The Pequeños Pepperlospequenos.org/start/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ePepperNovemb… · Cover: November 1 - The Feast of all Saints. The Pequeños Pepper Newsletter of Los Pequeños

The Pequentildeos PepperPublication of Los Pequentildeos de Cristo

November 2019

Bring Back Reception of Holy Communion on Knees and on the Tongue

Page 4

The Amazon Synod Has Begun and Pandorarsquos Box Is Opened

Page 5Synod discussing Amazonian lsquoinculturation of the liturgyrsquo

Page 7

Los Pequentildeos Pepper 2 November 2019

Cover November 1 - The Feast of all Saints

The Pequentildeos Pepper

Newsletter of Los Pequentildeos de Cristo

November 2019 Volume 21 Issue 11


Page 4

The Amazon Synod Has Begun and Pandorarsquos Box Is Opened By Julia Meloni

Page 5

Synod discussing Amazonian lsquoinculturation of the liturgyrsquo By Dorothy Cummings McLean

Page 7

A Mission that Baptized no one in Fifty-three YearsThe Flawed Evangelization Model of the Pan-Amazonian SynodBy Joseacute Antonio Ureta

Page 9

A Thomistrsquos Perspective on the Church in Crisis By Josef Pieper

Page 12

Academic leftists tried to kill survey finding 96 of biologists admit life begins at fertilization By Calvin Freiburger

Page 14

November Calendar Page 15


Newsletter of Los Pequentildeos de Cristo Stephanie Block-editor Carol Suhr-copy editor

Correspondence to The Pequentildeos Pepper may be addressed to PO Box 20428 Albuquerque NM 87154-0428

Phone 505-293-8006 or email wwwlospequenosorg The Pequentildeos Pepper is published monthly

We are an Archdiocesan-wide Catholic lay organization committed to a charitable defense of the Catholic Faith by means of education communication and prayer We

are devoted to the Roman Catholic Magisterium the Holy Father and to the bishops and clergy in union with him Our members believe what the Church believes and we

promote what the Church teaches To this end we believe that no individual whether cleric or lay person has the right to alter the substance of the gospel message or moral truths which have been inerrantly and infallibly held by the Catholic Church since Her

founding


It is no wonder that belief in the Real Presence has plummeted since Vatican II Kenneth C Jonesrsquos Index of Leading Catholic Indicators shows a decrease in all major statistical categories of the Catholic Church from the late rsquo50s to the mid-rsquo60s to the year 2000 Arguably these figures are worse 20 years later Also the new Pew Research Centerrsquos study on Catholicsrsquo belief in the Real Presence is staggering This crisis cannot be put solely on the change in the mode of reception of communion but one cannot help but think it has the most to do with it Lex orandi lex credendi cannot be more apparent than in this particular instance

The question seems to have an obvious answer attached abolish communion standing and in the hand for the obviously more reverent and appropriate communion kneeling and on the tongue Bring back the altar rails Cardinal Sarah believes that it would certainly be one of Satanrsquos top priorities to attack belief in the Real Presence Itrsquos hard to argue with his assessment

To address this concern Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register wrote about a Conference to Promote Communion Kneeling and on the Tongue that took place October 5 2019 in the church of Santo Spirito in Sassia Rome The conference has been entitled ldquoEvery Knee Shall Bow mdash The Majesty and Infinite Love of Holy Communionrdquo

Pentin wrote that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith was among those speaking and that the archbishop of Colombo Sri Lanka and former Secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship sent his blessing Other contributors were Cardinal Raymond Burke the patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta and Bishop Athanasius Schneider auxiliary of Astana Kazakhstan who gave messages via video

The event aimed at raising awareness about the way Jesus in the Eucharist is received especially urged greater reverence by receiving the Body of Christ kneeling and on the tongue rather than standing and in the hand

It comes after around 11000 people signed an international petition to say they wanted to receive Jesus in the Eucharist in this ldquotraditional wayrdquo one ldquomore suitable to express utmost devotionrdquo

They asked that the possibility of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling be guaranteed and that the distribution of the Eucharist by the laity be prohibited

The petition was sent as an open letter to Church authorities asking them to act on this ldquolegitimate request and will of the Catholic peoplerdquo

ldquoThe Eucharist is the heart of Christianity around which all the rest shall rotaterdquo the petition organizers wrote adding ldquoThe time that the Catholic Church is living nowadays is very serious and problematic so that the question lsquoWill the Son of Man still find faith on earth when He returnsrsquo becomes more and more currentrsquordquo

Other conference speakers were Msgr Nicola Bux a theologian and former consultor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith In Sept 27 2019 comments to the Register Msgr Bux said the ldquocrisis of faith that we are experiencing is caused by secularization to which the clergy have contributed most as [French philosopher] Charles Peguy wrote

Msgr Bux said if a priest ldquofirst obliges a believer to stand up to receive Holy Communion or comes to remove kneelers from the church it means that the devil has entered the templerdquo The devil he said ldquopushes priests to remove this element that recalls the First Commandment to love the Lord your God and serve Him alonerdquo


Referring to what Benedict XVI called a ldquosort of lsquonuclear fissionrsquordquo that takes place when bread and wine is

turned into Christrsquos real body and blood Msgr Bux explained how transubstantiation brings about a ldquoprocess of transformation of reality a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration of the entire world to the point where God will be all in allrdquo

Kneeling before the Holy Eucharist is therefore ldquothe most eloquent expressionrdquo a person can make in front of the ldquopresent mysteryrdquo said Msgr Bux ldquoDivine worship has this central focus to realize that the Lord is here and to give Him importance that is to worship Him by bringing us to our knees as Saint Peter did at the Sea of Galileerdquo

Cases have come to light of a few priests and bishops denying Holy Communion to communicants who kneel mdash one of the most recent being Chilean Bishop Celestino Aos who denied the Eucharist to at least two faithful who were kneeling to receive on Holy Thursday this year

Concerning Holy Communion in the hand the petition organizers wrote that it was never instructed by the Second Vatican Council even though it is often construed as coming from it They also stressed that it was a choice but never an obligation that could be imposed

Msgr Bux said Holy Communion in the hand was an ldquoindult extracted from Paul VI which has become customary and even the rule justified also through the assumption that the Lord at the Last Supper gave Communion in the hands of the Apostles

ldquoOn the contrary the very words Jesus spoke in reference to the traitor mdash lsquoIt is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped itrsquo mdash describe the friendly Semitic use of putting in the mouth what was considered delectablerdquo

Msgr Bux added ldquoAs for Communion standing receiving in the hand or abusing it by taking it away we would like to show that we are adults before God but not as Peter writes newborns in need of the spiritual milk that is Eucharistic Sacramentrdquo

The conference was organized by the lay group United With Jesus in the Eucharist Through the Most Holy Hands of Mary


The Synod of Bishops on the Amazon is off to an ominous start Each day as more bizarre jarring and revolutionary developments emerge I keep coming back to a line from Cormac Cardinal Murphy-OrsquoConnor ldquoWhen the cardinals elected Bergoglio they did not know what a Pandorarsquos box they were openingrdquo Shortly before the synod started Pope Francis and Claudio Cardinal Hummes the synodrsquos general relator hosted a startling indigenous ceremony in the Vatican gardens Led by a female native of the Amazon region a group encircling a mandala bowed down before a statue of PachamamamdashMother Earth A synod official didnrsquot identify the (apparently nude) statue as the Blessed Virgin Mary but rather said the image was probably meant to represent ldquoMother Earth

fertility woman liferdquo An Amazonian tribal leader meanwhile said that the ceremony looked decidedly ldquopaganrdquo Another rite of ldquoindigenous mysticismrdquo took place at a pre-synodal meeting of bishops gathered around

Cardinal Hummesrsquos group the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) which organized both the Vatican gardens ceremony and the synod One commentator claimed that the synodal fathers ldquoexpect the [ceremonial] broth to be hot enough to ingest in a kind of communion with the Pachamamardquo In August at another preparatory meeting for the synod a Colombian shaman ldquoblessedrdquo the religious present


In the synodrsquos opening days more unsettling figures leaped out of Pandorarsquos box Cardinal Hummes announced

that indigenous communities had ldquorequestedrdquo the ordination of married menmdashthe very project Hummes has been pushing since at least 2006 Bishop Erwin Kraumlutler (reportedly the principal author of the synodrsquos working document) claimed that ldquoindigenous people donrsquot understand celibacyrdquo endorsed a female diaconate and admitted that the synod is ldquomaybe a step tordquo women priests Sr Alba Teresa Cediel Castillo a Columbian missionary explained that women in the Amazon already ldquobaptize childrenrdquo ldquocelebraterdquo marriages and ldquolisten to confessionsrdquo without offering absolution Even an experimental liturgical rite for the Amazon was proposed

rdquoWe now have ldquotwo religions within the Catholic Churchrdquo according to historian Roberto de Mattei The first is traditional Catholicism the second is ldquothe Amazonian religionrdquo he argues charging that the synodrsquos working document endorses ldquopantheism and polytheismrdquo

At a hard-hitting roundtable of Catholic leaders de Mattei pointed out that revolutions historically have long incubation periods but move dizzyingly fast once they explode He believes that the current Church revolution has been simmering for 50 to 60 years and that now ldquoit is possible that all will explode very very rapidlyrdquo The passage from a material schism to a formal schism ldquocould be dramatic and happen very very very rapidlyrdquo

Writing in The Catholic Thing on Tuesday the renowned theologian Fr Thomas Weinandy published an extraordinary text on ldquointernal papal schismrdquo Fr Weinandy predicted that neither an American nor a German schism will ldquoformally happenrdquomdashyet he explained Pope Francis remains the ldquoultimate protectorrdquo of German leaders who are promoting ldquoambiguous teaching and pastoral practicehellip in accord with Francisrsquos ownrdquo Thus says Fr Weinandy

What the Church will end up with then is a pope who is the pope of the Catholic Church and simultaneously the de facto leader for all practical purposes of a schismatic church Because he is the head of both the appearance of one church remains while in fact there are two

The only phrase that I can find to describe this situation is ldquointernal papal schismrdquo for the pope even as pope will effectively be the leader of a segment of the Church that through its doctrine moral teaching and ecclesial structure is for all practical purposes schismatic This is the real schism that is in our midst and must be faced but I do not believe Pope Francis is in any way afraid of this schism As long as he is in control he will I fear welcome it for he sees the schismatic element as the new ldquoparadigmrdquo for the future Church

And so Pandorarsquos box joyously opens ever wider in the current post-modern papacy To borrow an insight from Richard Spinello ldquoPope Francisrsquos mindset which so effortlessly tolerates contradictions and polarities mirrors the post-modern mentality that celebrates disunity and indeterminacy over unity continuity and moral closurerdquo

The pope and his allies have lyricized all the fragmentation and chaos with the shimmering image of the polyhedron ldquoIf we think of it as a precious stone [the polyhedron] reflects the light which falls upon it in a wonderfully variegated wayrdquo claims Walter Cardinal Kasper in his glowing book on Martin Luther Sandro Magister the renowned Vaticanist is less poetic For Pope Francis he says ldquothe Church must be made precisely like this lsquopolyhedralrsquo with many sides In plainer words in piecesrdquo

Another line keeps flashing through my mind ldquoToday the whole Church is seen dismemberedrdquo Itrsquos from St Athanasiusrsquos letter to his fellow bishops in the year 340 In it the saint calls for his brothers to be ldquoscandalizedrdquo by the despoiling of the Faithmdashand to exemplify courageous fidelity in response ldquoMay what has been preserved in the Churches from the beginning down to the present day not be abandoned in our time may what has been entrusted into our keeping not be embezzled by usrdquo

If we do not fight for the Faith how much more will escape from Pandorarsquos box As de Mattei powerfully said of the Amazon synod and its errors ldquoI call upon the Cardinals and Bishops who are still Catholic to raise their voices against this scandal If their silence continues we will continue to seek the intervention of the Angels and Mary Queen of Angels to save the Holy Church from every form of reinvention distortion and reinterpretationrdquo



The synod is discussing the possibility of adding indigenous symbols and rituals to the Roman Rite as it is celebrated in the Amazon region

At a press conference today two bishops responded to a question by Fr Thomas Reese SJ of Religion News Service about a proposal for an ldquoindigenous riterdquo for the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments

Bishop Rafael Alfonso Escudero Loacutepez-Brea the Spain-born Bishop Prelate of Moyobamba in Peru said that there has been talk of adding ldquosome symbols or some ritualsrdquo that do not ldquoaffect what is essential of the Eucharistrdquo

ldquoThe synod is discussing the inculturation of the liturgyrdquo he said ldquoThis is not to seek a liturgical rite distinct from the one that the Church has but rather the Church has

received from the Lord and the Apostles what is essential of the Eucharist and throughout history that nucleus the essential has continued to develop with complementary ritesrdquo he continued ldquoWhen this possibility is discussed there is talk of introducing in the celebration of the Eucharist some symbols or some rituals that do not affect what is essential of the Eucharist Otherwise we would be spoiling the Sacrament contradicting revelationrdquo Escudero Lopez-Brea suggested that the Eucharist can be ldquoenrichedrdquo by Amazonian customs ldquowith regard to ornamentsrdquo so that ldquoamong Amazonian people they can celebrate the Holy Eucharist with their own special characteristicsrdquo The bishop defended the idea by pointing out a multiplicity of rites in the Catholic Church as well as liturgical inculturation in Africa ldquoThis would be nothing new in the Churchrdquo he argued ldquoWhen we study the history of the Church we see that

before everything was unified in the Latin rite there existed a multiplicity of rites in particular places That is the input

Bishop Eugenio Coter the Italian-born Apostolic Vicar of Pando and Bishop of Tibiuca in Bolivia suggested that sacramentals hold different meanings for Europeans and Amazonian indigenous peoples His first ldquosimple examplerdquo was not so simple however as Coter held that European Catholics believe that incense represents our presence before God and the Word of God whereas one of the indigenous people believe it represents their prayers going up to heaven

In reality the Traditional Latin Mass quotes Psalm 141 ldquoLet my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight the lifting up of my hands as evening sacrificerdquo and thus traditional Catholics throughout the world also believe that incense represents a movement of prayers ldquoupwardrdquo towards God

Coter also suggested that the beating of the breast as is traditionally done in the Latin liturgy is a sign of arrogance in Japan

Liturgical historian Dr Peter Kwasniewski [said] that the problem with inculturated rites is not that they influence incidentals like the design of vestments or style of music offered It is that they can ldquoinvaderdquo the Mass itself

ldquoThe problem is when it invades the intrinsic parts of the Mass the Ordinary and Propers the chants the gestures and ceremonies we inherit as a precious patrimony to be shared with all nationsrdquo he stated by email

ldquoThe missionaries always shared this treasure with indigenous peoples in its fullness and as a matter of historical record it was the Roman liturgy as such that most impressed the pagans who had nothing at all like itrdquo

Dr Joseph Shaw the president of Englandrsquos Latin Mass Society also agreed that ldquocore elementsrdquo of the liturgy must be preserved from over-enthusiastic ldquoinculturationrdquo


ldquoThe liturgy has taken on aspects of the different cultures in which it is celebrated notably in the music and in

the style of participation of the faithfulrdquo he stated via email ldquoWhat is needed for successful inculturation however is stability in the core elements of the liturgy around

which these different cultural expressions can take place rather than a fluid liturgy which can easily become tainted with liturgical abuses and syncretismrdquo he continued

ldquoAs Pope Benedict declared in the context of Africa (Africae munus 37) lsquoThe Holy Spirit enables the Gospel to permeate all cultures without becoming subservient to any Bishops should be vigilant over this need for inculturation respecting the norms established by the Church By discerning which cultural elements and traditions are contrary to the Gospel they will be able to separate the good seed from the weedsrsquo (cf Mt 1326)rdquo

The issue is particularly pertinent regarding the Amazon region for a number of ldquoAmazonianrdquo symbols and rituals have been displayed to the wider Church during the synod to the dismay of many Catholics Among them was a confusing ceremony held before Pope Francis in the Vatican gardens in which indigenous people and a Franciscan friar prostrated themselves before a few carved figures two representing naked pregnant women and one a supine male

In another ceremony a young woman in a tracksuit was carried through a church in what appeared to be a boat And in still another a group of indigenous people and Europeans held hands and sang in a circle around a display in the street that included a photograph of a woman breastfeeding an animal The same image is currently hanging in the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina in the Via della Conciliazione

Shaw noted that Evangelicals have criticized the Catholic Church for adopting pagan elements even as they err in the other direction by forcing their adherents to conform to American customs

ldquoOne of the dangers of undiscriminating inculturation is the reaction against it by many Protestants and Pentecostalistsrdquo he said

ldquoIn Africa they criticize the Catholic Church for allowing pagan elements into worship and themselves adopt a complete Americanization of their followers who for example take on American names and clothing In the Latin American context it is even more important not to give ammunition to their polemic against the Catholic Churchrdquo

A Spanish-speaking reporter from Catholic Family News responding to a remark about bilingualism in ministry to and education of Amazonian indigenous people testified to the ability of the Catholic Churchrsquos ability to unite disparate groups of Catholics through Latin

Im from El Paso Texas which is in the United States but right on the border So my parents are Hispanics and there is a very mixed very bilingual culture there

So were discussing at the Synod things that we can learn and can be applied universally My question is Are you also discussing the possible problems that are seen in bilingual cultures For me this is very personal becauseafter working in parishes for 15 years hellip I have seen among the Spanish-speaking community and the English-speaking community within the same parish that there are people who get angry

They say lsquoTherersquos racism here because they have Mass for you at 9 in the morning which is better but there is no Mass for us until 3 pm in the church hall Why do you have priority and we do notrsquo

It is though we are introducing a fight into our parishes and families and our communities because of these issues So how are we going to deal with these things What are the possible solutions Because we know that people change slowly

I donrsquot know whether this will be discussed in the small circles But has there been talk about using something universal which we already have for example the use of Latin I have noted in one of these parishes that the community can get together and pray the Rosary in Latin and it doesnt matter whether we speak English or Spanish So if we use Latin in the Rosary nobody can feel lsquoThey didnt choose mersquo We have seen tremendous unity in our parishes simply because of something we already have and comes from our tradition

In response Paolo Ruffini the prefect for the dicastery of Communications said that inculturation was a complex issue especially as there are so many languages among the peoples of the Amazon He said that Christians try to understand the languages and cultures of the Amazonian peoples and bring them into dialogue with the Gospel Ruffini did not indicate that anyone at the synod had proposed Latin as a means to create unity among the disparate community of Catholics in the Amazon


A Mission that Baptized no one in Fifty-three YearsThe Flawed Evangelization Model of the Pan-Amazonian Synod

By Joseacute Antonio Ureta

Since 1965 the Institute of the Consolata for Foreign Missions originally from Turin and present in 28 countries has had a mission among the Yanomamis in Brazil The mission is currently led by the Italian priest Fr

Corrado Dalmolego assisted by three women religious of the Institutersquos female branch In a recent interview to the Internet portal Periodista Digital1 the Consolata missionary provided interesting details about his conception of a mission and his missionary activities hoping that his example would serve as a model for the Vaticanrsquos upcoming Pan-Amazonian Synod in October His astonishing statements were accepted and endorsed by another missionary the Madrid-based priest Fr Luis Miguel Modino active in the Diocese of Satildeo Gabriel da Cachoeira in the state of Amazonas (Brazil) To understand the significance of the opinions expressed by Fr Dalmolego one should put oneself in the context of the Yanomami culture in which he carries out his missionary activity The Yanomamis are an ethnic group composed of 20000-30000 indigenous people who live a primitive life in the rainforest They live in the Mavaca River basin along the tributaries of the Orinoco River and in the Parima Mountain range This region straddles the south of Venezuela and the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Roraima The Catrimani Mission of the Missionaries of the Consolata is located next to the river of the same name The natives live in small villages of 40 or 50 people However they are actually nomads who hunt with bows and arrows and grow a few crops on land that lasts two or three years When the land is exhausted

the villagers plant elsewhereTheir clothes are worn only as ornaments on their wrists and ankles or as a ribbon around their waists Upon

entering puberty the men of the tribe usually have several women including teenagers Men regularly consume the ldquoEpenaacuterdquo plant or ferrule which is a hallucinogenic substance Shamans also use it in healing rituals as a means of identifying a disease by communicating with spirits

Health is the biggest problem especially infectious and parasitic diseases such as malaria The leading cause of death among the Yanomami is malaria followed by hepatitis diarrhea and tuberculosis Respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis are common often suffered repeatedly every year The almost nonexistent habit of cleaning and caring for their teeth (they do not brush) makes dental care a chronic problem2

Infanticide is one deeply rooted ldquotraditionrdquo among the Yanomami The mother carries it out when she moves away to give birth She can then either welcome her newborn or kill the child by burying it alive Infanticide eliminates children born with malformations or as a form of sex selection (males are preferred as a firstborn child) If twins are born only one is allowed to live If the two are males the weaker one is killed Twin killing is done simply to avoid taking care of two children simultaneously as the children breastfeed for three years on average3

The Yanomami have a haughty and warlike character4 When warriors kill they acquire the social status of unokai Those who kill more enemies acquire greater prestige and more women To attack villages of other tribes


Fr Corrado Dalmonego

they form alliances with strangers rather than with close relatives Their war booty involves marrying sisters or daughters of their allies5

One primitive custom of this ethnic group is ritual cannibalism In a collective and sacred ritual funeral they cremate the corpse of a dead relative and eat the ashes of the bones mixing them with ldquopijiguaordquo paste (made with the fruit of a kind of palm tree) They believe that the deceasedrsquos vital energy lies in the bones and is thus reintegrated into the family group6 A Yanomami who kills an adversary in enemy territory also practices this form of cannibalism to purify himself7

Clearly the Yanomami are far from meeting the standards of Rousseaursquos ldquonoble savagerdquo8

The missionary Fr Corrado Dalmonego has been living in Catrimani for 11 years Thus he knows the Yanomami well He sums up his attitude toward their religious beliefs as a culture that lives out ldquothe experience of their own religiosity and spiritualityrdquo Fr Dalmonego believes that they can ldquoeven help the Church to cleanse herself perhaps from schemes mental structures that may have become obsolete or inadequaterdquo

First Fr Dalmonego speculates that the Yanomami can help the Church to ldquodefend this worldrdquo and to ldquobuild an integral ecologyrdquo by ldquoestablishing bridges between traditional knowledge and the modern ecological knowledge of Western societyrdquo

Finally the Church is enriched ldquoby research done on shamanism mythologies different knowledge visions of the world and visions of Godrdquo This is because strong moments of dialogue help missionaries ldquodiscover the essence of our faith often disguised by ornaments and cultural traditionsrdquo

One form of spiritual enrichment is the Yanomamirsquos ability to ldquotend to put things togetherrdquo that is they can invoke the God of the whites without giving up their own beliefs ldquoThey do not give up but simply appropriate something else Why should you not do this also as a Churchrdquo the Consolata missionary asks ldquoOn the one hand this can be branded as syncretism or relativismrdquo he concedes However he concludes that ldquoWe do not own the truthrdquo

This new conception of the Churchrsquos evangelizing action is thus reduced to a mere exercise in inter-religious dialogue Fr Corrado Dalmonego brags about an astonishing fact that any traditional missionary would consider a most bitter failure He celebrates the fact that he is the director of ldquoa mission of presence and dialoguerdquo in which no one has been baptized for 53 years

For this reason the Catrimani mission is serving as a reference point for the Vaticanrsquos Pan-Amazonian Synod in October because it is considered to be ldquoa prophetic presence for the Church which listens to the peoplesrdquo

Such missionaries apparently do not care about what Jesus Christ may say when He sees His mandate to go and evangelize all peoples ldquobaptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spiritrdquo unfulfilled Instead they seem to listen to David Kopenawa9 a Yanomami leader who claims the Catrimani Mission was right in not contesting the Yanomami culture or condemning shamanism

Hence the Italian missionary believes the coming Synod is very important as a means to open peoplersquos eyes to the Yanomami message since everyonersquos attention will be fixed on the Amazon

These sentiments seem entirely in sync with the plans of the Synod organizers Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri secretary general of the Synod of Bishops stated at the press conference presenting the Preparatory Document for the Special Assembly next October that his objective is ldquoto find new pastoral paths for a Church with an Amazonian face with a prophetic dimension in the search for ministries and more appropriate lines of action in a context of truly integral ecologyrdquo

Aware of the rather cryptic character of his statement Cardinal Baldisseri added ldquoIt is Pope Francis who shows us the way to understand the expression lsquoAmazonian facersquo In fact in Puerto Maldonado he says lsquoWe who do not inhabit these lands need your wisdom and knowledge to enter without destroying the treasure that encloses this region echoing the words of the Lord to Moses lsquoTake off your sandals for the ground you are treading is a holy groundrsquo (Exodus 35)rsquordquo10


Cardinal Baldisseri continues ldquoas Pope Francis has said the task of the new evangelization of the traditional

cultures living in the Amazon and in other territories requires lending the poor lsquoour voice to their causes but also to be their friends to listen to them to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through themrsquo (Evangeli Gaudium No 198)rdquo11

More specifically this communication with God takes place through shamans In its subsection titled ldquoSpirituality and Wisdomrdquo the preparatory document affirms that the ldquovarious spiritualities and beliefsrdquo of indigenous peoples ldquomotivate them to live a communion with the earth water trees animals with the day and the nightrdquo and that ldquothe wise elders indiscriminately called warlocks masters Wayanga or shamansmdashamong othersmdashpromote peoplersquos harmony with one another and with the cosmosrdquo12

The care of the environment the document affirms is one of the main areas where this ecclesial learning must be fulfilled ldquoThe ecological conversion is to assume the mysticism of the interconnection and interdependence of all things created hellip This is something that Western cultures can and perhaps should learn from traditional cultures in the Amazon and other territories and communities on the planet They the peoples lsquohave much to teach usrsquo (Evangeli Gaudium No 198) In their love for their land and their relationship with the ecosystems they know God the Creator source of life hellip That is why Pope Francis has pointed out that lsquoit is necessary for all of us to be evangelized by themrsquo and by their culturesrdquo13

The Consolata religious missionaries at the Catrimani Mission can sleep in peace Pope Francis will not reproach them for not baptizing any Yanomami in 53 years Perhaps they should become apprentice shamans and take a course on Yanomami rituals by David Kopenawa

Footnotes1 httpswwwperiodistadigitalcomreligionamerica20181220corrado-dalmonego-los-indigenas-pueden-ayudar-a-la-iglesia-a-

limpiarse-de-estructuras-obsoletasshtml2 Deacutevora Margarita Marcheacuten Impacto socio-educativo de la misioacuten salesiana entre los Yanomami del Alto Orinoco https

wwwmonografiascomtrabajos75impacto-socioeducativo-mision-salesiana-yanomamiimpacto-socioeducativo-mision-salesiana-yanomami2shtml

3 The German Erwin Frank has been studying the indigenous populations of America for 30 years A professor at the Federal University of Roraima with a PhD in anthropology he has been researching the Amazonian Indians and especially the Yanomami for ten years In an interview with Folha de SPaulo he said yesterday that infanticide is a tradition deeply rooted in the Yanomami culture ldquoThis expresses the womanrsquos autonomy in deciding for the life or death of the child and functions as a form of selection for malformations and for the sex of the childrenrdquo he clarified httpswwwatiniorgbrinfanticdio-nos-yanomami

4 Deacutebora Margarita Marchaacuten op cit5 Judith de Jorge ldquoLa guerra de los Yanomami lucha conmigo y me caso con tu hermanardquo El Paiacutes Oct 28 2014 httpswwwabces

ciencia20141028abci-guerra-yanomami-lucha-conmigo-201410281215html6 Jesuacutes Mariacutea Aparicio Gervaacutes and Charles David Tilley Bilbao Endocannibalism in the funeral rituals of Yanomamoacutes people at http

www5uvaestrimTRIMTRIM8_filesTRIM8_4pdf7 Joanna Overing ldquoImages of Cannibalism Death and Domination in a lsquoNon-Violentrsquo Societyrdquo Journal de la socieacuteteacute des ameacutericanistes

Vol 72 1986 p 151 in httpswwwperseefrdocjsa_0037-9174_1986_num_72_1_10018 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a philosopher from Geneva Among his fallacies was the idea that man was born into an ideal

state of nature in which he operated according to his instincts Rousseaursquos term for this proverbial character was the ldquonoble savagerdquo Over time Rousseau hypothesized those instincts were corrupted by contact with society and religion

9 David Kopenawa is known as the ldquoJunglersquos Dalai Lamardquo and acts as the international spokesman for the Yanomami In his highly publicized travels through Western capitals he says he is advised by ldquoxapirirdquo (spirits of the Amazon jungle)

10 httpspressvaticanvacontentsalastampaesbollettinopubblico20180608balhtml11 ldquoNuevos caminos para la Iglesia y para una ecologiacutea integral Documento preparatorio del Siacutenodo de los Obispos para la Asamblea

Especial sobre la Regioacuten Panamazoacutenicardquo ndeg 13 httppressvaticanvacontentsalastampaesbollettinopubblico20180608panamhtml

12 Ibid No 613 Ibid No 13



In this far-ranging and prophetic interview with Crisis Magazine Josef Pieper discusses the vocations crisis the failure of catechesis liberation theology feminism and something very much like the Benedict Option The interview originally appeared in the March 1990 print edition of Crisis It has been edited for brevity

Crisis Some people claim that St Thomas is the apostle for our era They say he is the person we must turn to in order to solve the problems of contemporary culture Others claim that St Thomas was meant to be an important voice in the Church prior to Vatican II and that the neo-Thomistic revival brought with it some good things but now there is a new era in the Church and we donrsquot need to rely on St Thomas as much as before What do you think

Pieper It depends on what you want to learn from St Thomas What I have always been interested in is what idea of man he has not what he thinks a man should do but what a man should be

I started my work on St Thomas with a treatise on fortitude because of the Nazis and their wrong idea of fortitude and heroism For them the symbolic figure of fortitude was the conqueror and the muscleman I said no the proper symbolic figure is the martyrmdashthe man who is ready to die if necessary for his faith

Crisis you think that it is necessary for theology today to take a less historical approach Would this make it less of a soft discipline and more the kind of deep demanding and rigorous pursuit it was in the middle ages and for St Thomas Would this help to restore it to its place as the queen of the sciences

Pieper Yes it is all a matter of what kinds of topics are preferred and what is taught One of my students wrote me that he had been studying theology for ten years and never heard one lecture on what a priest is The priesthood the nature of the sacraments what happens in the Massmdashthese are the things that must be taught

I asked one of my female students if she knew what a sacrament is She said no I asked her what kind of theology book she had in the Catholic school run by nuns that she attended It turned out that in that book there was no definition of sacrament

I went to my bishop and pointed this out and he told me to look at the curriculum of the theology faculty in the University of Muumlnster There are not any lectures on the sacraments How are students supposed to learn this

Today there is feminist theology and liberation theology but there is nothing said about what happens in the consecration of the Eucharist what happens in Baptism what occurs in the absolution from sin or for that matter what sin is and why one should and even must go to the sacrament of Penance Today I have little affinity with what my colleagues in theology are doing

The pope has been speaking much lately about the need to re-evangelize culture in Europe and in the West What strikes you as something that needs to be done in this regard

The answer I think lies in communities I once asked Cardinal Jean Danielou about this and he agreed Small communities they not full churches on Sunday will be the salvation of the Church Groups like Schonstaat Opus Dei Focolare and Communione e Liberazione Cardinal Danielou also thought that groups like these were the hope


St Thomas Aquinas

of the Church and as I understand what the pope is doing he is encouraging the growth and development of smaller and very dedicated communities of men and women like these

Crisis In your perspective as a university professor do you see anything in particular that needs to be done say with students in the work of re-evangelizing culture How do you work at this goal in your own sphere of action

Pieper Yes given a subject matter that would help students come to a better knowledge of their faith I pursue a unique approach to instructing students Instead of teaching systematic philosophy in the courses I offermdashfor example a course on the notion of sin philosophically considered or courses on various topics in the thought of St ThomasmdashI tell lots of stories Storytelling I think is an excellent way to convey philosophic insights My students joke with me that I am continually telling stories but they encourage me to continue because they too find it a good form of instruction

Crisis Do you have any sense what students entering a university today need most

Pieper What they need most is community with a teacher who tells storiesmdashnot any kind of stories but the right stories pertinent to the subject at hand I usually teach whatever subject my students ask me to in small classes where everyone knows everyone else I also make an effort to relate abstract philosophic speculation say about the nature of love to concrete normal situations of day-to-day life

If I should make a proposal for the reformation of the university today I would reinstitute the old medieval disputatio as an obligatory element of university life By disputatio I mean disputation between different faculties different departments and different individuals in those departments and faculties For a short time we had something like this in the University of Munich A Catholic youth club organized a symposium for several hundred students on the topic ldquoLiberty or Determinismrdquo I participated in this seminar with a neurologist a neo-Darwinist and others and we were not fighting but discussing through free argumentation I think something like this should take place within the university and be organized by it Then somewhat spontaneously a kind of universalism will come about where the whole of reality will come into sight So disputatio is my suggestion for the renovation of the university but of course no one has accepted my suggestion yet Every department now speaks its own language and even within departments this restricting specialization has become a problem A friend of mine was recently at a seminary down in Guadalajara Mexico where there

were over 2000 seminarians In the US though and in Western Europe there is a serious shortage of vocations to the priesthood To what would you attribute this and what do you think is necessary for this situation to change

No one knows for certain Family life I think is the answer prayer at meals going to Mass together (when my children were young we had five bicycles and we would all ride together to Church) reading together aloud stories of the saints I feel that these are some of the fundamentals

Crisis Is this then what is missing in countries in the West that have so few vocations

Pieper It has at least very much to do with this When you ask a priest how he entered the priesthood every second one I think will tell you his mother or his father or some other human beingmdashnot books

______________________________

Josef Pieper (1904 ndash 1997) was a German Catholic philosopher at the forefront of the Thomistic Revival of the 20th century In 1981 he was awarded the prestigious Balzan Prize in Philosophy Among his most notable works are Leisure the Basis of Culture The Four Cardinal Virtues and Contemplation and Happiness



The biological beginning of human life has never been as controversial as the political battle over abortion would suggest with research released this summer finding that even biologists who vote for and support legal abortion admit the procedurersquos victims were alive at the moment of fertilization

Steve Jacobs is a recent PhD graduate from the University of Chicagorsquos Department of Comparative Human Development For his dissertation he chose to attempt a ldquoMixed Methods Mediation of the US Abortion Debaterdquo which sought to obtain a comprehensive understanding of both sidesrsquo answers to numerous factual and legal aspects of the issue

Jacobs detailed his findings this month with an article in Quillette He found that 82 percent of Americans recognize ldquowhen life beginsrdquo as important to understanding an issue that 93 percent agree human life should be legally protected once it begins and that 80 percent believe biologists were most qualified to answer when it begins So he designed a survey and sent it to the biology departments of more than a thousand academic institutions worldwide

ldquoAs the usable responses began to come in I found that 5337 biologists (96 percent) affirmed that a humanrsquos life begins at fertilization with 240 (4 percent) rejecting that viewrdquo Jacobs wrote ldquoThe majority of the sample identified as liberal (89 percent) pro-choice (85 percent) and non-religious (63 percent) In the case of Americans who expressed party preference the majority identified as Democrats (92 percent)rdquo

He added that despite taking pains to phrase his questions technically and neutrally he received a number of hostile responses from academics who dismissed the survey as ldquosome stupid right-to-life thingrdquo a ldquoreligious surveyrdquo and even a ldquostudied fund (sic) by Trump and ku klux klanrdquo with one respondent noting that he or she would ldquodo my best to disseminate this info to make sure that none of my naiumlve colleagues fall into this trap

Jacobs added that such views could be attributed to respondents experiencing ldquocognitive dissonance when they recognize that their view of a fetus as a human complicates their political convictionsrdquo fear that a straight answer ldquocould lead to other people supporting abortion restrictionsrdquo and fear that acknowledging the science ldquomay serve to estrange them from pro-choice liberals on whom they might rely for social emotional or financial supportrdquo

Despite the hostility of abortion defenders Jacobsrsquo findings are consistent with long-settled biological criteria reflected in numerous mainstream scientific and medical textbooks which establish that a living human being is created upon fertilization and is present throughout the entirety of pregnancy

Many abortionists and pro-abortion activists and philosophers admit as much granting preborn babiesrsquo humanity while either claiming a motherrsquos ldquobodily autonomyrdquo trumps a babyrsquos rights or drawing a philosophical distinction between humans and persons (subjective value claims which pro-life philosophers have extensively challenged)


Donrsquot forget to give us your change of address information

Jacobs also found that a majority of both ldquopro-liferdquo and ldquopro-choicerdquo Americans said they could accept a ldquocomprehensive policy compromise that provides entitlements to pregnant women improves the adoption process for parents permits abortion in extreme circumstances and restricts elective abortion after the first trimesterrdquo akin to the abortion regimes of various European countries

Jacobsrsquo work first garnered national attention this summer over an intermediary paper released ahead of the dissertation itself which highlighted his findings related to when life begins In July he told the Daily Wire that he had to wade through intense opposition ndash- not just from fellow students and survey respondents but from faculty including his own thesis adviser ndash- to conduct his research including repeated halts to his work and accusations of ethics violations

ldquoAcademicsrsquo fear of balanced research on the US abortion debate cost me five years of my liferdquo he said ldquoI spent those five years in anguish at the realization that representatives of one of the finest academic institutions were willing to sacrifice their principles of academic freedom to protect their ideology that they were willing to jeopardize their reputation of open inquiry to kill research that explored the dogma surrounding abortion rights Despite those bad actors stewards of the University of Chicago tradition displayed courage in putting aside their biases upholding their academic principles and helping me conduct my researchrdquo


Please Note New Post Office Address for all

Los Pequentildeos de Cristo correspondence PO Box 20428

Albuquerque NM 87154-0428 November Calendar Los Pequentildeos Monthly Meeting

November 22 2019 Call (505) 293-8006 for information

Pro-life Prayer Planned Parenthood Abortuary

701 San Mateo Blvd Holy Innocents Chapel

(505) 266-4100 Times Monday-Friday 8 AM ndash 3 PM

Helpers of Godrsquos Precious Infants Planned Parenthood Abortuary

701 San Mateo Blvd Tuesdays Thursdays Fridays 8 AM ndash 1130 AM

Wednesdays 12 Noon ndash 300 PM For more information call Phil Leahy

(505) 440-3040

A Los Pequentildeos Pepper subscription is only $10 (Free for email subscriptions)

Back issues of The Pepper are archived at

wwwlospequenosorg Check out Project Defending Lifersquos radio show Lifetalk which airs on 1050 AM KTBL every Saturday at 200 pm

till 300 pm


The Pequentildeos Pepper PO Box 20428 Albuquerque NM 87154-0428

Address Corrections Requested


Cover November 1 - The Feast of all Saints





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Documents

The Pequeños Pepperlospequenos.org/start/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ePepperNovemb… · Cover: November 1 - The Feast of all Saints. The Pequeños Pepper Newsletter of Los Pequeños