Malicious email from nefarious ne’er-do-wells

Posted on 26 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I spotted this via a Tweet by Patrick Madrid.  While you are at it, would you please follow me on Twitter?

At PC Magazine there are some tips to spotting malicious email.

I get a lot of email.  A LOT.  My antennae are constantly waving and on alert.

Malicious email from nefarious ne’er-do-wells can contain malware or can be phishing scams.

You don’t want to be the victim of identity theft.

I have it. Think about it.

I keep my virus scanning software updated.  I run that software.  I run other malware detection programs periodically, at least once a week.  I am very careful about incoming mail. I also have a LifeLock account.

I wish there were a filtering program that could identify and eliminate stupid.  You should see some of the stuff I get.  But I digress.

So, get smart, get cleaning and prevention software, get a UPS.

Do you just open everything that comes into your inbox?  I’d rethink that if I were you.

Lot’s of us live a great deal of life online.  We have to keep our heads in the game.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes |
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Why “oikonomia” isn’t a solution for divorced and civilly remarried.

Posted on 26 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Click to PRE-ORDER

Italian writers have finally gotten to the section by Archbp. Cyril Vasil, SJ, in The Book, that is, the “Five Cardinals” book in defense of the Catholic teaching on marriage.

Available now in the UK: HERE

 Archbishop Vasil is Secretary of the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

Sandro Magister has an entry today in which he focuses on Archbp. Vasil’s essay “Separation, Divorce, Dissolution of the Bond, and Remarriage: Theological and Practical Approaches of the Orthodox Churches.  There is an extensive excerpt too.

Magister’s introductory comments:

The example of the Orthodox Churches that allow second marriages is an argument enlisted by those who want the Catholic Church to set aside the ban on communion for the divorced and remarried, with Cardinal Walter Kasper in the lead.

Pope Francis gave them a big nudge with the sibylline “parenthesis” that he opened and closed in a conversation with journalists on the return flight from Rio de Janeiro on July 28, 2013:

“But also – a parenthesis – the Orthodox have a different practice. They follow the theology of what they call oikonomia, and they give a second chance, they allow it. But I believe that this problem – and here I close the parenthesis – must be studied within the context of the pastoral care of marriage.”

The commonly held idea is that second and even third marriages are celebrated sacramentally in the Orthodox Churches, and communion is given to the divorced and remarried. And this in continuity with the “merciful” practice of the Church in the early centuries.

But the reality is very far from these fantasies. Second marriages entered into the practice of the Eastern Churches in a later era, toward the end of the first millennium. They entered under the invasive influence of civil legislation, of which the Church was the executrix.

In any case, second and third marriages were never considered a sacrament. They were allowed under various more or less expansive forms in this or that area of Orthodoxy. The dissolution of first marriages was almost always for these Churches the simple transcription of a sentence of divorce issued by the civil authority.

The Orthodox Churches themselves do not help to specify this practice of theirs in a theologically and juridically clear form. The proof of this is the serious difficulty in which pastors in the Catholic Church find themselves in coming to grips with mixed marriages in which the Orthodox party comes from a marriage that has been dissolved on both the civil and religious level.

This knowledge gap is filled in, in the text reproduced further below, by an authority in this field, Archbishop Cyril Vasil (in the photo), a 49-year-old Slovak Jesuit, secretary of the Vatican congregation for the Oriental Churches and a former dean of the faculty of canon law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

The text is an extract from the extensive and well-documented article that Vasil dedicated to the theme in this multi-author book to be released in early October in the United States and Italy.[…]

The book, conceived of as a contribution to the upcoming synod on the family, has ignited lively reactions on account of the presence among its authors of cardinals Gerhard L. Müller, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Walter Brandmüller, Raymond L. Burke, Velasio De Paolis, and Carlo Caffarra, all of them severely critical of the ideas of their colleague Kasper. Who has counterattacked by asserting that Francis had “agreed” with him on his proposals and therefore “the target of the polemics is not me, but the pope.” [Which claim is nothing short of ridiculous.]

But while the five cardinals had already presented their positions in previous statements – presented again in the book with their explicit cooperation, unlike the inventions [like those of Vecchi] that the media chimes in with Kasper’s remonstrations – Vasil’s article on divorce and second marriages in the Eastern Churches is an absolute novelty, on a matter among the least known and most misunderstood, and yet of extraordinary significance and relevance.

This essay by Archbp. Vasil could have the effect of a nuke on any discussion of oikonomia during the upcoming Synod.  It’s effects will probably be felt after the Synod as well.

I also direct your attention back to something on oikonomia which I posted HERE.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
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When inculturation is wrong: “whoring after ephemeral relevance, a prostitution to the present age”

Posted on 26 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at Corpus Christi Watershed there is a good piece by Prof. Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College about inculturation.

Inculturation is unavoidable.  Inculturation has given us magnificent benefits.  If you want a good example of great inculturation try: Baroque.

But inculturation has to be properly understand and approached.  There is a simultaneous exchange constantly going on between the world and the Church.  That’s just fine, so long as what the Church has to give always has logical priority over what the world gives to the Church.

But let’s see Kwasniewski’s piece with my emphases and comments:

Confusions about Inculturation

IN RECENT DECADES there has been a great and deep confusion about the concept of inculturation. It has been taken to mean [wrongly] that the Catholic faith and its practice should be changed to conform to an indigenous culture, and should assimilate that culture’s own religious beliefs and practices. In other words, [liberals, usually, think] Catholicism is seen as raw material and the alien culture as an agent of transformation. This is a false view. In reality, the culture to which the Catholic faith comes is in need of conversion and elevation, so whatever elements are taken from it, once duly purged of sin and error, stand as material to the “form” imparted by the life-giving Catholic faith. It is the Church that is the agent, form, and goal in any true inculturation, while the culture is the matter that receives the form from the agent for the sake of salvation in Christ.  [Dead on.]
Any culture would benefit from the insertion of the Roman Mass in its fullness. [Do I hear an “Amen!”?] Either the culture would welcome it as a sublime expression of a divinely revealed religion, as the ceremonies and texts of the traditional Latin liturgy powerfully convey (it is in just this way that many of the Japanese are said to have reacted to the beauty and majesty of the liturgy as celebrated by the missionaries), [and today is an Ember Day, so get some tempura!] or a hostile culture would in time be overcome by it and thus purged of ignorance, error, and sin. In no case is it ever necessary to seek, as a goal, to take elements of a prevailing heathen culture and incorporate them into the sacred culture. [And yet that is what liturgical liberals do.] If there are elements that are worthy of elevation into the sacral domain, this will happen slowly, subtly, with fine discernment and discretion. Running after these elements in a kind of desperate hunt for relevancy is doomed to failure; it is a kind of whoring after ephemeral relevance, a prostitution to the present age and its malevolent prince. [OORAH!]

THINGS THAT ARE REALLY TRUE, good, and beautiful will, as it were, line up in front of the doors of the church and beg admission; they will sue for peace, and beg pardon, and offer themselves like lambs for the sacrifice. Then we may take them up in our arms and make of them vehicles of grace. But not in any other way. As St. Augustine says: “He that believes not, is truly demoniac, blind, and dumb; and he that has not understanding of the faith, nor confesses, nor gives praise to God, is subject to the devil.”  [qu. eu. 1, 4 – qui non credit subditus est diabolo] The Church does not go to the blind and dumb to ask for advice on how she should worship or what she should believe; she does not go to subjects of the devil, in desperate need of baptism, and beg them for a seat at their master’s table.
Inculturation as it has been understood and practiced by liturgical revolutionaries is one more ploy of Satan to destabilize and denature the Church of God, to water down her distinctiveness, to poison and pollute her divine cultus and human culture. This is not what the great Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries did; they brought forward the Catholic faith in all the splendor of its abiding truth, and by that light, they converted nations and baptized all that was noble and good in their people.

Please visit THIS PAGE to learn more about Dr. Kwasniewski’s Sacred Choral Works and the audio CDs that contain recordings of the pieces.

Fr. Z kudos to Prof. K.  Rem acu tetigit!

If our sacred liturgical worship is screwed up (and, by an large, it is) then everything else we undertake as a Church will be on a foundation of sand.  Our human relationships are ordered by the virtue justice.  We are to give people that which is due to them.  We also must give the Divine Persons their due.  But because the Divine Persons are qualitatively different, we give them their due by the virtue of religion.  And the first thing we owe to God is worship.  If our relationship with the Divine Persons is disordered, our other relationships will be out of joint.  Our liturgical worship of God keeps us in the right relationship with God so that we can be on a good footing in every other thing we pursue.

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Fr. Z KUDOS, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
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Fishwrap’s venomous MSW

Posted on 25 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When liberals run out of ideas, they resort to personal attacks.   This is the SOP of the venomous* Sean Michael Winters.  Today’s example is HERE.

Winters didn’t like Ed Peters’ examination of a suggestion made by Card. Scola about slimming down the annulment process.  HERE

Winters, therefore, resorts to ad hominem attacks aimed at both Peters and Card. Burke (whom he is incapable of leaving alone).

What a surprise.  Winters calls for “niceness” from conservatives and, as usual, shows none of his own.  HERE

*More on venom HERE

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Multiple sins of the NETWORK nuns exposed

Posted on 25 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Even though the culture wars are over and a new morning has dawned, I want you all to click HERE and read carefully a piece at the National Catholic Register by Anne Carey about the “Nuns on the Bus”.

The Nuns on the Bus, or NOBs, are going ’round and ’round again, this time palling around with pro-abortion VP Joe Biden.

Anne Carey is probably the most informed expert there is about the status of the question concerning women religious in these USA. She has a book which should be on the shelf of every person who ever has to deal with any nun for any reason anywhere.

At the NCReg piece, Carey writes about the latest chapter of the NOBs going-’round and ’round. The NOBs are out there, trying to turn out the vote for November primaries. Carey writes,

“Recent news reports about the 2014 Nuns on the Bus … are so bizarre they have me pinching myself to see if I’m really awake.”

Enter, from stage Left, pro-abortion VP Joe Biden, who is probably going to make his own White House run in 2016. He slavers praise all over the nuns’ lobby business called NETWORK, which helped give Catholic politicians cover so that they could vote for the Obamacare disaster, which they knew damn well could force taxpayer funding of abortion.

Sr. Simon Campbell, head of NETWORK and queenpin of the NOBs, is at the center of all of this.

And look for the mention of the LCWR.

Carey relates a set of jaw-dropping facts and, about midway through her piece, quips, “I can be forgiven for wondering why these stories had not come to light earlier if they are true, for Sister Simone does not have a strong track record of being factual.” Carey then continues her examination of Campbell’s bus-wreck like a NTSB agent dispassionately looking for body parts.

So, go read the piece… HERE.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Liberals, Magisterium of Nuns, The Drill, Women Religious | Tagged , , ,
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“Bitter clash”? In your dreams, liberals.

Posted on 25 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Click to buy!

At the liberal US Catholic I saw a piece from the RNS, rarely anything but left-leaning, there is a completely irresponsible claim about the book on marriage about which I have written several times.

Here is the offending quote.

VATICAN CITY ( RNS) Pope Francis has appointed a special commission to look at ways to make it easier for Roman Catholics to dissolve their marriages in the eyes of the church.

The goal of the 11-member commission announced Saturday (Sept. 20), is to reform the process, “with the objective of simplifying its procedure, making it more streamlined.”

The weekend announcement came as a bitter clash emerged among cardinals over the church’s approach to marriage, divorce and remarriage.  [“bitter clash”?  BITTER?  Does the writer know anything about this issue?]

According to church law, Catholics can obtain annulments if they can show their marriage was not valid. But if they opt out of the annulment process, divorce in civil court and then remarry, the church may refuse them Communion.

Five cardinals are publishing a new book reinforcing the sanctity of marriage next week, only days before the world’s bishops gather in Rome for a conference on the subject. The synod will consider issues including divorce, cohabitation, domestic violence and gay unions.

[…]

Just try to find anything in the “five cardinal” book that is bitter.  Just try to find something in the issue of Communio that is bitter.  Just try to find something bitter in the new book with the foreward by Card. Pell.

There is nothing “bitter” about the debate going on, unless it is in that bitter whining from the side that is having its proverbial lunch eaten by the side who are faithfully – and courteously – defending the indissolubility of marriage and present praxis.

Pope Francis asked for discussion, study, debate.  He is getting exactly what he asked for.  If people want to throw down, as Card. Kasper did in the consistory and has consistently done since then, they had better expect a proportional response.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Liberals, One Man & One Woman, You must be joking! | Tagged , ,
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ASK FATHER: Baptizing aliens who burst into flames from water. No. Really.

Posted on 24 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader (who has sent queries before about a writing project):

I’m sorry if I’m been annoying at all in the past. But I have another question this one is for a writing project that might never get off the ground, but in case it does. Could water that is extratrestrial in origin e.g from a comet or another planet be valid matter for baptism?

I parried back:

Water is water. H2O. Right?

And I went about my day, self-assured in my concise response.

The inquirer reposted:

Yep, essentially. But there exist other types of water like D2O [which everyone knows is deuterium oxide or heavy water] H2O+ [can’t say I know that one] (3)H2O [or that one] there are also a couple of newly discovered forms which are both liquid and solid simultaneously. Which shouldn’t be possible but it exists. [That sounds sort of like triple point, but not quite. I have my doubts that the states are simultaneous.  Three states can coexist at triple point, but they are different. Right?] Ain’t God wonderful. [No argument there.] Anyway now that I think about it, I have another idea that works better. I can simply make the person reviving baptism have a non-water biochemistry, picture the a human preist baptizing an alein [truly alien, since we don’t reverse e and i that often] only to have said alien burst into flames, or an alien baptizing a human only the alien understands “water” to be hydrogen cyanide, …

?!?!?

I hope this isn’t the old dihydrogen monoxide scam again.

Okay… I’ve got nothing.

Nope, I just got something.

From Daniel 3:

O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all for ever. […] O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. [65] O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. […] O ye dews and hoar frosts, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. […] O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.

The next one is of the creepy M. Night Shyamalan movie Signs. It starts out all light-hearted and then, suddenly, gets really creepy. But I don’t post spoilers and neither should you. I really hate spoilers (advance descriptions) and I really resent spoilers (the people who spoil). Take that hint.  I ban those people.

Water that is liquid and solid at the same time? I take it that this is way beyond the whole liminal state situation wherein the introduction of additional energy can suddenly push the liquid into another state (which I once accomplished in my Rome apartment with beer bottles in a freezer, while now-Archbp. Sample, a metalurgist by training, explained what was happening…. What a rich life I’ve led).

Okay, in the future, if we find that there is life-out-there and that life-out-there wants to be Christian, but that life-out-there takes a real dim view of water (as in bursting into flames at the touch of water – alas, Jar Jar is not one of them), how do we baptize aliens?

Could this be an out? The Church says that we baptize humans with water. Perhaps Holy Mother Church could allow baptism of aliens with, say, liquid helium – which would be exciting, or nitrogen tetroxide – which could be interesting, in tense way, or may even with really pure hydrogen peroxide – which could do a bang up job of it, or perhaps also digoxin – which might require immediate Extreme Unction.

As for the alien baptizing the human with hydrogen cyanide… ad astra per ardua, after all.  Who said being Christian was easy?  Whatever else it might be, it ain’t a piece of yellow-cake.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged ,
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Give a little thought to the “what ifs”.

Posted on 24 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I write once in a while about being prepared for emergencies.  You never know when something is going to happen and you will need to scramble to protect your family and friends.  We all have an obligation to be prepared to a reasonable extent.

What will happen if some disaster brings down the economy and we are plunged into a deep depression?  What will you be eating?

I saw an interesting post at The Survival Mom which lists some things that people in these USA ate during the “Great Depression”.  What struck me as I read through the list is that I know some of these things from when I was young.  My grandparents, in particular, introduced me to some of these … recipes.  To be honest, I still eat a few of them.  Check out the whole list.

There are a couple book recommendations as well.  Such as…

I haven’t read those, but they are intriguing.  I’ll probably check to see if I can get them through the local public library.

As I read some fiction of the dystopian, or apocalyptic, or prepper genres (which often intertwine) I ponder the fact that, in our comfortable modern ages of conveniences and plenty, we have collectively lost track of how to do some things.  For example, growing and canning or preserving your own food.  Sure, some of you do this now, I know.  But, I think we can all agree that not all that long ago, many more people did these things.

In any event, I suggest that you give a little thought to the “what ifs” which can happen not only to anyone of us, but everyone of us.  Individual poverty is one thing.  Economic collapse is another.   If you love your families and have charity for your friends, think about the “what ifs”.

And then there is the ultimate “what if”, which really isn’t a “what if” at all.  It is a “when”.  So, as part of your thoughtful preparation, examine your consciences and then…

…

[You know the rest.]

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Global Killer Asteroid Questions, GO TO CONFESSION, Semper Paratus, The Coming Storm | Tagged , , ,
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Of Our Lady of Walsingham, Our Lady of Ransom, and a prayer

Posted on 24 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom and of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Two years ago I was in London, watching with a fine young priest of the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham the episcopal consecration and installation of the new Bishop of Portsmouth, Most. Rev. Philip Egan.  At the end of the rite, Bp. Egan gave a fine reflection.  Tune in at about 2:12 in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brh06hu49os&feature=player_embedded

And I would like to remind you that the Catholic artist Daniel Mitsui (who is still playing the hospital bills for his little daughter) has a beautiful version of Our Lady of Walsingham.

By the way… I love the Collect for Our Lady of Ransom.

Who wants to take a crack at it?

Deus, qui per gloriosissimam Filii tui Matrem ad liberandos Christifideles a potestate paganorum nova Ecclesiam tuam prole amplificare dignatus es: praesta quaesumus; ut, quam pie veneramur tanti operis institutricem, eius pariter meritis et intercessione a peccatis omnibus, et captivitate daemonis liberemur.

Given that there is rising up a force of horrendous evil, flying the black flag of Islamism, and that they have captives, and that they are BEHEADING captives, as they did again today to a poor man from France, say a prayer to Our Lady of Ransom for the protection of all who are in danger of their very lives from the “Religion of Peace”.

Posted in Linking Back, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , , , , ,
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Suggestions for your donations to good Catholic causes

Posted on 24 September 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

More and more often these days, I have notes from people who wonder about reliable Catholic charities or causes to which they can contribute their hard won money.  They ask for suggestions.

I have some suggestions right now!

Even though two of the following are local to where I am, you can be secure in the knowledge that what you give is going to the best of causes.

Consider the Priests for our Future campaign.  Here in Madison, the Extraordinary Ordinary, Most Rev. Robert C. Morlino, has through hard work and good example, along with great vocation directors over the years, increased the number of seminarians from, I think, fewer than 10 when he arrived, to, I think, 34 right now.  The major seminarians are St. Paul, Detroit, Mt. St. Mary, and there are 8 men in Rome.   Surprisingly, Rome is less expensive than many seminaries.  The huge increase in seminarians means that we have by far outstripped the foundations and funds set up in the past.  They didn’t imagine in the past this number of men in the program.  And so, hard choices are being made.  The cathedral church of Madison burned down some years ago.  It was decided to postpone any rebuilding for the sake paying the bills for seminarians.  Over the last couple years, projects have been on the boards even to close or lease out even the chancery building, a former highschool seminary, in order to pay for seminarians.  This program needs help.  If you are looking for a way to help a good cause, under the guidance of a great bishop, think about this.

You may recall that two years ago Bishop Morlino told all of the seminarians of the diocese, during the annual get together in August – they spend a week and half with the bishop – that he wants them all to know how to say the Extraordinary Form.  This year, during the summer get together, half of the Masses were in the Extraordinary Form and I gave a talk on the topic.  There was also a panel discussion including His Excellency the bishop.

Here is video about the seminarian project in Madison.  I am disappointed that the Extraordinary Form was not included in the video imagery, but it is a solid presentation.

Also, here in Madison, I am leading a group which is dedicated to supporting the expansion of the Extraordinary Form, the “Tridentine Mass Society of Madison“.  The group has a 501(c)(3)  status and so your donations are tax deductible.   We are starting to pick up some speed now.  One of our projects is to organize Pontifical Masses.  Bp. Morlino has been super supportive.  As a matter of fact we will have a Pontifical Requiem at the Throne here on Monday 3 November.  We ordered a full pontifical set of black vestments, as well as catafalque candlestands and a matching altar candle set.  We will also have to obtain soon a really nice Pontifical set in white.  Upcoming dates for other Pontifical Masses at the Throne are, so far, 8 December (Immaculate Conception) and 2 February (Candlemass), and 25 March (Annunciation).  We should be able to have more Solemn Masses as well, as more priests get more familiar with the rites.   So, we need money.  You can find the page of the TMSM HERE  The donation button looks sort of like my own! (Hint.)

Then, on a national scale, don’t forget about the Archdiocese for Military Services.  They provide chaplains.  I don’t need to explain that.  See my link on the sidebar, toward the bottom or, right now, click HERE

Finally, don’t forget my donation button!  I don’t have a 501(c)(3).  But… hey!… you keep the lights on!  Also, in January I would like to attend the meeting of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in Rome.  This isn’t one of those trips where I am going as a chaplain to a group, so its on me.  I could use the help.  Click the waving Vatican flag.  That donation will be earmarked for my Rome travel.  As you know, I keep a list of the names of everyone who sends a donation and I periodically say Mass for my benefactors.  It is my duty and pleasure to remember benefactors at the altar.

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