Why we need a Pope Benedict’s Marshall Plan

Another reason why we need Summorum Pontificum and a revival of the Roman Rite:

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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30 Comments

  1. Jane says:

    These vestments look like shower curtains. Is that really a priest?

  2. I would simply like to ask him : what point is he trying to make, dressed (or is he supposed to be vested) like that ?

  3. Iosephus says:

    The “goodest” person in the world? These vestments are a crime against children on a number of levels….

  4. Joe R says:

    Well look at it in context.. something lots of people DO NOT do in terms of religion. He’s surrounded by children. Who is to say that he hasn’t explained the importance of the Mass to them? And then they obviously have designed or helped to make such a robe. This has nothing to do with Latin Mass even. He’s hardly going to say a TLM in that though he would probably an NO (which is undoubtedly the point you’re subtly trying to get across)

    You should be thankful for ANY priests, seeing as there is supposedly a shortage, in addition “Unless ye become as little children..’ enters into my head.”

  5. Dominic says:

    Good grief! (At times you can’t do more than quote Charlie Brown). Please tell me this is a spoof.

  6. Martin says:

    We should pray for good, holy priests. We need good, holy priests. We do not need ‘any priests’.

  7. Joe R says:

    I guess I should rectify that, while we should be thankful for all priests, it is possible that some priests are a danger to religon. Judging this priest based on one picture is not right though. It is not charitable. For all we know he’s helping AIDS orphans every other night of the week while saying TLMs in secret !

    PS I like the anti spam words :-)

  8. Father Bartoloma says:

    I’m surprised that his stole is under the chasuble.

  9. JML says:

    When did Bill Walton become a priest?

  10. Forrest says:

    I think he was about to get a shampoo & cut.

  11. Howard says:

    I’m afraid I have to partially agree with Joe R. In particular, the picture does not show this priest celebrating Mass while wearing these vestments. If this was a present from the children, he did right to put it on for them, though he should obviously not wear it for the Mass. It might even have been a kind of a sacrifice to put that on; it would certainly mortify the pride of most men.

    The very solid priest who received me into the Church used to stand outside the small parish church to greet people on Sunday mornings. I remember him joking that the vestments he had to wear twice a year were rose, but that to non-Catholics driving by it must look like he was wearing a pink dress. He kept his sense of humor, but this was something of a mortification for him.

    (Using “goodest” was an inexcusable grown-up decision, though, which manages to be disrespectful both to God and to the children.)

  12. Ig says:

    are we sure that he’s not Episcopalian?

  13. Fr. Michael says:

    Again, this is not why we need the ’62 Missal. Instead, it is why we need bishops who enforce the good and honorable celebration of the Missal of Paul VI.

    The detriment of these kinds of examples (some oddball situation, such as this photo which causes me to sigh with sorrow as much as anyone else who reads this blog) is that we have taken the worst to represent the entire Missal of Paul VI.

    Some would respond by saying, “We need SP to rectify the NO.” I respond, “But, wasn’t the Missal of Paul VI celebrated well anywhere in the world BEFORE SP (i.e., St. Agnus in St. Paul)? Therefore, SP isn’t needed to “fix” the Missal of Paul VI. The more appropriate remedy is for a bishop’s office and a Office of Worship that ensures such wacky situations (i.e., this photo) doesn’t continue.

    Such is my sense of things. Pace.

  14. RBrown says:

    IMHO, kiddie masses are every bit as nourishing as candy.

    [ROFL! Got me there! LOL!]

  15. Christabel says:

    Why do some people persist in thinking that children have no taste or judgement?

    I’d bet a month’s salary that it wasn’t a child who came up with that horrible “goodest” phrase.

    Sigh

  16. AM says:

    The pictured man is a cleric of the Church of England, [Whew! What a relief!] Rev. David Howell. See http://www.whitbourne.org.uk/files/jcbclub.html.

    It would be wonderful if the Holy Father’s Marshall Plan reached into the Church of England’s parish of Greater Whitbourne, Herts, but unfortunately it will be a while…

  17. Rob says:

    I’m impressed with religious education in that parish (grammar still needs some work, though). The kids are five years old and they have a concept of the Icthus (judging by the number of fish they painted). I think I was in high school before I learned that. ;^)

  18. ekurlowa says:

    I don’t understand, WHO decided, that children like it? Who decided, that youth likes Masses with rock- and pop-musik? And amuses, when young catholics don’t like youth meetings, songs etc….

  19. TJM says:

    Did the former papal master of ceremonies supply this chasuble? Just kidding. Tom

  20. John says:

    He is an Anglican minister… Check out the ugly chasuble competition:
    http://poncer.blogspot.com/2007/12/article-1.html

  21. Sylvia says:

    It looks a lot like a hostage picture. I think the priest and his CCD class were taken hostage, and the priest was forced to pose for a picture in this large plastic bib and seem to be enjoying it. Behind his fake smile, however, lurks the truth: one can read in his deer-in-the-headlights expression, “I am doing this against my will and only to save these poor children from murder. God forgive me!”

    Or maybe I’m being too charitable…

  22. Seminarian says:

    At least this priest is wearing: (1) a Roman collar with a black clerical shirt; and (2) a chasuble — both things that are hard to find in some parts of the diocese where I live. Here, it is not uncommon for priests, especially on weekdays, but also at funerals, etc., to wear only a stole without a chasuble. Often, when they wear both, the stole is worn OVER the chasuble.

    All this to say that liturgical abuses vary a great deal from diocese to diocese, each seeming to have its “preferences” in this regard.

  23. fortradition says:

    For many years I have been baffled as to why we need to dumb down the Holy Mass for children. Long ago, I was a child and I loved the beauty of the TLM which was the norm for those times. The nuns taught the entire Mass to us in the 4th grade. They also taught us how to behave at Mass and not to talk during the Holy Sacrifice, which took place on the altar, but to pray. We are selling these little ones short, robbing them of something so spiritually beautiful, by assumming that they are too young to comprehend this great mystery on their age level. At one Church I attend, a priest was leaving to be reassigned. His gift…a stole with piano keys on it because he played the piano.

  24. Fred Campbell says:

    The post pressumes that there aren’t abuses in the EF. The EF doesn’t solve abuses. The EF allows for another Form to be celebrated. I mean, honestly, the NO doesn’t need the EF in order to increase reverence. Let’s beg the question here, just like the picture does: If a priest does something crazy in the OF, does that mean he’ll have to do the right thing in the EF. There are rubrics that require certain actions and vestments and such in both forms!!

  25. Fred Campbell says:

    BTW, there is no “revival of the Roman Rite according to Summorum Pontificum. Both the OF and the EF are the Roman Rite…

  26. Jane says:

    I hope that he is not going to celebrate Mass in that shower curtain. It is best that he keep that for the parish fancy dress party.

  27. Kradcliffe says:

    That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen since Will Wheaton posed in that awful fuzzy clown sweater.

    http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2005/12/if_you_want_to_.html

  28. Father Kowalski says:

    One can ONLY imagine what the maniple will look! :-)

  29. Well, strictly speaking, Jesus IS the Goodest Person in the world.

    The man has a point.

  30. michigancatholic says:

    Yes WhollyRoamin,

    But that point is on top of his head. HE should know better than to inspire those kids to think Catholicism is a joke like that.

    Probably at least one of those kids is going to soak up his attitude and leave the church because of this kind of clowning around. Indeed, how can one dedicate one’s life to what even the priest obviously thinks is an ungrammatical joke?

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