De meus, Ministerio

HIC praeter quadragesimam, Factus felix pro me ad iter in decem millibus toto orbe terrarum sacerdotibus disponere, et per cotidianis meditationibus Missam scripsi. Et simul exhilarating exhausti fuerit. Ut haec, ego postulo sumo aliquam tempus quietam reflectunt super talia multa meum, et ministerium in itinere personalem et partem divino impulsu vocantur me.

Of course, writing is only part of my apostolate. I have been welcomed by orthodox Catholic priests to speak or bring my concerts to their parishes or retreat houses, from San Francisco to Rome, Saskatchewan to Austria. However, four years ago, the Archdiocese of Edmonton, Alberta, refused to allow my ministry to come there. I wrote three letters asking for clarification and any advice on my ministry that the Archbishop could offer. I finally received this response in 2011:

The simple fact of the matter is that we have a policy in the Archdiocese, which stipulates that any speaker invited to address our people on matters of faith or morals must first receive a nihil obstat [Latin for “nothing hinders”] from me or my delegate. This is standard policy. In your case it was not granted because of indications on your website that you make reference to what you claim to have received in private revelations. This is an approach that I do not wish to promote within the Archdiocese of Edmonton. —Archbishop Richard Smith, Letter of April 4th, 2011

During this past Passion Week, 2015, two more neighbouring bishops of Edmonton have taken the same position resulting, regrettably, in us having to cancel a fourteen concert tour. One of the bishops cited that he was doing so because it is not ‘good pastoral policy for the two dioceses to be going in different directions.’ One of the bishops elaborated a bit further saying that he was concerned that our ministry utilizes a ‘promotional strategy’ of contacting parishes rather than waiting for an invitation; that my concerts use sound and lighting equipment in the sanctuary; and that my website, he alleged, “promotes” Carmen est hominis Dei,, Vassula Ryden, and Garabandal. Below, in brief, are my responses to the bishops’ concerns for the sake of transparency and to give a general response to the letters I am receiving on this issue:

1. Our ministry quod operate by invitation. What happens when we get one or several invites, is that my manager (my wife) then connects with other parishes in the area to let them know that I am coming, and offers our ministry to them. This ‘promotional strategy’ is the way that a host of other lay ministries operate in order to make our time and efforts efficient and cost-effective (since we also rely on Divine Providence). Above all, it is the way we try to bring the Gospel to as many souls as possible.

2. I do indeed use lighting and sound equipment for my concerts. I use a sound system for practical reasons that require no explanation. As for lighting, it is there to create a prayerful atmosphere conducive to this type of ministry. On our last 20-concert tour in Saskatchewan, we had literally dozens of priests and hundreds of concert-goers tell us how absolutely delighted they were with how beautiful the lighting was that emphasized the Crucifix, Tabernacle, and statues—in a word, highlighted the sacredness and beauty of their Catholic parishes. The only complaint I’ve ever had from priests regarding my lighting is that I was not leaving it there for them to keep! Reverence and respect of the sanctuary are of utmost importance. My concerts involve giving my testimony and pointing souls to the Eucharist and Confession, specifically catechizing on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle. This is the main reason why it is our preference to hold concerts in the main body of the church (not to mention the significant drawbacks with acoustics in many parish halls). 

3. There are over a thousand writings on my website, the vast majority teaching Catholic faith and spirituality in the context of our times. There are some writings that integrate “private revelation” as per the teachings of the Catechism that states that, while these revelations cannot correct Sacred Tradition, they can help the Church to ‘live more fully by it in a certain period of history’ (cf. n. 67).

• I have never read Carmen est hominis Dei, nor have I ever quoted those works. 

• Vassula Ryden has been a controversial figure, to be certain. I referred to her specifically to explain the position of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Ms. Ryden’s theology in a “Q & A” with my readers (since there is a crossover of themes regarding an “era of peace”). ^[1]videre Quaestiones in Missa tuum Among other facts, I noted that the Notification on her writings, though still in effect, has been modified to the extent that her volumes can now be read under the prudential “case by case” judgment of the bishops along with the clarifications she has provided to the CDF (and which met Cardinal Ratzinger’s approval) and which are published in subsequent volumes. In that spirit of caution, I quoted a single paragraph ^[2]cf. Fatima, et excutit manus Magna from her writings.(Whenever quoting private revelation on my website that has not yet received an imprimatur aut nihil obstat, and has not been explicitly rejected by the Magisterium, I use the nomenclature of “alleged” to qualify the status of the proposed revelation.) The quote I used contained nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine. 

• Garabandal (an alleged apparition in which an ecclesial commission investigating it said they had not “found anything deserving of ecclesiastical censure or condemnation either in the doctrine or in the spiritual recommendations that have been published”) ^[3]cf. www.ewtn.com is likewise mentioned very briefly in my writings. When it was, the term “alleged” was also duly included to remind the reader that caution is needed, according to St. Paul’s teaching: “Do not despise prophecy. Test everything, retain what is good.” In the quote I used, there is nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine. 

A bishop has the right to determine how his flock is formed, and that includes preventing even those who are in good standing from speaking on Church property. In conclusion, I wish to affirm my obedience to the decision of these three Alberta bishops, and ask my readers to pray for me and all our clergy that they may have the grace to be faithful shepherds in the difficult task to which the Lord has called them.

 

AN OVERVIEW

Due to the fact that my ministry reaches thousands of people each week in my writing and webcast apostolate, including those in these dioceses, and because this “ban” has become a source of confusion for some, I have included below a basic overview of my ministry, which is conducted under the blessing and guidance of Most Reverend Bishop Don Bolen of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and the spiritual direction of Rev. Paul Gousse of New Hampshire, USA.

My ministry is comprised of two parts: my music and the message. The music serves as both a message and means to open the door to evangelization. It has been my response to St. John Paul II’s call to use “new means and new methods” in the “new evangelization.” In terms of the Nuntius, whether on this blog or in my book, Exercitatus A final, I have spent thousands of hours in diligent prayer and research to ensure as best as possible that everything I have written or spoken of is in harmony with Sacred Tradition. I have exhaustively quoted the Church Fathers, Sacred Scripture, the Catechism, the Holy Fathers, and approved apparitions of the Blessed Mother to strengthen the reader in these precarious times by constantly deferring to the Magisterium. On more rara occasions, I have quoted private revelation from individuals who are, at this time, feeling compelled to relay a “prophetic word” to the Church, but only when their message does not conflict with Church teaching. ^[4]cf. II Thess: II: 1-5 Lastly, I have never claimed in my writings or webcasts to have ever received an apparition or an audible locution. I have at times shared inspirations and thoughts that I sensed were heavenly that have come from my interior prayer and meditation, or what the Church may call lectionem divinam permagni. On those occasions, I have shared that “I sensed” or “felt” the Lord or Our Lady, etc. saying this or that. I have shared them as a starting point or to shed some extra light and discernment on the greater body of this work. In some instances, those interior words have been the catalyst to discover or expand the teachings of the Holy Father.

 

A CALLING TO YOUTH

In 2002 at World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada, where I gathered with youth from all over the world, the Holy Father made a specific request to us:

In the heart of the night we can feel frightened and insecure, and we impatiently await the coming of the light of dawn. Dear young people, it is up to you to be the respexerunt speculatores de adventu Domini et mane nuntiare, qui solem, qui est Christus dixit? -POPE SS Ioannes Paulus II, Verbo Sancti Patris in totius orbis terrarum iuvenibusXVII Diem Iuventutis Mundialem advocatam, n. III, (Is XXI, 3-21)

This was an echo of his appeal in the Apostolic Letter on the new millennium:

Ostensum est enim in iuvenibus Ecclesia peculiari et Romam se esse spiritus donum dei est ... non dubitant petere ut faceret penitus eligerent, mirum, cum ex fide et vita offeres munus: quod est "custodis matutini temporis » novi millennii diluculo. -POPE SS Ioannes Paulus II, Novo millennio Inuente, n

In my book, I detailed in Chapter One how I felt the Lord calling me to respond to the Holy Father’s invitation by helping to prepare hearts for this “crossing the threshold of hope” into a new era. This invitation was reiterated by Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney, Australia:

Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished—not rejected, feared as a threat, and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy, and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophetas Nonne novae huius aetatis huius ... -POPE BENEDICTUS XVI, Homilia Diebus totius Mundi Iuventutis, Sydney, Australia, July 20th, MMVIII

Essentially, the popes have asked us young people to exercise the normative office of prophecy:

Et fidelium, qui per baptismum Christo incorporati, et integrated in Populi Dei, fiunt eorum participes, peculiari ratione muneris Christi sacerdotalis, prophetici et regalis Christi. -Catechismum Catholicae Ecclesiae, 897

Even though the order of the law and old testament prophets ceased in John the Baptist, the operation in the prophetic spirit of Christ has not. ^[5]videre Inhibito Propheticorum; etiam, Quem Benedíctus Décimus quartus, Habent novosque virtutum heroicarum, Vol. III, pp. 189-190; this is not to say that prophecy or prophets have ceased since John the Baptist, but that a new order has emerged. “Prophets” are listed as one of the specific members of the body of Christ in St. Paul’s ordering of the Church; cf. 1 Cor 12:28 While every Catholic shares in His prophetic office, the Second Vatican Council also affirmed the gratia of prophecy as a particular gift in the order of grace.

Non tantum per sacramenta et per Spiritus Sancti suppleatur ecclesiasticum ministerium, quae in sanctis facit populus, opimat illa, et ducit illos in virtutibus eius. Diuidendoque sua dona prout vult (cf. I Cor. 1:12), et etiam inter omnis ordinis fideles distribuit peculiari gratia. Per haec dona se aptos et promptos reddit ad suscipienda varia opera et officia, pro renovatione et aedificationem Ecclesiae, sicut scriptum est: «Alii quidem per Spiritum datur unicuivis homini propter lucrum" (I Cor. XII: VII ). Utrum gratia gratis data est illa praeclara admodum simplex vel diffusa et late: sunt usque ad percipiendum cum gratiarum actione conveniat, et consolationem quia sunt usui et quia sunt necessitates Ecclesiae. -Lumen gentium, 12

It would seem, then, that based on the Church’s Sacred Tradition and her Magisterium, prophetic utterances are to be considered with proper discernment. This is precisely what St. Paul taught:

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. (1 Thess 5:19-21)

Neither does the Church hold that the prophetic office is exercised only by ecclesiastical members of the Body:

... Christi munus propheticum adimplet, non solum per Hierarchiam ... sed etiam ad laicos pervenire. Et secundum hoc ex iis testibus et providet eos cum sensus fidei [sensus fidei] Et gratia Dei est. -Catechism ab Ecclesia Catholico, N. XCVII

It is worth pointing out, perhaps, that the entire ministry of St. Paul was the result of a “revelation” and interior illumination when Christ appeared to him in a brilliant light. ^[6]cf. Actus IX: 9-4 St. Paul was taught many things, and openly shared these “visions and revelations” ^[7]Cor 2 12: 1 7, that later formed part of the New Testament and, of course, the Public Revelation of the Church, depositi fidei. ^[8]the “deposit of faith” Any “private revelation” today that contradicts or attempts to add to the deposit of faith is considered false. However, authentica private revelation, gratia gratis data—“grace freely given”—is to be welcomed. In his instruction regarding private relevation, Pope Benedict XIV wrote:

[There]… are heavenly and divine private revelations by which God sometimes illuminates and instructs a person for his own eternal salvation, or that of others. —POPE BENEDICT XIV (1675, 1758), Habent novosque virtutum heroicarum, Vol. III, p. 370-371; from Private Revelation, Discerning With The Church, Dr. Mark Miravalle, p. 11

These “revelations,” in whatever forms they take…

Auxilium nostrum intelligere de ... signa et tempora, ut necessitates illas recte in fide. -Cardinal Iosephus Ratzinger (Benedictus XVI SUMMI PONTIFICIS) Nuntius géniti infántes, “Theological Commentary”, www.vatican.va

It is in that spirit of service, responding to the Holy Father’s call to be “watchmen” and “prophets of this new age,” that I have conveyed on occasion, under spiritual direction, certain meditations and “words” from prayer. As Pope Francis said in Evangelii huius temporis Gaudium, we are ‘communicating to others what one has contemplated’ and that…

The Holy Spirit… “today, just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangelizer who allows himself to be possessed and led by him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself.” -Huius Evangelii: cf. n. 150-151

This is not to claim that I am a “prophet” or “seer,” but rather that I have tried to exercise my baptismal calling to operate in the prophetic office of Christ. I have done so, to the best of my ability, with the Magisterium and Sacred Tradition as my guide. I believe this is the proper spirit of discernment St. Paul urged. Still, the Church must be the ultimate judge of everything I’ve written since my words, inspirations, and teachings flow through a human vessel. 

In omni aetate ab Ecclesia quae accepit gratiam prophetiae, quae indagari debet, non autem spreverunt. -Cardinal Iosephus Ratzinger (Benedictus XVI SUMMI PONTIFICIS) Nuntius géniti infántes, “Theological Commentary”, www.vatican.va

 

Mark in concert in Ponteix, Sk, 2015