Category Archives: Priests and Priesthood

ACTION ITEM! Birettas for Seminarians Project ONGOING!

¡Hagan lío! I had a nice note from a reader who met a seminarian recipient of one of your birettas. Here at Fr. Z’s Samizdat, for now I’ll anonymize this “In The Wild” pic.  It is just better that way, … Read More

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM!, In The Wild, Seminarians and Seminaries | Tagged ,
16 Comments

ASK FATHER: Bishops who forbid priests from saying Traditional Latin Mass

From a reader… QUAERITUR: I recently received a question concerning the Traditional Latin Mass. I was asked what can a priest do if his bishop stops him from celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass because he dislikes the TLM or disagrees … Read More

Posted in Canon Law, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged ,
10 Comments

ASK FATHER: Can a priest with little Latin say Mass validly?

From a reader… QUAERITUR: My Latin is not great will an ordinary form mass I celebrate in Latin be valid? Sure, Father, it would be valid. Language is a tricky thing.  There are almost always gaps in our comprehension of … Read More

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Latin, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , ,
15 Comments

GUEST POST: 10 years of ‘Summorum Pontificum’ and its effect on seminarians

A GUEST POST from a reader… I have been meaning to write this for a little while but the holiday gives me a time to reflect on several observations over the past weeks and several years. This in light of … Read More

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM |
17 Comments

ASK FATHER: How to support a seminarian assigned to our parish?

From a reader… QUAERITUR: Our parish has received a terrific seminarian this summer. He comes from a great background and his older brother is a priest so he seems to have a strong support at home. My question is how … Read More

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries | Tagged ,
7 Comments

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.”

Fama volat, it is said.  No aphorism is truer than this when it comes to Rome all the way back to Virgil, who coined it. So, reminding everyone that we are in the realm of Rumor, I’ve been exchanging texts with … Read More

Posted in Canon Law, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries, The Coming Storm, The Drill, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , , ,
30 Comments

Recommended online reading at “These Stone Walls”

Please run, don’t walk, to These Stone Walls, the blog of Fr. Gordon MacCrae, unjustly jailed and innocent of crimes against minors. It’s a long read, and a lurid in many ways, but it reveals the slimy underside of the Accuse–a-Priest … Read More

Posted in Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries | Tagged , ,
3 Comments

UPDATED: A great Father’s Day note from a reader

UPDATE 19 June: Today I have received notes from readers saying that they have spotted this Prayer For Vocations in a couple other places as well.  A comment in the combox, below, speaks of one of them. To wit: [T]he … Read More

Posted in Just Too Cool, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged , ,
4 Comments

Sobering memory of a murdered priest and advice renewed

About three years ago, Fr. Kenneth Walker, FSSP, was murdered in Phoenix and another priest badly injured by assault.  Pray for Fr. Walker.  RIP. At that time I posted the following, which seems no less urgent today than it did … Read More

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, GO TO CONFESSION, Linking Back, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged
9 Comments

The effect of lay participation on the souls of priests

Today during Mass I was struck hard with something, which reinforced an observation I read recently in an email.  In effect, the priestly writer said that priests, who are under constant and insidious attacks by the Devil, are therefore also constantly at … Read More

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , , ,
42 Comments