From a reader:
Dear Fr. Zuhlsdorf,
I came across “Save the Liturgy, Save the World” and “Say the Black, Do the Red!” while reading Fr. John Lankeit’s bulletin letter to the parishioners at Sts. Simon and Jude Cathedral, Phoenix, Arizona (Diocese of Phoenix; Bp. Thomas Olmsted.) [May he thrive, and his flock with him.] Someone must have given him your mugs! HERE
Fr. Lankeit is a very faithful Catholic priest who has been tirelessly and patiently teaching his flock the truth and the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy ever since he became rector there at SSJ (as we call it.) You may be interested in reading some of his bulletin letters by going to this site: HERE
Thank you so much for your care of Catholics everywhere, by your blog. I find it to be a valuable source for information, affirmation, and solid Catholic teaching. It helps me to appreciate and deepen my own faith.
You are welcome.
Hearty greetings to Fr. Lankeit. I’ll send him a couple more bits of Z-Swag.
What can I say but, Wow! after reading the letter about the “teaching Tuesdays”. Father used the mugs as props to teach his flock lessons about the Mass, but why is this so astounding to us? We should be hearing this type of preaching all the time. As I’ve said so often, knowing the “before and after” (Vat. II, etc.) makes it really painful for me to put up with the lack of reverence. I love the quotes Father uses, especially the one about the priest not changing anything on his own! Maybe I can print out that letter for a priest that says Mass for us frequently. It grates on my nerves that he injects his own words for some of the “black”. Thank you, Father Z, for showing us good things that happen in the Church, and God bless all of you faithful priests!!!
Father, I cannot begin to express how disappointed I was to read the name “Phoenix” and realize that, despite the headline, your mugs had not made it all the way to Phoenicia.
That gives me an idea, though… Have you ever considered a line of ancient-world-themed Z-swag? Surely there are plenty of biblical tie-ins just waiting to happen here.
I wish I had seen this comment a couple of weeks ago before I picked, at random, a church close by where I was staying in Phoenix and where Mass was held in a Catholic Elementary School school gymnasium by a priest who used, I kid you not, a PowerPoint of a ten minute timer during his second homily and had the congregation cue him when his ten minutes was up. And no, I’m sorry to say that wasn’t the only weirdness I witnessed. And no, I’m sorry to say, I’m not kidding about that being his SECOND homily. The first occurred after the Collect when he spent ten minutes explaining the readings we were about to hear. The whole thing felt like a production that you’d see at a “mega” church.
At least his (second) homily was good and he delivered a solid, Catholic, lecture on sin and Reconciliation.
TopSully, I am sorry that you witnessed somewhat mild abuse at a parish in my diocese, but rest assured that the majority of parishes are unlike that. Bishop +Olmsted and his auxiliary +Nevares are leading by gentle example and sometimes bold decrees. +Olmsted wrote a four-part discourse on Singing the Mass, which recommends Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony, and then he went on to implement these liturgical improvements in his own Cathedral parish. He uses the Benedictine altar arrangement for his pontifical Masses and all those held in the Cathedral. Altar boys only at the Cathedral parish, no girls. There is a televised Mass from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral which is available from Faith and Life TV over the Internet and televised on Channel 7-1 KAZT-TV. +Olmsted wrote another pastoral letter on the importance of Penance, called “Apostles of Mercy”.
My parish is not so traditionalist as the Cathedral appears, but it is very conservative and orthodox. Our pastor and his staff run a tight ship! Our music is half OCP, part classic hymns, and part Gregorian Latin chant. There is a crucifix on the altar as well as a magnificent one hung behind it. The tabernacle is front and center. Vestments are always proper, rubrics are always followed, reverence is shown by all! Our pastor and parochial vicar constantly challenge us towards excellence, towards personal holiness, and towards giving glory to God. They are both constantly available for confessions by appointment or drop-in, and we have regularly scheduled Confession times four times a week, and those priests do not leave the box until every last penitent is served.
So I hope that you will reconsider and that this one unpleasant experience in Phoenix does not color your view of the whole diocese.
More notes on my diocese and parish. +Olmsted is a young bishop. It takes time to clean up the mess left by the “Spirit of Vatican II” in any diocese, even one that has been managed well. I don’t know how Phoenix was managed in the last 50 years before I arrived here and returned to the Church in 2001. But our last bishop resigned embroiled in scandal and I am sure that our holy bishops are now meeting with resistance and opposition from laity and demonic forces alike as they evangelize us anew. Everything will be done by incremental improvements, piece by piece, brick by brick, stone by stone.
The Church is built of living stones, and so the first step toward converting her to holiness is converting ourselves little by little, more every day. Soon you find you can take bigger and bolder steps and then you will have come so far, you will wonder how you ever survived long enough to make it here. I am reading two books which our pastor gave out free to the whole parish for Lent: Matthew Kelly’s Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, and Redescubre el Catholicismo. I am not only improving my Spanish, I am learning how to become the-best-version-of-myself, and that means personal sanctity and holiness. If you are a pastor, or you have the ear of one, I suggest going to The Dynamic Catholic Institute and ordering some really cheap books, because you will get much more than you paid for in this deal.
Contemplating worship options during an upcoming business trip to Phoenix with some trepidation, I was consoled to learn of the presence of the FSSP at Mater Misericordiae Mission. To learn that Bishop Olmsted is reforming the practice of the Novus Ordo at the Cathedral only bolsters my consolation. May Heaven defend him and inspire other faithful hierarchs to follow his courageous example!