Author: Jim Bowman

Jim Bowman covered religion 1968-78 for the Chicago Daily News, since then has written books, articles, etc., mostly on corporate history but also on religion (Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968), and more recently on politics (Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters -- Lulu.com, Kindle). Longtime Oak Park, Illinois, resident, he lives now on Chicago's North Side, where four of his and Winnie's six children live close by.

The papal office makes the pope, not vice versa. No room here for “the whimsical individual”

Fr. Hunwicke makes the point in the case of present pontiff and his habit of off-the-cuff, dare I say it, pontificating:

The august and necessary Teaching Authority of the Roman Pontiff does not adhere to him as an individual. It applies to him as the Bishop of S Peter’s See, Rome. That is why Blessed John Henry Newman argues that what some popes said or signed after being beaten up in Byzantine prisons does not create a problem for the doctrine of Papal Infalibility. Such a pope was not speaking as Bishop of Rome surrounded by the Council of his Presbyters or his Synod of Suburbicarian and visiting Bishops.

I . . . argue, that a Pope, if he wishes to act as pope, cannot act as a whimsical individual. He lost that privilege the moment he accepted election.

It goes with the territory, something that seems to have escaped Francis. Which leads Fr. H. to this pregnant recommendation, expression of hope, change of dire necessity:

I think it would be for the best if the Holy Father henceforth confined his public utterances to formal texts which had been passed by the appropriate and responsible Roman Dicasteries. If he wishes to publish some views qua private theologian, he should, as Professor Ratzinger did, indicate this formally and explicitly.

The present situation simply cannot be allowed to continue.

I usually confine my “amen”s to Holy Mass and the like. But here an exception: Amen.

The amazing Ann Barnhardt, asked what politicians she supports, had a pithy reply . . .

. . . . enough so to make your eyes water, with no end of possible reactions:

None. They are all psychopaths and whores. ALL OF THEM. The culture has degraded such that seeking and/or holding office, especially national-level office, is, in and of itself, proof that a given person is psychologically and morally unfit to hold public office.

Now tell me. Isn’t that enough to find out more about her? If so for you, hit the linked entry comment.

Michael Sneed of Sun-T is week’s winner . . .

. . . of the least-informed-and-entirely-fatuous-commentary award with her remarks about Chicago’s Cardinal Cupich, the pope’s hatchet man and protector of all things progressive, as in this throwaway paragraph at the end of her Sunday column:

Cupich, whose humility led to his personal selection by Pope Francis, lives in a dorm setting at Holy Name Cathedral rectory alongside fellow clergy when he is not in Rome as one of Francis’ top aides.

His humility? He who peremptorily ousted a highly successful pastor of a booming old-time-religion parish before investigation of allegations of unspecified objectionable activity with adult males and then banned him from Chicago after the investigation found no cause in him and threw the case out, he, Cupich, leaving the obvious impression that he wanted the man disgraced and out in the first place.

Dorm setting? When, pray tell, is the last time Sneed was in a Chicago rectory, that she should present such unqualified judgment on its spartan accommodations, as if its residents have to walk down the hall in robe with toothbrush and towel for their turn in the bathroom or do their own laundry?

A cry from the heart from a Jesuit brother: Priests celebrating mass, don’t improvise!

Beautifully argued, exemplified . . .

Dominus Vobiscum: Notes from a massgoer's underground

In America Magazine, words to the wise:

O priests, who improv prayers at Mass! Who give opening monologues to start the show! Who deliver closing arguments before the dismissal! Who make meaningful statements in between the “Lord have mercy’s”! (Lord, when we are not our best selves, when others do not receive the totality of all that we could be…. Lord have mercy.)

O priests who feel the need to make Mass personal or interesting or more spiritual than it appears on the surface to be. Who suddenly put the sign of peace at a different part of the Mass or change up in some fashion the standing and kneeling and sitting. Who do not want to appear as cold, officious church functionaries just rattling off words handed to them by a hyper-literal worship committee in some cold cellar of the Vatican. O priests, trust yourselves!

Trust that you are…

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Unemployment hits 49-year low as US employers step up hiring

Oh my.

WASHINGTON (AP) ??? Hiring accelerated and pay rose at a solid pace in April, setting the stage for healthy U.S. economic growth to endure despite fears of a slowdown earlier this year.

Employers added 263,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate dropping to a five-decade low of 3.6% from 3.8%, though that drop partly reflected an increase in the number of Americans who stopped looking for work. Average hourly pay rose 3.2% from 12 months earlier, matching March???s year-over-year increase.

Friday???s jobs report from the government showed that economic growth remains brisk enough to encourage strong hiring nearly a decade into the economy???s recovery from the Great Recession. The economic expansion, which has fueled 103 straight months of hiring, is set to become the longest in history in July.

Socialism, be gone.