Liturgical road-kill! (WARNING! Not for the timid.) Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Have you ever had the experience of driving down the interstate and spying from afar some dark lump alongside the road?

You know that it is some unfortunate critter who met its high speed end at the hands of the Michelin Man.  You know it is going to be ugly.  You don’t want to have to see it.  You tell yourself you are just going to pass by without taking notice.  You look anyway.

Someone sent me a link to a site that has archived of – I am not making this up – Folk Mass Music Original Recordings.

That’s right! You older folks can now re-live the days of the first “Folk Masses”, the so-called “Hootenanny Masses” referred to in liturgical writings of the day.

You younger folks can learn what all the fuss was about.

It’s like having a peep at road-kill. Fascinating and dreadful, and not in a good way.

Here is a sample from 1966, the ineffable Ray Repp’s “To Be Alive”.

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Reason #35 for Summorum Pontificum.

To those of you who are too young to have known those halcyon days after the Council, when our liturgical worship was being destroyed by liturgist hacks and dimwit prelates, absorb some of this stuff and try to understand how our liturgical worship got to the state it is in today.

With the help of Pope Benedict’s vision, his “Marshall Plan” for our Catholic identity, and with the slow, inexorable influence of the biological solution being applied to older priests, bishops and others in influential roles, younger people are making necessary, healing corrections.

But.. oh… what a time. Oh, what we did to our identity as Catholics.

Just one more. See?  It is like liturgical road-kill!

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Posted in Brick by Brick, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , ,
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REVIEW: The Roman Catholic Ceremonial: Volume I. The Ordinary Ceremonies by Jeffrey Collins.

Liturgical worship should be reverent, careful and the best we can accomplish.  The expanding use of the Extraordinary Form will help to correct many of the aberrations inflicted on people through the Ordinary Form.  Therefore, every priest, every seminarian, as many Catholics as possible should embrace also the Extraordinary Form, know it well and carry it out well and through it worship God well.

There are several good books available for people who need to learn or serve (or understand thoroughly) the Extraordinary Form.  Here is another.  I have spoken of it before, but it has been updated with corrections, clarifications, and a good index.

It is The Roman Catholic Ceremonial: Volume I. The Ordinary Ceremonies by Jeffrey Collins.

Here is the description (my emphases):

The Roman Catholic Ceremonial presents a thorough and accurate, yet simple, explanation of the ceremonies of the 1962 Roman Rite. Volume I,the present volume, contains the functions of the ordinary parish church. For all but the easiest ceremonies, scripts are provided for each participant to enable quick mastery of his particular duties. This feature will prove invaluable for the busy Master of Ceremonies, who often has little if any time to conduct rehearsals for even the greatest occasions. The text is rounded out with a clear exposition of basic ceremonial principles and the general rubrics of the 1962 Missal, as well as glossaries on ecclesiastical furnishing and vesture, and is complemented by schematic diagrams of the major liturgical functions. This Second Revised Edition includes an Index. Whether a novice altar boy or a Prince of the Church, every minister of the altar will find reliable answers to his rubrical questions in The Roman Catholic Ceremonial.

It is also affordable.

The author is working on a volume of Pontifical Ceremonies.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, REVIEWS, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , , , , , , ,
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QUAERITUR: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

From a reader:

According to the Liturgy of the Hours note for the Baptism of the Lord this feast is to be omitted when Epiphany falls on a Sunday with a date of January 7 or 8. In the Ordo for the Archdiocese of Chicago and the dioceses of Joliet and Rockford it is listed for January 9. Which is correct?

The calendar gets complicated at this time of year.

It is a good practice to follow the official Ordo of the place where you are.

My understanding is that the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, in the newer Ordinary Form calendar, falls today, 9 January. Thus, Christmastide would end in the Novus Ordo and tomorrow will be Tuesday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time.

In the traditional Extraordinary Form calendar, the Commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord falls on 13 January, which would have been be the Octave of Epiphany. For the Extraordinary Form we are in the Season of or rather Time after Epiphany until Septuagesima on 5 February.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged , ,
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PODCAzT 125: The liturgical year and who we are. Season Appropriate Poems.

In this PODCAzT I return to a theme I have explored many times: the liturgical year.  We will hear about the Advent and Christmas cycle so that we can get our bearings on where we are… and who we are.

I also, from requests, include winter and even liturgical season appropriate poetry from Robert Herrick, T.S. Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Roman Liturgy’s Benedicite.

I know I will have requests about the piece of music at the end. It is called “King David’s Royal Star” from the Christmas CD of the wonderful Benedictine’s of Mary, Queen of Apostles near Kansas City, MO.   You… indeed you… can buy their disks and help them.  Listen to them while shaving with soap from the Dominicans and while drinking Mystic Monk Coffee from Carmelites!

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, PODCAzT | Tagged
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1st Vespers for Holy Family (BrevRom): “ineffable” sighting

For my weary brethren, 1st Vespers for Holy Family from the Breviarium Romanum.  I sing the hymn and recite the rest.  FOLLOW ALONG.

There is a prime use of “ineffable”.

The hymn is beautiful in both words and melody.  Here is a loose poetic translation:

Hymn (O lux beata caelitum)

O highest hope of mortals,
Blest Light of Saints above,
O Jesu, on whose boyhood
Home smiled with kindly love;

And thou whose bosom nursed him,
O Mary, highly graced,
Whose breast gave milk to Jesus,
Whose arms thy God embraced;

And thou of all men chosen
To guard the Virgin’s fame,
To whom God’s Son refused not
A Father’s gracious name;

Born for the nation’s healing,
Of Jesse’s lineage high,
Behold the suppliants kneeling,
O hear the sinners’ cry!

The sun returned to evening,
Dusks all the twilight air:
We, lingering here before you,
Pour out our heartfelt prayer.

Your home was as a garden
Made glad with fairest flowers;
May life thus blossom sweetly
In every home of ours.

All praise to Thee, O Jesus,
who parents dost obey;
Praise to the sovereign Father
and Paraclete for aye.
Amen.

V. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord.
R. They shall praise thee for ever and ever

That one verse in Latin is worth the effort to learn Latin and to learn to sing Gregorian chant:

Maria, dives gratia,
O sola quae casto potes
Fovere Iesum pectore,
Cum lacte donans oscula
.

Literally:

O Mary, rich in grace,
O lone one who are able with a chaste
breast to warm Jesus,
giving kisses with milk
.

The Collect:

Domine Iesu Christe, qui Mariae et Ioseph subditus, domesticam vitam ineffabilibus virtutibus consecrasti: fac nos, utriusque auxilio, Familiae sanctae tuae exemplis instrui, et consortium consequi sempiternum.

Lord Jesus Christ, who subject to Mary and Joseph, consecrated family life by unspeakable virtues, cause us, by the aid of both, to be instructed by the examples of Your Holy Family, and to attain everlasting fellowship.


Posted in PRAYERCAzT: What Does The (Latin) Prayer Really Sound L | Tagged , , , ,
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QUAERITUR: Friday fish and chips cooked in beef fat? WDTPRS POLL: “meatless Fridays”.

POLL BELOW!

From a reader:

I was watching TV last night & on the program they were talking about fish & chips fried in rendered beef fat at a restaurant.

Fish & Chips is one of my favorite Friday dishes and I assume that it’s cooked in vegetable oil of some kind. But, if I am at a restaurant, how could I know if they don’t state something on the menu (pretty common in California where I live). If it doesn’t say anything and I order and eat the fish & chips cooked in beef fat on a Friday in Lent have I broken the abstinence rules? Or is the fat merely the method of cooking, sort of like boiling pasta in water.

CLICK TO BUY

Remember that if you cook pasta in water, the pasta absorbs the water.  If the fish and chips are cooked in beef fat, you are also consuming some beef fat.

This is a great question for an Unreconstructed Ossified Manualist.

Prümmer says,

“The law of abstinence forbids eating meat and broth from meat, but not eggs, milk products, and also whatsoever condiments from the fat of animals.”

Sabetti-Barrett says:

“QUAER. 2. Quid dicendum de usu laridi?

Resp. Certum est non licere illud edere per frustra…

What is to be said about the use of lard?

Resp. It is clear that it is not permitted to eat it groundlessly and for an accompaniment with bread, because it is considered meat. It is permitted to use it even in evening snacks (refectiuncula), either as a condiment or in order to cook foods, provided that beforehand it will have been liquified. …

But wait! There’s more!

[Time for a COFFEE BREAK!]

Mystic Monk CoffeePaul VI’s Poenitemini says:

“The law of abstinence forbids the use of meat, but not of eggs, the products of milk or condiments made of animal fat. The law of fasting allows only one full meal a day, but does not prohibit taking some food in the morning and evening, observing–as far as quantity and quality are concerned–approved local custom.”

The language of “condiments” has remained.

Therefore, you can cook your fish in beef fat.  Use of fat from beef would not violate your abstinence from meat.

Thank you for being concerned about this.

Last August I posted a WDTPRS POLL about what you think about the proposition that the US bishops should reestablish meatless Fridays as our form of penance for all Fridays of the year. The bishops of England and Wales did this.

I am repeating that poll (with a slight difference) here below.

You can vote even if you are not registered here. Please give your reasons in the combox below, respecting always the people who make arguments other than your own.

Should the US Bishops have us return to obligatory "meatless Fridays" during the whole year and not just during Lent?

View Results

Please use the Tweet and +1 and Facebook “like” buttons so we can get a high turn out.  Bloggers, I would appreciate it if you would also give us a lift.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Fr. Z's Kitchen, Our Catholic Identity, POLLS | Tagged , , , , ,
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Stacks

This is the stack on my desk at my left elbow.

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And this isn’t even my “to read” stack!

You can tell I was working on something at the time these started to pile up.

Posted in What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged
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Archbp. Nienstedt building unity among clergy in favor of the defense of marriage Amendment in Minnesota..

Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Minnesota Catholic Conference have nailed their colors to the mast.  WDTPRS will go to the wall to help his efforts.

They are spearheading promotion of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Minnesota in defense of true, natural, real marriage.

There will be all manner of bullying and intimidation applied to Minnesota dioceses, bishops, priests.  They need your prayers and support.  People who hate the Church and her message about the dignity of human life in all aspects will try to silence bishops and priests.  They are bullies and their threats and attacks must be resisted.

Unfortunately there are some priests who think they know better than God our Creator.

This comes from LifeSite News:

Minnesota Archbishop Tells Priests Not to Oppose Church Teachings on Marriage

by Ben Johnson
Fri Jan 06, 2012

ST. PAUL, MINNNESOTA, January 6, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) –

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis has told his clergy they are not to publicly contradict the Church’s teachings on the defense of marriage, nor oppose the archdiocese’s attempts to place a constitutional amendment on the state ballot defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. [What a state we have come to if a bishop has to tell priests not to contradict publicly the teachings of the Church.]

The Progressive Catholic Voice, which supports same-sex “marriage,” received a copy of an e-mail the archbishop sent all priests and deacons containing the text of a speech he delivered last October 19.

“The gravity of this struggle, and the radical consequences of inaction propels me to place a solemn charge upon you all,” he told attendees of the Clergy Study Day. “On your ordination day, you made a promise to promote and defend all that the Church teaches. I call upon that promise in this effort to defend marriage. There ought not be open dissension on this issue.”

He believes efforts to redefine marriage now threaten to overwhelm the culture and confuse a generation of children. “Today we can say with clarity what the natural reality of marriage is,” he said.“That may not be possible in years to come if we fail to be successful now.”

Although the Church’s ultimate goal is promoting the spiritual life, Abp. Nienstedt views the defense of marriage as part of the New Evangelization. [OORAH!] He has appointed teams consisting of one priest and a married couple to explain the Church’s full beliefs on the sacrament of marriage in Catholic schools.

“I want the focus here to be a positive one – let’s celebrate the reality of what God designed from the beginning as affirmed in the first chapter of Genesis and that Jesus reaffirmed in the 19th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel,” Archbishop Nienstedt said.

The archbishop added, “If any have personal reservations, I do not wish that they be shared publicly. If anyone believes in conscience that he cannot cooperate, I want him to contact me directly and I will plan to respond personally.” He asked churches of the archdiocese to assist the funding of the marriage defense.

Catholics seeking to change the Faith’s constant teaching on sexual morality were outraged by his actions. “When I first read this letter I couldn’t believe that the Archbishop was telling priests and deacons to be silent if they were opposed to the marriage amendment,” said Paula Ruddy , an editor at The Progressive Catholic.

Dennis McGrath. Director of Communications, said the diocese has encountered fierce opposition because of its stance. “We’ve got some hard folks to deal with right now,” he said, adding the media, who do not understand traditional Christian teachings, are “serving as a megaphone for these LGBT groups.” [WDTPRS has got your back!]

McGrath, who would neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the speech text, said the archbishop has suffered “outlandish” assaults. “He’s got every right to send a letter to his priests on that.” He said priests publicly defending – or at least not contradicting – Church teaching on moral issues should be “de rigueur.” [Quite.]

Archbishop Nienstedt has served as archbishop in St. Paul since 2008.

Contact Information:
Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
226 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55102
(651) 291-4400

A political/social war is building in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Some of the priests will be quislings.  Let’s hope they keep their betrayal private.

WDTPRS kudos to Archbishop Nienstedt.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Biased Media Coverage, Fr. Z KUDOS, New Evangelization, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , ,
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Sixth former Anglican Bishop received into the Catholic Church

Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

I received this press release from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England.

Another Anglican bishop answers Pope Benedict’s call to unity

Former Anglican monk and bishop, Robert Mercer, has been received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by Monsignor Keith Newton through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

On Saturday 7 January, Mgr Newton celebrated Mass according to the Book of Divine Worship at the historic church of St Agatha’s, Portsmouth, by kind permission of the Reverend John Maunder, who cares for the Traditional Anglican Communion faithful in that area.

Mgr Newton said, ‘It is a great privilege to receive Robert into the fullness of Catholic life. He is a man of unimpeachable moral stature who, through his ministry in Africa and with the Community of the Resurrection, brings many valuable treasures of Anglican life into the Catholic Church’.

Robert Mercer was born in Zimbabwe and has been a member of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, for 49 years. From 1977-89 he was the Anglican bishop of Matabeleland and from 1989-2005 he served as a bishop of the Traditional Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. He retired in 2005 and became the Episcopal Visitor to the Traditional Anglican Communion in the UK.

Six former Anglican bishops have now been reconciled to the Holy See through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Just Too Cool, Pope of Christian Unity | Tagged , , , ,
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A note from the “Soap Sisters”. Classy!

I had a wonderful surprise from The Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, NJ.  They are the “Soap Sisters” who produce Seignadou Soap to help keep life and limb together.

They sent me a nice note thanking me for making their Gentleman’s Shaving Soap Gift Set a best seller.

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On another card, included with the rest, there was a note about their vocation as contemplative nuns which speaks to an issue that I brought up in my post “Save The Liturgy – Save The World“. The sisters wrote:

The contemplative nun is rather like Moses on the hill top, arms raised in prayer while the battle rages below. She may be in one sense, as he was, above the struggle on the plains, but it is her prayer, as it was his, that turns the tide of the battle.

Do I hear an “Amen!”?

This is surely true.  I hope they will pray for me.

I saw in their group photo for Christmas that they have novices.  No surprise there.  Sisters such as these will ever have vocations: they have tapped a deep vein.

They make their living from selling soaps, etc.  Please give them some support.

Then have some Mystic Monk Coffee.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged , , ,
19 Comments