Fr. Z’s Voice Mail and some Hate Mail

I had a question in my VoiceMail from a reader.

I believe what the questioner is asking about is the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary which, I believe, comes in two volumes, a missal for the altar and a lectionary for the ambo.  US HERE – UK HERE   This is for use in the Ordinary Form, or Novus Ordo.

I have a copy of this squirreled away in a box in storage.  It has been a long time since I looked at it.  I always kept a copy in my chapel for visiting priests if they cared to use it.  Since I say mainly the TLM, I don’t have a lot of use for it.  I find the Votive Masses of the Blessed Virgin to be more than sufficient for my purposes.  I often use the “Saturday” votive Masses.  That said, I recall that the prayers within were good.  As a matter of fact, a couple of my friends worked on the creation of that book of Masses, which was issued, if memory serves, at the conclusion of the special Marian Holy Year that St. John Paul declared in 1987.  That year also produced John Paul’s encyclical Redemptoris Mater, one of his programmatic offerings before the Millennium observance.  Also, if memory serves, that was the year that John Paul had the image of Mary placed above St. Peter’s Square.

So, in sum, it is a nice book, a loving expression of devotion to our lady.  Priests and seminarians should at least know about it.

On another note:

When you do what I do, and when you defend the Church’s teachings, you are bound to get hate mail.   The most vicious hate mail comes from libs and homosexuals.

Hate mail is generally divided into a few basic categories, including obscene, mendacious, slanderous, and just plain stupid.  Sometimes a hate mail will check all those boxes and more besides.

Here is a good example of one that checks three of those boxes:

Our bishop and 5 of our pastoral priests met recently concerning restoring our pipe organ and re-doing the altar so the celebrant no longer faces the wall but the people. We got to ordering new vestments which was done. The bishop suggested we check out your site. That is, if we really want to see what gay priests want to wear. The gaudier the better soon it will be boas for all. As they said, all in the likeness of Ratzinger the gayest pope of our time. Evident Bergoglio is not far behind. What will we ever have to do to get rid of you gays and turn the church into the business of salvation and not fornication.

This is in the really stupid category, to be sure, but also the mendacious.   I don’t believe any of that for a moment.

When I get mail like this, I do a little research on the sender.  There are ways.  It doesn’t take long.  Sometimes I find that the haters have written before, often with a different name.  That is the case this time, too.

Here’s what I learned about this hater… I think in California. Of course I can’t be entirely sure about my findings but I’m fairly confident.

This same person – who seems to be into quilting (go figure – unless that’s some sort of smoke screen) wrote in a Yahoo Group on church music:

“Take a giant leap to the Episcopal Church. It has the same basic liturgy in all its facets. For eons it has been known as the church with real music.  They appreciate beautiful organs and those who can play them with distinction and ease. Music is a part of the central theme of this church. Beautiful boy and mixed children’s choirs are the hallmark of this communion. No one has to go into the priesthood due to being gay or lesbian…yes there you will find both men and women priests. Therefore, you don’t get the uptight priests one finds in those churches that are horribly evangelical or R.C.s.”

I found the hater’s email elsewhere, webwise, as well as on a different email to me.

And, hater, good luck with your diabetes.