Amen Papa.
P.s. I've learned much from you not being a name dropper.
Love you
Scarlette
Holy Father,
Would you consider the use of the "resufix" as opposed to a traditional crucifix the result of relatavism in art?
I must echo Scarlette -- I admire your marvelous humility in not wanting to intimidate us with your breadth of acquaintance and knowledge. Your refusal to name drop has been a wonderful example of discretion (and source of mirth) to me.
And of course your insights into art are spot-on, as always, especially as I've been to a certain so-called church building (following your lead, I won't tell you that's it's Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles and it seems like someone was cursing God while designing it, or, more likely, laughing all the way to the bank.
Dear Papa,
Whatever happened to the word "modernism"? It seems that the word "relativism" has replaced it.
Also, do you think you could maybe issue a Syllabus of Errors w/current errors?
Papa,
You gotta figure out a way to make Art of Relativism (in Latin of course) the first three words of your papal document on this.
I don't know Latin, but I know, contrary to the dumb English-Latin translator online, that it's not "Professio in Cognatus."
In Italian, it might be "Arte di Relativistico."
Papa, you know Latin. What would it be?
Chris
Papa, I really admire your discretion and your unwillingness to gossip and be a name dropper. You set an amazingly high Christian example that the rest of us can only strive to reach. 
God bless you, Papa!
Your daughter in Christ,
Jenn
Most Holy Father,
Exercising N.S.W. Police Instruction 1; ...to exercise the strictest honestly, confidentiality and impartiality at all times..., I must be honest and say that serious damage to religious art, buildings etc started at about the same time as everything else currently bad in the Church did, in the 1960's under your predecessor Paul VI.
That said, you alone have the power to, if not fix what has happened up to now, (by legislation) rule in future the requirements under which items and buildings for Catholic worship are made and from what, and used in appropriate manner...
Few are likely to heed it, of course, but the responsibility for doing so is no less yours, and indeed you are the only one who can...
You might also appoint Bishops who are actually orthodox Catholics, and of like mind to yourself... The newly vacant See of Canberra-Goulburn is a case in point!
Please forgive me my presumptions, and pray for my soul and my Diocese... It too needs a holy Pastor; the sooner the better.
God Bless...
Scarlette,
As a humble servant of the Lord whose job is in large part is to teach, I thank you for the confirmation that I am succeeding in my mission.
God bless you.
Papa
Mr. Felderhoff,
Thank you for your excellent question. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t consider the ‘resufix’ an example of the Art of Relativism, because being an image of the Risen Christ, and often times done to bring Him glory, it is in fact art, and may even be deemed good art.
However, that does not mean that it is desirable or fitting to remove a genuine crucifix from the altar in favor of a ‘resufix’. The Holy Mass is the unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, and the last I checked Our Lord’s Sacrifice was actually very brutal and bloody. Our crucified Lord calls us to repentance and inspires us to unite our sufferings to His. That is something we just don’t get from the ‘resufix’; after all, Our Lord wasn’t exactly smiling down on everyone while He enjoyed His experience.
Further, while the ‘resufix’ may be used by some to promote or represent their modern notions of theology, that in itself, doesn’t negate the fact that the ‘resufix’ is indeed worthy of the name art.
God bless you.
Papa
Mrs. Darwin,
Thank you for your kind words. A very virtuous friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, always turns a popular American expression on its head when he says, “It’s not who you know, but what you know”. Now that is Christian virtue in action, its no wonder the faithful of Lincoln, Nebraska love their Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.
I’m curious about this “so-called church building” you spoke of, is it an either/or proposition regarding the designer’s actions or can it be both? Just wondering, that’s all.
God bless you.
Papa
Inquisitorgeneralis,
The word Modernism seems to fallen out of favor these days even though we all know it still exists. However, the word modernism has not been replaced by the word relativism. They are indeed different things, though a particular example may contain characteristics of both; hence the confusion that may accompany a discussion on sacred art.
In this case we were examining whether a given work is indeed art and the philosophy that enables any work to be considered such. We were not discussing the disordered love of modernity and the rejection of antiquity that may be the motivation for some of the questionable works.
As far as a syllabus of errors is concerned, I wouldn’t be looking for one in the foreseeable future. My intention is to address these issues in more of a pastoral fashion. I think I’ve been doing a fairly good job pointing out the errors of Western society, so I will continue operating in this manner.
Thank you for writing and God bless you.
Papa
Chris,
Unfortunately, I have been too busy lately to work on my first encyclical. It very well may be about Relativism, but it certainly won’t be about the Art of Relativism. This little gem is exclusively for my fellow St. Blog’s parishioners.
Unfortunately, even if the Art of Relativism were the subject of my encyclical you would probably be disappointed in the title. The word “relativism” in this context doesn’t lend itself well to ‘Latinizing’. It would most likely read something like Ars accomodationis (the art of accommodation), which more precisely matches the meaning of what is being conveyed.
That’s not to say that some Latin scholar might not be able to find a means of effectively stating the same thing in other words, but the above text would be the common usage. While I am familiar with a number of languages, I prefer to focus my efforts on theology and then use language as a tool to convey my thoughts on it. So, in the future you may want to submit your linguistic queries to someone more qualified to answer them.
God bless you.
Papa
Jenn,
Thank you for the compliment, but I am really just a humble worker of the Lord. A very devout friend of mine, Bishop Robert Carlson, has so astutely observed that nine out of ten times it is entirely unnecessary to mention any given person’s name during a conversation. I find there to be a great lesson in humility and charity in that observation, so I try to adhere to it the best I can, as does a couple of other holy prelates I know, such as Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando.
God bless you.
Papa
Jack,
Thank you for your input. There is much to be done; that is for sure. Part of the challenge is to change the hearts of certain individuals. Until we can do that, the laws and proper practices we currently have instituted will continue to be violated.
We’ve been busy with surveying various personnel changes, curial and otherwise. I assure you that Canberra-Goulburn will get the leadership it deserves.
God bless you.
Papa
A thousand times amen.
God bless.
-Cheryl
Not to bring up my acquaintance who is responsible for some questionable "art", but were you thinking of a direct refutation of the thoughts of
Regrets. Let's Try Again. Do-Over!
Not to mention the name of the most significant US enabler of questionable "art," but were you thinking of writing a direct refutation of the Thoughts of Rembert Weakland, OSB in the near future?
Your Servant,
Dad 2 9
As a young orthodox Catholic from the Land that Rome Forgot (aka Rochester, NY), I am distressed at the declining quality of Catholic art, especially as evidenced by the recent transformation of the Sacred Heart Cathedral into the Sacred Heart performing arts center and occasional worship space. The people who push these "renovations" claim that it "brings people closer to the mass" but in reality the more stark and modern the churches are, the more people treat mass like social hour at the local bar. Environment, meaning the right kind of environment, is important, despite what the iconoclasts might say.
-S.C.
Dad29,
Thank you for writing. You don’t know how pleased I am to learn that you have do-overs in America. Better yet, that you still honor them. Unfortunately, in Europe we can observe a correlation between the decline in religious adherence and the decline in the time-honored practice of do-overs.
I can remember when I was first introduced to the do-over. It was just before my First Communion. My brother George and I were playing Wilhelm Tell with the bow from a torn kite. We had used the center stick as an arrow because the slit for the string made an ideal notch.
Anyway, I placed an apple on my head and stood with my back against a tree. George, being the fine archer that he is, took twenty paces back instead of the customary ten. I couldn’t help but to take delight in big brother’s grin as he drew back the string and took somewhat careful aim. Unfortunately, the sun got in George’s eye and he shot me in the forehead.
Before I could utter a complaint, George exclaimed, “Do-over!” He didn’t need to explain to me what he meant by do-over, I intuitively understood. You see, my son, a do-over is the practical application of repentance. We recognize and admit our failure and with a firm purpose of amendment seek to make things right immediately.
I’m sorry, but you will see no refutation of the archbishop for a number of reasons. First, he is retired now. Second, I would deal with him privately and give him the opportunity to address anything that I might have a problem with. Third, as the Prefect of the CDF I had prepared such a thing regarding a similar issue. It was intended to be faxed to the USCCB for dissemination, but I decided not to send it. You see, last summer I had learned that fax transmissions are terribly unreliable. Apparently, the text can get all rearranged during transmission and the recipient ends up with a document that reads nothing like original.
God bless you.
Papa
Papa,
Next time, try email.
Or maybe even blog.
Cache works great if someone tries to rearrange.
Ah, brotherly love! How many do-overs did George need before he shot the apple? And was he using those arrows with the suction cups at the end, or did he shoot you in the forehead with a real arrow? And did you go around with it sticking like that arrow head-thingie that Steve Martin used to wear? That would have been cool, though I'm sure you wouldn't want George showing the pictures to the media.
I remember "do-overs" too, and saying before a game "and you can't call 'do-overs' either".
I also remember saying "I get my place back"; there were 7 kids in my family and only one beloved bean bag chair in the playroom, and whoever got to it first couldn't get up without losing it unless they said "I get my place back".
Oh, and I remember my brother hanging my dolls from my bedroom ceiling and leaving suicide notes from them.
My brother didn't play Wilhelm Tell with me, but he did tie my to a laundry basket and gave me a "ride" down the stairs.
Sorry for rambling, Papa, but I didn't learn anything from my dear brother except not to beleive him when he promises that he won't pull the blanket over my baby doll and declare her dead when he pretends he's her doctor.
Big hugs,
Scarlette
believe, b-e-l-i-e-v-e, believe. (I can spell)
Mrs. Darwin,
The arrow did not have a suction cup, because it was just the center stick of the kite assembly. Fortunately, being the pure soul that he is, George atoned for his error perfectly. I would like to say that he split the apple in half, but the tip of the “arrow” being blunt served only to knock the apple off my head.
Steve Martin, isn’t that the Cat Handcuffs guy? Child, he needs our prayers in a big way. Thank you for writing.
God bless you.
Papa
Scarlette,
Thank you for writing. Of course we had place saving. In fact, it is a venerable tradition within the Church, one in which we have found quite useful in the prevention of schism. Whenever a bishop is summoned to Rome, he notifies his auxiliaries in writing (roughly translated from the Latin):
The good Lord has found it necessary that I make a journey to the Vatican for [stated reason], as the canonical ordinary of the See of [canonical jurisdiction], I hereby proclaim that I get my cathedra back.
Place saving can however get a little ridiculous at times. I am not fond of the use during synods and such. I almost walked out of Vatican II because of the uncalled for use of place saving by those who were sitting near Pope Paul VI.
I am sorry to hear that you weren’t blessed with a brother like my George, but it sounds like you had fun with him anyway.
God bless you.
Papa
Chris,
Thank you for your advice. I am afraid that e-mail may be prone to the same errors. So I very well may need to have a representative read the original first, then personally hand out hard copies.
God bless you.
Papa
Relativism ain't easy, Papa, that's all we gotta say.
Papa- this may be off topic, but i just learned you gave away all your cats because pets are not allowed in the papal apt's.. i'm glad chico was successfully smuggled.. =)
this post reminds me too, papa, of how relativism has found its way in hollywood.. films like 'Love Actually ' and 'Life.. or Something like it' obviously premeates with the disease of relativism.. as if Life and Love is 'a topic for free exploration by human thought'. (JPII) when Our Lord is in fact the Life.. and God above all is Love.. just my 2c.
cheers.
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