BISHOP MARTIN CLOSER OF CHURCHES COMES TO CARDINAL'S AID

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Bishop Paul Martin SM

Just what might the appointment of Bishop Paul Martin SM as coadjutor to Cardinal John Dew mean for Catholics in the Land of Mordor (the Archdiocese of Wellington)? 

And why are two dioceses in New Zealand deprived of a shepherd - Palmerston North (for well over a year) and now Christchurch? "It is the first duty of a pope to appoint good bishops" - Bishop Athanasius Schneider.

In the normal course of events Bishop Martin would automatically succeed Cardinal Call-Me-John, perhaps in 3 years' time when the latter turns 75 and so must tender his resignation to the Pope and 'retire' (incidentally, Auckland's Archbishop James Liston 'stepped down' at age 88). 

Two reactions today, from opposite ends of the religious spectrum, one might say: a nice Novus Ordo chap remarked that +Dew needs help because in recent photographs he's looked dreadful. A Latin Mass adherent commented that Bishop Martin had been appointed to "help Cardinal Dew do nothing".

Cardinal Dew, who has "a heavy workload" in Wellington Archdiocese

In Christchurch +Martin ordered the demolition of the earthquake-damaged Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament, described variously as the finest church in the Southern Hemisphere, the best building in New Zealand, and by musicians who had performed there as acoustically a nonpareil. 

+Martin's predecessor, the revered Bishop Barry Jones, had approved the restoration of the nave for about $45m. But according to Bishop Martin, the Basilica would cost $149m to restore fully and $91m just to save the nave. As you can imagine - Christchurch being Christchurch, darling - heritage advocates were upset and said there was "outrage in the community". 

The doomed Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament 

So a new cathedral will be completed by 2025, in the middle of the city, for $85 million, and will accommodate up to 1,000 people. The Press saw the 'magnificent' Basilica's location in Barbadoes Street - the out-of-the-way site graciously awarded the Catholic Church by the Anglicans, who are still fussing over the future of their own utterly undistinguished cathedral - as a drawback, and +Martin agreed. One's heart sinks at the thought of what monstrosity might replace Francis Petre's celebrated neo-classical design, based on Roman basilicas but derived from 18th century French examples.

The Catholic Church has now spent more than $15 million on several blocks of riverside Christchurch lands in what +Martin has called "a community and commercial collaboration between the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, Crown regeneration company Ōtākaro Limited and big-city developers, the Carter Group".

The Barbadoes Street site had an otherworldliness about it which is eminently suited to a church. Sounds like the new cathedral might be hemmed about with hotels, bars and restaurants in an accommodation with commerce that entirely embraces "the spirit of Vatican II". 

Bishop Martin's other legacy for Christchurch, motivated by the shortage of priests, is his five “super-parish” model for the city's parishes. In a triumph of originality, the five new parishes are to be called Christchurch North, Christchurch West, Christchurch South, Christchurch Central and Christchurch East. The would-not-be parishioners of North, West, South, Central and East were not all impressed: 

"He has not consulted with the priests, with the staff, nor with the parishioners. He simply announces his plan. He claims it is a proposal. We are to pray and discuss it, but that his proposal will all be carried out within one year. Our priests and staff and parishioners should have been consulted, involved and listened to, not just briefed. Announcing a fixed plan and pretending it is a consultation, when it has been already decided upon, is the practice of clericalism at its very worst." 

So says one Kathleen Gallagher, Christchurch author, playwright and film-maker - and quite possibly a feminist of the first water. Gallagher's solution, of course, is lay ministers and liturgies of the word. In other words, fewer Masses celebrated. 

Fewer Masses, since the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae (in spite, or because of, the NO being so much simpler and easier), have naturally - or supernaturally - resulted in smaller Mass counts, fewer conversions and fewer ordinations, in a downward accelerating spiral which the hierarchy seem committed to perpetuating. Follow that prescription and there won't be any need to accommodate 1000 in Bishop Martin's new $85m cathedral. 

We used to be exhorted by our bishops and priests to "pray for vocations". Not any more: the NO's casual treatment of the Eucharist eroded their faith to the extent that bishops and priests have given up on the exhortations. So we gave up too. But God hasn't given up. He is always supplying 'vocations'; it's our job to pray, seriously, for men and boys to hear His voice - His call. 

What the Catholic priesthood should look like

Which reminds me of this morning's "para-liturgy" at St Joseph's, Waipukurau. Attending a service of the word with Holy Communion or similar ceremonies does not exempt you from your Sunday obligation to attend Mass if possible (and Mass just over half an hour away is entirely possible for most people). 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “the Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin” (2181).

So it's up to Father to decide whether or not his parishioners should attend Mass on Sundays when he's on holiday. That's his responsibility, and he has decided that it's better for his flock to meet as 'community' than to celebrate the unbloody re-presentation of the August Sacrifice of Calvary by which we are redeemed.

I'm so glad it was his decision, and not parishioners'. So they will not be held to account for it.  

But it seems a great shame that they missed Holy Mass on the Epiphany of the Lord.

da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi

Bethlehem, of noblest cities
None can once with thee compare:
Thou alone the Lord from heaven
Didst for us Incarnate bear.

Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth
To the lands their God announcing,
Hid beneath a form of earth.

By its lambent beauty guided,
See, the Eastern Kings appear
See them bend, their gifts to offer—
Gifts of incense, gold and myrrh.

Solemn things of mystick meaning—
Incense doth the God disclose:
Gold a Royal child proclaimeth:
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows,

Holy Jesu, in thy brightness
To the Gentile world display’d,
With the Father and the Spirit
Praise eterne to thee be paid. Amen.