QUAERITUR: Are Mormons Christians?

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have a friend who is Mormon and she claims that they are indeed
Christian but something in me says they are not. She claims that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and her Lord and Savior. Is that all that’s
needed to make her Christian? Sorry for my ignorance and thank you in
advance for your time and consideration of my question.

I refer you first, foremost and immediately to the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the “RESPONSE TO A ‘DUBIUM’ on the validity of baptism conferred by «The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints», called «Mormons».

Bottom line: Mormons are not Christians. Mormon baptism is not valid, Christian baptism.

In what follows, I am restricting myself to doctrine, and not the ethical and moral content of their faith, which in many ways is admirable and exemplary.

Mormons do not have a Christian, Trinitarian religion. For Mormons, Christ is not the God/man in the sense that Christians believe. They are not just in error about the Christ’s Divine Person, as Arians were. They have an entirely different understand of some person they call Christ, more or less related to the historical Jesus and to the Christ of orthodox Christian doctrine. This is a fundamental point you must understand about Mormon beliefs and language: they use the same terms or words that Christians do, but they use them with a different meaning. If they use something that sounds like the Christian Trinitarian formula, they use all the terms in the formula with a different sense. They do not have the same concept of “God” and “divine” that Christians do, though they use the same words as Christians.

for Mormons, being “divine” or “god” is a function rather than an ontological state. For Mormons, the one they call “God the Father” is really an elevate man from another planet who became “divine” but not in the ancient Christian sense of “divinization” (as in the preaching of some of the Fathers, the Son became man so that the we might become the sons of God, divine “filiation”).

Gods, for Mormons, were mortals who became gods. Mormons hold that “God the Father” actually has a wife, a “Heavenly Mother”, with whom he procreated “Jesus Christ” who also acquired “divinity”. For Mormons, the “Holy Spirit” is also the offspring of parents. For Mormons, four gods guide the universe, three of whom form a sort of “trinity”.

Mormons are not Christians. They use the same words Christians use, but they are not Christians.

For more, read then-Fr. Luis Ladaria’s explanation of the whole question HERE. Archbp. Ladaria is now Secretary of the CDF.

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ACTION ITEM ALERT! Pres. Obama, through a minion, attacks Catholic chaplains once again.

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Everyone should know what the Obama Administration is doing to Catholics this time.

I received my most recent copy of the magazine/bulletin of the Archdiocese for Military Services called Salute (that link will bring up a pdf of the article I am going to talk about).

In the March issue there is a by John L. Schlagter, the General Counsel for the Military Archdiocese, called “Update on AMS protecting Chaplains’ religious freedoms“.

First, the Obama Administration censored Catholics in the military.  Now, one of Pres. Obama unelected underlings, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, has by his master’s fiat, let Catholic chaplains know that, in the wake of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, chaplains may now officiate at same-sex “marriages”.

From the fact that if they “may”, then they in time “must”.

Not only that, the Obama Administration is obliged to uphold federal law.  This note to chaplains directly undermines the Defense of Marriage Act, which is still the law.

There is legislation which you should know about.  Check this out HERE.  Get in touch with your congressman and senators.

This is the “Military Religious Freedom Protection Act”, HR 3828.

Pray for our Chaplains and for Archbishop Broglio.

 

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Dogs and Fleas, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, Religious Liberty, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
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WDTPRS Tuesday 5th Week of Lent: bittersweet

Posted on 27 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the Tridentinum and in the 1962 Roman Missal this prayer is listed for Tuesday after Passion Sunday as the Oratio super populum.  It also has roots in the Gelasian.

COLLECT
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
perseverantem in tua voluntate famulatum,
ut in diebus nostris
et merito et numero populus tibi serviens augeatur.

The verb famulor gives us famulatus, which in the Lewis & Short means “servitude, slavery”.  In Blaise/Chirat there is an additional meaning, which is predictable, “service de Dieu, dévotion” attested to by, for example, St. Augustine of Hippo (cf. conf10.35.56). The word famulatus is rooted in the ancient Oscan word faama.  In its root, this word for service derives from the house or household and the extended relationships within a household.

OBSOLETE ICEL:
Lord,
Help us to do you will
that your Church may grow
and become more faithful in your service.

Good riddance.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL TRANSLATION
Grant us, we beg, O Lord,
persevering service in Your will,
so that in our days
the people serving You may be increased both in merit and in number.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):
Grant us, we pray, O Lord,
perseverance in obeying your will,
that in our days the people dedicated to your service
may grow in both merit and number.

My instant reaction to this prayer is rather bittersweet.

The Church’s shifting demographics in wealthy countries reveals that, while more people may be identifying themselves as Catholic, the percentage of Catholics going to Mass remains steady or is falling.

This means that we are going backward.

Also, in European countries which were once Catholic countries, such as Italy, the birth rate is far below replacement rate.  Yet “Eur-Arabia” is swiftly multiplying.  Contraception and abortion is killing off one dimension of the life of the Church.

The forces of the “Prince of this world” do prevail, will prevail in some places.

Pope Benedict has called for a “New Evangelization”.

How is that going to happen?

While Our Lord promised that “the gate of Hell” would not ultimately prevail, He did not promise they would not prevail in some places, such as the United States or Europe…. or your home town.

Look at what Pres. Obama is doing to the USA.

We can take an example from the fate of North Africa, the land of the great St. Augustine.  Where there was a powerful, vital and thriving Church, to which we in the modern world are so indebted, there are now… well… not much.

The prayer’s force turns on the ut with the subjunctive.  Our increase in merit and number depends on our perseverance in dedicated service to God’s will not our will.  Rather, our will also insofar as it is in conformity with God’s will.

Even our ability to persevere is a grace given to us by God.

He begins good things in us and, when we chose to cooperate, He makes us strong enough to bring to completion what He began in us.

A lot of work is to be done to bring people back to regular use of the sacraments.  Perhaps the new, corrected translations around the world will help.

I am convinced they will help only if they are accompanied by a reclamation of our liturgical traditions.  There are many elements which must be refitted so as to bring about a healthy organic whole.

We need a sound and widespread liturgical catechesis as part of a larger effort to present and instill a Catholic identity in many of the last two generations who know nothing of their Church, what she teaches or who she really is.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Four Last Things, LENT, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , ,
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QUAERITUR: An iPad in place of a Missal (the book itself) for Mass

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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From a reader:

Dear Father Z., accorging to you, would it be possible for a priest to use an electronic form of the Missal? Like, for example, we were on a pilgrimage to Israel recently (with prayers also for you and your blog, obviously), and the priest had to carry quite heavy missal with him. Would it be possible then to have, say, an iPad with the Mass, instead of the book? Thank you.

I have written about this before. HERE.

We bless our liturgical books for sacred use and we do not do so with our mobile devices.

I’ve thought about this for a while now.  Yes, I think you could do that, in a pinch.  But I would have to protest, strongly, the use of an iPad when there was a book available.

When travelling?  Yes, I think so.  I use my iPhone for my breviary when on the road.  I like using the book better, but the iPhone presents the identical texts and saying the TEXTS is what matters.

Perhaps some priests could offer their views.





For my “liturgical iPads”.

(I’m kidding.)

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged , , , , ,
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Pres. Obama says he’ll have “more flexibility” to do what he wants after November

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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On Monday m Pres. Obama said to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday that he, Obama, would have “more flexibility” because this is his last election.

Pres. Obama was talking about missile stuff.  But the question is immediately raised: What else does he think he can do once he doesn’t have to worry about getting reelected?

Perhaps his next big attempt will be to overturn the 22nd Amendment.

So, Diocletian Hussein Obama has to be more careful – now – because of the 2012 election.

He won’t, therefore, do what he thinks is best – right now – for political reasons.

He’ll sacrifice what he thinks is a better plan for what is good for his election.  That’s his way.  That’s clear.  That’s obvious.  Pure self-interest.

But what else will the President do if – quod Deus avertat – he is re-elected?

Katie bar the door.

He will cut loose on the Catholic Church and on our civil liberties in a way that we have never seen in the United States.

If the opposition put up a frozen orange juice can to run against Pres. Obama, I would vote for it.

Posted in Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , ,
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SSPX preparing for a positive response to the Holy See’s last letter

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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According to pius.info the German FSSPX district website, the “Kanzelverkündiging” below was read in all churches and chapels of the district.

To one observer who wrote to me, “it looks like the are preparing the FSSPX-faithfull for a positive response on the latest step in the dialogue with the Vatican, i.e. viewing a positive response as something which is good for (the orthodox forces in) the whole Church (and it is not about the Society).”

As Fr. Schmidberger (District Superior of the SSPX in Germany) puts it, it looks like the 15 April deadline seems to be official (i.e. included in the letter of Cardinal Leveda itself and is felt by the FSSPX as an ultimatum/final deadline).

From the German of the “Kanzelverkündiging:

Cancel Preaching: Conversations with Rome

Sunday, 25 March 2012

Cancel preaching to all churches and chapels of the German District of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.

Dear faithful,

On 16 March in Rome Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation, gave the Superior General of our Fraternity, Bishop Fellay a letter with statements in which we are asked ultimately to react more positively to the doctrinal preamble of September the 14th then we had done so far.

As a final deadline for a response is given the 15th of April 2012. Surely you have heard this already wholly or partialy from the media. We are have thus arrived at a crucial point.
Even if the letter strikes an unpleasant sound, there are legitimate hopes for a satisfactory solution. If this solution would be reached it would considerably strengthen all the orthodox forces in the church. If not it would weaken and discourage these forces. So it is not primarily about our brotherhood, but for the good of the Church.
Therefore we ask for the eager, insistent and imploring prayer of all our faithful and all Catholics, that God through the redemptive suffering of His only begotten Son, will lead His Church through this crisis and give her in the Holy Resurrection of Jesus life new strength and new prosperity.
Stuttgart, 22 March 2012
Father Franz Schmidberger, District Superior

Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

On this day when we celebration the unity of God’s divinity with our humanity in one Person Christ our Lord, let us ask the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, whose consent made the Lord’s Body the Church possible, to intercede for us all.

I ask Mary to pray that the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her in the Annunciation, and who gave life to the Church at Pentecost, now to come as the warmer and the bender and counselor to all members of the SSPX.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Posted in Brick by Brick, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , , ,
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Some comments on the “Three Days of Darkness” in L.A. 2012 (and 2011)

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Oddly, I wasn’t invited to speak at the Three Days of Darkness in L.A., which transpired (I guess) over the weekend.

I am talking, of course, about the annual religious education circus … confab … conference.

With a new Archbishop in place, you would think that some of the goofy 1970’s and 80’s stuff would be over.  Noooo…

Click HERE for the video of the opening ceremony (not a Mass).  I haven’t seen the closing Mass posted yet.  The Youth Day Mass for 2012 is HERE.  The music may make your ears bleed.  After a few indecorous concessions to the prevailing idea that we have to talk down to young people or be chatty with them (hard to resist), Archbishop Gomez gives a good sermon.

I did not find a Mass in the Extraordinary Form on their schedule.

That said about this year, I take you back in the past to last year‘s conference (2011), which had Archbishop Gomez in his new role in Los Angeles.  It was far less crazy than in years before.  You can see the video here.  I don’t recall writing about it last year, so I will make a few comments about last year’s closing Mass.

The first thing one always notices are the “ministers of movement” as they are called (read “dancing girls”, since in Latin cheerleaders are ludentium stimulatrices, we might call these precantium stimulatrices).

When, O Lord, will people stop abusing the term “minister”?

Throughout there is a seemingly endless trouping around of women, barely a man in sight.

At the offertory there is an “interesting” decoration of the altar.  The offertory wasn’t as laughable as in the past. various symbolic clothes were put over the altar and then covered with a white altar cloth. Far more restrained and in years past, but still overly theatrical and “meaningful”. I wonder if forced meaning works. You might check it out.  Go to minue 56:30.

The music used for the offertory is worth a few minutes of your time.  I am still pondering it.  It was a 17th century piece by Tomás Pasqual (+1635 ), done with a Mayan beat and instruments.   The piece was called, if I got it correctly, “Esta çena de amor llena”.  The composer seems to have been a native of Guatamala who was trained in music by the Spanish.   I have been interested in that periods New World music for quite a some time. I have a few CD’s of composers who were born in Europe and went to the New World and wrote there or of native composers.

I had to smile at the statement of the incessantly interrupting commentator , “We are reminded by this music from Tomas Pasqual that the Church of the Americas pre-dates much of our memory.”

Yes, indeed, Mr. Commentator, the Church does have a past before 1965.

The above-mentioned piece by Pasqual drifted into a Parce Domine with cello.   Less successful.  But peace is soon shattered by people screaming into microphones, so they get back to their normal.

The offertory raised for me some thoughts about proper applications of inculturation.

The unfortunate way the Mass degenerated after Communion and before the final blessing into a kind of “late-night show” of gabble and blabbing was the real low point.

All in all, if this music had been for a concert of some kind, punctuated by spiritual talks, it would have been pretty good.  I might have gone myself.  But… for Mass…  I can’t go there.

The sermon by Archbp. Gomez was pretty good.  Be sure to listen (27:30).  He used the occasion of the earthquake in Japan as the starting point for talking about conversion and discipleship and the need at times to leave everything in order to do God’s will.

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Of heavenly conjunctions, the turning of the spheres, and astrological divination

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Last night and the night before I went out into the crisp darkness to gaze for a while at a celestial conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and a sliver of a Crescent moon, all gathered directly under the Pleiades.

This spiffing display has led more than one person to wonder if perhaps we were being given a hint about Our Blessed Mother, since it fell on her true feast and her observed feast.

A nice, pious idea, but, no.

Can God make use of signs in the heavens?  Sure, He can.  He may have in the wake of the Apparitions at Fatima with the “miracle of the sun” and the aurora before the onset of WWII.  God can and does intervene to do meaningful things which, while not contrary to nature’s order, are nevertheless beyond our ability to explain according to the laws of science.

Not very long ago, as the ages of the world have it, very smart people thought that, because God, the First Mover, placed everything in the heavenly spheres with such order and guided by angels, all concentrically whirling about the stable Earth, therefore the position of the observable stars and planets must mean something.  Astrology was a common practice, and was in many cases undertaken with sincere piety.

Despite the fact that the theological wild-child Tertullian has interpreted the star of the Magi to symbolize the overturning of astrology, and despite the fact that Fathers of the Church, such as St. Augustine in City of God 8, inveighed against astrological divination, and despite even imperial condemnations, the practice stuck.  It is very hard to shake the idea that the world is the stable turning point of the universe and that the movements of the heavenly spheres means something.

Not long ago I read a great book (sent by one of you readers) about the period of the life of Galileo during which he was tried by the Roman Inquisition for his Copernican tendencies.  It is coauthored by a priest (who clears up from time time – you can tell when he is intervening – some points of theology and Church practice).  The book, Galileo in Rome: The Rise and Fall of a Troublesome Genius by William R. Shea and Mariano Artigas, gives a fair view of the historical context, the people and the issues.  One of the points explored is the role of astrology in the period.  I recommend the book also as a good preparation for apologetics. Whenever the matter of Church and science comes up, someone will throw the case of Galileo in your teeth.  Galileo was not entirely innocent in his own ecclesial and social demise: he had all the charm of a radial-arm saw.  He used satire and invective on people who had a hard time following his odd Copernican notions.  While some of them were jealous enemies, others were the very people who were his biggest fans.  The Pope was numbered among them, alas.  I’ll leave it to you to find out more about that fascinating person and period.

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NYC: 26 March – Extraordinary Form Pontifical Mass for Life and Confirmations

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

If you are in the NYC area, you might mark your calendar for 26 March. There will be a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form at Holy Innocents Church in Manhattan (on 37th between Broadway and 7th).

The Knights of Columbus (New York’s Agnus Dei and Regina Coeli councils) are sponsoring the Mass which is for the intention of promoting respect for life.

His Excellency Most Rev. James C. Timlin, Bishop Emeritus of Scranton, will be celebrant. He will administer the Sacrament of Confirmationaccording to the older, traditional form, before Mass.  If I am not mistaken this will be the first “traditional” administration of Confirmations in New York City since the rite was “reformed”.

This Pontifical Mass is one event in the Knights of Columbus’ international observance of “The Day of the Unborn Child” on the Feast of the Annunciation.

In 2012, the Feast of the Annunciation is observed on Monday, 26 March 26 because the traditional date of the feast falls on a Sunday.

The schola and choir will sing Missa O soberana luz by Portugese composer Filipe de Magalhães (+1652). Singers from both councils will join the schola and men from the Regina Coeli council will serve the Mass. This may be the first time this Mass has being sung at Mass in centuries. It will be great to hear it! Here is the Kyrie of the Mass.

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WHAT: Pontifical Mass for Life
WHERE: The Church of the Holy Innocents, 128 W. 37th Street, Manhattan
WHEN: Monday, 26 March at 6:00 PM (Rosary for Life at 5:45 PM)
Reception to follow in the Church Hall

For more information, call (212) 279-5861 or visit www.traditionalknight.com or www.kofc423.org

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Lady Day

Posted on 26 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Because yesterday was a Sunday of Lent, indeed 1st Passion Sunday, the Feast of the Incarnation, the moment of the Annunciation is observed today.  Therefore, in the Ordinary form, today is one of only two days of the year when everyone kneels at the words in the Creed… et incarnatus est de Spiritu Santo ex Maria virgine et homo factus est.

The Incarnation heralded the Incarnation, that moment when our Lord elevated our humanity by taking our human nature into an indestructible bond with His Divinity.  In the Incarnation God opened for us the path to “divinization”, His sharing of something of His own divine glory with us in the eternal happiness of heaven.

In the sin of our First Parents, offending God and loosing so many of our gifts, the whole human race sinned.  In justice a human being had to correct the offense, but such a correction was entirely impossible for a mere mortal human.  Such a correction required the intervention of one who was both man and God.

In the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, made man, made Jesus the Lord and Savior, not only begins to save us from our sins in His earthly ministry, but begins also the mysterious revelation of man more fully to himself (cf. GS 22).

Part of the Lord’s mission was also to teach man more fully who He is in the beauty of His own Person.  However, He did not begin to do this only from the beginning of His public ministry.  He began this from the very moment of the Incarnation.

From the instant of His conception, the Word made flesh begins to teach man more fully who man is.

Light from Light sheds light on the dignity of man, God’s image, from the instant of conception, from man’s humblest beginning.

Here are the Collects for this beautiful Feast of the Annunciation, Lady Day.  Here are the “Opening Prayers” from both the older, traditional, extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and the newer, post-Conciliar, ordinary form.

You might discuss their differences, their respective strengths.

COLLECT (1962MR):
Deus, qui de beatae Mariae Virginis utero Verbum tuum,
Angelo nuntiante, carnem suscipere voluisti:
praesta supplicibus tuis;
ut, qui vere eam Genetricem Dei credimus,
eius apud te intercessionibus adiuvemur.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who desired Your Word to take flesh from the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary
the angel announcing it:
grant to your supplicants;
that we who believe truly in the Mother of God,
may be helped in Your sight by her intercessions.

COLLECT (2002MR):
Deus, qui Verbum tuum in utero Virginis Mariae
veritatem carnis humanae suscipere voluisti,
concede, quaesumus,
ut, qui Redemptorem nostrum
Deum et hominem confitemur,
ipsius etiam divinae naturae mereamur esse consortes.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who wanted Your Word to take up
the truth of human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
grant, we beseech,
that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man,
may also merit to be the sharers of His divine nature.

This is of new composition, though there is a reference here to Letter 123 Ad Eudociam Augustam – “De monachis Palaestinis” of St. Pope Leo I, “the Great” (+461).

“Fides enim catholica sicut damnat Nestorum, qui in uno domino nostro Iesu Christo duas ausus est praedicare personas, ita damnat etiam Eutychen cum Dioscoro, qui ab unigenito Deo Verbo negant in utero Virginis matris veritatem carnis humanae susceptam.”

 

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