Got frequent flyer miles?
NCCL’s Executive Director needs them for international flights to bring him to mission-critical projects around the globe.
Friends of Good St. Nicholas (more…)
Then-Father Ratzinger’s words on genuine reform
In case you hadn’t yet read the excerpts from a book by then-Father Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI — the excerpts were, after all, rather ‘buried’ in the post (of June 1, below), we re-post some of the more salient passages here, to entice you to read more in the post of June 1.
We emphasize these excerpts in the context of the Holy Father’s perseverance to reconcile the Holy See with the Society of St. Pius X, urging those Catholics who aspire to serve him loyally with the spirit of humble sons seeking wisdom to edify the members of the Church at large, to learn from what the Pope has been thinking for a long time, in order to be ready, should the opportunity arise, to communicate better to him how to draw on or from the (re)sources of tradition and put them to work for the salvation of souls today.
The Church now finds itself in a situation of Babylonian captivity, in which the ‘for’ and ‘against’ attitudes are not only tangled up in the oddest ways, but seem to allow scarcely any reconciliation.
(more…)
Father Joseph Ratzinger on genuine reform
We post, without commentary for now, the following excerpts taken from THE RATZINGER READER (accessed 24 May 2012), doing so because we believe it optimal to study some of then-Father Ratzinger’s own words in order better to understood what he understood — and to some extent likely still understands — to be causes of the current crisis: which he calls a “crisis of faith”.
(more…)
Rome is ‘occupied’
The following post, written in July of 2005, might have been written yesterday. (more…)
Small is beautiful
In continuation of the post of March 26, what does the Pope’s vision of reform in general mean for a traditional reform?
First, it, too, will be small in numbers, composed of members “with the élan of faith”.
Second, it will be joyful and convinced.
Third, it will be about reform, gradually (or quickly as the case may be) transforming the rest of ecclesial life; but definitely not ‘babysitting’ Catholics of any one sort or stripe. Pope Benedict is not concerned with babysitting anyone or marginalizing them by use of labels or prejudices. One could even say, his sole aspiration for the Church is reform of Her ecclesial life. He, perhaps better than anyone, is painfully aware of the need to reform.
Fourth, it will live at peace with the rest of the Church’s members: hierarchy and people. But the intensity of its joy living the faith will irradiate to the rest.
Those above four points pretty much summarize the crux of the response which former Cardinal Ratzinger gave to Raymond Arroyo’s question about renewal or reform in the interview of September 2003, published elsewhere on this blog. (See the post dated March 26, 2012 for the link to the interview.)
What does Pope Benedict envision for a (traditonal) reform of ecclesial life?
Now is an apt time, in view of Pope Benedict’s letter to the SSPX declining their theological presuppositions for reconciliation, to consider what His Holiness envisions for ecclesial reform. (more…)
How not to lose sight of the goal
As the year commences, let us look back a moment in order to look ahead together in Christian hope. (more…)
Talks of Society of St. Pius X and Holy See conducted on wrong basis
Here follows a letter from NCCL’s Executive Director summarizing (some) reasons that the talks between the Society of St. Pius X & the Holy See are being conducted on the wrong basis.
(Endnotes are numbered in the text [in brackets].)
Pope Benedict XVI grants ‘Personal Ordinariate’ for Anglo-Catholics in the U.S
On October 28, 2011 Pope Benedict announced (more…)
Another urgent letter to an Anglo-Catholic bishop seeking to inform about the Pope’s motu proprio, Anglicanorum coetibus
For ‘background’, see this post dated 30 April 2010 on the Reform of the Reformer blog, and this webpage.
The following correspondence was ‘declassified’ (more…)
Reform of the Reformer 