ACTION ITEM! Is the “Vatican survey” being hijacked? Fr. Z says, “¡Vaya lío!”

Posted on 25 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You know that there is a survey out there, at the Vatican’s behest, in anticipation of the upcoming Synod of Bishops which will discuss the family.

While surveying people ahead of time is not new, when I heard about this the first thing that flashed through my mind was “What could possibly go wrong?”

Welllll….

Do you remember that the catholic Left organized to distribute the survey and then collate the results? HERE Again, “What could possibly go wrong?”

This weekend I saw that the ultra-liberal, dissenting Ass. of Catholic Priests, in Ireland, has helpfully rewritten this survey… just to help out, don’t you know. HERE

Now I see this tweet:

If you go to that link – HERE – you find the list of organizing groups:

This project is sponsored by the following members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal (COR):
American Catholic Council
Call To Action
CORPUS
DignityUSA
Federation of Christian Ministries/Roman Catholic Faith Community Council in the Church
FutureChurch
New Ways Ministry
RAPPORT
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Southeastern Pennsylvania Women’s Ordination Conference
Voice of the Faithful
Women’s Ordination Conference

Co-sponsored by:
Catholic Church Reform
Fortunate Families
WATER: Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual

Sound okay to you?

Don’t get me wrong. The survey is probably fairly meaningless.

Still, maybe we need to chime in?

Whaddya say?

How ’bout some active participation?

¡Vaya lío!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Our Catholic Identity, POLLS, Semper Paratus | Tagged survey, Synod of Bishops
38 Comments

US Federal Judge and atheist group tag-team attack churches, congregations

Posted on 25 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sometimes I muse about what it must have been like for a pagan priest in 4th century Rome who tended a crossroads shrine as he watched the demolition of his entire world.

It is, perhaps, our turn now.

The not-so-Catholic-friendly, Liberal Religion News Service has a story which reveals another symptom of the Left’s relentless attack on religion in the public square.

Federal judge: Clergy tax-free housing allowance is unconstitutional

(RNS) A federal judge has ruled that an Internal Revenue Service exemption that gives clergy tax-free housing allowances is unconstitutional. [One wonders about the twisted logic of this. Maybe it will be explained.]

The exemption applies to an estimated 44,000 ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and others. If the ruling stands, some clergy members could experience an estimated 5 to 10 percent cut in take-home pay. [Because they get so much already.]

U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb[7th District Court – appointed by Carter, from ultra-liberal Madison] ruled on Friday (Nov. 22) in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, [HQ in ultra-liberal Madison. We have seen them before.] saying the exemption violates the First Amendment because it “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.” [It isn’t? Given their salaries, you could argue that it is. How else are some protestant groups able to court a pastor? How will many parishes bear the extra expenses of higher salaries?]

The case, decided in the District Court for the Western District Of Wisconsin, will likely be appealed to the the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The housing allowances of pastors in Wisconsin remain unaffected after Crabb stayed the ruling until all appeals are exhausted. Crabb also ruled in 2010 that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional. [Are you sensing a pattern? It sounds as if the Freedom from Religion people have a tame judge.]

Earlier this month, the 7th Circuit barred the enforcement of the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate, [Which judge made the ruling? I suspect it wasn’t her. No, wait… split court, and Crabb isn’t mentioned. HERE] an issue circulating through federal courts across the country and likely to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court next spring.

Churches routinely designate a portion of a pastor’s salary as a housing allowance. So, for example, a minister that earns an average of $50,000 may receive another a third of income, or $16,000, as a tax-free housing allowance, essentially earning $66,000. Having to pay taxes on the additional $16,000 ($4,000 in this case), would mean an 8 percent cut in salary.

The exemption is worth about $700 million per year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation Estimate of Federal Tax Expenditure. [Hmmm… judicial activism for the sake of the governments desire to raise taxes?]

Crabb ruled that the law provides that the gross income of a “minister of the gospel” does not include “the rental allowance paid to him as part of his compensation, to the extent used by him to rent or provide a home and to the extent such allowance does not exceed the fair rental value of the home, including furnishings and appurtenances such as a garage, plus the cost of utilities.”

Tobin Grant, a political science professor at Southern Illinois University, said the exemption dates from an era when churches paid clergy who lived in church-owned parsonage. [So, priests who live in a house away from their parish…]

“Over time, fewer churches owned parsonages and instead gave clergy housing allowances, which were also treated as tax-free. The difference, however, was that these were regular salaries that now had an exclusion. Part could be tax-free, part couldn’t. So, why not give a pastor a huge housing allowance, which is tax free?” [Do they actually get “huge” allowances?]

The ruling addresses the housing allowance, while parsonages are still tax-exempt properties, like the churches that own them.

Peter J. Reilly, a contributor to Forbes, writes that the exclusion goes back to 1921.

“I’m not sure what Congress could do in this instance,” he said. “There is strong clergy influence on both sides of the aisle though, so there is a good chance that Congress will at least try to make it look like it has done something.” [Will “try to make it look like it has done something”. Yep. ‘Bout right.]

The law’s tax exemption has been contested since a decade-old dispute between the IRS and California megachurch pastor Rick Warren. In 2002, the IRS attempted to charge Warren back taxes after he claimed a housing allowance of more than $70,000.

He eventually won the federal court case, and that led Congress to clarify the rules for housing allowances. The allowance is limited to one house, and is restricted to either the fair market rental value of the house or the money actually spent on housing.

Uh-huh. Yes. This makes sense.

Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, [based in ultra-liberal Madison, where the federal judge is from] which brought the suit, hailed the decision. “May we say hallelujah! This decision agrees with us that Congress may not reward ministers for fighting a ‘godless and anti-religious’ movement by letting them pay less income tax,” they said. “The rest of us should not pay more because clergy pay less.” [HUH? Pay more? Why would… ah yes… liberals believe in the zero sum model of the pie, don’t they.]The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Southern Baptist-affiliated GuideStone Financial Resources plan to fight for the exemption.

“The clergy housing allowance isn’t a government establishment of religion, but just the reverse,” said Russell Moore, president of ERLC. “The allowance is neutral to all religions. Without it, clergy in small congregations of all sorts would be penalized and harmed.” [Which is what that foundation, and probably the federal judge, want.]

Church housing has been a hot topic in recent months as the Southern Baptist pastor of one of the nation’s fastest-growing churches is building a 16,000-square-foot gated estate near Charlotte, N.C. The tax value on the 19-acre property owned by Steven Furtick of Elevation Church is estimated to be $1.6 million.

Earlier this year, the federal government offered the Freedom From Religion Foundation a tax break available to religious groups that it rejected. [If they really believe in what they are doing, they should voluntarily pay twice the amount of taxes owed.]

Separately, in a federal court case in Kentucky, atheists are challenging IRS regulations that exempt religious groups from the same financial disclosure requirements of other non-profit groups.

We will have choices to make in the future, dear readers, hard choices.

“Don’t take offence if they have to decline your invitation.”

Posted on 25 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is a great post over at my friend Fr. Finigan’s blog, The Hermeneutic of Continuity about lay people and their weddings and inviting priests… and concelebration.

Remember, I think concelebration should be safe, legal and rare.

Fr. Finigan seems to agree.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests | Tagged concelebration, weddings
3 Comments

“Stir Up Sunday” 2013! – UPDATES

Posted on 24 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Collect from Holy Mass today in the traditional Roman Rite is:

Excita, quaesumus. Dómine, tuórum fidélium voluntátes: ut, divíni óperis fructum propénsius exsequéntes; pietátis tuæ remédia maióra percípiant.

Or…

Stir up the will of your faithful, we pray, O Lord, that, seeking more eagerly the fruit of your divine work, they may find in greater measure the healing effects of your mercy.

I need a nap… but…

This is “Stir Up Sunday!”

It is time for me to get the 2013 Christmas Pudding underway.

But I really want that nap.

More later.

UPDATE:

I am back from the shops. I have obtained the ingredients.

However, I cannot find my very large stock pot in which I have in the past steamed the puddings. Grrr. These things don’t just grow legs and wander off down combox rabbit holes.

UPDATE:

Okay… I have prepared the first two puddings.

I used small basins, because I can’t find the big pot. When I do, I’ll make a bigger one.

ACTION SHOTS!

My mise en place…

Sifting in the flour.

Adding the bread crumbs.

SPICE!

Paul: Stilgar, do we have wormsign?
Stilgar: Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen.

Adding the almonds and the chopped candied peel.

Omnibus permixtis, I am adding the currents.

Sugar. Lots of sugar.

Chopped apple.

Time for the liquids. Stout. Rum. BARLEYWINE.

And eggs. Yes, I use a graduated cylinder for my metric measurement of liquid.

Combining the dry and the wet.

Into the grease pudding basins.

When I filled these basins, I said a prayer for the wonderful readers here who sent them to me a couple years back. I do not forget you. I don’t remember your names, but the angels know you. May God reward you for your kindness. Whenever I use or enjoy something you send, I remember the kindness and that it was a gift… like everything I have.

Anyway… greased basin.

Ooops. Basins.

I wrapped them up and tied string about in order to make it easier to extract them from the pot in which I must steam them.

And just a glimpse of the PX4, newly cleaned.

Tomorrow I will steam.

It was fun to do this. I haven’t been cooking. It just wasn’t… there.

In the midst of the prep, I walked down the hall to the suite of the Monsignor (a PA!) who is my neighbor, and asked him to stir the pudding a few times.

Puddings should be shared.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Fr. Z's Kitchen, Lighter fare | Tagged Christmas Pudding, Stir Up Sunday
31 Comments

Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Posted on 24 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there a good point in the sermon you heard for your Sunday Mass of precept?

Let us know what it was.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
41 Comments

WDTPRS: Christ the King (2002MR): the elements will be dissolved with fire, the earth will be burned up

Posted on 23 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We have come back to the last Sunday of the liturgical year. In the post-Conciliar calendar of the Roman Church this is the Solemnity of Christ the King. In the older calendar, this is celebrated (with a rather different meaning!) at the end of October.

Each year Holy Church presents to us the history of salvation, from Creation to the Lord’s Coming (the First and also the Final).

Today’s Solemnity is an anticipation of the season of Advent, which focuses on the different ways in which the Lord comes to us, especially in the Second Coming.

At this time of year (November) we are also considering the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven and hell. We are praying for the Poor Souls in Purgatory in a special way this month.

The Solemnity of Christ the King brings to our attention the fact that the Lord is coming precisely as King and Judge not merely as friend or brother or favorite role-model.

In the great Dies Irae prayed at Requiem Masses for so long (and still today), Christ is identified as “King of Fearful Majesty” and “Just Judge”.

Consider today’s feast in light of what we read in 2 Peter 3: 10-12:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire!”

Not exactly hugs and fluffy lambs for everyone.

Christ Jesus will judge us all, dear friends, and submit all things to the Father (cf. 1 Cor 15:28). Having excluded some from His presence, our King, Christ Jesus, will reign in majestic glory with the many who accepted His gifts and thereby merited eternal bliss.

COLLECT – (2002MR):

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui in dilecto Filio tuo, universorum Rege, omnia instaurare voluisti, concede propitius, ut tota creatura, a servitute liberata, tuae maiestati deserviat ac te sine fine collaudet.

While this Collect is of new composition for the Novus Ordo, it is similar to what was in the 1962 Missale Romanum for this feast with variations in the second part: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui dilecto Filio tuo universorum Rege, omnia instaurare voluisti: concede propitius; ut cunctae familiae gentium, peccati vulnere disgregatae, eius suavissimo subdantur imperio… “so that all the families of peoples, torn apart by the wound of sin, may be subject to His most gentle rule.” That’s a different message by far. Today’s Collect demonstrates the theological shift in many of the Latin prayers in the Novus Ordo. But that is the stuff of other posts.

Universus is an adjective and universorum a neuter plural, “all things.” Since we have another “all things” in omnia I will make universorum into “the whole universe.” Our Latin ears perk up when we hear compound verbs (verbs with an attached preposition like sub or de or cvm).

In our own copies of A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews’ edition of Freund’s Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. – (aka Lewis & Short or L&S) we find that de-servio expands the meaning of servio to mean “serve zealously, be devoted to, subject to.” Col-laudo, more emphatic than simple laudo, means “to praise or commend very much, extol highly.”

You veterans of WDTPRS know how maiestas is synonymous with gloria which in early Latin writers such as Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose and in early liturgical texts, the equivalent of biblical Greek doxa and Hebrew kabod. This “glory” and “majesty” is God’s own transforming power, a sharing of His life, that transforms us into what He is in an everlasting “deification”.

Instauro is a wonderful word which deserves more attention: “to renew, repeat, celebrate anew; to repair, restore; to erect, make”. It is synonymous with renovo. Etymologically instauro is related to Greek stauros. Turning to a different L&S, the immensely valuable Liddell & Scott Greek Dictionary, we find that stauros is “an upright pale or stake.” Stauros is the word used in the Greek New Testament for the Cross of Jesus. Also the word immediately makes us think not only of the motto on the coat-of-arms of Pope St. Pius X, but also the origin of that motto Ephesians 1:10: “For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph 1:9-10 RSV). There have been, by the way, some changes in the Latin texts of this passage. The older Vulgate says “instaurare omnia in Christo” while the New Vulgate says “recapitulare omnia in Christo”.

Recapitulare is related to Latin caput (“head”) and was deemed by the scholars behind the New Vulgate as a better translation of the Greek anakephalaioô, “to sum up the argument.” This harks to the headship of Christ over the Body of the Church and expresses that He is the Final Statement, the Conclusion of All Things. At any rate, in 1925 and in the 1960’s when the older version of Vulgate was in use, the Collect had instaurare and not recapitulare.

Why all this about recapitulare?

The phrase, “renew/reinstate all things in Christ” points to the Kingship of Jesus. In everything that Jesus said or did in His earthly life, He was actively drawing all things and peoples to Himself. In the time to come, when His Majesty the King returns in gloria and maiestas this act of drawing-to-Himself (cf. John 12:32) will culminate in the exaltation of all creation in a perfect unending paean of praise. In the meantime, by virtue of baptism and our integration into Christus Venturus (Christ About-To-Come), we all share in His three-fold office of priest, prophet, and also king. We have the duty to proclaim His Kingship by all that we say and do. We are to offer all our good works back to Him for the sake of His glory and the expectation of His Coming. This glorious restoration (instaurare) is possible only through the Lord’s Cross (Greek stauros). The Cross is found subtly in the midst of this Collect, where it is revealed as the pivot point of all creation (creatura).

LITERAL VERSION:

Almighty eternal God, who desired to renew all things in Your beloved Son, the King of the universe, graciously grant that the whole of creation, having been freed from servitude, may zealously serve Your majesty and praise You greatly without end.

The first objective of our participation in the Church’s sacred rites is to praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and give God glory. This is what we owe by the virtue of religion.

Liturgical and Biblical Latin is rich with words and phrases which exalt and express praise of God. In fact, the concepts of “glory” and “majesty” are nearly interchangeable in this light. We, on the one hand, render up honor and glory to God in a way external to God. On the other hand, glory and majesty are also divine attributes which we in no way give Him, which He has – or rather is – in Himself by His nature.

When we come into His presence, even in the contact we have with Him through the Church’s sacred mysteries, His divine attribute of splendor or glory or majesty, whatever you will, has the power to transform us. His majestic glory changes us. This MYSTERY changes us. So, it is right to translate these lofty sounding attributions for God when we raise our voices in the Church’s official cult.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):

Almighty and merciful God, you break the power of evil and make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth acclaim your glory and never cease to praise you.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):

Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS | Tagged Christ the King, solemnity
14 Comments

Again HUGE news: Pope Francis explicitly endorses Benedict XVI’s “hermeneutic of continuity”

Posted on 23 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You will want to read this carefully and put it in your “IMPORTANT” file.

This is, again, HUGE news.

The 450th anniversary of the closing of the Council of Trent is coming up on 4 December. We like to celebrate these great milestones in salvation history. So, there are great doings in Trent, in the northern area of Italy which is part of the (also) German-speaking Tirol. As is customary, Pope Francis will send a Cardinal as his personal representative. Who better than His Eminence Walter Card. Brandmüller?

When the Pope sends a Cardinal off on one of these missions, he sends him a formal letter, charging him with his task and indicating something of his own hopes for the occasion. The anniversary of the closing of the Council of Trent is no exception.

In his letter to Card. Brandmüller, Pope Francis explicitly cites Pope Benedict XVI pontificate-defining address in 2005 to the Roman Curia in which he spoke about the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture” (e.g., the Karl Rahner crowd and their descendants, still active today) and the “hermeneutic of reform”, or “hermeneutic of continuity”.

In this explicit reference Francis is aligning himself with Benedict and that key moment and concept underlying Benedict’s pontificate.

This comes in the wake of Francis writing to Archbishop Marchetto (refresh your memory HERE), a critic of one of the powerhouses of the “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture”, the so-called “Bologna School” of interpretation of the Council. Francis surely broke a lot of liberal hearts when he referred to Marchetto (who in this matter is completely aligned with Benedict) as one of the best interpreters of the Council that he knows.

The letter of Francis to Card. Brandmüller is available in the Latin original in the Bollettino. Here is my rapid translation of the first part of the letter, which is the important part. I scaled down some of the flowery stuff. The second part is the usual boilerplate and of less interest.

To our Venerable Brother
Walter Cardinal (of the Holy Roman Church) Brandmüller
Deacon of St. Julian of the Flemish

Since the 450th anniversary of the day on which the Council of Trent drew to its favorable end, it is fitting that the Church recall with readier and more attentive eagerness the most rich doctrine which came out of that Council held in the Tyrol. It is certainly not without good reason that the Church has for a long time given such great care to that Council’s decrees and canons which are to be recalled and heeded, seeing that, since extremely grave matters and questions sprang up in that period, the Council Fathers employed all their diligence so that the Catholic faith should come into clearer view and be better understood. Without a doubt as the Holy Spirit inspired and prompted them, it was the Fathers’ greatest concern not only that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be defended, but also that mankind be more brightly illuminated, in order that the saving work of the Lord could be diffused throughout the entire globe and the Gospel be spread through the whole world.

Harking closely to the same Spirit, Holy Church in this age renews and meditates on the most abundant doctrine of the Council of Trent. In fact, the “hermeneutic of renewal” [interpretatio renovationis] which Our Predecessor Benedict XVI explained in 2005 before the Roman Curia, refers in no way less to the Council of Trent than to the Vatican Council. To be sure, this mode of interpretation places under a brighter light a beautiful characteristic of the Church which is taught by the Lord Himself: “She is a ‘subject’ which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God” (Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Roman Curia offering them his Christmas greetings – 22 December 2005).

[…]

This is a significant letter.

First, it affirms that we can indeed, and rightly, Read Francis Through Benedict.

Second, it affirms that Francis is, and rightly, reading Francis Through Benedict.

Third, it strikes me that Pope Francis is making some course corrections. He may have perceived that some in “the world” (e.g., liberals, the MSM) are not reading him accurately. His experience with the “interview” by Scalfari ought to have made that evident. In addition to liberal misperceptions and distorted interpretations, he has also been misjudged by many on the more conservative side of the spectrum.

As I have said all along, Pope Francis – like every Pope – has to learn how to be Pope. He had less of an advantage coming to the See of Peter because he had not been in or around the Roman Curia. But he is adjusting, learning, transforming. Francis, as you can see everyday, is not static in his job. He isn’t simply on cruise control.

Continue to pay close attention to Pope Francis, not just in sound-bites, but in the larger arcs of his talks and speeches and written documents.

This is not a bone thrown to conservatives. This is the real deal. This is Francis.

Posted in Benedict XVI, Brick by Brick, Francis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Reading Francis Through Benedict, The Drill, Vatican II | Tagged Benedict XVI, Card. Brandmuller, Council of Trent, hermeneutic of continuity, Pope Francis
41 Comments

GUEST POST: TLM 1st experience: Extraordinary Form is easier than the Novus Ordo

Posted on 23 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I just read the post in which you shared a reader’s observation about the pastoral nature of the TLM. I experienced something similar. I went to my first TLM on Nov. 2 for All Souls. A few days before I was chatting with our priest and asked him to tell us how to prepare for the Traditional Mass. His answer surprised me.

He said that for the first few times, we shouldn’t try to follow along or read. We should prepare and participate in a way similar to how we would for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament – quiet prayer and meditation, while enjoying the beauty of the Mass without distracting ourselves by trying to follow a text. That could be left for later.

The older form of the Mass, he explained, is actually easier for people at any level, any state of mind or at any place spiritually.
Basically, it’s easier for everyone. Those who want to follow along can do so and get a good deal out of it. Those who are not ready to follow along can still “participate” in the way most suitable for them.

My priest is not anti-NO. He said that the kind of participation required for the NO is good for people who understand the texts, are well prepared (theologically) and in the right frame of mind.
Unfortunately, this does not describe most people who attend the NO Masses. The downside, in his opinion, is that it’s all too easy for people to simply fall through the cracks, to just say the replies, without putting their mind or heart into it. If people are not in the right internal disposition, the “active participation” required can actually be a distraction.

I went to the TLM with this advice, and did precisely what he suggested; I prayed, enjoyed it and did not worry about following along. I brought with me a new-age semi-atheist, an Evangelical, my cradle-Catholic wife who had never been to a TLM, our two oldest sons and my Protestant brother. (Interestingly enough, in my experience non-Catholics are much more interested in attending the TLM than the NO.) I told all of them the same thing my priest had said. Chatting afterwards, everyone agreed that it was very beautiful and that it was in fact a good approach to take; even the least Catholic and the least “prepared” could gain a good deal from this. (For this reason I also believe there would be far more conversions with more TLMs.)

Of course, in the future I do hope to get a missal to follow along.
But for now I’m happy with this approach.

The part that is still very pleasantly surprising for me is this; the TLM is *easier* than the NO! If you had asked me a month ago, I wouldn’t have guessed this; it’s in Latin, it’s more in depth, more theologically intricate, etc – I would’ve assumed that since there is more to get out of it, it would’ve been harder.

But my priest was right; it’s easier. The fact that “there’s truly something for everyone there” makes it easier. It is the “Mass for the advanced,” but it’s also the Mass for the weak, the poor, the suffering, the joyful, the ignorant – it’s the Mass for everyone. As your reader said, it effortlessly “meets people where they’re at.”

It is truly easier for lay people to participate at whatever level they are at, and for that reason it is more pastoral.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, HONORED GUESTS, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged Extraordinary Form, Guest Post, Latin, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, TLM
24 Comments

A lesson from Our Lady in our use of social media.

Posted on 23 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My good friend, the Dean of Bexley, the PP of Blackfen, His Hermeneuticalness, Fr Timothy Finigan, has a good post useful for our reflection:

The book of meditations which I am using at the moment looks at the person of Our Lady in relation to her dedication which is celebrated in today’s feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. The author, relying on the doctrine of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and her freedom from any actual sin, speculates:

“We must necessarily suppose that Mary bears patiently every annoyance caused her by others without, on her part, causing them the least pain: she excuses their defects, pardons their obvious faults, and in all circumstances shows herself tender, affable, gracious, and considerate.”

We can give the author the benefit of the doubt here in presuming that he is referring to the ordinary ups and downs of daily life, rather than to grave injustice. In the latter case, we might need to make people at least uncomfortable. Rather than quibbling over such things, we could take a lesson from Our Lady in our use of social media. (And let me acknowledge unequivocally that I need to apply this to myself.)

You should be following Fr. Finigan daily. Also, the blogger Mulier Fortis often posts photos of what is going on at Fr. Finigan’s parish.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Blogs You Might Consider, Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged Fr. Finigan, Mulier Fortis
6 Comments

Reading Francis through Francis

Posted on 23 November 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When the liberals gush and gush and ooze about Pope Francis, the most wonderfullest, fluffiest Pope ehvurrrrr, they smear another brush-stroke of paint on the floor as their place in the corner gets smaller and smaller.

One of these days, Pope Francis is going to do something that ends the liberal conga line. For example, he will issue a document along the lines of Ordinatio diaconalis. They will turn on Pope Fluffy, but it’ll cost ’em.

In any event, I saw this from Sandro Magister:

Even the Pope Critiques Himself. And Corrects Three Errors
He is lowering the “rating” of his interview with Scalfari.

Rectifying his judgments on Vatican Council II. Distancing himself from the progressive currents that have applauded him until now. But the media are silent on this change of pace

ROME, November 22, 2013 – In the span of a few days Pope Francis has corrected or brought about the correction of a few significant features of his public image. At least three of them.

The first concerns the conversation that he had with Eugenio Scalfari, set down in writing by this champion of atheistic thought in “la Repubblica” of October 1.

The transcript of the conversation had in effect generated widespread dismay, because of some of the statements from the mouth of Francis that sounded more congenial to the dominant secular thinking than to Catholic doctrine. Like the following:

“Each one has his idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight the evil as he understands them.”

At the same time, however, the interview was immediately confirmed by Fr. Federico Lombardi as “faithful to the thought“ of the pope and “reliable in its general sense.”

Not only that. A few hours after it was published in “la Repubblica,” the interview was reproduced in its entirety both in “L’Osservatore Romano” and on the official website of the Holy See, on a par with the other discourses and documents of the Pope. [Goat rodeo.]

[…]

But even the calibrated and thoroughly studied interview with Pope Francis in “La Civiltà Cattolica” – published on September 19 by sixteen magazines of the Society of Jesus in eleven languages – has in recent days been taken into the shop of things to be corrected. [The Big Interview™]

On a key point: the interpretation of Vatican Council II.

[Don’t forget the letter to Archbp. Marchetto!] This has been made clear by a passage of the letter written by Francis himself to Archbishop Agostino Marchetto on the occasion of the presentation on November 12 of a volume in his honor, against the solemn background of the Campidoglio. A letter that the pope wanted to be read in public.

The passage is the following:

“You have demonstrated this love [of the Church] in many ways, including by correcting an error or imprecision on my part – and for this I thank you from my heart – but above all it has been manifested in all its purity in your studies of Vatican Council II. I have said this to you once, dear Archbishop Marchetto, and I want to repeat it today, that I consider you the best hermeneut of Vatican Council II.”

The definition of Marchetto as “the best hermeneut” of the Council is striking in itself. Marchetto has in fact always been the most implacable critic of that “school of Bologna” – founded by Giuseppe Dossetti and Giuseppe Alberigo and today directed by Professor Alberto Melloni – which has the worldwide monopoly on the interpretation of Vatican II, in a progressive vein.

The hermeneutic of the Council upheld by Marchetto is the same as that of Benedict XVI: not of “rupture” and “new beginning,” but of “reform in the continuity of the one subject Church.” And it is this hermeneutic that Pope Francis has wanted to signify that he shares, in bestowing such high appreciation on Marchetto.

But if one rereads the succinct passage that Francis dedicates to Vatican II in the interview with “La Civiltà Cattolica,” one gets a different impression. “Yes, there are hermeneutical lines of continuity and of discontinuity,” the pope concedes. “Nonetheless,” he adds, “one thing is clear”: Vatican II was “a service to the people” consisting in “a reinterpretation of the Gospel in the light of contemporary culture.”

In the few lines of the interview dedicated to the Council, Bergoglio defines its essence this way three times, also applying it to the reform of the liturgy.

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The third correction is consistent with the two previous ones. It concerns the “progressive” tone that Pope Francis has seen stamped upon the the first three months of his pontificate.

One month ago, on October 17, Bergoglio seemed to have confirmed this profile of his once again when in the morning homily at Santa Marta he directed stinging words against Christians who turn the faith into a “moralistic ideology,” entirely made up of “prescriptions without goodness.”

But one month later, on November 18, in another morning homily the pope played a completely different tune. [Which in itself is problematic. But always remember that those daily sermons are off-the-cuff, non-magisterial, musings.]

He used the revolt of the Maccabees against the dominant powers of the age as the point of departure for a tremendous tongue-lashing of that “adolescent progressivism,” Catholic as well, which is disposed to submit to the “hegemonic uniformity” of the “one form of thought that is the fruit of worldliness.” [I have been busy for a few days. Does anyone know if the Fishwrap, the National Schismatic Reporter, quoted their Pope Fluffy?]

It is not true, Francis said, that “in the face of any choice whatsoever it is right to move forward regardless, rather than remain faithful to one’s traditions.” The result of negotiating over everything is that values are so emptied of meaning as to end up merely “nominal values, not real.” Even more, one ends up negotiating precisely over “the thing essential to one’s very being, fidelity to the Lord.”

The one form of thought that dominates the world – the pope continues – legalizes even “death sentences,” even “human sacrifices.” “But you,” he asked, “do you thing that there are no human sacrifices today? There are so many, so many! And there are laws to protect them.”

It is difficult not to see in this pained cry of Pope Francis the countless human lives mown down before birth with abortion, or cut off with euthanasia.

[…]

With the exception of a few Catholic outlets, the media of the entire world ignored this homily of Pope Francis, which in effect starkly contradicts the progressive or even revolutionary framework within which he is generally described.

But now it is part of the record. And there it remains. [Though we are not sure which record it is on.]

[…]