Pope Benedict XVI died this morning in Rome.

It is reported – also by Pope Francis – that “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI is seriously ill. Let us keep him in our prayers today. For it was Pope Benedict who liberated the Traditional Mass by issuing Summorum Pontificum in 2007. He suffered much for that and his other attempts to reconnect the Church with her Tradition. Benedict was the target of vicious attacks both during his papacy and up to and including this year. Every Tradionalist, however, owes him an immense debt of gratitude.

To all our members, readers and friends!

We have heard much since early December about Marko Rupnik. All of what we know was either revealed by news media – especially online resources – or admitted under duress by the Catholic Church. More details trickle out every day. One emerging response of the establishment is that Rupnik’s misdeeds shouldn’t prevent us from appreciating his work and his spiritual counseling. As the Slovene bishops put it:

“We beg you, with this tragic realization in mind, to distinguish his unacceptable and reprehensible actions from his extraordinary spiritual and artistic accomplishments in mosaics and other areas,1)

Fr. Briscoe at Our Sunday Visitor adopts the party line:

But as for his art, we must recall the purpose of art in a sacred space. Art in our churches renders visible the invisible beauty of the sacred mysteries. Jacques Maritain says this, “In the signs it presents to our eyes something infinitely superior to all our human art is manifested, divine Truth itself, the treasure of light that was purchased for us by the blood of Christ.” If the reality manifested by a work of art is not the beauty of God made known in the sacraments, it does not belong in a church. But if it is, it does, regardless of the artist’s state of soul. 2)

Fr. Briscoe believes or assumes that Rupnik’s art does manifest a reality that is “the beauty of God in the sacraments.” Fr. Briscoe also talks at length about Renaissance artists, particularly Caravaggio – another line of defense. The comparison is preposterous. Caravaggio didn’t organize a quasi-religious community including “consecrated women.” Caravaggio didn’t hold himself out as a spiritual leader (Rupnik’s books are almost innumerable). Caravaggio was not presented by the Catholic hierarchy of the day as role model and made by them a significant spiritual presence in Rome and even given some participation in church government. Caravaggio didn’t hide his murders for decades (how could he – they were violent acts in violent age). It was Rupnik (and the Church) who chose to advertise  his Centro Aletti as a kind of post- Vatican II monastery or modern-day Beuron movement – a fusion of the artistic and the spiritual. 3) But let us turn to Rupnik’s art – what exactly were his “accomplishments”?

Objectively viewed, his work seems completely sub-artistic – a hybrid of pseudo-Byzantine and pseudo-modern. His cartoon-like images have as their most characteristic feature blank black eyes.  I can only suggest as a point of comparison the art installed in Catholic Churches in the immediate pre-conciliar years. Or perhaps some of the simplistic images in modern Coptic Christian art. But these latter emanate from a Monophysite tradition that has a restrictive notion of the Incarnation and (consequently?)a limited pictorial heritage – and in any case they lack the distinctive “Marko eyes.”

But if Rupnik’s work is not truly art, what is it then?  It’s remote from the unsuccessful attempts of the European churches – efforts associated more recently with Cardinal Ravasi – to somehow “Christianize” the styles and products of contemporary Western art. We have reviewed books critically analyzing this modern sacred art. 4)  Likewise, Rupnik’s work is not popular kitsch. The Catholic “masses” (which includes the bulk of the clergy) remain content with manufactured reproductions in various formats of art from the 19^th century and earlier – as well as with crude attempts at their imitation. 5)  

For it is safe to say that Rupnik and his art were completely unknown in the states. True, there was critical commentary when his work appeared as logos for Vatican events. Yet he was not a popular presence. That is amazing because some of his major works are located here  –  especially in our backyard of Southern Connecticut. The patrons in Connecticut were the Knights of Columbus and Sacred Heart University (an extremely establishment-friendly institution of limited scholarly ambition). The Knights also financed the decoration of the John Paul II Center in Washington. 6) That is most appropriate, since it was John Paul II who in the 1990’s helped to launch the Rupnik phenomenon with the commission of mosaics for the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican. The cost of all these mosaics is in the millions of dollars.

From this list of patrons, we realize that Rupnik’s art is preeminently an official art – an art of the establishment. It is intended to achieve and synthesize various ideological goals. First, fulfilling the ambition of the Council, it definitively breaks with any Western Catholic art of the past. Second, it is reminiscent of the art of the Christian East – giving it an “ecumenical” aura.  Third, its figurative nature renders it accessible to those not initiated into modern art (which would include the patrons mentioned above). Fourth, the alleged religious nature of Rupnik’s studio enabled the marketing of his art as a vehicle for dispensing spiritual values.

Rupnik’s art thus caters to the ruling establishment of the Church. In this sense its role is akin to that of Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union.  Each has a political, not artistic, function. Like Socialist Realism, Rupnik’s art restates the dogmas of an ideology to the applause of patrons from an ignorant bureaucracy.  Thus, it is really not art at all. 

Such patronage is very lucrative indeed – the costs for building the Sacred Heart Univerity chapel were $17 miillion, I believe. It is tragic that the Church establishment over the years has wasted increasingly scarce resources on Rupnik’s art and similar products. It is infuriating that such projects continue to decided in isolation by bureaucrats and priests wihout the input of anyone with artistic judgment.

1. Winfield, Nicole, ‘Despicable’: Slovene bishops condemn Jesuit artist’s abuse, AP News 12/22/2022)
2. Briscoe, Patrick, What do we do with Father Rupnik’s Art? Our Sunday Visitor, 12/16/2022)
3. Beuron was a monastery, (re)founded in the 19^th century, that created its own school of art practiced by monastic artists.
4. E.g., The Art of God, Sacred Thoughts, Profane Ideas.
5. The Churches of New York XC: Art of the Archdiocese
6. The Pillar, Rupnik mosaics stand in US chapels, amid priest artist abuse scandal, (12/22/2022) (With images of his works.)

From JuventutemDC:

IMPORTANT: Under Cardinal Gregory’s decree of 22 July, there can be no Traditional Latin Masses in the Archdiocese of Washington on Christmas. There will, however, be several in nearby dioceses, and @tlmarlington has done the work of compiling a list:

But there’s also the FSSPX chapel for the DC area!

The following is a schedule of Traditional Masses for Christmas of churches in the area.

Connecticut

St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT, Christmas Eve 11:30 pm Choral Prelude with Christmas Carols followed by 12:00 Solemn Midnight Mass (Latin); 10 am Christmas Day

Oratory of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Georgetown CT: Missa Cantata Christmas Eve at Midnight; Missa Cantata Christmas Day at 12 Noon

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, Brookfield, CT, Midnight Low Mass; 7 am Daybreak Low Mass; 12:30 pm Missa Cantata

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Oratory, Bridgeport, Christmas Eve, Office of Prime with Christmas Matyrology at 8:30 am; 11:30 pm Christmas Carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, Low Mass at 8:30 am, High Mass at 10:15 am

St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven at 2:00 pm.

St. Patrick Oratory, Waterbury, CT, Christmas Eve, 8 am Low Mass of the day; 11 pm confession available; 11:30 Christmas Carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas Day: 8:30 am Low Mass of Down; 10:30 High Mass of the Day and Benediction

St. Martha Church, Enfield, CT, Christmas Eve, 9 am low Mass; Sung Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, 9 am low Mass

St. Michael’s, Pawcatuck, CT, 11 AM

New York

Holy Innocents Church, New York, NY, Christmas Eve, 1 pm HighMass of the day; Solemn Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, 9 am Mass at Dawn; 10:30 Solemn Mass of the Day

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New York, NY, Christmas Eve, Church opens at 10:45 pm for prayers and confession; 11 pm sacred music and carols followed by Solemn Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, 10:30 am

St. Vincent Ferrer, New York NY, Solemn Midnight Mass in the Dominican Rite, Mass in B flat Major, D. 324 by Franz Schubert, with orchestra

Our Lady of Refuge, The Bronx, Midnight Missa Cantata

St. Josaphat, Bayside, Queens, Christmas Eve, Mass of the Day 7 am; 11 pm Christmas Carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, 9:30 am

St. Rocco Church, Glen Cove, Long Island, Sung Midnight Mass; 11:30 am Missa Cantata.

St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers, NY, Christmas Eve, 10 pm

Annunciation Church, Crestwood, NY, 11:15 am

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, NY, High Mass 2 pm

St. Patrick Church, Newburgh, NY, 3 pm.

Holy Trinity, Poughkeepsie, NY, Christmas Eve, Missa Cantata 9 pm, Christmas Concert preceding; Christmas Day, low Mass 1:30 pm

St. Mary/ St. Andrew, Ellenville, NY, Sung Midnight Mass followed by a convivium; Christmas Day 11:30 am low Mass followed by a convivium.

Sacred Heart Church, Esopus, NY, Missa Cantata, 11 am

St. Joseph Church, Middletown, NY, Missa Cantata in the chapel, 10:15 am

New Jersey

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, Christmas Eve, 11:15 to 11:30 Confessions; 11:30 pm, Prelude of Season Sacred Music followed by Midnight Mass. Missa in G by Antonio Caldara (c. 1670-1736) sung by Cantantes in Cordibus Choir and Orchestra. No 9 am Mass on Christmas Day

Our Lady of Victories, Harrington Park, Nj, Christmas Eve 9 pm.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Newark, NJ, Sung Midnight Mass.

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, NJ, Christmas Eve, 11 pm Christmas Carols followed by Midnight Mass; Christmas Day: 7 am Mass of Dawn; 9 am Mass of Dawn; 11 am Mass of Christmas Day; 1:30 pm Mass of Christmas Day; 5 pm No Mass.

St. Anthony of Padua Oratory, West Orange, NJ. Christmas Eve, 9:30 pm confessions, 10:30 pm Christmas Carols, 11 pm Solemn Midnight Mass; Christmas Day, 7:30 am Low Mass (second Mass of Christmas) 9 am Low Mass (second Mass of Christmas), 11 am Missa Cantata (third Mass of Christmas)

Shrine Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Raritan, NJ, Christmas Eve, 11:30 pm Christmas Carols followed by Midnight Mass, Christmas Day, Missa Cantata, 10 am

Corpus Christi Church, South River, NJ, Midnight Mass

Church of the Sacred Heart in Clifton NJ, Low Mass at 8am Christmas day

St. John the Baptist, Allentown,, NJ, Midnight Mass

Masses for the Octave of Christmas, Jan. 1

St Marguerite Bourgeoys, Brookfield, CT,  12:30 pm Missa Cantata

St. Josaphat, Bayside, Queens, 9:30 am

St. Rocco, Glen Cove, Long Island, 11:30 am Missa Cantata

Immaculate Conception, Sleepy Hollow, NY, Jan. 1, low Mass at 4 pm.

St Mary / St Andrew, Ellenville, NY, January 1 at Midnight (High Mass; Convivium following); 11:30 am

St Joseph’s Church, Middletown, NYJ, 10:15 a.m.

Sacred Heart Church, Esopus, NYJ, 11:30 a.m.

Holy Trinity Church, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1:30 p.m. (Missa cantata)

St Patrick’s Church, Newburgh, NYJ, 3:00 p.m.

Our Lady of Sorrows, Jersey City, 9 am

Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Pequannock, NJ, 7 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm , 5 pm

St. John the Baptist, Allentown, NJ, Jan. 1, 12:30 pm

Jesuit educational institutions have long publicized their Jesuit – not necessarily their Catholic – values. Fordham University surely offers a unique perspective on these values. As Tania Tetlow, the new president of Fordham, (“the first layperson and woman to lead the university”) explains in an article in Outreach: An LGBTQ Catholic Resource:

I come to these questions (regarding LGBTQ issues – SC) from an unusual background. My mother is a biblical scholar. My father was a Jesuit priest for 17 years before he left the Society of Jesus to marry and become the proud father of three daughters. He was also a clinical psychologist who wove spiritual and psychological insights together.  1)

She discusses the circumstances in greater detail in her inaugural address:

In the late 1960s, my father came to Fordham to study psychology. Here he met my mom, a fellow graduate student, who had just finished her master’s in philosophy and was starting a degree in theology. They became friends at daily Mass, celebrated in the chapel of Murray-Weigel Hall, with a vibrant community of students and young faculty. As they became closer, my father realized he had an agonizing decision to make. He loved being a priest more than I can describe, but he also felt called by God to have a family. To be a good husband and a father who raised his children in devout faith and purpose. I like to think he made the right choice. But regardless, I hope I’ve made it up to the Jesuits.2)

It seems that there was an intellectual underpinning to her parents’ actions: 

Throughout our childhood in the 1970s and ’80s, our father taught us that gender and sexuality are societally constructed and intertwined. We understood that questions of what nature (and God) intended were complicated ones. He strongly believed that God wired us to find happiness in unselfish love, and he refused to believe that God would hard-wire us to commit sin that looks like unselfish love.  

Our parents taught us that the fundamentalist versions of the world’s great religions tend to center on unbending constructions of masculinity and femininity, but that those views are highly contested.

They taught us that, in God, there is no man or woman, that when we worship a white-haired, bearded man sitting on a throne, we risk worshiping our own idols.

We understood that committed love between any two people is a joyful gift. 3)

Fortunately, change in Church doctrine may be imminent:

Pope Francis recently invited Catholics all over the world to speak to the church, as he called us together to participate in the Synod. In response, millions poured out their hearts. I didn’t know what to expect. Who would take the trouble to speak? Who would have the power to document the results? But the summary, written by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, turned out to be a beautiful document, well worth reading. 4)

In any case, Fordham will explicitly disregard what Tetlow qualifies as current Catholic teaching:

I do not know whether the church will change its stance on issues of sexuality, as it has on other subjects. (She is referencing a review of a book by John W. O’Malley, S.J., professor of theology at Georgetown – SC) For now, we walk a fine line between respect for the church’s current teachings and the requirement to support our students. But if any and all outreach to our LGBTQ students courts controversy, then attempting to avoid controversy in this regard is pointless. We should just focus on doing the right thing.  5)

Now since the 1960’s questions have been regularly raised regarding the continuing Catholicity of Jesuit universities – such as my own Georgetown.  If one peruses, for example,  recent issues of the Georgetown alumni magazine one needs to look hard to find a reference to Christianity (as opposed to “Jesuit values”) at all. And the new president of Fordham’s views are indeed difficult to reconcile with current Catholic doctrine. But Pope Francis and the Jesuits have recently provided the most explicit endorsement possible of the status quo both at Georgetown and Fordham Universities.

In the case of Fordham, Tetlow participated this summer in a “pilgrimage” of Fordham university greats to Rome, meeting the Jesuit and Vatican leadership including Cardinal Parolin. 6) In particular, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Vatican prefect for Catholic Education, gave an endorsement of Fordham’s policies as Catholic:

In an address to the Fordham delegation, Cardinal Versaldi discussed the importance of teaching about an inclusive faith through Catholic education. He emphasized that schools should maintain their core Catholic values but continue to respect and welcome people from all walks of life. In addition, he applauded Fordham for its quality of education in a modern world. 

“I’m sure you will continue this communion with the church, keeping your autonomy and your independence, but also the capacity to work together and to offer a contribution to a new world.” 7)

Georgetown also maintains close cooperation with the Vatican and the Jesuit order. For example,  Pope Francis wrote favorably of a 2021 conference on “intercultural and interreligious dialogue” organized in Rome by the university. 8) In May of this year, Georgetown and the Jesuit publication Civilta Cattolica sponsored a conference “convening scholars and practitioners to explore Pope Francis’ idea of the culture of encounter and its practical relevance across three different areas: global governance, interfaith collaboration, and digital connectivity.” Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J., superior general of the Jesuits, was a keynote speaker. 9) Indeed, the university maintains a representative office in Rome. The Georgetown representative, Debora Tonelli, published this year a sycophantic anthology on Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti.  Antonio Spadaro, S.J,  is one of the contributing authors. 10)

Whatever may be Fordham’s and Georgetown’s relationship with the teachings of the Catholic Church, their ties with the Jesuit order and the Vatican have never been closer. And their shared commitment and ideology are global and political. As the president of Georgetown University stated in 2019 at yet another Georgetown/Jesuit Roman conference on “The Jesuits and Global Impact”:

“We come together to recognize the Centennial of our School of Foreign Service, (a unit of Georgetown University – SC) our longstanding commitment to global service, and the way that this commitment has been shaped by the mission and impact of the Society of Jesus around the world,…..Since the founding of the Society of Jesus almost five hundred years ago, to the founding of our university in 1789, to the establishment of our School of Foreign Service in 1919, we have been sustained by a tradition committed to global engagement.”

The conference took place in the Villa Malta, home to the Jesuit journal, La Civiltà Catolica. Fr. Antonio Spadaro, its editor in chief, serves on the Georgetown University Board of Directors. 11)

1. “Tania Tetlow: Catholic universities have a duty to reach out to LGBTQ students”, Outreach:an LGBTQ Catholic Resource, 11/28/2022.
2. Fordham President Tania Tetlow’s Inaugural Address, Fordham News, 10/27/2022
3. “Tania Tetlow: Catholic Universities have a duty to reach out to LGBTQ students” supra.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ha, Taylor, In the Footsteps of Ignatius: President Tetlow and Fordham Delegation Visit Jesuit Headquarters in Rome, Fordham News, 7/7/2022
7. Ibid.
8. Brill, Henry D., Pope Francis Welcomes Georgetown Conference in Rome on the Culture of Encounter, georgetown.edu, 11/12/2021
9. The Culture of Encounter: An Imperative for a Divided World, georgetown.edu, 5/27/2022
10. Georgetown’s Representative in Rome Releases Book on Pope Francis’ Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, global.georgetown.edu, 10/13/2022
11. SFS Hosts Centennial Celebration in Rome on ‘The Jesuits and Global Impact’, global.georgetown.edu, 6/21/2019

From the Sheen Center description:

“Just in time for the Advent and Christmas season, this stunning exhibit features mosaic icons created in the tradition of Byzantine masters. Exquisitely fashioned from tiny bits of colored glass fit together to bring forth a divine image, the icons are created by Oksana Prokopenko, a Ukrainian artist. They offer radiant reminders that, despite the darkness in our world, a Light still shines and is not overcome.“

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“Oksana Prokopenko was born and raised in Ukraine. She was educated at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, one of the top three universities in Ukraine, and at NYU. She studied formal art practices at NYU, SVA and with Philip Vanderhyden. Oksana has a cross-disciplinary practice in which micromosaics, painting and sculpture overlap. Rooted in the ancient contemplative practice of icon-writing and inspired by the current research in chaos theory, Oksana’s work explores the interaction of human and divine. Oksana’s artworks have been acquired into the permanent collections of museums in the USA and Italy, religious communities and private collections. Exhibition curated by Patricia McGuinness.”

We wrote this on the occasion of an earlier exhibit by the artist in 2018:

In the present wasteland of Christian art, the relatively intact Eastern Tradition is a good starting point for recovery. For the restrictive rules governing images in Eastern ecclesiastical art impose limits on the artist’s unhinged fantasy yet provide him with a clear model to follow. Now Oksana Prokopenko’s images and icons, executed in the difficult and expensive medium of mosaic, confirm both the continued vitality of the Tradition and its ability to accommodate individual creativity.

At the Sheen Center (18 Bleecker St NY). The exhibit will last until January 6, 2023.