Friday, January 4, 2008

A Return to Tradition

US News and World Report ran a story entitled "Return to Tradition" with a cover photo of the Tridentine Mass at St. Mary in Downtown Washington DC. It was reported all over the various blogs. And that was a very, very good thing.

Having finally gotten around to reading and thinking about the piece for a few days, it seems to discuss two trends. The first deals with Roman Catholics who want to return to older traditions but also implied that we want to return to orthodoxy. The second deals with other faiths who are using or adopting such rituals as communion.

As with any of the types of articles, there is always the obligatory section on the person who disagrees or "poo-poo's" these changes. So, the authors have turned to Rev. Thomas Reese S.J., a political scientist at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University (Washington DC). Not only does he claim that this trend is more hype than anything else, he also advocates for the ordination of women.

Who is this Fr. Reese? Fr. Reese is the former editor of AMERICA magazine, which is well know for their not so faithful positions on the Church's teachings.

Anyway, the story goes that in 2005 various Vatican officials forced his superiors to get rid of him. However, after a couple of months, a slightly different story started to circulate along these lines: (1) Fr. Reese resigned over the election of Pope Benedict; (2) His superiors accepted it; (3) His colleagues and friends urged him to reconsider, stay for a few more months and see what happens; (4) He thought about it and requested a withdrawal of his resignation; and, (5) His superiors refused. Personally, I believe that there was pressure, and Fr. Reese gave his superiors the opportunity to get rid of a problem.

To put it bluntly, as I see it, the Catholic Church does not need priests such as Fr. Reese. All they do is to confuse the average Catholic on matters of faith and morals. Nor do we need bishops and cardinals who cover for them or do nothing about them.

Maybe there is a better fit for them over in the Episcopalian Church.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME ,THERE ARE MORE THAN A FEW MR. EER FR. REESES OUT THERE AND A GOOD PORTION STUCK IN THE REVISIONIST JESUIT ORDER. THE DAYS OF PERVERT'S LIKE MAHONEY, BROWN, WEAKLAND,DANEEL, KASPAR AND NOW DEAD PEDOPHILE (PROTECTOR) BERNARDIN ARE OVER. CLERICS LIKE THESE AND THE JESUIT ORDER HAVE BEEN SCREWING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SINCE THE LIBERAL REVISIONIST TOOK CONTROL AFTER VATICAN TWO. TO THE LIBERAL REACTIONARYS, GET OVER IT OR GO JOIN THE CUMBY YA PROTESTANTS.