I love reading Fr. Saenz who blogs at Traditional Catholic Priest. He has two great posts up, both of which should be read. They make great weekend reading. The first deals with shift in emphasis regarding Church pronouncements on marriage between the pre- and post-conciliar Church. The pre-conciliar Church, without doubt, stressed the procreative end of marriage as the prime end. But the post-conciliar Church has, at least, equated the two, but in many practical applications the unitive end is enormously stressed while the procreative end is almost dismissed, if not quite. Fr. Saenz:
1917 Canon Law 1013 states: 1) The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children. It’s secondary end is mutual help and the allaying of concupiscence. 2) The essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility, which acquire a particular fitness in Christian marriage by reason of its sacramental character.
1983 Canon Law 1055 states: 1) The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman establish themselves a partnership of their whole life, and which of its own very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and the procreation and upbringing of children, has, between baptized, been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. [The unitive is plainly stressed, with the procreative perhaps equal, perhaps not]
Before Vatican II, it was very clear what the purpose of marriage was for, having children and educating them. Secondarily it was for mutual help and a remedy for the distorted sexual drive (concupiscence) caused by Adam and Eve. If you have studied biology 101, you know that reproductive organs are for having babies (procreation). And as a human being you know well that you are not always pure in your sexual desires (concupiscence). [It is rare to find such clear catechesis on the ends of marriage in the Catholic mass media today. This is great.]
After Vatican II the primary purpose of marriage was changed from having children to “the unitive” (man and woman coming together as one). Then the next purpose was procreation (having children). This was a huge change and paradigm switch.
In the encyclical Humanae vitae #12, Pope Paul VI stated; “the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning……By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fulness the sense of true mutual love and it ordination towards man’s most high calling to parenthood.
Why am I bringing this point up? Because the greatest threat to freedom for the Catholic Church in the United States (and I would assume Europe), is the homosexual “marriage” battle that is saying it is a civil right to have homosexual marriage and live homosexual, bisexual, transgender lifestyles. And if you oppose this, you will soon be a criminal. [Father and I, we certainly agree.]
Unknown to most people who do not study history, prior to 1962, sodomy was a felony in every state of the U.S. The Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s sodomy law in 1986. But it then overturned it in 2003 for noncommercial conduct in private between consenting civilians. But non the less, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas still have not repealed the law against sodomy. [Not sure about this. Even if they remain on the books, no one enforces them.]
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Next up is Father’s take on the Michael Voris/Catholic media imbroglio, and how much traditional Catholics are made to suffer by much of the Church establishment. The liberals remain in overwhelming control, and traditional practices of the Faith typically remain tolerated, at best, if not outright persecuted. Some interesting thoughts:
I personally know Michael Voris. I admire him greatly as a prophet who says it like it is. Recently in “Miked Up” he reveals all the evil work that goes on behind the scene by Catholic Dioceses and other Catholics to stop him from speaking in different places. He was not allowed to speak at the men’s conference in my diocese because he is perceived as “too controversial”. God bless him for being willing to tell the truth about what is going on in most dioceses and parishes here in the United States. I have experienced everyday exactly what he says personally in my life, as a liberal layman before I converted to right now as a priest. [And I think that is why Michael Voris is so popular. He speaks for that small but significant segment of the Church which strives to be faithful, but frequently is ignored, starved, and generally ill-treated by the powers that be.]
For all of you who are reading this, your personal experiences in the Church are not to be discounted. They are real. We all can go on telling multiple night mares about what we have personally experienced at our parishes, Catholic schools, and dioceses. It is plain reality, period. And we, who have no power in the Church, have to sit by and watch the same liturgical abuses, sexual abuses and power abuses with very few people in the hierarchy who care enough to listen. When you do write a letter to the Papal Nuncio you get a politically correct letter in return and no action. When you write to the vatican you get no response.
You just have to suffer and pray, because the liberal Church, that is in power, does not care about defending traditional Catholic truth. But this will change with time. There are more and more orthodox bishops being appointed. [Well, there were. I'm not certain they still are. We shall see.] Thanks be to God for this. But most of these are not very sympathetic to “The Mass of All Ages” or having honest discussions about the contradictions found in the Vatican II documents in conjunction with the Councils and Encylicas from before. [Yes. Even among the most conservative prelates, the TLM and the ambiguities of Vatican II remain forbidden subjects. Especially the latter, the TLM has been embraced, it is true, by a few.]
Much of the reason the Catholic media will not bringing these issues out in the Catholic news is that they fear that it will cause a backlash and or they might be black balled by powerful liberal bishops. And all of these fears are real. [I agree. The threat to those who speak out is real. I was just speaking with a woman today, trying to bring a completely orthodox speaker into the Diocese, a speaker who converted from a very diabolical life, who has a great story to share. But her bishop is very liberal, and will not give her that cherished, vital "seal of approval," and so she cannot speak on Church property in most dioceses, including this one.]
But if we are Catholics, it means that we have faith in the Living, Loving and Powerful God who is on our side. Through out history, it was the few, that said the truth and suffered, who kept the Catholic faith and liturgies true to the Apostolic Tradition and Deposit of Faith [Yes! This is incredibly true and so important to remember. Except for some limited places in time and space, throughout most of the Church's history, the truly faithful have always been limited in number. Rarely has the Church really been on fire in most all parts of Her Body. So what we are experiencing is not that unusual, except in the intensity and breadth of the collapse. But almost always in the Church's history, the faithful have been a distinct minority. Let us pray we remain part of that remnant!]
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Go read all of both at Father’s blog, They are very worthwhile.