What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Spring forward… fall back.

From the site of Holy See Press Office:

CLARIFICATION BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE, FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI, S.I., ON SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE CELIBACY ISSUE IN THE ANNOUNCED APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION REGARDING PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICAN ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

There has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, [I find it interesting that they mention Tornielli by name.  Tornielli was also the vaticanista who spoke about the propositions made by the Cong. for Divine Worship to the Holy Father after their plenary session.] that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than "technical" reasons. According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision.

Cardinal Levada offered the following comments on this speculation: "Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. [You have got to see one of these press conferences, btw.  The reps chosen by the Holy See usually eat up most of the conference reading pre-distributed remarks leaving little time for questions.  Then many journalists make speeches instead of asking anything substantive.  And often direct questions are brushed off.  So… perhaps the culture of the press office needs to change a little.] There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me. The delay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references. The translation issues are secondary; the decision not to delay publication in order to wait for the ‘official’ Latin text to be published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis was made some time ago.

The drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currently Article VI of the Constitution:

§1 Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement "In June" are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of CIC can. 277, §1.

§2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.

This article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis. With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See."  [So… they are deciding not to decide until they have to decide?  It is only a matter of time before this question is raised in a concrete case.]

Cardinal Levada said he anticipates the technical work on the Constitution and Norms will be completed by the end of the first week of November.

So much to say… so little time and energy.

From time to time it is good to visit a well provided museum. This morning I am at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

In the atrium of the old building is one of the best pieces in the collection.

This is a 2nd c. BC Roman copy, one of four extant, of a famous 5th c. bronze by Polykleitos. It is a spear-bearer or Doryphoros. The original was perfectly designed to produce a harmony from an ideal or “canon” on the human form. The measurements to the different parts of the form took their origin from the end if a now missing little finger.

This is the best copy, the others being in the Uffizi, Vatican, and Naples.

In the background is a fine stemma in wood of the Farnese Pope, Paul III.

Be sure to check out the progress in the works at St. Mary Magdalen in Brighton where the great Fr. Blake is p.p.

As I posted elsewhere, the USCCB is working to mobilize some 19,000 parishes nationwide to voice concerns about health care reform and potential funding of abortion or exclusion of conscience clauses.

The USCCB has developed materials for parish bulletins, including a bulletin insert, asking that all parishes distribute them.

To this end, His Excellency Most Rev. John Nienstedt has sent this memo to parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Here is the meat of the PDF the Archbishop sent out:

The USCCB is asking for our special help in activating our Catholic people.

I support this request with an appeal that you activate the people of your parish in the following ways:

• Encourage parish-wide distribution of the enclosed "Bulletin Insert," which assists parishioners in sending a message to Congress.
• The Bulletin Insert should be printed or hand-stuffed in every parish bulletin and/or distributed in pews or at church entrances as soon as possible.
• Congressional votes may take place as soon as early November.
• Direct people to the USCCB health care reform website for updates, additional tools and resources (www.usccb.org/healthcare).
• And finally, please encourage the people of your parish to pray that Congress will act to insure that needed health care reform will truly protect the life, dignity and health care of all and that we will raise our voices to protect the unborn and the most vulnerable and to preserve our freedom of conscience.

I say that if 100 people from every parish in the USA called their Congressman, that would make a difference.

100×19,000

I say, don’t just pray… do something.

Folks… Catholics have been sleepy, complacent, for the very long time.  They have been so because their shepherds have been sleepy.

WDTPRS says, "NO MORE!"

Wake up and act.

With a strong Catholic identity, act in the public square!

I heard a claim on a TV show tonight that made my antennae perk up.   A Democrat member of the House of Representatives made the claim that she took an oath to represent the best interests of the people in her constituency.

However, I believe the oath members of Congress take is actually what follows.   This is from the page of the Clerk of the House of Representatives with my emphases:

As required by Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, Members of Congress shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. Representatives, delegates, and the resident commissioner all take the oath of office on the first day of the new Congress, immediately after the House has elected its Speaker. The Speaker of the House administers the oath of office as follows:

    "I, (name of Member), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

No mention of constituents.

I was under the impression was that people should elect people whom they believe will do the right thing, rather than just be parochial or local, regardless.  I was under the impression that Members of Congress should not merely bend their own views according to pressure from back home.   Without ignoring local interests, they should do the right thing.

Idealistic?

Still, it remains that Congressman take an oath of office, not an oath of party or constituency.  That office mentions the Constitution.

I posted on this HERE.

From CNA:

Bishops’ campaign declares war on abortion funding in health care

Washington D.C., Oct 30, 2009 / 05:50 pm (CNA).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is calling on Catholics nationwide “to prevent healthcare reform from being derailed by the abortion lobby,” the conference said on Friday. The unprecedented campaign encompasses 19,000 parishes across the country, and asks the faithful to fight for restrictions on abortion funding in the health care bills by contacting their congressmen.

Because the USCCB has championed the cause of health care reform for over a decade, their current effort is extraordinary.

“The bishops want health care reform, but they recoil at any expansion of abortion,” explained Helen Osman, USCCB Secretary for Communications.

The bishops, who described the mobilization of parishes as “a make or break effort,” have already told Congress in a letter, “If acceptable language in these areas cannot be found, we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously.”

While the grassroots effort does not appear to have risen to the level of outright opposition, the bishops also reiterated in their bulletin insert that “our nation is at a crossroads. Policies adopted in health care reform will have an impact for good or ill for years to come.”

The time line for influencing members of Congress appears to be short, with a vote on the bill expected in early November.

The Catholic bishops are also pushing for affordability, access to health care for legal immigrants and the protection of consciences.

“Genuine health care reform is much needed and should protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of conception until natural death. Mandated coverage for abortion should be excluded and longstanding policies against abortion funding and supporting conscience rights should be included. No one should be required to pay for or participate in  abortion,” they said, reiterating that no current bill meets these criteria.

The UKS’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald, has a some interesting bits this week.

Check out feisty Stuart Reid’s Charterhouse in which your humble correspondent is mentioned.

The persistent Anna Arco is always good.

There is a piece about why Catholics can’t be Freemasons.  DUH!

And there is also an long "debate" offering: Is the SSPX right about the liturgy?  Following their exchange in July, author Moyra Doorly and Aidan Nichols discuss the merits of post-Vatican II liturgical reform.

Smart stuff!

Read and discuss.

 

A priest reader of WDTPRS writes asking:

Dear Fr. Z,
 
How can we get our experience of heterodox sisters to the congregation rightly investigating these women?

The best way I can think of is to write directly to the one appointed to coordinate the visitation, Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ.  They have a contact form here.

As in any instance of making concerns known to ecclesiastical authority, whether it is about liturgical abuse or heterodox preaching, etc., follow the tips for writing I posted HERE.

Keep in mind especially the need to back up what you say with some kind of documentation…. things they printed and distributed, screenshots of their websites with links, sound or video recordings, letters they wrote, etc.

Also… and this is important... also for the love of God also write about the good things you see in some communities!

The Apostolic Visitation is not merely about sticking it to the weird wicca wymym who are spinning out of control.  It is to access what the state of the question is in the United States.  That means also accessing the good communities which are faithful and strong.

The USCCB has issued a bulletin insert for use in parishes.

USCCB NATIONWIDE BULLETIN INSERT

Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding & Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform

Congress is preparing to debate health care reform legislation on the House and Senate floors.

I warmly encourage pastors to look at this.  Click HERE for a PDF which can be saved and then printed.  It is pre-formatted.  All you need to do is save and reproduce it.  If you can’t download it from the USCCB site, get it from the WDTPRS server HERE.

It is only one page.  I bet you could find a strong pro-life parishioner or a group of parishioners who would foot the bill for distribution.

Remember:

1. This is the American bishops stepping up in an focused way, using tools of social communication.  That in itself needs support.
2. We should be sick and tired of Catholics being kicked out of the public square.  DO SOMETHING.
3. This affects everyone everywhere, also beyond the borders of the USA.

NB: It is legitimate to debate the extent to which health care access must be provided to illegal aliens.  I am sure there are differing approaches to that necessary question and people can debate what to do.  But what cannot be denied is that it is entirely unacceptable that a dollar of tax money fund abortions or that health care workers should be compelled from fear of loss of their jobs or prosecution to do something morally repugnant and contrary to the teachings of the Church.

"But Father! But Father!", you might be asking.  "You are asking us to distribute this but… what does it say?"

Here is the text:

USCCB NATIONWIDE BULLETIN INSERT

Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding & Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform

Congress is preparing to debate health care reform legislation on the House and Senate floors.

Genuine health care reform should protect the life and dignity of all people from the moment of
conception until natural death. The U.S. bishops’ conference has concluded that all committee approved bills are seriously deficient on the issues of abortion and conscience, and do not provide adequate access to health care for immigrants and the poor. The bills will have to change or the bishops have pledged to oppose them.

Our nation is at a crossroads. Policies adopted in health care reform will have an impact for good or ill for years to come. None of the bills retains longstanding current policies against abortion funding or abortion coverage mandates, and none fully protects conscience rights in health care.

As the U.S. bishops’ letter of October 8 states:

“No one should be required to pay for or participate in abortion. It is essential that the legislation clearly apply to this new program longstanding and widely supported federal restrictions on abortion funding and mandates, and protections for rights of conscience. No current bill meets this test…. If acceptable language in these areas cannot be found, we will have to oppose the health care bill vigorously.”

For the full text of this letter and more information on proposed legislation and the bishops’ advocacy for authentic health care reform, visit: www.usccb.org/healthcare.

Congressional leaders are attempting to put together final bills for floor consideration. Please contact your Representative and Senators today and urge them to fix these bills with the pro-life amendments noted below. Otherwise much needed health care reform will have to be opposed. Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them.

ACTION: Contact Members through e-mail, phone calls or FAX letters.

• To send a pre-written, instant e-mail to Congress go to www.usccb.org/action.
• Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: 202-224-3121, or call your Members’ local offices.
• Full contact info can be found on Members’ web sites at www.house.gov & www.senate.gov.

MESSAGE to SENATE:

“During floor debate on the health care reform bill, please support an amendment to
incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights.
If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed.”

MESSAGE to HOUSE:

“Please support the Stupak Amendment that addresses essential pro-life concerns on abortion
funding and conscience rights in the health care reform bill. Help ensure that the Rule for the
bill allows a vote on this amendment. If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill
should be opposed.”

WHEN: Both House and Senate are preparing for floor votes now. [NOW!]

Act today! Thank you!

Folks… consider this my WDTPRS parish bulletin insert.  You have it now.  You can act on it yourselves without waiting for an insert in your parish bulletin.

Former Anglican priest Jeffrey Steel has an interesting post on his site about Pope Benedict’s provisions for Anglicans.

A taste:

This Apostolic Constitution seems to me that it will not and cannot be something of an answer to Anglican’s taste and expectations without demanding a real submission and conversion no matter what patrimony is accepted. it cannot be viewed as an option because of a lack of love from the CofE or any other part of the Anglican ethos around the world. To become Catholic is not and cannot be to run from something that is uncomfortable but must be a turning towards what is absolutely true and of the Holy Spirit. There is a lot asked of those who would make this decision and it is a very serious call to the obedience of faith.

From a reader:

St. Peter’s in Merchantville, NJ is celebrating a Solemn Requiem Mass on All Souls Day (Nov. 2) at 7:00pm with the Rite of Absolution at the catafalque. Fr. Anthony J. Manuppella, pastor of St. Peter’s, will be the celebrant, Fr. Allain B. Caparas, associate pastor of St. Peter’s, will be the deacon, and Fr. Ronald W. Check from St. Monica’s in Philadelphia will be the subdeacon. The Mass setting will be to Gabriel Faure’s Requiem.

Also,

Father Bradford Hernandez will be celebrating a Tridentine High Mass at St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Brenham, Texas, for the Solemnity of All Saints, at 9:30 AM. We have one every week at this time, but this will be a High Mass for the solemnity. It’s quite beautiful, and the more people we can get to come, the better. We currently have around 40-50 regular attendees.

The parish’s website.

Also,

St. Joseph Catholic Church, 830 Poplar Street, Macon, Georgia will celebrate a Solemn High Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Commemoration of All Souls, on Monday, November 2nd at 7:00 PM. Fr. Allan J. McDonald, pastor, will be celebrant.
Music for the Holy Souls (All Souls) Latin High Mass will be from Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem in D Minor” and will be sung by The Choirs of St. Joseph under the direction of Nelda Chapman, with cantor/soloist Beau Palmer and organists Harold McManus, Jr., and Lewis King.
The following link is a very nice virtual tour of this “jewel of the south” church dedicated in 1903 and built by the Jesuits.

Also,

Solemn High Mass for All Souls, Monday, November 2nd, at 7:00 PM, celebrated by Fr. Robert Tatman, and assisted by Fr. Brian Austin, FSSP and Fr. James Fryar, FSSP.  The AMU Choir will be singing the Duruflé Requiem, under the direction of Dr. Timothy McDonnell. 

From a UK reader:

A news flash for your British readers,  Fr Andrew Goodman will celebrate Mass in the Extrodinary Form (Low Mass) at Holy Cross Church, Bristol  (clifton diocese) at 12:45PM on All Souls Day and at 8:00 AM on Christmas Day, we also hope to get a weekly celebration of the EF going every Sunday (servers in training).

location of the Church and how to get there can be found on the diocese website www.cliftondiocese.com

 

 

A reader sent me a photo of an interesting lawn sign.

Someone is treating the Pope in a pretty shabby way.

Shame on them.



We salute the sisters too.

I salute the sisters who are faithful to the teachings of the Church.

The site of the Archdiocese of Denver has a story by George Weigel about St. Jeanne Jugan.   I confess I don’t know much about her.  It would be nice to know

I happily send a biretta tip to engaging Creative Minority Report for this. o{]:¬)

By George Weigel

During the brutally hot summer of 2003, thousands of French vacationers remained on holiday rather than returning home to bury their recently deceased parents, who had died from the extraordinary heat and were being stashed in air-conditioned storage lockers. Those acts of filial impiety cast into sharp relief the October canonization of Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Born during the virulently anti-Catholic French Revolution, Jeanne Jugan learned early in her life that fidelity to Christ and his Church could be costly. A history of the period of her childhood sums things up neatly: “In spite of the persecution, the people of Cancale kept the faith. During dark nights, in an attic or a barn, or even in the middle of the countryside, the faithful gathered together, and there in the silence of the night, the priest would offer the Eucharist and baptize the children. But this happiness was rare. There were so many dangers.”

Jeanne Jugan knew poverty as well as persecution, and developed a marked sensitivity to the humiliation that those who have fallen through the cracks of society’s net of solidarity can feel. She declined an offer of marriage because, as she put it, “God…is keeping me for a work which is not yet known, for a work which is not yet founded.” That work came into clear focus when, at age 47, [... think about that…] she met an elderly, blind and sick woman, whom she took into her care; from that seemingly random encounter was born a tremendous work of charity. The congregation of women religious she founded dedicated itself to the care of the poor and elderly—and supported itself by begging, with the foundress, Jeanne Jugan, as chief beggar.  The Little Sisters of the Poor spread rapidly throughout Europe, America and Africa, but the going was never easy for Jeanne Jugan.

In 1843, Jeanne Jugan’s re-election as superior was quashed by the community’s priest-advisor, Father Augustin Marie Le Pailleur. Refusing to contest what others would have deemed an injustice (but which she thought to be the will of God), Jeanne Jugan accepted this curious decision and went on the road, supporting her sisters by begging. For the last 27 years of her life, she lived at the order’s motherhouse in retirement, again according to the orders of Father Le Pailleur; her role as foundress was never acknowledged during her lifetime. Yet the novelist [get this] Charles Dickens could write, after meeting Jeanne Jugan, that “there is in this woman something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”

To enter a house of the Little Sisters of the Poor today is to recapture what Dickens experienced. Elderly men and women with no one else to care for them are given exquisite attention; the dignity of every patient is honored, no matter how difficult that dignity may be to discern amidst the trials of senility and disease. The Little Sisters of the Poor and their patients are living reminders that there are no disposable human beings; that everyone is a someone for whom the Son of God entered the world, suffered and died; and that we read others out of the human family at our moral and political peril. [our moral and political peril…  This is why we cannot, with the Kmiec Catholics, the Kennedy/Kerry/Sebelius/Pelosi/Biden Catholics, think that we can leave the unborn as secondary to other social projects.]

Yet that is the temptation facing the United States, and every other affluent society confronting a graying population, longer life expectancies, and spiraling medical costs. Where this temptation can lead is brutally displayed in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal for years; and as the late Father Richard John Neuhaus said of such travesties as the Dutch “death with dignity” laws, what is permitted will soon become mandatory. That is precisely what has happened in Holland and indeed wherever euthanasia is legally permitted.

St. Jeanne Jugan, Sister Marie of the Cross in her religious life, is thus a powerful—and badly needed—intercessor for all who would defend the gift of life from conception until natural death.

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Weigel’s column is distributed by the Denver Catholic Register, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Denver.

Fine article.

Thank you, St. Jeanne Jugan.

A miracle through the intercession of St. Jeanne Jugan:

Cure of Doctor Edward Erwin GATZ
of an Adenocarcinoma of the Oesophagus


Doctor Edward GATZ is a retired anaesthetist who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States of America. He was born on 19th April 1937 in O’Neil, Nebraska.

At the age of 51 he began to feel dyspeptic (digestive) problems with a loss of weight and the appearance of growths on his hands. The diagnosis was interpreted as a paraneoplastic syndrome due to an occult cancer.

An endoscopy on 9th January 1989 revealed the presence of a cancerous lesion in the lower part of the oesophagus. Dr Gatz was hospitalised at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and had surgery on 18th January 1989 for a partial oesophago-gastrectomy. The biopsy showed a 3rd degree adenocarcinoma, and the examination specified that there was an aneuploid tumour. Doctor Gatz was advised to have chemotherapy but he refused. He also refused to have radiotherapy.

On the day that Dr Gatz’ cancer was diagnosed his wife spoke with a priest, Fr Richard D McGloin SJ to tell him about her husband’s illness and to seek some consolation. This priest encouraged Mrs Gatz to pray, and gave her the novena prayer to Blessed Jeanne Jugan, whom he knew through the Little Sisters of the Poor, since he had formerly been their chaplain at their Home in Milwaukee, and whom he held in veneration. Along with him, Mrs Gatz began to pray to Jeanne Jugan every day, even after the check-up on 8th March.

In fact, the first endoscopic examination took place on 8th March 1989. The biopsy showed the presence of chronic gastritis, but no signs of recurrence of the tumour.

 

First, remember that you can gain indulgences when All Souls rolls around.

Also, take your digital cameras to church for photos of the black vestments and unbleached candles!

That means… you priests out there…

USE BLACK VESTMENTS and UNBLEACHED CANDLES!

 

The latest from the official WDTPRS photoshop wizard Vincenzo.

Apparently His Holiness is the driver of this Z-car.  I am content.  I don’t trust him with the Veyron, however.

I especially like the idea of stopping at the BBQ shack of a man with a biretta.



His Holiness is going to need a good bib, or something… maybe that shoulder cape can double?

I have written before about the Lion of Lima, His Eminence Juan Luis Card. Cipriani Thorne. 

This from CNA:

Cardinal Cipriani reminds State of duty to protect life from moment of conception

Lima, Peru, Oct 29, 2009 / 11:38 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, reminded the Peruvian State this week of its duty to protect human life, “because the human person is the center of all of society.” During a Mass celebrating the Solemnity of the Lord of Miracles, Cardinal Cipriani reaffirmed that all life “is sacred from the first moment of conception” and that no person is the result of chance, but rather “the fruit of a thought of God.” “Nobody has been born by chance,” he exclaimed, “each one of us is the result of God’s love.”

Amidst debate in Peru on the legalization of abortion in cases of rape and fetal deformation as well as the morning-after pill, the cardinal said that the Peruvian people are “noble” and that the unborn do not deserve to be in danger in the womb, which ought to be a place of “warmth, tenderness, care and love.”

Cardinal Cipriani urged Peruvians to draw close to the Lord and to leave behind the corruption and abuse of today’s society. “The Holy Father Benedict XVI reminds us—following the example of John Paul II—that he who allows Christ in loses nothing, nothing that makes life free and beautiful. A friendship with the Lord of Miracles opens the doors to life,” he said.

Is anyone else having problems with Firefox constantly hanging?