The Pope's Not Coming to Idaho...

...but a little part of Idaho is going to the Pope. Next week, Fr. Jorge Ramirez, Lucky Stiff and priest of the Diocese of Boise (and, incidentally, my parish) is going to be capping off his annual retreat by concelebrating a Mass with the Holy Father in New York.

Fr. Jorge, a native of Colombia, is a man of modest bearing, quiet demeanor, and complete adorableness. Although in his early forties, he has only been ordained for about a year and a half ("I'm just a baby priest," he says). He is very interested in the Tridentine Mass and is in the process of studying the rubrics. Fr. Jorge has a keen appreciation for what really matters. "I am not conservative," he once insisted; "I am Roman Catholic!" He, like his boss, Fr. Francisco Flores, is proud to be a priest and proud to have people know it: he is literally the first one I have seen in more than a dozen years who wears a cassock. One morning, he approached me at a Knights of Columbus breakfast wearing street clothes and his K of C cap and jacket; when I told him I didn't recognize him at first, he immediately disappeared, then reappeared in clerical attire. His humility by no means rules out an awareness of the high dignity of his office, or the need for visibility.

Fr. Jorge asks for prayers for his journey. And from this quarter, he gets them. He's definitely a keeper!

Our German Shepherd

And Saul said to David: Thou art not able to withstand this Philistine, nor to fight against him: for thou art but a boy, but he is a warrior from his youth. And David said to Saul: Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock: And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them. For I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them.

1 Kings 17:33-36

Could this be the problem the liberals have with Pope Benedict -- and have in fact had with him since he was just plain Cardinal Ratzinger: that he is a slayer of lions and bears and uncircumcised Philistines? Are the liberals' leading lights in fact the lambs and sheep they hold themselves out to be?

Father Down Under, by the way, at Homilies and Reflections from Australia, has some very good thoughts about warriors for peace; this is a contradiction only to those whose idea of "peace" is the absence of opposition to evil.

Keep Your Ovaries off My Rosaries!

And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

Matthew 28:18-20 (Douay-Rheims)

The Church, following the example of her Founder, places great emphasis on the necessity of Baptism. So critically important is this Sacrament that, in danger of death, it may be validly administered by literally anyone -- even an atheist -- so long as the person administering it uses water, intends to do what the Church intends when baptizing, and uses the correct formula as clearly enunciated by Christ above.

As unmistakable as Christ's command is regarding Baptism, however, there seems no shortage of people who think they can improve upon it, and then go on to take it upon themselves to do just that, "baptizing" in the name of "the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier." The incredible pride that it takes to tamper with such an all-important Sacrament is apparently so prevalent, even among those in Holy Orders, that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has felt it necessary to issue a statement condemning the use of this feminist formulation, and warning that it results in an invalid Baptism. Anyone who has been "baptized" in the name of "the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier" is in fact not baptized at all.

This tampering with Baptism is not only prideful, but indicative of an appalling lack of faith. If you think it's more important to avoid being sexist than it is to save souls, your problem goes a lot deeper than poor prioritizing. If you take it upon yourself to change the formula for Baptism, then you don't really care whether Baptism is properly administered; if you don't care whether Baptism is properly administered, then you must not believe in its necessity; and if you don't believe in its necessity, then you can't possibly think that you have any use for a Redeemer, much less His Church.

Happily, the Pope has taken note of this problem in the Church, and issued the appropriate warning. Feminist priests and deacons are on notice.