QUESTION CORNER, Fr. John Dietzen

Q: In a conversation about changes in the Church during the past 50 years, someone remarked that many of these changes involved teachings that some pope, or maybe more than one, had said were "irreformable." We're confused. How can something one pope says is permanent be changed by another pope? (New York)

A: One must understand what the word "irreformable" means in Church documents. Its wide use developed in relatively modern times in response to something that was happening in the secular world. During approximately nine centuries, particularly in what is often called the Christian Europe of the second millennium, popes were commonly considered, even by themselves, as supreme over all other countries and governments.

Anyone who knows history is aware that this claim of supremacy rarely matched what was really happening, but it was there at least in theory.

Later on, this perception of who had what power changed dramatically, especially under the influence of such movements as the Enlightenment and the French Revolution in the late 1700s. Political decisions of states and nations began to be seen as actions of the people of that region, which could not be changed even by the pope. Such actions were called "irreformable."

For these and other reasons the influence of the Church, the papacy, even in religious matters, weakened enormously. In their desire for greater religious "security" and independence similar to that in civil society, Christian, particularly Catholic, people and leaders looked for ways to assure something similar to this civil authority for the Church.

It was in this light that popes characterized their decisions and statements as irreformable. This meant only that no other authority outside the Church was competent to change them. It did not mean that future popes or councils or other responsible authorities in the Church could not change policies and practices and even adapt and reformulate statements of faith in light of later circumstances and cultures.

This very concept explains, incidentally, much of the movement for the definition of papal infallibility during Vatican Council I in 1870. It also clarifies what that council meant by describing the Church as a "perfect society."

They dd not mean to claim that the Church is perfectly holy or, for that matter, perfect in any other way. It simply intended to proclaim that the Church was competent and autonomous in its own area of religious matters and in appropriate ways in other concerns connected with religion in civil society.

The dermatologist says I have urticaria (hives).

I'll start taking prednisone tomorrow for 20 days and am taking one Zyrtec at night.

I blame stress.

Sounds funny, I know.

"What, me worry?"

I was reading Jeremiah 38 yesterday morning as part of, the final part of the Precepts study called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." So, in the chapter, Jeremiah gets tossed into the cistern because some prominent men don't like his message. But the king draws him out again on the advice of a foreigner who is also an official in the government.

And the king asks Jeremiah for the latest word from God on the present situation with the Babylonians sieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah tells him that God wants him to "go out to them." In other words, surrender.

But the king can't do it. Moreover, he despises those Jews who have themselves followed Jeremiah's words and joined the Chaldeans.

It's hard to be unsympathetic towards King Zedekiah.

In his loyalty to Jerusalem, he's acting obediently to God's word as spoken through the prophets up until then. I saw very quickly in Zedekiah's inability to capitulate a contrast with Christ who does give himself over into their hands, in obedience to God.

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Today's Readings. I need to get a highlighter suited to Bible paper and mark the part of the "Crowd" in my Sunday missal because it isn't marked. I can't imagine why.

My favorite place, best food in NJ: "country Italian" with Cajun/Creole selections.

I haven't seen any cars in the parking lot, day or night, for weeks:

Luchento's in Millstone Closed? - Mid-Atlantic, 3/21/09.

There is a note on the door but I haven't pulled in to read it.

Some pictures of our afternoon at Georgian Court.

I'm so glad my camera is broken getting repaired because Jeff's camera works so much better:



We had tickets to an informal etiquette training class.

Only one other boy was there. Talk about preaching to the choir.

Most were dressed to the nines but we had just come from tennis lessons. I considered putting their suit jackets in the car ...

Kenny delighted at being inside the mansion. It's homier than the haunted Wilson Hall toured last month. And for good reason: it is lived in.¹

We toured the first floor before the program began. I told what I knew, pointed out the Canterbury Tales mural² spanning three walls at the rear entryway, explaining about the muses painted in the music room, and saying that the chapel used to be a solarium full of live plants. I told the boys not to sit on the furniture because most of it is 100 years old. Of course, other children arrived and sat on the furniture but I reminded mine again, quietly, not to.

My one and only other time there, they were showing off a photo album that had been recently found containing pictures of the home shortly after construction. I wish the photos were color. But they are lovely just the same. And it gave Kenny a chance to see how homes change over time.

As the program began, Kenny was comfortable and interested. Tim frowned, stuck out his tongue and gave a thumbs-down sign. He wasn't interested in learning any "rules." But, really, imagine teaching etiquette in New Jersey where everyone is woefully gauche. Kids were at one table and parents at another, and the grown-ups became so confused as Nanny Rose walked the kids through setting a place at the table.

Afterwards, we drove home through Lakewood and Kenny noticed the Orthodox. I was troubled by how his comments went from highly complimentary ("Look, that man is wearing a tuxedo!") to benignly informative ("Jewish men always have to have their heads covered.") to derogatory ("Those girls in long black skirts look like witches!"), all based entirely on appearance.

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¹ One mother shared that her daughter asked whether she could live in the mansion. I said she could, she just has to join the Religious Sisters of Mercy!

² Kenny knows a Wishbone version of the story.

On the outskirts (no pun) of town ...

Arrests made for alleged prostitution in Millstone - Examiner, 3/26/09.

Still, surprising.

Just did a Five Favorite albums at FB ... and so, scrolled through the iTunes Music and am listening to some oldies, like David Gilmour's About Face, especially the final cut¹:

And when you feel you're near the end
Will you just turn it over and start again

Is there a stirring in your heart
As the time comes when we will have to part?

And when you feel you're near the end
And there's a stranger where once was a friend

And you are left without a word
Only the whispers that you've overheard

Standing in silence, holding my breath
Disconnected and dry
And though I'm certain that there's nothing left
To hold on to, to give or to try
Some things never change, no don't ever change
And I'm feeling the cold
Thinking that we're getting older and wiser
When we're just getting old

And when you feel you're near the end
And what once burned so bright is growing dim
And when you see what's been acheived
Is there a feeling that you've been deceived?

So, did the music make me melancholy ... or just suit me?

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¹ I had this album, first, on cassette, so no "turning over to start again"