Thursday, November 13, 2008

Blogging delayed...

by the realities of a day job and the exigencies of marriage, fatherhood, authorship, PhD candidacy, etc. I will have something up by the weekend regarding the USCCB Fall mtg.

At present, there is only one brief thing: in the Nov. 9 edition of Our Sunday Visitor, the intelligent, pastorally sensitive and usually well-informed Msgr. Francis Mannion misrepresents both the SSPX and Summorum pontificum. He calls the SSPX a "schismatic society", which is contrary to the painstaking Sept. statement of the PCED, something Fr. Zuhlsdorf has addressed on several occasions over the years.

Secondly, and most importantly, Msgr. Mannion says that, in SP, Pope Benedict, "[E]xpresses hope that, in each diocese, there will be one parish," dedicated to the use of the old books. While strictly not incorrect (per art. 10 of SP), the statement is a clear misrepresentation of the intention of SP, as explained in the text of the document (esp. artt. 4&5), the pope's letter explanatory, and the repeated interventions of PCED head, Card. Hoyos (just a few treatments, for taste).

OSV circulates widely among important Catholic demographics. This blogger will write to Msgr. Mannion, asking that he correct the imprecise language of his column, which, once again, is usually unexcptionable, and not rarely helpful to its target audience.

3 comments:

John Norton said...

Thanks for the clarifications. Here's a link to the column you cite: http://www.osv.com/OSVNav/OSVNewsweeklyNovember92008/SchismaticMass/tabid/7050/Default.aspx.

In Msgr. Mannion's defense, he was referring to Art. 10 of SP, which he interprets as the pope's wish that there be one parish in each diocese that does more than just celebrate the extraordinary form, but offers comprehensive ministry for those committed to it.

Your point about identifying the SSPX as "schismatic" is well taken. The Vatican's take on this is very nuanced, but it is clear there has been no formal declaratio of schism.

John Norton, editor, Our Sunday Visitor

John Norton said...

I don't know if the link I posted was complete. If not, here it is (and I opened it up to non-subscribers, too): http://www.osv.com/OSVNav/OSVNewsweeklyNovember92008/SchismaticMass/tabid/7050/Default.aspx

Lazy Disciple said...

Dear John,

You are very welcome. I will add the link now.

Regarding your observation in Msgr. Mannion's defense, you will see that I myself say that, per art. 10, he is not technically incorrect.