Church history and Catholic Social Doctrine on Soundcloud

Dr. John Rao (Photo: The Remnant)

There is a great deal of good Catholic audio to be found on the internet nowadays. We want to alert our readers to things in particular.

First, our friends at the Roman Forum have put a large number of lectures on Church History by John Rao up on Soundcloud. Included are the completed lectures of the current year (2016-2017), which is about the years 1794-1846, and all the lectures of last year (2015-2016), which was about the years 1748-1794. We encourage our readers to take a break from current events, and recall the Church’s struggles in previous centuries. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were periods in the Church’s life with many parallels to our own. The temptation to water down the faith, and try to make it palatable to modernity can be found then as now. And Rao masterfully shows how all attempts do so were counter-productive and disastrous, whereas attempts to recover the fullness of the Church's Tradition bore great fruit.

Newly published Reader in Catholic Social Teaching emphasizes traditional doctrine [UPDATED]

I am glad to announce the publication of a book that may, with truth, be said to have been under development for over 20 years. This collection has three points of origin. First, there was my exposure as a student at Thomas Aquinas College to the powerful anti-liberal encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII (not, mind you, as part of the regular curriculum, but due to an extracurricular reading group run by traditionally-minded Catholics). This awakened my mind to the perspective of the Syllabus of Errors, the gauntlet thrown down to the supposed triumph of enlightened modernity. 

Second, when I began to teach at the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria (now in Trumau), we needed a Catholic Social Teaching course, and in keeping with our “Great Books” approach, decided to make the course consist entirely of magisterial documents. That gave birth to the first draft of the book announced below. 

Third, when Wyoming Catholic College opened its doors in 2007, there was agreement that we should require of the students at least one semester of moral theology and social doctrine. Using materials from ITI, WCC created a course that begins with the foundations of moral theology, moves to marriage and family, and ends with political, economic, and cultural issues. The readings for this course, duly edited, arranged, and introduced, have become A Reader in Catholic Social Teaching.

Full contents of Pope's Encyclical Laudato Si now available

Someone leaked (or broke the embargo) of the full contents of the Pope's new encyclical Laudato Si to Italian periodical L'Espresso. Sandro Magister has also made it available.

The whole document, in Italian (pdf file), is available here.

Update: According to Vatican sources, the leaked Espresso text, despite all appearances of a final text, is not the final version... and the final text is still under embargo until Thursday. It is doubtful that the published text will be much different (it is indeed quite likely it will be nearly identical), so the version above is kept at least for the historical record of events.

Bl. Pope Pius IX’s Maxima Quidem

With every passing year the prescience and wisdom of Bl. Pope Pius IX’s famous Syllabus of Errors becomes more apparent. He identified so many errors in their early stages, which have since plagued the world for so long. The Syllabus is composed of quotations from various allocutions and writings of the pope. And it is of great interest to read those passages in their original contexts with all the Pope’s own comments on them, which were omitted in the Syllabus. Unfortunately, very few of those documents have been translated into English. One of the main sources of the Syllabus, however, the Allocution Maxima Quidem, has recently been posted as part of a new translation project at The Josias, a website devoted to Thomist political philosophy and traditional Catholic social doctrine. Reading Maxima Quidem one is struck by the vehemence of Bl. Pius IX’s horror at the modern errors to which we have now sadly become so accustomed. A few quotations:

“The glory of God is the common good of the people”

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— that is the shortest creed, a creed given by the Savior Himself. It is the Savior’s highest revelation, and His greatest gift of light. He alone could say it, for, “no man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18) It is the epitome of salvation, the foundation of the faith, the anchor of hope, the source of love. It is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that children are baptized, marriages are solemnized, priests are ordained, churches are consecrated, sinners are absolved, sick persons are anointed, and the dead are buried.

Catholic Social Teaching Did Not Begin Yesterday

Considerations of Catholic Social Teaching often seem to give the impression that it began with The Second Vatican Council, or at the very earliest with Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. 

"Mercy", "social justice" and "the peripheries" in practice - 500 Italian workers to be left in utter squalor by papal decision

from Sandro Magister's Italian-only blog Settimo Cielo

The Church has a social doctrine. But then there is the problem of putting it into practice. The Church makes an incontestable affirmation of the right to work, but then there are decisions imposed that take away jobs, even if these decisions are well motivated.

Should the Feast of Christ the King Be Celebrated in October or November?

With the revival of the traditional Roman Mass throughout the Church, a number of rather significant calendar differences between old and new make themselves increasingly felt by the faithful and those who minister to them. We are all aware, but no one better than our dedicated clergy, that almost every Sunday of the year would demand two different homilies if the same priest, intending to preach on the readings of the day, celebrated Masses in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms.

Poverty and Simplicity at the Heart of Catholic Tradition

Poverty and simplicity - Low Mass at side altar, Fontgombault Abbey

The Italian Traditional Catholic blog, Cordialiter, could never be accused of not supporting or understanding the Catholic Tradition and what it means for us today.  Its “banner” is a quote from Saint Pius X, from his Apostolic Letter “Nôtre Charge Apostolique”:  “The true friends of the people are not the revolutionaries nor the innovators, but the traditionalists.”  A recent post apparently caused quite a reaction from the readers of the blog, so much so that the author felt the need to issue a clarification.  I think important issues are raised in the post and the clarification. My translation of the post and the clarification from Italian is as follows.  My comments are below.

When Will Catholics Give Up Being Used by "Conservative" Politicians?

It never fails...

Social concerns are Traditional Concerns - do not leave the social battlefield at the mercy of unbelieving liberals

"Breaking down the Left"

In order to give more energy to the unstoppable advance of the traditional movement we need to accomplish a “breakdown of the left”. There are many faithful [Catholics] who for years have sympathized with progressive environments, attracted by social problems such as hunger in the world and the worker’s issues, but now they are becoming aware of the desacralizing of Catholicism and are hoping for its “restoration”. There are a lot of people, in good faith. who have found themselves on “the left”, and now we must lead them back to the bedrock of Tradition. One of the mistakes that needs absolutely to be avoided is that of leaving “ the social questions” in the hands of the modernists and “reds”.

We must exploit every occasion to gain some advantage for the good of souls, and therefore for the greater glory of God. We must not stay at the window merely looking at the passing of events; we have to make an effort to attract souls to Tradition, by trying to make use of every occasion that presents itself. I shall explain better. People like those who do not limit their talking to liturgical and doctrinal questions i.e. those who are involved concretely as well in social works. At present the traditional movement has remained on the fringes of ecclesial life, but the time has arrived to take advantage of the situation.

In what way? We ought to give life to new initiatives also in the social sphere, so as to snatch people away from the clutches of the sterile philanthropy of modernism and try to make them fully aware of the great devotional and doctrinal patrimony of Tradition. The primacy of the doctrinal and liturgical questions must remain, but we absolutely need to avoid leaving “the social issues” in the hands of the modernists and their communist friends. The true militant of Catholic Tradition is interested in social questions and is always on the side of the poor and suffering.

If we fail to accomplish “the breakdown of the left” a lot of people will fall into the modernist net, which might continue to increase its philanthropic works for the poor, without however, trying to lead souls to Christ, [thus] giving the wrong idea that the Church is one of the many humanitarian NGOs. If we do nothing, people will think that the faithful linked to the traditional liturgy are interested only in the Cappa Magna, brocade chasubles, shoes with silver buckles, altar cards in gold-chiseled frames and hand-embroidered surplices. This is false, as in reality, traditionalists are the greatest friends of the people (St. Pius X said this), and are interested in the problems of those who are in need. However they do not do this for political reasons nor to make a good impression, but out of simple fraternal charity, which is the true love that comes from God.

We were and always will be against communism. To “break down the left” then, there is no need to understand it as a slide towards the political positions of the progressives, as many people did when they voted for the Christian Democrats. On the contrary, it means snatching away from the modernist and communists, the mass of poor people who have been deceived for decades and bringing them back to Christ, the one and only true Saviour of the human race.

Our points of reference to imitate are not the heads of the modernist NGOs or even the secularists, but rather the heroic figures who have given luster to the Church Militant. I am referring to the examples of St. John Bosco, St Joseph Cottolengo, St. Louis Orione, St. Frances Cabrini, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bartolomea Capitaneo, and many other valiant followers of the Divine Redeemer.

[Source: Cordialiter - May 28, 2014. Translation: contributor Francesca Romana.]