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{]:¬)

Possible miracle through intercession of a former Nazi camp military chaplain

Posted on 18 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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If you don’t pray for miracles, you won’t receive them.

From time to time God intervenes in the natural course of things to change that course, not in a way that is contrary to nature’s laws, but in a way that we cannot explain or understand by natures laws alone. These interventions can be healings or other amazing works such as prevention of harm in moments of extreme peril to life and limb.

In the case of miraculous healings through the intercession of some Servant of God, or Blessed, there must be a sudden, complete and lasting cure, inexplicable by science alone, and it must be demonstrated that that the intercessor was being invoked, even primarily. Miracles are always investigated first in the place where they occurred, unless there are good reasons to move the cause to another venue.

This comes from the UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald. I haven’t seen this story elsewhere so far.

Vatican considers healing attributed to death camp ‘archangel in hell’

By Valerie Schmalz [She is a writer for the newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, whence this story originated. Check HERE. The Book The Last Human Face has a lot more about Fr. Stock. Kindle version HERE.]

http://www.catholic-sf.org/ns.php?newsid=23&id=59768

The Vatican is working to authenticate whether the 1997 healing of an American man with incurable cancer came about through the intercession of Fr Franz Stock, a German Army chaplain to Paris prisoners of the Nazis.

Such authentication is needed before the priest’s beatification can be approved.

Fr Stock was “the last human face” hundreds, perhaps thousands, saw before their execution.

He is a symbol of reconciliation in France and Germany, where streets and schools are named for him and national leaders have honoured him. A French postage stamp commemorating Fr Stock was issued in 1998 for the 50th anniversary of his death from pulmonary edema. He died on February 24 1948, aged 43, and his Cause was opened decades later.

In 1997 a 33-year-old San Francisco resident was told by doctors he had incurable gastric cancer and had at most three months to live. Three months later he was declared cancer free. Medical tests continue to show no traces of cancer.

Robert Graffio, canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and notary for the investigation, said: “The doctors were flabbergasted because he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and they sent him home to get his affairs in order and die.”

[…]

“We kept praying the whole time. He had his whole stomach removed. He had lymph nodes that were positive,” said Mary G, who as a nurse cared for her brother-in-law as he recovered instead of dying. “It’s 15 years later and he is still cancer free.”

[…]

The wartime French called Fr Stock “archangel in hell” because of his heroic mercy and kindness as chaplain to the inmates of the German armed forces Paris prisons of Fresnes, La Sante and Cherche-Midi and the execution fields of Mont Valerien.

Eyewitnesses recounted Fr Stock risking his life – at times using a specially outfitted cassock and an overcoat with hidden pockets – to bring news and banned luxuries and necessities to the men and women. The chocolate, clothing, paper, pens and letters helped the prisoners resist despair, torture and threats to their families.

During the period 1941-44, the priest recorded accompanying more than 700 people to their executions and said he witnessed thousands being shot by the Nazis. “This week alone, I prepared 72 men for death, assisted them at the final moment and buried them,” Fr Stock wrote in a December 1941 journal entry published by the Benedictine Abbey of St Joseph de Clairval, in Flavigny, France.

[…]

There is a LOT more that I cut out for the sake of space.

Be sure to go there and find more.

The site for the cause is HERE.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Modern Martyrs, Non Nobis and Te Deum, Pray For A Miracle, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Archd. San Francisco, Fr. Franz Stock, miracle, POW camp
6 Comments

SSPX/Holy See: Pont. Comm. “Ecclesia Dei” issues a statement, Vatican Radio chimes in

Posted on 18 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From VIS:

In data 17 aprile 2012 è pervenuto, come richiesto nell’incontro del 16 marzo 2012, svoltosi presso la sede della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, il testo della risposta di S.E. Mons. Bernard Fellay, Superiore Generale della Fraternità Sacerdotale San Pio X. Il suddetto testo sarà esaminato dal Dicastero e successivamente sottoposto al giudizio del Santo Padre.

On 17 April 2012 there arrived, as requested in the meeting of 16 March 2012 held at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the text of the response of His Excellency Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X. The aforementioned text will be studied by the Dicastery (the CDF) and, thereafter, submitted to the judgement of the Holy Father.

From News.va:

Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican Press Office, said that, with the latest response, “steps forward have been taken, that is to say, that the response, the new response, is rather encouraging. But there are still developments that will be made, and examined, and decisions which should be taken in the next few weeks.”

However, from Vatican Radio’s French division we find this:

[…]

Mais naturellement, on a aussi dans la réponse la proposition de quelques précisions ou intégrations au texte du préambule doctrinal qui avait été proposé par la Congrégation pour un accord doctrinal et cette réponse va être discutée, va être examinée avant tout par la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi, dans une des réunions des prochaines semaines et après, elle va être aussi examinée naturellement par le Pape.

But, of course, in the response there is also the suggestion of some clarifications or additions to the text of the doctrinal preamble which had been proposed by the Congregation for a doctrinal agreement and this response will be discussed, will be studied first of all by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in one of the meetings of the next few weeks [this would be one or more of the so-called “Feria IV” meetings], and afterwards will also of course be studied by the Pope.

The SSPX spokesman Fr. Alain Lorans told a Swiss news agency APIC/KIPA that

“we are still in a stage of studies” and that “not everything is already fixed”.

Posted in Brick by Brick, New Evangelization, Pope of Christian Unity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The future and our choices | Tagged CDF, Doctrinal Preamble, news.va, PCED, Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", SSPX, Vatican Radio
40 Comments

Of touch downs and splash downs

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today Discovery, heading to her tomb in Washington, touched down safely at Dulles Airport on the back of the 747.

Today in 1970 the stricken Odyssey of the Apollo 13 Moon mission splashed down safely on the back of courage, ingenuity and millions of prayers.

Apollo 13 was followed by other missions and programs and a bolstered sense of accomplishment.

Discovery will be followed by… ?

Apollo 13 was a sign of how we can pull victory from disaster’s closing jaws.

Discovery, because nothing replaces her, is a sign of how this administration is snatching disaster from the jaws of victory.

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Apollo 13, Discovery, NASA, Odyssey, Pres. Obama, space program, Space Shuttle
36 Comments

The Party which walked in darkness….

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It is nice when wives are willing to demonstrate a measure of admiration of their husbands. This, however, is over the top.

It seems that Michelle Obama, during a campaign event in Nashville (NB: “campaign event” may be redundant. Has there been any other kind of event for this administration?) said of her husband, Pres. Obama

“I am going to be working so hard. We have an amazing story to tell. This president has brought us out of the dark and into the light.”

Do I hear an “Amen!”?

No. I thought not.

Mrs. Obama is clearly a smart woman. She probably spent a lot of time with her husband in the church of Jeremiah Wright, soaking up the strange Marxist cocktail called Black Liberation Theology, understands social and even theological questions in terms of structural relationships between two groups: victims and victimizers.

Sound familiar?

Anyone who has spent any time in any Christian church, even one on the fringe of reason and history, ought to know what Person this “out of the dark and into the light.” image invokes.

So, sing along! Everybody!

Obama heybama bama bama O
Bama hey bama Obama
Hey Barry Barry you’re alright by me
Bama Obama hey Superstar

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged Black Liberation Theology, Michelle Obama, Pres. Obama
46 Comments

QUAERITUR: Must I receive Communion under both kinds when offered?

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

“You have written on reception of Communion under both kinds before, I have a question about this. In my diocese Holy Communion is under both kinds. As a lay person is it acceptable to receive under both kinds or should I refrain from receiving both?”

In this regard you are free to do as you please.

If Communion is offered under both kinds, or species, you may partake of the one, the other, or both as you think it best. You are not compelled to received under both kinds by the mere fact that both kinds are offered.

Neither are you compelled to receive Communion at all during Mass! I think that many less-than-well-catechized people today think that going to Communion is obligatory.

If you choose not to receive, you are free not to receive, as it is best for you. This is the case if, for example, you are conscious of un-confessed and un-absolved mortal sins and you know you shouldn’t receive.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged Communion, communion under both kinds, Eucharist
26 Comments

Bp. Jenky (D. Peoria) unloads about “Judas” Catholics and Pres. Obama

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When it comes to Pres. Obama’s attack on the 1st Amendment and his HHS mandate, His Excellency Most Rev. Daniel R. Jenky is not kidding around.

The Bishop of Peoria has the full text of a sermon he delivered on 14 April for a conference called “A Call to Catholic Men of Faith”. A podcast audio version of the homily is available at The Bishop’s Podcasts.

Here are a couple excerpts (for the whole thing click HERE):

“May God have mercy on the souls of those politicians who pretend to be Catholic in church, but in their public lives, rather like Judas Iscariot, betray Jesus Christ by how they vote and how they willingly cooperate with intrinsic evil.”
. . . . .

“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.”
. . . . .

“No matter what happens in this passing moment, at the end of time and history, our God is God and Jesus is Lord, forever and ever.

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!”

OORAH!

WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Jenky.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras, Fr. Z KUDOS, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged Bp. Jenky, D. Peoria, HHS mandate, men, Pres. Obama, real men
32 Comments

Of Vocanos and Vorris. New video on the tectonic shift going on in the Church. (A volcano really is involved. No! Really!)

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a new video from Michael Vorris. He applies his usual soothing vocabulary, squishy analogies, hedging, non-committal indifferentism.

If only Mr. Vorris would take a stand on something and start saying what he really thinks!

o{];¬)

[wp_youtube]GmyI3KmWNXU[/wp_youtube]

There.

Now that you’ve watched it…

Pretty upbeat, no?

Vorris brings up quite a few points that I have hammered away at over the years. See if you can count them.

One of the things that he touches on is the war of attrition that is going on.

Is he on target? Was he just waxing overly optimistic?

Posted in Brick by Brick, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged Michael Vorris, volcano
22 Comments

QUAERITUR: To clink or not to clink. WDTPRS POLL

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I had the privilege of attending a wonderful EF Mass for Easter, and on the way back we were engaged in a discussion as to whether whoever is doing the incense is required to try to cause the chain to clink.
Is there a rubric regarding incensing and noise-making? I’d be curious about both forms.

Ah! The really important questions for the future of the New Evangelization! I consider this matter to be right up there with the proper use of the liturgical Berreta.

No, to my knowledge there is no rubric (in either the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form) that speaks to the clinking of the thurible against its chain(s) during incensation.

That said, I recall having read in one liturgical manual or another the author’s snarky comment along the lines that some find the noise pleasant. He, apparently, did not. In fact, sometimes all you get is a grating clack.

If you are the sort of priest or deacon or server who likes to rattle the ol’ chain, as it were, you will know that it is easier to do (or harder to avoid?) depending on the design of the gadget, the quality of its materials, the length and therefore slack of the chains, etc.

Good incensation takes a bit of concentration, attention to detail, and practice. You can’t get in there and lob the flaming gizmo around. People get singed, carpets get burned, fire extinguishers are sought, mothers get angry, hijinx ensues.

It is, i believe in my heart, for this reason that His Hermeneuticalness holds extinguisher drills with his servers. QUAERITUR: Is H.H. notoriously bad at incensation? So the drills would suggest. But I digress.

This is a good opportunity for a WDTPRS poll.

Pick your answer and give your reasons and comments in the combox. Whereas with less important questions, such as the relation of the two natures of Christ or whether Communion in the hand should be abolished, I ask people to refrain from engaging each other directly, since this is of such great significance, since we have to get to the bottom of the question once and for all time, go ahead and duke it out.

UPDATE:

And then there’s this.

[wp_youtube]XpvHaH36anA[/wp_youtube]

And listen to the hijinx of the Parisian Lefebvrites! (tune in at 3:30 especially)

[wp_youtube]mA5BCu2N19I[/wp_youtube]

And on the other side of the Channel

[wp_youtube]Vzq6_IkqWrI[/wp_youtube]

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, POLLS, Priests and Priesthood, The Drill | Tagged berreta, chain, clink, fire extinguishers, incensation, incense, liturgy, poll, thurible, worship
93 Comments

My Eggs Benedict roundup with obiter dicta

Posted on 17 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

To observe both Pope Benedict’s Birthday and National Eggs Benedict Day (coincidence?) I made… wait for it… Eggs Benedict. Thank you to the few, you happy few, who sent donations for groceries. I thought of you as I shopped and cooked.

The main ingredients: room-temperature farm-fresh eggs, English muffin, clarified butter, Canadian bacon, lemon. You don’t have to use clarified butter. As a matter of fact, the milk fat in unclarified butter can be a plus! I just wanted to use up the clarified butter I had. FYI: clarified butter has a higher burn point, around 450F, and so it can be useful when frying or sauté.

I gently warmed the bacon in the clarified butter. Don’t treat this stuff like regular bacon or it turns into something like a pub coaster.

Hollandaise sauce begins with egg yolks and a tiny bit of cold water, beaten with a wire or plastic whip in a pan or bowl or pot that can be placed on top of a pot of boiling water. Beat the eggs up so that they froth and increase in volume.

Place your pan with the beaten frothy eggs over your briskly bubbling pot of water and keep beating. It can be handy to have a bowl of cold water near the stove. If your pot gets too warm and the eggs look as if they are going to scramble set the pan, bowl, etc. into the cold water. The idea with a double-boiler set up is control of the heat so that your eggs don’t just scramble on you.

Be ready to move your container with the eggs off from the steam frequently. Control that temp!

Begin adding unsalted butter. You can use soft butter or clarified. I had some clarified on hand so I used that.

As you beat the butter into the eggs, a little at a time, the combination will emulsify and become velvety.

When the consistency is about right, and you will know when it is, or maybe just a little tighter than you think a sauce should be, season with lemon juice (which will loosen it up again), pepper (white is better – I didn’t have any) and even a pinch of cayenne pepper. Beat it together thoroughly. You can keep your sauce on hand for only a short time. I don’t recommend more than about 20 minutes. Once that sauce is done, keep it warm, not hot, or it may “break” and separate or clot. You can revive it with a touch of water.

I use a water temp of around 170-180F for 3 minutes. Do NOT boil the water. The higher (not boiling) temp and putting a little vinegar in the water helps the whites stay together.

Try to compress the time between completing the Hollandaise and starting the eggs a’poachin’. Lift them out with a slotted spoon. It helps to have some paper towel on hand to dab and soak up water from off and from around the eggs.

Assemble. I like English muffins well-toasted. Thanks to reader KA for the toaster from my amazon wish list, btw. I now toast, rather than incinerate, in style.

You will usually see the bacon go onto the muffin first, then the egg, topped with sauce. I put a slice beneath and above so you could see it better. The visual is important!

I made some fried potatoes.

I added the chives to annoy liberals. Come to think of it they also annoy some traddies. Liberals and the really hardcore traddies can be alike in many ways, mirabile scriptu. Whenever I post about even rather simple meals – made to look nice with the application of sprigs of “personality” – I inevitably get hate mail. A chive placed at an angle seems to just set them off…. to my joy! A little touch of “personality” on a plate of even very simple fare – and Eggs Benedict is very simple fare – can go a long way to demonstrating respect for the process, for the ingredients which God provides, and for the people to whom you serve your food.

Other than the friend potatoes, which I started way in advance, this whole thing should take about 15 minutes if you prep your space and get the water going ahead of time and get everything set up, that whole mise en place thing.

And so I made, and ate, Eggs Benedict yesterday evening, probably sending them straight to my LAD.

As I ate I wished His Holiness a happy birthday and then I amused myself for the balance of the meal with charts of amateur radio bands.

QRU.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, Lighter fare | Tagged Canadian bacon, chives, Eggs Benedict, English muffin, Ham radio, Hollandaise sauce, lemon, QRU
10 Comments

Of things Lyrid, Saturnine, Solar and TEOTWAWKI

Posted on 16 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Spaceweather comes, first, benign news and, then, news that one of these days is going to precede TEOTWAWKI:

LYRID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is approaching the debris field of ancient Comet Thatcher, source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on April 21-22; a nearly-new moon on those dates will provide perfect dark-sky conditions for meteor watching. Usually the shower is mild (10-20 meteors per hour) but unmapped filaments of dust in the comet’s tail sometimes trigger outbursts 10 times stronger.

It’s called the Lyrid shower because the meteors appear to spoke out from the constellation Lyra.

SATURN’S RINGS AT THEIR BEST: This week Saturn is at opposition–directly opposite the sun in the skies of Earth. The ringed planet rises at sunset and soars high in the sky at midnight, up all night long. Opposition is the time when Saturn’s rings are at their best. From the point of view of Earth, shadows in the ring plane almost completely disappear (just as your own shadow tries to hide beneath your feet at noon) and sunlight is directly backscattered by icy ring particles toward our planet.

From our perspective, Saturn has a wobble over a long arc of time. Therefore we sometimes have to look at him direct on, so that we can barely see the rings. At other times, Saturn is tilted toward or away from us and we get a better view.

And then there’s… this:

SPECTACULAR EXPLOSION: Magnetic fields on the sun’s northeastern limb erupted around 17:45 UT on April 16th, producing one of the most visually-spectacular explosions in years. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths:

The explosion, which registered M1.7 on the Richter Scale of solar flares, was not Earth-directed. [This time.] A CME produced by the blast is likely to hit NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft, but probably no planets.

This event confirms suspicions that an active region of significance is rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the sun. [DUM DUM DAAAAAAAH! I would start stocking up on Mystic Monk Coffee, friends. Don’t think ponder it. Just do it.] Stay tuned for updates. Solar flare alerts:text,phone.