Monthly Archives: December 2017

ASK FATHER: Antisemitism among “traditionalist” Catholics – UPDATED

UPDATE 31 Dec 2017: The original questioner wrote: Thank you so much for your guidance in response to my query. I had never even considered that my heartache could be used as an opportunity to grow in holiness! Rereading my … Read More

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FINAL DAY for 2017 tax-deductible charitable donations – help a GREAT cause!

Sometimes people want to make donations, but they are not sure about how.  Is the organization doing something good?  The end of the year is upon us.  This is it for 2017 donations. Here’s a pitch for the Tridentine Mass … Read More

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UPDATE: Snail-mail Christmas Cards to Fr. Z – 2017

UPDATE: Dec. 30 More cards… Austen, TX* (prayers) Summit, NJ (thanks, Sisters!) Rome (thanks, Father!) Cincinatti, OH (cool stamps) Bridgewater, MA Davenport, IA (thanks, Father, and congratulations) London (I really look forward to a visit there) Newinton, CT San Diego, … Read More

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WDTPRS – Sunday 31 Dec – Holy Family: We must pray that God be appeased.

Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, in the Novus Ordo calendar, is the Feast of the Holy Family.  In the traditional calendar, the Feast of the Holy Family will be celebrated on Sunday, 7 January. Our liturgical, seasonal context is … Read More

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
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ACTION ITEM! 31 DEC & 1 JAN – New Year’s Plenary INDULGENCES ALERT!

FATHERS!  Tell your people. Catholics can gain a Plenary Indulgence on New Year’s EVE, 31 December (EnchInd. 26) be the recitation or the singing of the Te Deum. To gain the indulgence the usual following conditions must be met. 1. Sacramental confession … Read More

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Nuntii Latini: Finis transmissioni Latinae imminebat… NON!

My good friend His Hermeneuticalness posted on Twitter: Ne umquam desperaveris: YLE Latin news show saved – for now. https://t.co/f1VG9nUzff https://t.co/hklBAcipKv — Fr Timothy Finigan (@FatherTF) December 30, 2017 And so I rushed to find out what was what. HERE … Read More

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ASK FATHER: Prefaces “ad libitum” in the 1962 Roman Missal

From a reader… QUAERITUR: Father, what is this “Prefatio ad Libitum” in some 1962 Missals? I saw Prefaces for Advent, Sundays Throughout The Year, etc. May these be used in the Extraordinary Form? Thank you so much for answering my … Read More

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CHICAGO: 30 Dec. – Solemn Mass @ststanschurch and a word from the pastor on ‘ad orientem’ worship

This afternoon there is to be a Solemn Mass at the beautiful and massive St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Chicago (NB: at the time of this writing, their website comes up with music… grrrr).   They are celebrating their 150th year. They … Read More

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The future and our choices, Turn Towards The Lord | Tagged , ,
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Blessing smart phones. Wherein Fr. Z rants about blessings and demons and present day stupidity.

Yes, I have blessed smart phones, tablets and computers. Consultation with exorcists will inform you that demons are really good at infesting electronic equipment.  I’ve heard enough scary stories from exorcists about that to leave me cautious and, at times, … Read More

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", "How To..." - Practical Notes, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Wherein Fr. Z Rants |
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The “Unfinished Vespers” of St. Thomas Becket – 1170

For St. Thomas Becket. A reader – who picked this up from Jeffrey Morse – writes: More bloodshed remembered on this 5th day of Christmas- St Thomas (Becket) of Canterbury- murdered in his Cathedral during the singing of Vespers on … Read More

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ASK FATHER: Penance on Friday in the Octave of Christmas

I’ve been texting with a Famous Catholic Author™ about today, a Friday in the Christmas Octave, and the obligation to do penance.  I’ve received email about it, too. The Octave of Christmas does not have the “weight” of the Octave … Read More

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USCCB: Created Male and Female: An Open Letter from Religious Leaders

I was alerted to something interesting on the website of the USCCB.  The bishops posted a letter signed by religious leaders of various groups.  HERE  My emphases. Created Male and Female: An Open Letter from Religious Leaders December 15, 2017 … Read More

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The future and our choices | Tagged , , ,
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Warning: you might not get through it dry-eyed

I posted this under my Childermas entry, but it deserves attention on its own. Here is a reworking of Lully Lulla Lullay by Philip Stopford.  It’s about the Holy Innocents. Warning: you might not get through it dry-eyed, especially when the … Read More

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28 Dec – Childermas: “They were the Church’s first blossoms” – Holy Innocents

Monday was Christmas. Today is Childermas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The “Coventry Carol”, a lullaby of mothers to doomed children, dates to the 16th century. It was part of a Mystery Play, “The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors”, about chapter … Read More

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Benedict XVI penned a letter for Card. Müller’s 70th birthday.

Pope Benedict has written a longish letter to Card. Müller, once Prefect of the CDF and now… Card. Müller, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The German text is HERE. The letter was written for a “Festschrift”, a commemorative … Read More

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Prophetic words from 1966 about the post-Conciliar state of the Church

Put aside everything else and go to First Things. They have reprinted a piece written for The Tablet in May 1966… 1966… by Christopher Derrick, a student of CS Lewis and WWII RAF pilot. He writes … in 1966… of how the … Read More

Posted in Cri de Coeur, Hard-Identity Catholicism, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
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ACTION ITEM! Fr. Z calls for help for a wrongly imprisoned priest

It is possible that not all of you noticed a special feature in my “Christmas cards received” entry, which I am occasionally updating. Fr. Gordon MacRae – falsely accused, unjustly imprisoned – sent me a kind Christmas card. At his … Read More

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ASK FATHER: Mary was an “unwed mother”? The Holy Family were “refugees”?

From a reader… QUAERITUR: At this time of year the inevitable ‘Mary was an unwed mother‘ and The Holy Family’s flight into Egypt makes them migrants sermons are very confusing. Can you clarify these interpretations? Or recommend a source that … Read More

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Nuncio in Switzerland, “The Old Latin Mass is the future of the Church”

From Gloria.TV: “The Old Latin Mass is the future of the Church”, Archbishop Thomas Gullickson (67), the nuncio to Switzerland and former nuncio to the Ukraine, said in September during a meeting with old rite priests in Sankt Pelagiberg, Switzerland. … Read More

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Father’s “shred clinic”

With a tip of the biretta to Rev. Mr. Kandra (open invitation to him to be the deacon in a Solemn Mass sometime). In answer to his question: No, I can’t do that.  And he makes it look easy. Fr. … Read More

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