Catholics From France

"Before the Council, Mass was Mass. Obviously, in Latin, we didn't understand anything, but we had the impression (impression???) that it was Mass. Now, however, we have the feeling that it is the translation of a Protestant service. From my point of view, the liturgical reform as desired by the Council (Vatican II) was good; certainly it did not want the Mass, the Eucharist, to be sacrificed, nor above all reduced to what Protestants do during their ceremony, which we call supper. For example, when it was decided that the priest should not say Mass facing the altar, with his back to the faithful, but facing them, a decisive reform was carried out that truly disturbed many Christians. With good reason (With good reason???) — so that the faithful could understand — it was decided to celebrate the liturgy in the common language, but without any desire to abolish the sacred. Today, in practice, the Eucharist no longer has the sacred, serious and divine character it had in the past. (p. 103)"

"Of divine institution, the sacred hierarchy comprises, with regard to order [ratione ordinis]: bishops, priests, ministers; with regard to jurisdiction [ratione juridisdictionis]: the supreme pontificate and the subordinate episcopate..." (canon 108.3). Thus, the sacred hierarchy, one and unique, nevertheless comprises TWO rationes: the ratio ordinis pertains to the Missio, the ratio jurisdictionis to the Sessio."

"In the spiritual life, to grow means to simplify and simplify oneself, to become closer to uncreated and ineffable simplicity."

"It is not enough for the past to be past. It must also be truly overcome – it must have lost all causal connection with the present – so that only the spiritual connection remains, which is the connection between image and reality, between figure and fulfilment."

"Unlike Calvino, you bring the soul into the designs of merciful predestination without any element of anguish."

"I have always made it a rule to speak in a timeless manner, true today, tomorrow and always."

"After about forty centuries of oral civilisation, the Word is an inflated currency."

"Ordinary people have more confidence in those who have suddenly arrived at that state and are naturally honest than in those who have had to make a painful and painful effort to get there."

"Joan puts God's will above her virginity. She says that she “has offered her virginity as a vow for as long as God pleases”. This concern for the hierarchy of values, this idea of “God first”, is always evident in her. Joan is a virgin because God inspired her to be so; she is not a virgin of her own free will or choice. (pp. 34-35)"

"Generals do not fight with the fear of the troops, they prefer to keep them busy."

"The real way to resist temptation is to turn away and walk away."

"Paul VI's intention regarding the liturgy, regarding the vulgarisation of the Mass, was to reform the Catholic liturgy so that it would coincide more or less with the Protestant liturgy... with the Protestant Supper. And further on: "... I repeat that Paul VI did everything in his power to bring the Catholic Mass – beyond the Council of Trent – closer to the Protestant Supper. He was particularly helped by Monsignor Bugnini, who did not always enjoy his confidence on this point. [...] Of course, I did not attend the Calvinist Supper, but I did attend Paul VI's Mass. And Paul VI's Mass presents itself first and foremost as a banquet, does it not? It insists very much on the aspect of participation in a banquet, and much less on the notion of sacrifice, of ritual sacrifice, in the face of God, while the priest shows only his back. So I do not think I am mistaken in saying that the intention of Paul VI and of the new liturgy that bears his name is to ask the faithful for greater participation in the Mass, to give a greater place to Sacred Scripture and a lesser place to everything else in it, some say “magical”, others “consubstantial consecration”, [correcting himself] transubstantiation, which is the Catholic faith. In other words, Paul VI had the ecumenical intention of removing – or at least correcting, attenuating – what was too “Catholic”, in the traditional sense, in the Mass, and of bringing the Catholic Mass – I repeat – closer to the Calvinist Mass."

"Beauty is a splendour that must detach itself from those who possess it without them noticing and without returning to them."

"Joan of Arc possesses more genius than talent, more heroism than courage, more intuition than intelligence, more immediacy than endurance and, if we may say so, more glory than grace. That is why she seems more angelic than human, a traveller from another world, parachuted into this one. (p. 7)"

"Joan is not a theologian; in fact, she cannot tell A from B. However, listening to her answers during her trial, we sense in her a theological intelligence, a ready ability to resolve cases brought before her conscience, which, if developed, would have made her equal to the greatest minds. (p. 9)"

"In Giovanna, purity was more than a virtue. It was her mark, her reason for existing and her implicit glory, her resemblance to the mother of Christ. Being a country girl, accustomed to seeing life in all its gestures, she probably had very accurate knowledge of purity in the physical sense. In the countryside, ignorance is never what the 19th-century bourgeoisie falsely calls innocence. And when, at the age of thirteen, Joan gave her virginity to God during the angel's first visit, she knew clearly what it meant. (p. 30)"

"The most enviable situation is not to be the subject of beauty and to know oneself to be beautiful, but to be the object of beauty and such that only the other enjoys what emanates from us."

"Atheism is not only complicated and rare, it is also a recent phenomenon, a peculiarity supported by few and only recently in certain Western intellectual circles."

"(Referring to Marthe Robin) was simple.... What prevailed in Marthe was her capacity for sacrifice, in imitation of Christ.... With simple words, she aroused in us one of those rare, sudden, sweet, somewhat melancholic and yet radiant emotions that make you aware of your destiny."

"What is the charm of a person? It is difficult to say, because charm is indefinable. It is a certain presence of the person beyond their limits, like the radiance of certain pure faces."

"Beauty is a kind of supplement to being, a radiance that is added to being."

"Love always envelops us: it is we, with our attitude towards it, who transform it into fire or light."

"It was but natural that in view of the extraordinary discoveries made in recent years in physics, mechanics and chemistry, the minds of men should be fascinated by new and unheard-of physical, mechanical and chemical phenomena, admitting of scientific examination, and holding out such rich and transcendent promises. Now, by imitating and even surpassing the effects of natural agents, pure spiritual substances can thus easily conceal their operation and gain access to man. They can even, on the pretence of furthering scientific progress, induce man to indulge in these unlawful practices, and thus attack him unawares. This is so much easier in an age when the study of the human soul and its faculties, and of the angelic nature and the spiritual world in general, is so greatly and universally neglected."

"I have a Vicariate as large as all France, and three churches and two priests."

"No human power can now stop the march of a nation destined to exert its influence all over the world and perhaps to dominate it."

"Interviewer: You are very involved in dialogue with Islam and Judaism. Is it possible to combine mission and interreligious dialogue? Cardinal Aveline: The Church's mission begins with the creation of this climate of dialogue. Again in Ecclesiam suam, Paul VI states that "the climate of dialogue is friendship. Indeed, service." This is what Charles de Foucauld, Pierre Claverie and many others understood: the need for a climate that unites us around the same fundamental existential questions. It is then that the Gospel can be proclaimed, but not as a mere slogan that does not take into account the existential questions of the other. If we consider mission without taking into account the concrete existence of the other, the concrete questions they ask themselves, we risk turning it into a mere word, but not a reality."

"Having been inured for many years to the labors of a missionary life, we feel ready, in spite of our advanced age, to share with you all the hardships' of the ministry. We are ambitious of no distinction. We expect to find in each of you a friend."

"The religion of the Malagasies appears to be fundamentally a kind of mixed Monotheism, under the form of a Fetishism which finds expression in numerous superstitious practices of which these people are very tenacious."

"There is a middle position, represented by the judgment of serious, right-minded men, which commends itself to the commonsense public. I need not say that I believe that position to be mine; I may deceive myself. But the folly of some of the theories is as repugnant to me as the foolishness of some of the legends. I think even that if I had to choose I should prefer the legends, for in them at least there is always some poetry and something of the soul of a people."

"His episcopal career, which promised to be one of great usefulness to the Church, was cut short by his untimely death."

"Cardinal Aveline: Identity, the core and physiognomy of what constitutes us, what we are, can only be built within a living relationship with otherness, with the other; a closed, impermeable identity is sterile. Interviewer: Is that why you are so committed to interreligious dialogue? Cardinal Aveline: No, the opposite happened. On this front, which was assigned to me by surprise by my bishop at the time, Mgr. Robert Coffy, I was able to verify the truth I had experienced in my life: through dialogue, familiarity, openness and sharing, we are able to make our identity flourish and encounter others more closely, and also to be missionaries, which does not mean proselytising. We need to de-centre ourselves in order to live the mission."

"Anxiety is the threat of terror the blind attacks Where will we find the strength to face dangers if we do not rely on hope We who believe in the God of Jesus Christ our hope is trusting in the word of God as received and transmitted by the Prophet: They will fight against you but they will not prevail against you for I am with you to save you and to deliver you I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked and I will deliver you from the grip of the powerful My fortress is God the God of my love Cardinal s homily at the Mass for the souls of the victims of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray."

"They dress themselves in masks and place them in the trappings of religion to hide their murderous project and those who want to announce to us the god of death Moloch who rejoices in the death of man and promises paradise to those who kill with his help cannot hope to Humanity surrenders to their illusion The hope that God has inscribed in the human heart has a name which is life Hope has a face the face of Christ who gave his life in sacrifice so that people could have life in abundance Hope has a project a project to unite humanity into one people not through extermination but through condemnation and the call for freedom and love among people."

"Conversions from paganism progress slowly, but continuously. The native Catholics, now numbering rather more than one thousand, are well instructed and faithful to their religious duties."

"For some people recognizing sexual difference in marriage and family where equality is necessary and foundational would be a deception that would shake one of the foundations of our society and establish discrimination especially among children."

"Marriage is love and affection between two parties but it is not just a generous openness to marriage in front of new categories of citizens but rather a transformation in marriage that will affect everyone It will not be a marriage for everyone but rather a marriage of a few people imposed on everyone but some people apply this opinion and some do not."

"In spite of the avowed infidelity then prevalent in the schools, he remained proof against sophistry and ridicule."

"Some historians have pretended that pagan philosophy entirely dominated Justin's Christianity, or at least weakened it. To appreciate fairly this influence it is necessary to remember that in his "Apology" Justin is seeking above all the points of contact between Hellenism and Christianity."

"Of works of charity she never wearied."

"In carrying my remembrances back to those sad days, of which I am writing, I recognize that I never have thanked God, as I ought to have done, for those particular graces, by which he preserved me in the midst of so great madness and impiety. Those who were at the head of the irreligious frenzy which then devastated our France, presided forward with all the confidence of success. Every device of cruelty and malice was put in operation, to attain the end they had in view: to destroy the Catholic Religion, not only in France, but throughout the world. So far, as I am witness, did their detestable hopes of the complete final triumph over the Christian Faith extend. And yet, at that very moment, how strong and imperishable was its hold upon thousands of hearts; how fervently did every true Christian family pledge its love and life to our blessed Lord."

"His great influence on the entire church, his wonderful success in planning, financing, and carrying out necessary ecclesiastical reforms, and the constructive and executive ability he displayed in his diocese, make him one of the foremost Catholic emigrants to the United States."

"An indefatigable missionary, who had served long and unselfishly for the Church in Texas."

"Noteworthy progress has also been achieved in their dress, housing, preparation of food, treatment of wives, and, generally, in their ideas of social relations; so much so that the Blood Indian of to-day may be considered an entirely different being from his predecessor of twenty-five years ago."

"Like his predecessor, he spent the whole of his priestly life in arduous missionary work in southern Texas, often helping to build churches with his own hands. He was consecrated 28 October, 1895, and d. 11 March, 1911, deeply loved and regretted by all classes."

"It used to be the custom in France to spend the whole of the summer in the country and the winter in town. By , or, at the latest, at the end of December, the chateaux were deserted, and the hotels of the filled with fashionable inhabitants. This is no longer the case. People remain in their country houses until nearly the end of winter, and though the Paris season encroaches a little on the spring, it is over by the beginning of June, and the time devoted to social enjoyment thus considerably abridged. Whether this change is for the best is a question not easily solved."

"The doctor rubbed his spectacles and opened his snuff-box with a great noise, as the young girl made the light repast, which soon brought the color to her cheek again, or, at least, the usual color, for her face was, ordinarily, very pale. Large eyes, grave and gentle, gray rather than blue, shadowed by lashes as black as her hair, made her face singular and striking. Yet, in spite of this singularity, in spite of her paleness, the delicacy of her features, and her slender figure with its willowy grace, if one wished to describe in two words the general impression produced by the aspect of Fleurange d'Yves, one would have chosen these: simplicity and strength."

"... one feels compelled to admit the justice of Paul Bourget's classification when he places Mrs. Craven in the pious school of novelists. ... From the material point of view her efforts were happily very successful, some of her stories having had an extensive sale. Yet it would be a daring speculation to assert either that she created her reading public or robbed the realistic writers of theirs. Most probably she wrote for a public which already existed—the pious Catholic world in France—and in so doing has laid herself open to the stigma of having "written books for girls." The best which can be said of Mrs. Craven's novels is, that they are conventional romances written by a clever woman."

"Le Récit d’une sœur, qui est pour la plus grande partie la correspondance authentique et intime d’une famille bien connue, fit grand bruit. Peu de livres de femme se sont vendus à un aussi grand nombre d’exemplaires. « Ce livre est un calice de douleurs ! » Elle a été très critiquée par Armand de Pontmartin et Barbey d’Aurevilly. Ce dernier aurait voulu que le Récit d’une sœur fût l’unique livre de Mme Craven. « La plume qui l’a écrit devrait être brisée, a-t-il dit, comme, dans certains pays, le verre avec lequel on a trinqué avec le roi. Le verre funèbre plein de délices et d’angoisses dans lequel Mme Craven a bu à la mémoire des siens ne devait plus servir à personne. Est-ce que le roi de Thulé, après avoir pleuré dans sa coupe, ne la jeta pas à la mer ? » The Tale of a Sister, which is for the most part the authentic and intimate correspondence of a well-known family, caused a great stir. Few women's books have sold such a large number of copies. "This book is a chalice of sorrows!" It was criticized in depth by and . The latter would have liked the Tale of a Sister to be Mrs. Craven's only book. "The pen that wrote it should be broken," he said, "like, in some countries, the glass with which one toasts with the king. The funeral glass full of delights and anguish from which Mrs. Craven drank in memory of her family should no longer be of use to anyone. Did not the , after weeping in his cup, throw it into the sea?""

"With an eye to the future he endeavored to provide for the growth of his diocese by bringing Catholic immigrants from European countries to the fertile plains of Minnesota. Withal he did not neglect his ministerial and pastoral office."

"His gentleness and self-sacrifice wrought wonders."