Stats for February 2010

The second month of my blogging here saw a small decrease in viewers, but that was not unexpected. After all, Father Tim and other influential bloggers did not link to me this time around. In total 3,096 views were registered, which is a good number. Certainly more than I had expected two months ago.

Four topics drew lots of viewers: Medjugorje, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and Communion & homosexuality. The latter three are the stereotypical topics that the secular world always connects to the Church and the blog stats meter could tell.

Below is the top ten of best-viewed posts. I am very happy to see some of my translations making it in there.

1: Het Probleem Medjugorje: 121
2: The problems of choosing death: 94
3: Some thoughts on same-sex marriage: 84
4: STS-130: The Rise of the Cupola: 72
5: Boodschap voor de Vastentijd 2010: 71
6: ”I did not want this disturbance” – Fr. Luc Buyens’ homily: 68
7: Diocesan decision: no Communion: 59
8: STS-130 launch report: 54
9: ”The Belgian Church has been too passive”: 53
10: Further developments around Reusel and Priest attacked… for being Catholic: 50

People who found my blog via search engines where mostly interested in Lent, Father Luc Buyens, STS-130 and Fr. Manfred Hauke. An  unusual search string was “endeavour two engines”, a term used during the ascent of space shuttle Endeavour that indicates that the orbiter can make it to a given destination (orbit, abort site) on two engines. And indeed, Google coughs up just two results for that search, the first of them being my blog.

Two homilies

Two homilies, one from Den Bosch, the other from Brussels. Delivered under radically different circumstances too. The first is Fr. van Rossem’s homily that he delivered yesterday morning. I doubt many people heard it all, because certain people decided they weren’t getting enough attention. At the end of Mass, Father van Rossem said he’d put his homily online, and he did. The original is here and my translation can be read here.

The second homily is a far more festive one. It was delivered by Archbishop Léonard at his installation Mass. In it, he engages everyone in his archdiocese to work with him in the Church. How anyone could read this as distant, cold and hostile is a big question, but many people in Belgium accuse Msgr. Léonard of just that. But judging by this homily, he is a man with a job to do, and a willingness to do that job with everyone involved. Read the original or my translation.

Installation of Archbishop Léonard

Some positive news than. On Saturday, Msgr. André-Joseph Léonard was installed as archbishop of Malines-Brussels. He succeeds Godfried Kardinaal Daneels and is the twentieth or twenty-first* archbishop in Malines. 

A trio of photos, courtesy of Kerknet: 

Archbishop Léonard amid the other bishops of Belgium and the papal nuncio.

 

The new archbishop during his homily.

 

Priests of the archdiocese

 

*Twenty-first only if we count Jean de Wachtendonck, who was appointed very shortly before his death in 1668. He was, incidentally, als bishop of Namur, just like Msgr. Léonard was.

Cardinals according to John Allen

In the National Catholic Reporter, John L. Allen shines his light on future cardinals. He writes and creates the following list:

• Archbishop Paolo Romeo, Palermo, Italy
• Archbishop Giuseppe Bettori, Florence, Italy
• Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, Brussels, Belgium
• Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Westminster, Great Britain
• Archbishop Timothy Dolan, New York
• Archbishop Donald Wuerl, Washington, D.C.
• Archbishop Orani João Tempesta, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
• Archbishop Braulio Rodríguez Plaza, Toledo, Spain
• Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra, Valencia, Spain
• Archbishop Juan José Asenjo Pelegrina, Seville, Spain
• Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Bangkok, Thailand
• Archbishop Joseph Ngô Quang Kiêt, Ha Noi, Vietnam
• Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz, Warsaw, Poland
• Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk, Utrecht, The Netherlands
• Archbishop Reinhard Marx, Munich and Freising, Germany

There’s also a slew of Vatican officials in a holding pattern to join the College of Cardinals, including:

• Archbishop Angelo Amato, Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
• Archbishop Raymond Burke, Apostolic Signatura
• Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, Apostolic Penitentiary
• Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, Pontifical Council for Culture
• Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples
• Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
• Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls

There is not much overlap with the list I created here, although that can be said to be due to the fact that I took the next two years in consideration, while Allen focusses solely on this year. Still, Archbishop Eijk is among them, as is the new archbishop of Brussels, Msgr. Léonard, and he mentions the possibility of new cardinals in African sees, like I did when I pondered the possibility of a new cardinal from Cameroon.

Allen’s list is a very western affair, with many cardinals from Europe or North America. Traditionally, Europe is the place where important members of the curia come from, of course, so perhaps the lack of African and Asian prelates is due to the fact that the current cardinals from there are still so relatively new (elevated by Pope John Paul II) that they’re not too close to retirement yet.

I have some reservations about Allen’s list, though. Both archbishops Eijk and Léonard are new enough that they could be kept waiting a while (Léonard is not even installed as archbishop yet), and the same may be said for Archbishops Nichols, Dolan, Marx and Burke. However, we will undoubtedly see in due time, quite possibly somewhere before the end of the year.

Stats for January 2010

One month in, and my new blog has had a fair share of views.  Looking at the most popular posts, the dominant topics have been the two archbishops, Msgr. Eijk and Msgr. Léonard. The translation of the interview with the latter is far in the lead, thanks to links to it from such well-read blogs as Fr. Tim Finigan’s The Hermeneutic of Continuity and New Liturgical Movement.

I am also quite pleased to see that my translation of Msgr. Marini’s address has now reached 120 views. It has also been published at Catholica (although it seems to have vanished from their website now) and I have also received a request from the Latin Liturgy Society to use an edited version of the translation in the Easter edition of their bulletin. This is exactly what I had hoped to achieve with this blog: that important documents, interviews, speeches and what have you be available – and read! – in Dutch.

This is the top ten as of today:

1: ”The Belgian Church has been too passive” 858 views

2: Introductie op de Geest van de Liturgie 120 views

3: Why Belgium needs Msgr. Léonard 103 views

4: Support the archbishop 52 views

5: Mass and snow 34 views

6: A poignant photo 31 views

7: Msgr. Léonard new archbishop of Brussels 31 views

8: ’A courageous bishop 29 views

9: Help Haiti 27 views

10: Cardinals, a game of numbers 26 views

In total the blog had 3,484 views this month.

Fr Tim and the New Liturgical Movement are also the main websites through which people find my blog. Dutch blogging priest Schoppenkoning is also among them, with well over 150 referrals. Like Fr. John Boyle, he lists me in his blogroll, with visible results. Lastly, regular links on Twitter and Facebook also help.

A fun statistic to take a look at are the search terms people use to end up on my blog. The title of the blog is the best way to do so, but the name of Pieter Delanoy, the Belgian priest who doesn’t really get it, was also popular. So were things related to the College of Cardinals, Medjugorje, the pope’s new year address, Msgr. Léonard, Rector Schnell of the Bovendonk seminary, Father George Paimpilil, Haiti, Cardinal Danneels and the pope’s visit to the Rome synagogue. One person found this blog by accident, it seems: he searched from 25-year-old Inge from Amsterdam…

The fear of change

American Papist has news that Roger Cardinal Mahoney, archbishop of Los Angeles, has approved a coadjutor bishop to eventuelly succeed him. Interesting news for LA, of course.

What struck me was the following paragraph:

Some of the faculty at St. John’s Seminary – where new priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are trained – have expressed concern that the new coadjutor bishop will lean more “conservative” than his predecessor, and some have even threatened to resign or retire if this turns out to be the case.

What would be the cause of such an enormous fear, which by no means is limited to Los Angeles? We’ve seen the same reactions very recently surrounding the appointment of Msgr. Léonard in Brussels, and here in the Netherlands, bishops like Msgr. van den Hende and Msgr. Eijk have also been cause for similar threats.

A new bishop – or any new ‘boss’, really – will do things differently and employees will notice changes. Some changes will be minor, some perhaps quite major. And sometimes these changes may be countered by such threats as quoted above. But the striking thing in this case is that the mere mention of a new bishop leads to the threats. It is as if people go from square one to square nine or something, missing a few steps in between.

Could the reason to fear conservatism or orthodoxy, which are often treated as the same (they really are not), possibly be an awareness, perhaps subconsciously, that the current situation has no hope to continue for all eternity? That eventually things must return to the condition they are supposed to be in?

For the Church, certainly in this country, that means that the empty churches, lack of priests and associated lack of knowledge about the faith, to mention but a few points, must end. And people know that their liberal course which relativises anything that even smells of faith has no hope of continuing. In the end this approach will kill itself.

So, yes, I fully understand why some people would fear an orthodox boss. He is the personification of the closed road they’re on. Let’s hope and pray that future appointments, in LA and elsewhere, will shows that there is no need for fear, even if there is need for change.