Fr. Z's Blog | Catholic commentary by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Succisa virescit: Another parish church reborn after destruction

Posted on 14 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day I posted about the rebuilding of a little parish church which had burned a few years ago on Christmas Eve. The rebuilding was quite the success. E cineribus resurgit.

I see now that another parish church, destroyed – 47 years to the day that it had been dedicated – in the horrible tornados that struck Joplin, MO some time ago, has been rebuild as well. Rebuilt and significantly amplified. I wrote about that parish HERE

Succisa virescit: Another parish church reborn after destruction

And now… from the Joplin Globe:

Friends, it is possible to build better than we have been building for the last few decades. It really is.

I congratulate the parish on their new church.

Succisa virescit.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Fr. Z KUDOS, Just Too Cool | Tagged e cineribus resurgit, Joplin MO, Succisa virescit
15 Comments

Nota bene: Apostolic Visitation of US sisters and CDF scrutiny of LCWR are NOT the same

Posted on 14 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is some speculation about what may be said on 16 December in Rome about the Apostolic Visitation that was conducted of communities of women religious in these USA by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (aka Congregation for Religious). Some suggest (hopefully, even triumphantly) that a rosy picture, or at least not a black picture, will be painted of religious life in female institutes and orders. Or, perhaps, there will be the usual positive comments about the many “fruits”, just like all the “fruits” we have obviously been granted since the Second Vatican Council. Then, there could be a small bite of the lip, tilt of the head, and lift of the hand, while, with furrowed brow someone says, even with all the “fruits”, there are points to work on (like the fact that most communities are going to be extinct in 20 years).

Whatever the outcome, whatever the statements, be careful not to fall into a trap. Don’t let media outlets lead you astray. Don’t let, especially liberal catholic commentators blow smoke into your eyes.

Do not conflate – as so often happens – the Visitation of the communities of women religious and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s scrutiny of the LCWR. These are separate issues and actions. The exoneration or praise of or even criticism that might come from the report on the Visitation, is NOT the same as what the CDF is doing in examining the formation and spirituality of the LCWR.

But watch. Some will say, “Look! The Pope himself (even though it’s the Congregation) has said the nuns of the LCWR are groovy! So, everyone now has to listen to the Nuns on the Bus!” No. It will be the Congregation and it won’t concern the CDF and the LCWR, and the Nuns on the Bus are yet another group (though the Venn Diagrams start to overlap heavily).

Posted in The Drill, Women Religious | Tagged Apostolic Visitation, CDF, LCWR, Nuns On The Bus, women religious
6 Comments

My View For Awhile: last trip edition

Posted on 14 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Off again, hopefully for the last trip of the calendar year!

And boarded…

I’m reading Peter Kwasniewski’s new book. HERE

UPDATE:

Upgraded.

I’m reminded of the big band song from WWII. “You’re 1-A in the Army, but you’re A-1 in my heart!”

UPDATE:

The (Delta) screen is promising free text messaging for T-Mobile customers. Given that and the far better overseas data rates, I’m think I’ll explore switching.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
6 Comments

Blog problems – UPDATES

Posted on 13 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I reverted to an older version of my theme while we do some work on the problem.

UPDATE: We isolated the pesky problem that was causing a redirect from the blog to some stupid hack page.

See my Litany for the Conversion of Internet Thugs 2.0

The next stage is a complete backup and then complete overhaul. This should happen during the next couple days.

UPDATE 10 Dec:

Okay… the hack is back. I may have to restore an older theme to get rid of it if it persists. Again, some work will be done to the blog and server in the next day or so.

UPDATE 10 Dec:

Everything has been updated. The blog should load faster now. I hope we have exorcized the attacks.

UPDATE 13 Dec:

I solved a couple problems yesterday. There were two two preview buttons preview buttons. Now there should only be one.

Also, we lost the “mobile” view for your phones. That should be restored now.

Next: Some people (I included) have noticed that sometimes, not all the time, the blog hangs a bit when loading. This is a cache problem. (It’s also a cash problem.) Hopefully today we can do something with that.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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CD of beautiful Christmas music – VIDEO

Posted on 13 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I told you about the great new Christmas music CD from the only Catholic boy’s choir school in these USA, St. Paul’s near Harvard University and posted a video about the choir. HERE

The Christmas In Harvard Square. It is available also in MP3.

UK link HERE

There is another video about the choir.

It’s not too late to order!

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged Christmas Music, St. Paul's Harvard
3 Comments

ASK FATHER: Will I have my pets again in heaven?

Posted on 12 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

QUAERITUR:

People have been asking me: Are there animal in heaven? Will I have my pets in heaven?

This has probably been stirred up by something Pope Francis reputedly said recently in the press (as it turns out, it was false reporting, but here goes):

“One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.”

First and foremost, this was not – good grief… do I have to write this? – a definitive statement.

The Roman Pontiff does not teach definitively, or even seriously, through interviews with journalists of any country, much less with the Italian media.

So, we can and should simply draw a line through this whole thing.

That said, animals, “brute beasts”, do not have immortal souls in the way human beings do. Do they have souls? Yes. They have their animal souls. Can they feel fear, etc? Of course they can. That doesn’t make their souls immortal. They are not proportioned to the consideration of eternal things, as human souls are. We have our souls directly from God with no intermediary. As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, and I think he is right, God must somehow be involved with the creation of animal souls, but they seems to have their souls through their bodies rather than directly from God. When animals die, their souls die with them.

Could there be critters in heaven?

I suppose one way to look at it is this: If, for some reason, our eternal happiness were somehow dependent on the presence of critters in life the come, then I suppose there could be critters.

However, in the Beatific Vision, in seeing God, we will not need any created thing for our happiness. That’s pretty clear. So, there is no need for critters in heaven. Who knows, but that leads me to think that there will not be critters around us as we contemplate the Holy Trinity in communion with the Holy Angels and each other. Why would we?

Animals don’t have immortal souls. They don’t do things that are meritorious in the way we can. They don’t sin in the way we do. They don’t need a Savior.

That said, at the end of things Christ will submit all of creation to the Father so that God might be all in all. I have no idea what that means in regard to critters. I suppose we will see in that moment how critters fit into God’s plan for us.

In our Judgment we shall certainly be judged according to how well we carried out our role as stewards of creation. We were given all of material creation for our proper use. We mustn’t abuse critters. We can use them, but properly. If we consciously misuse them, we sin, either venially or mortally.

That said, I hope we will still be able to have steak and Cabernet.

But, let’s settle down about this and not get excited or put reason aside in favor of sentimentality. It isn’t that important.

Finally… think about this for while:

If pets can go to heaven, they can also go to hell.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Four Last Things, Francis | Tagged animals, critters, pets, Pope Francis
98 Comments

Congratulations to a long-time participant and commentator for his ORDINATION!

Posted on 12 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today in the Diocese of Marquette the local bishop is ordaining transitional deacons including a long-time participant here and frequent commentator, now Rev. Mr. Tim Ferguson!

You know him also at the Official Parodohymnodist of this blog, famous for the lyrics of “Liturgical Blue” and the smash hits of Zuhlio.

I am sure the entire readership will join me in congratulating the diocese, the bishop and Rev. Mr. Ferguson.

Posted in Fr. Z KUDOS, Just Too Cool, Non Nobis and Te Deum | Tagged Tim Ferguson
22 Comments

WDTPRS 3rd Sunday of Advent – “the childlike dash towards the long-desired thing”

Posted on 12 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Rose vestments from the days of Fr. Finigan in Blackfen. Then came the regime change….

We are coming to the 3rd Sunday of Advent, also nicknamed Gaudete…. the plural imperative of gaudeo, “Rejoice!”. This Sunday there is a relaxation of the penitential aspect of Advent.

Yes, Advent is a penitential time, though not so much as Lent.

Remember: Real priests wear rosacea.

In the first week of Advent we begged God for the grace of the proper approach and will for our preparation.

In the second week, we ask God for help and protection in facing the obstacles the world raises against us. This Sunday we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming in our rose colored (rosacea) vestments, some use of the organ, flowers. Christmas is near at hand.

COLLECT – (2002MR)
Deus, qui conspicis populum tuum nativitatis dominicae festivitatem fideliter exspectare, praesta, quaesumus, ut valeamus ad tantae salutis gaudia pervenire, et ea votis sollemnibus alacri laetitia celebrare.

The infinitives in our Collect (expectare… pervenire… celebrare) give it a grand sound and also sum up what we are doing in Advent. L&S informs us that conspicio means, “to look at attentively, to get sight of, to descry, perceive, observe.” Alacer is, “lively, brisk, quick, eager, active; glad, happy, cheerful” and it is put in an unlikely combination with laetitia, “joy, especially unrestrained joyfulness”. At the same time we also have votis sollemnibus. Votum signifies first of all, “a solemn promise made to some deity” (we have all made baptismal vows!) and also “wish, desire, longing, prayer”. There is a powerful sentiment of longing in this prayer, God’s as well as ours. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that expecto is from ex- + pecto (pecto, “to comb”). You won’t find exspecto “look forward to”, in your L&S, but the etymological dictionary of Latin by WDTPRS 3rd Sunday of Advent – "the childlike dash towards the long-desired thing" Ernout and Meillet says it is from ex– + *specio, spexi, spectum or ex- + spicio. Therefore, it is a cousin of conspicio: God “watches” over us and we “look” back at… er um… forward to Him. This word play is clever.

Furthermore, sollemnis, related to sollus, i.e. “totus-annus“, points to something that takes place every year. So, it basically means “yearly, annual”. Thus, by extension it means something that takes place at appointed times, such as rites of a religious character and that which is does by custom.

LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who attentively watch Your people look forward faithfully to the feast of the Lord’s birth, grant, we entreat, that we may be able to attain the to joys of so great a salvation and celebrate them with eager jubilation in solemn annual festive rites.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.

You decide.

With the last two week’s of “rushing” in our prayers and doing good works, we have now the added image of eager and unrestrained joy, an almost childlike dash towards a long-desired thing.

Have earthly fathers watched this scene all of a Christmas morning?

Even so should we be in our eager joy to perform good works under the gaze of a Father who watches us, a Father with a plan.

The obsolete ICEL version captures little of the impact of the Latin prayer, that is, God the Father is patiently watching his people as we go about the Advent business of doing penance and just works in joyful anticipation Christ’s coming.

NEW CORRECTED ICEL (2011):
O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation, land to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.

Posted in ADVENT, ADVENTCAzT, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS | Tagged ADVENT, rosacea, rose
2 Comments

ASK FATHER: Direction of the couple exchanging vows

Posted on 12 December 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

A new (perhaps not new) trend I have witnessed at recent marriages and in social media, during the nuptial vows, is the practice of the witnessing priest standing, back to the people, at the entrance of the sanctuary, and the bride and groom standing near or on the altar steps as they exchange their vows. As a result, the couple is angled towards the priest and congregration rather than the altar, as would normally be the case. Why? I have heard it explained that this practice allows the congregation to clearly see the faces and hear the voices of the couple as they exchange vows. Another explanation is that the congregation represents the Church as it witnesses the marriage, and thus needs to see the bride and groom with clear sight.

Are there rubrics to guide the orientation of the couple during the Rite of Marriage? Is not the primary representative/symbol of the Catholic Church in the church building always Christ himself in the Eucharist? Furthermore, does not this new practice further encourage the ‘showy’, ‘theatrical’ nature of many Nuptial Masses today?

I know of nothing in the rubrics stating which direction the couple should face when they profess their vows.

I suppose that it’s left up to the discretion of the priest.

Some priests just like innovation for the sake of innovation.

Nothing in the rubrics prevents the couple from being suspended by invisible wires above the congregation a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and swooping in to meet each other as they exchange their consent.

Is that next? If so, I want a cool greenish sword.