Catholic Replies
Q. What is the official standing of Fr. Nicholas Gruner, who believed that the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary had not been done properly? He was known as “the Fatima priest,” but I always thought that title belonged to Fr. Robert Fox. — M.S., Kentucky.
A. Fr. Gruner died at the age of 72 on April 29, 2015. He had been suspended from priestly ministry in 1996 after he refused to return to the Diocese of Avellino, Italy, where he was ordained in 1976. He was best known for his newspaper The Fatima Crusader, in which he argued for years that Pope John Paul II’s 1984 consecration was not done properly and that the Holy Father’s release of the Third Secret of Fatima in 2000 did not reveal the entire secret.
Both of those arguments were contradicted by Pope John Paul, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, and Fatima visionary Sr. Lucia herself.
Fr. Gruner gained the description “Fatima priest” from his writings over the years and from a biography of his life written by Francis Albans that carried that title. We agree with you that Fr. Robert Fox is at least as deserving of that title because of his many pilgrimages to Fatima and his publication of the Fatima Family Messenger.
Q. You have addressed many abuses of the Mass over the years, and my former pastor was guilty of them. For example, when he broke off a piece of the Host and put it in the chalice, he said, “This is you and me” instead of “may the mingling of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ bring eternal life to us who receive it.” He would also put a rabbi’s shawl over his head when he gave the homily. He kept people entertained. My question is how serious does an abuse have to be to get those in authority to respond to it? — J.N., Texas.
A. It depends on who the bishop is. Some bishops would put a stop to such abuses, while others would not. In either case, their responsibility is spelled out in the 2004 Vatican instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which made clear that “it is the right of all of Christ’s faithful that the liturgy and in particular the celebration of Holy Mass should truly be as the Church wishes, according to her stipulations as prescribed in the liturgical books and in the other laws and norms” (n. 12).
The document also said that “the mystery of the Eucharist ‘is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured’ (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 23). On the contrary, anyone who acts thus by giving free rein to his own inclinations, even if he is a priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved, and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today” (n. 11).
These abuses, the document said, “deprive Christ’s faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal, but are detrimental to the right of the Church’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the people of God.”
The result, it said, “is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity, and scandal on the part of the people of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ’s faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of ‘secularization’ as well” (n. 11).
Q. Is Jerusalem or Rome the Eternal City? Is Rome the new and only eternal city, or are both eternal cities? — D.L.H., Iowa.
A. The designation of Rome as the Eternal City came from the ancient Romans, who believed that no matter what calamities struck the world, or how many empires came and went, Rome would go on forever. We know, of course, that Rome was sacked by the Goths in AD 410, but it remains today a vibrant city and a major tourist attraction. This is due in no small measure to the fact that the headquarters of the Catholic Church is located there because that is where Saints Peter and Paul were martyred in the first century.
The ancient and continuing vital role of the Church in Rome was indicated in 2005 by the late Francis Cardinal George, OMI, of Chicago, who was standing on a balcony with the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI. When asked later about the pensive expression on his face as he looked out over Vatican Square, Cardinal George responded:
“I was gazing toward the Circus Maximus, toward the Palatine Hill where the Roman emperors once resided and reigned and looked down upon the persecution of Christians, and I thought, ‘Where are their successors?. . .But if you want to see the Successor of Peter, he is right here next to me, smiling and waving at the crowds’.”
The ancient city of Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, was famous in biblical times because of the Temple located there, which was thought to be the dwelling place of God on Earth. Jerusalem remains a famous city today and, like Rome, is also a major tourist attraction, primarily because Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead there. In the Book of Revelation, St. John says that in a vision “I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (21:2).
This does not mean that the city will be eternal, but rather that it symbolizes the Kingdom of God and the meeting of Heaven and Earth.
In a footnote to this verse, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament says that Jerusalem is “the heavenly city, whose builder is God (Heb. 11:10). It touches down to earth so that the worshiping Church can join in the heavenly liturgy of the angels and saints, who never cease to praise the Lord and the Lamb (Heb. 12:22-25).”
The footnote contrasts Jerusalem with the “harlot” city of Rome (“Babylon the great”) mentioned in chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation. Here are some of the contrasts:
“In 17:4, the woman city is dressed like a prostitute, wearing gold, jewels, and pearls; in 21:11, 18, and 21, the woman city is adorned like a virgin bride, bedecked with gold, jewels, and gates made of pearl. In 18:2, Babylon appears as a dwelling place of demons; in 21:3, the new Jerusalem appears as the dwelling place of God. In 18:7, Babylon is accused of glorifying herself; in 21:23, the new city is wrapped in the glory of God. In 18:23, the harlot city deceives the nations with her sorcery; in 21:24, the holy city leads the nations by her light.”
Q. I’ve read that a lady came to St. Padre Pio crying and saying that she was pregnant and didn’t know how she was going to manage. Padre Pio supposedly replied, “Don’t weep for yourself, but weep for those women who do not have the children that God intended them to have and who will go to Hell.” Do you have any comments on this? I never hear any encouragement from the pulpit on having children. — R.D., Montana.
A. We don’t know if the story about St. Pio is true or not. Are there women who will not have the children God wanted them to have because of contraception, sterilization, or abortion? The evidence all around us certainly seems to indicate that this is true. Are all these women on the road to Hell? It depends on whether they were acting out of weakness and ignorance, or out of malice.
In other words, did they have sufficient knowledge and understanding that their actions were contrary to the plan of God, and did they deliberately carry out these actions with total disregard for the temporal and eternal consequences?
These are the objective conditions for a mortal sin to be committed, but only God knows the subjective state of mind of those committing these sins.
Part of the problem, as you suggest, is that there is little encouragement from the pulpit to increase the size of God’s family on Earth. Furthermore, there is hardly any preaching against contraception, sterilization, and abortion. We’re glad that God, and not us, will have to sort all this out on judgment day.
