April 2011

For St. Joan of Arc Praise Ministry and Knights of Columbus Newsletters, April 2011

With April comes the end of Lent and Holy Week, culminating in the greatest celebration of the Church year, Easter. One of the principal focuses of Lent this year in the Archdiocese of Denver is extra prayer in support of the gift of life. The evil of abortion has become big business in our country, with abortion providers profiting from the deaths of the unborn and the scarring of mothers who yield to the horrible temptation of killing the child within. As our culture has become accustomed to this evil, other attacks on the sanctity of life grow stronger: assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell “research” (experimenting on embryos to create clones, thereby killing the unborn, and use the products for “healing” of other people), and euthanasia (the intentional murder of the elderly and the disabled).

The primary weapon against evil in the world is prayer: pray for the defenseless who are endangered by these threats. Pray for the conversion of those who advocate these evils. And, especially, pray for the pregnant woman tempted by abortion and for depressed and suffering people tempted to suicide. Offer everyday pains and suffering along with prayers for life. Additional weapons include writing and calling key political leaders to oppose further anti-life legislation voting for pro-life leaders.

It makes sense to have Lent provide the opportunity to focus on the gift of human life as a prelude to celebration of the gift of eternal life at Easter. The Lord Jesus, the son of God, freely emptied himself of his divine prerogatives so as to be born of a Virgin, and to live a human life like ours in all things but sin. He walked among us, teaching, healing the sick, and casting out evil He drew a small group of disciples around him, taught them, and showed them what they, too would be called to do. He then suffered from their lack of understanding and their abandonment of him (the beginning of his Passion), and he gave himself over to be scourged, taunted, crowned with thorns, and, finally, the culmination of the Passion, crucified. By his death, our sins (when we confess them) are forgiven. By his wounds, we were healed! But the gift of Christ Jesus is greater than that, because, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was raised from the dead. And, His resurrection opens the gates to Heaven. For those who say “yes!” to the gift of faith in Christ Jesus, are baptized, and seek to follow him in the paths he lays out, eternal life is a reality even in this life. By our seeking to do the will of the Father and follow his Son, the Father comes to us to make a dwelling place of both of them with us. We Catholics believe the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which allows the Holy Trinity to live within us, comes with Baptism, and is strengthened by Confirmation and nourished by Eucharist.

The Catholic Church is pro-life, in the everyday, and pro-eternal life, for that which is to come.

Pray in all ways, always.

May you have a fruitful Lent and a happy and holy Easter.

Deacon Rex Pilger     

A special day...

Today our third oldest grandchild, Abigail, celebrates her third birthday. She will now get to share her day with the memory of her Great-Grandmother Louise, my mother, who passed away this morning.

We were blessed to have Grandma Louise here in Colorado since July of last year. And, I hope that she was blessed with the presence of so many family -- not only four of her seven grandchildren and two of seven great-grandchildren, but also cousins of my father, both of their generation, but also mine and younger. Rest in peace, Mother.

Four generations: Louise with (front-to-back): Abigail on Mary's lap, Mackayla with Andrew, and Rex (August, 2010).

Too far?

First posted in April, 2005: link.
Taken from If God Exists Why is He Hiding? (Crossing the Threshold of Faith):

Journalist:"Why doesn’t [God] reveal Himself more clearly?"

Pope John Paul II: "It is precisely in this birth, and then through the Passion, the Cross, and the Resurrection that the self-revelation of God in the history of man reached its zenith — the revelation of the invisible God in the visible humanity of Christ."
"Could God go further in His stooping down, in His drawing near to man…? In truth, it seems that He has gone as far as possible. He could not go further. In a certain sense God has gone too far! Didn’t Christ perhaps become ‘a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1Cor 1:23)? Precisely because He called God His Father, because He revealed Him so openly in Himself, He could not but elicit the impression it was too much… Man was not longer able to tolerate such closeness…"

How could God reveal any more of himself than he has in Christ? Recall Luke’s parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Once the rich man has begun experiencing the torments of his afterlife, he wants to send Lazarus to the rich man’s brothers. But Abraham tells him that even should someone rise from the dead there are those (such as the brothers) who would not believe.
We have all that we really need until Christ’s second coming. Is it too much?

Flowers, cards, and chocolate

For those of us who are married, or soon to enter into that state, February is (whether we like it or not) the month of Valentines, hearts, flowers, cherubs, pink and red. February 14, St. Valentine’s Day, is important not only to wives and fiancés but also florists, greeting card vendors, chocolate companies, and restaurants. Perhaps you remember the 7-11 commercial from a few years ago. As I recall it, a young woman is shown in the Valentine’s card aisle of a larger store, agonizing and agonizing over which card best expresses her depth of feeling. Then we see a young man purchasing his Big Gulp in the local convenience store, and, seeing the display on the counter, says to the clerk, “And, oh yeah, this too,” handing over the top card from the rack. The final scene shows the same young woman collapsing in tears over the completely, absolutely perfect expression of affection her boyfriend provides in that very same 7-11 card.
Because we know so little about St. Valentine – there may have been several early Romans name Valentinius, at least one of whom was a soldier and martyr for the faith – the Church no longer honors him on the official calendar. But we do know that there was a martyr who witnesses his love for Christ by the sacrifice of his life. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, which includes the passage instructing wives to subordinate themselves to their husbands, also instructs us:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her. (Eph 5:25).

That is, our wives are to subordinate themselves to us so that we can sacrifice ourselves for them. Which shows the greater and deeper obligation, subordination or sacrifice? We see how our wives give of themselves almost out of a natural impulse for their children, grandchildren, parish, friends, and, yes, their husbands. Our obligation is to ever more completely offer ourselves over to our wives, our family, our Church.
By the way, how much time do you spend in selecting the perfect card? Happy Valentine’s Day!
Deacon Rex Pilger
February, 2011, Newsletter, St. Joan of Arc Knights of Columbus

The clock is ticking... or is it?

In the past few days, the canonical "issues" with conjugal rights for married deacons have been raised again, this time by Edward Peters' son. He states:

In simple terms, permanent deacons are obligated by law to refrain from sexual relations with their wife once they are ordained. [emphasis in original]

And

Fair warning: the argument is air-tight

Why? Because his father says so, apparently. Yet, he also notes:

FINAL POINT: THIS WON’T BE DECIDED BY US. [EMPHASIS in original]

No, the argument is not air-tight. Fundamentally and formally, the argument is illogical, as I first noted here (last letter) and here. Deacon William Ditewig makes the same observation:

If clerical CELIBACY flows from the desire for clergy to be CONTINENT, then wouldn't the very removal of the requirement for CELIBACY in the case of certain clerics not also remove the requirement for CONTINENCE? (I'm not shouting here; I'm simply typing for emphasis.) All clerics are to be continent. Therefore, all clerics are to be celibate. But not all clerics are celibate. Therfore [sic], not all clerics are continent. [EMPHASIS in original]

Father Lewis Berry comes to a similar conclusion (third comment):

I do not agree that the language of Canon 277&1 which states that the requirement of celibacy is premised on the value of continency in any way necessitates the corresponding view that the dispensation from the requirement of celibacy leaves the obligation of continency in place; I believe that the inference is quite the reverse. The marriage "right" or "usage" is derived from both natural and revealed law and cannot be considered to have been waived by mere implication of either law or collateral event.

Is the foundation of the controversy really just smoke and mirrors?

And, why the big push now, since the 2005 Studia Canonica article has been out there for going on six years? Near the end of the paper we read:

Finally, however, because such a practice is, it seems certain [sic], one actually "contrary to canon law," it could obtain force of law only if it was "legitimately" observed for "thirty continuous and complete years." The norm in question, of course, c. 277 of the 1983 Code, while consistent with earlier law, has itself been in place only for some twenty years. (p. 178-179).

2013 is only a couple of years away. It further appears that the author is not disinterested and wants his interpretation to be affirmed by Church authority:

This welcome articulation of the value of celibacy in its own right appeared in the 1982 Schema Codicis, c. 279, §1,67 and, as we have seen, was carried into the final form of the canon in the 1983 Code without amendment. (p. 169) [Emphasis added]

As a number of people have observed, either in their comments on existing posts or in their own blogs, proper Church authority has already acknowledged the legitimacy of married deacons exercising their marital rights:

The Sacrament of Matrimony sanctifies conjugal love and constitutes it a sign of the love with which Christ gives himself to the Church (cf. Eph. 5:25). It is a gift from God and should be a source of nourishment for the spiritual life of those deacons who are married. (Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons & Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons No. 61)

Yes, higher Church authority could redefine the rights and obligations of married deacons. Until then, if ever, I think the "question" is resolved.

Illogic and Law

The new/old clericalism continues to assert itself. Unintentionally, perhaps, attacks on the married diaconate may indicate that the restored ministry is critical to the Holy Spirit's plan for the Church. The argument that Canon 277 of the Code requires continence for married deacons is illogical, if not irrational.Further, the contention that removal of an explicit provision for diaconal marital relations from a preliminary draft of the Code implies the opposite is similarly fallacious. Since the scholastics of the Middle Ages, the consistency of reason and faith has been recognized as orthodox; if a contention is fallacious, it is not an argument.  
Further, an authoritative implementation of the Code (the Directory for the Ministry and Life of the Permanent Deacon) explicitly recognizes conjugal love as nourishment for the spiritual life of the married deacon. The contention that married deacons are to abstain from intimacy within marriage is inconsistent with both Divine and natural law and not supported by Canon Law.
Married deacons, trust in the Lord and in His Spirit Who lead the Church!
See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (NAB)
Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily you shall know them: (D-RB)

Baptism of the Lord - 2011 - Gospel and Homily

Link