Apostles' tombs, and what's Notre Dame?
Description
Hey everybody,
Every diocesan bishop in the world is obliged to make a pilgrimage — every five years — to pray and offer Holy Mass at the tombs of the apostles, Peter and Paul.
It’s an ancient tradition for bishops to make themselves pilgrims at the tombs of those holy men, in the Roman basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul Outside the Walls. And that tradition has been for centuries a normative expectation.
Today, that pilgrimage happens during the ad limina visit of every diocesan bishop to Rome, which is supposed to take place about every five years.
We tend to think of the required ad limina visit to Rome as a meeting with the pope — and, indeed, the diocesan bishop is required to “present himself” to the pontiff every five years or so.
But in a certain sense, we’ve tended in modern times to invert the meaning of that ad limina — framing it as mostly a meeting with the pope, with some liturgical stuff tagged in.
In fact, the liturgical thing is listed as the first obligation in the Code of Canon Law — that each diocesan bishop is required “to venerate the tombs of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul,” (usually venerating by offering Holy Mass) and to see the pope while he is there.
That matters. It’s a customary and legal reminder that our communion is sacramental, liturgical, and mystical — that the deepest kind of unity between us is the unity of the altar, at which we’re unified with the entire Church — on both sides of eternity’s veil.
Affective unity — “getting along” — is a fine thing, but it’s not real or lasting unless it comes from the unity which matters most: Our common call to worship God at the altar, and at Calvary.
Today’s the customary feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of the Apostles Peter and Paul, both of which were built in the fourth century, over the tombs of the apostle saints.
May those apostles intercede for their successors, the bishops of today, and may that intercession bear courage, zeal, and Christian unity to the Church.
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Today, too, by the way, is the birthday of my beloved, Mrs. Flynn.
Kate is an extraordinary woman, in whom I grow in deeper admiration and esteem with each passing year. God has given our family a vocation which requires near limitless patience, and she has it, to say nothing of ever-creative and generous love. Pray, if you would, that she be given ever deeper joy — the very type she brings to those of us who love her.
Here’s the news.
The news
The concession momentarily resolved a somewhat murmured question among the U.S. bishops about the exact procedure for resolving tie votes — of which there have been three in recent years — but only for the short term, as the conference has had inconsistent approaches to tie votes in years past, and the question will have to be addressed more concretely at some point.
But as to Sis — the bishop told The Pillar this week that he resigned the office as the result of a “kairos moment” of spiritual discernment, and his sense that Sample “is far better suited to lead that committee than I am.”
Sis emphasized to The Pillar that he made the decision in prayer:
“Archbishop Sample and I are brothers in Jesus Christ. We both pour out our lives in service to the Kingdom of God. Both of us had our desire and interest to serve the Church and the world in this very important way as chairman of that committee, but we both approached the matter with prayerful surrender to the will of God.”
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Rumors hit the internet Friday that the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain had announced among the Welsh and English episcopate a coming “relaxation” of Traditionis custodes, the 2021 Francis motu proprio which the use of preconciliar liturgical texts.
Not content with rumors, The Pillar got the facts — sources in the UK told us that the nuncio had indeed communicated to bishops a papal vision for a more “generous” application of Traditionis custodes.
Going forward, the pope’s general approach seems to be “Todos, todos, todos - including devotees of the TLM,” one source told The Pillar.
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