There is a semi-cute video out there which explains in a nutshell “How To Become Pope”. The video has a flawed premise in that the priesthood, episcopacy, cardinalate, and papacy are described in terms of a career path for those who want to “climb the corporate ladder”, the short video is amusing. There are also a couple flaws in terminology and procedure which some of you will catch. But… beh… it’s amusing.
Who will catch the Monty Python allusions?
From a reader:
I have had a discussion with a good traditional Catholic that has told me going out to eat after Mass on Sundays, or for that matter any Holy Day of Obligation, is a sin against the 3rd commandment. I contended it is not and that Catechism specifically calls out restaurants. What is your take on this? Is it licit to go out to eat after Mass?
Article 2187 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church envisions the necessity – and propriety- of restaurants being open on Sundays in light of the 3rd Commandment of the Decalogue (that’s “The Ten Commandments” for people in Columbia Heights).
I quote:
2187 Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort. Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord’s Day. Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure. With temperance and charity the faithful will see to it that they avoid the excesses and violence sometimes associated with popular leisure activities. In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees.
If one chooses to patronize a restaurant which remains open on Sunday, and one tips one’s waiter or waitress well, one is consistent with Catholic social teaching.
If one owns a restaurant and chooses to keep it closed on Sunday, giving the workers a day off (preferably paid), then one one is consistent with Catholic social teaching.
If one owns a restaurant and chooses to keep it open on Sunday, but makes provisions to ensure that workers have opportunities to attend Holy Mass and also have time for the due relaxation of mind and body, one is consistent with Catholic social teaching.
So, the next time you have a discussion with traditional Catholics, consider meeting after Mass at a restaurant for lunch and some discussion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I have been posting about Re-Electing Ratzinger as Pope. In fact the “Committee to Re-Elect The Pope” issued bumper stickers and magnets, yard signs and buttons HERE.
So, be sure to make a point about papal continuity and get your gear!
With affection and appreciation.
Click HERE for bumper stickers, car magnets, even yard signs and car flags.
And we have to have some Latin…
And just for nice…
and of course…
There are buttons and round magnets.
You can get them individually or in pack to hand out to friends.
UPDATE:
I just received this:
Dear Father Z, We love our new Reelect Benedict car magnet!
Regarding the sticker, our middle son, Joseph (15 tomorrow) said, “I would be happy if that was all I got for my birthday.”Joseph will be taking the name Benedict at his confirmation in May.
We don’t know how long the magnet will last in this neck of the woods!
(Our Catholics Come Home magnet was swiped!)
From a reader:
I am a Candidate for Holy Orders as I prepare for ordination to the diaconate in 2015. We are being told that as deacons we are ministers of the Cup. For our formators this means when there are EMHC we should distribute the Precious Blood. Here is the question, how far do we take this phrase within the Liturgy? It seems odd for an ordinary minister to be set off to the side with the chalice while an EMHC distributes the Body of the Lord next to the priest.
Oh, that phrase… “minister of the cup” makes my eyes and ears bleed. It’s better than “minister of the wine”, I guess.
I once wrote about Archbishop Sample’s letter on the diaconate (HERE) and his pertinent comment that the primary role of a deacon is not a liturgical one.
That said, a deacon is an ordinary minister of Holy Communion. If present at Mass, the deacon should assist with the distribution unless there are enough priests or there is no need for a second minister other than the priest (probably the case most of the time).
Some liturgists talk about the deacon as “minister of the cup” but it is hard to see good reasons for that other than aesthetics (priest with the hosts, deacons with the Precious Blood). Holy Communion is Holy Communion.
Whether one is distributing front and center where everyone can see, or off to the side, anyone is privileged to be administering the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ. Where a person is standing, or which accidents in which Our Lord has hidden his substance one is chosen to distribute does not alter that reality.
Since you seem to be preparing to be ordained as a transitional deacon, your liturgical role ought to be emphasized. (That is not to suggest that permanent deacons are not as much deacons.) Yet, a transitional deacon’s role is ancillary to the priest,’s. It seems to me appropriate that – if Holy Communion is being distributed under both species – you (transitional deacon, that is) be positioned near the priest… if for no other reason than to observe and learn.
We read that – because of allegations “of inappropriate behaviour towards priests dating from the 1980s” – His Eminence Keith Card. O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, is resigning his see and will not participate in the conclave even though he has not yet turned 75.
115 Electors now.
My friend Fr. Robert Pasley of Mater Ecclesiae parish in Berlin, NJ sent this:
We, at Mater Ecclesiae, in Berlin NJ, owe a great debt of thanks to Pope Benedict XVI. We will always have a very special place for him in our hearts. On Wednesday, February 27, the day before his abdication, we will have an evening of thanksgiving to Almighty God for all he has done and offer our loving prayers for him. The schedule is as follows:
7:00PM –Penitential Procession singing the penitential psalms – for the intention of obtaining the Lord’s mercy during Lent and these very difficult times.
7:30PM – A Solemn Mass offered for Pope Benedict XVI and in thanksgiving for his humble and profound Pontificate. The Propers of the Mass will be for Wednesday of the second week of Lent, with two commemorations –one for the Pope, and the other in thanksgiving. The complete musical repertoire has not yet been finalized, but the Tu es Petrus by Palestrina will be sung at the End of Mass in Honor of Pope Benedict XVI.
May God bless him and keep him. May our Lady, Mater Ecclesiae, always watch over him. Long live the Pope!
Viva il Papa!
From a reader:
I talked to our parish Director of Liturgy today about our 12 (!) Eucharistic Ministers who routinely bless children and adults. She informed me that this has been approved by our bishop, and then berated me for my lack of charity (apparently I don’t want little children to receive blessings).
She went on to say if the practice was wrong, then it is the Vatican’s fault for not letting the American bishops know. [So, anytime “the Vatican” is silent about some particular thing, it is permitted? That’s just dumb.]Should I pursue this by writing to the Vatican…at the risk of getting everyone in my parish mad at me?
Please VOTE daily!
It has been said that liturgists are raised up by God so that those who have not yet had the opportunity to suffer for the Faith may do so.
Anything that confuses the roles of lay people and priests (or deacons) should be avoided.
While it is true that any person can ask God to bless anyone else, and while it is true that parents should bless their children, lay people cannot bless in the manner of priests. Lay people ought not do anything which resembles blessing in the manner of the priest, such as making the sign of the Cross over people as a priest would do. That’s bad. B-A-D.
To suggest that lay people bless in the manner of a priest reveals a lack of understanding of their roles and dignity. Many people think that for lay people to have “dignity” or “equality” in the Church, they must do things that pertain to the priest. This is the same as saying that lay people have no dignity of their own unless they imitate priests. That is a form of clerical condescension.
The moment of Holy Communion is NOT the proper time to give blessings.
There is nothing wrong with blessings. Blessings are good! However, in the sacred action of the Mass, there are times for things in their proper order. Communion time is for Communion. The old adage is “ubi maior, minor cessat… where the greater things is, the lesser thing gives way.” At the end of Mass the priest is supposed to impart a blessing. That is the time for blessing people during Mass. Communion time for Communion. Blessing time for blessing.
Also, take a look at this good entry HERE, wherein many of the issues about blessings at Mass are covered.
A quote:
In 2008, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments received a letter asking precisely this question. The congregation responded in a private reply with five observations on why this practice is not permitted.
That entry also deals with the issue of large numbers of unnecessary ministers of Communion.
If you wanted to write a respectful letter to the pastor of the parish or to the local bishop asking by what authority lay people are giving blessings in the manner of a priest at Holy Communion time, you might get an answer back, in writing. Save it and all correspondence on the matter. I have tips for writing to ecclesiastical authorities HERE.
UPDATE 25 Feb 16:49 GMT:
Over at his place, Rev. Mr. Kandra has chimed in:
[…] when confronted with a child (or sometimes an adult) who seeks a blessing instead of the Eucharist, I prefer this formula: “Receive Jesus in your heart”—which is not a blessing, but an admonition. It could be said by a priest, deacon or lay person. And it fits. [Fr. Z approves… provisionally… since there is no rubric about saying anything in that situation. Still, good approach.]
Until the faithful can be properly catechized on this, I don’t think flat-out refusing a blessing is helpful. It certainly doesn’t do much to advance the cause of evangelization.
But meantime: EMHCs (and for that matter, deacons) have no business blessing anyone during Mass.
You know that I am now calling Fishwrap (aka National catholic Reporter) the National Schismatic Reporter.
You know that Bp. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph finally called out the NSR and pointed out that his predecessor determined that it was not a Catholic paper. The NSR HQ is in KC.
This is in from LifeSiteNews:
Colorado bishop: National Catholic Reporter ‘is an embarrassment to the Catholic Church’
by Patrick B. Craine
COLORADO SPRINGS, Feb. 22, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Colorado bishop is supporting the local bishop in his call for the National Catholic Reporter to drop the name “Catholic.”
Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview this week that the national paper is “an embarrassment to the Catholic Church.” [oorah!]
In January, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, where NCR’s offices are located, published a column reminding the paper and the faithful that NCR has been forbidden from using the name “Catholic” since 1968.
[…]
“I believe exactly what [Bishop Finn is] saying,” said Sheridan. “That is a big deal for me…I don’t understand why some of these publications use the word Catholic when in some of their editorial stances they stand absolutely opposed to Church dogma.”
Even if the paper continues to defy the bishop, he continued, churches should “absolutely not” make it available to parishioners on their magazine racks.
[]
Nevertheless, the paper has remained defiant. “NCR is proud to call itself a Catholic publication,” wrote Thomas Fox, the paper’s publisher, on January 27th. “We report and comment on church matters including official teachings. We also report and comment on those who call into question some of these official teachings.” [Note the code language… “official” teachings. For the NSR there is the “official” church, which they can ignore or diss as they will, and there is the, what to call it, “groovy” church of Chicago-style voting on doctrine, etc.]
Fox also pointed out that NCR is a member of the Catholic Press Association, which is approved by the Catholic Church.
The National Schismatic Reporter… journal of record for schismatics and heretics.
Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Sheridan!
I picked this up from Let Nothing You Dismay:
“If heretics no longer horrify us today, as they once did our forefathers, is it certain that it is because there is more charity in our hearts? Or would it not too often be, perhaps, without our daring to say so, because the bone of contention, that is to say, the very substance of our faith, no longer interests us? Men of too familiar and too passive a faith, perhaps for us dogmas are no longer the Mystery on which we live, the Mystery which is to be accomplished in us. Consequently then, heresy no longer shocks us; at least, it no longer convulses us like something trying to tear the soul of our souls away from us…. And that is why we have no trouble in being kind to heretics, and no repugnance in rubbing shoulders with them… It is not always charity, alas, which has grown greater, or which has become more enlightened: it is often faith, the taste for the things of eternity, which has grown less…”
Henri de Lubac: Further Paradoxes (Newman Press 1958) and reprinted in Paradoxes of Faith (Ignatius Press 1987)
A good point of reflection during this Year of Faith.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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