Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Nancy “The Theologian” Pelosi on Pope Francis

Posted on 24 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), abortion-absolutist and these USA’s prime candidate for the proper application of can. 915, has opined on Pope Francis!

I am sure you are with child to learn of her wisdom.

You may remember Nancy from her triumphant theological debut. HERE and HERE

And remember her recent comment that abortion is “sacred ground”? HERE

From CNS:

Pelosi: Pope Francis ‘Starting to Sound Like a Nun’

Nancy "The Theologian" Pelosi, Abortion-Absolutist, can. 915 Candidate, Democrat

(CNSNews.com) – Pope Francis is “starting to sound like a nun,” [Pope Francis warned nuns not to wind up being “old maids… zitelle and showed his disdain for “female machismo”.]said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic, when asked about some of the Pope’s recent remarks concerning issues such as abortion and homosexuality.In a Sept. 22 interview on CNN’s Situation Room, host Candy Crolwey asked Pelosi, “Before we go, Pope Francis is calling for a new balance between the chruch’s spiritual and political missions. He says the Catholic Church should not interfere spiritually in the lives of gays. [Is that what he said? I think not. His comment about “interfering” meant that the Church can propose, not force the will. But let’s go on.] He also called for a larger decision-making role for Catholic women. We ask Nancy Pelosi , one of the nation’s most prominent Catholics, for her reaction.”

Pelosi said, “Starting to sound like a nun. The Pope is starting to sound like the nuns.” [She has probably gotten her information about Francis from HuffPo or Slate.]

[Laugh Line Warning!] “Now, his Holiness is obviously a very revered figure,” said Pelosi. “I was there for his inauguration. And I being Catholic believed that he was chosen Pope by the intercession of the Holy Spirit, so I pay attention to what he says. [LOL! Pelosi pays attention to what Popes say?] And I can tell you that there is great joy among Catholics and friends of Catholics as to respect that his Holiness pays to all of God’s creation and members of the church and then beyond that. It’s really quite remarkable. It’s a source of joy to us all.” [The other day, Nancy, the Pope talked about the unborn babies who, though not yet seen in the light of day, have the face of the Lord. YOU Nancy, are an abortion-absolutist. Are you still paying attention to Pope Francis?]

When Crowley mentioned that the Pope’s remarks might not be “a source of joy to all Catholics because I’ve seen conservative Catholics express some reservations about it,” Pelosi said, “I don’t know about them because certainly when it was another Pope who had something else to say, they wanted to hold us all to it.” [Hypocrite.]

[…]

UPDATE:

Over at American Catholic my friend The Motley Monk has posted about Ms. Pelosi’s track record.

He reminds us of what Card. Burke said:

Speaking truth to power, Cardinal Burke minced no words:

What Congresswoman Pelosi is speaking of is not particular confessional beliefs or practices of the Catholic Church. It belongs to the natural moral law which is written on every human heart and which the Catholic Church obviously also teaches: that natural moral law which is so wonderfully illumined for us by Our Lord Jesus Christ by His saving teaching, but most of all by His Passion and death.

To say that these are simply questions of Catholic faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong. I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life.

For this violation of Canon 915, Cardinal Burke asserted that Ms. Pelosi must be denied Communion.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Lighter fare | Tagged abortion, can. 915, Card. Burke, Nancy Pelosi, Pope Francis
14 Comments

Loose cannon (now former) priest has been excommunicated

Posted on 24 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

“Pope Francis is just, like, he’s just the most wonderfullest Pope, like, EHvur!”

So, the liberals gush, completely ignoring what Francis is about.

And so we turn out attention down-under, where a loose cannon of a priest ran amok for years, eventually to be suspended. He has now received his decree of excommunication.

From The Age a whiny article by the perennial Church basher Barney Zwartz:

Dissident priest Greg Reynolds has been both defrocked [not a technical term] and excommunicated over his support for women priests and gays – the first person ever excommunicated in Melbourne, he believes. [But, we wonder, will he be the last?]

The order comes direct from the Vatican, not at the request of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, and apparently follows a secret denunciation in the best traditions of the inquisition, according to Father Reynolds. [OOOPS! Not “Father” Reynolds anymore.]

The excommunication document – written in Latin and giving no reason – [The reasons have been made abundantly clear in previous correspondence.] was dated May 31, meaning it comes under the authority of Pope Francis who made headlines on Thursday calling for a less rule-obsessed church. [There we go again. Francis talks about focusing less on “small-minded” rules, and suddenly liberals think there are no longer any rules… except the rules they impose.]

Father Reynolds, who resigned as a parish priest in 2011 and last year founded Inclusive Catholics, said he had expected to be laicised (defrocked), [Getting it wrong again. “Laicized” is not a real term either. He has been dismissed from the clerical state.] but not excommunicated. But it would make no difference to his ministry. [It may not make a difference to the Reynoldian Church, but it may make a difference at his judgment.]

”In times past excommunication was a huge thing, but today the hierarchy have lost such trust and respect,” he said.

”I’ve come to this position because I’ve followed my conscience on women’s ordination and gay marriage.”

[…]

There is more about this sad train-wreck at The Age.

Let the record show that Pope Francis, the destroyer of small-minded rules, the leveler of right-wingers, the newly-minted hero of atheists and gays who has put aside all that medieval stuff about dogma in favor of luv, still knows how to sign a decree.

Remember, friends, Popes do not govern the Church through interviews.

When they want to teach or to govern, they know how to use the proper means.

Posted in Francis, Liberals, The Drill | Tagged excommunication, Greg Reynold. Archd. Melbourne
15 Comments

Liberal over-reaction to The Big Interview

Posted on 24 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the Catholic League a reaction to liberal over-reaction to TBI™ (aka The Big Interview).

Pope “Hates Dogma”

September 23, 2013
Bill Donohue discusses the way the left is responding to Pope Francis:

If ever there were any doubt that the Catholic left and the secular left have much in common, it is doubted no more. Consider that Jane Fonda [aka Hanoi Jane] tweeted this weekend that Pope Francis “hates dogma,” and that today we learned from Fordham theologian Michael Peppard that while the pope “is a lover of traditional prayers and books,” the “old Q-and-A Baltimore Catechism is not among them.” Of course, neither quoted the pope as making these comments, and that’s because he never did. [ASIDE: We should bring back Q&A catechism, and that right soon.]

Whoopi Goldberg, who has made a career criticizing the pope’s predecessors, loves Pope Francis because he said, according to her, that atheists are going to heaven. On the website of the New Republic, we find out that New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, outed today in the New York Times as a former Marxist, [The only good Marxist is an ex-Marxist.] shares with the pope a fondness for liberation theology (never mind that just last week it was reported that the pope’s exchange with the Peruvian father of liberation theology was “serious and sharp”). [Think about having a “serious and sharp” exchange with a pope. Whom you do think would be easier on you B16, or Francis? I’ll take B16 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.]

Homosexual Catholics and secularists have never been happier about a pope. New York Times columnist Frank Bruni is literally screaming “Hallelujah.” Pundit Andrew Sullivan is “still reeling” about the pope’s published interview of last week, exclaiming this is “The Rebirth of Catholicism.” [Risus abundant in ore stultorum.] The Human Rights Campaign, a gay activist group, is heralding the “transformative change” that the pope is bringing. Perhaps they think the pope is going to host a gay dance in the Vatican.

Frances Kissling, the pro-abortion ex-Catholic, says “the bishops have been part of the problem.” What problem? Making the abortion debate “ugly.” James Salt of Catholics United, a dissident front group, [for the First Gay President] is also trying to drive a wedge between the bishops and the pope. Sister Simone “Nuns-on-the-Bus” Campbell commends the pope for “saying that the Gospel cannot be used to benefit one political party.” This from the same woman who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Stay tuned for more. They’re coming out of the woodwork.

Liberals are throwing spittle-flecked nutties of unconsidered joy.

Eventually they will sober up and figure out what he is really saying. They will turn on him sooner or later, though after all this precipitous adulation it’ll be hard to do so and continue to appear even slightly reasonable.

Posted in Francis, Liberals, The Drill, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged Catholic League, interview, Pope Francis
27 Comments

An article with critical observations about The Big Interview

Posted on 23 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I direct the readership’s attention to an article at First Things, by R.R.Reno concerning TBI (aka The Big Interview™).

It is provocative. We need to work through it.

A few samples.

[…]

[T]he tone is mobile, the rhetoric fluid, and he uses terms and phrases from the standard playbook of progressive reform. Thus, the media’s reading of the interview isn’t willful.

When Pope Francis was elected a friend asked me what to expect. “Strap on your seatbelt,” I replied. The comment didn’t reflect any special knowledge of Jorge Bergoglio. But I know Jesuits. They tend to be extremists of one sort or another. They’re trained to speak plainly, directly, and from the heart rather than according to the standard script.

Many passages in this interview reflect Pope Francis’ identity as a Jesuit.

[…]

A key passage involves his image—a very helpful one—of the Church as “a field hospital after battle.” He observes that in such a circumstance we need to focus on healing as best we can. Some of the protocols and procedures fitting for a hospital operating in times of peace need to be set aside.

He then digresses into fairly extensive reflections on what the Church needs in the way of pastoral leadership in this situation: “pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.” We’re not to allow ourselves to fixate on “small things, in small-minded rules.” The Church needs to find “new roads,” “new paths,” and “to step outside itself,” something that requires “audacity and courage.”

These and other comments evoke assumptions that are very much favored by the Left, which is why the interview has been so warmly received, not only by the secular media, but also by Catholics who would like the Church to change her teachings on many issues. [His message was adapted, made apt, for that audience.]

[HOWEVER… there are consequences…] Such comments by Francis do not challenge but instead reinforce America’s dominant ideological frame. It’s one in which Catholics loyal to the magisterium are “juridical” and “small-minded.” They fear change, lacking the courage to live “on the margins.” I heard these and other dismissive characterizations again and again during my twenty years teaching at a Jesuit university. One of my colleagues insisted again and again that the greatest challenge we face in the classroom is “Catholic fundamentalism,” when in fact very few students today even know the Church’s teachings, much less hold them with an undue ardency.

It’s in this context that Pope Francis makes extended observations about the profound pastoral challenge of ministering to gay people today, to which he adds the personal statement that he cannot judge a homosexual person who “is of good will and is in search of God.” He also speaks of other pastoral challenges: a divorced woman who has also had an abortion. These are subtle remarks, and necessary ones.

He sums up this section with statements about the witness of the Church today. They are the ones most often quoted: “We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.” “It is not necessary to talk about these issue all the time.”

In themselves these statements are obvious and non-controversial. Since my entry in the Catholic Church in 2004, I have heard some homilies on abortion, gay marriage, and even one on contraception. But these are infrequent. For the most part priests expound the mystery of Christ, which, as Pope Francis emphasizes, is the source and foundation of our faith. Without Christ at the center, the Church’s moral teachings can quickly become mere moralism.

But Pope Francis has been undisciplined in his rhetoric, casually using standard modern formulations, ones that are used to beat up on faithful Catholics—“audacity and courage” means those who question Church teachings, the juxtaposition of the “small-minded” traditionalists to the brave and open liberals who are “in dialogue”, and so forth. This gives everything he says progressive connotations. [Undeniably true.] As a consequence, American readers, and perhaps European ones as well, intuitively read a progressivism into Pope Francis’ statements about abortion, gay marriage, and contraception. Thus the headlines. [One might suggest that TBI uncut the USCCB with a scythe.]

This is not helpful, at least not in the field hospital of the American Church. [NB] We face a secular culture that has a doctrine of Unconditional Surrender. [A “liberal” is a person with whom you are free to agree.] It will not accept “talking less” about abortion, gay marriage, and contraception. The only acceptable outcome is agreement—or silence. Dialogue? Catholic higher education has been doing that for fifty years, and the result has been the secularization of the vast majority of colleges and universities. Today at Fordham or Georgetown, the only people talking about contraception, gay rights, or gay marriage are the advocates. [I had to ask myself what a lot of people wrote to me after TBI: “Where are all these priests preaching too much about contraception?”]

The Holy Father is trying to find his way—we’re all trying to find our way—in a sometimes (but not always, as he rightly emphasizes) hostile secular culture. That Francis will make mistakes is certain. He says as much himself. I think he has in this interview.

[…]

There is more, but you should go over there and look at it.

Reno brings up some good points and we have to be ready to deal with them.

I regard to “Unconditional Surrender” I respond…

HELL NO!

BE THE MAQUIS!

On a different level, persevere and resist oppression. Be the Maquis!

Posted in Be The Maquis, Francis, Liberals, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged Be The Maquis, First Things, interview, Pope Francis, R.R. Reno
80 Comments

More Padre Pio joy on his feast – Musical Setting of his “Prayer” (VIDEO)

Posted on 23 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have an affection for Padre Pio. My bishop, retired now, was the “ponente” of the cause of St. Pio when he was still a member of the Congregation for Causes of Saints. I got a good look at the many volumes of the positio for the cause and heard some great anecdotes.

Here is something that you may not be aware of.

I am sure you have heard of the great (living) composer of both secular and sacred music James MacMillan. Among the fine music has has written is, just as an example, the Tu Es Petrus we heard when Benedict XVI entered Westminster Cathedral during his state visit to England.

MacMillan wrote music in honor of St. “Padre” Pio! It is sung by no less than The Sixteen. Alas, it might be a little hard to get your hands on. I have it and I will listen to it today, as I have a bit of a drive.

It is a setting of his “Prayer” HERE.

HERE, however, is a choir singing the Prayer:

Meanwhile,

Posted in Just Too Cool, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged James MacMillan, Padre Pio, St. Pio
5 Comments

Another feminist attacks Pope Francis.

Posted on 23 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The feminists who can read, and there aren’t that many, have figured out Pope Francis and they don’t like him.

They are already subtly trashing him. However, they know they are going against a populist icon. They don’t have a chance with this, of course. They have sized up both their enemy and their audience. Therefore, their strategy is not going to be an all out assault. They say things like, “He has to ‘learn’ a few things about women, etc.” In undermining Francis, feminists have to walk a tightrope. They have to appear not to be wholly unreasonable.

Here is a great example.

Behold Mary E. Hunt, an old war horse of the feminist movement.

Mary delivers – at length – three things about Francis that she likes and three that she doesn’t like. Actually, three things that leave her “warm” or “cold”.

Guess which set she thinks is more important?

So, this is another exercise in the feminist attack on Francis. You saw Sr. Maureen Fiedler’s attack on him the other day. HERE If you want to have an amusing and, dare I say, nostalgic review of how old feminists think, have a look.

You go against Francis at your own peril. He will be, after all, TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year”.

Posted in Francis, Liberals, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged feminism, Mary E. Hunt, Pope Francis
26 Comments

A Prayer of St. “Padre” Pio

Posted on 23 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Feast of St. “Padre” Pio.

Here is a prayer of Padre Pio.

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes, death, judgement, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!

Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.

Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it, but, the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.

Amen

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Padre Pio, St. Pio
9 Comments

Where is this “archconservative” Church? I’d like to visit it someday!

Posted on 23 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw at the Omaha World Herald a funny analysis of the “Francis Effect”. It’s funny, but not because it is humorous. The piece combines information from those bastions of objective reporting on Church matters, AP and the New York Times (aka Hell’s Bible).

I enjoyed this line:

Eileen Burke-Sullivan, a Creighton University associate professor of theology, said the pope’s comments are a dramatic example of his continuing effort to set a more merciful tone for the church.

“All too often, the Catholic Church comes across as heavy-handed, archconservative and uncaring,” said Burke-Sullivan.

Archconservative? Perhaps Elieen lives on another planet. WHERE is the Church anywhere close to “archconservative”.

Maybe she thinks the Church is “archconservative”, compared to her own notions, but the claim that the Catholic Church manifests itself as “archconservative”, even when raising her voice in the midst of US policy battles, is risible.

Where is this “archconservative” Church? I’d like to visit it someday!

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Francis, Liberals, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged archconservative, Eileen Burke-Sullivan, liberals
24 Comments

PODCAzT 137: Augustine on bad pastors; Sermon in the wake of Pope Francis’ interview

Posted on 22 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the time of this writing it is still the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, aka the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

It has been just a few days since the release of The Big Interview with Pope Francis.

In today’s PODCAzT, I give you a taste of St. Augustine of Hippo’s monumental sermon 46, “De pastoribus… On pastors“. Augustine explores Ezechiel’s comments on the shepherds of the Lord’s flock. The portion of Augustine I drill into, with an introduction about Donatism, is taken from the Liturgy of the Hours for this Sunday’s Office of Readings.

What I call: The biography of Augustine Pope Benedict would have wanted to write.

One of the things that Augustine (and I) stresses in the Donatist heresy, that lead to the schism of a false church of the “pure”, is the materialistic error about sacraments. Their heresy lead to schism, a sanctimonius pitting of altar against altar.

By coincidence, there is overlap with the Scripture readings from today’s Mass in the Extraordinary Form and the Office of Readings in the Ordinary Form, as will become plain.

Finally, I offer my sermon for the Extraordinary Form Mass I celebrated this day, the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, 2013.

I talk about reactions to Pope Francis and about what adjustments we are going to have to make and why.

WARNING: Sometimes, I don’t know why, the podcast just stops. What I have done, is simply scroll to the end to help the whole thing download. You can download it, too.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The "Kyrie" was from this album, from the Canons at Sant'Antimo - CLICK

Posted in Francis, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, Patristiblogging, PODCAzT, Sermons, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged interview, paralytic man, podcast, PODCAzT, Pope Francis, St. Augustine, TBI
19 Comments

QUAERITUR: Why are SSPX Masses valid, but not marriages or absolutions?

Posted on 21 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Fr Z, can you help me out with the why here and right terms.. I’m missing a piece of the puzzle?

A priest was asking me a question, regarding another person who is coming from the SSPX back to normative situation… My wife is asking about the question of licit, validity and faculties and jurisdiction.

Here’s the deal.

The priests of the SSPX are validly ordained. They celebrate Mass illicitly but validly. In normal situations they do not validly absolve, because they lack faculties to absolve (because faculties are necessary – in addition to valid ordination – to absolve validly). They cannot act as proper witnesses to marriages, because they are not recognized as such by the Church. A proper witness is require by the Church for the form of marriage.

How to sort this out? Let’s try it this way.

Not all sacraments are juridic acts, and not all juridic acts are sacraments but, as in the classic Venn Diagram, some sacraments are juridic acts.

A juridic act (canons 124-128) is a human act by which a person, capable in law, observing the requisite formalities, manifests his intention to bring about a certain juridic effect.

For example, baptism is both a juridic act, and a sacrament. A juridic effect is intended (incorporation into the Church). Formalities are observed. The person, capable in law, manifests his intention to baptize (he uses the proper matter and form). The Church, in her clemency and her desire that no one be denied baptism, extends jurisdiction to confer baptism to “any person who has the requisite intention” (can. 861§2). So, while bishops, priests, and deacons are the ordinary ministers of baptism, anyone – even an unbaptized person – is capable in law of baptizing validly.

Confirmation, Marriage, Penance, and Holy Orders are the other sacraments which are simultaneously juridic acts. Reception of these sacraments changes a person’s juridic status in the Church. The Church is more restrictive about who can administer these four sacraments. Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion/Eucharist are not juridic acts. Reception of these sacraments does not change a person’s juridic status in the Church.

Absolution of sins after Confession is a juridic act. The priest, the confessor, acts in persona Christi and judges the penitent. Remember that the confessional has the aspect of a tribunal. The confessor/judge absolves and lifts the sin from the penitent. Confessors also at times lift censures. As a juridic act, it can only be done by someone capable in law. The Church has restricted this, not because the Church wants to make penance less available to people, but rather in order to ensure that the faithful are getting the best possible pastoral care and that they remain within the fold of the Church. Thus, the Church gives faculties, permission, jurisdiction, to act in this way, to use his priestly abilities in a performing a sacramental act which is also a juridical act.

With marriage, there’s an added wrinkle. The ministers of the sacrament of marriage are the parties who get married. The spouses are the ministers of the sacrament of matrimony. Therefore, for a valid marriage to be effected, they are required to be “capable in law”. For example, a couple of thirteen year-olds are not capable of marriage. Someone already married is not capable of marriage. Other capabilities are more relational. For example, Sempronius may be capable of marriage, but he is not capable of marrying his sister, Caia. Neither is Sempronius capable of marrying Titus). For Catholics, an additional burden must be met. For a Catholic to marry validly, he or she must marry before an authorized witness, usually a bishop, priest, or deacon.

The priest or deacon or bishop who officiates at a Catholic wedding is there, necessarily, as the Church’s official witness to ensure that the proper form is followed, etc. The Church tightly restricts the ability of clergy to officiate at weddings. Priests who have the ordinary faculty, the jurisdiction, the permission from the Church, to witness marriages, are limited to doing so within the territory of the parish where they are the pastor, the parish priest. If they go outside their territory, they need the express permission of the pastor in whose territory they are witnessing a marriage. If they don’t have that permission, the marriage would be invalid because it would lack one of the essential requirements for marriage. The pastor of the parish (or the bishop, the vicar general, or an episcopal vicar with jurisdiction in the area) can delegate to another priest the jurisdiction, the faculty, to witness the marriage. He should do so in writing. If the delegation cannot be proven, the marriage might well be invalid!

Let’s track back to the question.

The priests of the Society of Pius X, may be holy, generous, stalwart, good men and priests. I have met some. I have been favorably impressed. However, they lack the jurisdiction to hear confessions or officiate at weddings. No proper authority has given them the faculties to act for the Church. When it comes to certain sacraments that are also juridic acts, that makes all the difference.

Celebration of Mass, recall, is a sacramental act but not also simultaneously a juridic act. That is one reason why when a priest without faculties says Mass, the Mass is illicit – illegal – but it is still sacramentally valid.

Although some separated or independent priests may have cobbled together a way, in the depths of their own conscience, to justify their continued practice of hearing invalid confessions and officiating invalidly at weddings, nevertheless – objectively – they lack the necessary faculties to do so for validity.

How important it is that we continue to pray for and work for unity in our Church.