop Tod Brown became Bishop of Orange in 1998 he mandated that all new churches built in the Diocese of Orange have a separate Eucharistic chapel to house the Blessed Sacrament enabling intimate prayer and adoration.  If that could not be done in existing churches, the Blessed Sacrament was to be moved to a properly ornamented area to the left or right of the sanctuary.  It was not to be in the sanctuary area proper nor behind the principal altar.

Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano

 His successor, Bishop Kevin Vann, has approached this delicate area from a different perspective, respecting the decision of the pastor and the pious sensitivities and desires of his parishioners.   

Why was the post-conciliar legislation adamant about no longer reserving the Blessed Sacrament on the principal Altar?  The language of the liturgy is the language of symbol.  Hence, symbols in our liturgy reveal and disclose theological meaning. 

The Altar of Sacrifice that symbolizes Christ himself is the privileged place in every church where the Eucharistic celebration takes place.  Through this celebration the sacrifice of Calvary is renewed as a lasting memorial and the Lord’s greatest gift to his Church is realized – his real substantial presence, Body and Blood, soul and divinity in the consecrated elements of bread and wine.

It would be symbolically anomalous to enact so great a mystery by the power of the Holy Spirit in every Eucharistic celebration when at the same Sacred Table, the fruit of that celebration is already present in the Tabernacle.  The Church in her liturgical legislation wants to clearly delineate the difference between the dynamic Real Presence that comes to us through the Eucharistic celebration that is both meal and sacrifice and the static Real Presence that is the fruit of that celebration and worthy of adoration as well as taken to those unable to be present for the sacred mysteries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Time of Choosing

Those friends who follow my posts on Facebook don’t have to guess where my political leanings may lie. Ever since Donald Trump descended the golden escalator spewing his anti-immigrant bile, I have been an avowed anti-Trumper. Since my posts are not public (I’m not insane!), occasionally a Republican friend and supporter of Trump asks the question: “Since Trump is anti-abortion, how can you support a pro-choice candidate?” This is a question that is often asked of sincere Catholics and others who understand and accept the gravity of abortion from a Catholic ethical perspective. Perhaps, the following apologia for why one who supports the seamless dignity of all life, from ‘womb to tomb’ may support a Democrat for President and not Donald Trump:

Neither the Republican nor Democrat Presidential candidate and their respective platforms reflect perfectly Catholic moral values. Both are gravely deficient. As a Democrat, I of course, do not accept their entire platform, specifically on abortion. However, I find equally despicable and morally bankrupt Donald Trump’s stance on capital punishment, which is contrary to Catholic ethics, demonization of immigrants, ridicule of climate change as a hoax, demonization of anyone who disagrees with him, his threatening the integrity of the Constitution which is the very essence of our democracy. Most of all, political leaders must possess both the character and moral center to lead with integrity all the people entrusted for the common good. Donald Trump, in my opinion and that of countless women and men who worked with him in his prior administration, is totally bereft of character and integrity.

As Pope Francis so rightly has pointed out, when we are faced with conflicted moral and political choices, it comes down to a matter of personal conscience in determining which candidate and platform proportionately on the whole will support Catholic values. I am not as naive as to question that some conscientious Republicans, arrive at a good faith conclusion that Trump and the Republican platform best represents that. And I would only ask that Republicans and Trump supporters afford me the same courtesy, aware that I too have weighed the proportionate values and disvalues and have arrived in good conscience at a different conclusion.

However, I categorically reject those who state that voting for a Democrat means one is supporting abortion and, hence, all Democrats directly cooperate with intrinsic evil and are guilty of grave sin and should even refrain from communion! This important distinction is clearly articulated in the USCCB’s statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.

In an important letter written to an American cardinal when he was Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stated:

“A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.”

While single issue voters exist, I far more believe that it is the full complement of political decisions that a candidate may support that either support, compromise or violate Catholic ethical principles that inform the conscientious Catholic voter to choose which candidate, overall, best reflects Catholic ethical principles. That decision remains in the inviolate area of personal conscience.

I find it interesting when I encounter folks who say they ‘despise Trump’s character’ but since he’s against abortion, they have no other choice than to vote for him. The Nazi laws enacted by Hitler for the Third Reich outlawed abortion as a crime for Aryans and was strictly enforced. I would certainly hope that if Hitler were alive today, nobody would vote for him because he was against abortion!

More on Harrison Butker's Commencement Address

Far too much ink has been spilled to date over Harrison Butker’s recent commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.  I was going to refrain from commenting; however, a number of folks were asking me what I thought and so here goes. 

I’m a firm believer in the ‘big tent’ theory of who we are as a Church.  In other words, there’s a lot of room for all different kinds of folks on the ideological spectrum – so called liberals, conservatives and centrists. Whatever floats your spiritual boat is just fine with me as long as you’re not trying to throw some out of the boat!  

I’m sure Harrison Butker is a great guy and a fantastic kicker in a sport I have little interest in.  I do, however, have a great interest and more than a bit of theological background in the Church that I have served for 50 years as a priest.  It is from that perspective that I offer my comments. 

Benedictine College is a very traditional boutique Catholic College.  The President obviously invited Butker to reinforce their particular ideological perspective on the faith.  No surprise here.  I’m sure, as was reported, his words were well received, and a standing ovation was given to him at its conclusion.  No surprise. 

To conclude, however, that Butker’s words represented orthodox Catholic theological belief is wrong.  They did not. Butker, or whoever drafted the talk for him, obviously had several theological and liturgical axes to grind and grind they did! 

As a liturgist, I took grave exception to the following section of his talk: 

“I attend the TLM because I believe, just as the God of the Old Testament was pretty particular in how he wanted to be worshipped, the same holds true for us today. It is through the TLM that I encountered order and began to pursue it in my own life. Aside from the TLM itself, too many of our sacred traditions have been relegated to things of the past, when in my parish, things such as ember days, days when we fast and pray for vocations and for our priests, are still adhered to. The TLM is so essential that I would challenge each of you to pick a place to move where it is readily available.” 

Now, to imply – and I’m being diplomatic here - that the unreformed Mass of Trent, a la the Missale of 1962, is how God wants to be worshipped today, disregards the liturgical reforms of an Ecumenical Council, the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the most recent Instructions of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, reigning in the wholesale use of the pre-reformed rites!  This is hubris at a totally new level but sadly reflects the dissident ideological perspective of not a few Catholic traditionalists.  This is NOT the teaching of the Catholic Church. 

Such views reinforce a sad comment recently shared with me by a young person in our parish.  When asked why he wasn’t seen at Mass, he stated, I go to the real Mass at St. Michael’s Abbey.  Now, my good friends at the abbey would be the first to disabuse this young fellow from such nonsense, I would hope!  Yet, Pope Francis is right to be gravely concerned that such sentiments are being reinforced either overtly or tacitly at the TLM.  Such comments by a popular football star given at a Catholic College certainly reinforce such heterodox opinions. 

I’m going to stop here because I’d like to make the excellent and thorough response of Henry Karlson in his May 21 post in Patheos my own.  It is excellent.  Tolle et lege! Read here

 

In Memoriam - Pope Emeritus Benedict

The death this morning of Pope Emeritus Benedict prompted a flood of memories for me.  On the bucket list of this liturgist was to be in the Piazza San Pietro for the election of a Pope.  While a student priest in Belgium in the late 70’s, I was fortunate to attend the inaugural liturgy marking the beginning of the pontificate of a relatively young John Paul II, having missed the election. 

I was pastor of Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano when Pope John Paul II died in April, 2005.  The wheels of my mind began to turn realizing that this would probably be my only chance to fulfill a dream and be present for the election of a Pope.  Amazingly and, I’d like to think, providentially, I called Delta Airlines hoping that I could use miles to book a flight to Rome after calculating when the Conclave of Election would begin.  Miraculously, a flight was available!  I then booked a room in one of my favorite hotels near the Pantheon, Grand Hotel Minerva, for one week – all of this hoping that the Conclave of Election would not last too long so that I could be there for the inaugural mass of the new Pope. 

I remember distinctly at the International Terminal at LAX prior to my flight, seeing the TV monitors and the Cardinal electors processing into the Sistine Chapel to begin election of the successor to John Paul II. 

Landing in Rome some 12 hours later, I made my way to the hotel and immediately walked to St. Peter’s Square to witness the smoke from the third ballot of the Cardinals.  Gathering with tens of thousands in the square, the smoke was visibly black, no Pope elected.   

I ran into a group of priest friends from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who invited me to join them for lunch.  The excitement in the air was palpable.  After lunch, I returned to the hotel to try to get a bit of rest before returning to the square for the results of the 4th ballot in the late afternoon.  Too excited to rest, I decided to return to the piazza a bit early.  As I was walking down the Via della Conciliazione, the main thoroughfare leading to St. Peter’s, I could see folks running, some leaving their cars on the side of the road, and I realized something was about to happen. 

Tiered banks of media, the likes of which, I had never seen, circled the Piazza.  Quickly, the crowds grew to over a hundred thousand.  And then, we saw the white smoke coming from the small ancient chimney above the Sistine Chapel.  The crowds roared with excited anticipation.  The great bells of the Basilica began to ring out in jubilation. 

It was a bit of time between the white smoke and the eventual pulling back of the red curtains on the loggia window overlooking the square.  Finally, the Dean of the College of Cardinals emerged and proclaimed the ancient formula: Anuncio vobis, Gaudium magnum, habemus papam!  “I announce to you, great joy, we have a Pope!”  The declaration went on in Latin, yet when he spoke the word, Josephum, it was clear before he got to the last name, Ratzinger, who was elected.  The crowds erupted in wild excitement and jubilation.   

A few moments later, the new Pope, Benedict XVI, appeared to impart his first words and blessing to the city and the world.  The crowds, now filling the piazza were delirious with excitement and joy.   

Timing was on my side, and I was able to be present for Benedict’s inaugural mass in all its papal splendor.  It was a week that I will never forget. 

Rest in Peace, faithful servant of the servants of God.