This past weekend at a talk by Dr. Charles Robertson I was, with great delight, presented with one of my favourite passages from the unparalleled Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. The passage concerns a man, if you can call him that, named Rex Mottram. Rex is a sellout. He desires to be a legendary politician. He cares only for himself and his career. Rex would step on his own grandma if it merited media attention. In short, Rex is the ultimate modern man. As he prepares to marry the fallen away Catholic Julia Flyte, Rex simply wishes to get whatever Catholic paperwork done with in order to satisfy his utilitarian goal. The priest, Fr. Mowbray, is quite flabbergasted by Rex:

"Yesterday I asked him whether Our Lord had more than one nature. He said: 'Just as many as you say, Father.'

Then again I asked him: 'Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud and said 'It's going to rain', would that be bound to happen?' 'Oh, yes, Father.' 'But supposing it didn't?' He thought a moment and said, "I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, only we were too sinful to see it.'" 

Yes, Rex Mottram is a one of a kind imbecile. Many years later, once his marriage is proved invalid, Julia comments: 

"You know Father Mowbray hit on the truth about Rex at once, that it took me a year of marriage to see. He simply wasn’t all there. He wasn’t a complete human being at all. He was a tiny bit of one, unnaturally developed: something in a bottle, an organ kept alive in a laboratory. I thought he was a sort of primitive savage, but he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce. A tiny bit of a man pretending he was whole.

I believe I saw a snippet of Rex Mottram in a recent interview by the, er, unparalleled Fr. Thomas Rosica. Rosica explains in Zenit (I would link it, but mysteriously since Zenit pulled the paper trail):

"Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants, because he is 'free from disordered attachments.' Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture. Pope Francis has brought to the Petrine office a Jesuit intellectualism."

What kind of a man believes as such? That the pope is so free from disordered attachments as to break Catholic traditions... Perhaps Pope Francis can use such powers to call upon new spiritual rain to nurture the pure faithful? While us common sinners, attached disorderly to such dictates of tradition plus Scripture, remain arid.

Or perhaps the writer of such dribble is, rather, a "tiny bit of a man pretending he was whole."

Ensuing Chaos

Lenten checklist

Decide what to sacrifice:      Check

Get some good holy books to read:        Check

Plan for extra prayer time:        Check

Threaten to sue Catholic blogger because he hurt your feelings:       Check


And thus you have a look at the inside world of Fr. Thomas Rosica. Papal spokesman. Head of Salt and Light T.V. If you haven't heard yet, he is threatening to sue Canadian Catholic blogger Vox Cantoris over defamation. Vox was criticizing some public things Rosica has said, and in particular things Rosica has said as a Papal spokesman. Now I read Vox from time to time. I disagree with Vox on certain things, such as his hinting that Pope Francis might consider changing Church doctrine (though Vox has certainly backed off on this lately). All in all though, Vox is a blog, Vox says opinions, Vox loves the TLM, Vox plays music while you read. Don't like it? Don't read it. Done.

To have a priest, a Catholic priest, sue Vox Cantoris opens Pandora's box. Will Lifesitenews sue Fr. Rosica because he referred to them as the Catholic taliban? Is that not defamation? What about suing U.S. Catholic blogger Mark Shea? He's the grumpiest of bloggers I know. Certainly he could be sued a thousand times over for all the mean things he has written. And should not Cardinal Burke be suing every liberal Catholic blogger on the planet? Cardinal Burke takes more abuse from people than anyone else. Or Pope Francis? I'm sure he could find a few people to sue, in his spare time. Does this not sound absurd? Why, then, is Fr. Rosica suing? And where is Rosica getting the money to sue? His order (of which the late Fr. Kennedy would sadly tell me there was nothing good left to speak of with the Basilians)? From Salt and Light/CCCB? From Rome? From his own personal stash of money?

*    *    *

Yet all of these one liners I write don't really get at the heart of the dysfunctional situation we see unfolding before us. Something is amiss. Let me see if an analogy can make any sense on the situation.

When I took my current teaching position I was sent to a new teacher's workshop. At the workshop we had a mini-session concerning social media. We were told in no uncertain terms that anything we do on social media, be it twitter, facebook, or whatever, we did as an employee of the school division. We represent our work, even in our personal life. We were then given some legal examples of people in other businesses who lost everything because they thought their personal accounts were free-range.

Now suppose I started spouting off something on social media that hinted of dissent to my role as a teacher. You know, things such as attendance at school should be optional, or reading is overrated, or that corporal punishment is actually a good thing. What would happen? I would have a very uncomfortable face-to-face meeting with the superintendent of human resources. I would probably be read the riot act. But I might get a second chance.

Rosica lately has been saying troubling things on Twitter. Well, not so troubling if you understand that he is a huge fan of ex-priest and known dissenter Gregory Baum, but troubling nonetheless. For instance, he's stated that the Holy Family was an "irregular" family. He's passed on an article by Cardinal Wuerl in response to "Cardinal Burke (and dissenters)" thereby insinuating that Cardinal Burke is a dissenter. And he's passed on an article by an African bishop who supports the idea for communion for those divorced and living in an adulterous situation. Is that Rosica's opinion? Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that he is passing this on while acting as a Papal spokesman. He is insinuating things while holding an influential position of power. Long story short, he should've had a face-to-face chat with his superintendent of human resources, Fr. Lombardi, long ago.

But this seems to never happen.

Well then, here we get to the latest development. A blogger has called Rosica out for some of this. Rosica spouts public opinions, a blogger publicly denounces this. It's not fun being publicly denounced, but it's the risk you take by being outspoken. Let's go back to my teacher analogy.

Suppose a parent reading my alleged twitter suggestions regarding things such as corporal punishment publicly rants about me on facebook. Yes, parents publicly rant about their teachers on facebook. What should I do? First things first, I should attempt to talk with the parent. If need be, have my principal around while I do so. The first thing is to always try and solve the situation through discussion. Now in such a meeting I as the teacher may have to admit some guilt in what I said, and promise to amend it. However, if the situation is not resolved, it is then time to get other people involved, possibly some division or union personnel. We do whatever it takes to resolve the situation peacefully. But in the end, if the parent keeps going off on me publicly, there's always the legal route.

However, suppose that I skip most of these steps, and simply threaten to sue the parent? I can tell you I would be meeting with my superintendent and director of education right away. The situation would get messy in a hurry. Suing a parent? For what? Huh? What precedent are we setting here? What on earth are you doing? Here, take a mandatory leave of absence for personal reasons. It all sounds absurd.

Yet this is what is going on. Vox is reportedly shocked by the threat of a lawsuit. Therefore it seems no attempts at dialogue have been made. Now I wonder, are Rosica's bosses, the superintendent - Fr. Lombardi, and even the director of education - Pope Francis, having that meeting with him at the moment. I certainly hope so. I'm skeptical, perhaps. But I certainly hope so.

*    *    *

Yet all analogies ultimately fail. Comparing a priest to a teacher is ultimately foolish. There is a spiritual dimension that is overlooked. Priests have an infinitely higher standard than teachers. They are spiritual fathers. While parents in a sense entrust their children's intellectual and personal development to me, people entrust their eternal souls to priests. Priests take way too much abuse I'm sure (so do teachers). But priests have a spiritual mission to undertake. One that demands they be Christ-like. They are guaranteed crosses. They are guaranteed to be hated. They are guaranteed to be attacked. And yet they choose so freely. Priests need thick skin. They need to put on big boy pants. And priests need to be close to Jesus, to the point of actually being Jesus. This is why those like Pope Francis and Cardinal Burke don't begin disputes by threatening lawsuits. They understand the mission of a priest.

To summarize, at the heart of all this is the fact a Catholic priest is suing because he doesn't like what was publicly said of him. It never should have come to this; there is a failure in the hierarchy of the Church (Rosica's boss). But now that it has, we are living in dangerous times. I'm not asking for priests to be punching bags. If they don't like what is said, by all means confront the person privately. But I'm asking for priests to be Christ-like. If suing a faithful Catholic blogger is Christ-like, and yes Rosica still in a sense represents the Church in this lawsuit, then frankly I'm afraid to be Catholic. Who's next? Not me I hope.

May the Holy Spirit, the true Advocate (i.e. Lawyer) help this poor Church.

Lenten Checklist Update

Pray daily for our Church:       Check

Rosica-Coloured Glasses

"Hmmm... what do you think? 74? 75?..."

That was me whispering to Becca during Mass this morning for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. I was, of course, referring to the average age of the parishioners at Mass who were not either Millettes or Burkes (teacher friends of ours who also are counted as outsiders here). Becca agreed with me. Mid 70s was about right.

You know, demographics can really kick you in the teeth sometimes. Why, didn't China just make further exemptions to their one-child policy earlier in the week because of how it is destroying their economy? Well this ain't no game now is it? Close your mouths. The demographics for Canadian Catholics are about to start kicking us in the teeth.

Almost two years ago a nearby town had its parish shut down. It's not that the town is dying per se. The town has roughly 200 people in it. It still runs fine on farming and logging and such. Why, the town has a school, a hockey rink, a new Co-op, and even a storage garage for motorcycles in the winter. Oh wait, that would be old Catholic church's new function. Heavenly Hosts, meet Harley Davidson.

The point is that a couple of years ago towns of 200 were more or less deemed unable to support (i.e. put bums in the pews) the tiniest of churches. Nowadays I look at a nearby town of around 500 people. The town gets 10-12 people for Sunday Mass. Christmas Eve Mass, what with all the visitors and such, brought in a whopping 20 people. Ok, so 500 town populations will probably start losing their churches in 5-10 years.

Tisdale, where we live, has around 3200 people in it. Yes, perhaps some of the younger crowd was away today on this HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION. We'll grant it's not quite as bad as an average age of 74. Not quite, but almost. Nevertheless, today's average age was around 74, and that's what we're going to work with. Let's say there were 60 people there. If nothing drastic happens, in 10 years from now the average age would be maybe around 79, because many of the 80+ people now will die or be in a nursing home. The number of people at Mass you would figure would be closer to 20-30. That's 20 to 30 people, average age in the high 70s, for a Holy Day of Obligation, in 10 years or so.

In Nipawin, population of the town and surrounding area around 5500, Mass attendance has routinely dropped to between 100-150 for Sunday Mass. Some days the place looks positively bare. Ok, you get my point. Things are bad.

"But hey!" you might say, "there were 3 million young people on the shores of Rio for a World Youth Day Mass!" Wow. That's great! I should go tell the people in the nearby town as they walk to the old church to check in on their motorcycles.

"Or wait!" you might say, "there was a big rocking convention in Ottawa this week in honour of Catholic Christian Outreach's 25th anniversary of ministering to Canadian universities! The place was packed and on fire with youthful enthusiasm for Christ!"

Hey that is great. And I'm not here to knock CCO. They do their thing. Has my experience with them been positively fluff, of the fluffiest variety? Yes. But they do their thing and that's fine. Good people over there at CCO. Talking about how a passage of Scripture made me feel for an advanced university faith study is probably not something I would care to do ever again, but I'm done with that experience and I wish them all the best.

But then something kicked me in the teeth. On my facebook feed I was getting many (facebook) friends who were at this CCO event positively gushing over the talk given by a certain priest. What was his name? Oh yeah, Fr. Thomas Rosica.

If you do not know about Fr. Rosica, let's just say he is, as I less than affectionately refer to him as, the Pope of Canada. All things being considered, he is the most influential Catholic in Canada.

Now I have no idea what he talked about. I will assume it wasn't about lifesitenews.com being the Catholic Taliban. Or of how wonderful ex-priest and known heretic Gregory Baum, the one Msgr. Vincent Foy said has "done more than any person to harm the Church in Canada," is such a model for hope and joy. Probably nothing about a recent lawsuit filed against a Chinese Catholic organization either. Nope. These things must not be talked about at such events.

Regardless, here's the punch line to all of this. As my great philosophy professor Mr. Schintgen would say at the end of each lecture: "Ok, time to bring all of this together..."

The Canadian Church is clearly dying, especially out on the prairies. The root of this death can easily be traced to the extreme disobedience following Vatican II. Perhaps the greatest leader of this disobedience in Canada was Gregory Baum. Gregory Baum is a man who has been praised and admired by the most influential Catholic in Canada, Fr. Rosica. CCO, very much symbolizing the modern young Canadian Catholic, was by and large eating from the hand of Fr. Rosica. And around and around we go.

I sincerely hope that history doesn't repeat itself. Frankly, we're running out of Catholics.

And proverbial teeth.

The combox is closed.