2nd anniversary of Benedict XVI’s resignation

Posted on 11 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Today is the 2nd anniversary of one of the saddest days I can recall in the life of the Church. Benedict XVI announced his resignation. At first, I didn’t believe it. Then I watched the video.

The Catholic Herald has a piece about it. HERE

February 11 is a holiday in the Vatican. It is the day when the Holy See celebrates the settlement in 1929 of the so-called “Roman Question”, the resolution of the 59-year stand-off between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See after the fall of Rome in 1870 to the Kingdom’s troops and the effective end of the ancient Papal States in central Italy.

By chance it was also the day Pope Benedict XVI chose to resign.

The date had been scheduled for a small consistory, comprising midday prayer and the announcement by Cardinal Angelo Amato of some beati due to be promoted to saints. There had also been a little gentle buzz for some time in the Roman Curia about the Holy Father announcing one or two important changes then, perhaps near the top of the administration, but these kinds of rumours circle like the seagulls around the Vatican’s Belvedere: they come round frequently, make a bit of noise and go away again. In other words, as in most places, nothing happens until it happens.

There was no indication that this day was going to be any different. It was also a holiday, and although the rest of the Curia was enjoying a rest, the few people around the person of the Holy Father, including myself, were to be on duty in the Apostolic Palace’s Sala del Concistoro to welcome him as he went to pray with the cardinals present in Rome and to go through the short ceremony.

[…]

Moderation queue is ON, for the sake of those who don’t self-edit.

Posted in Benedict XVI | Tagged ,
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Paprocki and the Canons!

Posted on 11 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

After the March for Life in Washington DC this year, we had a Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool with His Excellency Most Rev. Thomas Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois.

You will also recall His Excellency’s reaction to the State of Illinois approving same sex (not) “marriage”.  HERE

Now I read, thanks to a reader, that Bp. Paprocki has invited the wonderful Canons of St. John Cantius to take a parish, where they will have Holy Mass in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form.  HERE

Everybody wins.  And the New Evangelization is advanced.

Kudos to Bp. Paprocki.

Brick by brick.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Fr. Z KUDOS, New Evangelization | Tagged ,
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What’s up with your Sun?

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Folks, I hate to break it to you like this, but your Earth’s yellow Sun has a filament.

A really big filament.

From APOD:

superfilament_hardy_960

This is one of the longest filaments recorded. The description of it involves phrases like: ” spiraling magnetic field engulfing it”.

But don’t worry. You can check on the filament by clicking HERE again and again and again.  Right now, it is like… this…

latest_1024_0304

Posted in Global Killer Asteroid Questions, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged ,
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Beware of posters glued to poles!

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I received this from an intrepid reader:

Father, I have an interesting ‘quick hit’ possible picture post for the blog:

While walking in downtown Toronto I noticed the attached poster splashed all around. The subject matter does not match the medium given the usual moral relativistic nonsense splashed all over urban streetscapes.

I wonder who has done this? Have local traditional Catholics discovered glue and brush, taking their message to the ‘peripheries’?

I doubt it. But the poster is interesting… and… for the most part… true.

No… but …. hey!  Wait just a cotton pickin’ minute!

Take another look.

IMG_20150127_142613_edit

Walk?

Where?!?

Something about that last part nagged at me so I did some Google Fu.   Speaking of “Nag”, this is a quote from a Gnostic text from Nag Hammadi, the Asklepius.  Pretty strange stuff… unless you regularly attend meetings of the LCWR and read the Fishwrap.

Anyone else with a poster?

In the meantime, please take some time to refresh your supply of …

[CUE MUSIC]

… Mystic Monk Coffee!

When you’ve had a long hard day as a farmer digging up ancient sealed earthenware jars containing papyrus codices, ponder your newly discovered Gnostic ravings over a steaming hot Fr. Z Swag mug of Mystic Monk Coffee!

Then have your mother burn some of the papyri, because… hey… they start fires well.  It’s too krinkly to be good fishwrap.   Though I did mention starting fires.  I digress.

Did you know that the Mystic Monks right now has the coffee of the month from ancient Egypt!

Well… not exactly ancient Egypt.

More like… not ancient, and not Egypt.  But… it’s from a really old place in Africa, not too far from Egypt, insofar as, it is closer to Egypt than, say, … Borneo.  Or from Wyoming where the Carmelites need to build their new monastery.

 

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Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged ,
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Death in Belgistan

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I point the readership’s attention at a blog which lead me to a piece in the Italian Il Foglio.

The situation in Belgium is described.   Belgium has nearly completely abandoned the Catholic Faith.

Giulio Meotti:
Belgium is Committing Suicide

As the capital of the European Union goes, so goes Europe. And the details are worse than you can imagine.

Belgium has the highest per capita number of Islamic terrorists gone to fight in Syria and Iraq than any other European country. Brussels is the capital of the holy war, as well as of the European Union.

The first European citizen to die on the battlefields of jihad was Muriel Degauque, a Belgian Catholic girl. Originally from Charleroi, she converted to Islam, changed her name to Myriam and died near Baghdad as a human bomb.

Two days before September 11, two Tunisians recruited in Belgium managed to kill the Afghan commander Massoud, enemy of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
And the terror cell of Madrid’s 2004 bombings came from the town of Maaseik.

How could Maaseik, the city of the Christian painter Van Eyck, become the center of Islamic terrorism in Europe?

They call it “Belgistan“, it is the sad evolution of a wealthy, bored and skeptical country, a world of cafes, theaters, municipal clubs, wine, witty conversations, carillons, libraries, prosperous cooperatives.
Brussels was destined to become, like London, Paris or Athens, the place par excellence of Europe’s national merger. Homo Belgicus should have been the highest example of synthesis of the European everyman. Yet, the country is sick.

Belgium doesn’t only hold the record for jihadists in Europe, it is also the European country with the highest suicide rate. The most notorious suicide is the Nobel Prize laureate in Medicine, Christian de Duve, who, two years ago, killed himself in front of his four children.

Six suicides a day. With a suicide rate estimated at more than 20 per 100,000 inhabitants, Belgium breaks all records in Western Europe. The world average is 14.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Suicide is indeed the first cause of mortality among Belgians between 25-44 and the second leading cause, after vehicle accidents, between 15-24.

The tragic statistic would grow if we counted the thousands of deaths that occur under the law of euthanasia, with six deaths per day. Belgium is also the site of the first “supermarket of death.” In Flémalle, a Belgian town not far from Liege. The tombstones? In the fourth row. The crowns? In the right corner. The coffins? To the left.

A country dominated by nihilism, where Islam is already the first religion. In the schools of the capital of Europe, the teaching of the Muslim religion has exceeded that of students of Catholic faith. A full 43 percent is studying Islam, and the same figure stood at 41.4 in high schools; 27.9 percent are following courses of “secular morality” (atheism), and only 23.3 percent opted for studies in the Catholic faith.

Already today, in Brussels, one in three people is Muslim, the most common name is Mohammed, and by 2035 it will be a city with a Muslim majority.

The great moments of life, such as baptisms, weddings and funerals in Belgium are no longer tied to Christianity, this in a country whose symbols have long been the cathedral of Antwerp, the dog of St. Hubert and the University of Leuven (founded by Pope Martin V).

In Brussels today only 7.2 percent of marriages are Catholic, only 14.8 percent of children are baptized, and there only 22.6 percent of funerals were Catholic. It is the end of Catholicism.

[…]

Read and weep over the rest over there.

If they have gone down this road, can we?

So, by all means, let’s listen to advice from the bishops of Belgium about what we need to do in the face of the dictatorship of relativism, shifting/plummeting demographics, and the erosion of Catholic identity.

Posted in New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Pò sì jiù, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , , ,
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The Last Altar Boy

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The often amusing Eye of the Tiber has this:

The last male altar server in the United States has officially called it quits, the boy’s family is reporting this morning.

The 3-year altar server veteran, who remained at his post as cross bearer despite pressure from the community to wear heels or quit altogether, served his final Mass on Sunday morning.

Devin McAlister, who claims he was made fun of by friends at school for doing a “girls job” told EOTT that many in the community began to question his sexuality as the years went on.

“People used to say stuff,” McAlister said. “I could hear them saying things as I walked down the aisle. Every Mass, for instance, I would hear this guy poking fun at me, saying that the only reason I served was because I got to wear a dress. Or him saying things like ‘shouldn’t you be carrying a barbie doll?’ But it wasn’t always Father Brian who be picking on me…sometimes it was other people too.”

McAlister went on to say that he was, nevertheless, thankful for the time he spent serving the Mass, thanking his fellow servers for showing him how to be a better server and for teaching him what type of heals and sparkly makeup best complimented different cincture colors.

At press time, McAlister has joined the choir.

 

Posted in Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged , , ,
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Card. Marx: Tradition… clear in their positions… growing populism… terrorism.

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Remember a while back when Card. Marx pulled a fast one with the text of Evangelii gaudium? HERE

Over at LifeSite News, Hillary White offers another facet of Marx’s interview with Jesuit-run America Magazine. America is leading the charge in the English language in support of overturning Catholic teaching and practice about Communion for those in adulterous relationships (the divorced and civilly remarried). I suspect their goal reaches beyond mere adultery. Once you detach the marital act from proper disposition for Communion… well… anything goes.

So, what is the other point from the interview that needs some attention?

Cardinal hits young traditionalists who want to ‘be clear in their positions’: calls it ‘the beginning of terrorism’

February 9, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of Pope Francis’ closest advisors, and the leader of one of the most “liberal” Catholic hierarchies in the world, has denounced “traditional” young people for wanting “to be clear in their positions,” warning that it is a path to “terrorism.” In a related interview with the Jesuit magazine America, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the head of the German Bishops’ conference, applauded people in homosexual partnerships who want a “lifelong” relationship.

“I am astonished that most of our young people, and also Catholic homosexuals who are practicing, want a relationship that lasts forever,” Marx told America. “We must begin with the main points of the doctrine, to see the dream: the dream is to have a person say, a man and woman say, ‘You and you, forever. You and you, forever.’ And we as church say, ‘Yes, that’s absolutely OK. Your vision is right!’

“So we find the way. Then perhaps there is failure. They find the person, and it is not a great success. But life-long fidelity is right and good.”

He added, “The church says that a gay relationship is not on the same level as a relationship between a man and a woman. That is clear. But when they are faithful, when they are engaged for the poor, when they are working, it is not possible to say, ‘Everything you do, because you are a homosexual, is negative.’” [That contradicts what the Church says in the pastoral care of homosexual persons.  We don’t say that everything homosexuals do is negative.  We say that homosexual acts are sins and that homosexual tendencies are disordered.]

In his Stanford lecture, Cardinal Marx said, “I had a discussion with some of the students,” before the lecture, who asked him, “‘Cardinal is it true that the younger people are more traditional?’ And that’s true.”

“But that is not dangerous,” he said. “I have no problem with tradition. But we have also the tendencies that the people want to be clear in their positions. Black and white populism is growing in Europe. And that is the beginning, perhaps, of populism, of terrorism, that’s clear.”

“The atmosphere of reducing the complexity of the world, to give simple answers, to give black and white answers, is growing, and I think that is very dangerous,” the cardinal said.

[…]

Hoping that more people will wake up and smell the coffee.
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Tradition… clear in their positions… growing populism… terrorism.

Reducing complexity to simple answers… black and white answers… dangerous.

On the other hand, to protect ourselves from terrorism and dangerous simplicity, we need complex and nuanced views of questions, especially moral questions. We need to set aside all the simplistic answer of the past, the black and white approach of “No!” and “A is grave matter” and “B is mortal sin” and “C contradicts natural law”.

From example… from later in the America piece (via the same LifeSite piece):

He said he has consulted with “many experts,” including canon lawyers and theologians, on the subject of the indissolubility of marriage. “What can we do when a person marries, divorces and later finds a new partner? There are different positions,” the cardinal said.

“Some bishops at the synod said, ‘They are living in sin.’ But others said, ‘You cannot say that somebody is in sin every day. That is not possible.’ You see, there are questions we must speak about.” He said it is important the Synod does not have “the spirit of ‘all or nothing.’ It is not a good way.”

I turned on the moderation queue.  Try to post something I won’t ding, please.  Think before hitting the button.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The Drill | Tagged ,
53 Comments

Wherein Card. Burke clarifies what reasonable people already knew.

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My post and comments about what Card. Burke said in a French TV interview received some vigorous responses, some which I declined to post.  His Eminence responded to a hypothetical question … always a little dangerous … about what he might do were Pope Francis to continue on course X.  Get that?

In any event, His Eminence’s answer stirred the pot.  He said that were Pope Francis to do X (persist – quite an assumption – in driving forward Communion for the divorced and remarried) then he would have to resist such an effort:

“Resisterò.  Non posso fare altro….  I shall resist. I can do no other.”

Card. Burke has now offered a bit more on that response.  Mind you, there was nothing wrong with his response, other than the fact that he responded to a hypothetical, which, as I mentioned before, is a dicey move.

At CNA we find this:

What Cardinal Burke really said about ‘resisting’ Pope Francis

Cardinal Raymond Burke said he was “responding to a hypothetical situation” when he stated that he would resist any possible move by Pope Francis away from Catholic doctrine.

“I simply affirmed that it is always my sacred duty to defend the truth of the Church’s teaching and discipline regarding marriage,” Cardinal Burke told CNA Feb. 9.

“No authority can absolve me from that responsibility, and, therefore, if any authority, even the highest authority, were to deny that truth or act contrary to it, I would be obliged to resist, in fidelity to my responsibility before God.”

[…]

That’s it.  He has made clearer – for the less agile of mind and for the muckrackers – what he said.

I, however, am still waiting for those professional and perennial Pope resistors at Fishwrap to embrace Card. Burke as their new model.

Posted in Linking Back | Tagged
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28 FEB – NYC – Holy Innocents Church – Card. Dolan Requiem for Fr. Groeschel

Posted on 9 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of the New York, will visit the Church of the Holy Innocents on Saturday 28 February 2015.  At 10 AM, His Eminence will celebrate a Mass for the Dead (Ordinary Form) for Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

The usual volunteer/dedicated servers from Holy Innocents will serve this Mass. The volunteer choir of Holy Innocents (Vox in Rama… clever!) will provide the music.

Please, spread the word. Fr. Groeschel used to give talks at Holy Innocents.  It is fitting to have a Mass for him at Holy Innocents.

After the Mass, there will be a reception in the parish hall.

I would very much like to be there for that.

Posted in Events, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged , ,
9 Comments

What on earth is Pope Francis up to and why?

Posted on 9 February 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

st-peters-11-years-after-michelangelos-deathOne of my go-to guys for commentary on things Vatican is now Andrea Gagliarducci at his weekly Monday Vatican post.

This week Andrea tackles the questions (my wording): What on earth is Pope Francis up to and why?

Let’s see some of his piece.  You will have to read the whole thing there.  Here are samples with my oft-imitated treatment of emphases and comments:

Pope Francis: Will It Really Be a Revolution?

The week that begins today and ends with the creation of 20 new cardinals may represent the turning point of Pope Francis’ pontificate. [HERE] The choices of the new cardinals not only show Pope Francis’ sensitivity toward the world’s peripheries and a certain pastoral approach, they also indicate a change concerning the pivotal issues at stake in this papacy. This change cannot be underestimated.

Before the arrival of Pope Francis, the main themes of discussion in the Church have had solid theological roots. But even the question concerning the pastoral care of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, as well as for homosexual couples – both of which were the object of a heated debate at the last Synod of Bishops – are in the end based on theological foundations, and deal with the application of doctrine. Moreover, even the criticisms aimed at the pope’s plan for curial reform – the other issue at currently at stake in this pontificate – are founded on theological and juridical grounds.

Nevertheless, Pope Francis demonstrates that he is moving on completely different grounds. It is not by chance that one of his favourite quotes about ecumenism is taken from the conversation between Bl. Paul VI and the Patriarch of Costantinople, Athenagoras: “If we were to close ourselves off in a room together and leave the theologians outside, we would accomplish ecumenism in one hour.” In similar fashion, leaving theological discussions aside, Pope Francis wants to propose a model of a Church that evangelizes through attraction, and not because of the strength of its concepts.  [At first glance, this seems like madness.  On the other hand, consider that, under the onslaught of the dictatorship of relativism and the destruction of education resulting in the loss of reasoning skills along with wide-spread ignorance, people can’t or don’t accept reasoned arguments anymore.  Gorgias has won.  We have to hold up shiny objects in front of people’s eyes, and rattle them as a bunch of keys before a fussing baby.  Is that too harsh?  I have to exaggerate to get my point across.  So, Francis might be on to something.]

Pope Francis’ choices in two consistories mirror this intention. Beyond choosing a few candidates with strong institutional ties, Pope Francis has selected as cardinals mainly bishops whose primary interest is not found in some or other theological position, but in pastoral practice. Pope Francis’ Church bypasses theological discussion and aims at going straight to the heart of the people.  [I think that that distinction of “theological” versus “pastoral” is flawed, but….  In any event, this is why our sacred liturgical worship of God is pivotal in any effort we undertake in evangelization or new evangelization.]

All of these new cardinals will bring their peculiar perspectives to the consistory the Pope has convened to discuss reform of the Roman Curia. The reform seems to be stuck. The first comprehensive draft was highly criticized by Vatican dicasteries, and there is a real risk that the structure will remain as it is for the moment, in expectation of a definitive change that will not take place before the end of this year – as Pope Francis has admitted. Nevertheless, another option that one insider designates “St. Peter’s option” may be explored.

[NB] It can be explained this way. During the construction of the current Basilica of St. Peter in the 16th century, the old basilica was only gradually dismantled, step by step, while it was replaced with the new building. This is the way Pope Francis works, by establishing new structures around the currently existing structure which is then removed once the new structure is complete.

Through this lens we can better understand the process by which the Vatican at first hired expensive external commissions and then followed this step with the establishment of the Secretariat for the Economy, the Council for the Economy and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. These bodies were born without statutes and they set out to work while waiting for their specific powers and competences to be drafted.

This is way curial reform will be carried out. According to sources, during their recent ad limina visit, the Lithuanian bishops asked Pope Francis about the reform. He replied that two super-congregations, respectively, for Justice and Charity and Laity and Family will be established. How the competences of the many minor dicasteries that will be subsumed into these new Congregations will be arranged is yet to be decided. But establishing them is a first step toward the much anticipated Curia reform.  [I’m skeptical.  But…. hey!… maybe it’ll work!]

[…]

He goes on to opine about the choices he is making in curial reform and his selection of new cardinals.  Then…

[…]

Still, no theological preference seems to drive Pope Francis’ choices. Instead one finds a human touch, a peculiar instinct that guides the Pope in understanding who the prelates are with whom he feels more at ease.

[…]

Cardinal Baldisseri’s words signalled that the Synod war has already begun, and that – in spite of the slogan “We don’t turn back” which accompanied the presentation of the next Synod’s guidelines – the majority of bishops does not endorse a pastoral practice that is completely detached from doctrine.  [That’s because it can’t be!]

[NB… salutary reminders…] And Pope Francis would probably not support it either. The Pope is always very orthodox in his declarations. This fact has been demonstrated several times. The Pope backed the Slovakian bishops in their commitment to promote a referendum to defend the traditional family in their country. He invited Filipinos to be wary of the ideological colonization of the family. He expressed a strongly negative judgment over gender theory, which he also defined as ‘demonic’ during a meeting with Austrian bishop in an ad limina visit. Taken together these moments indicate that Pope Francis is anything but progressive.  [Which is what I have been pushing all along.]

[Quaeritur…] So, who is the real Pope Francis? The one who supports liberal bishops and priests, or the one who speaks in an orthodox way? The answer may be more obvious than expected. [It isn’t obvious to me.  Let’s see what Andrea has to say!]

Simply put, for Pope Francis pastoral practice is more important than any given theological debate because the latter, in the end, may be no more than a worldly exercise. Perhaps his famous declaration about preferring a “poor Church for the poor” may also be read this way: a Church light in structure with limited philosophical debates and a great deal of pastoral love. [BUT!… BUT!… Someone has to do the theology!  And I don’t think they deserve to be regularly insulted.]

But this is not new. Benedict XVI spoke in almost the same terms about the need to escape worldliness and to move beyond the self-referentiality of ecclesial structures. And he underscored the value of mercy as is evidenced in the homily he delivered at the Mass for the inauguration of his petrine ministry. Time and again Pope Benedict preached about a Church that should not be constructed on ideas, but engaged in a lively evangelization effort.

Nevertheless, between these two popes a paradigm change is taking place. Pope Benedict was convinced that a solid theological background was needed so that the Church’s pastoral practice would be correct.  [That describes my view.] In fact, the search for truth was pivotal in his pontificate. Pope Francis, on the other hand, sets aside any given theological problem in order to seek immediate, personal contact with people.  [Will that get the job done?  We’ll see.]

[…]

Read the whole thing over there.

Thought provoking.

¡Hagan lío!

Meanwhile… remember this?

 

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Benedict XVI, Francis, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices |
46 Comments