Would a Personal Prelature by good for SSPX?

A reader sent me to Le Salon Beige for a piece about how the vicar of Opus Dei (a personal prelature) thinks that a personal prelature structure could work for the SSPX:

Prélature personnelle pour la FSSPX : une bonne solution selon l’Opus Dei

Fernando_ocarizTandis que le Saint-Père a déjà indiqué qu’il était disposé à concéder à la Fraternité Saint Pie X le statut de prélature personnelle, cette dernière vient d’avoir le soutien du vicaire auxiliaire de l’Opus Dei. En effet, jusqu’ici, le statut de prélature personnelle, créé par le concile Vatican II (n°10 du décret Presbyterorum ordinis du 7 décembre 1965, Code de droit canonique ), n’a été appliqué que dans le cas de la Prélature de la Sainte-Croix – Opus Dei , érigée par le pape Jean-Paul II en 1982. La FSSPX pourrait devenir la seconde prélature personnelle de l’histoire de l’Église.

Le vicaire auxiliaire de l’Opus Dei, Mgr Fernando Ocáriz Braña, a été interrogé à propos de la possibilité d’octroyer une prélature personnelle à la FSSPX. Il assure que ce serait « une bonne solution ». Le vicaire auxiliaire de l’Opus Dei soutient que

« devant la réalité de centaines de prêtres et de milliers de fidèles dans différents pays, la prélature personnelle apporterait une solution adéquate, car elle est constituée d’un prélat comme ordinaire propre, d’un clergé et de fidèles laïcs » et, par ailleurs, « une structure hiérarchique, avec juridiction ordinaire, sans pour autant constituer une Église particulière ».[…]

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Your Good News

Do you have some good news to share with the readership?

Let us know.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Spain Day 1: Jerónimo and Real Deal

I’m in a city and country I’ve never visited.

Madrid, Spain.

We got in late so we only had a couple snacks.

This morning it was off to the Prado, by way of the nearby church San Jerónimo el Real.

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A glimpse inside.

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I confess to sneaking a photo in the Prado.

Here’s a mighty fine Death of Lucretia by Rosales.   He was influential in the development of history paintings.

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Given that this is the Year of Mercy… HERE is Mercy, friends.   This is what TRUTH did for us.

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The next point…

I know next to nothing about Madrid.

However, later in the week…. BULL FIGHT!

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
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Goals for Faithful Catholics in this time of confusion

A theologian friend feeds me stuff which I occasionally share here with some editing and editorializing.

Perpend:

Cardinal Raymond Burke gave a talk in Rome on May 7. I couldn’t attend, but the great organization, Voice of the Family, who ran the event, have made the speech and a video of it available.  HERE

In his talk, Cardinal Burke had this challenge for all of us:

“I think of so many faithful who express to me their profound concerns for the Church in the present time, when there seems to be so much confusion about fundamental dogmatic and moral truths. In responding to their concerns, I urge them to deepen their understanding of the constant teaching and discipline of the Church and to make their voices heard, [Do I hear an “Amen!”?] so that the shepherds of the flock may understand the urgent need to announce again with clarity and courage the truths of the faith and to apply again with charity and firmness the discipline needed to safeguard the same truths.”

It seems to me that what Cardinal Burke is calling for is two-fold. [NB] The faithful (clergy and laity) should first educate themselves about fundamental dogmatic and moral truths, and secondly they should speak up to bishops in favor of clear, faithful teaching. Let your bishops hear from you. Kasperite bishops have to hear that their line is not shared by the faithful, and Catholic bishops have to hear our support. Generally speaking, conservatives in the Catholic Church are not as good at organizing as are liberals. We need to turn this around.

That last point needs to be underscored. Libs organize better, they show up, they know how to use the system, they work work work work work for their goals. And it is seems that the “Olympian Middle” is veering more and more into the liberal camp as they test the breezes.

One thing I have called for and desired for years here in the Catholic blogosphere is for a halt to the petty squabbling that can prevent those of a more traditional bent to close ranks and create a more united front.

Some of you know who I mean.

Isn’t it time?

UPDATE:

See Fr. John Hunwicke’s post HERE

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ACTION ITEM!, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants |
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Rome – Day 5-6: Processions and Purgatories

The last few days have been a busy blur. But here are a few images from the blur.

First, a shot of the interior of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It is a rare Gothic church, in the hands the hands of the Dominicans, near the Pantheon. Bernini’s famous little elephant is just outside.

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Over at Sant’Agostino, at the tomb of Monica, the mother of Augustine of Hippo.  The woman praying there was pretty focused.

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At the little “Purgatory Church” on the banks of the Tiber, there are some items which show the “touch” of pugatorians.

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In Santa Maria del Popolo, the chapel where two painting by Caravaggio are found, the Crucifixion of Peter and the Conversion of Paul.

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I was on the steps of San Carlo ai Catinari and … here came a procession from S. Maria in Campitelli.

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It was a little disorganized, but that happens.

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At supper, we were given this.

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And I was given that.  Rabbit, of course.

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For the Eucharistic Procession at Ss. Trinita dei Pelegrini, here is the “macchina”.

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I gave a friend my camera and he got some great action photos.

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After the procession, it was off to pack and hop a ride to another country.

 

 

 

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
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Your Corpus Christi sermon, procession notes

What happened where you are for Corpus Christi, or Corpus Domini as it is called in some places, the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord?

Was there a procession?

Was there a good point made in the sermon?

Let us know.

For my part, I will be in a procession in the streets of Rome today.

 

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Brick By Brick in Ohio

From a reader…

Back in December you posted a Brick-by-Brick report about the TLM returning to Athens, OH (HERE) and I just wanted to update you that Fr. Jonas Shell continues to celebrate the TLM weekly on Saturday mornings with a regular attendance of about 20 individuals of various ages. Of particular excitement, however, is that this past Thursday, May 26, Fr. Shell celebrated a High TLM for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Close to 100 individuals attended! Fr. Jonas worked hard for several months to plan and organize this, from training altar servers to forming and preparing a schola that chanted the Ordinaries of the Mass.
This was the first High TLM that I have experienced and I was overcome with awe at how it directs one’s body, mind and soul towards the real focus of the Mass, that is, the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His Real Presence in the Eucharist before us. Indeed, I’m struggling to find words to express what I experienced that evening – “beautiful” falls flat in describing it. As a graduate student at Ohio University, it is a tremendous joy to have this gift of the TLM with a zealous young priest to revive its celebration here in Ohio. I consider myself truly blessed to be able to participate in this great mystery!

God bless you and your work!

At a certain point, you have to take it to the next level.

Again, Fr. Z kudos to them all.

And ¡Hagan lío!

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged
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ACTION ITEM! Survey on Deaconettes! Please help.

In the wake of Pope Francis mentioning a “study” about deaconettes (which I think was already done – but, as they say, “Quis sum ego ut iudicem.”) one of you alert readers alerted me to a survey that the women’s ordination crowd has put up on the interwebs.

It is from the inimitable Future Church!

HERE

I think we should all be as supportive and as helpful as possible, don’t you?

The intro to the survey says:

With the potential for a new discussion about women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, we want to hear from you.

Do you support women deacons? Do you have concerns? Do you feel called or are you discerning a call to the permanent diaconate? Could you recommend other women for this ministry?

Please complete our survey. Twenty-three questions are designed to be answered by both women and men to gauge the level of support for women deacons.  Seven additional questions are directed to women only and inquire about their personal/communal sense of calling to the permanent diaconate.  The * symbol indicates  questions with required answers.

Be careful with Q 5:

5. Please choose the option that most closely describes how you IDENTIFY:

Female
Male

If the Obama Administration and Dems in general are right, you might have to think about that for a long time… and you might be wrong, whichever you choose.   Frankly, I’m surprised there weren’t more options.

Take note of Category 5 in particular:

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There are quite a few questions under 5.    Some of them are a bit dodgy.  For example: they ask if we have questions or concerns about various things.   Most of us, however, probably don’t have questions or concerns about the impact of deaconettes: I’m quite certain that it would be bad.

Anyway, you decide.  Just read the questions carefully and, above all, have fun!

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Liberals, POLLS | Tagged , ,
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Rome – Day 3-4: Anniversary and guts

First, just a nice image from the new camera I am using. The photos are great, but it is a little clunky to get them from the camera to the blog in a timely manner.

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One of my errands on this trip involved the acquisition of tassels for the dalmatics of the Roman vestments we have back in Madison.

I decided on these, which will go with every color that we have.   Each dalmatic, at this point only for the deacon and subdeacon, will have four, two that hang down from the shoulders and two more that cross the back and hand down in the middle.  Eventually I’ll get some for the assisting deacons.

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My bonsai tree guys in the Via dei Coronari!  HERE

Here is a shot from the chapel immediately behind the tomb of St. Philip Neri on my anniversary of ordination.   The vestment is one of 12 that were made at the time of the canonization of the saint.  One of them is on St. Philip’s body now.

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At the altar in his rooms (upstairs – where it is no longer possible to say Mass – a ridiculous decision by the Oratorians) there is a piece of his precordium.

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One of the benefits of Rome on the Feast of St. Philip Neri: strawberries!

These are the little “forest strawberries”, about as big as the end of your finger.  They are, right now, perfect.   Here they are dressed with a touch of lemon and sugar.

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Every restaurant should have a table full of fish.

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Vitello tonnato, good for a hot day.

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This was interesting.   It is a kind of caccio et pepe, but with mentuccia and black truffle.

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Along the street with lots of clerical shops.    Wow… no… just…. no.

We had a private tour of San Clemente from one of the Dominicans who is a reader here.   He gave us a great visit and showed some things that people don’t generally get to see.  Alas, I can’t post photos of a lot of it.  But here is a shot of the courtyard in front of the basilica, which is much like the most ancient church’s courtyard.

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Here is an amazing shot from a balcony.

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And here’s another shot during supper with the same priest.  I was pleased to find rigatoni con la pajata, which involves veal intestine.  Yum.  This is a Roman classic.

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Meanwhile, I’ve had meetings with the Commandant of the Swiss Guard and Card. Burke, and a wonderful anniversary supper with about a dozen friends at Lo Scarpone on the Gianicolo, which concluded with cigars.

I’ll keep those to myself.

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Some ‘Amoris laetitia’ news

I have had notes from priests and from personnel in tribunals saying that people are saying, in effect, “Forget about our annulment case.  Pope Francis says what we are doing is okay.”   Some report as well that even in confession they are getting this sort of thing (without revealing anything specific about any confession, of course, quod Deus avertat).

As I wrote before, Amoris laetitia, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation that has such a troubling 8th chapter, will be misapplied by those who were already inclined to heterodoxy and antinomianism.   I’m afraid that, in many cases, it may be accelerating and helpful to proliferate problems.   Without strong leadership, we will have some real problems which I doubt we will solve in the lifetimes of those who could be putting their souls in peril.

That said…

From the SSPX news and events email:

Fr. Alain Lorans, Editor of DICI comments on a “celebration” inspired by Amoris Laetitia happening in Chicoutimi, Canada.

In a bulletin from St. Anne Chicoutimi parish in Canada this past April we can see the real effects of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The Celebration of Fidelity, which up to now celebrated the silver and gold anniversaries of couples in this formerly Catholic parish in Quebec, was replaced by a “Celebration of Love” announced as follows:

We now wish to welcome all couples who want to celebrate their love and renew their commitment to each other, regardless of the type of their commitment (Catholic marriage, civil marriage, common-law or same-sex partners) and regardless of how many years (1 year, 8 years, 25 years, 57 years, 62 years). We consider any couple’s commitment important.”

Let’s be clear: this is not a celebration of love, but rather the egalitarian celebration of sacramental marriage, legal cohabitation, free unions and homosexual relationships. All couples are put on the same level, all presumably having the same exemplary value.

This is not a celebration of love, it is the love of celebration in itself and for its own sake, devoid of all objective content. All that matters is personal commitment, subjective feeling, and sincerity liberated from the Gospel truth of marriage.

This is how the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia is put into practice in real life. No longer “The Joy of Love”, but the love of joy, emancipated from the Gospel truth of marriage. A sad joy.

Source: DICI no. 336, 27/05/16

Next, the SSPX raised enough money to be able to buy the former convent in Winona, MN, which they have been using as a seminary for many years… without a mortgage.

Comment moderation is ON, of course.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
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