NY Observer: Holy Innocents Church – exploding in popularity

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

One of my favorite parish in these USA, along with St. Agnes in St. Paul and St. John Cantius in Chicago, is Holy Innocents in Manhattan.

Lately there has been talk of closing the parish.  Quite a few national news outlets have picked up on the building controversy.  You can check out the stories by  New York Times, National Review Online, Rod Dreher, National Catholic Register.  There is one by Voice of America that is quite interesting.  Yesterday, Adam Shaw has a blistering contribution at Fox. You might check something I wrote about Holy Innocents, HERE and HERE.

Today I see a piece at the NY Observer.  If for nothing else, check out the beautiful photos, best I’ve seen yet.  My emphases and comments.

The Last Daily Latin Mass in New York is Facing Extinction

Down the street from the lights and sounds of Times Square stands the oldest building in the Garment District, the Church of the Holy Innocents. Over the decades the neighborhood has evolved into the tangle of chain stores and litter that it is today while the 150 year-old church has remained mostly the same since the day it was built. Step inside and the din is somehow lost, replaced by the last quiet, peaceful haven for New York’s traditional Catholics.

Yet what makes Holy Innocents truly unique is that it is the last Catholic church in the city to offer the mass in Latin. The Latin, or Tridentine, Mass has been performed since the 6th century, and this rare service seems to have the effect of transporting one back through time. In the same way that the mass is a testament to the past, the building itself is a landmark in New York history: giving last rites to those in the plane that crashed into the Empire State Building during WWII, baptizing Nobel laureate Eugene O’Neill, officiating the marriage of performer Jimmy Durante, and overseeing the conversion of poet Joyce Kilmer. [I didn’t know about Joyce Kilmer.]

Nowadays, however, the very thing that makes this place so extraordinary is the very thing putting it in danger. Despite the artistic, cultural, and financial strengths of Holy Innocents the church was recommended for closure in April as part of New York’s “Making All Things New” initiative (a title one parishioner called “Orwellian”) to consolidate superfluous church spaces.

The reasons cited for the potential closure were that the church is not considered by the advisory board to be “an active, vibrant community of faith,” according to a letter from Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, sent in response to concerned parishioner and Frick Institute employee Valeria Kondratiev. “A parish church is meant to be a center of worship and not a museum,” he went on to say, addressing her concerns for the immense, exquisite, and priceless Constantino Brumidi mural affixed above the altar that would, in her opinion, most likely be unsalvageable if the church were closed.

This comes right on the tails of an immense $700,000 renovation project undergone just last year with most of the money going to restore the Brumidi mural. The project was paid for in major part by donations from parishioners and partly overseen by the very Archdiocese that may have known far in advance of the church’s potential for consolidation. “Some people… gave until it hurt,” parishioner Ron Mirro said. “It’s just very upsetting.”

The puzzling thing about the Cardinal’s claims of a lack of vibrancy in the community, however, is that Holy Innocents seems to have exploded in popularity since they started their daily Latin Masses in 2010. Total Sunday Mass attendance is now 250-275, nearly triple the average attendance of 100 people in 2009. The church is nearing 75% of its ordinary seating capacity of 350-400. In addition, it is currently completely debt free with donations on track to double in the current fiscal year from the last.

Explanations for an inexplicable closure range, some believing it an issue of misinformation and miscommunication like volunteer Co-Coordinator of the church Mark Froeba who said that the priests who were trained after the Second Vatican Council grew to harbor an animosity for the Latin Mass and the old, problematic ways of the church that it came to represent for them.

[…]

Unfortunately, Holy Innocents has little recourse to save their home. “As Catholics we are called to be obedient to our clergy and that’s what we accept about our faith,” said Con O’Shea-Creal, a regular commuter to the church from Queens. He and his wife Paige were recently married at Holy Innocents. The young couple agreed that they trusted in the Archdiocese’ final decision but that it can be difficult to do so sometimes.

This attitude is reflected in many of the parishioners of Holy Innocents. They are left with a feeling of helplessness and fear, making change.org petitions and writing pleading letters to the Cardinal, but incapable of doing much else besides their daily mass, to which they have added a prayer for the health and heart of Cardinal Dolan to spare their church.

[…]

Parishioners are made up of a diverse cross-section of races, ethnicities, and, surprisingly, ages. It is a common misconception that traditional Catholics are predominately elderly, but the Latin Mass is seemingly burgeoning in popularity among young Catholics.

[…]

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano debates just such issues on television most of his days as the Senior Judicial Analyst for Fox News Channel, but many of his nights are spent at Holy Innocents. “The Cardinal… [is] a terrific human being… He has a very, very big heart. I am confident that in that very big heart of his, there’s a place for [Holy Innocents],” he said. [Amen!  Well said.] “One of the church’s truisms is ‘sacred then means sacred now,’” he told the Observer. “The church teaches that if something was sacred, it was always sacred and it always will be sacred. Well, this Tridentine Mass was sacred for 1,400 years. It is sacred still.”

[…]

The Cardinal’s final decision on the status of the closure will be revealed sometime in September.

Read the whole thing there.

One of the beautiful photos.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
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Pope Francis tells NBC reporter he intends to visit Philadelphia

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

While the Holy Father’s possible visit to Philadelphia for a congress on the family has been hedged about with cautious language, today we have greater clarity about what Francis wants.  From NBC:

Pope Francis Tells NBC News He’ll Pay Philadelphia a Visit

Pope Francis told NBC News he will be paying a visit to the city of brotherly love. NBC’s Anne Thompson spoke to the pope in Italian as the pontiff flew to Asia for his first-ever trip. [… to Asia, that is.] Thompson asked, in Italian, if the pope would travel to Philadelphia at any point.

“Si,” replied Francis, going on to mentioned the city’s World Family Day, due to take place in September 2015. The Vatican typically does not announce Papal Trips more than six months in advance. Past remarks made by the pope about travel plans, however, have proved to play out. The pontiff said in July 2013 that he wanted to go to Asia – which is exactly where he landed on Thursday. The pope is visiting Seoul for five days and has upcoming plans to travel to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

The pope traveled to Seoul with around 65 journalists, greeting each one personally as they climbed aboard Alitalia Flight 4000. While the pope set separately, Thompson and her fellow journalists enjoyed a hearty meal of cannelloni with mint-scented ricotta and filet of beef. [But… what about los pobres?]

While Philadelphia may play up its name as the city of brotherly love when the pope travels there, the pontiff’s arrival in Asia on Thursday wasn’t met warmly all around. North Korea – which has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South – fired five rockets into the sea as Francis arrived in Seoul. [Ho hum.] In his first speech of the trip, Pope Francis urged renewed efforts to forge peace on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid “fruitless” criticisms and shows of force.

Posted in Events, Francis | Tagged , ,
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ISIS supporters hand out leaflets in London, ask people to move to Islamic State

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is interesting.  Via Pamela Geller:

Londonistan: ‘The dawn of a new era has begun’: ISIS supporters hand out leaflets in London’s Oxford Street encouraging people to move to newly proclaimed Islamic State

Since I am sure that we all love our Muslim brothers and sisters, I say:

“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.”

All things considered… I encourage them to go!   Let them, first, renounce their citizenship (if they have it), turn in their passports, and get out of town.  They can go to Iraq or Syria or wherever.

 

Posted in The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , , , ,
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ASK FATHER: Should I use a chapel veil for a priest friend’s first Mass (TLM)?

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Father Z, would you help me with an EF etiquette question? I’ll be attending the First Mass of Thanksgiving of a priest friend newly ordained into the Institute of Christ the King. It will, of course, be in the Extraordinary Form. I have only ever attended one EF Mass before. (I didn’t fall in love with the EF there and am comfortable with the OF, though I have a personal “wish list” that the priest face East, Holy Communion be distributed to people kneeling, and the music be consistently more liturgical and less pop-folk.) I know women typically wear mantillas to the EF Mass, but they strike me as an out-of-place cultural relic and not a liturgical norm. (We are not in 18th century France or Italy!) Out of respect for my priest-friend and others there, is it necessary for me to wear a mantilla?

While there is no strict obligation according to the the Church’s law, the ethos of the older use of the Roman Rite creates a soft obligation, an environment in which people of their own free will conform to what the older use is about.  That suggests a willingness on the part of women to use a head-covering in church.  It does not impose any hard obligation.

No one should look cross-eyed at a woman with an uncovered head in church for the Extraordinary Form.  That would be boorish.

Anyway… ladies… promote the New Evangelization start wearing those chapel veils in church!  The New Evangelization has to do with recovering a Christian identity in those places that were once Christian.  I think women can contribute through the use of chapel veils, just as we all could take up Friday abstinence and other practices for which Catholics were once well known.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
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A sense of the sacred: How to recapture it.

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at the National Catholic Register Pat Archbold has a good piece for your consideration.  You might point it out to your parish priests.

I’ll give you the intro and then the headlines. You can read the rest there.

7 Things To Restore Sense of Sacred Your Pastor Could Do Tomorrow [Tomorrow could also mean, “pretty soon”.]

When it comes to the liturgy of the Roman rite, some would have you believe that you have two choices, the progressive Novus Ordo mass at St. Banal of Boringham parish or the Traditional Latin Mass at the Parish of Quo Primum on the corner of Lunatic and Fringe.

They would also have [sic – have you?] believe that never the twain shall meet, that until the Pope of Future Past arrives to reform the Novus Ordo, that any chance of recovering what was traditionally considered sacred and reverential in the Novus Ordo is impossible, regardless of whether you consider that a feature or a bug.  [We have the example of St. Agnes in St. Paul.]

But this is simply not true. There are many things that Pastors and Priests could do tomorrow to help restore a sense of the sacred and proper reverence to the liturgy, things that are perfectly in line with Vatican II. Further, this is no theoretical exercise, there are pastors all around that have done some or even all of these things.

[And so, now, the headings.  Read the rest there.]

Ad Orientem.

[…]

Restore chant and polyphony.

[…]

Latin, yes Latin!!

[…]

Proper Reception of Communion, Kneeling and On The Tongue.

[…]

No More Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.

[…]

Appropriate Attire.

[…]

General Reverence and Sacredness.

[…]

Eliminating the Sign of Peace by the Faithful.

[…]

More Incense.

Great attention to reverence and precision by the Priests and servers.
Priestly ad libs banished!
The priest [sic – must?] avoid wandering around during the homily.

[…]

In all these things, the priest must be committed to education and some may take time. Parishes that have implemented many of these changes have seen tremendous blessings.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
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ASK FATHER: Do Catholics have a “right” to sacraments?

Posted on 14 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Often, I will hear the notion that Catholics have a right to the sacraments based on canon 843.1. However, the Sacrament of Orders is clearly not a right according to paragraph 1578 in the Catechism. What is the proper way to understand access to the sacraments?

Canon 843 doesn’t quite say that Catholics have a right to the sacraments.  Rather, it poses the situation in the other direction. The canon states that sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments “to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.”

The Church wants to be liberal (with the proper understanding of that term) in Her use of the sacraments.  They are the ordinary means of grace given to Her by the Lord for the sanctification of the world. Sacraments are meant to be “used”.  Therefore, clerics should not refuse access to the sacraments to those who need them AND who are – wait for it! – properly disposed, able to receive them, and who request them at appropriate times.

No, Mrs. Nettlehammer, 11:00 PM on 12 August under the Perseid meteor shower is NOT an appropriate time for your daughter to get married.

The terminology of “rights” and the Church, while an argument can be made that it is useful at times and, yes, the Church does use this language, is not an easy or a natural fit. Language of “rights” is an attempt to take a relatively recent civil concept and shoehorn it into something that is mystical and divine.

The baptized have a dignity given them through Baptism. They truly become sons and daughters of God. Their dignity permits them access to those treasures, helps, tools, means, which the Lord entrusts to Holy Church to assist them on their journey. As members of the divine family, this Church Militant, they should have access to the sacraments when they are properly disposed and reasonable in their request.

Let’s use an analogy.  Little Johnny is a member of the Smith family. His parents feed him and clothe him.  They permit him access to the family bookshelf, to the bathroom, to toys and to games. Does he have a “right” to food? Any food in the house? Does he have a “right” to his toys? At any time? Does he have a “right” to use the bathroom? How about when someone else is using it?  Well yes, sure, Johnny of has rights…. sort of.  At the same time, we reasonable people see limits to those rights.  We can all see how the concept of rights is not an easy or a natural fit within the context of the family. In a similar way, with the Church, yes, sure, we have a “right” to the sacraments, properly understood. It’s not the same thing as our constitutional right to free assembly, or our civil right to vote.  Furthermore, our access to sacraments is quite reasonably hedged about with propriety of time and place and other circumstances, as we as proper disposition.

 

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
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The knockout game, situational awareness, and you

Posted on 13 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This story is going around.  That “knockout game” thing is still going on.

I was going to put the video on, but, no… that’s what these barbarians want, isn’t it?

In New York City, a creepy selfish loser sucker-punches a 72-year old man, knocking him down.  The man has to be treated for a blood clot in his skull.

However… in other news, this comes from WND:

Are you armed? ‘Knockout’ thugs begin checking [Hmmm….]

The “knockout game” has become a nationwide menace in which roaming mobs randomly select victims and without warning hit them as hard as they can in an attempt to knock them out.

But there’s a new twist now, with attackers checking their victims first to find out whether they are armed.

The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville reported a witness called police claiming she saw a male juvenile punch a man in the face, “apparently without provocation.”

The victim, who told police he believed the boys were playing the knockout game, said one of the boys approached him and asked if he had a “Glock.” [“Glock” is about the level of monosyllable that these kids can handle.] The man was punched after admitting he was unarmed, the paper said. [LESSON: BE ARMED or DON’T say that you AREN’T!]

Four juveniles were arrested.

Black mobs routinely terrorize cities across the country, [“black mobs”… will that make people go crazy?  Stop reading?  It is clearly stereotyping, or, what do they call it, “profiling”.] but the media and government are silent. Read the detailed account of rampant racial crime in “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.”

But the report said the victim wised up quickly.

“Fearing that the boy would continue to hit him until he was unconscious, the man grabbed at a folding knife that he had tucked into his waistband and pretended to have a gun. The boys fled, and the man enlisted the help of his neighbor to search for the boys.”

[…]

“My favorite is the story of Marvell Weaver. He used a Taser to attack a father waiting for his daughter at a school bus stop. Only one thing: The Taser misfired. While his friends waited in the getaway car nearby, the father pulled out a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson and shot Weaver two times. He [the assailant] did a year in prison and admitted he had played the knockout game several other times.

“So to hear that the people involved in the knockout game are starting to worry about whether their victims can defend themselves is good news. Because once more people do, they won’t be victims anymore.”

The Guns Save Lives blog commented: “We have already documented one story where a potential victim has turned the tables on ‘Knockout Game’ players by pulling a gun. It looks like those incidents have instilled a fear in at least some of these ‘players.’”

What a mess.

What strikes me is the sheer cowardice of these violent crimes.

Everyone, please, dear readers, list… O list!

Situational awareness!  To my mind, having looked at the video of the attack in NYC described at the top, I can’t imagine how someone who was watching carefully, aware of his surroundings, the placement of people and what they are doing, would have walked directly into that particular attack.  Thugs tend to pick on people whom they can see are unaware of their surroundings, whom they can tell are distracted by, say, a mobile phone or music headphones or earbuds.  The attack scenarios vary, but they pick someone whom they think isn’t going to see it coming.

Heads on swivels, friends. Watch your six.  Ask yourself: Does that guy look like he belongs here?  Is he overly interested in me?  Acting appropriately?

Not everyone who behaves a little oddly is an actual threat.  But, until the scenario changes, know where they are.

Watch people the next time you are out and about.  You will see that the great majority seem to be unaware of their surroundings.  They barely look left or right.  Often they are looking down at the stupid screen in their hand.  A fluffy pink yak in lime green feather boas could do a tap dance routine at the edge of their field of vision and they wouldn’t even notice.

If you are walking around like that, or going to and from your car in a parking lot, oblivious, inattentive, distracted, spaced out, you are asking to be mugged.  “MUG ME!”  Save the thug some work: just wear a sign on your back.

Some situations ask for a heightened awareness.  Not only will thugs see that you are not going to be an easy victim – they want easy victims – but you will be in a better position to avoid conflict altogether.  If you can avoid, AVOID!  If you can’t, at least have your eyes open.

I won’t go into the issue of carrying a firearm, openly or concealed.  That’s a more complicated issue.  However, having the classes and training that come with obtaining the licence/permit can help you understand situational awareness and strategies for avoiding conflicts, including deescalating potential conflicts before they turn into something else.

I warmly recommend the training, especially if you are out and about a lot and even more if you are women.

Please, dear readers, don’t be easy victims.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , ,
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Wherein Fr. Z offers kudos to and agreement with…. PHYLLIS ZAGANO!

Posted on 13 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I find myself in complete agreement with Phyllis Zagano.

[Those sounds you are hearing are jaws hitting desks, mugs of Mystic Monk coffee dropping to the floor with a crash and splash, astonished readers sliding off chairs in a swoon.]

Yes, you read it right.

Dear Phyllis, columnist of the Fishwrap, and I … well… we haven’t always seen eye to eye. I’ve called her out a few times on this blog (and she deserved it) and poked a little fun at her now and then (and she… well… probably deserved that too). Phyllis, with all the tenderness of Inspector Javert, has retaliated by calling all over the country to create difficulties for me and to call my person into question.  Everyone needs a hobby, I guess.  It’s sort of like one of those comedies with someone like Dan Aykroid who has an escalating  feud with a neighbor.

Seriously, as I have written before, I will always give Ms. Zagano props for her solid pro-life stand.  She doesn’t get a pass for her stance on the ordination of women, but her defense of life counts for a lot with me.

And today, I send out sincere Fr. Z kudos to Phyllis for her latest, unexpected bit at Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter).  My emphases and comments.

Blasphemy in Oklahoma City [Blasphemy… that outta make some people scratch their heads at Fishwrap, Amerika and Commonwelt.]

The city manager of Oklahoma City has approved a Sept. 21 “black mass” in its Civic Center Music Hall. Maybe the heat’s got him.

The facts: a Satanist group called Dakhma of Angra Mainyu plunked down $420 to rent the 92-seat CitySpace Theatre for a “black mass.” The Catholic archbishop complained. The city manager cited the First Amendment. The archbishop has asked for prayers. The rest of city government is not talking.

The force behind the event, 35-year-old Adam Brian Daniels, is well-known to the Civic Center folks. He’s been involved in two of the three previous Satanist events there. Last year, nobody came. [Good point.]

Daniels is also a lifetime member of the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry.

Yet Oklahoma City authorities defend his right to perform a vile attack on what Christians hold sacred. [I wonder if the city authorities would have allow a ritual desecration of a Koran with pig’s fat.] The complete details are too disgusting to repeat, but the event includes stomping on a consecrated host.The action usually takes place between the legs of a naked woman lying on a table with her feet facing east. The actual ritual calls for all manner of strangeness there, but the Satanists say they will not break the law, and the Civic Center promises police attendance. So probably there will be no use of urine, excrement or semen. No nudity or lewdness, either. But they will desecrate the host. [I one story I read that someone had mailed them a host for use at this thing.  You can’t tell by looking if it is consecrated, but… with Communion in the hand… how hard is it to get one?]

No matter. The city manager has a bunch of old Supreme Court cases in his briefcase, all about the freedom of religion and free speech.

The law has always seemed to be rooted in common sense, but this is off the rails. [I think it was Mr. Bumble who is that, if the law holds that, then “the law is an ass”.  But wait! There’s more!  Read on.] Who can think Satanism is a religion? [Do I hear an “Amen!”?] Who thinks a “black mass” is political speech? [Tell it!] Bottom line: The city manager thinks the First Amendment protects blasphemous hate speech. Don’t they know about the 14th Amendment out there in Oklahoma?

[… skipping …]

What is going on in Oklahoma City? Do they not have the gumption to cancel the contract? They say they do not want to risk an expensive lawsuit, so they spend attorney time defending the Satanists’ rights against those of the rest of the community.

So Oklahoma City is enforcing its interpretation of law so that Catholics — their beliefs, practices, and their very selves — are not protected. Why don’t Catholics get “equal protection of the laws”?

Of course, you can argue that both ways, but the bottom line is that my rights not to be offended or harmed can, or at least should, overtake your rights to offend or harm me. That does not mean discussing Obamacare or even burning the flag. That means public desecration of the Eucharist. That means blasphemy.

You think claiming blasphemy is old-fashioned? Yes, it is. And the word does not seem to appear in any of the “black mass” discussion, pro or con. But the “black mass” organizers claim someone mailed them a consecrated host [there it is] and that they intend to stomp on it. That is blasphemy and harassment and the vandalism of religious property. [I don’t know about the property issue, but it is more than blasphemy.  Much more.  It is another old fashioned sin: sacrilege.  More later.]

[This is where it gets good…] Here’s a news flash: Oklahoma has blasphemy laws. [Who knew?] Blasphemy is a misdemeanor. The Oklahoma Statutes state: “Blasphemy consists in wantonly uttering or publishing words, casting contumelious reproach or profane ridicule upon God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Scriptures or the Christian or any other religion.” [Still on the books, apparently.]

Also, the Oklahoma City Municipal Code protects against harassment, intimidation, or degradation because of any individual’s religion, and also against vandalism of any religious property.

That sounds pretty 14th Amendment to me. Maybe someone should tell the city manager?

It is a genuine struggle. Who wins?

Does the city of Oklahoma City defend the law by providing public facilities to deride and offend Christians? Or do the Satanists win the day by creating a national hate speech event?

Either way, civility and common sense lose.

Again… good work, Phyllis.

Let’s now make a few distinctions for the benefit of those who may be a little fuzzy about these old fashioned Catholic words.

Blasphemy involves words or gestures, also thoughts, which show contempt for God or dishonor God regardless of whether the person intends that contempt or dishonor or not.  Blasphemy is against the virtue of religion and a mortal sin.  Blasphemy is direct when it is aimed at God.  It is indirect when aimed at Holy Church or the saints or any sacred thing or person or place.  It seems to me that what that priest did, whether he intended it or not, by the mere fact of doing it, was a kind of indirect blasphemy.  He detracted from God’s honor indirectly by debasing the rite and the people.

As an aside: a deadly sort of blasphemy concerns the Holy Spirit (cf. Matthew 12, 31-32).  This  ghastly sin attributes God’s works to the Enemy and which also concerns the denial of the Holy Spirit the power or will to purify and forgive leading to final impenitence and hardness of heart.  That sort of sin cannot be forgiven because the person rejects forgiveness.

Sacrilege, also a sin against the virtue of religion, is the improper or irreverent treatment of something sacred (persons, places, things, etc.).  Sacrilege can take various forms including acts of violence, or vandalism, or purposeful harm, such as using something sacred for a sinful purpose or monetary gain.  There is nothing more sacred that we have than the Blessed Sacrament, which is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, under the appearance of bread and wine.  To do harm to the Eucharist is sure the highest, or rather, lowest kind of sacrilege.

Keep in mind that some single actions can result in more than one sin.

Pray for those involved with this horrid event.   We must never wish Hell for anyone, but I fear it for those who would do this thing… and those who, knowing that it’s JUST PLAIN WRONG AND SINFUL to allow it, will give in and let it happen anyway.

Pray in solidarity with Archbp. Coakley and the good people of Oklahoma City.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Fr. Z KUDOS, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, You must be joking! | Tagged , , ,
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Sts. Hippolytus, Pontian, Cassian, martyrs (Includes a grisly murder… by children.)

Posted on 13 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I once wrote something extensive on Pontius and Hippolytus (and Cassian) which I will reproduce here for your convenience (edited):

Today is the commemoration of Sts. Hippolytus and Cassianus (or Cassian), martyrs (13 August). “But, Father! Wait!”, you are sure to being saying. In the 1970MR on 13 August we find the feast of Sts. Hippolytus, priest and Pontianus, Pope, martyrs, not Cassian at all! In the 2004 Martyrologium Romanum (MartRom – p. 449) we find not only the listing for Hippolytus with Pontianus (or Pontian) but also, by himself, Cassian. Since Cassian and Hippolytus had nothing whatsoever to do with each other, after the reform of the liturgy Hippolytus was logically put together with Pontianus on the same feast. There are actually quite a few ancient saints by name of Hippolytus and there is a lot of confusion about which is which. This one is certainly a Hippolytus of Rome and not the prolific writer of the same name who, according in P. Nautin’s article in the Encyclopedia of the Early Church (vol. I, pp. 383-4), was a bishop in Palestine who died after A.D. 240.

The third century was a turbulent time for Christians in Rome. Not only were there persecutions from without, there were also theological controversies within the Church about the nature(s) and divinity of Christ and His relationship with the Father. Hippolytus, who wrote in Greek, was a pivotal figure in the early Roman Church. Among other things, he championed a position against Modalism, which idea was that the Persons of the Trinity were merely three modes or manifestations of one God without being individual Persons. Hippolytus forwarded the idea that Christ the Logos was so separate from the Father, though subordinate to Him, that Christ virtually was another God (Ditheism). Pope Zephyrinus would not make a firm statement one way or another and Hippolytus condemned him as the weak puppet of the powerful deacon Callistus. Zephyrinus in 217 or 218 exits the stage and Callistus was elected to the See of Peter. Hippolytus then got himself elected “pope” by his followers. A terrible rigorist, he forthwith accused Callistus of various heresies and laxity in ecclesiastical discipline. He was thus antipope during the reigns of Callistus I, Urban I (222-230) and our man Pontianus (230–235) who according to legend is sometimes credited (more than likely erroneously) with introducing the liturgical greeting and response and hitherto translation bugbear of liturgists “Dominus vobiscum… Et cum spiritu tuo.”

During the persecution by Maximinus Thrax in 235, Pope Pontianus and the priest/antipope Hippolytus were condemned ad metalla (“to the mines”) and banished to Sardinia, called an unhealthy island (insula nociva). Pontianus probably renounced his office on 28 September, according to ancient sources. So, Pope Celestine V (5 July 1294 (crowned 29 August) – 13 December 1294 and died 19 May 1296) was not be the only Pope in history to have resigned. Perhaps together in the terrible mines of Sardinia or en route, Hippolytus and Pontianus were reconciled before they died. Pope Fabian (236-250) had their bodies brought back to Rome. They are feasted on the same day probably because in the IV c. document concerning the interment of martyrs, the Depositio Martyrum, we read “Idus Aug. Ypoliti in Tiburtina et Pontiani in Callisti”. In August the Ides are on the 13th day. Pontianus was buried in the papal section of the catacomb of Callistus and Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina. The fact that they were both so venerated by the Romans is held as a proof that they were reconciled with each other.

Cassian, on the other hand, according to the hymn of Prudentius (cf. Peristephanon, Hymn IX), was a teacher at Forum Cornelii (named after the dictator L. Cornelius Sulla – modern Imola). He was handed over (c. 300 according to 2001 MartRom) to his pupils who tortured him to death using their writing styluses (traditus est calamis ad mortem torquendus), made of iron, reeds or other pointy hard materials with which they would draw on wax tablets, etc. The MartRom adds a note that Cassian was given to his students to be killed because, “the weaker the hand, the more painful was the sentence of martyrdom.” Today, students torture their teachers to death with PDA styluses, laptop computers and MP3 players, not to mention execrable English – but I digress.

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", Patristiblogging, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged , , , , ,
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Benedict XVI on military force to restore conditions of peace

Posted on 13 August 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

One of the most useful document of Pope Benedict’s pontificate is his 2006 Message for the World Day of Peace.  He had been elected in April 2005 and this Message was therefore one of the first things he did.  The Message was officially signed 8 December.  Think about him working on something like this around the time when he was also working on his famous address to the Roman Curia at the end of 2005.

In his 2006 Message Benedict discusses the threat to peace offered from extreme positions, atheistic materialism and, on the other hand, religious fanaticism.  Without question he had in mind Islamic extremism.

8. Here I wish to express gratitude to the international organizations and to all those who are daily engaged in the application of international humanitarian law. Nor can I fail to mention the many soldiers engaged in the delicate work of resolving conflicts and restoring the necessary conditions for peace. [Military intervention is sometimes necessary to clear obstacles to peace.]I wish to remind them of the words of the Second Vatican Council: ”All those who enter the military in service to their country should look upon themselves as guardians of the security and freedom of their fellow-countrymen, and, in carrying out this duty properly, they too contribute to the establishment of peace”. On this demanding front the Catholic Church’s military ordinariates carry out their pastoral activity: I encourage both the military Ordinaries and military chaplains to be, in every situation and context, faithful heralds of the truth of peace.

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9. Nowadays, the truth of peace continues to be dramatically compromised and rejected by terrorism, whose criminal threats and attacks leave the world in a state of fear and insecurity. My predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II frequently pointed out the awful responsibility borne by terrorists, while at the same time condemning their senseless and deadly strategies. These are often the fruit of a tragic and disturbing nihilism which Pope John Paul II described in these words: ”Those who kill by acts of terrorism actually despair of humanity, of life, of the future. In their view, everything is to be hated and destroyed”. Not only nihilism, but also religious fanaticism, today often labeled fundamentalism, can inspire and encourage terrorist thinking and activity. From the beginning, John Paul II was aware of the explosive danger represented by fanatical fundamentalism, and he condemned it unsparingly, while warning against attempts to impose, rather than to propose for others freely to accept, one’s own convictions about the truth. [NB: An important key to understanding Benedict’s approach to pretty much everything: propose, don’t impose.] As he wrote: ”To try to impose on others by violent means what we consider to be the truth is an offence against the dignity of the human being, and ultimately an offence against God in whose image he is made”.

10. Looked at closely, nihilism and the fundamentalism of which we are speaking share an erroneous relationship to truth: the nihilist denies the very existence of truth, while the fundamentalist claims to be able to impose it by force. Despite their different origins and cultural backgrounds, both show a dangerous contempt for human beings and human life, and ultimately for God himself. Indeed, this shared tragic outcome results from a distortion of the full truth about God: nihilism denies God’s existence and his provident presence in history, while fanatical fundamentalism disfigures his loving and merciful countenance, replacing him with idols made in its own image. In analyzing the causes of the contemporary phenomenon of terrorism, consideration should be given, not only to its political and social causes, but also to its deeper cultural, religious and ideological motivations.

11. In view of the risks which humanity is facing in our time, all Catholics in every part of the world have a duty to proclaim and embody ever more fully the ”Gospel of Peace”, and to show that acknowledgment of the full truth of God is the first, indispensable condition for consolidating the truth of peace.

Posted in Benedict XVI, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , , ,
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