"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
Loading ...
As coffee is not drunk for its taste, then of course, it is medicine.
GRRRRRR
Double grrrrr.
I pray this comment does not give dear Father Z the need to invoke moderation but, it is a wonderful
thing to be readying for bed and to have such a hearty belly laugh over coffee. Thanks to Kerry, Father Z and Wanda. Now I will hoist a cup of the “good stuff” in a toast to all of you…… some Yogi “Bedtime” Tea.
Basically, coffee was originally an herbal drink intended to produce medicinal stimulation, focus, and thus calmness. So it would seem that coffee would be permitted during a Eucharistic fast, particularly if you are trying to medicate yourself into a state where one would not crash one’s car and cause harm to others.
Contrariwise, it would seem that those who are addicted to coffee would find it rather an obstacle to health of body and mind instead of remaining a medicinal compound, and therefore it would not only break the Eucharistic fast but possibly be kinda sinful, and anyway would not dispose them properly for Communion.
However, it would also seem that those who do not need coffee in order to get to Mass, and who are not addicted to coffee so that it keeps them from being properly disposed to receive Communion, would benefit from fasting from coffee because it is a good thing; and certainly would leave out the cream and sugar unless those are required for proper digestion.
In conclusion, I think this is a matter of prudence, and that people should choose for themselves in a spirit of repentant fasting and love of the Lord, but regard other people’s different choices with the assumption that those folks are also prudent and have good reason for doing stuff (unless you’re their spiritual director, in which case it’s your job to be nosy and picky).
(It’s kinda hard to break the Eucharistic fast these days anyway, and so it’s probably better and easier to fast from coffee than not, during the short official time. Those who voluntarily keep a longer fast also have room to voluntarily lighten their fast by drinking coffee, so there’s that.)
If humble OTC coffee is “medicinal,” glazed doughnuts must be prescription worthy.
I think I need to learn Latin so that I can stop using Google to find the meaning of some the phrases you insert. This particular time, while searching for “Auctores scinduntur” I landed on one of the worst examples of “catholic” representation at a major university. I don’t know how to scrub it from my mind now that I’ve seen it.
Timely post, seeming as I’m drinking coffee (unfortunately no mystic monk), whilst reading this. Coffee does actually have proven medicinal properties, particularly for those with asthma, though I can’t remember the exact statistical number, it reduces the severity and frequency of attacks.
I was kidding you know…
As the region of “ill health as excusing” region is a bit of a playground for my personal interior rigorist,
well here we go.
“illness” is, apart from states which we really know are illnesses, if you have a fever (begins at 38 ° C). I’d allow someone with merely an elevated temperature (begins at 37° C) to call himself slightly ill.
“medicine” is what the doctor prescribes to you, and which you then buy at the chemist’s, to take to overcome an illness. If I’ve got a cold (to the point of being really ill), I will sleep the day through and drink lots of tea, quite different from what I’d do in health, but I wouldn’t even call that tea a medicine.
Is coffee medicine? It is, if a doctor ordered to take it because he feels this patient needs his coffee, and for other reasons than “I want a coffee” or “overcome sleepiness” or colloquially so-called “addiction” (and I doubt real addiction to coffee is a phenomenon occurring in any sort of frequency).
– I don’t know, though, if I agree with myself. I might be too harsh.
“Basically, coffee was originally an herbal drink intended to produce medicinal stimulation, focus, and thus calmness. So it would seem that coffee would be permitted during a Eucharistic fast, particularly if you are trying to medicate yourself into a state where one would not crash one’s car and cause harm to others.”
Back then, (we are talking 1600’s), coffee was more of a recreational drug, if anything, in Europe (it was considered medicinal in other parts of the world). Nowadays, coffee is medicinal in the same way that a candy bar is medicinal to a hypoglycemic person – it is a stopgap measure. If one truly needed to be medicated by caffeine to stay awake, then taking a caffeine pill is both licit and does not break the fast (assuming doctor’s permission to take the pill).
So, I don’t find coffee to be, ordinarily, medicinal at this point in history. Before pill technology existed, maybe.
“and I doubt real addiction to coffee is a phenomenon occurring in any sort of frequency”
This is controversial. The psychiatrist’s DSM-V lists coffee as a subject for further study, but it does recognize caffeine withdrawal as a genuine disorder.
The Chicken
I know you were kidding, Kerry. As an avid coffe drinker, I was just seconding Fr. Z.’s grrrrr. In good fun. I think my coffee is finished brewing – gotta go!
Thank you for the timely post, as the last time I fasted, I also included my coffee. The spliting headache and general fatigue made me less than my best at work caring for patients. And the chemicals used for most decaf processes are worse, so I dont suggest that option. I will plan to leave out the creamer.
Wanda, whew, that’s a relief.