QUAERUNTUR: Of several issues, personal and other, with a few rants

I have far too many emails in my box about several points.  I hope with this I can put them to rest.

The resignation of Amb. Kmiec.  What do I think?

I think what I wrote before about the poor Ambassador:

Qui cum canibus concumbunt, surgent cum pulicibus.  The man who lies downs with dogs, gets up with fleas.

Things didn’t go so well working as a Catholic in the Obama Administration?

I’m shocked!

I wonder if the Ambassador still thinks he can square being a Catholic with Pres. Obama’s aggressively pro-abortion agenda.

I really don’t know what the Ambassador was thinking, but he should have kept better company.

Did the sisters hammer that into the skulls of children?  Avoid the company of bad friends?

But, I am sure the Ambassador will land on his feet.

Why aren’t you going to the Vatican blogger meeting?  Will you be at the beatification?

No.  Why?  I didn’t apply.  And, No.  Why? I have done the big beatification thing more than once.

Even if I am in Rome at the same time, I will probably not go to the beatification.

Look… I’ve been to Vatican conferences.  I would, however, make an effort to go to the Robber Council Blogger Meet (aka blognic).  Sounds great!

NB: I have great affection for the late Pope, who ordained me and with whom I had the chance to speak many times.  I served Mass for him more than once, even as a deacon.  When he was healthier he even recalled who I was and which seminary I was from.

Story: One day I was to be deacon for a Mass in St. Peter’s. Having vested at the altar under the Pietà, I – at the direction of the MC – took the thurible into the small vesting room nearby to have John Paul put in the incense.  With his good-natured grandfatherly charm he kidded around. “You again!  What is your seminary?”  He knew full well, of course, and he knew I already worked in an office around the place as well.  “The John Paul the Second Seminary, Santità”, quoth I.  “Terrible! Terrible!”, quoth Peter’s Successor.  Then, leaning in nearly nose to nose, the Vicar of Christ stabbed me hard in the chest several times with his finger and said, “Tu… devi essere serio… You… have to be serious.”

Makes you think.

But, no.  Even if I am in Rome, and I don’t yet rule that out, I probably won’t be at the beatification of John Paul II. I am happy to watch it on TV.  I would rather go a little later, frankly, for that great conference to be held about Summorum Pontificum.  Donations will decide the issue.

Finally, I do like the fact that my term “blognic” is getting some mileage out there!

At my parish I saw X – Y – Z during the Passion on Palm Sunday … are these things permitted?

Let me issue a blanket knee-jerk response first: Not in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite they aren’t!  And they probably aren’t in the Ordinary Form either!

Except when they are.

And if it is permitted in the Ordinary Form, and you are scratching your head about it, there might be something wrong with the option.

If you have a real problem with what you saw, and you can’t talk to your priest, ask your local chancery to explain what happened.

And, NO, women cannot read the Gospel at Mass.   Please stop asking.

Will you translate this Latin (or English thing into Latin) for me?  It won’t take you long.

No.  And yes, it did take a long time.  It took 30 years of reading and writing Latin, as a matter of fact.

LENTCAzTs…

Thank you to people who have sent notes of gratitude for the LENTCAzTs.  The numbers of listeners started fairly high and then, as I figured they might, dropped off.  While I was at home they were easier to make.  I should have made them ahead of time, before I left.  But I didn’t and so they are a pain to make.  I was pretty frustrated Sunday and Monday, partly  because I felt as dumb as a box of hammers.  Change of season?  Not sleeping well?  Who knows.  Sirens don’t help when making podcasts, by the way.

I’ll offer it up… which was part of the point of making them in the first place, now that I think about it.

I had also thought working within a template might give me a way to make more frequent audio podcasts and maybe even video.

Should I do PASCHALCAzTs?  I am groping for motivation.  Is it a good use of my time in proportion to the number of listeners?  Dunno.

What do you say to John L. Allen’s latest commentary on “zones of friendship”?

I think the first and most important “zone of friendship” is the confessional.

If “friendship” is lacking, start there.

The Spanish priest who blesses homosexual “unions” and who paid for two abortions.  What do you think?

Read it here.

I’m shocked and appalled.  And I am not being facetious.

That said, if his case really was examined by the CDF in Rome, and the CDF determined that he did not incur a censure and no censure should be imposed, then I can only assume there were aspects of the case and mitigating circumstances that were not made public knowledge.  I know some of the people who work for the CDF and they are serious men who don’t fool around with these matters.   I can’t speak for most of the their superiors, but, those I know personally are very solid.  I can’t imagine that the MSM would report this case in any way than to make it sound even more horrible than it may have been.

Still, I am shocked and appalled.

Furthermore, the fact that this is coming out into the mainstream media before Easter and before the beatification of John Paul II cannot be helpful.  Furthermore, in Spain there has been an uptick in physical attacks, vandalism of churches, the latest being arson at Sagrada Familia.   Pope Benedict is going to go to Spain for World Youth Day.  The trend in Spain is alarming.

I don’t want to think that the priest’s archdiocese and the CDF were easy on the priest in question so as not to provoke more violence and create more ill-will against the Church in  the lead up to the Pope’s trip, but I find I have become rather jaded.

Did I mention?  I am shocked and appalled.

So, don’t write to me about this guy anymore.  Please… just don’t.

There… I have ranted a bit, and I feel better.

This is part of what blogs are for, after all.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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