Las Cruces, NM: Bombs set off at Catholic and Baptist churches

From WSPA.com:

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Officials say there have been reports of explosions at two Las Cruces churches.

Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office say they have bomb squads at the scenes of the two churches.

At the time of Sunday mass, two explosions were reported going off at Calvary church and at Holy Cross church according to Las Cruces Sun News. Sun News reports that police immediately started evacuating people.

Las Cruces police say the explosion at Calvary church came from a bomb in a mailbox and the explosion at Holy Cross church came from a trashcan and shattered windows.

Sun News reports that an explosion happened in a mailbox near Calvary Baptist Church Sunday morning with church members inside.

There is no word yet on what started the explosions or if the incidents are connected.

KRQE News 13 will provide updates as they become available.

More HERE

Posted in The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice |
9 Comments

CQ CQ CQ – Special #HamRadio Update – Cool Catholic Event Edition

First, don’t miss my latest CQ CQ CQ – #HamRadio Saturday – QSO / QSL Card 1st Draft

That said, I have to update with something fairly spiffy.

First, before I get to Ham Stuff, an interlude to keep you in suspense: drinks with friends from Chicago and Vietnamese food.

CQ CQ CQ - Special #HamRadio Update - Cool Catholic Event Edition

Which is mine?

CQ CQ CQ - Special #HamRadio Update - Cool Catholic Event Edition

Openers followed by large addictive bowls of Pho.

CQ CQ CQ - Special #HamRadio Update - Cool Catholic Event Edition

Okay… it’s not rotated properly.

Now to the actual point of the post.

When my friends were on their way, I switched on the radio (20m – 14.070.0 MHz) and, for kicks, tuned into some PKS31 (a digital mode of transmitting) and decoded one of the “streams” with my iPhone app.

When you tune into PSK you see data streams, almost like The Matrix.  You center your “filter” over one of them and text comes in, more or less clear depending on the signal.

I saw this.

CQ CQ CQ - Special #HamRadio Update - Cool Catholic Event Edition

CQ CQ CQ - Special #HamRadio Update - Cool Catholic Event Edition

You can see what is going on there.

During the month of August, there will be a Ham “Event” in honor of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who was slain on 14 August 1944 in Auschwitz.

St. Maximilian was SP3RN.

At QRZ.com I saw

July, 20, 2015

Hello  …

I have been in contact with Ted Figlock W1HGY, and wanted to communicate my intentions for the St. Maximilian Maria Lokbe SP3RN special event activation. Call sign will be K8M and the dates will be between 01 August 2015 0400 (UTC) to 16 August 2015 0359 (UTC),

A standard sized QSL card will be available, for US stations, please send SASE, for all DX, please send $1 (US, CDN or Euro all ok) and self addressed envelope. My address is good on www.qrz.com. Please no buro.

Operating modes will be SSB, PSK31, and possibly RTTY

VY 73 de Joe Miller KJ8O Troy Michigan

So, you Hams out there!

Say a prayer to St. Maximilian and get to work!

Posted in Ham Radio, Just Too Cool, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged , , ,
3 Comments

CQ CQ CQ – #HamRadio Saturday – QSO / QSL Card 1st Draft

ham radio badassLast week I mentioned that I – who am not yet proficient in Morse Code – used my iPhone app to decode some signals that I picked up.  I heard people from Maine and Oklahoma.

This week I set up my Buddistick antenna for the 20m band and found quite a few CW contacts going on as well as some phone.  I heard a fellow from Florida speaking to someone in Virginia but I couldn’t catch the callsigns.  There was a lot of distortion and they came in and out. I also heard a fellow in N. Carolina, got his call, and sent him an email, to which he responded.

Once again, hams are pretty nice folks.

Last week I also mentioned that I will have to make a QSL card pretty soon. I have a first draft.

As far as I can tell, QSO / QSL cards tend to fall into the categories of starkly utilitarian or personalized with some image that says something about the ham.  So, I came up with this for the front (using GIMP).

15_07_26_Arnosa_Geographers_01_A

And, no, I haven’t forgotten about a possible vanity call.

Now I need a good template for all the technical stuff which goes on the back.

The ever helpful WB0YLE sent me a link to SuperAntenna, which looks great!  It would suit my needs well, I think.  It looks versatile and, above all, easily portable.  I can see one in my stars.

Also, I had a long Echolink rag chew last weekend with an American priest who lives in Poland.  He was back in these USA for a short stint for a parental visit.  Having no gear, he uses Echolink.  So, thank to Fr. N2FCH (also SQ3SWS) for that chat.

I will turn on my Echolink program for a while today while at my computer.

It’s homily prep continuation today (EF and maybe also OF on Sunday!)  If you are a ham, you can use Echolink.  Install the program and send your call sign in for a password.  Easy.

Also, I am building a list of hams who frequent this blog:

Z-Blog HAMS

  • acardnal KE4WKV
  • Joan W4JMJ
  • BMKoenig K3BMK
  • chris1 KJ4MPE
  • crule N4TII
  • Bryan Boyle WB0YLE
  • Andy Lucy KG4ZMF
  • Navy Jeff KC9TCZ
  • EXCHIEF N7WR
  • pledbet424 WB0MZT
  • Kenneth Jones KB3JA/BY
  • asperges G4NJH
  • Dan Soderlund KBØEO
  • Hesiodos AD7QQ
  • MWindsor – KT5WX
  • dahveed – KD8ZIB
  • FloridaJoan – W4JMJ
  • Jilly – WA4CZD
  • jpaluh – KB3LUE
  • Humilitas – KC4RAC
  • Jeffc – AC5XL
  • pledbet424 – WB0MZT
  • JBBIII – AD7QQ
  • Patrick L – AG4JQ
  • Dr Guinness – VK3SJB
  • MacBride – KC2MEO
  • Evan C – N5EDC
  • boxerpaws1952 – N3XFQ
  • chris_R – N3GBJ
  • Jack – W1JEM
  • Julia12 – KC9ALW
  • moon123 – KB9VSE
  • Pearl – KC8JSL
  • OK_doc – KF5THY
  • Baritone – KD5AYJ
  • IPSB – SA2BXP
  • ByzCath08 – W8GMN
  • Mojoron – K0CCP
  • Deacon Bob – W8CRO
  • Incensum – N9WIV
  • SimonsDad – KB1WOL
  • O. Possum – KC1BGU
  • Curt – AF7KQ
  • Arthur – KD9BRV
  • jeff_logullo – N0MII
  • ckamas – AD6CL

PRIESTLY HAMS

  • Fr. David McGuire AE4LH
  • frdanbecker WA1ZHQ
  • Rev. Canon Glenn Gardner K9ALT
  • plaf26 – KC0GA
  • Fr. Bryan – KD8ZFF
  • starprst- AB4TS
  • Fr. J. Stefanski – SQ3SWS / N2FCH
  • Fr. Paul A. – Cannariato KB2TJY

There must be more of you!

KC9ZJN
73

And since The Phantom went over well last week…

phantom ham radio operator

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE 0414 GMT:

I used a little of the afternoon to hang out on the 20m band and listen to CW contacts.   Some of them go by pretty fast.

I think there was a contest or something going on.  I heard calls from California, Western Canada, Puerto Rico, and sundry places in between.

Since I have no QSL card yet, I looked up some callsigns and sent a couple dozen emails telling the hams that I heard them and what my equipment is.  I figured that’s at least nice to know, if it isn’t exactly the right protocol to follow in these matters.   Since I don’t have a Morse key, I couldn’t exactly chime in.  Who knows if I have enough power to reach!

Some day.

In the meantime, still working on those dots and dashes.

Posted in Ham Radio | Tagged , , , ,
8 Comments

ASK FATHER: Priest’s cassocks with shoulder capes

ASK FATHER: Priest's cassocks with shoulder capesFrom a reader…

I was wondering if any secular/diocesan priest is allowed to wear a black mozzetta as part of their choir dress? I have seen pictures of some priests wearing a black mozzetta such as the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.

 

Ah… finally something truly important… a welcome relief from such trifles as the upcoming brawl at Synod, the undermining of marriage, the silence of bishops about Planned Parenthood selling baby parts, the meaning of prayers for Mass, etc.

First, canons are… canons.  They have their own particular style of dress for their house cassock and for choir.

The little cape over the shoulders of the house cassock was, once upon a time, a mark of jurisdiction.  Bishops use it.  Pastors of parishes could use it I believe (back when there was far more complicated ecclesiastical clothing).  I don’t think it really marks jurisdiction anymore, given the way that it is used or not used, higgledy-piggledy.

These days, I think most priests use it because it looks nice.  I have a cassock with one of these.  I used it because it was warm.  I grew up in Minnesota, but I have never been so cold in my life as in Rome in winter, back in the day.   I shiver just thinking about it.

Paul VI – wrongly, I think – did away with a lot of the things that clerics used to wear.  For example pompoms on the ends of fascias were abolished.  Some priests use them anyway.   Back in the day, priests were not to use black watered-silk fascia.  These days some do.  Why?  They look nice.

“But Father! But Father!”, some will say.  If these things are forbidden, then they shouldn’t be used!  You are antinomian!”

To which I respond: So what?

If using these things makes their black (or purple) socks roll up and down, great.

It was a mistake to simplify ecclesiastical garb to the degree that it was simplified.  We will see that usage, praxis, will –  guttatim – reintegrate the old things back into general use.

I don’t know if this is part of the “gravitational pull” that the older forms are exerting on the new or if this is something else.

One think I do know – liberals hate stuff like this.

All the more reason to use it.

Strike a blow for decorum.

But .. a caution: Don’t fix too much attention on these things.  It’s just stuff.  Array your mind and heart with holy thoughts, study, prayers, and works of mercy and let your outward acts and words ring with charity and truth.

But back to the question.  You were asking about choir dress not the house cassock for everyday dress.

Unless you are a member of an equestrian order, diocesan clerics ought to wear – for choir dress – the cassock and, over it, surplice, having their biretta as cover.  I don’t see any reason for more than that.

Meanwhile…

[CUE MUSIC]

From the official WDTPRS parodohymnodist – now Father Tim Ferguson – to the Sound of Music tune “My Favorite Things”:

Dalmatics on deacons and cassocks on priests,
habits on nuns and immovable feasts,
bishops in soutanes with big, gaudy rings –
these are a few of my favorite things.

Devotions to Mary, novenas and stations,
fasting and penance on Days of Rogation,
High Mass and Low Mass and papal blessings –
these are a few of my favorite things.

Rosaries and incense and fiddleback vestments,
BINGO on Mondays with homemade refreshments,
statues of angels with halos and wings –
these are a few of my favorite things.

When RENEW strikes!
When the rail’s gone!
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply pop into a Solemn High Mass
and then I don’t feel so baaaaaad!

[MUSIC CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND]

When you’ve had a hard day sorting out what fancy gear priests can wear, … nay rather… when you have had a hard day biting your tongue over the shabby way most priests usually dress these days…. for the love of GOD can’t these men put on clerical clothes?  Can we have a little liturgical decorum?   In the name of all that is holy, isn’t about time that clerics start dressing as if both their own role in the Church and what they are doing in church might be slightly Buy some coffee!important, rather than throwing on something they rummaged up from the laundry bag behind the “Tasty Bakery” after the night shift?

It’s enough to make you….

Why not relax with a WDTPRS mug filled to the brim with piping hot Mystic Monk Coffee?

Refresh your supply now! Not just Monk Coffee … Mystic Monk!

It’s swell!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Decorum, Mail from priests, Parody Songs, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged , , ,
12 Comments

MUNICH: “Married” lesbian remains head of day care center

This is interesting…

From LifeSite:

‘Married’ lesbian approved as head of Catholic day care in Cardinal Marx’s diocese

July 31, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The website of the German Bishops’ Conference, katholisch.de, reported yesterday on the first case of a practicing homosexual permitted to remain in a position at a Catholic Church institution despite a flagrant and public violation of the Church’s moral law.

The woman who heads a Caritas Day Care Center in Bavaria, had been asked in April to leave her position due to her announcement that she was going to “marry” a woman.  The decision has now been rescinded, according to Fr. Hans Lindenberger, head of the Caritas in Munich, Germany.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is the Archbishop of the Diocese of Munich, has agreed to implement the Church’s new Labor Law on August 1. The new Church Labor Law, approved by the German Bishops’ Conference at the end of April 2015, drastically liberalized the Catholic Church’s disciplinary rules in Germany. In the past, employees who did not live according to the Church’s moral teaching might have been asked to leave their position in institutions of the Church.

Three German bishops, Bishops Stefan Oster, Rudolf Vorderholzer, and Gregor Hanke, have decided not to implement the new Church law in their own dioceses.

Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau explained his stance in a recent Facebook post. He asked rhetorically whether the Church’s institutions would not lose their Catholicity even more than they already have with the new regulations. Would the service institutions which say “Catholic” on the outside have any faith on the inside, he asked. Are people working there from Christian conviction or only on the basis of what is professionally and economically viable? He warned that it was a self-imposed secularization of the Church.

Bishop Oster is under pressure from the priests of his diocese to give in to the new law.  Twenty liberal priests in the diocese have issued a public letter asking the bishop to relent.

To comment on Bishop Oster’s Facebook page visit here.

Now that you have scanned that, think of the upcoming Synod and of who is pushing which agenda.

Posted in Sin That Cries To Heaven, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
17 Comments

A Scrat Interlude

Something light… but maybe not.

15_07_31_chickennuts

 

I think most of you know that I don’t like squirrels… except Scrat.  I actually have squirreled away somewhere a Scrat decal for the cover of my laptop, where the glowing bitten apple of sin subs for the desired acorn.

Play video

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged
1 Comment

Fr. Z’s Voice Mail & ASK FATHER: Catholic and Orthodox wedding question

z-voice-mailI’ve been monitoring my voice mail.  A question came in a while back which I can now treat.

Let’s have the audio…

This is an interesting question.

I’m a Latin Church, Catholic priest and not really qualified to speak about the specifics of Greek Orthodox Canon Law.  However, we can make some observations about the Catholic Church’s law and practices.

A Latin Catholic who marries a Greek Orthodox requires (for liceity, not for validity) permission from the local ordinary for a mixed marriage.

If she chooses to marry in the Orthodox Church she requires (for liceity, not for validity) permission from the local ordinary for a wedding outside of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Z’s Voice Mail & ASK FATHER: Catholic and Orthodox wedding question

Traditional Catholic? Are you single? Don’t want to be?See the ad on the sidebar!

Those two permissions are, generally speaking, pretty freely given for these situations.

If the couple decides to marry in the Catholic Church, only the permission for mixed marriage is required (for liceity, not for validity – Can. 1124 – 1129).

Since the Eastern Churches – both those in communion with Rome and those separated from her – require the presence of a priest to provide a sacerdotal blessing to the couple as an essential element of marriage, a wedding between a Catholic and an Orthodox person are officiated by a priest, not a deacon.

Based on anecdotal evidence, it seems that a Greek Orthodox person who marries outside of the Orthodox Church is considered excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church, even though there was a joint statement by the USCCB (the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and SCOBA (the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas) issued in 1990 (HERE) which appeared to show agreement and respect for each others’ beliefs and practices of marriage.

Even if that were the case, it would not affect the validity of the marriage from the Catholic perspective.

In virtue of can. 29 of the 1992 Eastern Code of Canon Law, children born to the marriage would be baptized into and ascribed to the Catholic Church of the mother. If the father later enters the Catholic Church, he would be ascribed to the Hellenic Greek Catholic Church (which does not have a hierarchy in the United States). Subsequently, any children baptized would either belong to the Hellenic Greek Catholic Church, or, if both parents agreed, to the Latin Church.

If I have placed my foot wrongly in this, I hope that knowledgeable Eastern Catholic and/or Orthodox clergy can help me out.

Wanna leave me voice mail?  You have three options:

Fr. Z’s Voice Mail & ASK FATHER: Catholic and Orthodox wedding question WDTPRS

Fr. Z’s Voice Mail & ASK FATHER: Catholic and Orthodox wedding question 020 8133 4535

Fr. Z’s Voice Mail & ASK FATHER: Catholic and Orthodox wedding question 651-447-6265

Since I pay a fee for the two phone numbers, USA and UK, I am glad when they get some use.  I have occasionally thought about how to integrate the audio into posts, when there are good questions or comments, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

TIPS for leaving voice mail.

  1. Don’t shout.  If you shout, your voice will be distorted and I won’t be able to understand you.
  2. Don’t whisper.  C’mon.  If you have to whisper, maybe you should be calling the police, instead.
  3. Come to your point right away.  That helps.
Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Both Lungs, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
2 Comments

Blue Moon

On my way out of an eatery where I had met a reader and priest heading to Lacrosse for yet another conference with Cardinal Burke, as well as the great Archbp. Cordileone, [HERE] I saw the rising moon. Photos almost never do justice to rising and setting celestial orbs.

Blue Moon

This is a Blue Moon.

Spaceweather helps us:

BLUE MOON AURORAS? NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on July 31st when a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Solar wind plasma piles up in these regions, producing density gradients and shock waves that do a good job of sparking auroras. Any display will need to pierce the glare of Friday’s Blue Moon. [Click and listen.  Have kids?  Have them listen too!]

Play video

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
7 Comments

Fishwrap – once again – publicly attacks the Church’s moral teaching

fishwrapOver at the Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitic Reporter) Jamie Manson (openly lesbian activist, promoter of women’s ordination, mentored by Sr. Margaret Farley, and darling of the LCWR), laments the Church’s teaching about homosexuality.

This piece is part of Fishwrap‘s incessant effort to undermine Catholic teaching concerning morals.  Thus, the nicknames.

Let’s have a look…

Catholic schools must refuse to fire LGBT employees [getting it wrong by one letter!]

It’s beginning to feel like every week brings a new story about the firing of an LGBT employee from a Catholic institution.

The most recent well-publicized termination happened earlier this month at Waldron Mercy Academy in Philadelphia. The school declined to renew the contract of Margie Winters, the school’s director of religious studies, when it came to light that she is in a same-sex marriage. [So… she wasn’t fired.  She just wasn’t rehired.]

Winters, who has been with the school for eight years, says her administrators were well aware that she was married to a woman. It wasn’t until two parents complained to the Philadelphia archdiocese that she was terminated. [Thus correcting a problem that had endured for 8 years.]

In the wake of Winters’ firing, many commentators have suggested that bishops and Catholic institutions need to show greater mercy and compassion in dealing with its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. [First, it must be demonstrated that bishops and Catholic institutions are not merciful and compassionate.  No?  We deny Jamie’s premise.]

Waldron Mercy did show sensitivity and acceptance of their lesbian employee. They kept Winters on staff and valued her contributions to the students and the school community. [See what she did there?  Mercy and compassion means saying, publicly, that the Church’s teachings make no difference.  Neither does public scandal.  No.  Mercy and compassion are always grounded in the truth.]

But once the complaint was made to the archdiocese, Waldron Mercy, like most Catholic institutions caught in a similar dilemma, felt forced to terminate their employee.

Winters’ story sheds light on an important and overlooked truth [Do you think that what will follow is “truth”?  Take a guess.]: Even a Catholic institution that strives to be inclusive and nurturing can’t protect an LGBT employee. [“Protect”? From what?  The truth?  But wait! …]As long as Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that same-sex relationships are sinful and a violation of God’s plan for humanity, LGBT employees will not be safe in their jobs in Catholic institutions.

[…]

Read the rest there… or don’t.

So, the answer is that the Catholic Church must conform its teachings to please homosexualists.

An ironic point comes a little further down when Jamie writes:

According to Canon 803 §3, “No school is to bear the name Catholic school without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.” That “competent ecclesiastical authority” is the bishop who presides over the diocese in which the school is located, even if a religious community sponsors the school.

A loss of canonical status would, of course, have financial repercussions, such as the loss of funding or even the loss of the school’s property. Even more tragically, it has sacramental consequences. It is unlikely that the Eucharist or the sacrament of reconciliation could be celebrated at the school, for example.

How rich is that?   This from the outlet which was explicitly directed by the bishop where Fishwrap‘s HQ is located to remove “Catholic from their title!  HERE

Someone should inform Jamie of Can. 216:

Can. 216 Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.

They would be less hypocritical were they to change the name of their paper… so that I don’t have to do it for them.

Toward the end of her piece she offers a good example of why I call Fishwrap the National Schismatic Reporter.   Get this:

Why, then, not call the bishops’ bluffs? Imagine the pushback and negative press a bishop would get if he stripped a Catholic school of its identity for refusing to fire an LGBT employee. Imagine the momentum that could be built and the empowering precedent it could set for other schools facing the same turmoil.

Yes, the risks of disobeying a bishop are serious, but unless we as a community of women religious, Catholic school board members and administrators, parents and students, and progressive Catholics join together to say “no more” to these unjust doctrines and degrading firings, substantive change will not happen. [She and Fishwrap want not just change in administration of schools or hiring and firing practices.  They want revolt against the Church’s doctrine, which they label “unjust”.]

For the sake of the integrity of our church and the future of Catholic education, it is time to defy the threats and bullying, have the courage of our convictions, and refuse to perpetuate this injustice inside the walls of our Catholic schools.

They want people to revolt against their bishops.

I say, pray – everyone – on your knees, even making special visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and offering mortifications, that the whole body of Catholic bishops of these USA will someday develop the … wherewithal formally to direct Fishwrap to remove the word “Catholic” from its name.

In the meantime, you might pray to St. Joseph, patron of the diocese where Fishwrap’s offices are found, to help the conversion of all the writers and staff to orthodox Catholicism or else permanently to shutter their windows and doors.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Dest-joseph-patron-of-the-churchar St. Joseph, Terror of Demons and Protector of Holy Church, Chaste Guardian of Our Lord and His Mother, hear our urgent prayer and swiftly intercede with our Savior, whom as a loving father you defended so diligently, that He will pour abundant graces upon the staff of that organ of dissent the National catholic Reporter so that they will either embrace orthodox doctrine concerning faith and morals or that all their efforts will promptly fail and come to their just end. Amen.

 

 

Posted in Liberals, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged , ,
24 Comments

What I’m dealing with today

Technology is great… when it works.

Here’s is the latest stupid problem I have to deal with: Solving this stupid thing for almost every page I try to bring up!

15_07_30_screenshot_01

 

UPDATE:

I did a full scan and installed some updates.  Then I restarted and scanned again with Malwarebytes.

So, far the problem seems to be resolved.

 

 

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes |
11 Comments