No fandango for the fanon

At least not at Father Blake's blog. Basically Father opines that excitement over Sunday's reappearance of that papal vestment, among supporters of Pope Benedict' 'reform of the reform' , is quite unjustified and irrelevant, . and he backs this with sound evidence with which it is difficult to argue. Mostly he refers to the shilly shallying of  many priests, laity and bishops,  when it comes to application of  'Sunmmorum Pontificum'.  It has to be acknowledged that although it has had an effect, it is not really going to make sufficient difference to the Church at large, unless the Holy Father stops trying to teach by example and begins to make a real difference by exercising papal legislation as regards his own document. Father's post shows up the fault line in the 'Reform of the Reform camp. On the other hand Fr Z stands by his beloved 'marshall plan' and congratulates the Pope for his series of propositional gestures of varying strength and importance over the years of his papacy. Fr Blake is more impatient and says honesty that Pope Benedict probably doesn't have time left to him for the luxury of teaching by example. He predicts that if Benedict doesn't get tough very soon, with his death the 'reform of the reform' will fade quickly into the legend of the early third millennium and with it the Pontificate of a  rather quaint, if holy old pope. If he wants to leave a lasing impression on the Church, he must LEGISLATE NOW.

What intrigues me is WHY Pope Benedict appears to be so timid. He is known to be determined, even stubborn, if the bee in his bonnet is buzzing loudly enough. Is it fear of liberal curial cardinals? Or is it that he'd had enough of the rottweiler, panzer cardinal caricatures which he has just about beaten. But even now, every time he can be seen to have acted with any kind of force, the media throws them in his face again Is it because he is tired and has simply had enough and prays each night for God to take him home. Is it that he is really a liberal after all and only promulgated SP for the sake of the SSPX. He simply won't upset the apple cart, and has decided to leave the whole thing for his successor to solve. Someone who,. as Fr Blake warns, might lock the sacristy and get rid of Mons. Guido Marini replacing him with a reinstated Piero or worse. Does he just like the Liturgy and the way he has it because of a selfish need to satisfy his own aestheticism. Or is it just that by nature and experience, he is a gifted teacher by example rather than by precept as well. And his methodology has always served him well in the past BEFORE HE WAS POPE. Has he really faced the fact that he is the Pope NOW?

There are several possible answers to the conundrum of Pope Benedict's behaviour and complex personality. . I have to ask the questions but none of the answers seems to solve the matter. They are all intolerable and abhorrent to me

I would like Fr Z to be right, but I'm afraid that Fr Blake's hard realism is probably a very timely warning both for our dear Holy Father and for all of us.

Now more than ever we must pray for our Holy Father. May God give him TIME and the courage of his convictions.. I do believe with Fr Z that their  complexion is genuinely for the restoration of the sacred Liturgy and solid catechesis, this last having been widely admitted even by its perpetrators as woefully inadequate. Every Audience and Homily shows that Pope Benedict knows what the problems are and why they are so entrenched and damaging. Dear Holy Father we know and we DO understand. Please do what you can to correct these matters, using your Papal infallibility if necessary. No Head teacher could run a successful school with the level of disobedience and dissent that you have suffered and tolerated among  your 'Staff' (clerics/theologians)) and 'students'.(laity). The school would fall victim to anarchy. We have continued to bear this situation for half a century and looking round me, I think that Anarchy is  what we have in the Church today. Wasn't that one of the reasons why you left one German University for another after the troubles of 1968.

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