Life imitates art! The American Catholic Council’s “Litany of Lament”

Posted on 12 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the American Catholic Council’s program.  On the opening day they had a moving and meaningful paraliturgy which included the

Litany of Lament.

Here it is from their program. I add some comments:

(When the female lector reads, FROM THE FOUR WINDS COME, O SPIRIT, Spirit-bearers waving banners enter the assembly from four directions.  As they pass by your seat, please rise up!). [Rise up… get it?  Huh?]

Presider [a woman.  Should that be “presideress”?]: O Holy God hear us as we cry to you.  Our Church is filled with dried bones in a world hungering for your Life.  [Correction: Cobo Center was filled with dry bones.]

Litany of Lament:

Refrain from the Veni Sancte Spiritus [Which turns this whole thing into a form of blasphemy, actually.]

1. Weakened by structures that ignore your Wisdom [I suspect they are using this as a kind of code or shorthand.  Feminists call the Spirit “Sophia”, which they say is feminine, and therefore the Spirit is feminine.  Get it?  Huh?] speaking through the people of god, we cry…

2. Angered by church leaders who protect pedofiles and persecute prophets, we cry…

3. (In Spanish): Denied Eucharist because of the failure to address the priest shortage, we cry.

4. Aching for the Eucharist to be celebrated as nourishment for sinners, not a reward for good behavior, we cry…

5. Wondering why we are closing parishes rather than opening ordination, we cry…

6. (In German): Longing to celebrate creative theologians rather than mourn their marginalization, we cry… [Remember… Hans Kung was supposed to be there.  This is pure sucking up.]

7. Oppressed by rigid structures of racism, we cry…

8. Blind to the beauty of God’s image in gay and lesbian people we cry…

9. Betrayed by church structures that promote sexism and misogyny, we cry… [Wow.  Things are pretty bad in these structures. At this point in the Litany you expect someone is going to bring in razor blades so they can all slit their wrists.]

10. Outraged by bishops’ refusal to use structures of their own creation to be accountable to survivors of clergy sex abuse, we cry…

11. Dismayed by our own guild and failure to confront the structures of abuse, we cry… [They really have a thing about structures, don’t they?]

12. Amidst the shattered images of godliness and ministry, we cry…

[Then after 2 minutes of silent prayer a women presider in white says :]

In silence, please join in the ancient Christian gesture signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands.  Place your hands on the head of your neighbor and pray silently, acknowledging the gift of the Spirit within them.  The allow your neighbor to pray silently over you.

Then they prayed a prayer composed by Pope John XXIII used at the beginning of all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

It’s a Council.. get it?  They are the one’s taking the roles of bishops at a Council?  Huh?  GET IT?

I wonder if that blue rinse stuff comes off on your hands.  Dunno.

Dismayed… Outraged… Aching… Wondering… Longing…Oppressed…Angered… Weakened….Denied….Blind… Betrayed… Amidst… oppps that one didn’t fit.

Once again I am reminded of the Little Rascals films where the kids have a show in the big barn.  You know… Darla, Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa.

They too, those little rascals, in their little films, played the role of the poor and the oppressed.  They too struggled against the rich kids of the neighborhood. They broke boundaries of sexism and racism.. and speciesism.  They had their canine pal with a ring around … ummmm… its eye named… I am not making this up… named “Pansy“.

So, breaking all sorts of barriers!

It was a spirited group.  And this is what most of the participants of the ACC watched when they were kids!  Errr… height-challenged, Mother-Earth-annual-orbit-deprived autonomous persons.

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Canadian teens stand up to heresy in their Catholic High School

Posted on 12 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day we learned from Archbishop Hon, the Chinese-born Secretary of Propaganda Fide, that an illicit episcopal consecration was averted, probably because the people stood against it.

Here is another example of resistance “from below” properly offered in the face of improper use of authority and promotion of heresy.

On LifeSite there is a story about a girl who stood up for the faith in the face of a dreadful and erroneous old chestnut that, in the Resurrection, Jesus did not physically rise from the dead.  My emphases and comments.

NORTH BAY, Ontario, June 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “If Catholic students are required to go to so much trouble with their Catholic teachers to defend a teaching as simple as the resurrection, what do they have to do in their Catholic schools to defend teachings on abortion, homosexuality, or same-sex ‘marriage’?” asked Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholic commenting on the case of Francesca Sinicrope.

A Grade 12 student of North Bay, Ontario, Sinicrope has recently gone to battle with a teacher and principal at her Catholic High School over the truth of Christ’s Resurrection.

“He told us people have taken the Bible too literally,” Sinicrope told LifeSiteNews in a recent interview. “He began saying that it was like a metaphor that you follow…He said that Jesus never resurrected.”

While the principal says an investigation has cleared the teacher of wrongdoing, another classmate has corroborated Sinicrope’s account.

During the week leading up to Easter this year the Catholic High School decided to place crosses in every classroom, recounted the teen.  Following Holy Thursday Mass, Francesca’s sociology teacher provided an explanation of the crosses to the whole class, saying that the same message would be given to all the classes.

Francesca’s video footage, posted on YouTube, recounts the events.  “He told my whole class that Jesus had never resurrected,” the 17 year-old said. “That is so unbelievable to me in a Catholic school.”

“My really good friend asked him, ‘So you’re saying that Jesus never resurrected?’ and he answered ‘yes’,” Francesca continued. “My teacher went against the Catholic faith and the school mission statement.”

A friend and classmate, Celine Giroux, backed up Francesca’s account.  “He began talking about how we as Catholics took the understanding of the Resurrection too far,” Celine told LifeSiteNews.  When the teacher told students the Resurrection had never happened, Celine says she challenged his statement.

“So what you’re trying to tell me is that what I’ve believed in all my life is wrong, that Jesus never resurrected?” Celine asked. The 18 year-old recalled that the teacher answered: “The moral is right, it’s just the story is wrong.”

[Get this…] “Because He died in our honour we should be nice to each other,” was the teacher’s moral, according to Celine.  Francesca’s earlier recollection agreed, “He told us the crucifix represents helping others, when we look at it that’s all it’s supposed to mean.”

According to Francesca, the event should never have happened.  As she notes in her video account, her parents submitted a detailed “Traditional Values” form to the school at the beginning of the semester.  The form specified requirements for parental notification or exemption from certain areas of teaching when “concepts or values” conflicting with the family’s values were presented.

[…]

Read there for the rest of the story.

WDTPRS KUDOS to these kids.  Good for them!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged , , ,
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ALERT! DISCLAIMER! ALERT!

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I note with concern on the site of the Wall Street Journal that the European Court of Justice, in one of 11 decisions released on Thursday, ruled that France needs to do more to protect Cricetae cricetae, the Great Alsatian Hamster, which is endangered.

It’s not my fault!

Before anyone complains, “Basil” the hamster on the right sidebar is not Cricetae cricetae.

Ehem…. as if I know.

He might be.

It is still not my fault.

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The Feeder Feed: colors

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Just a few interesting colors today.  A couple of the pics are from when the crab apple tree was in bloom.

This Bunting is styling in the direct sun.

Team Finch.

House Finch.

Crouching Woodpecker, Hidden Mourning Dove.   They had a real stare down.

Mr. Oriole is about to be driven off by the Missus, just behind him.

Mr. Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.

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Fishwrap owes Bp. Finn an apology for their insulting analogy

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The writers and editors of the National catholic Fishwrap owe Bishop Robert Finn an apology.

Columnist Phyllis Zagano, whose skills in reading carefully and thinking through argument haven’t been entirely evident to me (for example in this), drew a moral equivalence between five figures.

Testosterone is in the news again from coast to coast. The new reality TV follows the misadventures of over-sexed men, their victims, and their defenders. It looks like a cartoon about a dysfunctional high school.

Reading from the left, in California Arnold Schwarzenegger (football coach), gets a housekeeper pregnant and lies about it for 15 years or so while his wife raises their son, born a few days earlier.

In the Mid West, Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert W. Finn (chaplain) earnestly defends not reading a year-old, four-and-a-half-page Catholic school principal’s memo detailing weird behavior by one of his priests, even after finding pornography on the priest’s computer.

In the nation’s capitol, Congressman Anthony D. Weiner (assistant principal) weepingly admits he is so enamored of his physical endowments that he Tweets photographs of them to total strangers.

And, in New York, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar (language department) strenuously defend against sex abuse claims by hotel maids.

As we watch the stories unfold, we are left sitting in the school cafeteria wondering how these stereotypes got in charge in the first place.

[…]

This is disgusting and unworthy even of the Fishwrap.

Schwarzenegger, Wiener, Strauss-Kahn, Omar and FINN?

National catholic Fishwrap owes Bishop Robert Finn an apology for this insult.

The rest of her column, obvious condoned by the editors, is also an insulting personal attack.

They should not run Zagano’s stuff and nonsense again until she apologizes for drawing a moral equivalence between Bp. Finn and those other three figures.

Stuff and nonsense is one thing, and in stuff and nonsense Zagano’s and NCFishwrap‘s columns will surely abound. We can differ and even bicker about stuff and nonsense.

This was a vile smear.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, The Last Acceptable Prejudice |
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DETROIT: 11 June – CALL TO HOLINESS CONFERENCE!

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On Saturday, 11 June the annual Call To Holiness conference will he held in Livonia, MI near Detroit.

Speakers include:
Jeff Cavins
Fr. Clement Machado, SOLT
Paul Rondeau
Raymond de Souza
Johnnette Benkovic
Fr. Edmund McCaffrey, OblSD
Al Kresta

Archbp. Alan Vigneron sent a warm message of support for Call To Holiness.

I have spoken at Call To Holiness in the past.  It is a fine event.

Also, this weekend in Detroit there will be a gather of dissenters called the American Catholic Council.  Archbishop Alan Vigneron has made it clear that this ACC group has nothing to do with the Archdiocese of Detroit.  The ACC should not be given any support.

There is some Q&A about the ACC on the site of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Archbp. Vigneron’s statement.

The Call To Holiness Conference will be as good as the ACC thing is bad.

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QUAERITUR: Does the SSPX say the Ordinary Form is invalid or not legitimate?

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Universae Ecclesiae 8 says that those who request Mass and the sacraments in the Extraordinary Form “must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.”

Our friends at Rorate have a translation of an interview with Msgr. Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“.  Here is the first part:

[UPDATED] From an extensive interview granted by the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”, Mgr. Guido Pozzo, to Nouvelles de France.

“The faithful who ask for the celebration of the forma extraordinaria must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.” (Instruction Universae Ecclesiae, n. 19). Is this remark directed at the Fraternity of Saint Pius X?

The article of the Instruction to which you refer is related to certain groups of faithful who consider or propose an antithesis between the Missal of 1962 and that of Paul VI, and who believe that the rite promulgated by Paul VI for the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is detrimental to the faithful. I wish to make it clear that it is clearly necessary to distinguish the rite and the Missal in themselves, celebrated according to the norms, and a certain understanding and application of the liturgical reform, characterized by ambiguity, doctrinal deformations, abuses and banalizations, events that are unfortunately so common that they led Cardinal J. Ratzinger to speak, without hesitations, in one of his publications of a “collapse of the liturgy”. It would be unfair and false to consider the reformed Missal the cause of such a collapse. At the same time, it is necessary to receive the doctrine and the discipline that Pope Benedict XVI gave us in his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum for the restoration of the extraordinary form of the ancient Roman Rite and to follow the exemplary manner in which the Holy Father celebrates Holy Mass in the ordinary form at Saint Peter’s, in his pastoral visits, and in his apostolic journeys.

Does the Fraternity of Saint Pius X recognize this missal [of Paul VI] as valid and licit?

It is the Fraternity of Saint Pius X that should be asked that.

[…]

Read the rest there.

This does underscore an important question.

I think most members of the SSPX will say that the Novus Ordo is valid.  But will they affirm its legitimacy?  I have my doubts.

Keep in mind that there is a distinction between the members of the SSPX and the followers of the members of the SSPX.   SSPX, or better, FSSPX, is the “Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X”.  Fr. Sven O’Brien may be a member, but Mrs. Mary Bagofdoughnuts is a follower.

UPDATE 1607 GMT:

You readers are a great resource!  I no soon post this, but several people alert me, as if by magic, to a page on the American District SSPX’s site about this very question.  The title of the page: “Is the New Mass legit?”  It is a response to UE 8.

Here is something salient:

A. The legality of the New Mass

A law is legitimate only when it is duly promulgated by the lawfully constituted authority. But to this condition must be added another of supreme importance and essential to make it a law: it must be for the common good.1 And precisely on this score, the Novus Ordo Missae (NOM) is most defective as was attested at the time of its promulgation by no less than Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci: … [Though it must be observed that the Lawgiver (the Supreme Pontiff) perhaps thought it was for the common good.  Neither Ottaviani and Bacci were the Lawgiver.]

[…]

We need to look at the Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum (April 3, 1969) which allegedly promulgated the NOM. … [It either did or it didn’t.]

[…]

Most of the piece focuses on why the Novus Ordo is not as good at the pre-Conciliar form, theological deficiencies, pressure on the Pope, the influence of ecumenism, etc.  However, the overall position is that the Novus Ordo, while not very good for us, is nevertheless valid.

Those statements above suggest to me that the person who wrote that page does not think that the Novus Ordo is legitimate.  I know this is on the SSPX site for the USA.  Does it reflect accurately the thought of the rest of the SSPX’s member and its leadership?

Posted in Ecclesiae unitatem, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The future and our choices, Universae Ecclesiae | Tagged , , ,
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Of Richard McBrien and the persecution of the Catholic Church in China

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The gentlemanly Sando Magister has a must-read piece today at his site Chiesa called: Bishops Or Mandarins? The Dilemma of the Chinese Church.

Here is the introductory section of Magister’s piece, just to give you some context.  Then I will give the selection from an interview with the new Chinese-born Archbishop Secretary of Propaganda Fide which left me troubled and angry.

ROME, June 10, 2011 – The Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics, the organism with which the Beijing authorities assert the “autonomy” [a key point] of the Chinese Church from the pope, has been threatening for some time to create a dozen new bishops of its own, ordained without the approval of Rome.

On November 20, 2010, the threat was realized with the illegitimate ordination in Chengde of a new bishop, Joseph Guo Jincai.

And another illicit ordination was scheduled for yesterday, Thursday, June 9, in the diocese of Hankow.

In extremis, however, this ordination was postponed. With no explanation of why.

But everything points to the influence of resistance from the faithful and from the candidate himself, the priest Shen Guoan. [The people themselves and the candidate stood firm.]

And perhaps there was even more influence from the energy with which from Rome, on June 3, the new secretary of the congregation for the evangelization of peoples, [Archbp.] Savio Hon Taifai.

The frankness with which Archbishop Hon expressed his criticisms of the ecclesiastical policy of Beijing and of the part of the Chinese Church that submits to it confirms that a stance of confrontation, instead of accommodation, prevails in Rome.

The following are the most significant passages of the interview with Hon, now considered the main strategist of Vatican policy on China.

[…]

Magister’s piece then has the salient bits from the interview done originally with Asia News.  Here are the headers.

  • On the threatened illegitimate episcopal ordination of Hankow
  • On the consequences of illegitimate ordinations
  • On why some bishops and priests submit
  • More on those who submit, and those who instead resist
  • On a way out for the weakest
  • On the steps to be taken with illegitimate bishops

And then we come to these last two excerpts:

– On the support given [get this] by American and European theologians to the “autonomy” of the Chinese Church

HON: Unfortunately, there is a theology in America and Europe that is also penetrating into the Chinese Church. This theology claims precisely autonomy in the selection of bishops, and independence from the Holy See. And so there are persons in America and Europe who are pushing the Chinese bishops to behave this way. “If you succeed,” they say, “we will follow you.”

Until a short time ago, these problems of independence and autonomy were only at the level of governance. Now they are also at the theological level.

– On how to free the bishops in prison

HON: In all the encounters with representatives of the Chinese government, we constantly insist on the liberation of these brothers of ours. But the government doesn’t pay any attention to us. These bishops are elderly, their liberation should also be a humanitarian act. But unfortunately, we do not receive any response. Maybe public appeals should be made, instead of asking in private.

In practical terms, supporting “autonomy” from Rome, in China, means prison and persecution for faithful Catholics.

Archbishop Hon is talking about the theological corrosion coming from America and Europe, which undermines faithful Catholics.  He talks about the theological support given to the the government-sponsored Church, the Patriotic Association … from American sources.

Richard McBrien of the National catholic Reporter incessantly pushes for the autonomy of local Churches and tries to diminish the role of the Roman Pontiff.  McBrien harps on authority from below and the election of bishops and their appointment not by the Pope or his delegates, or those whom he chooses to consult, but by local Churches.

At the time I am writing, on the site of the National catholic Fishwrap, McBrien has a piece in which he pushes precisely the sort of autonomy that Archbishop Hon says is resulting in problems for faithful Catholics in China.

This is how McBrien begins:

The sacking of William Morris as bishop of the Australian diocese of Toowoomba raises more than a few theological questions about the relationship between bishops and the Bishop of Rome.

Many Catholics believe, and so apparently does Benedict XVI, that the Bishop of Rome is free, by the will of Christ, not only to appoint all bishops in the Roman Catholic church, but to dismiss them as well.This is an incorrect assumption, and the firing of Bishop Morris provides us with a teachable moment in ecclesiology.

[…]

In China, bishops, priests, lay faithful who are faithful to the Catholic Church are persecuted.

Meanwhile, McBrien and his crowd are giving comfort and aid to the persecutors.

Finally… this is not merely a matter of exporting really bad ideas to China.  McBrien and his lot are trying to import the model of the Patriotic Association to the United States.

Protest Fishwrap.

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But wait! There’s more!

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Have any of you ever ordered something through those fast talking and annoying TV ads?

Posted in Lighter fare |
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If web browsers were cars

Posted on 10 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This came from one of our readers.  It originated on the site of Regina Web Services.

Enjoy!

If Web Browsers Were Cars…

IE6: original VW Beetle: at the time of launch it was the browser.  Netscape Navigator was dead, Mozilla Suite was too bloated and slow to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time, development of Firefox as a stand-alone browser had not yet begun, and there was no other legitimate competitor on Windows (Sun Hot Java anyone?). It was unique — ie: didn’t follow CSS web standards — but then again CSS wasn’t popular in the same way it is now. And because IE6 held the overwhelming majority of market share and there was a lack of viable competition MSFT quit innovating (there was also some in-fighting at MSFT between the Trident team (IE) and the Office team which caused development of IE to stall for a few years… oh and they had the Longhorn/Vista debacle in progress). Like the Beetle, IE6 was a great at it’s launch, and like the Beetle, it was never really updated while the competition innovated, hustled, and roared right by them.

IE7: Yugo pickup (okay, there never was such a thing, but bear with me here) – able to render either IE6 native mode or semi-standards-compliant IE7 mode and smart enough to detect which and switch to that mode… except that the auto-detection never worked and the browser locked up in either mode.  The worst browser in the IE series since version 3.

IE8: Dodge Neon – surprisingly good for a Microsoft browser when it launched. Well, surprising that MSFT corrected the downward slide and didn’t make a browser that was worse than the previous one as they had with IE7. While an improvement, IE8 was still unstable and prone to schizophrenic performance. Auto-detection of IE-mode and standards-compliant mode still didn’t work (I think it was turned off and defaulted to standards-compliant) but as designers defaulted to writing standards compliance sites IE8 gave the illusion of working more than it was failing.

Firefox: military Humvee – you can attach just about any plug-in or extension, it works on almost every operating system ever created or imagined, handles almost every website (even horribly mis-coded ones), is rugged, not terribly fast but gets the job done almost all the time (and blows up so spectacularly when it does fail that you don’t mind the inconvenience of having to start over).  Still the go-to browser for several specialty plug-ins like Firebug, Web Developer, downloading flash videos, and more.

Chrome: Formula One racer – fast, agile, decked out with lots of options (via extensions), but finicky at times which can be really annoying. Never fear though: just wait a couple days and the engineers at Google will release a new version with the annoying parts totally re-coded and rock-solid. A joy to use and mostly stable (though the fade-to-white crashes are rather un-Googlesque and lacking in flair).  Probably the best browser available on Windows and Mac OS X at this time.

IE9: Chevy Malibu – it’s finally catching up with the better competition and is a fine browser but missing the bells and whistles of the competition. Nobody is complaining about it though because it’s so much better than previous versions of IE.  If you’re a long-suffering user of Internet Explorer then using IE9 for the fist time is like the day your abusive step-father found religion and stopped beating you. Life may not be perfect, but it’s a huge improvement over what it used to be.

Apple Safari: Tesla Roadster – a great browser… but who cares?  Same fast, stable, KHTML-derived WebKit rending engine as Chrome but without the extensions ecosystem. On Mac OS X Safari is what IE should have always been: a reliable, no frills web browser that serves up web content and that’s it.  On Windows it’s a fish out of water. On Mars. Trying to communicate with the natives in Chinese… what’s the point again?

IE10: Hydrogen powered, 75 mpg, Honda NSX with all-wheel drive, room for 12 passengers, six-ton towing capacity, and telepathic navigational input – it promises to be all things to all users (like lots of MSFT products) and will never materialize as promised. Instead we’ll get a mildly improved IE9 with a 3% more standards compliance, a slightly faster javascript engine, native-mode Silverlight engine (awesome for the 0.01% of people who rely in this).  In car terms it will be a Ford Focus: a nice subcompact car with decent performance and style, but still just frill-free basic transportation… which for non-browser-snobs is enough.
ntegration or opposition, culture was constructed.”

He adds:

With the advent of the electronic book, how is this function exercised? How is the authenticity of a text of the Word of God, of the prayers of the Church or the Catechism guaranteed? The written word, guarded by the Church, needs to be transmitted in all of its purity to future generations. Decisive steps are now needed to clarify how to provide this service to the truth in an electronic universe.

I’m still waiting for my Bugatti, Veyron.  I’d settle for a browser that did it all and didn’t hog resources.

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