"The great Father Zed, Archiblogopoios"
-
Fr. John Hunwicke
"Some 2 bit novus ordo cleric"
- Anonymous
"Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a traditionalist blogger who has never shied from picking fights with priests, bishops or cardinals when liturgical abuses are concerned."
- Kractivism
"Father John Zuhlsdorf is a crank"
"Father Zuhlsdorf drives me crazy"
"the hate-filled Father John Zuhlsford" [sic]
"Father John Zuhlsdorf, the right wing priest who has a penchant for referring to NCR as the 'fishwrap'"
"Zuhlsdorf is an eccentric with no real consequences" -
HERE
- Michael Sean Winters
"Fr Z is a true phenomenon of the information age: a power blogger and a priest."
- Anna Arco
“Given that Rorate Coeli and Shea are mad at Fr. Z, I think it proves Fr. Z knows what he is doing and he is right.”
- Comment
"Let me be clear. Fr. Z is a shock jock, mostly. His readership is vast and touchy. They like to be provoked and react with speed and fury."
- Sam Rocha
"Father Z’s Blog is a bright star on a cloudy night."
- Comment
"A cross between Kung Fu Panda and Wolverine."
- Anonymous
Fr. Z is officially a hybrid of Gandalf and Obi-Wan XD
- Comment
Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a scrappy blogger popular with the Catholic right.
- America Magazine
RC integralist who prays like an evangelical fundamentalist.
-Austen Ivereigh on
Twitter
[T]he even more mainline Catholic Fr. Z. blog.
-
Deus Ex Machina
“For me the saddest thing about Father Z’s blog is how cruel it is.... It’s astonishing to me that a priest could traffic in such cruelty and hatred.”
- Jesuit homosexualist James Martin to BuzzFeed
"Fr. Z's is one of the more cheerful blogs out there and he is careful about keeping the crazies out of his commboxes"
- Paul in comment at
1 Peter 5
"I am a Roman Catholic, in no small part, because of your blog.
I am a TLM-going Catholic, in no small part, because of your blog.
And I am in a state of grace today, in no small part, because of your blog."
- Tom in
comment
"Thank you for the delightful and edifying omnibus that is your blog."-
Reader comment.
"Fr. Z disgraces his priesthood as a grifter, a liar, and a bully. -
- Mark Shea
Some Secretaries of State are better than others. Some do not serve the Pope well, for whatever reason, intended or not intended. Cardinal Merry del Val was an exceptional man in all ways. I hadn’t known his whole history and influence until I read the Magister article. Here I go with the 1962 Missal again; but Cardinal del Val’s Prayer for Humility is in there. I say that every day so as not to get too full of myself. It’s a great prayer.
Many liberals consider Merry del Val to be the epitome of badness in the twentieth-century Church. But even prescinding from his theology, his temperament, his sanctity, and his politics, I always find it funny when people try to make him sound scary… because I could never be afraid of someone who shares a name with such a round and beloved Hobbit.
Amusing anecdote from the 1914 conclave concerning Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val copy/pasted from wikipedia (after typing my own version and then stupidly X-ing out the window instead of minimizing):
Reportedly (Giacomo) Della Chiesa had been elected by one vote. According to the rules in force at the time, the ballot papers had a numbering on the reverse side, so that, if the election was decided by only one vote, it could be checked whether or not the elected person had voted for himself, in which case the election would be void. According to that account, Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, who had been Pius X’s Secretary of State, insisted that the ballots be checked to ensure that Della Chiesa had not voted for himself – he had not. When the cardinals offered their homage to the new pope, Benedict XV allegedly said to Merry del Val, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” To which the unabashed Merry del Val replied with the next verse of Psalm 118: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” [1]
Cardinal Merry del Val wasn’t reappointed as Secretary of State by the new Pope, but was named Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office (then the head of that Dicastery, because the Popes themselves retained the office of Prefect of the Holy Office, leaving its daily administration to the secretary).
I love Cardinal Merry del Val. Sort of like LawrenceK, the first thing I loved about him was his name, which I read next to the “Litany of Humility” in the Scepter Press Handbook of Prayers. (You know, I found an Italian version that has a lot more petitions than their English one. I don’t know what is the authoritative version, though.) But it was more just because it sounds like a good person. Then I read a biography of him and loved him more. Then I saw his tomb that says just “DA MIHI ANIMAS CETERA TOLLE” and loved him more… I read somewhere about an Italian word that means a joke that is true. As an example they said that it is widely known (among Vaticanistas or something I guess) that Cardinal Merry del Val can never be made a saint because if he were, there would be no one to blame for all of Pius X’s mistakes. Hmm. Well, I for one think he should be a saint.
I finally figured out how to download a Podcast… I think… so I will listen to this tomorrow.
Cardinal del Val’s Litany of Humility is one of my favorite prayers.
I’m curious, who was at the top of the Curia before Paul VI made it the Secretary of State? Was it the head of the Holy Office? Sando Magister doesn’t mention it.
Thank you, Father. Especially interesting to me was the portions of the liturgy, and the memory of the Pope’s funeral. I remember that last view of the coffin, as if he were giving us his final blessing. I was crying so hard, but I still remember the loud shout of the crowd. I didn’t want to let him go.