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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
- on ROME 24/4– Day 34 (-7): The burial place of… PLATO?!?: “My baptismal anniversary. I’m mostly Scottish/Irish Catholic, birthed and educated by the Mercy Sisters during the height of the Troubles.…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 35 (-6): adventures in symmetry: “Father, it was perfect symmetry for two people. One cup handle facing one way and the other the other way.”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 35 (-6): adventures in symmetry: “From a reader: “What are in the frames between the vestments?” Those are the priest’s vesting prayers. I’ll show more…”
- on WDTPRS: 4th Sunday of Easter (Novus Ordo) – Mighty humble Shepherd, humble mighty flock: “Fr Z you are an inspiration in your knowledge about and love for the things of God and the church.…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 32 (-9): Happy Birthday Rome!: “Holy cow that pasta. I wish we had smell-o-vision and taste-o-vision.”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “The German grind continues. It is in their nature.”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Scary about the women. What I mean is this: it would be disheartening enough just to find out that a…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “I wonder what’s going on with these women. Don’t they know that the greatest example of womanhood is Our Blessed…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Fr.Z sez: It is really sad that some people still push this rock up the hill. Reminds one of Sisyphus,…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Alas, those men pushing for ordaining women. STILL trying to get women to do all the work. My mother warned…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Dear Dcn PB, I don’t see how the reality can be described differently than by saying that the one sacrament…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “Most people, whether pro or con, misunderstand the history and practice of the female diaconate. The deaconess was a separate…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 3rd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 4th of Easter) 2024: “I remember only the joke at the beginning of the homily: Priests get four weeks of vacation per year. Some…”
- on “you must not remember your forefathers…” Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “My children at one of the solid Chesterton Academies have been taught science and theology by an amazing young Catholic…”
- on Three items of interest: a conversion, a connection, and a con job: “What is it that changed about the Catholic Herald? Interesting interview by George Farmer. (If only the faithful could be…”
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After a three week hiatus, our “Sunday morning after 9:00 AM Mass Bible study” had reconvened. I really missed it and am glad we’re is session again. This new study will incorporate Scripture with a program called (more or less) “7 habits for highly devoted Catholics”.
Fr. Z, you’ll be happy to note that one of the 7 habits is “Frequent reception of the Sacraments – especially Confession.”
Sr Janet Mock the executive director of the LCWR thanked me for my book about the Sinsinawa Dominicans and said she intends to read it. I quoted her to a bishop I was emailing with (not my own bishop) who had skimmed the book and had kind things to say, and he said “she hasn’t read it yet.” Bp Paprocki who together with Bp Blair is helping Archbishop Sartain reform the LCWR also thanked me for my book. So did the prior provincial of one of the provinces of Dominican Friars, in a nice handwritten notecard with Veritas on the front (like my book). He pointed out his province has a zillion vocations :-) . I heard secondhand a leading local lay Catholic had purchased my book on Amazon and read it and was praising it. http://www.amazon.com/A-Report-Sinsinawa-Dominicans-Today/dp/0615887082/
Also I went to confession, that is always good news.
Today is my birthday. Age 33, as our Lord was at his glory.
Happy birthday, Bev!
I apologize for the length of this, but I need to get it off my chest as it’s been building up for two months. ?
The background: My husband coaches our son’s baseball team. It has been a rough season, since first of all, he had not planned on coaching. Our son has been playing football the last three autumns, but decided he wanted to play baseball and so, as the league is always in need of coaches, my husband stepped up. Secondly, our son was only 12 until half-way through the season and so we expected him to be in 11-12, but they changed the rule and he was moved up into 13-14. Quite a change for both the player and the coach. Thirdly, for some reason, weak players seem to gravitate to my husband’s teams (or are given to him). I think it is because everyone knows they will actually get to play on his team. He has always said he will not banish a child to the outfield in recreation league ball, and he doesn’t. While most teams assign a child to a position and play them there practically the whole season, my husband moves them around so they actually learn the game and not a position. I’ll be honest, it hurts them against the other teams, but the kids, especially the weaker players, really enjoy the game more. They get to play! Anyway, this year, he had 13 players, which is way too many and he did not want to accept them all, but was told every team was going to have 13. So he took them, even though it was a pain. Trying to get them all infield play time, having to set 4 out every inning, and that many in the lineup really limits the number of times they get up to bat. On top of it, he had 4 very weak players; I don’t mean below average, but really awful. One had not played baseball since T-ball and didn’t even understand that in a force out, you don’t have to tag the runner, but only the base. The young fellow actually bent over and tagged the base! Another had not played since coach pitch and before they started stealing, etc…so he was almost as lost. Neither of them got a hit or caught a pop up/fly ball the entire season. The bottom 4 on his lineup didn’t get but 2 hits (and they were technically errors) between them the entire season. Almost guaranteed outs every time the 4 of them came to bat. Brutal. You simply can’t overcome that, especially when the other teams didn’t have 13 players, or if they did, they never came out against us, as most had 9-10 players at most. GRRR…)
However, we had one boy who could really pitch, and he pitched an entire game a couple of weeks ago and we actually won against the only other team that has coaches with a similar philosophy to my husband; God bless them. They rotate their weaker players etc…though their weakest player is as good or better than our 4 weakest! (whah :*)…) Anyway, we beat them once and they beat us once during the season. It was the only game we won.
Until last night. (This is the good news part!) We played them again in the tournament and our best pitcher (husband had saved him for that game thinking it was our only chance for another win.) pulled it out, but some of our other better players really stepped up, too. Some amazing catches, good hits, and even a good double play! It was wonderful! What a way to end a brutal season. They deserved it so much, because even though it was a difficult team, they were such great kids. When the one who hadn’t played since T-ball made a great tag out at 3rd a couple games before, it was so worth it to see him so pleased! How they improved!!!!! And the better players were so patient and supportive of the weaker ones, rather than getting frustrated and annoyed with them. It was a lovely thing to witness, especially when so many middle school teens can be such obnoxious bullies and all. My son, who is not overly competitive, but still likes to win said that even though they (the team) “were awful” it was probably the most fun season he’s ever had. Great kids. God love them!
And God love my husband. He’s a great coach, and a truly decent man. Pray for him, and for his conversion, please.
Assumption Grotto is having a Solemn High Requiem on All Souls Day – Saturday at 9:30, with choir and orchestra (Mozart’s Requiem).
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2013/10/mozart-requiem-at-assumption-grotto.html
There are other Masses too for those who cannot make that Mass. The priests are pretty much doing a number of Masses over the span of a couple hours in the AM. See details in that post.
The Dominican Province of St. Joseph (Eastern) is proud to announce the upcoming release of the first album from the Dominican House of Studies schola, under the aegis of the newly founded Dominicana Records: In Medio Ecclesiae.
Through the direction of Fr. James Moore, O.P., of the Province of the Most Holy Name (Western), our Dominican schola has been working for more than eighteen months to produce a recording of the finest-quality liturgical music from different eras and traditions of the Church. The album contains fifteen pieces, with seven works from the various liturgical seasons, three timeless hymns of rejoicing, three in honor of specific saints, and two in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The album will be available on Thursday, October 31 on the Vigil of All Saints coinciding with the friars’ annual Vigil of All Saints in Washington DC. Digital copies may be purchased then on iTunes, Amazon, and other digital content distributors. Physical copies will be available in mid-November.
I have recently learned that a priest-friend of mine is learning to say/sing the TLM, and will have a Solemn High Mass on a certain large feast day in the near future. This Mass will take the place of the reform-of-the-reform type OF he usually has on this day, so it won’t be too huge of a shift for the faithful. The Mass will probably be standing-room only, like it has been in previous years.
After spending what seems like months shuttling back and forth between our apartment in Maine and our now-former apartment in Mass, we are looking forward to a weekend where we don’t have to go anywhere! Which means we get to go to the All Souls’ Day EF Mass on Saturday morning.
My husband and I just returned from a pilgrimage to Rome led by our pastor (FSSP). It was a wonderful, grace-filled trip, although not without a few bumps in the road. Our daughter (who did not go on the trip), with her usual impeccable timing, came down with appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery while we were away. Thankfully, her brother and other family members took good care of her in our absence. Still, this pilgrimage was a blessing, and I’m grateful we were able to go.
We just started to read the Narnia series aloud and our four year old is mesmerized and forgets to eat his night sandwich (we have to remind him to chew :-)).
He doesn’t watch TV much, maybe an hour once a week. Computer gaming is a rare treat too – he’s more interested in playing the piano, singing, writing words and building things. He sings the evening hymn with fervor and tells us he loves Jesus. This bodes well, doesn’t it?
I’ve been working on pre-reqs for a nursing program and I received a letter of acceptance the other day to start the Winter quarter. I’m pretty excited about it.
Thanks be to God.
Went out to lunch with a dear friend….good food, good conversation, a very pleasant afternoon indeed!
Please keep my friend and her daughter in your prayers. Thank you.
Spent about 3 hrs yesterday in Pilsen, Ks., which was the home of Servant of God Father Kapaun. To say it is out of the way does not do it justice–my Garmin GPS doesn’t have Pilsen. To get to Pilsen from the south means 8 miles on a gravel road, which I was told will be paved next Spring–partly because the county was shown guest books signed by people from S Carolina, New Jersey, and California. Not only was he born and grew up there but he was also assigned there as a priest.
I was told by a lady who showed me the rectory:
1. Two miracles have been approved by medical investigation, and a third is in process.
2. Dr Andrea Ambrosi, the Postulator for the cause, is pushing Fr Kapaun as a Martyr for the Faith. Fellow POW’s insisted Fr Kapaun was treated worse because he was a priest.
3. There is an inventory of Fr Kapaun T shirts that refer to him as a Medal of Honor recipient, and they were told not to buy any more. The implication is that there is coming another designation beyond that of the MoH.
4. There is a good chance that Fr Kapaun’s remains have been recovered in a POW cemetery in Korea. There is doubt that DNA tests can establish identity because of contamination, but he was taller than most (3 inches above the average of 5’9″) and there are dental records.
I returned safely from a week-long drive to North Carolina and Kentucky. I visited a good but discouraged Catholic cousin I hadn’t seen in a while and discovered that she is a kindred soul disappointed with the directions the Church and the nation have taken in the last 50 years. I was able to attend Mass on All Saints’ Day at St. Boniface in Pittsburgh, a beautiful old church with Mass in the extraordinary form. No animals are known to have been hurt or injured by me in my travels, and even the bug spray on the front of the car was much lower than usual.