Te Deum laudamus; te Dominum confitemur! (EWTN airing First Vespers of Thanksgiving with Pope Benedict)

In a few minutes, EWTN will be airing the First Vespers of Thanksgiving, live from Rome.  It is the vigil of the Solemnity of the Mother of God. (see re-broadcast times in the pic below)

It is also traditional, at this Vespers of Thanksgiving to sing the Te Deum laudamus; te Dominum confitemur, after which this blog is named.  See my 2008 post with the words of this beautiful prayer, links, and some interesting background.

You can watch it on EWTN if you have the cable station, otherwise, go to EWTN and watch or listen to it streaming online.  

Also, if you go to DivineOffice.org - a site which carries all or most of the hours of the Divine Office (breviary) daily, click on Vespers.  Vespers, or evening prayer considers what is happening the following day, in this case, the Solemnity of the Mother of God. 

EDIT: Go to the page for 2010 Homilies at the Vatican website where we will soon see the homily uploaded in various languages. It is currently avaiable in Italian.

AT ASSUMPTION GROTTO TONIGHT

What better way to bring in the New Year than honoring the Mother of God then getting together for post-Midnight celebrations in the school. January first is a holy day of obligation...

However, in the diocese of the United States:

Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.

Grotto-goers, and many other Catholics around the US, have never let dispensations from obligation to go to Mass on solemnities get in the way of the freedom to go to Mass on solemnities - when they can find a Mass.


Tonight at Assumption Grotto, at 11:00pm, there will be a vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Mother of  God.

Before the evening ends, Fr. Perrone will lead the people in the singing of the Te Deum laudamus, te Dominum confitemur.  Other prayers, including the Holy Rosary, will follow the Mass until about 12:20/12:30 at which time those in attendance go over to the school gym for a post-Midnight celebration of the New Year.  If you can, take a dish to pass. There is secured parking.

Te Deum "Turbo-charged"
My most favorite version of the Te Deum laudamus; te Dominum confitemur has to be the one by Berlioz.  It is this movement specifically: H. Berlioz - (1/7) Te Deum, Op. 22 - I. Te Deum (Abbado)

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End of the Year Chuckle Video...Who's entertaining who?

While babies can bring about many sacrifices for parents, God has designed built-in entertainment. A family pet can often add to the joyful moments as is seen in this video.

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Thursday: 10th Anniversary Masses in Remembrance of Rev. John A. Hardon, SJ - Detroit and Chicago

From the website for the cause of Rev. John A. Hardon, SJ

Two Memorial Masses will be celebrated on Thursday, December 30 to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Father John A. Hardon S.J. One Mass will be in Chicago, at Saint John Cantius Parish at 7:30pm. The main celebrant will be Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry. Father James Knapp, S.J., a professor at Saint Louis University High School, will be the homilist.

The other Mass will be in Detroit, at Saints Cyril and Methodius Parish at 7:30pm. Retired Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Moses B. Anderson, SSE, will be the main celebrant, and Father Timothy P. Kisecki, S.J., Provincial of the Chicago/Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus, will be the homilist.

Please help us spread the word!

Here is the flyer for the event in metro Detroit.

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Photopost: The Post-Midnight Private Masses for Christmas at Grotto

It was around 2:00am on Christmas morning when Midnight Mass ended (see photopost here).  It was an orchestra Mass featuring C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Missa Longa (with two more opportunities to hear the set in the context of holy Mass). 

As people strolled out of Church to head home, or over to the school lounge for the traditional post-Midnight Mass feast, a few took notice that something extraordinary was about to take place, no pun intended.  People had wondered aloud earlier, why some things weren't decorated as they had been in the past.  The answer soon came - a set of simultaneous private Masses in the Extraordinary Form (1962 Missal) were about to take place.

Altar boys began streaming out of the sacristy with sets of candlesticks aglow, placing them on the side altars which have rarely been used for Mass in recent decades, until the past year.  During 40 Hours Devotion, the Sacred Heart altar was used.  I wasn't there with my camera to capture it, but I did catch what happened, unannounced, after the Midnight Mass to the astonishment of many.  If there are many holy angels present during a single Mass, how many more were present in that Church with all of those Masses happening at the same time?  The roughly 25 who remained to watch were awe-struck, and not a sound could be heard except the periodic clanging of my camera equipment and snapping of the shutter.

Priests are permitted to celebrate Mass three times on Christmas Day.  They are also allowed to do this on the Feast of All Souls.  As Father Perrone explained to me after dress rehearsal the previous Wednesday, it was customary in days of old for the priests to celebrate following the Midnight Mass so that all priests could get in their three Masses.  While literature found online describes these as "Mass at dawn", I have testimony from older parishioners who say they recall them beginning after Midnight Mass ended.   Another parishioner recalls going from parish to parish after the Midnight Mass trying to catch different Masses through the night.  

Here are some photos I took.   I must admit, considering that I thought the Elevation would take place around the same time at all altars, I decided that if I could only capture one,  it would have to be the one at the Blessed Mother's altar.  You see the Chalice being elevated in my lead photo at the top.   It just so happened, that I was able to capture Elevations at three of the altars.  Some of the pictures are darker than others due to lighting.  I may try to touch these up a little more. 

Visiting Cistercian, Fr. Aidan Logan, O.C.S.O. celebrates at the high altar

Father John Bustamante celebrates at the Blessed Mother's altar.



Father Wolfgang Seitz, ORC celebrates at the Sacred Heart altar.



Father Eduard Perrone celebrates at the table altar

Based on feedback and how word spread among the people of the parish on Sunday, I suspect we will see many more people lurking about in the pews next year after Midnight Mass.  My only regret was that I could not just kneel down and be still as these Masses took place.  If I had, I would not get to extend the witness of them to all of you.

Perhaps other priests will pick up this traditional custom and someday, we will find ourselves hopping from parish to parish to assist at yet one more Mass, even if we can only make a spiritual communion.

Note: Edited on December 29, removing the expression "Shepherd's Masses" which may have been a misapplication of the expression.  These typically took place at dawn.

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Saint Quodvultdeus on the Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents

 The Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents
by Gustave Dore, French Artist, 1832-1883

The Second Reading in the Office of Readings in the breviary:

From a sermon by Saint Quodvultdeus, bishop


A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.


Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.


You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.


Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace – so small, yet so great – who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God’s adopted children.


The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the savior already working salvation.


But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.


How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

Further Reading:

• The Holy Innocents received the most excellent form of Baptism - (New Theological Movement)
• Why Does Rachel Weep for the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem? (St Jerome) - Taylor Marshall 
• The Role of Fear in Abortion – A Meditation on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (Msgr. Charles Pope)
• Liturgical tradition of the Feast of the Holy Innocents (Father Z)
  
   

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Photopost: 2010 Christmas Midnight Mass...

Rev. Aidan Logan, O.C.S.O. Elevates the Chalice during the Solemn High Mass (1962 Missal)

I have a second photopost coming of something very special which took place after Midnight Mass in the parish Church.  Perhaps tomorrow I will have that up, so do check back.

With regards to photographing Midnight Mass, I am in the choir so the best I could do was to take a few photos from the risers in the back. 

This was an orchestra Mass (see details here with dates for remaining Masses featuring this music).  It was a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form with Cistercian, Rev. Aidan Logan as the celebrant and homilist (you may notice that he is wearing his cowl and not a biretta).  Fr. Logan, who also serves as a military chaplain, is a periodic visitor to Assumption Grotto.

Here are some photos I captured of the Mass, and a few of Fr. Perrone conducting.

 

You can see more at my Smugmug gallery for 2010 Midnight Mass

More to come.....

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Christmas Photo-post coming...

I have a few photos to share that I was able to get during the Midnigh Mass at Grotto from the choir risers, which I could not leave during Mass since I was.... in the choir.  I also have photos from the "Shepherd's Masses" that took place for the first time - at least in recent history - immediately following Midnight Mass.  I will explain this more when I make my post, probably later today.

Check back soon!

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Merry Christmas!

(Artist: Simon Dewey; His Name Shall be Called Wonderful, 2001)

To you, my readers, a very merry and blessed Christmas!

This post has been updated - scroll down, if you visited previously.

I have changed the header and background for the season and am using a 2008 Christmas photo. I hope to update the header with a current photo once I have one. Since I am in the choir, I often cannot photograph Midnight Mass, but sometimes manage to get a few photos from the risers and during the homily. Stay tuned.

Here is one of many compositions for O Magnum Mysterium, this one by Giovanni Gabrieli.  This one has lyrics in Latin with English following underneath.  Beautiful words and beautiful polyphony.

Play also versions by Victoria  and this one by Palestrina (probably my favorite, but I wanted you to see the translation of lyrics in the video first).

Here is the second reading in the Office of Readings today.

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope

Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.


No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.


In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.


And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to his people on earth as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvellous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?


Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.


Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.


Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.

Update 1: The homily of Pope Benedict XVI is now available from the Christmas Eve Mass he celebrated in Rome.

Update 2: Urbi et Orbi in Video (untranslated, but offered for the awesome sites and sounds). I'll bring the translated text to you later. Look for a link here.

Update 3: Archbishop Vigneron's Christmas Message

Here is an excerpt:

The point: God, by the sovereign power of his love, filled the “emptiest” of times to the full. He made it “the fullness of time.” He transformed what seemed, until the very moment before the Angel appeared, to be a day of unremitting gloom into the dawn of a new age, the final age, the age of the triumph of life over death, of good over evil, of love over sin and selfishness.

And, God turned everything upside down by taking what looked totally impotent and filling it with power. He took the sterility of a virgin and made it fruitful beyond measure: Mary, who “did not know man,” gave birth to the founder of new human race. He who is God from God, begotten of the Father from before time, took on our flesh and filled his human nature with divine life. The omnipotent Son of God took to himself the weakness of a new-born infant and made that impotence powerful beyond measure, invincibly powerful to save us. That is how God make the empty time into the fullness of time. This is the good news; indeed, the very best news.

Parting shot...

"Kissing the Face of God"
by Morgan Weistling

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Assumption Grotto Christmas Season Orchestra Masses - Extraordinary Form (1962 Misal)

I'm bringing forward and earlier post and editing some relevant items.

NOTE ABOUT CONFESSION

Tonight is the last opportunity for confession at Assumption Grotto before Christmas.  It will be from 7:30pm to 8:00pm.  This is likely going to be taking place during the Passio Domini which features Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  This takes place each Thursday night following the 7:00pm Mass.

ORCHESTRAL MASS

Conducted by Rev. Eduard Perrone - Pastor of Assumption Grotto

I know people will ask if the Masses posted in the flyer will be Solemn High EF Masses.  I believe this is the plan, but it all depends on whether there will be enough clerics to have a celebrant, deacon, and subdeacon.  Let's just say that it is subject to change, depending on availability. Stuff happens.

As an aside, with Christmas falling on Saturday, there will NOT be a 4:00pm Mass on Christmas Day or New Year's Day.  This means you will be going to Mass again on Sunday morning, January 2nd and the Mass schedule there is the same:  6:30am (English - Ordinary Form), 9:30am (Extraordinary Form), and Noon (Ordinary Form).  With regards to English and Latin at the Noon Mass, it is usually blended.  Some priests will do the canon of the Mass in Latin, while others do it in English. 

See the complete Christmas Season Schedule for Mass and Confession, and other info here:

http://assumptiongrotto.com/2010-christmas_season_mass.htm

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As Advent comes to a close...

As Advent comes to a close, I am suspending news and general topic posts in order to shift focus to the birth of Our Lord.   Here are some worthy reads for the occassion (with a brief lead-in or excerpt).

Over at First Things - On the Square, William Doino Jr. posts: Meditations for the End of Advent:

Advent is the season of hope and reflection. It is a time of prayerful expectation for Christians who await the Second Coming of the Lord, just as they celebrate his birth at Christmas. Many, however, do not really appreciate its significance, or see Advent as a dramatic call upon their lives..... One man who did was Fr. Alfred Delp.

Terry Nelson at Abbey-Roads reminds us of the 8th day of the Christmas Novena, and shares a beautiful piece of art.

Father Z tells us about a couple to be beatified.  What could be more appropriate as we await the Christ Child than to read about a mother and father who lived a life of both joy and sacrifice to raise their 21 children.  Says Father Z:

In a time when families are being called upon to tighten the belt, in a time when the decline of the number of children being brought into families with a loving father and mother in the home, in a time when more and more children are being exposed less and less to a life of Christian faith well-lived, this beatification takes on its own importance, much as did the beatifications of Bl. Luigi Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini, or that of St. Gianna Beretta Molla.

A few days ago, Father Z also wrote this informative post: Reminders about Christmas and Holy Communion


Today, Father Stephen Leake, SDB is blogging the Pope Benedict and the star of Bethlehem in: Let Us Be Amazed, Exhorts Pope Benedict XVI
 
Let us remember persecuted Christians around the world, and offer thanks to God for the freedoms we have with these examples
 

• Christmas Midnight Mass Canceled in Iraq
• Indian Priest Beaten; Christians Afraid This Christmas

Please Pray!
On a final note, please remember in your prayers the sick and the dying, and those who have departed us as we approach Christmas.  I ask you to pray for the repose of the soul of Doris and keep her family and friends in your prayers.  She is the mother of parishioner Mark Simpson and passed away suddenly early yesterday.  Several of Mark's family members - his wife, daughter and two sons are in the choir, Matthew being our organist for the 9:30am Mass and orchestral Masses.   Despite their sudden loss and sadness, they came to the dress rehearsal last night. Keep them and all families suffering such a loss in your prayers, as well.  Requiescat in pace, Doris.

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Bishop Olmsted strips St. Joseph's of Catholic Status

Click to read the actual decree by Bishop Olmsted.  Below is his statement which goes with this decree.

I have a lot in this post, from video of Bishop Olmsted in press conference to some questions I have about St. Joseph's claim that pulmonary hypertension was causing the mother to die at just 11 weeks of pregnancy.  Something is very strange about that and I raise some questions at the bottom of my post, but not before showing that pulmonary hypertension in pregnancy is being treated with increasing success - saving mother and baby.  Any hospital worth it's salt would be interested to know what is working for others and to call them in for consultation, rather than rely on outdated text books.

Here is a video which was just released. The bishop reads the statement for which I have full text below. There is also about a 15 minute Q & A.

News Conference at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, Dec. 21, 2010 from Diocese of Phoenix on Vimeo.

Here is the letter by Bishop Olmsted that accompanies the decree shown above. 

Full Text of Bishop Olmsted's Statement (text shown in brackets was in the video and not in the text released earlier today):

St. Joseph’s Hospital no longer Catholic

Statement of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted
December 21, 2010

Jesus says (Cf. Mt 25:40), “Whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.”

Caring for the sick is an essential part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Throughout our history, the Church has provided great care and love to those in need. With the advent of Catholic hospitals, the faithful could also be confident that they were able to receive quality health care according to the teachings of the Church.


Authentic Catholic care in the institutions of Catholic Healthcare West(CHW) in the Diocese of Phoenix has been a topic of discussion between CHW and me from the time of our initial meeting nearly seven years ago.


At that first meeting, I learned that CHW already did not comply with the ethical teachings of the Church at Chandler Regional Hospital. The moral guide for Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions is spelled out in what are called the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I objected strongly to CHW’s lack of compliance with these directives, and told CHW leaders that this constituted cooperation in evil that must be corrected; because if a healthcare entity wishes to call itself Catholic (as in “Catholic” Healthcare West), it needs to adhere to the teachings of the Church in all of its institutions. In all my seven years as Bishop of Phoenix, I have continued to insist that this scandalous situation needed to change; sadly, over the course of these years, CHW has chosen not to comply.


Then, earlier this year, it was brought to my attention that an abortion had taken place at St. Joseph’s


Hospital in Phoenix. When I met with officials of the hospital to learn more of the details of what had occurred, it became clear that, in the decision to abort, the equal dignity of mother and her baby were not both upheld; but that the baby was directly killed, which is a clear violation of ERD #45. It also was clear that the exceptional cases, mentioned in ERD #47, were not met, that is, that there was not a cancerous uterus or other grave malady that might justify an indirect and unintended termination of the life of the baby to treat the grave illness. In this case, the baby was healthy and there were no problems with the pregnancy; rather, the mother had a disease that needed to be treated. But instead of treating the disease, St. Joseph’s medical staff and ethics committee decided that the healthy, 11-week-old baby should be directly killed. This is contrary to the teaching of the Church (Cf. Evangelium Vitae, #62).


It was thus my duty to declare to the person responsible for this tragic decision that allowed an abortion at St. Joseph’s, Sister Margaret McBride, R.S.M., that she had incurred an excommunication by her formal consent to the direct taking of the life of this baby. I did this in a confidential manner, hoping to spare her public embarrassment. [That it became public was not my doing, or anyone who works for me]


Unfortunately, subsequent communications with leadership at St. Joseph’s Hospital and CHW have only eroded my confidence about their commitment to the Church’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Healthcare. They have not addressed in an adequate manner the scandal caused by the abortion. Moreover, I have recently learned that many other violations of the ERDs have been taking place at CHW facilities in Arizona throughout my seven years as Bishop of Phoenix and far longer.


Let me explain.


CHW and St. Joseph’s Hospital, as part of what is called “Mercy Care Plan”, have been formally cooperating with a number of medical procedures that are contrary to the ERDs, for many years. I was never made aware of this fact until the last few weeks. Here are some of the things which CHW has been formally responsible for throughout these years:


• Contraceptive counseling, medications, supplies and associated medical and laboratory examinations, including, but not limited to, oral and injectable contraceptives, intrauterine devices, diaphragms, condoms, foams and suppositories;


• Voluntary sterilization (male and female); and


• Abortions due to the mental or physical health of the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. This information was given to me in a meeting which included an administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital who admitted that St. Joseph’s and CHW are aware that this plan consists in formal cooperation in evil actions which are contrary to Church teaching.

The Mercy Care Plan has been in existence for 26 years, includes some 368,000 members, and its 2010 revenues will reach nearly $2 billion. CHW and St. Joseph’s Hospital have made more than a hundred million dollars every year from this partnership with the government.


In light of all these failures to comply with the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Church, it is my duty to decree that, in the Diocese of Phoenix, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, CHW is not committed to following the teaching of the Catholic Church and therefore this hospital cannot be considered Catholic.


The Catholic faithful are free to seek care or to offer care at St. Joseph’s Hospital but I cannot guarantee that the care provided will be in full accord with the teachings of the Church. In addition, other measures will be taken to avoid the impression that the hospital is authentically Catholic, such as the prohibition of celebrating Mass at the hospital and the prohibition of reserving the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel.


For seven years now, I have tried to work with CHW and St. Joseph’s, and I have hoped and prayed that this day would not come, that this decree would not be needed; however, the faithful of the Diocese have a right to know whether institutions of this importance are indeed Catholic in identity and practice.


For more information, please contact Rob DeFrancesco, Director of Communications • (602) 354-2130 • rdefrancesco@diocesephoenix.org

Statement of St. Josephs (source)

“Though we are deeply disappointed, we will be steadfast in fulfilling our mission,” said Linda Hunt, President of St. Joseph’s. “St. Joseph’s hospital will remain faithful to our mission of care, as we have for the last 115 years. Our caregivers deliver extraordinary medical care and share an unmatched commitment to the wellbeing of the communities they serve. Nothing has or will change in that regard.”


Hunt emphasized that the hospital will not change its name or its mission, which were both established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1895. “St. Joseph’s will continue through our words and deeds to carry out the healing ministry of Jesus,” Hunt said. “Our operations, policies, and procedures will not change.”


The announcement by Bishop Olmsted follows months of complex talks between the Phoenix Diocese, the hospital, and the hospital’s parent company, Catholic Healthcare West. At issue is the life-saving care delivered to a pregnant patient in November 2009 at St. Joseph’s. In that case, a decision was made to terminate an 11-week pregnancy in order to save the mother’s life.


“Consistent with our values of dignity and justice, if we are presented with a situation in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, our first priority is to save both patients. If that is not possible we will always save the life we can save, and that is what we did in this case,” said Hunt. “We continue to stand by the decision, which was made in collaboration with the patient, her family, her caregivers, and our Ethics Committee. Morally, ethically, and legally we simply cannot stand by and let someone die whose life we might be able to save.”

As an aside, there is no way for a doctor to say with certainty that the patient would have died.   Doctors use statistical and other data as guidelines, but in the end that is all they are - guidelines.  Here is a sampling of various kinds of cases where women were given no hope, but they and/or their babies survived:

• Doctors wanted us to abort our son (Washington Examiner)
• Baby survives "incurable" illness (LifeSiteNews)
• Doctor beats the odds with 100% success rate on saving mothers and babies with Pulmonary Hypertension (WISN - Milwaukee).  Here is a powerpoint made later by Dr. Dianne Zwicke and colleagues on how 45 of 45 consecutive cases of mothers with the condition alleged to be at the center of the Phoenix case were treated successfully. It goes into details for medical workers.

Here is a doctor talking about the notion of killing a healthy baby to "save the life of the mother".  He's not buying it and it goes along similar lines as Dr. Zwicke in that last story.  It was contained in this LifeSiteNews story back when it was announced that Sister McBride had excommunicated herself.  Here is a clip. My comments are bracketed in red; emphases mine in bold.

Dr. Paul A. Byrne, Director of Neonatology and Pediatrics at St. Charles Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, disputes the claim that an abortion is ever a procedure necessary to save the life of the mother, or carries less risk than birth.


In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Dr. Byrne said, “I don’t know of any [situation where abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother].


“I know that a lot of people talk about these things, but I don’t know of any. The principle always is preserve and protect the life of the mother and the baby.”


Byrne has the distinction of being a pioneer in the field of neonatology, beginning his work in the field in 1963 and becoming a board-certified neonatologist in 1975. He invented one of the first oxygen masks for babies, an incubator monitor, and a blood-pressure tester for premature babies, which he and a colleague adapted from the finger blood pressure checkers used for astronauts. [Looks pretty qualified to me to have an opinion on the subject of pulmonary hypertension in pregnant women]


Byrne emphasized that he was not commentating on what the woman’s particular treatment should have been under the circumstances, given that she is not his patient. [He was referring to the case at St. Joseph's in Phoenix]


“But given just pulmonary hypertension, the answer is no” to abortion, said Byrne.


Byrne emphasized that the unborn child at 11 weeks gestation would have a negligible impact on the woman’s cardiovascular system. He said that pregnancy in the first and second trimesters would not expose a woman with even severe pulmonary hypertension – which puts stress on the heart and the lungs – to any serious danger. [What he says is pretty consistent with this emedicine article on Pregnancy and Hypertension.]


A pregnant mother’s cardiovascular system does have “major increases,” but they only happen “in the last three months of pregnancy,” [!] Byrne explained.


The point of fetal viability is estimated at anywhere between 21 - 24 weeks, at which point he speculated the baby could have been artificially be delivered and had a good shot at surviving. In the meantime the mother’s pulmonary hypertension could be treated, even by such simple things as eliminating salt from her diet, exercising, or losing weight.


“It’s not going to be any extra stress on the mother that she can’t stand,” said Byrne. “Eventually you get to where the baby gets big enough that the baby can live outside the uterus and you don’t have to do an abortion.”


“I am only aware of good things happening by doing that. I am not aware of anything bad happening to the mother because the baby was allowed to live.”


“The only reason to kill the baby at 11 weeks is because it is smaller,” [!] which makes the abortion easier to perform, he said, not because the mother’s life is in immediate danger.  [This goes to what I said about the questionable nature of the hospital's claim that it had to kill a baby, 11 weeks into gestation to save the life of mother]


“I’ve done this work just about as long as neonatology has existed,” said Byrne. “The key is we must protect and preserve life, and we have to do that from conception to the natural end.” [Right on!]

"Saving the Life of the Mother" or Saving Money?

Let's look at an angle on this case not being discussed in the secular media...

As long as a hospital has convinced itself that treating pulmonary hypertension in pregnant women is a win-lose situation ("save" the mother; kill the baby), it absolves itself of exploring win-win solutions (mother and baby survive) that have proven hopeful or even downright successful.  Mortality rate is high using conventional treatment methods on true pulmonary hypertension in pregnancy (that is, in 2nd/3rd trimester - the Phoenix case involved a 1st trimester case).  Further, if you read how Dr. Zwicke treats such patients you will learn that fatality often happens in the days following delivery.  She puts mothers through aggressive fluid reduction treatment as soon as the baby is delivered to mitigate this risk.

If one doctor saved 45 out of 45 consecutive cancer patients who had a 60% chance of dying, there would be people flying in from all around the world to see what she was doing right.  But we aren't talking about cancer.  We are talking about pregnancy in a culture increasingly using murder as a legitimate option to solve expensive problems and matters of inconvenience.  St. Joseph's would do well to serve it's patients by asking Dr. Dianne Zwicke to come in for a consultation so that they don't have to resort to outdated and barbaric methods to deal with what is an increasingly treatable condition. 

There is one other set of questions we ought to ponder.  What is the cost of putting up a mother in the hospital for as long as it takes to get her stable by medications, salt reduction, weight loss, and/or the baby to viability?  It costs only a few hundred dollars to perform an abortion and everyone moves on.  That is far lower than the cost of just putting someone in a hospital room for a week and giving them three squares a day, setting aside medical care.  This says nothing of the cost a hospital or insurance company can have if the baby is delivered prematurely and needs intensive care for several weeks.  I'm not saying this is the case in Phoenix, however, it raises more questions:

Were such financial issues in the decision-making process in the Phoenix case?   Once again, I raise the question because something doesn't add up to say that at 11 weeks (1st Trimester), this baby threatened the life of the mother.  I can't seem to find anything in the medical literature I've gone over that would even suggest that pregnancy can cause life threatening pulmonary hypertension in the first trimester. 

Let us pray for the mother, the bishop and those at the hospital involved with this case. 

FURTHER REFERENCES and LINKS (may be updated)

• Diocese of Phoenix has set up a page for this case which will be updated
• Ed Peters, JD, JCD: Bp. Olmsted, Canon 216, and St. Joseph's Hospital
• Jimmy Akin's post
• St. Joseph’s in Phoenix: a note about their “follow” list on Twitter (Father Z)
• Tom Peters at Catholic Vote

Back in February, Bishop Vasa in Oregon yanked Catholic status from a hospital that was performing voluntary sterlizations.

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Pope Benedict's gripping Christmas address to the Roman Curia

Pope Benedict released a powerful message to the Roman Curia.  It was sobering to read, yet he said, what needed to be said.  While he talked a great deal about the clerical sex abuse crisis, he also talked about the culture we live in today and how we are descending into moral decay.  This is something well worth reading.  It seems long, but in reality it is only about a 10 minute read. This is powerful.  It covers far more than just the clerical sex abuse crisis. 
Rather glancing at selective quotes from it, just go read it! I will start you out with the first few paragraphs:

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
ON THE OCCASION OF CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
TO THE ROMAN CURIA


Sala Regia
Monday, 20 December 2010


Dear Cardinals,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,


It gives me great pleasure to be here with you, dear Members of the College of Cardinals and Representatives of the Roman Curia and the Governatorato, for this traditional gathering. I extend a cordial greeting to each one of you, beginning with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whom I thank for his sentiments of devotion and communion and for the warm good wishes that he expressed to me on behalf of all of you. Prope est jam Dominus, venite, adoremus! As one family let us contemplate the mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us, as the Cardinal Dean has said. I gladly reciprocate his good wishes and I would like to thank all of you most sincerely, including the Papal Representatives all over the world, for the able and generous contribution that each of you makes to the Vicar of Christ and to the Church.


Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni. Repeatedly during the season of Advent the Church’s liturgy prays in these or similar words. They are invocations that were probably formulated as the Roman Empire was in decline. The disintegration of the key principles of law and of the fundamental moral attitudes underpinning them burst open the dams which until that time had protected peaceful coexistence among peoples. The sun was setting over an entire world. Frequent natural disasters further increased this sense of insecurity. There was no power in sight that could put a stop to this decline. All the more insistent, then, was the invocation of the power of God: the plea that he might come and protect his people from all these threats.


Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni. Today too, we have many reasons to associate ourselves with this Advent prayer of the Church. For all its new hopes and possibilities, our world is at the same time troubled by the sense that moral consensus is collapsing, consensus without which juridical and political structures cannot function. Consequently the forces mobilized for the defence of such structures seem doomed to failure.


Excita – the prayer recalls the cry addressed to the Lord who was sleeping in the disciples’ storm-tossed boat as it was close to sinking. When his powerful word had calmed the storm, he rebuked the disciples for their little faith (cf. Mt 8:26 et par.). He wanted to say: it was your faith that was sleeping. He will say the same thing to us. Our faith too is often asleep. Let us ask him, then, to wake us from the sleep of a faith grown tired, and to restore to that faith the power to move mountains – that is, to order justly the affairs of the world.


[Continue reading Pope Benedict's 2010 Christmas address to the Roman Curia at the Vatican website...]

Pray for our bishops and priests.  May God give them the holy boldness they need to step up to the plate.

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December 17th and the start of the "O" Antiphons

Tomorrow, December 17th - those of us who pray the breviary will be praying the "O Antiphons" of Advent before we pray the Magnificat in Evening Prayer.  This should serve as a beautiful meditation.  Also, today we begin the Christmas Novena.  Don't worry about jumping in late!

If you pray the breviary, this may have escaped your notice.  If you don't pray the breviary, perhaps you can follow Vespers (Evening Prayer) for the next 7 days at divineoffice.org.  This is a good, free site to use if you want to see what the breviary/divine office is all about. 

Fr. William Saunders explains the "O Antiphons" of Advent"...

The “O Antiphons” refer to the seven antiphons that are recited (or chanted) preceding the Magnificat during Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. They cover the special period of Advent preparation known as the Octave before Christmas, Dec. 17-23, with Dec. 24 being Christmas Eve and Vespers for that evening being for the Christmas Vigil.

The exact origin of the “O Antiphons” is not known. Boethius (c. 480-524) made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time. At the Benedictine abbey of Fleury (now Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire), these antiphons were recited by the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. By the eighth century, they are in use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome. The usage of the “O Antiphons” was so prevalent in monasteries that the phrases, “Keep your O” and “The Great O Antiphons” were common parlance. One may thereby conclude that in some fashion the “O Antiphons” have been part of our liturgical tradition since the very early Church.


The importance of “O Antiphons” is twofold: Each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel. Also, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah. Let’s now look at each antiphon with just a sample of Isaiah’s related prophecies : [follow the link to read details of each of these by Fr. Saunders at CERC]

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Phoenix - Will Catholic Healthcare West get to keep "Catholic"?

From Catholic Culture:

On December 17, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix will declare that St. Joseph’s Hospital is no longer a Catholic institution unless its parent company recognizes that the abortion that took place there violated the US bishops’ ethical directives and pledges it “will never occur again.”


The bishop’s November 22 letter to Lloyd H. Dean, president of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), followed earlier correspondence in which Catholic Healthcare West, relying on the analysis of M. Therese Lysaught, attempted to justify the killing of the unborn child that took place at the hospital in late 2009. Lysaught is associate professor of theology and director of graduate studies at Marquette University.


In response, Bishop Olmsted wrote that as bishop, it was his task to interpret the moral law and the bishops’ ethical norms authoritatively within the diocese.

Continue reading, Bishop rips hospital chain, threatens to revoke Catholic status of hospital, at Catholic Culture.  You will want to follow that link which has a copy of the faxed letter.

The Diocese of Phoenix has released a statement today - just one paragraph:

Statement of the Diocese of Phoenix



Re: The Diocese of Phoenix and St. Joseph’s Hospital

(Dec. 15, 2010) — The letter to Mr. Lloyd Dean that was made public today is considered to be private and confidential. The bishop and his staff are working together with Catholic Healthcare West and St. Joseph’s Hospital to find the best way to provide authentic Catholic health care in accordance with the Church’s teaching.

Copy of Faxed Letter
I'm not quite sure who leaked the letter, but it has obviously been leaked by someone in the office on the receiving end (I've observed a number of occasions where dissenting parties will run to the press with such things.  I don't know if that is the case here, but how did the secular press in Arizona get the copy stamped "Fax Received" and why was it shared?   Click here for that letter.

Others blogging on this (may get updated; watch the comboxes)

• Bishop Threatens Smackdown on Catholic Abortion Hospital  (Jimmy Akin)
• Update: CHW responds to our social campaign in support of +Olmsted (Tom Peters)
  
  

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Mary - the Ark of the New Covenant...

I read an interesting piece by Catholic Biblical scholar, Michael Barber at his blog today: Mary's Visit to Elizabeth, Ark Imagery & the Fathers.  Here is how he starts out and you will have to visit his blog to read the interesting quotes, citations, and commentary he offers. 

Patristic sources often link Mary, the mother of Jesus, to ark of the covenant imagery. Where did this tradition originate? At first glance, it might be suspected that such language is merely the result of reckless allegorization. After all, the New Testament never links Mary with the ark . . . right?


Here I want to make the case that the imagery of Mary as ark can be found in Luke’s Gospel. In particular, I want to look at a story relevant to the Christmas season: Luke's account of the Visitation, i.e., Mary's visit to Elizabeth. The story is rich in Old Testament echoes. As we shall see, it seems the fathers were much more careful readers of the New Testament than is often realized. This should raise a few eyebrows. Please let me know what you think in the com-box [I suggest keeping the comments in Michael's com-box so they are all together, and so he can answer any questions or challenges - dk].

There are some other write-ups out there on this, not necessarily so recent, but nonetheless worthy of checking out:

• Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant (Steve Ray, in This Rock, 2005)
• Mary, Ark of the New Covenant (Patrick Madrid)
• Video – No Apologies #3- Mary, Ark of the New Covenant (Fra Joseph, Air Maria)
• http://www.answersforcatholics.com/mary.htm (scroll down for the topic or enjoy the rest of what is there, as well)

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Feast of St. John of the Cross - Prayer and Spiritual Gluttony

It's a special day for Carmelites.  It is the feast of St. John of the Cross. 

It is such a common thing when people begin to take their prayer life seriously, that they become confused when the sweetness of it all is lost, and they give up thinking it is not doing them any good, or that they are doing something wrong.  St. John of the Cross speaks about those pleasures in prayer and how we ought to treat them.

From the Dark Night of the Soul, Book 1
Chapter VI: Of imperfections with respect to spiritual gluttony

6. These persons have the same defect as regards the practice of prayer, for they think that all the business of prayer consists in experiencing sensible pleasure and devotion and they strive to obtain this by great effort wearying and fatiguing their faculties and their heads; and when they have not found this pleasure they become greatly discouraged, thinking that they have accomplished nothing. Through these efforts they lose true devotion and spirituality, which consist in perseverance, together with patience and humility and mistrust of themselves, that they may please God alone. For this reason, when they have once failed to find pleasure in this or some other exercise, they have great disinclination and repugnance to return to it, and at times they abandon it. They are, in fact, as we have said, like children, who are not influenced by reason, and who act, not from rational motives, but from inclination. Such persons expend all their effort in seeking spiritual pleasure and consolation; they never tire therefore, of reading books; and they begin, now one meditation, now another, in their pursuit of this pleasure which they desire to experience in the things of God. But God, very justly, wisely and lovingly, denies it to them, for otherwise this spiritual gluttony and inordinate appetite would breed innumerable evils. It is, therefore, very fitting that they should enter into the dark night, whereof we shall speak, that they may be purged from this childishness.

7. These persons who are thus inclined to such pleasures have another very great imperfection, which is that they are very weak and remiss in journeying upon the hard road of the Cross; for the soul that is given to sweetness naturally has its face set against all self-denial, which is devoid of sweetness

I have likened that sweetness to training wheels on a bike.  It makes sense that to get our attention, God would make prayer pleasurable.  However, more often than not, and for some sooner than others, God pulls the training wheels off.  Then, it becomes a test:  Do you remain in prayer for what you get out of it (the sweetness and pleasure), or do you follow through with your prayer out of love for God?

The above quote was taken from the online Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL).  However, I recommend that if you are going to study any of the major works of the Carmelite saints, to obtain and read first books involving Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD.

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ToB: Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, a Bleeding Placenta, and "Saying Hard Sayings"



Dr. Alice von Hildebrand speaks at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Wyandotte, MI
during the 2007 Call to Holiness Conference.


At the end of November this year, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand released an article called, Revelation and Curiosity at Catholic News Agency . I decided to wait to draw attention to it since it came out as "Thanksgiving weekend" concluded.  It is preceded by this:

Editor's note: Dr. Alice von Hildebrand adds to the debate with Christopher West over Theology of the Body. She addresses his words that Mary ejected a bloody placenta after she gave birth to Jesus

This isn't just about the Here is one excerpt from her short piece which I recommend reading in full:

This "harmless" and understandable curiosity rampant today (after all, is one not entitled to ask questions?) can have another serious consequence. Revelation being silent on certain issues, the impatient questioner, eager to find an answer at all cost, might, unwittingly, be tempted to become "creative" and will fall from the supernatural to the purely natural.

Father Angelo Geiger at Mary Victrix snowballed off of Dr. von Hildebrand's piece on December 7th in a blogpost entitled, "Saying Hard Sayings".  Fr. Angelo starts out...

Alice von Hildebrand’s recent article entitled “Revelation and Curiosity” goes a long way to place the debate over the true meaning of modesty in the larger context of philosophical and theological thought. She highlights the basic distinction between supernature (God and the order of grace) and nature. The precise character of that distinction has always been essential to theological discourse, and the relation between grace and nature has often been the subject of unfettered speculation, to the detriment of the faith. (See, for example, Pelagianism and Jansenism.)

Father's piece goes even deeper, taking a closer look at faith and reason, apologetics, theology, and catechetics first.  He then comes back to discuss chastity, the claim about Mary's bleeding placenta, and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary in greater detail. 

While the comment box is open here, I suggest leaving comments at the respective sources.  There is already a bit of dialogue at Fr. Angelo's blogpost. 

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Editor's note: Dr. Alice von Hildebrand adds to the debate with Christopher West over Theology of the Body. She addresses his words that Mary ejected a bloody placenta after she gave birth to Jesus