All posts by Dr. Aaron Milavec

Aaron Milavec, Professor Emeritus, has served as a seminary and university professor for over twenty-five years. He brought his fresh approach to the Didache to the attention of biblical scholars by originating a new program unit of the national Society of Biblical Literature, "The Didache in Context," which he chaired 2002-2005. Meanwhile, his website, www.Didache.info, promotes pioneering research and scholarly exchange on issues of the early church. His thousand-page commentary, The Didache: Faith, Hope, and Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E., received a 2004 Catholic Press Club award recognizing the best books in theology. To date, Aaron has published fifteen books in theology and ministry. brief bio = https://didache.info/AaAuthor.htm CV = https://didache.info/CV.htm research = https://catherinecollege.academia.edu/AaronRoseMilavec support = https://www.supportpopefrancis.com/ renewal = https://churchonfire.net/ GLBTQI = https://jesus4lesbians.com/

Preparing for an ecstatic mutuality in sexual bonding

Dear Brother,

I expect you and Amy are having a good time preparing for your wedding.  I am looking forward to your wedding.

I want you and Amy to have a life-long sexual adventure that is infinity and beyond amazing!  So, even though you have not invited me, I am going to tell you what has been my own successful practice of amazing love-making and let you decide whether any of this applies to you and Amy.

#1 After the wedding, my wife and I spent an entire week alone.  We were sexually hungry for each other, and we wanted to give ourselves over to exchanging life-stories (What was the scariest moment in your life? Etc.) while naked together.  After each story exchange, we’d make love.  It was the most delicious week of my entire life.  For each meal, one of us would be blind-folded and the other would gently and carefully do the feeding.  After supper, we’d watch a favorite love movie.  My favorite was “Shakespeare in Love.” For my wife, Yimou Zhang’s “The Road Home.”  Then we’d make love again pretending we were the lovers in the film.  Sometimes, we never finished a film because we were so sexually excited that we would stop the film in order to do our role-playing.  At night, we slept together totally naked.  Generally we made love spontaneously in the middle of the night.

All in all, we made love five to eight times each day.  We kept a love journal that recorded the words, the feelings, the ecstasy of each new day.  We did not share our journals until our first anniversary.

 

#2 If you have not been sexually intimate already, I would suggest that you begin, already at this time, to pass through the stages of intimacy that will prepare you for an awesome sexual love life.  How so?

2a. I would strongly suggest that you would not plan to have sex with penetration on the night of your wedding.  Why so?  Because you will be unable to do so without anxiety and fear.  Because you will not be totally comfortable with touching each other.  Because you will not know what your partner needs to get bodily and spiritually aroused.

2b. For my wife and I, we spent six months discovering each other’s body, exchanging body massages, taking showers together, and sleeping together naked before we had our first orgasm.  You, given your special skills, could do this in one month.

2c. The practice of taking showers together was very satisfying and very important.  Our first shower together was in almost complete darkness.  Only a small candle was in the bathroom.  My Beloved decided when this would take place.  I wanted to give her the initiative and to tell her in the most graphic way possible, “I will never make love to you until you are entirely ready.”  The near-total darkness served to expand our sense of touch.  It also helped to overcome any shame that either of us might have felt with respect to being naked=vulnerable.  Here is what I wrote:

I turn on the tap and a generous flow of hot water shoots out of the shower head.  In a short time, the shower stall is filled with steam. I begin by letting my Beloved soak in the hot water and steam.  Then I cut the water and rub shampoo into her hair.  I overdo the shampoo so that there is plenty of soap suds left over to rub over her face and upper body.  There is no washcloth, so I use my strong hands to generously rub the soap into all the pores and crevices and to especially savor the soft roundness of her breasts and the firmness of her buttocks. Before I wash a new part of her body, I plant some kisses on that part first.  Her silent smile indicates that she likes this.

During all this time, my Beloved closes her eyes.  This helps her to relish the experience or to keep the soap from stinging her eyes.  Hearing her soft moans of delight inclines me to believe that the former option was true.  When I’m done, I turn on the hot water again and completely wash away all the soap.

Then it’s her turn to do me.  She follows my general pattern.  She turns off the hot spray and then generously shampoos my hair and begins to work down my body.  She is gentle where it is important to be gentle and rough where it is important to be rough.  When finished she soaks me and herself for five solid minutes in the spray of hot water and steam.  It’s lovely to be touched by her and, even more lovely, to be able to touch her body without any inhibitions.

Then we step out of the shower stall, and I grab a towel and rub her hair dry and then, with a fresh towel, I dry every part of her body, even the secret places between her toes.  She giggles when I recite “One little piggy went to market. . . .”  Then, with the two thin remaining towels, she dries my body with the same care and thoroughness that I gave her.

2d.  On the sixth day, we began sleeping together with pajamas.  It took a few nights to find a position where we could both fall asleep while touching.  We found that spooning each other (as shown in pic) worked best.  As the nights continued, we gradually moved toward sleeping naked.  We gave ourselves a period for sensual touching and for sensual kissing.  After three weeks, this included touching/massaging sex organs and kissing on the lips.

 

#3 Massage: After getting comfortable with nudity and touching, the time is ripe for exchanging massages. Go find a video, “How to give a massage,” on the internet.  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQAGEY4greA>  Giving and receiving a massage is very beneficial because it gives the opportunity to discover tickle spots and tender spots.  Be spontaneous.  Use hair brushes to gently scratch the skin.  Slap the skin with an open hand.   Kiss, lick, bite.  Give some safety words: red = stop; yellow = this makes me uncomfortable; green = Oh, I would like more of this.   These three feedback words will become useful to signal to your partner what you are experiencing.

Gradually give some attention to the sexual organs.  Explore various ways of touching.  Then go to kissing, licking, sucking.  Discover what gives your partner pleasure!  Gradually move toward sexual arousal and orgasm.  This is a very important phase.  Since your partner is inactive, you get to decide how and when to pleasure him/her.  The ideal would be to arrive at the point where Amy can have an orgasm using only Lionel’s fingers and lips.  Amie, meanwhile, can discover how to advance toward your sexual arousal.

This is a foundational life-long achievement.  Most couples rush into sex and, in so doing, their sexuality takes on fixed patterns wherein the initiation of sex play usually always begins with the more assertive member—usually the man.  This is not a very satisfying situation in the long run.

Shakira Funny GIF - Shakira Funny Erotic GIFsA sensitive man wants to experience the sexual tiger in his wife.  He wants her to be sympathetic and cooperative, but not all the time. He wants her to be fierce at times.

Here is the poem I wrote that captures this:

I am surely not like those other men
who like their women to be tamed.

I want to preserve your wild side
and to shiver at your incessant growls.

I want you to wrestle naked with me
and to unleash your unbounded fury.

I don’t want you to always be a gentle lover,
but to seize and ripe out my heart sometimes.

I want to bleed when you squeeze me
and pull me apart and suck my bones.

I want to heal only when you bind my wounds,
and anoint my body with your aromatic juices.

I want to cry with you and laugh with you once a day
and to make silly faces and tickle you on Saturdays.

I am surely not like those other men
who like their women to be tamed.

 

There is a second reason why I wanted to give my Beloved an orgasm every time before my own.  A woman normally approaches love-making more organically and slowly.  On most occasions, she requires 15-20 of playful give and take before her vaginal canal is fully lubricated with her sweet juices.  A man, meanwhile, can prepare himself for penetration in three to five minutes.  If he rushes into penetration, he loses out in two ways: (a) he leaves his partner behind and she is unable (after his ejaculation) to catch up; and (b) he never acquires the patience and excitement of allowing his penis to rise and fall, to rise and fall, to rise and fall, in such a way as to enable him, after a half-hour, to experience an explosive orgasm that causes his whole body from the top of his head to his toes to shudder in sexual ecstasy WITH his partner.

Soyalerios Rawr GIF - Soyalerios Rawr Sexy GIFsWhen I, as a man, have guaranteed my Beloved the time and care to become a sexual tiger, she rewards me by arousing me WAY BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS.

 

The rest of this is borrowed from another website.

Understand and always remember that sex is an act to be enjoyed. So I always take time to arouse her. I understand that penetration is just one of the sexual acts. There are many other exciting things that can be done to make her climax back-to-back. This is my way of doing it. This is the way I have always used. So it definitely works. In most of the situations, if used effectively & with imagination, your woman will surely have at least 3 or 4 pre-penetration orgasms and then she can have few more with penetration. The great thing about this way is that this will give her so many orgasms even before the act of penetration.

For me, being a man, female orgasm is as important as my own orgasm if not more. Also it makes my beloved so wild that she would return the pleasure in all the wild ways, without me asking for it. So I take penetration as just a final technique to give my beloved her final orgasm and I always use this outline that works for me every time.

#1 Start Arousing Her Mind & Having Foreplay with her

Start arousing her Mind even before you meet. Build the thrill. The more thrilled she is, the easier it is to give her multiple orgasms. Below texts are to let your imagination go wild –

“I have got something planned for later, and I think you will like it” “I don’t like sitting in office, when I could be doing things with you”, “I had the wildest dream last night”, ” Why can’t I just be lying beside you in bed instead of studying/working… 🙁”, “if I were there with you, I would have….” (this works like charm)

#2 Foreplay is super crucial.

Kiss Make Out GIF - Kiss Make Out Make Love GIFsMake out with her so good that she feels like a gorgeous princess.  Being a man you have to communicate how much you CRAVE every inch of her body by your hungry actions. Body language should clearly communicate your craving for her. Never let her relax from this moment onwards.  Be really really hungry for her, and make it absolutely clear to her how much you crave to be intimate with her.

#3 Take it slow.  Build the mutual craving.

Lips Touch GIF - Lips Touch Ttaa GIFsMake out with her. Take time. Take it slow. Build the energy. Build the craving. Build the sexual tension. Use sounds, touches, squeezes, words till she disengages and tells you “Let’s go to my car”, “let’s go to your room” or “Let’s go to some place quiet”

#4 Undress her gradually.

As you undress her gradually, keep licking & kissing the skin that gets revealed as you peal away her clothing.  Allow her to do the same for you (if this is her desire).

#5 Start with kissing, licking, nibbling her ears.

Couple Passionate GIF - Couple Passionate Romantic GIFs

#6 Suck on her nipples.

#7 Lick her stomach. Lick around her navel.

 

[When you begin licking between her legs, go ever so slowly when your tongue reaches out and touches her clitoris for the first time.  Be ready.  Her whole body might jump at the first contact.  If it does,  go down a few centimeters,  wet your tongue, and begin approaching more slowly.  Do this until she is totally comfortable with the pleasure she feels when your tongue plays with her clitoris.  This will work magic for her.  She will imagine you making slow contact with her clitoris a dozen times each day.  Her imagination will get her own juices flowing.  And every part of her body will be feeling an infinite gratitude for you as “the one and only man who knows how to make love to me down to the core of my being.”]

Lick and suck her pussy and clit & Give her first few orgasms with your tongue and sucking her clitoris.

And you will soon feel her squirm, twitch, moan, arch her back and fall back as you artfully bring her to the edge of her first orgasm.  Hold her hand.   Guide her slowly over the edge.   Read her bodily signals.  After she climaxes, reassure her that “Oh, I love the way your body responds to me.  But, this is just the beginning of our journey together.  My love for you is boundless. ”

If needed, you may need to pin her on the bed to keep her still.  [Keep in mind that you may be the first person who brings her such deep and loving pleasure with just your tongue.]  If needed, use some force to prevent her from pushing you away.  [Remember that she’s pushing you away because her pleasure is so new, so intense, so ecstatic.  If your Beloved is disorientated or afraid of this experience, go back to holding her and kissing her and ask her very quietly, “Help me understand what you have been feeling as I make love to you.”]

On the other hand, she might push your head onto her pussy, then trust me she really enjoys what you are doing and all you have to do is to continue doing that and soon she will have amazing back-to-back orgasms.   If this happens, then proceed to #8.  If it does not happen,  then hold her, kiss her, and reassure her that “the journey to mutual sexual enjoyment will come gradually and progressively.”

#8 Finger-Feel Her Sweetly

She deserves this as she will be super wet already with all the licking she’s received and, when she is totally comfortable with you,  then she will be so excited to give herself to you and to trust you completely and to have orgasmed a few times already.

Make sure you have neat manicured fingers and trimmed nails till the flesh of your finger is above the nail line. Feel her lips gently. Move your fingers along the edges of her lips

Once she starts to ooze so good, Insert one finger slowly and gently into her vagina [as shown in the pic above]. Curve it up with palm upward and feel for the soft, furry roof 3-5 cm. inside her vagina.  [This is the G-spot.] Take your time. Always be alert to her reactions. Now start moving the fingers as if you are calling someone near. Use one finger, then if she is comfortable use 2 fingers.

As you pick up your fingering pace, she might have a few more orgasms there and might even squirt.   If not, go  back to licking her lower lips and clitoris, to give her more pleasure while gently rubbing her G-spot as well.  This works like magic to bring her progressively toward convulsing orgasms.

#9 Tickle her G-spot until she orgasms a few more times.

Continue Fingering her fast till she chums again and even squirts. Feel her arch up, squelch, scream, shiver, shake and even squirt her juices. Watch her reactions before she cums and better still before she squirts. If your position allows reach out, lean and suck her nipples and bite her neck. See how it is done.

[Very few men and even fewer women have had any experience with squirting.  At first, one might be inclined to think that this is a form of peeing.  It isn’t.  When you have your first experience, you’ll see that the water in squirting has no odor and it is completely sterile; hence, you can rub your face in it and even drink it.  Needless to say, if one or both partners think “squirting” is peeing, then they will be ashamed and want to prevent it.   So, it’s best not to even think of squirting during the early phase of love-making.  If it happens, welcome it!  It is part of the natural release that comes with intense and prolonged love-making.  Hence, don’t make the mistake of trying to produce it.  It will come slowly and naturally. ]

#10  Now you’re ready to introduce your penis.

[Here is something that I have never done myself, namely, to allow my Beloved to make love to me and to bring my penis into play as she sees fit.  Just as I have used steps #1 to #9 by way of giving priority to the sexual satisfaction of my Beloved, it seems fitting to allow my Beloved to take charge of when and how she wishes to make love to me.  This is the magic step that none of the sex manuals promote.  I, on the other hand, would not want to imagine myself as doing anything but this.  I want to be conquered by my tiger!]

[Once your Beloved trusts you completely.  Once she knows that her pleasure comes first.  Then she will step out of the shadows from time to time and become the fierce tiger that takes over and gives direction to your sex life.  Look out!  This is the moment that you have been waiting for.  No need for me to even try to describe it, because every tiger has her own time and her own magic powers.  Get ready to be overwhelmed!  But don’t ever make the mistake of asking about this.  Let it come when she’s ready to make it come.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go for it, Brother!  Let her become your Tiger!  Get ready to celebrate an infinity of Love together.  Surprise her and surprise yourself.

Aaron

Tension between liturgical restoration and liturgical reform

Summary: This article details how Vatican II decided to address all the complex issues surrounding the renewal of the liturgy as its first order of business.  Then, however, is shows how a small minority of  bishops and priests rejected the liturgical changes and insisted that the Latin Liturgy of Pius VI was to be accepted at all times and in all places as the exclusively valid form of worship of God.  Finally, the artilcle shows how Pope Benedict XVI agreed with the nay-sayers and gave them permission to ignore the liturgical reforms of Vatican II.

This  background will help make clear why Pope Francis has made it clear that those who cling to the Latin Mass are not permitted to celebrate the Sacraments in Latin as a way to deny the validity of the rites that emerged out of the liturgical reform of Vatican II.   This tension in the Church helps explain why the CDF would put forward a ruling that emphasizes the invalidity of every baptism that fails to woodenly repeat the required words sanctioned by the tradition of the Church.  If the faith of the Church cannot change, then it follows that the rites of the Church must not change.  Ultimately, therefore, this endorses the principal of those who affirm the necessity to return to the Latin rites mandated by the Council of Trent.

 

 

The field of tension between liturgical restoration and reform

Gerard Lukken

 

 

The beginning of the twentieth century saw the emergence of a movement that would have far-reaching consequences for the Christian ritual. In Christian churches, and especially in the Catholic Church, there was a growing awareness of the unique place of the liturgy and of the fact that it had degenerated into a mysterium depopulatum, a ritual in which the congregation hardly participated.2 Liturgy had become the exclusive affair of the priest, leaving no room for believers to contribute: they were only passive spectators, mere consumers of the ritual. This Liturgical Movement gradually grew into a widespread Church faction which, in the middle of the 1940s and 1950s, also had an important influence on the center of the Church. Under Pius XII, the first tentative revisions in the liturgical books were made.

 

  1. Second Vatican Council: comprehensive reform of the liturgy

 

In 1959, shortly after his election, Pope John XXIII  announced the Second Vatican Council. Without any doubt this Council was a breakthrough: the focus was now on a comprehensive reform and an aggiornamento of the Christian ritual. At the same time, it was also a culmination of what had been set in motion by the Liturgical Movement with the support of extensive research from the field of liturgical studies. It was for a good reason that the Constitution on the sacred liturgy was the first document, issued by the Second Vatican Council: the time was more than ripe for it. The document was approved in 1963 by an overwhelming majority, with just four votes against.3

In a nutshell, the principal characteristics of the reform were the following: Liturgy is not solely the work of the office holders, but fundamentally belongs

to all those who believe; they are all active participants in the ritual. It is not the priest’s private celebration of Mass that should be its basic form, but the communal celebration of the Eucharist. This applies to all Christian rituals, from birth to death. There are various liturgical services and, in principle, there is a division of roles. Accessibility and participation can be enhanced by the use of the vernacular, simplification of rites, and by granting a measure of autonomy to bishops’ conferences.

An extremely important point is the rediscovery of the value of the Scripture and the Word in all parts of the liturgy. The Liturgy of the Word as such is expressly considered a liturgy in its own right. In carefully chosen words the Constitution also opens the door to a decentralization of the liturgy and its adaptation to different countries and cultures, provided that the authentic Roman tradition is preserved. All official liturgical books will need to be revised in the spirit of the Constitution.

The implementation of the Constitution on the sacred liturgy was entrusted to the postconciliar Commission for the Liturgical Reform, led by Cardinal Lercaro and with Annibale Bugnini as its secretary, and at a later stage to the Congregation for Divine Worship. They approached the reforms energetically, with the support of liturgical and pastoral experts from all over the world. In just over ten years practically all books of the Roman liturgy were revised. These were published as standard editions in Latin by Rome, and translated and adapted in the different countries within the limits set by Rome. Much progress was made in a short time, and the renewal was widely welcomed by those at the base of the Church.

 

  1. From 1975: stagnation of the reform and increasing restoration

 

However, from the beginning the reform was accompanied by serious tensions. On the one hand, there were some Curia bodies that did not want to relinquish control. Also, a small minority wanted to maintain the status quo and found support within the Curia for their opposition. Detailed information on this can be found in Piero Marini’s book A Challenging Reform.4  On the other hand, the need for further-reaching inculturation pushed the advocates of renewal at the grassroots level to sometimes run ahead of things. This tension was there from the start, particularly in our country [Holland]; I witnessed it from close by.

The  post-conciliar  commission  showed  itself  open  to  these  developments. Bugnini visited our country [Holland] several times, and intensive deliberations took place in Rome as well. But this openness also meant that Bugnini’s opponents, and, increasingly, the traditional Curia bodies, started to regard him with suspicion.5 In fact, a battle of ideologies soon broke out between those who wanted to consistently implement the Council’s reforms, and those who rather wanted to put the brake on the process. Pope Paul VI eventually opted for a conservative line, also regarding the liturgy. The Congregation for Divine Worship was accused of causing a rift in the Church. According to the Curia, the Congregation was too tolerant with regard to the question of translations and new Eucharistic prayers, and in allowing communion in the hand. It was probably the issue of adding new Eucharistic prayers – in which the Netherlands played an important role – that made tensions reach boiling point. Ultimately, Bugnini’s courage was not rewarded and Paul VI gave in.

In 1975, Bugnini and his direct collaborators were dismissed, the staff was downsized and much expertise was lost. Financial resources were also reduced to a minimum.6  ‘What direction will liturgy take now?’, was the desperate question asked in liturgical circles.7  In 1973, Bugnini had already put inculturation on the agenda as an urgent item for the ‘next ten years’.8 In 1974 he referred to this as the phase of the ‘incarnation’ of the Roman form of the liturgy into the customs and mentality of each individual church.9  Unfortunately, nothing ever came of such a further aggiornamento. On the contrary, with Bugnini’s discharge a period of stagnation set in, followed by an increase in the support for restoration rather than reform.10

 

  1. The Society of Pius X: opposition of an extreme traditionalist movement

 

Earlier I mentioned the opposition emerging after Vatican II from a minority which received support from the Curia. This opposition had actually already started during the Council. It originated with Cardinal Ottaviani, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Vatican’s Latin expert, Cardinal Bacci. They signaled a break with the Council of Trent. Soon after, in 1964, the association Una voce was founded, which opposed any type of reform; in its wake all sorts of other radical groups under many different names sprang up.11  The ‘Society of Pius X’, which under the leadership of the French (mission) Bishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991) [pic shown] was to break with Rome, was a continuation of this development.12   Lefebvre belonged to the group of French Catholics that saw religion, State and society as one inseparable whole. In the spirit of Pope Pius X (19031914), they challenged the so-called ‘modernism’ of the beginning of the twentieth century, which explicitly included the dimensions of human experience and history in theological thinking. More and more, Lefebvre emerged as the leader of a traditionalist movement against Vatican II and its reforms. He was convinced that a modernist conspiracy had taken place there, led by Jews and Freemasons. Especially from 1974 onwards, the old liturgy became a distinguishing mark of the Society of Pius X. In his 1974 Declaration  Lefebvre  characterizes  the  Tridentine  Mass  as  the  ‘eternal’  Mass.13   In France, the Tridentine Mass was openly celebrated at meetings of the National Front party of Le Pen. Tensions led to an overt schism with Rome in 1986.

In order to make sure that his work would be continued, Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the Vatican’s permission in 1988, when he was 83 years old. One of them was Richard Williamson (born 1940), an Englishman who was later to create quite a stir with his denial of the Holocaust. Lefebvre and his four new bishops were immediately excommunicated. With regard to the Tridentine Rite, Rome had so far only allowed its celebration in exceptional cases through the issuing of so-called indults. But in 1988, the year of the excommunication, permission to celebrate it was substantially extended: the Holy See no longer required priests who rejected Lefebvre’s schism to formally agree with the principles of Vatican II, and allowed them to continue to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. This was a far-reaching concession.14  The Vatican continued its negotiations with the Society of Pius X also after 1988,15  and it is interesting to note that the then Cardinal Ratzinger was always closely involved in these negotiations. He showed his affinity with the Tridentine Rite in several of his publications, and celebrated the Tridentine Mass with sympathizers a number of times.16

Lefebvre’s movement can be characterized as that of the extreme traditionalists. They reject any openness to modernity on the part of the Church, and want to return to the lost divine order that knows no dualism between Church and State, between religious and secular power, and in which faith and Church are completely interwoven with society. This order they see, on the one hand, as supratemporal; on the other hand, they identify it with historical-political configurations in the nineteenth and twentieth century.17  In this context they see the Tridentine liturgy as the ultimate expression of the unchanging symbolic order created by God, in which Church and society are inextricably linked. As regards the number of uncompromising supporters of the Tridentine Mass, it is an extremely small percentage of Catholics: no more than 0,0008333 percent (less than a thousandth of a percent).18  But this small group is supported by trends in the policies of the Roman Curia and a number of Episcopal Curias, which makes it much more powerful than it deserves; its force is also supported by the great combativeness of minority groups and conservative media.19

 

  1. The neotradionalist movement of the ‘Reform of the Reform’ and the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum

 

In addition to the extreme traditionalist movement, another movement gradually emerged after Vatican II, namely that of the ‘Reform of the Reform’. Rouwhorst characterizes this movement as belonging to the neotraditionalists.20 They do recognize in part the importance of the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, but consider those reforms too radical, and believe that more connection with the past should be sought. From the start the opinion leader of this movement was undoubtedly Cardinal Ratzinger, who was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. This group has also gained more and more influence within the decision-making bodies of the Curia and the bishops, also in our country.

On 22 December 2005, shortly after his election, Benedict XVI [pic shown] addressed the Curia, underlining the unbroken line between Vatican II and the tradition. His message was that it is wrong to emphasize discontinuity, as if Vatican II was a new beginning rather than part of the tradition.21  In his speech he also pointed to the importance of continuity in the liturgy. According to Benedict XVI the new liturgy often seemed to be the cause of discontinuity, especially in practice.22  Prior to his Declaration he had already criticized the reforms after Vatican II repeatedly and in no uncertain terms, raising a finger in warning at the liturgy professors and the mainstream of liturgical studies. He did not spare Bugnini either in this respect.

Underlying Benedict’s criticism is his belief that Greek metaphysics is the optimal setting for the Christian message; in fact, he views all subsequent developments that abandon the Hellenistic paradigm as a degeneration into unbelief. Thus, Ratzinger is very pessimistic with regard to contemporary culture, which no  longer  perceives  the  reflection  of  the  divine.  What  is  needed  is  a  resacralization of the liturgy. Liturgy, in his view, is the sensory mirror of the divine world, transcending our human condition, sacral, God-given, not created. Just as a plant, a living organism, it continually develops and renews itself organically from within, without any discontinuity. In this essentially Platonic and timeless perspective of liturgy, any further developments are seen, as it were, as being outside historical contingency, with its instability and moments of discontinuation with the past, and as withdrawn from the active contribution of people and cultures.23

This is undoubtedly a contestable point of view. Those in favor of the new developments in Vatican II with its aggiornamento point out that the past itself also shows moments of discontinuation. This is already evident from the history of theology as such: think for instance of the condemnation of Galileo, now repealed; of the revision of the theory that all people are descended from Adam and Eve; and of the antimodernist oath, still firmly held on to by the Society of St. Pius X, but no longer compatible with the teachings of Vatican II. In addition, liturgical studies show that over the centuries one can indeed find substantial contributions from theologians, poets, musicians, masters of ceremony, experts and other specialists in ritual. Councils, monastic orders and committees have also been responsible for contributions and interventions, of a sometimes revolutionary nature. Also,  discontinuations often come to light with the publication of new books, which usually start with the comment that they signal a revision.24 And in ritual studies, too, it is assumed on the one hand that rituals sometimes develop and grow without any intervention, but on the other hand the contribution of ritual experts is also recognized.25  There is certainly more to liturgy than the anonymous organic growth suggested by Benedict XVI.

In 2007, Benedict XVI issued the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, by no means an innocuous document.26  This decree affects the essence of the whole postconciliar liturgical reform: all books from before Vatican II are again allowed, as ‘extraordinary form’. As was to be expected, the document elicited many protests, particularly from within the mainstream of liturgical studies and from countries such as Germany, France and Switzerland, which had been confronted headon with the ideas of the Society of St. Pius X. According to the Motu Proprio, the reintroduction of the Tridentine liturgy as ‘extraordinary form’ means that from now on there are two forms within one and the same rite. The same rite? This may be the case when viewed from a purely speculative and abstract theological perspective, but certainly not from an empirical point of view and in liturgical or ritual terms. There are definitely two different forms of lex orandi, which cannot be easily reconciled. Benedict’s radical intervention strikes at the base of the Second Vatican Council and threatens to discredit the Council’s first document, the Constitution on the sacred liturgy, and its implementation.  The  Motu  Proprio  undoubtedly  adds  to  the  tensions  and  polarizations within the field of liturgy, these days also referred to as a ‘battlefield’.27  This battlefield is now the arena for the restorative movements of the extreme traditionalists and the neotraditionalists with their own theological premises.

Besides these, there is the large influx of those who – in varying degrees – support the aggiornamento of Vatican II and wish to continue in Bugnini’s footsteps, with an open mind to contemporary culture and the pluriform contributions of the local churches and communities. This influx, too, covers a number of specific theological choices. 28

 

  1. Instead of battle preference for a dialogue about the tension between a bottomup and topdown approach

 

For the discussion of those theological choices I prefer an open dialogue to a battle, but with the restriction that no concessions are made with respect to the principles of Vatican II – which are precisely those called in question by the Society of St. Pius X. In my opinion, it is essential that this dialogue starts from the theological premise that liturgy is always about sensory rituals that occur in the tension field of mediated transcendence. These rituals are not eternal, but are always interwoven with history and culture. The traditionalists erroneously speak of the time-determined Tridentine form of the liturgy as the ‘eternal’ liturgy. The question is whether the neo-traditionalists do not over-sacralize the form of the liturgy as well. Do advocates of the ‘Reform of the Reform’ not have a too divine view of its form?

On this subject, the Jesuit priest, John Baldovin [pic shown], correctly observes that we always have to ask ourselves what it is that we venerate and worship: the liturgy, or the God that it focuses on.29  The form of liturgy, however divine and God-given, is incarnated in history. It is not like a static whole that exists completely outside history. The dialogue should be about the tension between the bottom-up or top-down approaches, between transascendence and transdescendence, which each can have different accents. In our culture, however, we look for and discover the transcendent divine world rather from the bottom up, in a transascendent way starting from God’s immanence, and discovered as that which transcends us, and as a fullness that comes to us and is received by us.

That is why, in agreement with Vatican II, the advocates of aggiornamento emphasize a bottom-up approach to liturgy, associated with a similar bottom-up Christology, ecclesiology and view of holy office, and embedded in contemporary culture and the dynamics of history.30  The day before the conclusion of the council on December 7, 1965, the most intensive and longest document of the council was accepted: the pastoral constitution on the Church in today’s world, Gaudium et spes. That Constitution is explicit on the need to complete the perspective from inside, the approach from above and from the tradition with that of the outside perspective, from below and from the present. In our country, that change of perspective was taken seriously early on; it was actualized already in the sixties, also with regard to the Christian ritual.31

The advocates of aggiornamento are looking for a liturgical form which is accessible and credible, and which can be experienced by a contemporary audience. This bottomup approach undoubtedly makes us also more responsive to the pluriform possibilities of the Christian ritual in our culture. Such a contemporary empirical ritual form by no means needs to be at the expense of its Christian identity. On the contrary, it is precisely in this inculturated liturgy that the ritual can be celebrated as a saturated phenomenon, that – according to the phenomenology of JeanLuc Marion – is ‘saturated’ with ‘givenness’, comes from elsewhere, is irreducible, and precedes us. In this phenomenon an abundant and empathetic ‘other side’, oriented towards us, is revealed, and ultimately a personal God, even the God of the Christian tradition, whose love precedes us.32

Some will prefer to take the transdescendent road and this is a legitimate choice. But they should be mindful of the tension with the anthropological basis of the liturgy. That basis, with all its resulting contingencies, cannot be excluded. God and man do not have to compete, not in any culture, and that includes our own. Time and again, it is a question of ‘keeping on top’ of the tension between the Jenseits and the Diesseits that occurs within the sensory immanence, both as regards ritual in general and the specific Christian ritual.33  And in the dialogue it remains important to emphasize that the transascendent way seems to be more in keeping with the spirit of Vatican II.       ~~~~end~~~~

Gerard Lukken (1933) studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Haaren (Noord Brabant) (19511957), the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome and the Institut Supérieur de Liturgie in Paris (19591964). He was pastor and teacher of religion (19571959), professor of liturgy and theology of the sacraments at the Diocesan Seminary in Haaren (19641967) and at the Theological Faculty of Tilburg, (at present part of the department Cultural Studies, School of Humanities, Tilburg University) (from 1967), and director of the Liturgical Institute at the same Faculty (from 1992) until his retirement in 1994.

Email: g.m.lukken@gmail.com.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Endnotes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1  Introduction on the symposium Worship wars. Contested ritual praxis (November 26, 2010). I would thank Ineke Smit for translating my Dutch text. For a more extensive discussion, see G. LUKKEN: Met de rug naar het volk. Liturgie na Vaticanum II in het spanningsveld van restauratie en vernieuwing (= Meander 13) (Heeswijk/Averbode 2010); IDEM: ‘Liturgie in het spanningsveld van restauratie en vernieuwing’, in Tijdschrift voor liturgie 95 (2011) 209226.

2 A.L. MAYER: ‘Liturgie und Geist der Gothik’, in Jahrbuch für Liturgiewissenschaft 6 (1926) 93.

3  E. CATTANEO: Il culto cristiano in occidente. Note storiche (= Bibliotheca ephemerides liturgicae 13) (Roma 1978) 634.  Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek 27 (2011) 261271

4  P. MARINI: A challenging reform: realizing the vision of the liturgical renewal (Collegeville 2007);  Dutch  translation:  IDEM:  Een  uitdagende  hervorming.  De  droom  van  de  liturgische vernieuwing (Averbode/Heeswijk 2010). This book is a significant supplement of A. BUGNINI: Die Liturgiereform. 19481975. Zeugnis und Testament (Freiburg 1988) 114 ; original Italian edition: IDEM: La riforma liturgica (19481975) (= Bibliotheca ephemerides liturgicae, subsidia 26) (Roma 1983). New edition: IDEM: La riforma liturgica (19481975).

Nuova edizione riveduta e arricchita di note e di supplementi per una lettura analitica (Roma 1997); English edition: BUGNINI: The reform of the liturgy 19841975 (Collegeville 1990). For a critical review of these memoirs of Bugnini with innumerable detailed corrections and supplements, see E. LENGELING: ‘Liturgiereform 19481975. Zu einem aufschlussreichen Rechenschaftsbericht’, in Theologische revue 80 (1984) 265284.

5 For the details, see G. LUKKEN: ‘De oorspronkelijke toonzetting van de liturgievernieuwing. Leven en werk van Annibale Bugnini (19121982)’, in M. HOONDERT, I. DE LOOS, P. POST & L. VAN TONGEREN (red.): Door mensen gezongen. Liturgische muziek in portretten (= Meander 7) (Kampen 2005) 234256.

6 For literature, see BUGNINI: Die Liturgiereform 114.

7 S. MARSILI: ‘Dove va la liturgia’, in Rivista liturgica 62 (1975) 622625.

8 A. BUGNINI: ‘Progresso nell’ ordine’, in Osservatore Romano, 12 December 1973.

9 A. BUGNINI: ‘La riforma liturgica, conquista della chiesa’, in Notitiae 110 (1974) 126. 10 For details, see LUKKEN: Met de rug naar het volk.

11 BUGNINI: Die Liturgiereform 300.

12 SeeLUKKEN: Met de rug naar het volk chapter 1, sub 1.2.

13 In 1969 the cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci protested in a letter to Paul VI against the new Ordo Missae. They referred to a little book of 25 pages, Breve esame critico del Novus Ordo Missae, written by a group of theologians, liturgists and pastors, obviously under the leadership of Lefebvre. About this see: E. CATANEO: Il culto cristiano in occidente. Note storiche (Roma 1978) 648 ff.; C. VAGAGGINI: ‘Il nuovo ‘Ordo missae’ e l’ortodossia’, in Rivista del clero italiano 50 (1969) 688699 (= Rivista liturgica 96 (2009) 449459); W. HAUNERLAND: ‘Die Messe aller Zeiten. Liturgiewissenschaftliche Anmerkungen zum Fall Lefebvre’, in R. AHLERS & P. KRÄMER: Das Bleibende im Wandel. Theologische Beiträge zum Schisma Lefebvres (Paderborn 1990) 5185, especially 55, note 12.

14   See  P.  HÜNERMANN:  ‘ExkommunikationKommunikation.  Schichtenanalyse  der Fakten – Theologische Beurteilung – Wege aus der Krise’, in P. HÜNERMANN (Hg.): Exkommunikation oder Kommunikation? Der Weg der Kirche nach dem II. Vatikanum und die PiusBrüder (Freiburg/Basel/Wien 2009) 31 ff.

15 L. RINGEIFEL: ‘Der Papst und die Traditionalisten’, in W. BEINERT (Hg.): Vatikan und die PiusBrüder. Anatomie einer Krise (Freiburg im Breisgau 2009) 19 and 23.

16  For instance in Le Barroux in 1988 and 1995. In 1990 he celebrated the Mass of Easter in Wigratzbad, the head office and settlement of an international seminary of the Society of Pius X (see www.fssp.org/de/ratzwig1990.htm [November 26, 2009]) and in 1999 in Weimar he celebrated a pontifical Mass at the annual session of the Society Pro Missa Tridentina (see www.promissatridentina.org/galerie/galerie_4_2.htm [November 26, 2009]). Via references on the key site www.promissatridentina.org/index.htm one can find percentages of the Tridentine liturgy in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and also further links with other analogous societies etc. elsewhere.

17   W.  DAMBERG:  ‘Die  Piusbruderschaft  St.  Pius  X.  (FSSPX)  und  ihr  politischgeistgeschichtlicher  Hintergrund’,  in  HÜNERMANN:  Exkommunikation  oder  Kommunikation? Der Weg der Kirche nach dem II. Vatikanum und die PiusBrüder 121.

18 See LUKKEN: Met de rug naar het volk Chapter 1, sub 1.4.

19 So in 2009 the Italian Institute for statistic research Doxa, on behalf of the on internet very active defenders of the Tridentine Mass Messainlatino (Italy) and Paix liturgique (France), examined the opinion of the Italians about the ‘old mass’. According to this

examination two thirds of the practicing Catholics in Italy would at least once a month participate in a Tridentine Mass, when this would be possible. And nine millions would at least once a week celebrate an ‘old mass’. One can expect that these groups will use this kind of examination as pressure. Compare: http://blog.messainlatino.it/2009/10/ risultatidelsondaggioassolutamente.html (November 18, 2009).

20 See (more extensive and very informative): G. ROUWHORST: ‘Bronnen van liturgiehervorming tussen oorsprong en traditie’, in Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek 20 (2004) 724; IDEM: ‘Historical periods as normative sources. The appeal to the past in the research on liturgical history’, in J. FRISHMAN, W. OTTEN & G. ROUWHORST: Religious identity and the problem of historical foundation. The foundational character of authorative sources in the history of Christianity and Judaism (Leiden 2004) 495512; IDEM: ‘Liturgie en constructie van het verleden’, in Tijdschrift voor liturgie 92 (2008) 308310.

21  For Ratzingers view on the problem of continuity and discontinuity of the second Vatican Council, see J.A. KOMONCHAK: ‘Erneuerung in Kontinuität. Papst Benedikt’s Interpretation des Zweiten Vatikanische Konzils’, in BEINERT: Vatikan und die PiusBrüder  163174;  H.J.  POTTMEYER:  ‘Streitpunkt  Konzil  und  Traditionsbruch.  Papst Benedikt und dieTraditionalisten’, in BEINERT: Vatikan und die PiusBrüder 207212; M. GERWING: ‘Konzil im Blick vom Klaus Wittstadt’, in C. BÖTTINGHEIMER & E. NAAB (Hgs.): Weltoffen aus Treue. Studientag zum Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil (Sankt Odilien 2009) 4250 (with literature).

22 For Ratzingers view on liturgy, see more extensively: LUKKEN: Met de rug naar het volk, Chapter 2.

23   For  the  movement  of  the  ‘Reform  of  the  Reform’,  see  also  A.  HÄUSSLING: ‘Nachkonziliare Paradigmenwechsel und das Schicksal der Liturgiereform’, in Theologie der Gegenwart 32 (1989) 243254; P. POST: ‘Over de historische referentie in de roomskatholieke ‘HervormingvandeHervormingsbeweging’’, in Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek 20 (2004) 7388; M. KLÖCKENER: ‘La dynamique du mouvement liturgique et de la réforme liturgique. Points communs et différences théologiques et spirituelles’, in La MaisonDieu 260 (2009) 92106 ; J.F. BALDOVIN: ‘Idols and icons: reflections on the current state of liturgical reform’, in Worship 84/5 (2010) 386402.

24  M. KLÖCKENER: ‘Wie Liturgie verstehen. Anfragen an das Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum Papst Benedikts XVI’, in M. KLÖCKENER, B. KRANEMANN & A. HÄUSSLING: Liturgie  verstehen.  Ansatz,  Ziele  und  Aufgaben  der  Liturgiewissenschaft  (=  Archiv  für Liturgiewissenschaft 50; Jubileumsband) (Fribourg 2008) 294295; M. KLÖCKENER & B. KRANEMANN (Hgs.): Liturgiereformen: Historische Studien zu einem bleibenden Grundzug des christlichen Gottesdienstes. 1. Biblische Modelle und Liturgiereformen von der Frühzeit bis zur  Aufklärung;  2.  Liturgiereformen  seit  der  Mitte  des  19.  Jahrhunderts  bis  zur Gegenwart (= Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 88) (Münster 2002); A. ANGENENDT:  Liturgik  und  Historik.  Gab  es  eine  organische  LiturgieEntwicklung?  (=

Quaestiones disputatae 189) (Freiburg/Basel/Wien 2001); A. ANGENENDT: ‘Wie im Anfang, so in Ewigkeit? Die tridentinische Liturgie. Die Liturgiereform: Beharren oder verändern?’, in A. GERHARDS (Hg.): Ein Ritus Zwei Formen. Die Richtlinie Papst Benedikts XVI zur Liturgie (Freiburg/Basel/Wien 2008) 122143.

25 G. LUKKEN: Rituelen in overvloed. Een kritische bezinning op de plaats en de gestalte van het christelijk ritueel in onze cultuur (Baarn 1999) 5455 and 186188; IDEM: Rituals in abundance. Critical reflections on the place, form and identity of Christian ritual in our culture (= Liturgia condenda 17) (Leuven 2005) 4849, 213 and 291294; C. BELL: Ritual theory, ritual practice (New York/Oxford 1992) 130140; IDEM: ‘The authority of ritual experts’, in Studia liturgica 23 (1993) 98120 and 101103; IDEM: Ritual. Perspectives and dimensions (Oxford 1997) 223.

26  BENEDICTUS XVI: Litterae Apostolicae motu proprio datae Summorum Pontificum (July 7, 2007); IDEM: Epistola ad Episcopos ad producendas Litteras Apostolicas motu proprio datas, de usu Liturgiae Romanae instaurationi anni 1970 praecedentis (July 7, 2007).

27 K. VAN SETTEN: ‘Spreekt onder elkaar in lofzangen. Een belichting van de onlangs verschenen  ‘Evangelische  Liedbundel’’,  in  Eredienstvaardig  16/4  (2000)  152155;  R. WEAKLAND: ‘The liturgy as battlefield’, in Commonweal (New York, January 11, 2002) = IDEM: ‘Liturgie zwischen Erneuerung und Restauration’, in Heiliger Dienst 56 (2002) 8393 and Stimmen der Zeit 220 (2002) 475487; T.W. YORK: America’s worship wars (Massachusetts 2003) X; N. VAN ANDEL & M. BARNARD: ‘Discourses in liturgy. De totstandkoming van het nieuwe protestantse liedboek (2012) vergeleken met de totstandkoming van het Liedboek voor de Kerken (1973) – een onderzoekspresentatie’, in Jaarboek voor

liturgieonderzoek 25 (2009) 6061. For a more extensive survey, see B. AULAGNIER: La bataille de la messe, 19652005 (Versailles 2005).

28  The tensions also refer to psychological dimensions that can be clarified from the ritual studies. There is the fact that rituals seem more reliable, as they are older. Hence the concern to conserve the form of the rituals in exquisite detail and regulated by refined rules (ANGENENDT: Liturgik und Historik 186190; IDEM: ‘Wie im Anfang, so in Ewigkeit?’ 122123). But on the other hand there is the fact that rituals, as soon as they are celebrated with heart and soul, and thus subjectivity enters, should also express the sincere heart of man. Then rituals will change. This is a known tension. Moreover, the perception of the invariability of rituals can be connected with the search for security and stability, especially in difficult circumstances and uncertain times. The more threatening the life or culture is, the more one looks for a stable ritual (ANGENENDT: Liturgik und Historik 186188). Then to some it is of little importance weather these rituals are inculturated or comprehensible. They are in search of a sacred supernatural atmosphere. But this transcendent atmosphere, pleaded by the movement of the ‘Reform of the Reform’, may also be reflected in the new liturgy as such. In that liturgy pluralism certainly is possible.

29 J.F. BALDOVIN: ‘Klaus Gamber and the postVatican II reform of the Roman liturgy’, in Studia liturgica 33/2 (2003) 229230.

30  Compare in this context C. BÖTTIGHEIMER: ‘Koreferat zu Manfred Gerwing. Zur Würde der menschlichen Person im Zeugnis der Pastoralkonstitution Gaudium et spes’, in BÖTTIGHEIMER & NAAB: Weltoffen aus Treue 7580 and IDEM: ‘Nicht von dieser Welt? Von                       der             Kommunikationsfähigkeit                 der     Kirche      in     der     Bedeutung      der Pastoralkonstitution Gaudium et spes’, in Ibidem 81113, p. 94 and 96100 (Innen und Aussenperspektive).

31 G. LUKKEN: ‘Een kritische blik op het hedendaagse rituele landschap met het oog op het  christelijk  ritueel’,  in  Jaarboek  voor  liturgieonderzoek  22  (2006)  113133;  IDEM: ‘Kritische  Sichtung  der  heutigen  rituellen  Landschaft,  im  Blick  auf  das  christliche Ritual’,  in  B.  KRANEMANN   &  P.  POST   (eds.):  Die  modernen  ritual  studies  als Herausforderung für die Liturgiewissenschaft / Modern ritual studies as a challenge for liturgical studies (= Liturgia condenda 20) (Leuven 2009) 87110.

32 G. LUKKEN: ‘De overkant van het menselijk ritueel. Herbezinning vanuit fenomenologie en semiotiek op antropologische en theologische lagen in het christelijk ritueel’, in Tijdschrift voor theologie 40 (2001) 145166 = IDEM: ‘L’ autre côté du rituel humain : reconsidération à partir de la phénoménologie et la sémiotique sur des couches anthropologiques et théologiques dans le rituel chrétien’, in Questions liturgiques 83/1 (2001) 6891; IDEM : ‘De liefde gaat ons vooraf. De onherleidbare overkant van het ritueel als prolegomenon van het christelijk ritueel’, in Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek 23 (2007) 147175. See further: JL. MARION: Étant donné. Essai d’une phénoménologie de la donation (Paris 1997); IDEM : De surcroît. Études sur les phénomènes saturés (Paris 2001); IDEM : Le Phénomène érotique.  Six  méditations  (Paris  2003);  IDEM:  Le  visible  et  le  révélé  (Paris  2005).  And  also BALDOVIN: ‘Idols and icons’ 386402.

33  G. LUKKEN: ‘Rituelen: een dynamisch grensgebied’, in Tijdschrift voor geestelijk leven 63/2 (2007) 5968.

 

 

Short history of Baptism

by Emma Martin  (Source)

 

Sacred Scripture indicates that Jesus and his disciples performed Baptisms (John 3: 22), yet in saying that Baptizing did not play a major part in Jesus’ own earthly ministry. Significance lies in the fact that there is biblical evidence that Baptism quickly became a central ritual of the Christian community almost immediately following Jesus’ death. In fact, the two key historical events that were most formative in the church’s understanding of Christian initiation were Jesus’ death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The earliest rites of initiation, water baptism by submersion and the laying of hands, together sacramentalised these two historical events in one act of Baptism.

The public’s assent of faith marked the entrance into the Paschal Mystery (one of the central concepts of Christian faith relating to the history of salvation (7)) and experience of the Spirit. In the sacrament of Baptism this action is what was celebrated by the convert and community, as it was believed that meaningful faith could not be private, it was public and it was communal (7). Baptism celebrated this reality.

It is important that we are able to see this early development of Baptism in it’s proper context. It clearly was an expression of the life of the Church (6). It was a sacrament of initiation. As the church grew and developed in its first few centuries, the process of initiation also expanded to include what we now refer to as the Catechumenate, a faith journey undertaken by both candidate (catechumen) and community (5). This journey often spanning years clearly demonstrated that initiation was a process. Early in Church practice the Baptism of a convert (by this time a rich rite including the imposition of hands and an anointing) was immediately followed by the celebration of the Eucharist, the principle worship of the Church (5). Since Baptism was obviously associated with conversion, it was therefore administered primarily to adults for the first two or three centuries. When whole households were converted, and received into the Church, children were included in this rite (5).

Encouraging the delay of Baptism in the early Church was the harsh penitential discipline. The Early Church believed at that time that one had only two opportunities to receive the sacramental sign of forgiveness: Baptism and the reception of Penance after Baptism (5). In the fourth and fifth centuries Baptism underwent some of the most dramatic changes, as a result of a blend of theological insight and historical circumstance. Before this time Baptism was understood as a sacrament of adult conversion, the convert celebrated reconciliation with God and liberation from sin (4). It was Saint Augustine who emphasized the notion of baptismal liberation from sin and took the understanding of the Sacrament in a new direction, Augustine emphasized the reality of original sin and the resulting necessity for the grace of baptismal cleansing. Prior to this, people had little reason to fear for the salvation of their unbaptized children (5).  With this new theology, and the high rate of infant mortality, parents began to appeal to their bishop for the immediate baptism of their children. By the fifth century infant baptism had become the common practice. It should also be remembered that by this time the empire had become predominantly Christian, adult conversion and baptism was de-emphasized because there were few unbaptized adults left (5).

While infant baptism is the most common practice in the Church today, the new Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, restored at the Second Vatican Council, offers us a more ancient vision of the Sacrament. It reminds us of the biblical connection between personal conversion and communal initiation, and it restores the ancient unity of the three presently distinct Sacraments of Initiation- Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist (5).

By maintaining the validity of infant baptism, while also pointing to the vision of the adult catechumenate, the Church powerfully communicates the degree to which initiation should be viewed as a lifelong process worthy of such diverse sacramental expression (4).

Whether the Baptism conferred with the formula «We baptize you. . . .» is valid?

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS by the  Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the validity of Baptism conferred with the formula
«We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit»

QUESTIONS

First question: Whether the Baptism conferred with the formula «We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit» is valid?

Second question: Whether those persons for whom baptism was celebrated with this formula must be baptized in forma absoluta?

RESPONSES

To the first question: Negative.

To the second question: Affirmative.

The Supreme Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On June 8, 2020, approved these Responses and ordered their publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 24, 2020, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

Luis F. Card. Ladaria, S.I.
Prefect

✠ Giacomo Morandi
Titular Archbishop of Cerveteri
Secretary

* * *

DOCTRINAL NOTE
on the modification of the sacramental formula of Baptism

Recently there have been celebrations of the Sacrament of Baptism administered with the words: “In the name of the father and of the mother, of the godfather and of the godmother, of the grandparents, of the family members, of the friends, in the name of the community we baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Apparently, the deliberate modification of the sacramental formula was introduced to emphasize the communitarian significance of Baptism, in order to express the participation of the family and of those present, and to avoid the idea of the concentration of a sacred power in the priest to the detriment of the parents and the community that the formula in the Rituale Romano might seem to imply[1]. With debatable pastoral motives[2], here resurfaces the ancient temptation to substitute for the formula handed down by Tradition other texts judged more suitable. In this regard, St. Thomas Aquinas had already asked himself the question “utrum plures possint simul baptizare unum et eundem” to which he had replied negatively, insofar as this practice is contrary to the nature of the minister[3].

The Second Vatican Council states that: “when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes”[4]. The affirmation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, inspired by a text of Saint Augustine[5], wants to return the sacramental celebration to the presence of Christ, not only in the sense that he infuses his virtus to give it efficacy, but above all to indicate that the Lord has the principal role in the event being celebrated.

When celebrating a Sacrament, the Church in fact functions as the Body that acts inseparably from its Head, since it is Christ the Head who acts in the ecclesial Body generated by him in the Paschal mystery[6]. The doctrine of the divine institution of the Sacraments, solemnly affirmed by the Council of Trent[7], thus sees its natural development and authentic interpretation in the above-mentioned affirmation of Sacrosanctum Concilium. The two Councils are therefore in harmony in declaring that they do not have the authority to subject the seven sacraments to the action of the Church. The Sacraments, in fact, inasmuch as they were instituted by Jesus Christ, are entrusted to the Church to be preserved by her. It is evident here that although the Church is constituted by the Holy Spirit, who is the interpreter of the Word of God, and can, to a certain extent, determine the rites which express the sacramental grace offered by Christ, does not establish the very foundations of her existence: the Word of God and the saving acts of Christ.

It is therefore understandable that in the course of the centuries the Church has safeguarded the form of the celebration of the Sacraments, above all in those elements to which Scripture attests and that make it possible to recognize with absolute clarity the gesture of Christ in the ritual action of the Church. The Second Vatican Council has likewise established that no one “even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority”[8]. Modifying on one’s own initiative the form of the celebration of a Sacrament does not constitute simply a liturgical abuse, like the transgression of a positive norm, but a vulnus inflicted upon the ecclesial communion and the identifiability of Christ’s action, and in the most grave cases rendering invalid the Sacrament itself, because the nature of the ministerial action requires the transmission with fidelity of that which has been received (cf. 1 Cor 15:3).

In the celebration of the Sacraments, in fact, the subject is the Church, the Body of Christ together with its Head, that manifests itself in the concrete gathered assembly[9]. Such an assembly therefore acts ministerially – not collegially – because no group can make itself Church, but becomes Church in virtue of a call that cannot arise from within the assembly itself. The minister is therefore the sign-presence of Him who gathers, and is at the same time the locus of the communion of every liturgical assembly with the whole Church. In other words the minister is the visible sign that the Sacrament is not subject to an arbitrary action of individuals or of the community, and that it pertains to the Universal Church.

In this light must be understood the tridentine injunction concerning the necessity of the minister to at least have the intention to do that which the Church does[10]. The intention therefore cannot remain only at the interior level, with the risk of subjective distractions, but must be expressed in the exterior action constituted by the use of the matter and form of the Sacrament. Such an action cannot but manifest the communion between that which the minister accomplishes in the celebration of each individual sacrament with that which the Church enacts in communion with the action of Christ himself: It is therefore fundamental that the sacramental action may not be achieved in its own name, but in the person of Christ who acts in his Church, and in the name of the Church.

Therefore, in the specific case of the Sacrament of Baptism, not only does the minister not have the authority to modify the sacramental formula to his own liking, for the reasons of a christological and ecclesiological nature already articulated, but neither can he even declare that he is acting on behalf of the parents, godparents, relatives or friends, nor in the name of the assembly gathered for the celebration, because he acts insofar as he is the sign-presence of the same Christ that is enacted in the ritual gesture of the Church. When the minister says “I baptize you…” he does not speak as a functionary who carries out a role entrusted to him, but he enacts ministerially the sign-presence of Christ, who acts in his Body to give his grace and to make the concrete liturgical assembly a manifestation of “the real nature of the true Church”[11], insofar as “liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the ‘sacrament of unity,’ namely the holy people united and ordered under their bishops”[12].

Moreover, to modify the sacramental formula implies a lack of an understanding of the very nature of the ecclesial ministry that is always at the service of God and his people and not the exercise of a power that goes so far as to manipulate what has been entrusted to the Church in an act that pertains to the Tradition. Therefore, in every minister of Baptism, there must not only be a deeply rooted knowledge of the obligation to act in ecclesial communion, but also the same conviction that Saint Augustine attributes to the Precursor, which “was to be a certain peculiarity in Christ, such that, although many ministers, be they righteous or unrighteous, should baptize, the virtue of Baptism would be attributed to Him alone on whom the dove descended, and of whom it was said: ‘It is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’ (Jn 1:33)”. Therefore, Augustine comments: “Peter may baptize, but this is He that baptizes; Paul may baptize, yet this is He that baptizes; Judas may baptize, still this is He that baptizes»[13].  [Source]

_____________________

[1] In reality, a careful analysis of the Rite of Baptism of Children shows that in the celebration the parents, godparents and the entire community are called to play an active role, a true liturgical office (cf. Rituale Romanum ex Decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum, Ordo Baptismi Parvulorum, Praenotanda, nn. 4-7), which according to the conciliar provisions, however, requires that “each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 28).

[2] Often the recourse to pastoral motivation masks, even unconsciously, a subjective deviation and a manipulative will. Already in the last century Romano Guardini recalled that if in personal prayer the believer can follow the impulse of the heart, in liturgical action “he must open himself to a different kind of impulse which comes from a more powerful source: namely, the heart of the Church which beats through the ages. Here it does not matter what personal tastes are, what wants he may have, or what particular cares occupy his mind…” (R. Guardini, Vorschule des Betens, Einsiedeln/Zürich, 19482, p. 258; Eng. trans.: The Art of Praying, Manchester, NH, 1985, 176).

[3] Summa Theologiae, III, q. 67, a. 6 c.

[4] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7.

[5] S. Augustinus, In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus, VI, 7.

[6] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5.

[7] Cf. DH 1601.

[8] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22 § 3.

[9] Cf. Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae, n. 1140: “Tota communitas, corpus Christi suo Capiti unitum, celebrat” and 1141: “Celebrans congregatio communitas est baptizatorum”.

[10] Cf. DH 1611.

[11] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 2.

[12] Ibid., 26.

[13] S. Augustinus, In Evangelium Ioannis tractatus, VI, 7.

[00923-EN.01] [Original text: Italian]

 

Arguments for and against the validity of the Sacraments administered by Fr. Hood

Peter Darcy and his “best friend”

#1 Peter Darcy gives a well-reasoned and easy-to-follow argument against the validity of the Sacraments administered by Fr. Hood.   Here is an essential part of his argument:

All Fr. Hood’s Masses were invalid. He did not have the spiritual power to consecrate the Eucharist because he was not validly ordained, therefore, he did not actually consecrate the bread and wine at Mass even though he pronounced the words of consecration and performed the actions associated with it. Objectively speaking, all of his Masses looked like Masses but were actually pious prayer services.  [source]

To comment on Darcy’s position, go to the comment box below and begin by typing in #1 so that everyone will know what issue you are addressing.

PS: Click here for a canon lawyer who would agree with Darcy.

#2 San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy has encountered a situation wherein Fr. Arango was performing baptisms in his diocese twenty years ago.  When  Bishop Olmstead declared that Fr. Arango was not validly ordained because he was never validly baptized, the Phoenix diocese  began a search out and to notify thousands of Catholics that they had never been validly baptized.  Bishop McElroy, on the contrary, judged that such a search was impossible and unnecessary because of the “bounty of God’s grace.”  Here are his exact words:

It is unclear if any invalid baptisms by Father Arango took place within the Diocese of San Diego. If any such baptisms did take place, it is impossible 20 years later to analyze the nature of each specific baptismal formula that was used in individual baptisms, find the person who was baptized, and re-baptize them.

Fortunately, this is essentially a pastoral dilemma rather than solely a matter of church law. The theology of the Church teaches that God binds himself to the efficacy of validly celebrated sacraments. But that same theology states that God is not bound by the limitations of the sacraments. The bounty of God’s grace powerfully suggests that any men and women who were possibly baptized so long ago have received from the Lord the graces of baptism and all that goes with them in their lives. And thus, they should be at ease [trusting in the Lord].  [Source]

What is your take on this? Did Bishop McElroy do the right thing for the right reason? If so, then would this provide solid ground for Fr. Hood’s bishop to scrap his earlier judgment and to declare that Fr. Hood’s original baptism was valid after all?  Go to the comment box below and begin by typing in #2 so that everyone will know what issue you are addressing.

#3 Here is the argument of Aaron Milavec in favor of validity:

When I was taking my first course on the Sacraments some sixty years ago, it was pointed out that the “intention” of the minister decides the outcome.  Thus, if in case of an emergency, a young mother baptizes her infant son who has turned blue and has stopped breathing, and she uses the words, “I baptize you in the name of God and of Jesus,” this suffices as a valid baptism.  How so?  Because she intends to do what the Church has done, namely, to baptize her son.  The Church tacitly supplies what is missing.  This principle is called Ecclesia supplet, which in Latin means “the Church supplies.”

If Bishop Olmstead had remembered his first course in Sacraments, might he not have used this principle to dispel any fear that the case of Fr. Arango involved any invalid baptisms.  Bishop Olmstead declares,

“I do not believe Fr. Andres [Arango] had any intentions to harm the faithful or deprive them of the grace of baptism and the sacraments.”

That’s all that is needed.  Ecclesia supplet. All of the baptisms of Fr. Arango were valid.  There is no mess to clean up.  That’s the good news for everyone involved!

Likewise, when this is applied to the defective baptism received by Matthew Hood, one would be able to say that his original baptism can be presumed to be valid; hence, it was absolutely unnecessary for him to repeat his baptism, confirmation, and ordination.  Unfortunately, however, his bishop was poorly informed, and he endorsed Hood’s repetition of all three sacraments.  This has set off a  totally unnecessary whirlwind of sacramental distrust.

What are your thoughts on this?  Go to the comment box below and begin by typing in #3 so that everyone will know what issue you are addressing.

#4 Adam Rasmussen offers an argument that is the briefest and to the point.  Here it is, in a nutshell (source):

Someone else’s mistake is by definition involuntary. To say that God would deny someone his grace [because of a word-change]—let alone damn them—for someone else’s fault borders on blasphemy since it contradicts God’s essential goodness. Theologian Greg Hillis put it well in this tweet:

This is fundamentally a theological argument.  A minister may be careless when administering baptism, but God is not careless!  What are your thoughts on this?  Go to the comment box below and begin by typing in #4 so that everyone will know what issue you are addressing.

#5 I want to give the last word to Fr. Matthew Hood.  He is a very relaxed and very thoughtful fellow who was interviewed on the phone by a free-lance writer.  Here are a few of his best words:

Most people still wonder about where God is in all of this. We cannot play God. God can work outside of the sacraments, but it was God himself who gave us the sacraments. If God has given them to us then we are limited by the sacraments. It is part of the nature of reality that we find meaning and purpose for the deep and most meaningful parts of life in the smallest and seemingly insignificant details—the smile of a small child or the beauty of a horizon. God calls us to love through the finite and limited. It is only through the finite that we can work as human beings. The finite reality of mistaken words needs to be remedied through the use of the correct words. . . .

I don’t want my story to be a cause of anxiety. If there’s something clear that hasn’t been made known to you, you can act on it; but if it’s unknown, Jesus says, “Have no anxiety.” You can’t change anything beyond your control or that you have no knowledge of. Anxiety about that, that’s not from God.  (Source)

What are your thoughts on this?  Go to the comment box below and begin by typing in #5 so that everyone will know what issue you are addressing.

The invalid ordination of Fr. Matthew Hood

Fr. Matthew Hood in the Archdiocese of Detroit has admitted that he discovered, upon seeing a family video of his baptism, that his own baptism was invalid.  So he was rebaptized, reconfirmed, reordained.  Now he is anxious because he is aware of the fact that he administered hundreds of Sacraments without recognizing that most of them were “invalid” because he himself was “invalidly” ordained to begin with.

Yipes!  Do we have here another overly zealous and marginally incompetent priest who is needlessly spreading uncertainty and fear?  How many more will come after him?

Fr. Matthew Hood in the Archdiocese of Detroit created a youtube video in 23 Aug 2020. He carefully details how he came to discover that he had never been validly baptized. It appears that, due to the “stay at home and be safe from Covid-19” movement, his dad had time to sort through family videos. He found Matt’s baptism video and, in due course, gave it to his son as part of the family history. Fr. Matt viewed the video and, as soon as he heard the deacon say, “We baptize you….,” he knew that he was in trouble. He had read the CDF ruling [made on 06 Aug 2020; released on the Vatican website, 06 Aug 2021]. Then he explains how he went about repeating his baptism, confirmation, holy orders.

Fr. Matthew Hood

At the end of his video, Fr. Hood explains how this entire process unfolded as a providential blessing. Fr. Hood no longer sees what happened as an unfortunate string of bad events. In the end, he sees the original error as providential. Had it not happened, then the evil would have remained unrecognized and great harm would be done. Now that we know the problem, we can bring a cure.

Note the great contrast here. In the diocese of Phoenix, Fr. Arango’s reputation has been entirely ruined. He was forced to resign from being a pastor and to devote his life to making reparation by systematically tracking down the thousands of persons who have been “invalidly baptized.” In the archdiocese of Detroit, however, Fr. Hood is the hero! He is the truth teller who is saving the souls of those who are in limbo because they never had a valid baptism. Lister to the voices of admiration for yourself:

#1 The Caldera siblings

God bless your Fr.Hood I’m glad that God reveled to you that your baptism was invalid so you could be baptized correctly God bless [Notice the big jump here. For Caldera, it was not the role of Covid-19 and of Matt’s father in passing on the baptism video that is important; rather the new claim is that “God revealed to you . . . .”]

#2 dolores grandes

God Bless you Father Hood: you have a great voice, and you explain matters easy, can you do more video clips on our Roman Catholic Church? Thank you. [Note that Dolores is saying, “I trust you. I like your way of explaining matters. Please make more videos.”]

#3 Nelida Rivera

God bless you Father Hood. Thank you for your honesty, your courage, and fidelity to the Truth.

#4 gadiel rivera

Thank you for sharing this video! Just found out I was baptized with this modified formula too.

#5 Mya

GOD BLESS YOU Fr. Matthew Hood Thank you for your pure heart. This shows that although you were wrongly given an invalid Catholic Baptism, you kept the Holy Spirit in your heart and actions and the fruits still flourished because Father God knows your desires of your heart. This is an example of the unfathomable Mercy our Lord Jesus has for us. Im happy you sought out help and direction to receive the Valid Sacraments that you innocently thought you were receiving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needless to say, not everyone was happy with the positive spin that Fr. Hood brings to his revelations. Here are three critical voices to consider:

#6 James R

If I was married, thank god I’m not, and, this dude officiated it, I would sue the fuck out of him if he came at me trying to say my marriage wasn’t valid. [I hesitated to reproduce the vulgar language of James. In the end, however, I decided to pass it on because it indicates the rage that one man feels at the fiasco surrounding invalid baptisms.]

#7 zarnofad

Give me a break.

#8 John Boy Sr.

I totally disagree with you Father. It was through NO fault of your own. If you didn’t have the video you would have still been saved by virtue of your Baptism. The intent was there. This story is SILLY! [Alas, this is an approximation of what I wrote (section #4). Unhappily, John Boy received nine remarks critical of his comment. No one stepped forward to support him. No one knew how to support him.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, my dear reader, what do you make of all this? Please post a brief comment below.

Terms of Service & How we protect your privacy

Click on image to see sample pages from the book.

 

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church

1. Terms of Use

By accessing this Website, accessible from https://churchonfire.net, you are agreeing to be bound by these Website Terms and Conditions of Use and agree that you are responsible for the agreement with any applicable local laws. If you disagree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from accessing this site. The materials contained in this Website are protected by copyright and trade mark law.

2. Use License

Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials on How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church‘s Website for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:

  • modify or copy the materials;
  • use the materials for any commercial purpose or for any public display;
  • attempt to reverse engineer any software contained on How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church‘s Website;
  • remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or
  • transferring the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server.

This will let How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church to terminate upon violations of any of these restrictions. Upon termination, your viewing right will also be terminated and you should destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether it is printed or electronic format. These Terms of Service has been created with the help of the Terms Of Service Generator and the Privacy Policy Generator.

3. Disclaimer

All the materials on How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church’s Website are provided “as is”.   How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church makes no warranties, may it be expressed or implied, therefore negates all other warranties. Furthermore, How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church does not make any representations concerning the accuracy or reliability of the use of the materials on its Website or otherwise relating to such materials or any sites linked to this Website.

4. Limitations

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church or its suppliers will not be hold accountable for any damages that will arise with the use or inability to use the materials on How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church’s Website, even if How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church or an authorize representative of this Website has been notified, orally or written, of the possibility of such damage. Some jurisdiction does not allow limitations on implied warranties or limitations of liability for incidental damages, these limitations may not apply to you.

5. Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church’s Website may include technical, typographical, or photographic errors.

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church will not promise that any of the materials in this Website are always and in-every-way accurate, complete, or current.   On the other hand, the promise
is given that the creators of this Website functioned honestly and
conscientiously throughout.

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church may change the materials contained on its Website at any time without notice.

6. Links

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its Website and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site.  On the other hand, the creators of this Website did exercise due diligence in their choice of links.  The presence of any link does not imply full endorsement by How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church of everything on the site linked. The use of any linked website is at the user’s own discretion.

7. Site Terms of Use Modifications

How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church may revise these Terms of Use for its Website at any time without prior notice. By using this Website, you are agreeing to be bound by the current

8. Governing Law

Any claim related to How to survive and thrive in a dysfunctional Church’s Website shall be governed by the laws of China without regards to other possible conflict of law provisions elsewhere.

9. Your Privacy Policy

Last updated: January 25, 2021

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation and Definitions

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.

Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to How to survive and thrive in a malfunctioning Church.

Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.

Country refers to: Singapore where we rent our online services

Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.

Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.

Service refers to the Website.

Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company.  It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.

Our Service is defined as follows = https://www.churchonfire.net/why-i-have-created-this-website/

Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service.

Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

Website refers to How to survive and thrive in a malfunctioning Church, accessible from https://churchonfire.net

You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to: Email address, First name and last name, and Usage Data.

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include:

Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies.

Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.

When you enable the use of Cookies, these Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.

To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.

For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.

To contact You: To contact You by email relative to our products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.

To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, special time-limited services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.

To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.

We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

  • Should you openly intimidate or deliberately inflict emotional pain upon another user.
  • Should you commit a crime or disclose your intention to commit
    a crime in the future.
  • Should you tear down the purposes of our website or to disclose
    your intention to tear it down.

With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside. If You interact with other users or register through a Third-Party Social Media Service, Your contacts on the Third-Party Social Media Service may see Your name, profile, pictures and description of Your activity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of Your activity, communicate with You and view Your profile.

With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other purpose with Your consent.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy,  or if you have been crudely attacked or emotionally harmed  by another, You can contact us by writing a message in the “Comment” area of this page
or by sending me a personal email @ Milavec8 (at) churchonfire.net

In a Church as complex as our own where persons of varied cultures
and of widely different upbringings rub shoulders, it is only natural that differences of judgment should arise.   These differences, however, should never lead to doing harm.  However, there is always
room for fraternal correction done in the spirit of humility and truth.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us,
Aaron Milavec

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Blog: How my experience of marriage shapes me. . . .

The Changing Experience of Marriage

grandparentsThe traditional marriage of my grandparents had little to do with “falling in love” or with vulnerability.  To begin with, there were distinct spheres of influence and division of labor.  My grandfather knew nothing about cooking, cleaning, or caring for children.  He left these things up to his wife just as his own father had left all these things to his mother.  My grandmother, meanwhile, knew nothing about Continue reading Blog: How my experience of marriage shapes me. . . .

Free eBooks for New Year

Choose one or two eBooks.  If you decide to invite someone to be your “reading partner,” you can send a free copy to them as well. Read to enjoy! Read to learn. Read to share ideas that matter in today’s complex and challenging world.

Get SEVEN ERRORS Kindle Now #1 For fifty years, the vast majority of Roman Catholic priests and theologians have been forced into a reluctant silence when it comes to birth control, celibacy of priests, indulgences, ordination of women, and homosexuality. I myself, while teaching in Roman Catholic seminaries for twenty-five years, was required to keep a guarded silence on all these issues. But this reluctant obedience has not served me nor has it served those whom I helped prepare for lay and ordained ministry. Pope Francis, for his part, has forthrightly warned our bishops against “the temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word . . , within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve” (source). When this happens, “the bread” that Jesus blesses and gives to his disciples is transformed “into a stone” that is either “cast against the sinners” or it is carried by them as an “unbearable burden” (Luke 11:46). By way of atoning for my years of silence, I have prepared this book in order to equip my former students and all those faithful Catholics who are interested in sorting out the wheat from the chaff within current Catholic teaching. What you discover herein will supply you with clear, strong, and compelling case studies that can be used to open up informed and reliable explorations on topics that have largely been obscured by authoritative pronouncements, by shoddy biblical scholarship, and by ignorance of Catholic history. Whether you want to speak to your teenage daughter or to your bishop, these case studies offer talking points that will enable you to make sense out of the faith that is intended to nourish us, to make us free, and to draw us into harmony with the Spirit of Christ.

 

Get Free Kindle Reader = http://www.effortlesscommunication.com/reader.htm

 

Get EVE Kindle Now #2 In the traditional teaching of the churches, Eve gets named as the companion of Adam who coaxes him to sin against God. This fall from grace afflicts the human race until the end of time. Eve is the “tool of the devil” that betrays her husband. The purpose of this book is to enable you to read the hidden clues in the text of Gen 1-3 in order to discover the “original meaning” of the text . In so doing, you will be surprised to discover that the “original meaning” differs strongly from what the churches have been teaching. Examples:

  1. When the text of Gen 2-3 is examined, Eve’s “fall from grace” is never mentioned. On the contrary, the eating of the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is associated with wondrous super powers: “their eyes were opened” (Gen 3:5, 7). This is all the more wondrous in so far as these transformations enable Eve and Adam to see things clearly as God sees them. Far from being a “fall,” therefore, Eve’s eating enables her to become “like God” (Gen 3:6, 22).
  2. Classical theology speaks of Eve as being deceived by the devil who was bent upon the destruction of Adam. The “serpent” described in the text is never associated with the “devil” at any point. Rather, you will discover that the “serpent” functions as a spirit-guide within ancient Middle Eastern culture. Far from deceiving Eve, this “serpent” is assuredly a truth-teller: “You will not die [when you eat this fruit]; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5-6). And, according to the story of Genesis, this is exactly what happens.
  3. Adam, meanwhile, has been telling Eve that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die” (Gen 3:3). When Eve touches the fruit, however, nothing happens. Adam clearly is mistaken. So, she eats it. And the eating has wondrous effects. Thus, Eve exposes the errors of Adam on both counts. We can even surmise that Eve trusted God to be a gentle and wise parent who would never cultivate a poisonous fruit tree in his garden if he knew that he was endangering the life of his children. Adam, strange to say, never took the time to explore the deep contradictions between what God told him [“you will die”] and what the serpent told Eve [“you will be like God”].
  4. According to the Genesis account, Eve and Adam are expelled from the Garden. According to the prevailing theology of the churches, this expulsion takes place due to God abhorrence of their grave sin [the “original sin”] that God was seemingly unable or unwilling to forgive. The text itself provides quite another explanation: “The LORD God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,’ therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden” (Gen 3:22-23). In effect, therefore, God has planted not one but two empowering trees: “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and “the tree of eternal life.” Having been empowered by eating of the former tree, God figures that it would just be a matter of time before his children ate of the latter tree that would seemingly make them “live forever” just as God does.
  5. God intended his children to be mortal. The text specifies this intention clearly, “You are [made out of] dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). Hence, contrary to traditional theology, Adam and Eve were never designed for immortality, but their sin caused God to change his mind. The text says that God assigns the immortal “cherubim” the task of “guard[ing] the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). Here again the text indicates clearly that “sin” was not an issue here; rather, protection of the “tree of life” was God’s primary concern.
  6. It is instructive that Eve and Adam and all their children lived nearly a thousand years. If we trust the bible when it teaches us that a long life is a sign of God’s blessing, then we have to conclude that Eve and Adam were wondrously blessed with long lives. God had no cause to curse them, and he was surely not unable or unwilling to forgive his children for some imagined “grave sin.” The pangs of childbearing are cursed and the sweat from tilling the soil is cursed—but God never once curses his children. In fact, just before leaving Eden, God gave both his children a very necessary gift. Maybe you know what that gift might be.
  7. Why do Adam and Eve suddenly become aware that they are naked after eating the prescious fruit of the first tree? Why do they hide from each other and hide from God? The answer to this key question will amaze you. Do you already have a hunch?

My book is an easy read. It demontrates step-by-step how a research theologian like myself works to uncover the “original meaning” of the text of Genesis. Then, as an extra treat, my book goes on to show why and how church teachers of the 2nd century deliberately covered over the image of Eve as the “pioneer of Adam’s salvation” in favor of presenting Eve as the “gateway of the devil bent on corrupting Adam and all his children.”

 

Get KKK Kindle Now #3 Like Kevin Kukla, I am a cradle-Catholic. I grew up in Euclid, Ohio, and my parents made certain that I attended a Catholic grade school and Catholic high school. Then I myself chose to attend a Catholic university and two Catholic graduate schools in theology. I was an altar server for fifty years and gained a robust gratitude for the power of Holy Orders and for the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I mastered Theistic theology and then went on to master Neothomism and revisionist theologies that erupted following Vatican II. I trained future Catholic priests and lay ministers in three different seminaries for twenty-five years. I know and I love the Church, warts and all. However, I also learned that our Holy Mother the Church can be calloused and mean-spirited when it came time to consider issues of sexual conduct. Contrary to the orientation of Kevin Kukla, I am persuaded that the Catholic hierarchy has “almost never gotten it right on issues of sexual ethics.” For me “to serve the Lord,” therefore, I need to expose and challenge Kevin’s historical ignorance, his defective biblical interpretations, and his philosophical errors. This challenge is not so much for Kevin’s sake but for the sake of honest Catholics everywhere who have needlessly suffered due to the cruel and misguided “pastoral guidance” of “super Catholics” like Kevin Kukla. This book is not just an academic debate. Rather it represents the opportunity to listen to two committed Catholics passionate about living and improving the sexual guidance given by our Holy Mother, the Church.

 

Get TRUE DETECTIVE Kindle Now #4 Meeting real women in your own hometown is haphazard at best. It is also massively time-consuming. Online, women reach out to you every time you open your mailbox. These women can communicate with candor and directness that is nearly impossible in real life situations. But the dark side is also there. Someone can use fake pictures and borrow words of love stolen from others online. One can even receive “faked” Red Cross identity papers and “faked” passports confirming the identity of the sender. So what is one to do? If you don’t play with this fire, you will never get burnt. Nor will you ever enjoy engaging conversations with woman who you’d never meet in your limited social circles. Millions of men and women are linking up every day using the internet. Success stories abound. In a study of marriages celebrated 2005-2012, researchers discovered that a whopping 35% of Americans initially met their love-match online. So what does one do? I advise you: “Go for it! But walk softly and carry this book so that you will spot the frauds and avoid the scams.” With my help, you will not foolishly lose your money and you will not needlessly break your heart. Moreover, you will have the satisfaction of progressively mastering basic skills for uncovering the “truth” and for bringing local law enforcers and the FBI to take action on your behalf (should you need them). Excerpt from Case One: Nurse Juliet Begs to Visit

I felt some bitterness for a few days. I had been “a love-sick dude” who lost his good judgment because of the attractive words in an email. Had I learned a lesson? Yes and no. This was only my first encounter with fraud. I didn’t yet have any way of knowing to what degree dating sites were plagued by deeply entrenched and cleverly disguised systemic fraud. But I was a detective, and I knew “what evil lurks in the hearts of men.”[i] So fasten your seat belts, my dear reader, and get ready for the ride of your life. . . . [i] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Shadow

PS: I thank Aaron Milavec for allowing me to post my book on his site. ~~Adam Rose

 

Get CHRONICLES PDF Now #5 Finding True Love Online is no easy road to travel.      

I was where you are . . . facing my favorite holiday “alone” for yet another year. In October, I tried a new dating site, MeetMindful.com, and only 3 out of 50 women responded to my welcoming messages. Discouragement set in. But here is the good news: I was to discover that three is all that was needed. The quality of candidates here is outstanding. And my discovery of my beloved Elena (an Italian living in China) as one of these three was so spectacular that I just spent $1207 for a round trip flight ticket, Cincinnati to Shanghai, arriving on 31 Jan 2017. So, for those who are still looking and for those who stopped looking, I’d like to send you a red string wrapped around the eBook that tells about our mutual story on this dating site beginning 01 Nov 2016. It’s a very personal story for both of us. It’s filled with laughter and tears, with awesome pitfalls and moments of unexpected grace. Most of all, it’s the story of hope and of love that you might benefit from at this time of the year. So, for those who are still looking and for those who stopped looking, I’d like to send you a red string wrapped around our true life story. It’s filled with laughter and tears, with awesome pitfalls and moments of unexpected grace. Most of all, it’s the story of hope and of love that you might benefit from at this time of the year.

Get Free Kindle Reader = http://www.effortlesscommunication.com/reader.htm

Aaron in 2020 Meet the Author

Aaron Milavec began his career as an innovative teacher and software developer. After devoting twenty-five years to the training of future priests and lay ministers, Milavec turned his attention to gender studies and the empowerment of women. For seven years (2007-2014) he collaborated with others in designing and operating Catherine of Siena Virtual College—an international, interactive center for the empowerment of women and men through online learning circles. In his free time, he gravitated towards primitive camping and hiking in the woods. He set up an art studio in his garage and won awards for his ceramic pottery in the Maya tradition. He became an avid participant in the Mankind Project. In his youth, Milavec was fascinated with science. After beginning graduate studies in physics, however, Milavec suffered an unexpected loss of faith in science. At that point, he gravitated toward the philosophy of science and ended up with an abiding passion for religious inquiry and spiritual development. While a Research Fellow at the University of Victoria, he completed an essay, “How Acts of Discovery Transform our Tacit Knowing Powers in both Scientific and Religious Inquiry,” Zygon 42/2 (2006) 465-486. Milavec earned his B.S. in physics from the University of Dayton, his S.T.B. from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1968 and his Th.D. from the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley) in 1973. Milavec has published eighteen books, eight chapters in collected works, and sixty journal articles. His most recent book, What Jesus Would Say to Same-Sex Couples (2019) exposes the biblical and theological errors of the anti-gay Gospel found in Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism. For open discussion on this book, go to http://Jesus4Lesbians.com For additional eBooks, go to https://payhip.com/milavec For support of Pope Francis, go to http://SupportPopeFrancis.com

Christmas eBooks

When you open the brightly colored Christmas gifts, here is what you will discover are your six choices: 

Choose one to four eBooks.  Decide who you want to be your “reading partner.”  Decide which books you want to share with others who are on your “Christmas list.” 

Read to enjoy!  Read to learn.  Read to free yourself from some of the religious quirks that have taken root in your life and caused you unnecessary suffering.

Get CHRONICLES PDF Now

#1 Finding True Love Online is no easy road to travel.

 

 

 

I was where you are . . . facing my favorite holiday “alone” for yet another year.  In October, I tried a new dating site, MeetMindful.com, and only 3 out of 50 women responded to my welcoming messages.  Discouragement set in.

But here is the good news: I was to discover that three is all that was needed.  The quality of candidates here is outstanding.  And my discovery of my beloved Elena (an Italian living in China) as one of these three was so spectacular that I just spent $1207 for a round trip flight ticket, Cincinnati to Shanghai, arriving on 31 Jan 2017.

So, for those who are still looking and for those who stopped looking, I’d like to send you a red string wrapped around the eBook that tells about our mutual story on this dating site beginning 01 Nov 2016.  It’s a very personal story for both of us.  It’s filled with laughter and tears, with awesome pitfalls and moments of unexpected grace.  Most of all, it’s the story of hope and of love that you might benefit from at this time of the year.

So, for those who are still looking and for those who stopped looking, I’d like to send you a red string wrapped around our true life story.  It’s filled with laughter and tears, with awesome pitfalls and moments of unexpected grace.  Most of all, it’s the story of hope and of love that you might benefit from at this time of the year.

Get Free Kindle Reader = http://www.effortlesscommunication.com/reader.htm

Get SEVEN ERRORS Kindle Now

#2 For fifty years, the vast majority of Roman Catholic priests and theologians have been forced into a reluctant silence when it comes to birth control, celibacy of priests, indulgences, ordination of women, and homosexuality. I myself, while teaching in Roman Catholic seminaries for twenty-five years, was required to keep a guarded silence on all these issues. But this reluctant obedience has not served me nor has it served those whom I helped prepare for lay and ordained ministry.

Pope Francis, for his part, has forthrightly warned our bishops against “the temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word . . , within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve” (source).   When this happens, “the bread” that Jesus blesses and gives to his disciples is transformed “into a stone” that is either “cast against the sinners” or it is carried by them as an “unbearable burden” (Luke 11:46).

By way of atoning for my years of silence, I have prepared this book in order to equip my former students and all those faithful Catholics who are interested in sorting out the wheat from the chaff within current Catholic teaching. What you discover herein will supply you with clear, strong, and compelling case studies that can be used to open up informed and reliable explorations on topics that have largely been obscured by authoritative pronouncements, by shoddy biblical scholarship, and by ignorance of Catholic history.

Whether you want to speak to your teenage daughter or to your bishop, these case studies offer talking points that will enable you to make sense out of the faith that is intended to nourish us, to make us free, and to draw us into harmony with the Spirit of Christ.

 

Get Free Kindle Reader = http://www.effortlesscommunication.com/reader.htm

Get EVE Kindle Now

#3 In the traditional teaching of the churches, Eve gets named as the companion of Adam who coaxes him to sin against God.  This fall from grace afflicts the human race until the end of time.   Eve is the “tool of the devil” that betrays her husband.

The purpose of this book is to enable you to read the hidden clues in the text of Gen 1-3 in order to discover the “original meaning” of the text .  In so doing, you will be surprised to discover that the “original meaning” differs strongly from what the churches have been teaching.    Examples:

  1. When the text of Gen 2-3 is examined, Eve’s “fall from grace” is never mentioned.  On the contrary, the eating of the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is associated with wondrous super powers: “their eyes were opened” (Gen 3:5, 7).  This is all the more wondrous in so far as these transformations enable Eve and Adam to see things clearly as God sees them.  Far from being a “fall,” therefore, Eve’s eating enables her to become “like God” (Gen 3:6, 22).
  2.  Classical theology speaks of Eve as being deceived by the devil who was bent upon the destruction of Adam.  The “serpent” described in the text is never associated with the “devil” at any point.  Rather, you will discover that the “serpent” functions as a spirit-guide within ancient Middle Eastern culture.  Far from deceiving Eve, this “serpent” is assuredly a truth-teller: “You will not die [when you eat this fruit]; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5-6).  And, according to the story of Genesis, this is exactly what happens.
  3. Adam, meanwhile, has been telling Eve that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die” (Gen 3:3).  When Eve touches the fruit, however, nothing happens.  Adam clearly is mistaken.  So, she eats it.  And the eating has wondrous effects.  Thus, Eve exposes the errors of Adam on both counts.  We can even surmise that Eve trusted God to be a gentle and wise parent who would never cultivate a poisonous fruit tree in his garden if he knew that he was endangering the life of his children.  Adam, strange to say, never took the time to explore the deep contradictions between what God told him [“you will die”] and what the serpent told Eve [“you will be like God”].
  4.  According to the Genesis account, Eve and Adam are expelled from the Garden.  According to the prevailing theology of the churches, this expulsion takes place due to God abhorrence of their grave sin [the “original sin”] that God was seemingly unable or unwilling to forgive.  The text itself provides quite another explanation: “The LORD God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,’ therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden” (Gen 3:22-23).  In effect, therefore, God has planted not one but two empowering trees: “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and “the tree of eternal life.”  Having been empowered by eating of the former tree, God figures that it would just be a matter of time before his children ate of the latter tree that would seemingly make them “live forever” just as God does.
  5. God intended his children to be mortal.  The text specifies this intention clearly, “You are [made out of] dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19).  Hence, contrary to traditional theology, Adam and Eve were never designed for immortality, but their sin caused God to change his mind.  The text says that God assigns the immortal “cherubim” the task of “guard[ing] the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:24).  Here again the text indicates clearly that “sin” was not an issue here; rather, protection of the “tree of life” was God’s primary concern. 
  6. It is instructive that Eve and Adam and all their children lived nearly a thousand years.  If we trust the bible when it teaches us that a long life is a sign of God’s blessing, then we have to conclude that Eve and Adam were wondrously blessed with long lives.  God had no cause to curse them, and he was surely not unable or unwilling to forgive his children for some imagined “grave sin.”  The pangs of childbearing are cursed and the sweat from tilling the soil is cursed—but God never once curses his children.  In fact,  just before leaving Eden, God gave both his children a very necessary gift.  Maybe you know what that gift might be.
  7. Why do Adam and Eve suddenly become aware that they are naked after eating the prescious fruit of the first tree?  Why do they hide from each other and hide from God?  The answer to this key question will amaze you.  Do you already have a hunch?

My book is an easy read.  It demontrates step-by-step how a research theologian like myself works to uncover the “original meaning” of the text of Genesis.  Then, as an extra treat, my book goes on to show why and how church teachers of the 2nd century deliberately covered over the image of Eve as the “pioneer of Adam’s salvation” in favor of presenting Eve as the “gateway of the devil bent on corrupting Adam and all his children.” 

Get KKK Kindle Now

#4 Like Kevin Kukla, I am a cradle-Catholic.  I grew up in Euclid, Ohio, and my parents made certain that I attended a Catholic grade school and Catholic high school.  Then I myself chose to attend a Catholic university and two Catholic graduate schools in theology.  I was an altar server for fifty years and gained a robust gratitude for the power of Holy Orders and for the sacramental presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  I mastered Theistic theology and then went on to master Neothomism and revisionist theologies that erupted following Vatican II.  I trained future Catholic priests and lay ministers in three different seminaries for twenty-five years. 

I know and I love the Church, warts and all.  However, I also learned that our Holy Mother the Church can be calloused and mean-spirited when it came time to consider issues of sexual conduct.  Contrary to the orientation of Kevin Kukla, I am persuaded that the Catholic hierarchy has “almost never gotten it right on issues of sexual ethics.”  For me “to serve the Lord,” therefore, I need to expose and challenge Kevin’s historical ignorance, his defective biblical interpretations, and his philosophical errors.  This challenge is not so much for Kevin’s sake but for the sake of honest Catholics everywhere who have needlessly suffered due to the cruel and misguided “pastoral guidance” of “super Catholics” like Kevin Kukla.

This book is not just an academic debate.  Rather it represents the opportunity to listen to two committed Catholics passionate about living and improving the sexual guidance given by our Holy Mother, the Church.

 

Get TRUE DETECTIVE Kindle Now

#5 Meeting real women in your own hometown is haphazard at best. It is also massively time-consuming. Online, women reach out to you every time you open your mailbox. These women can communicate with candor and directness that is nearly impossible in real life situations. But the dark side is also there. Someone can use fake pictures and borrow words of love stolen from others online. One can even receive “faked” Red Cross identity papers and “faked” passports confirming the identity of the sender. So what is one to do?

If you don’t play with this fire, you will never get burnt. Nor will you ever enjoy engaging conversations with woman who you’d never meet in your limited social circles.  Millions of men and women are linking up every day using the internet. Success stories abound. In a study of marriages celebrated 2005-2012, researchers discovered that a whopping 35% of Americans initially met their love-match online. So what does one do?

I advise you: “Go for it! But walk softly and carry this book so that  you will spot the frauds and avoid the scams.”  With my help, you will not foolishly lose your money and you will not needlessly break your heart.  Moreover, you will have the satisfaction of progressively mastering basic skills for uncovering the “truth” and for bringing local law enforcers and the FBI to take action on your behalf (should you need them).

Excerpt from Case One: Nurse Juliet Begs to Visit

I felt some bitterness for a few days. I had been “a love-sick dude” who lost his good judgment because of the attractive words in an email. Had I learned a lesson? Yes and no.   This was only my first encounter with fraud. I didn’t yet have any way of knowing to what degree dating sites were plagued by deeply entrenched and cleverly disguised systemic fraud. But I was a detective, and I knew “what evil lurks in the hearts of men.”[i]  So fasten your seat belts, my dear reader, and get ready for the ride of your life. . . .

[i] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Shadow

PS: I thank Aaron Milavec for allowing me to post my book on his site.   ~~Adam Rose

 

Get SECRET Kindle+PDF Now

#6 Rosie says:

When it came time to planning how to lose my virginity, I was keen to have the best guidance possible. Hands down, Beth F. is sharp as a tack when it comes to inter-personal issues. Beth also happens to be my best friend, so I have no hesitation to speak openly with her because she will never needlessly shame me or silence me. We roomed together three years in college. We rejoiced together and cried together during these years. Between us, there were no secrets.

Here is the plan we hatched together. I was going to use an internet dating site and to find someone special who was willing not only to pop my cherry but to be emotionally and physically intimate with me for a period of a few months. In brief, it made no sense to just have sex once or twice with a good man. It had to be GREAT SEX, and great sex, so I thought, cannot take place unless there is emotional, spiritual, and physical intimacy.

The Craft Prize Edition was released 12 April 2018.  When you buy this item, you will receive a Kindle MOBI [1.8 Mb] and a PDF file [800 kb].

 

Urgently support LGBTQ Catholics

For an updated synopsis and review of other books of interest, go to https://payhip.com/milavec

Get Free Kindle Reader = http://www.effortlesscommunication.com/reader.htm

  Aaron in 2020
Meet the Author

Aaron Milavec began his career as an innovative teacher and software developer.  After devoting twenty-five years to the training of future priests and lay ministers, Milavec turned his attention to gender studies and the empowerment of women.  For seven years (2007-2014) he collaborated with others in designing and operating Catherine of Siena Virtual College—an international, interactive center for the empowerment of women and men through online learning circles.  In his free time, he gravitated towards primitive camping and hiking in the woods.  He set up an art studio in his garage and won awards for his ceramic pottery in the Maya tradition.  He became an avid participant in the Mankind Project.

In his youth, Milavec was fascinated with science.  After beginning graduate studies in physics, however, Milavec suffered an unexpected loss of faith in science.  At that point, he gravitated toward the philosophy of science and ended up with an abiding passion for religious inquiry and spiritual development.  While a Research Fellow at the University of Victoria, he completed an essay, “How Acts of Discovery Transform our Tacit Knowing Powers in both Scientific and Religious Inquiry,” Zygon 42/2 (2006) 465-486.

Milavec earned his B.S. in physics from the University of Dayton, his S.T.B. from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1968 and his Th.D. from the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley) in 1973.

Milavec has published eighteen books, eight chapters in collected works, and sixty journal articles.  His most recent book, What Jesus Would Say to Same-Sex Couples (2019) exposes the biblical and theological errors of the anti-gay Gospel found in Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism.

For open discussion on this book, go to http://Jesus4Lesbians.com

For additional eBooks, go to https://payhip.com/milavec

For support of Pope Francis, go to http://SupportPopeFrancis.com