Vol 11 Issue 34 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
August 25, 2018 ~ Saint Louis of France, opn!

1. What is the Sacrament of Confirmation
2. Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Our Lady of Czestochowa
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

In Canon Law we read the following: Canon 904

In accord with the norm of the apostolic constitutions and specifically the constitution of [Pope] Benedict XIV Sacramentum Poenitentiae of 1 Jun. 1741, a penitent must within one month denounce to the local Ordinary or to the Sacred Congregation of the H. Office a priest [accused] of the delict of solicitation in confession; the confessor must, under grave obligation of his conscience, advise the penitent of this duty.

Canon 2359

• 1. Concubinious clerics in sacred [orders], whether secular or religious, previous warnings not being heeded, are to be coerced into giving up their illicit relationship and to repair scandal by [being] suspended from divine things [and by suffering] the loss of the benefits of office, benefices, and dignities, the prescriptions of Canons 2176-81 being observed.
• 2. If they engage in a delict against the sixth precept of the Decalogue with a minor below the age of sixteen, or engage in adultery, debauchery, bestiality, sodomy, pandering, incest with blood-relatives or affines in the first degree, they are suspended, declared infamous, and are deprived of any office, benefice, dignity, responsibility, if they have such, whatsoever, and in more serious cases, they are to be deposed.

Canon 2368

• 1. Whoever commits the crime of solicitation mentioned in Canon 904 is suspended from the celebration of Mass and from hearing sacramental confessions and even, for the gravity of the delict, is declared incapable of receiving them, is deprived of all benefices, dignities, active and passive voice, and is for all of these declared incapable, and in more serious cases is also subject to degradation.
• 2. But the faithful who knowingly omit to denounce him by whom they were solicited within one month against the prescription of Canon 904 incur automatic excommunication reserved to no one, and shall not be absolved until after satisfying the obligation or seriously promising to satisfy it.

The above Canons are a witness that the Church does not tolerate crimes against the sixth commandment by the clergy and remind the faithful that they should inform the Bishop. The Bishop is obliged, for the care of and responsible to his flock, to make sure sexual predators are removed from office upon a valid accusation. The dereliction of their duty in the Conciliar Church has allowed the State to control the Church and decide laws for the Church. This means that even here in the United States the battle for freedom of conscience by the Conciliar Church ceases to be a battle for what ought to be, but a battle to even be other than a state controlled entity. One who falsely accuses must be reminded, because of the Eighth Commandment and evident seriousness of such an accusation, of the following Canon:

Canon 2363

Whoever personally or through others falsely denounces to Superiors a confessor of the crime of solicitation by that fact incurs excommunication reserved specially to the Apostolic See, from which case he cannot be absolved until the false denunciation is retracted formally and the damages that might have flowed therefrom are repaired to the best of one’s ability, and grave and long-lasting penances are also imposed, with due regard for the prescription of Canon 894.

The principles here implied by the Canons are very simple and why, even if there were not the laws, still justice would demand these penalties above mentioned. The serious sins committed are:

By the offender:

1. Serious Scandal, including
2. Psychological harm
3. Physical harm
4. Serious offense against the sixth Commandment
5. Desecration of the Sacrament of Penance
6. Desecration of the Sacrament of Holy Orders
7. Desecration of the Sacrament of Holy Orders (if it involves someone married)

By the Bishop not removing sexual predators

1. Scandal
2. Neglect of responsibility to protect the flock
3. Neglect of responsibility to punish evil doers
4. Giving enemies cause to blaspheme

The priest, by reminding the faithful of these laws and responsibilities should know that their (the faithful) knowledge will assist him (the priest) to be respectful and reserved in his clerical life, knowing that a failure means the immediate end to his priestly life, defamation and a life of penance.

Unfortunately, the Conciliar Church has, because of the failure of too many priests, allowed a worse evil to enter into their ranks (unfortunately it was already being permitted prior to Vatican II): Homosexuals and the subsequent pedophiliacs. In the guise of not wanting men in their ranks who might bring children into the world and causing the Church to pay child support, they chose to allow perverts to become priests. The astonishing numbers of young boys and young men abused by these priests has come to light based on this decision and not by not recognizing the perverseness of homosexuality. Instead of stamping it out (like a Saint Peter Damian), the Church continues to support these perverts and ignore the root of the evil—because society itself does not want to accept that these perverts must be condemned and society protected from them. As the news media and activists are duplicitous, condemning clergy for sin but promoting the same sin, we, as faithful Catholics must see the amount of money these people are obtaining, while not really sympathetic to the victims, but keen on the share of wealth to be had—already more than three billion dollars the Conciliar Church has had to pay out. Mrs. Randy Engle has been a devoted activist and author against the homosexual clergy, but has been ignored simply because she exposes the root of the problem and it is not Politically Correct today to acknowledge it. I would suggest going to her webpage: http://www.newengelpublishing.com/pages/About-Author.html

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION?

by Rev. Courtney Edward Krier

XIII

The Council of Trent and Confirmation

The Innovators rejected wholesale the Catholic Faith. First, they took the previously unheard of position that everything that needed to be believed was in Sacred Scripture (sola Scriptura) and each individual had the right to interpret Scripture as “subjectively” inspired (causing a proliferation of faiths still multiplying exponentially even today). They then rejected the whole Sacramental system, claiming faith alone (sola fide) saved man and there was no need of mediation. This independence of belief from any Church authority carried with it the rejection of civil authority, as witnessed by the Peasant’s War in 1524—in which Martin Luther first encouraged and then, witnessing the absolute carnage and anarchy, condemned the rebellion he inspired. The Church Hierarchy realized that unless the clergy and the faithful were instructed clearly in the faith and warned of the errors being spread the Innovators would quickly seduce the ignorant. Our Lord also raised up some great Saints in this period to counter the enemies of the Church, such as Saint Charles Borromeo, Pope Saint Pius V, Saint Peter Canisius, Saint Robert Bellarmine, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Thomas More, Saint Peter of Alcantara and Saint Teresa of Avila. The result was the call for a Council, first called for by the Protestants—but then promptly rejected—, that would put forth the Catholic Faith in undisputable clarity and initiate a reform of the clergy requiring a proper training of those to be promoted to orders. The ignorance of the clergy and the scandals that prevailed among them gave the innovators justification for rejecting these clergymen. Having given this introduction, the Council of Trent (1545-1564) did give a compendium of Sacramental Theology that set in stone the Church’s teaching regarding the Sacraments. Here only the Sacrament of Confirmation is under consideration and that which is found sanctions what had always been taught.

Paul III (1534-1549) spent his pontificate trying to convoke a general Council of the Church, but only met opposition by the secular powers each time he announced where it was to be held. With few Cardinals and bishops in attendance, he insisted that the Council begin at Trent on December 13, 1545. Those there took seriously the opportunity to formulate the teachings regarding faith, justification, Scripture, and each of the Sacraments as well as the reform of the clergy. At the seventh Session (VII) held on March 3, 1547, the Introduction and Canons on the Sacraments in General were approved. They, that touch directly upon Confirmation are as follows:

For the completion of the salutary doctrine of justification, which was a promulgated in the last session with the unanimous consent of the Fathers, it has seemed fitting to treat of the most holy sacraments of the Church, through which all true justice either begins, or being begun is increased or being lost is restored. Therefore the holy, ecumenical, and general Synod of Trent lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit with the same legates of the Apostolic See presiding therein, in order to destroy the errors, and to uproot the heresies concerning these most holy sacraments, which in this stormy period of ours have been both revived from the heresies previously condemned by our Fathers, and also have been invented anew, which are exceedingly detrimental to the purity of the Catholic Church and to the salvation of souls; this Synod in adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions and to the unanimous opinion of other councils and of the Fathers, has thought it proper to establish and decree these present canons, intending (with the assistance of the divine Spirit) to publish later the remaining which are wanting for the completion of the work begun. (Cf. D.B. 843a)

Canon I. If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, or that there are more or less than seven, namely baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony, or even that anyone of these seven is not truly and strictly speaking a sacrament: let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 844)

Canon 3. If anyone shall say that these seven sacraments are equal to each other in such a way that one is not for any reason more worthy than the other: let him be anathema.(Cf. D.B. 846)

Canon 4. If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation, but are superfluous, and that, although all are not necessary for every individual, without them or without the desire of them through faith alone men obtain from God the grace of justification; let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 847)

Canon 9. If anyone shall say that in the three sacraments, namely, baptism, confirmation, and orders, there is not imprinted on the soul a sign, that is, a certain spiritual and indelible mark, on account of which they cannot be repeated: let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 852)

That is:

1) Jesus Christ instituted all seven sacraments;

2) the seven sacraments are these: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Matrimony;

3) the seven sacraments are not equal (vide Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part II, for explanation);

4) the sacraments or the desire for them are necessary for salvation, not faith alone.

5) three of the sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, imprint an indelible mark on the soul.

After going through the teaching of the Church concerning baptism, it then adds the following Canons on the Sacrament of Confirmation:

Canon 1. If anyone shall say that the confirmation of those baptized is an empty ceremony and not rather a true and proper sacrament, or that in former times it was nothing more than a kind of catechism, by which those approaching adolescence gave an account of their faith before the Church: let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 871)

Canon 2. If anyone shall say that they who ascribe any power to the sacred chrism of confirmation offer an outrage to the Holy Spirit: let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 872)

Canon 3. If anyone shall say that the ordinary minister of holy confirmation is not the bishop alone, but any simple priest: let him be anathema. (Cf. D.B. 873)

That is:

1) Confirmation is a true sacrament;

2) Sacred Chrism is endowed, when administered in the Sacrament of Confirmation, to bestow the Holy Ghost;

3) The bishop is the ordinary minister of Confirmation; a priest does not have power of himself to administer the sacrament of Confirmation.

Saint Charles Borromeo would explain the Canons in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, or Roman Catechism and Pope Saint Pius V would approve the explanation of the Faith —just as Pius IX would approve the interpretation of the Vatican Council (1870) teaching concerning Papal Infallibility by Joseph Fessler, the Secretary-General of the Vatican Council.

Pius IV (1559-1565), after the conclusion of the Council, required all priests to profess and uphold the teachings declared by the Council of Trent, which closed on December 4, 1563 and the decrees of which were confirmed by him on January 26, 1564, in the Bull, Benedictus Deus. He issued The Profession of Faith of the Council of Trent in his Bull, Iniunctum nobis, on November 13, 1565. In the profession of faith one reads the following:

I also profess that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, although not all are necessary for each individual; these sacraments are baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony; and [I profess] that these confer grace, and that of these baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be repeated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit the accepted and approved rites of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid sacraments. I embrace and accept each and everything that has been defined and declared by the holy Synod of Trent concerning original sin and justification. (Cf. D.B. 996.)                                                                                    (To be continued)

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Dr. Pius Parsch

The Church’s Year of Grace (1959)

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Seek first the kingdom of God

Because of its Gospel this Sunday is sometimes called “Divine Providence Sunday.” Its Readings for the last time highlight the differences between the two kingdoms, an antithesis today between the kingdom of the flesh and of mammon and the kingdom of the spirit, of God (Epist. and Gosp.). From the contrast the moral lesson is evident: cling to God with your whole soul! The Communion verse would serve well as the spiritual motto for the week: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be given you besides.” This text is also used as the Magnificat antiphon at the close of the day’s Office. At sunrise we hear Christ’s consoling words: “Do not be anxious, wondering: What are we to eat? or, What are we to drink? Your Father knows that you need all these things, alleluia” (Ben. Ant.).

1. Content Structure.It seems that a new group of threeSundays is beginning (indicated by the Introit psalms, 83, 85, 85), even though continuity in content is lacking. There is an obvious parallelism between the two Scripture Readings, viz., works of the flesh-fruits of the spirit; God-Mammon. The Collect’s content betrays a similar structure: preservation from that which is harmful and assistance toward that which is good. The same pattern is noticeable in the Gradual: Lord-man, God-princes.

…