More on Father Fessio...

...From Father Neuhaus of First Things:

In response to inquiries, I can only say that I do not know the “inside story” of what happened leading to the abrupt dismissal of Fr. Joseph Fessio as provost of Ave Marie University (AMU) by Mr. Tom Monaghan, founder and chancellor. The curt statement issued by AMU, referring to “irreconcilable differences” and noting the contributions of Fr. Fesso to the university, reads like an agreement worked out by lawyers.

I have been supportive of AMU from its launching in 2003, albeit not without misgivings. And I am glad to count Fr. Fessio as a friend. As usual, Amy Welborn has some useful links on this latest development over on Open Book.

I had initially agreed to serve on the board of directors of Ave Maria, but after a time it became apparent that the rapidity and complexity of decisions necessarily involved in establishing such an ambitious project demanded much more time and attention than I could give. So it was very amicably agreed that I and several others would be moved from the board of directors to a board of regents, which is a more nominal association with the enterprise.

I continue to be very supportive of Ave Maria University. It is a very important part of the mix that is required for the revitalization of Catholic higher education in this country. AMU has attracted some very impressive faculty in its first three years, and hundreds of students have enrolled despite the fact that the school is not yet accredited. There are questions still unsettled, and they no doubt have a bearing on leadership disputes, including the dismissal of Fr. Fessio as provost.

One important question is framed this way: Should AMU be “Steubenville South” or “Notre Dame South,” or something quite different from both. Denigrating in no way the notable achievements of Steubenville, my view is that AMU should aspire to being Notre Dame South on the way to its likely becoming something quite different from both.

But such decisions will be made most importantly by Tom Monaghan. Without his inspiration, determination, and generous funding, there would be no AMU. This is also as good a place as any to make clear that my comments about Mr. Monaghan in a recent profile in the New Yorker were not intended to be critical, although I am told that some took them that way. On the contrary, to say that he is as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove is to say that he exemplifies Our Lord’s counsel to turn worldly means to apostolic ends.

As for Fr. Fessio, he is routinely described as “controversial.” Few people of great achievement are in their obituaries described as “uncontroversial.” And, please God, we are many years away from the writing of Fr. Fessio’s obituary. The Church in America and the world owe him an inestimable debt for his founding of Ignatius Press, of which he continues to be the editor. Almost singlehandedly, Ignatius has made available in English some of the most important Catholic thinkers of our era, most notably in publishing the works of Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

At the University of San Francisco, where he taught for years and established a pioneering Ignatius Institute, Fr. Fessio was treated shabbily by his fellow Jesuits, finally being exiled to a perfectly superfluous post as chaplain in a small nursing home that already had a chaplain. With notable constancy, he has been obedient to leaders in the Society of Jesus who hold him in obvious contempt. Despite all, I hope and expect that he will be making further and important contributions to the renewal of the Church in the years ahead.

There is no denying that these are unhappy days for Ave Maria University, for Tom Monaghan, and for Fr. Fessio. One prays that out of the clash of great visions and great talents all three will emerge the stronger in their manifest devotion to Christ and his Church.

(For the latest developments, in which it appears Fr. Fessio will continue teaching at AMU while having no administrative responsibilities, see here.)

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How to Stop Vulgar Language...

...That is, if you want it stopped. If you are someone who enjoys crude jokes and expletives, then do not read this post, it will only annoy you. Of course, when it is my husband using colorful language as he watches Fox News, I say, "Watch your mouth!" He apologizes immediately, gentleman that he is. He respects my wifely prerogative to object to certain oaths and indeed he would be crestfallen if I did not. If I ever joined in, he would be horrified.

As a young girl in my twenties I was in Washington, DC on July 4, with one of my cousins. We had just come from a Beach Boys concert on the Mall, and ran into my brother and sister and several of their friends. One of the young men started telling a graphic story about his exploits with some girl. His voice was quite loud. A group of my younger sister's friends were there, looking a little embarrassed. "There are ladies present!" I said to the young man, and he begged pardon immediately. The girls looked as if the idea of being ladies had not occurred to them but they liked appellation, and glowed as if suddenly ennobled. That was 1986.

Twenty years later, my husband and I were walking across the parking lot of Applebees in our university town, accompanied by our family. It was the broad daylight of a summer dinner hour. We passed a group of college students, boys and girls, cheerfully discussing their favorite sexual positions. Stupid girls. Then they wonder why the men do not respect them, and why no one will marry them.

A few years ago we went with some fellow parishioners to a pizza pub after an evening Mass. A priest accompanied us. He embarked on a course of ribald humor. The church ladies, most of them, anyway, who an hour before had been receiving Communion, giggled appreciatively. As the humor became more suggestive, my husband thought it his duty to intervene, but he was ignored. Finally, I left the room. I said nothing, but the point was made. When I returned, the climate had become more civilized.

The world has become an increasingly vulgar place because women have allowed it. In trying to become empowered, they have lost what power they had. A lady can put a stop to rudeness and crudeness by a speaking up, or by walking away. In the home, the very glance of a wife or a mother should restore decency and polite speech. Ladies, it is for us to raise the bar. Share

Father Fessio re-hired

It just gets curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say. (Via the NOR) Share

How to be Queen

Another great offering from Lew Rockwell. Share

Putting the Pope above the President...

...Which is what some conservatives need to do. Meanwhile, in Germany, the banning of Muslim veils is being used as a pretext to strip teaching nuns of their habits. Read all about it here. Share

Queen Marie Leszczynska

Marie Leszczynska (1703-1768) was the queen of Louis XV, and the grandmother of Louis XVI. She was the last Queen of France before Marie-Antoinette. According to Jean Chalon, the author of Chere Marie-Antoinette, Queen Marie tightened up the rigorous court etiquette that Marie-Antoinette later relaxed because it was so suffocating. The daughter of a dethroned monarch and wife of a blatantly unfaithful husband probably needed the highly ritualized pomp to boost her morale and her rank more than did the "daughter of the Caesars."

Yes, Marie Lesczynska's father was the dethroned king of Poland and her early life was complicated by upheaval and exile. Yet for this very reason, she was chosen to be the bride of the teenage Louis XV, because she had no political entanglements at all. Her father Stanislaus Leszczynski was delighted when asked for his daughter's hand, as is related here:

A messenger arrives from Versailles with a letter for Stanislaus. Shock! Delight! He rushes to where his wife and daughter sit talking and working at their needle-crafts.

"Down on our knees in thanks to God!"

"Are you restored to the Polish throne?"

"Heaven is still more gracious: you are queen of France."

They embraced with tears, and knelt to thank God for having delivered them from their trials.

At age 22 Marie married the 16 year old king. She was pretty and very devout. They were happy and in love for about a decade; the queen gave birth to ten children. Later, she was blamed for throwing Louis XV out of bed on certain holy days, but that may be just gossip; perhaps she had a health problem, who knows. At any rate, Louis began a career as a womanizer, his most famous mistress being Madame de Pompadour, who ruled France at his side.

Queen Marie quietly devoted herself to her faith and her family. Courtiers mocked her Polish ways and called her La Polonaise even as later they would call Marie-Antoinette L'Autrichienne. All of Marie's children were as religious as she was; her youngest daughter Madame Louise became a Carmelite nun and a Blessed of the Church. Some of her grandchildren were quite pious as well, especially Louis XVI, Madame Clothilde, and Madame Elisabeth. Clothilde was declared a Venerable and Louis XVI and Madame Elisabeth can be regarded as martyrs in that they were killed for their religious principles.

When she died in 1768, Louis XV sincerely mourned the mother of his children, and we hope he regretted causing her such pain with his infidelities.

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The Father Fessio Debacle

I woke up to THIS news today, courtesy of the NOR. I have not been following the doings at Ave Maria University too closely, so I really cannot offer an educated opinion on what has happened. A friend sent me some links to a very traditional forum in which some of the members blame the healing masses for the fiasco. I have learned from similar situations that unless one is an insider it is difficult to know exactly why a person was asked to resign. What strikes me is that it has become another example of divisions between believing Catholics, all of whom should be fighting on the same side.

I grew up in the charismatic movement. My father (RIP), was very active in it. My parents' divorce and my father's eventual rejection of his faith lead me to be wary of the charismatic movement, of healing Masses, of the "slain in the spirit" phenomena. I was drawn to Carmelite sprituality, the Little Way of Saint Therese, the Dark Night of Saint John of the Cross, and the Mansions of Saint Teresa. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Alphonsus Liguori and Saint Francis de Sales have been my spiritual fathers as well.

As a young person, when I was finding my way and learning everything I could about liturgy and Church history, I would be tormented by liturgical abuses at Mass, and all the changes in the calendar, in the breviary, in the sacramentary. Zeal is part of being young; you want to be perfect and you want everyone else to be perfect, too. Now, I am too busy making sure that certain members of my family do not run through the aisles at Mass and otherwise disrupt the proceedings. Now, I am just grateful to be at anything resembling a valid Mass.

The first year of our marriage my husband and I attended the indult Latin Mass at Saint Boniface Church in Pittsburgh. It was like being in Heaven. We also went to many Byzantine divine liturgies, which were also heavenly. There is no Latin Mass where we presently live; we belong to a quirky country parish in Bellefonte, PA, once graced (or cursed) by the presence of the infamous Talleyrand. Our parish is like a support group for sinners; we all are fallen, but we are all striving to be better. We are helping each other get to heaven. We have Eucharistic and Marian devotions, and are only occasionally afflicted with Glory and Praise.

My father eventually came back to the Church and died a holy death, fortified by the sacraments, surrounded by his family praying, as his younger children sang hymns. I know many fervent individuals who are involved in the charismatic movement, but it is not for me. I see it as a phase similar to adolescence which hopefully people will grow out of. Meanwhile, I pray for the extension of the Latin Mass. Share

The South Will Rise Again

Here is another delightful, informative review by Thomas Woods of a book about Dixie, this time Clint Johnson's Politically Incorrect Guide to the South. Share

Still Binding?

I found this article on Lily's site, about the veiling of women, abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year and other Catholic traditions. There are many quotes from Scripture and the Church fathers which are worth noting. Share