Concerning a certain spoon

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Cuiller à sauce individuelleI recently had occasion to think again about the cuillère à sauce individuelle. I have written about this great tool several times, including here and here.

I found a description of its origin!  The French is pretty straight forward…

Lancée en 1950 par le Restaurant Lasserre à Paris, la cuiller à sauce individuelle permet de déguster la sauce dans une assiette plate sans manger de pain.

Créé en 1933 ce modèle de style Art Déco a été présenté à l’Exposition internationale des arts et techniques de Paris en 193 Les pans coupés, les angles et les lignes architecturées réinterprètent avec élégance les années 30.

And there you have it.   But more HERE.

It seems the notch is just for fun after all.

I thought it was much older.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, Just Too Cool, Lighter fare, Linking Back | Tagged , , , , ,
2 Comments

Criminal serving time with monks begs to be sent back to prison

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Are there any judges out there?  Here’s an idea.

A reader sent this from the The Daily Mail:

Criminal serving his sentence with monks pleads to be sent back to prison… because monastery life is too hard

A convicted criminal who was serving out his sentence in a monastery has escaped for the second time and asked to be sent back to prison because life was too tough.

Thief David Catalano, 31, was sent to a Santa Maria degli Angeli community run by Capuchin monks in Sicily last November.

But he found their austere lifetstyle too tough to handle and soon escaped. After a short while on the run he was caught by police and sent back.

On Monday he fled for the second time in six weeks, only to swiftly turn himself in at a police station and beg officers to send him back to jail in the nearby town of Nicosia.

He told the stunned policemen: ‘Prison is better than being at that hostel run by monks.’

A police spokesman said: ‘Catalano arrived out of the blue and said there was no way he could stay on with the monks.

‘He said it was too tough and he wanted to go back to prison, so we happily obliged and he is now back behind bars serving the rest of his sentence.

‘Life with the monks can be pretty tough – there are no mod cons and they are up early and go to bed early. There are no luxuries at the hostel and the monks run a very austere regime.’

The Santa Maria degli Angeli community is based in a monastery near Enna on the island of Sicily.

It has been run as a halfway house by the Capuchin friars for more than 12 years with around 60 prisoners accommodated there as they near the end of their sentences.
[…]

Topic for discussion: Should prisons be less/more comfortable than a Franciscan convent?

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged , , , ,
15 Comments

Still amusing, but it’s an old story.

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Lots of people have sent me email begging me to write about an incident in which a Canadian Anglican “priest” named Marguerite gave “communion” to a dog.

Yes, that really happened.

Yes, I already wrote about it…. a year and a half ago on 22 July 2010. HERE.

Still amusing, but it’s an old story.

Or… wait… did she do it again?

Nope. It’s an old story. 2010.

I wonder if Fishwrap and Sr. Maureen Fiedler would permit the dog to come into catholic communion? HERE.

In any event, friends, will you please stop sending me email about this?

Posted in Linking Back | Tagged , , , ,
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National Catholic Reporter’s Sr. Fiedler upset by the new Ordinariate

Posted on 5 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at the National catholic Fishwrap, which sports the word “Catholic” in their title despite having been explicitly told not to by the local bishop, has an amusingly flaky piece by Sr. Maureen Fiedler, whom we have seen several times in these electronic pages.

Sr. Fiedler is worked up over the new Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans/Episcopalians in the USA.

Why?  Because we should not welcome anyone into our Church who are against human equality!

These new Anglican Catholics are fleeing from a welcoming, inclusive, non-homophobic community into one which denies that women and the abnormal sex acronym crowd can be ordained.  Get it?

Here is a taste.

Should the church take in Episcopalians who believe in injustice?

by Maureen Fiedler on Jan. 04, 2012
The Vatican has created a new “Ordinariate” for disaffected Episcopalians who come over to the Catholic church. [Love the orthography.] Most of the disaffected Episcopalians are unhappy with the ordination of women as priests and bishops, the welcoming of openly gay/lesbian clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions. Many of them believe that such practices violate the basic teachings of Christianity.

As I read such stories, I understand all the ecclesial reasons for this move, and I’m happy that former Episcopal priests can remain married as they make the move. I just wish we’d extend the same right to our own Catholic priests.

And I have nothing against Episcopalians (or anyone) choosing to join the Catholic church. I think we need an open door.

But overall, I am troubled about this recent move. Generally speaking, the Episcopalians moving over are not disaffected by prayers or hymns or externals. They are uncomfortable with recent Episcopal practices that recognize and bless human equality. [This is where she gets real deep.  Pay attention.  She asks… CUE MUSIC…] Are we violating a fundamental principle of justice when we welcome folks into the Catholic church because they are opposed to gender equality and/or do not accept people of different sexual orientations on an equal basis?

A sense of compassion would dictate helping them through their dilemma, but should the process validate their views?  [Ohhh nooo … sniff… I’m such a… such an enabler!]

Of course, current [ROFL!] Catholic theology and practice accepts these views, which is unfortunate, but welcoming people who are fleeing practices of human equality is still troubling.

[…]

She goes on with dramatic metaphors of whips and slave auctions, etc.

I wonder if Fiedler is angling for NcFishwrap‘s next “Person of the Year”.

My advice to Sr. Fielder is channel all that concern into working closely on the development of Romanorum coetibus with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the U.S., Katharine Jefferts Schori, who is so welcoming and inclusive that she took in an admitted child abuser and gave him a job as a priest.

Posted in Lighter fare, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged , , ,
40 Comments

When we are detained, at least we’ll be held “on common ground”.

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Are you making a list of what is at stake in the upcoming presidential election cycle?

This comes from Life Site with my emphases:

Constitutional experts: pro-life ‘terrorists’ could be permanently detained without trial under law

by Ben Johnson

Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:44 EST

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 3, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Constitutional experts warn a new law that allows the president to permanently detain U.S. citizens without trial could be used against pro-life activists, who have already been defined as potential terrorists in documents by some government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.

“This law can apply to pro-lifers, yes,” said John W. Whitehead, a constitutional attorney and founder of The Rutherford Institute. Whitehead told LifeSiteNews.com the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA) “would allow the military to show up at your door if you’re a ‘potential terrorist,’ and put you in military detention where seeing a lawyer is difficult.”

The NDAA, which President Barack Obama signed on December 31, allows the president to hold enemy combatants in military detention facilities without trial until the end of hostilities, if the person “substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” The law allows the president to determine which groups may be considered terrorists without judicial or congressional oversight, although Secretary of Defense is required to “regularly brief” Congress about “covered persons.”

Sen. Carl Levin, D-MI, said the Obama administration specifically asked senators for the power to permanently detain American citizens without trial and to “remove the language which says that U.S. citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section.”

Although Section 1022 states, “The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States,” many contend the law allows detention as an option for Americans captured abroad. Glenn Greenwald of Salon summarized, “For foreign nationals accused of being members of Al Qaeda, military detention is mandatory; for U.S. citizens, it is optional.”

Dana Cody, president and executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, said pro-life activists “already are classified as domestic terrorists on some FBI lists.” She said that on one occasion the manager of a Kansas City, Kansas, abortion clinic slammed her client, Mary Ann Sause, to the ground and told the peaceful pro-life demonstrator he was photographing her license plate so he could report her to the FBI.

Cody, who told LifeSiteNews.com her organization is currently studying the NDAA, added that the law states “enemy territory is anywhere.” The Senate rejected an amendment from Dianne Feinstein limiting permanent detention to those captured “abroad.”

“If it’s within the discretion of the government under the National Defense Authorization Act, of course it will be used by the government to intimidate and silence pro-life people, especially those who are in the public forum,” Cody said.

[…]

Read the rest there.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras, GO TO CONFESSION, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The Campus Telephone Pole, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
33 Comments

QUAERITUR: Joining the Polish National Catholic Church

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Some relatives told me they were considering joining the Polish National Catholic Church. I see from what you have previously written they have valid sacraments (that’s good) but they don’t seem to be in union with our Pope in Rome (yikes!). Would their joining be the same as leaving the Roman Catholic Church for say a Protestant denominiation as in is this a sin? I doubt we could go from one to another without some spiritual ramification? Please explain very simply for me. Thanks for anything you can do.

Joining the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) is more dire than following priests of the SSPX. Unlike the SSPX, the PNCC is clearly in schism. To join the PNCC, especially formally, would mean abandoning the Roman Catholic Church. The person would likely incur the latae sententiae excommunication found in can. 1364.1 and could result in the eventual denial of funeral rites (can. 1184. 1.1). Mere attendance at a Mass or Masses of the PNCC would probably not rise to the level of a formal act of schism, especially if done as an ecumenical gesture, or solidarity with family. However, outside of the extreme cases mentioned in can. 844.2, a Catholic should not receive sacraments in a PNCC church.

The PNCC’s denies papal authority. The SSPX doesn’t deny it, they just don’t obey it. The PNCC does not have clerical celibacy, which is a bit quirky. Worse than than, however, the PNCC denies the dogma of original sin.

Just keep repeating “canon 1364 … can. 1184 … canon 1364 … can. 1184 … canon 1364 … can. 1184 …”.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Dogs and Fleas, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , , , , , ,
25 Comments

QUAERITUR: Children “playing Mass”

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Is it ok for a child to pretend to say Mass? After reading the following post and its comments I was beginning to be concerned (HERE).
I looked it up in Canon Law and saw similar things.

Obviously it would be OK for an innocent little boy to pretend to “say Mass” in his room, but what about a boy who is older than the age of reason and already receiving the sacraments (12, 13, 14)? Obviously they will grow out of it at some point or another, but as long as they know that it isn’t real and are just playing, not actually trying to consecrate hosts, and are not trying to convince anyone that it is real (and aren’t doing it publicly, just in their room) would it be alright and not incur this “interdict” described in Canon Law? If I recall correctly, don’t you have to be at least 16 to incur an excommunication?

In my opinion, it looked like the norms were aiming for those who “celebrate” Mass publicly, trying to convince others that it is real, or, think that it is real. Is that right?

Of course the norms were not aimed at children “playing” or “pretending” to say Mass.  They are aimed at adults who scandalize the faithful and commit a sin by simulating a sacrament.

As far as the age is concerned, parents ought to be watching carefully how and what their children do at every age. If a child is getting older and starts to really think he is saying Mass, that is a deeper problem.

Also, I would discourage girls from ever doing this.  (Yes… yes… I know that under other entries some have said they did this and the world didn’t crumble into ashes.)

Bottom line: Provided everything is done with the respect and care, it is okay for little kids to “play Mass”, although … I can’t imagine it is too fun to play “Novus Ordo”.

This reminded me of a photo someone sent of himself as a child playing Mass.

Reason #1556578 for Summorum Pontificum.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , , , ,
44 Comments

QUAERITUR: Can the new Lectionary be used with the Extraordinary Form?

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a seminarian (edited):

Fr. Z, thanks for all you do. [My pleasure.] I have learned much from reading your blog over the last few years, and I continue to come here as a seminarian for trusted commentary on different issues.  I have a quick question which arose from a liturgy class:

Does Universae Ecclesiae Article 26 rescind previous allowances for the use of the Novus Ordo lectionary in celebrations of the Missal of 1962? I have not been able to find any clear information on this.
Thanks for your help!

Peace. Know of my prayers for you.

Again, I like to check these things with a reliable canonist. Here is a response I received:

The pertinent paragraph is Universae Ecclesiae article 28, not 26. Article 28 says that Summorum Pontificum derogates from the provisions of law that are incompatible with the rubrical books of 1962. The use of the new lectionary, suggested by Quattuor abhinc annos, would seem to be incompatible with the rubrical books of 1962. Therefore, since SP came into force, this should not be done.

That said, I would have no problem whatsoever with a priest, after having proclaimed the Epistle and Gospel prescribed for the day according to the 1962 Missal, going up to the pulpit and reading the First and Second Reading, plus the Gospel for the day from the Ordinary Form lectionary at the beginning of his homily. [Which will either make Mass longer or force a shorter sermon!] This would seem to me to be a reasonable accomodation for a busy pastor with an ambiformal (did I just coin a new word?) parish who is reluctant to come up with two homilies each weekend. Since in the 1962 rubrics, the sermon need not be tied to the scriptural readings, this would seem to be a reasonable compromise.

Well!   A reasonable compromise.

Whaddy’all think?

Would you like that sort of solution for the sermon?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, Universae Ecclesiae | Tagged , , , , ,
28 Comments

Lessons for surviving in the Church

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Just a few changes here and there and it describes an environment closer to the subject matter of this blog.

Posted in Lighter fare |
3 Comments

The resignation of Bp. Zavala

Posted on 4 January 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The blogosphere (and my email) is full of the resignation of LA’s Auxiliary Bishop Most Rev. Gabino Zavala. I don’t have to say much about it. How very sad this all is.

I will only remind you that Bp. Zavala was President of Pax Christi, the USA Chapter of the international “Peace” Movement. In 2008 he was elected chair of the USCCB’s Communications Committee… over Bp. Finn. Bp. Zavala also presided over the closing liturgy of the Three Days of Darkness Education Conference in LA a couple years back. Who could forget those images…those tunes? (HERE)

[wp_youtube]nZ5it20gKqw[/wp_youtube]

The video of that liturgy is broken into parts. Some of them are worth reviewing.

Pray for the people of Los Angeles and for Archbp. Gomez.

Finally, Holy Church is composed of wheat and tares. It has been said that Holy Church is not a spiritual museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. We are all sinners, every one of us. There is only one Just One.

Posted in Linking Back, The Drill | Tagged
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