Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

San Fran: Openly homosexual Episcopalian divorced bishop to preside at a Catholic parish’s Vespers?

Posted on 23 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Gay [I hate the misappropriation of that word] Episcopal bishop to preach at San Francisco Catholic parish
November 22, 2011

A notoriously ‘gay-friendly’ parish in San Francisco has invited an openly homosexual Episcopalian cleric to lead an Advent Vespers service.

Most Holy Redeemer parish asked Bishop Otis Charles, a retired Episcopalian prelate, to lead the November 30 service. After serving as the Bishop of Utah from 1971 to 1993, he publicly announced that he is homosexual. Divorced from the mother of his 5 children, he solemnized a same-sex union in 2004.

Fishwrap promotes a “sermon” by a wywymprystess

Posted on 22 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The National catholic Reporter … quousque tandem?

The Fishwrap brings us today the “sermon” of a woman who thinks she is a priest. She is a member of the big-puppet crew, the wymynpryst thingie.

Honestly, as I read this I had a suspicion that Fishwrap was engaged in self-parody. I promise, I am not making this up. And the caption on the photo, below, is “Janice Sevre-Duszynska prepares for liturgy Nov. 19. (Submitted photo)”. Really.

My emphases and comments.

How do you welcome strangers?
Nov. 22, 2011
By Janice Sevre-Duszynska

Editor’s Note: The following is the homily preached Nov. 19 by Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ordained a priest [The Editor accepts that she is ordained, it seems.] in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. She and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada led an inclusive Catholic eucharistic liturgy [simulated a Mass?] at the SOA Watch Vigil at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Ga., as part of the Progressive Catholic Coalition. Zawada and Sevre-Duszynska have both served jail time for civil disobedience to protest nuclear weapons and militarism.

First Reading: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” in The Eucharist and the Hunger of the World by Monika K. Hellwig.
Second Reading: Ballad of the Carpenter (sung in English, then read in Spanish)
Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46.
We afflicted the comfortable after showing “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” for the first time in Rome in October. Following our press conference, our group met at the corner of Via Concilizione, the street leading to the Vatican. We were members of Call to Action, Women’s Ordination Conference, and women priests. We were here to support Roy Bourgeois and women priests. [Remember that great event? I think there were, what… five people there?]

“What shall we sing?” we asked one another. [I promise… I am not making this up and it seems to be sincere…] I shook my ordination tambourine as the WOC banner was displayed and Roy brought out his red-and-white banner with “Ordain women priests” in English and Italian. [Ordination Tambourine! I didn’t get one of those.]

We were chanting the Celtic Alleluia and singing “Here I am, Lord” on our way to the Vatican to present the petition signed by 15,000 supporters of Roy and women priests. We were in Rome to cleanse the Vatican temple of sexism. A church that excludes women distracts us from being aware of the feminine aspect of spirituality and the experience and perceptions of women’s living and dying. The result is we have a church with a distorted understanding of God. The imbalance creates evil, sin and the suffering continues in our world community.

“What do you want? Women priests. When do you want them? Now,” we shouted out.
Roy turned to me and said, “Janice, we’re turning over the tables in the Vatican.”
“Yes, Roy. We are,” I nodded, smiling. [And the music swelled….]
Temple cleansing is not easy and can be unsettling. The Vatican showed its resistance by having the Italian police take the WOC banner away from Erin Hanna, as she was the organizer, and putting her and Miriam Duignan, the translator from womenpriests.org in London, into the police car, and with sirens at full blast, taking them to the police station. Then a plainclothes detective of the Italian police violently grabbed the banner away from Roy, pushing him. Roy joked at CTA in Milwaukee earlier this month that when he was driven to the jail in the police car, he had no sirens.

[…]

I bet the comments over there are a hoot.

My response:

I need to buy an Ordination Tambourine.

Posted in Throwing a Nutty | Tagged Fr. Roy Bourgeois, National Catholic Reporter, NCFishwrap, Ordination Tambourine
97 Comments

More Christmas shopping ideas: Angelus Press will have free shipping.

Posted on 22 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The nice people at Angelus Press wrote to let me know that:

… this upcoming Monday, November 28, Angelus Press will be offering Free Shipping on all orders to the continental United States. I’m letting you know since I think that this is a sale of which many of your readers may want to take advantage.

In the past I have recommended their great, small pamphlets on the care of liturgical linens and some of their calendars. You can find some of the things I have reviewed under my “reviews” tag and “Angelus Press” tag.

Their 2012 calendar features the Mysteries of the Rosary. For some reason of other, they did not include the Luminous Mysteries. Hmmm. I guess that’s because there aren’t 16 months in a year.

They have reprinted many wonderful and perennially useful titles.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged Angelus Press
12 Comments

New architecture and music “team” at the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship?

Posted on 22 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the intrepid Andrea Tornielli of Vatican Insider. Not my translation, but my emphases and comments:

New Vatican commission cracks down on church architecture

The new commission will be established shortly, as part of the Congregation for Divine Worship. It will also be in charge of music and singing in the liturgy

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY
A team [It “equipe”] has been set up, to put a stop to garage style churches, boldly shaped structures that risk denaturing modern places for Catholic worship. [I wonder how that is going to work.] Its task is also to promote singing that really helps the celebration of mass. [Ah yes… Primum non nocere.] The “Liturgical art and sacred music commission” will be established by the Congregation for Divine Worship over the coming weeks. This will not be just any office, but a true and proper team, [It “squadra”] whose task will be to collaborate with the commissions in charge of evaluating construction projects for churches of various dioceses. The team will also be responsible for the further study of music and singing that accompany the celebration of mass. [“responsible for study”? “collaborate”? “team”? How on earth is this going to function? Such a “team” would have to have some actual power. If it merely a resource local commissions can collaborate with, it is toothless. No? Am I getting this wrong? Of course, if it has some teeth and says to the Bishop of Black Duck that the Church of St. Ipsidipsy in Tall Tree Circle will not be reoriented so that it is apse-backward, won’t the usual suspects start shouting that this was how the CDW ruined the new translation? Vatican IMPOSITION! TYRANNY!]

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Benedict XVI, consider this work as “very urgent”. The reality is staring everyone in the eyes: in recent decades, churches have been substituted by buildings that resemble multi purpose halls. Too often, architects, even the more famous ones, do not use the Catholic liturgy as a starting point and thus end up producing avant-garde constructions that look like anything but a church. These buildings composed of cement cubes, glass boxes, crazy shapes and confused spaces, remind people of anything but the mystery and sacredness of a church. Tabernacles are semi hidden, leading faithful on a real treasure hunt and sacred images are almost inexistent. The new commission’s regulations will be written up over the next few days and will give precise instructions to dioceses. It will only be responsible for liturgical art, not for sacred art in general; and this also goes for liturgical music and singing too. The judicial powers of the Congregation for Divine Worship will have the power to act.

As is known, last 27 September, Benedict XVI transferred jurisdiction of two areas, from the Congregation for the Divine Worship to the Rota Romana (the Holy See’s Court of Appeal), under the motu proprio Quaerit simper. [Great typo!] The first of these areas is the nullity of priestly ordination, which similarly to marriage, can be annulled due to defect of form, consensus and intention, by both the ordaining bishop and the priest who is ordained. The second area is the special licence for marriages that have been contracted but not consummated. These are practices that occupied a lot of Cañizares’ time as head of the dicastery. [Really?]

In his motu proprio, the Pope explained: “Under the current circumstances, it seemed convenient [“è parso conveniente che”] for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the discipline of the sacraments to be mainly devoted to giving fresh impetus to the promotion of the Church’s sacred liturgy, according to the renewal required by the Second Vatican Council since the establishment of the Sacrosanctum Concilium.” The dicastery must therefore devote itself to “giving fresh impulse” to the promotion of the liturgy, giving it the focus insisted upon by Benedict XVI, including and above all by showing an example. In this aspect, in contract [sic] to the initial plans, the idea of a liturgical “reform of the reform” (an expression used by Ratzinger himself when he was a cardinal), seems to be eclipsed by a large-scale project favouring the ars celebrandi and a loyalty to the dictates and instructions of the new missal. It does so without proposing any modifications to the mass. [Ehem… I recall something about a “mutual enrichment”. Apparently that isn’t supposed to happen yet.]

It is worth remembering, in fact, that the abuse of the liturgy that has gone on in recent decades, becoming common practice, is committed against the laws established by Paul VI’s liturgical reform. It is not therefore the reform that needs to be amended; [The phrase “Say The Black – Do The Red” comes to mind.] rather, further study into the sense of the liturgy and its proper celebration is needed and must be salvaged in some cases. It is for this reason that the Congregation for Divine Worship intends to promote the training of priests, clerics and catechists, starting from the bare basics. By following the example and teaching of Benedict XVI, the Congregation aims to revive a sense of the sacredness and mystery of the liturgy.

Some liturgical texts need to be reviewed, because they are dated, as is the case of the penitence ritual, published in 1974. Indeed, in the years that followed, an apostolic teaching, a motu proprio, a new Code of Canon Law and a new Catechism were published. In this and in some other cases, updates will be needed. The idea Cardinal Cañizares is working on, is that of reaffirming the primacy of grace in human actions, of the need to give space to God’s action in the liturgy as opposed to actions which are left up to human creativity. There will be many opportunities to reflect on these topics. The year 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the year after that will mark the 50th anniversary of the first approved conciliar text, the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the sacred liturgy. [Not to mention Inter mirifica. Perhaps a coordinated effort with the New Evangelization office and Social Communications might be in order.]

There can be no renewal or effective “new re-evangelization” until our liturgical worship is revitalized. Worship is the key. I believe that Summorum Pontificum must play an important role in this revitalization. At the same time, a concerted effort must be made at every level to make sure that our liturgical books are being followed.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged Andrea Tornielli, architecture., ars celebrandi, Card. Cañizares Llovera, CDW, Say The Black - Do The Red
18 Comments

ACTION ITEM! WDTPRS POLL ALERT

Posted on 22 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On WaPo we find this tendentious poll.

I’m not suggesting how you should vote… but…

Here are the results so far.

UPDATE 22 Nov 1324 GMT:

UPDATE 22 Nov 1552 GMT:

UPDATE 22 Nov 2134 GMT:

UPDATE 23 Nov 2206 GMT:

UPDATE 30 Nov 0038 GMT:

Something very curious has occurred with that poll. Very curious indeed.

Did they not like the results they originally obtained?

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, POLLS | Tagged altar girls
62 Comments

CH: “You cannot be an Anglican and use the Roman Missal.”

Posted on 21 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On the site of the best Catholic weekly in the UK, The Catholic Herald, there is an interesting piece about Catholic and Anglican and Anglo-Catholic and Anglicanorum coetibus Catholic identity.

The Bishop of London is right about Anglicans using the Roman rite

One cannot be an Anglican and use the Roman Missal – it is one or the other

By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith on Monday, 21 November 2011

The Bishop of London has written a letter about the Eucharist, which makes interesting reading, and which can be read in full here. I am not an Anglican, and therefore it is not my place to comment on what Dr Chartres has to say to his flock, but there are some things that he says which reflect on us Catholics, which I feel I must comment on.

Dr Chartres writes:

In an age when Aristotle’s analysis of objects in the physical world as being composed of “essences and accidents” was widely accepted, transubstantiation was seen to have value as a picture of how the eucharistic elements were transformed. In the Windsor Agreed Statement which emerged from the first series of international discussions between Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians, transubstantiation appears only in a footnote as “affirming the fact of Christ’s presence and of the mysterious and radical change which takes place. In contemporary Roman Catholic theology it is not understood as explaining how the change takes place.” [Reminds me about how I was railed at in class during seminary for affirming transubstantiation. I was told that the old Aristotelean categories are no longer valid and that the Church no longer taught transubstantiation. I disagreed. I was thrown out. But I digress.]

While not wanting to dismiss the Windsor Agreed Statement as irrelevant, or criticizing the wording of that footnote, the truth of the matter is that the doctrine of transubstantiation is not a footnote in Catholic life, but central to Catholic belief, identity and practice. Nor does belief in transubstantiation depend on Aristotle, even if it borrows, or better steals, Aristotelian language. Long after Aristotle is forgotten, or is himself a footnote to theology, the doctrine of transubstantiation will be with us. Transubstantiation is not to be dismissed as an idea whose time has passed. It seems to me that if one were to ignore the clear doctrine of transubstantiation, one would pretty soon find oneself losing one’s belief in the true nature of the Mass as a sacrifice and the doctrine of the Real Presence.

The Bishop then goes on to talk about the “new rites” that the Catholic Church will be adopting this Advent. This is misleading. There are no new rites, there is merely a new translation of the Roman Rite. There has been no innovation, but rather a return to the original text, through greater fidelity to the Latin. [A return toward the original text.] But the Bishop says: “The new Roman rite varies considerably from its predecessor and thus from Common Worship as well.” The first part of this statement is simply factually incorrect; the second part leaves me wondering. What did the old translation have in common with Common Worship that the new translation does not? The Bishop refers to “a convergence of eucharistic doctrine and rites” between Anglicans and Catholics, but he gives no evidence for this optimistic view. Perhaps he means that Common Worship has been modeled on the old translation of the Roman Missal. But what he says about transubstantiation above indicates to me that there has been no substantial convergence, even if there may have been some accidental ones. (That Aristotelian language again!)

Then the Bishop delivers his bombshell, if it may be termed such:

Priests and parishes which do adopt the new rites – with their marked divergences from the ELLC [English Language Liturgical Consultation] texts and in the altered circumstances created by the Pope’s invitation to Anglicans to join the Ordinariate – are making a clear statement of their disassociation not only from the Church of England but from the Roman Communion as well. This is a pastoral unkindness to the laity and a serious canonical matter. The clergy involved have sworn oaths of canonical obedience as well as making their Declaration of Assent. I urge them not to create further disunity by adopting the new rites.

Of course, His Lordship is completely right about this. [NB:] The use of the Roman Missal, in whatever translation, by someone, anyone, who is not authorised by a bishop in communion with Rome, is absolutely wrong. Dr Chartres even goes so far as to mention canon law, which is, I believe, but rarely invoked in the Anglican Communion, which shows how seriously he takes this matter.

The Bishop seems to be putting clear blue water between us Catholics and his own flock, perhaps more clearly than he intends. It is clearly wrong for Anglican clergy to use the Roman Missal, from both an Anglican point of view and from our point of view. [I wonder if that includes both the Roman Missal and the Missale Romanum, in its pre-Conciliar form.] But I would add this: the Roman Missal, especially in the new translation, reflects a very clear belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation which Anglicans do not hold. Therefore they should not use the Missal. Or if they do hold to the doctrine of transubstantiation, they should come into the Ordinariate. [There it is.]

“Three priests in the Diocese have taken this step. They have followed their consciences,” remarks the Bishop speaking of the Ordinariate. Is there a third way? It would seem not. Dr Chartres, while mentioning canon law and its obligations, nevertheless makes no threats: “There will be no persecution and no creation of ritual martyrs,” he says. But the appeal to conscience and indeed logic is clear in this powerfully argued letter. You cannot be an Anglican and use the Roman Missal. It is one or the other. On that all should agree.

Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, Pope of Christian Unity, The future and our choices | Tagged Anglicanorum coetibus, Anglo-Catholic, transubstantiation
60 Comments

Stir Up Sunday Christmas Pudding Prep Report: Part I & II

Posted on 20 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s Stir Up Sunday and time to make a Christmas Pudding, perhaps even in the manner of Max himself!

The first pudding I will make (I may make several for gifts) will be from a recipe suggested in the combox under another entry. I will probably make one or more smaller puddings using a different recipe, which it’s from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. I the idea of this recipe not only because of the Aubrey/Maturin books but also because it was given to me by a reader of this blog!

However, the first pudding to be made requires a two day process. So, I start on Stir Up Sunday, since this is when the ingredients must be combined, but really early in the morning. That way I will have time enough tomorrow for the steaming.

Start with a really large mixing bowl.

The apple – finely chopped – came from the tree near the chapel.

I stirred in several stages.

Zest from an orange and a lemon.

My good ol’ graduated cylinder helps when measuring in ml‘s.

75 ml of stout and of barleywine, each.

Do you know what barleywine is?

Yum.

Mixing the beery liquid together, with a bit of rum and eggs.

Pouring it into the mix.

The consistency: loose.

I transferred it into a smaller bowl for its overnight rest.

The weight, minus the weight of the bowl… just over 3 lbs.

Back to the barleywine. This was the stuff I used.

Since I only needed 75 ml of this… well… what to do… what to do…

Anyway, the pudding must rest over night.

In the next phase, it will be transferred to a greased basin, covered up, tied up, and steamed for 8 hours.

More later…. sleeeeeep.

UPDATE 21 Nov 0115 GMT:

Okay, after a rest of a few hours, I transferred the mix to the pudding basin.

I covered it with wrap and tied it down… which is the hardest part of the process, actually.

This year I created a handle for easier extraction at the end.

Into the kettle for steaming. I have it propped up on tiny pyrex bowls.

Eight hours later…. this is what it looks like!

I let it cool and wrapped it up again.

The pudding is now in a covered wooden wine crate in the cellar.

The next time I see this, will be when I get it ready for the next round of steam before it is eaten!

How about your Christmas Puddings?

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen | Tagged barleywine, Christmas Pudding, Last Sunday of Advent, Max, Stir Up Sunday
26 Comments

PODCAzT 123: The Liturgical Year and a Custom

Posted on 20 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It is the Last Sunday of the liturgical year. In the older, traditional form of the Roman Rite it is the 24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost, even though numerically it is the 23rd. The Last Sunday is always the 24th.

Today we hear from dom Proper Gueranger and his introduction about what the “liturgical year” is all about from his monumental 15 volume The Liturgical Year. I read a little bit of the Preface to the work. If you can get some of these themes into your head and heart before the beginning of a new year – a year which we will be hearing in a new way! – you may find an extraordinary new depth of participation at Holy Mass.

At the end of this offering a offer some frivolous and, then again, not so frivolous comments about this Sunday, “Stir Up” Sunday (from the first words of the Collect for the Mass for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, and the making of a Christmas Pudding.

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Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, PODCAzT | Tagged Christmas Pudding, dom Proper Gueranger, liturgical year, Stir Up Sunday
6 Comments

Does your mobile device run out of power? Great gizmo alert!

Posted on 20 November 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When I travel I use my iPhone heavily, especially to keep track of and upload to the blog. I have a couple small recharge batteries I can slide into my pocket, but this looks like a better solution to what I have used so far. This could be a great gift/stocking stuffer.

This is the Duracell Powerhouse Charger (2000 mAh). It has a a mini-micro USB that will pop-out and a USB out. You can recharge from two devices at the same time. You can find this at a lot of stores, but I would appreciate it if you would use this link.

It’ll charge any device that takes power over USB. That means hauling cables around, right? This was my solution for cable-tangle when travelling: mini cables. They took a lot of clutter from my bag and pockets. And if you are really looking to detach from walls but keep using those small gizmos, try one of these.