WSJ cartoon against Bp. Morlino with a workshop on the WSJ’s lack of professionalism

Posted on 8 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Again and again we see liberals and the MSM (virtually all liberal) cherry-pick a quote of Pope Francis and then run with it as if, by itself, it actually means something profoundly in harmony with their liberal agenda.

I saw this on the blog of Syte Reitz.  She vivisects the choice by the editors of the Wisconsin State Journal to post an editorial cartoon which aims to pit Bishop Robert Morlino (of Madison) against Pope Francis.

Context: on 1 August Bp. Morlino observed his 10th anniversary of being appointed as Bishop of Madison and there were articles in the paper about him.

The piece by Reitz serves as a good defense of a good bishop.  It also serves as a workshop for how the lib media operates.

Here is the first part.  I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing there.  Her blog entry formatting is a little confusing, but you will catch on after a bit (hint: she isn’t posting separate entries on each point).

Wisconsin State Journal Flunks Journalism Again!
or
What’s Wrong With Gay Marriage?

Two days after getting some praise for their balanced article on Bishop Morlino, the Wisconsin State Journal was back to its old games, misrepresenting the Bishop yet again.
They managed to shoot themselves in the foot quite handsomely this time.

Here’s a cartoon they published, quoting both Pope Francis and Bishop Morlino out of context, in an attempt to make it seem that Bishop Morlino is in disagreement with the Pope:

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How Does This Cartoon Shoot WSJ in the Foot?

How does WSJ shoot itself in the foot with this cartoon?Slide1
Let me count the ways:

  1. It’s unprofessional to nest your references so deep that the original source being quoted can hardly be found.
  2. It’s unprofessional to compare apples and oranges.
  3. It’s unprofessional to quote your sources out of context.
  4. It’s unprofessional to ignore the Bigger Story
  5. It’s unprofessional to contradict yourself.
  6. It’s unprofessional for a journalist to spin the news.  (And it’s triply embarrassing when you spin it badly and get caught.)
[In the whole entry at her blog she goes through each point.  I’ll give you just a couple of them.]

This unprofessional behavior would be more suited to the grapevine whispering game, in which messages become unrecognizably altered as they are whispered from person to person in a chain, than to a professional journalist.

  •  It’s unprofessional to nest your references so deep that nobody can find the original source being quoted.

So, in his efforts to malign and misrepresent Bishop Morlino, Phil Hands had to dig far and deep, and ended up quoting out of context from a homily given by Bishop Morlino in 2006.
In fact, Phil Hands quoted Doug Erickson’s artilce, who quoted a 2006 Bill Wineke article, who quoted Bishop Morlino’s homily from the 2006 Madison Catholic Herald, out of context.

  • It’s unprofessional to compare apples and oranges.

apple-vs-orangePhil Hands was comparing Pope Francis’ comments about a Catholic homosexual who is following Church teaching on chastity, with Bishop Morlino’s comments on the the legal repercussions of governmental redefinition of marriage.  Those repercussions have already violated the religious freedom rights of Catholics and have already closed Catholic adoption agencies.  More on the legal details in the Appendix below.  But suffice it to say that comparing discussion of chaste Catholic homosexuals with discussion of the legal implications of redefining marriage is not a very professional move on the part of Phil Hands.

  • It’s unprofessional to quote your sources out of context.

Pope Francis’ statement in context:

In these situations, it’s important to distinguish between a gay person and a gay lobby, because having a lobby is never good. If a gay person is a person of good will who seeks God, who am I to judge? The Catechism of the Church explains this very beautifully. It outlines that gays should not be marginalized. The problem is not having this [homosexual] orientation. No, we must be brothers and sisters. The problem is lobbying for this orientation, or lobbies of greed, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me. And thank you so much for this question. Thank you very much!

Slide1Bishop Morlino’s statment in context:

I’m spending time on this today because we’ve got a battle. We’ve got a battle at the federal level in June and we’ve got a battle at the state level in November. And I’m serious about it, I can’t imagine what happens if marriage goes down the tubes. If marriage goes down the tubes, life will become one big custody suit. And who will decide who raises children and how they get raised? The State, more and more and more. Marriage goes down the tubes, the State will be deciding who gets custody and how the kids get taught. And when the State does that, rather than the natural parents, that’s the end of democracy.

In context, both Pope Francis’ comments and Bishop Morlino’s comments mean something quite different than what Phil Hands tried to imply in his cartoon.

It’s unprofessional to ignore the Bigger Story

[…]

Read the whole thing.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Green Inkers, Liberals, The Drill, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , ,
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Fortune Cookie Alert: Seminarian Edition

Posted on 8 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am having lunch with seminarians. Each summer all the diocesan men get together with the bishop for quite a stretch.

Today, Chinese for lunch.

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Wherein Fr. Z responds cordially to a non-provocation and writes about Hard-Identity Catholicism

Posted on 8 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at his facebook page, my friend Fr. Richard Heilman (very cool priest) of the Diocese of Madison, has posted something that absolutely demands a response.

He caught my attention by sharing a pic with the caption “Daily Battle Strategy”.

Oh yah?

Respondeo dicendum:

By the way, Fr. Heilman had the Rosaries you see in the photo made in signifcant numbers and, I think, they are obtainable.  While I do not want you to forget about the beautiful Queen of Peace Rosaries (HERE), these are faithful copies of the rosaries that were issued by the U.S. government to the troops serving in WWI and WWII.  “Service Rosaries”.   They are made from steel pull-chain.  You can find out more at churchmilitant.com

If that were not enough, Fr. Heilman was able to touch many of these Rosaries to over 160 relics of saints which another friend, Fr. Carlos Martins recently brought to the Madison area in his Treasures of the Church initiative.  The Enemy must really writhe when someone uses one of these.

You may remember that I posted about how Fr. Heilman returned his parish to ad orientem worship and then moved the table altar into the rectory to create a chapel.  Then he created, in the entrance vestibule of the rectory, a confession window in the door to his office directly across from the chapel and set up a electronic entrance switch for the door to the outside so that, pretty 24/7 (so long as Father is around the place), people would be able to visit the Blessed Sacrament and GO TO CONFESSION.  He then created a smart phone app so that people could see his availability.  HERE  Since I first posted about it, many news outlets picked up on the story.

Friends, this is HARD-IDENTITY CATHOLICISM and it is exactly what we need in this soft-identity Church.

But because Fr. Heilman is supposed to be learning the older form of Mass and is supposed to be learning his prayers and rubrics, I thought I post this as some encouragement to him and to other priests out there: HARD-IDENTITY CATHOLICISM, men!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Just Too Cool, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , ,
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Pope Francis’ new Motu Proprio

Posted on 8 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

His Holiness Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio “For the Prevention and Countering of Money Laundering, the Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction”.

I am delighted that the Holy See is not going to be involved with Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Someone finally had to rein in the liturgists.

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YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS

Posted on 7 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please use the sharing buttons!  Thanks!

Registered or not, will you in your charity please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Many requests are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand.  We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below. You have to be registered here to be able to post.

Finally, I have a serious personal petition and that is familial.

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Question for GERMAN clergy/lay people and a FAVOR

Posted on 7 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A worthy old priest I know wants a complete set of the post-Conciliar, German language, “breviary” or Studenbuch – for the entire Liturgy of the Hours, “Die Feier des Stundengebetes”.

First, is there someone out there who has one which he or she would be willing to part with and send to this worthy old priest?

Second, is there someone out there who actually understands the overly-complicated, bizarre German “solution” for the Stundengebetes who could be of help?

Please… I implore you… don’t tell me “Well, Father, you could look on amazon and …. “, because I might ban you permanently from the blog.

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged , ,
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QUAERITUR: Something that should be heard in every sacristy in the world.

Posted on 7 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I’ve been having a friendly disagreement with a priest that I know, and maybe you can give me an answer: at the end of Mass, the priest will say the word “Prosit,” and the servers respond “Pro omnibus et singulis.” I was taught to say it thus, but the priest I know contends that that way makes no sense, and it should be “pro singulis et omnibus.” (Singulis and omnibus are switched) Do you have a resource that I could refer to for the history of this small prayer? Or even access to a book about the Mass that would have it recorded, so that I can settle this in my own mind?

A fine custom which should be revived everywhere.

First, I have always heard “omnibus et singulis“, not the other way around.  Also, you really don’t need the “pro“, although it doesn’t hurt anyone severely.  The verb prosit would have a dative “object” (though it isn’t really an object).

I have also heard in places a simple “tibi quoque” or “vobis quoque“.

In any event, one of the servers could also add, as he kneels, “Iube, Domne, benedicere!”, by which he asks for the priest’s blessing for the servers (or for himself alone as the case may be).

The paring of “omnibus et singulis” isn’t all that common in ancient texts.  You find them, of course, but not usually quite like this.  I suspect this is a later, juridical common phrase.

In any event, it should today be a daily common phrase, heard in every sacristy in the world.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , , , , ,
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QUAERITUR: Do martyrs killed in the state of mortal sin go to Heaven?

Posted on 7 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I know that the Church teaches that people that die in a state of mortal sin cannot go to Heaven. However, can martyrs killed in a state of mortal sin still go to Heaven?

Excellent question, and one that should remind people to GO TO CONFESSION.  We don’t know when our turn is going to come.  It could be today.  If you know yourself to be out of sync with God and doubt or know that you are not in the state of grace… there is a solution for you.  You know what it is.

Ad rem: Holy Church holds that when a person dies with “voluntary suffering or sustaining of death for the faith or another virtue related to God” and also that the person was killed “out of hate for the faith or for a virtue prescribed by the faith”, then – provided both of these elements can be ascertained through clear proofs and not just conjectures or guesses – he died the death of a “martyr”.

Moreover, the person must voluntarily accept the death that is inflicted for the sake of the faith.  This acceptance can be long-standing and habitual or it can be of shorter duration, but it has to last until their last moment of earthly life.  Even in the act of dying, they have to accept death for the sake of Christ and faith in Him.

Just because you were willing to die a martyrs death and you were killed longing to be a martyr, those elements don’t make you truly a Christian martyr.  Just because someone kills you from hatred of the faith, you are not necessarily a martyr.  The different elements must converge.  Voluntary death for love of Christ and death from hatred of Christ.

In that supreme moment of dying, we hold that all the virtues are present in the person in a heroic way.  It is as if there is a fiery cleansing of burning charity coursing through the martyr’s soul.  This is a rather poetic way to put it, of course.  In a sense, this true martyrdom can substitute for a sacramental confession of sins.

It would not, however, in the case of non-martyrs.

We all are called to foster virtue in a heroic measure (be mindful of the sense of “heroic” here, as understood by the Church in these causes of canonization, etc.).  We are summoned by Christ and the Church to persevere in the life of virtue to the end.  True martyrdom, however, is a special case of intense Christian living and Christian dying.

It is paradoxical that blood is what makes the Church grow (cf. Tertullian).  It was Christ’s overwhelming “defeat” on the Cross that was the greatest victory of human history.  Martyrs hold a special place in the album of the saints precisely because their blood was and is now the seed of the Church’s fruitful growth.

This does not mean that we cannot try to avoid death.  We don’t have to invite death.  We can try to flee or hide or defend ourselves and loved ones and the innocent with us.  However, when the moment comes when we are brought to death as lovers of Christ, His Church and the virtues that Christian life requires, then as martyrs we (please God!) abandon ourselves to His will in charity, hope and faith, with accepting perseverance to our last breath.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, GO TO CONFESSION, Modern Martyrs, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Saints: Stories & Symbols, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , ,
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Your yellow Sun is about to flip out!

Posted on 6 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Every 11 years your Earth’s yellow sun flips out.

The Sun has an 11 cycle of building activity and then BAM its magnetic field flips places.

From NASA:

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August 5, 2013: Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun’s vast magnetic field is about to flip.
“It looks like we’re no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal,” says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. “This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.”

The sun’s magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. It happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun’s inner magnetic dynamo re-organizes itself. The coming reversal will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Half of ‘Solar Max’ will be behind us, with half yet to come.
Hoeksema is the director of Stanford’s Wilcox Solar Observatory, one of the few observatories in the world that monitor the sun’s polar magnetic fields. The poles are a herald of change. Just as Earth scientists watch our planet’s polar regions for signs of climate change, solar physicists do the same thing for the sun. Magnetograms at Wilcox have been tracking the sun’s polar magnetism since 1976, and they have recorded three grand reversals—with a fourth in the offing.

Solar physicist Phil Scherrer, also at Stanford, describes what happens: “The sun’s polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero, and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle.”
A reversal of the sun’s magnetic field is, literally, a big event. The domain of the sun’s magnetic influence (also known as the “heliosphere”) extends billions of kilometers beyond Pluto. Changes to the field’s polarity ripple all the way out to the Voyager probes, on the doorstep of interstellar space.
When solar physicists talk about solar field reversals, their conversation often centers on the “current sheet.” The current sheet is a sprawling surface jutting outward from the sun’s equator where the sun’s slowly-rotating magnetic field induces an electrical current. The current itself is small, only one ten-billionth of an amp per square meter (0.0000000001 amps/m2), but there’s a lot of it: the amperage flows through a region 10,000 km thick and billions of kilometers wide. Electrically speaking, the entire heliosphere is organized around this enormous sheet.
During field reversals, the current sheet becomes very wavy. Scherrer likens the undulations to the seams on a baseball. As Earth orbits the sun, we dip in and out of the current sheet. Transitions from one side to another can stir up stormy space weather around our planet.

Cosmic rays are also affected. These are high-energy particles accelerated to nearly light speed by supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy. Cosmic rays are a danger to astronauts and space probes, and some researchers say they might affect the cloudiness and climate of Earth. The current sheet acts as a barrier to cosmic rays, deflecting them as they attempt to penetrate the inner solar system. A wavy, crinkly sheet acts as a better shield against these energetic particles from deep space.
As the field reversal approaches, data from Wilcox show that the sun’s two hemispheres are out of synch.
“The sun’s north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up,” says Scherrer. “Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of Solar Max will be underway.”
When that happens, Hoeksema and Scherrer will share the news with their colleagues and the public.
Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates.

Posted in Global Killer Asteroid Questions, Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged ,
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More on the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the Vetus Ordo (TLM)

Posted on 6 August 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Inside the Vatican (my emphases):

Minority within Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate wanted to scrap the Old Mass

ANDREA TORNIELLI

VATICAN CITY

The decision to appoint a commissioner to oversee the Congregation of Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the need for the order to obtain authorisation before it can celebrate Mass according to the Old Rite has sparked a heated debate. Traditionalist blogs and websites have voiced disagreements over this. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi says the decision does not go against Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio but is exclusively to do with existing tensions within the Institute. Vatican Insider asked Fr. Alessandro Apollonio, the Procurator General of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate to answer some questions regarding the decision.  [As I understand it, he is the “spokesman” for the FFIs.]

Why did the Vatican decide to send an apostolic visitor to your Institute?

“Because a few of the friars who don’t agree with the founding Father and Minister general’s style asked for it. They also disagree with his eagerness to promote the Vetus Ordo within the Institute, alongside the Novus Ordo, in accordance with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae.”

To what extent did the issue of the use of the old missal influence the decision to send an apostolic visitor?

“It had a big influence on the decision because the group of friars I mentioned before accused the founding Father of imposing the Vetus Ordo on the whole Institute. Although the accusation is completely unfounded, people believed it and our attempts to prove it was false proved futile. This false accusation [GET THAT?  “false accusation”] has spread like an oil slick, with various newspapers and news agencies passing it on. This has seriously harmed the good name of the Institute’s founding Father.”

Traditionalist blogs and websites have reacted to this news – and to the decision that prior authorisation will have to be obtained before the Institute can celebrate Mass according to the Old Rite – by saying that these decisions disavow Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio. Do you agree with this interpretation? What can you say about these decisions?

“Fr. Lombardi has clearly stated that the decisions taken regarding our Institute are not a disavowal of the Motu Proprio. However, we are still waiting for an authentic interpretation of the Holy See’s liturgical provisions for our Institute. For example, it is still unclear who exactly the “competent authorities” who will give the aforementioned authorization, are. Will it be the commissioner, the Congregation for Religious, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the local ordinary, one of these or all of these? We hope this is just a temporary disciplinary provision and that we will soon be given authorisation to celebrate according to the Vetus Ordo also, as we have always done. Without all the current restrictions which – unless a better reason can be given – deprive us of the universal right granted to us in the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae.”

Have any members of your Institute played a role in spreading the above interpretation?

“No.”

When you have asked for clarifications regarding some of our articles, you have always stressed that you did not only use the old missal and that all decisions were taken bearing in mind the provisions of the Motu Proprio. Is it true that before the apostolic visit, the “Ecclesia Dei” commission had cautioned the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate to be prudent in their use of the old missal?

“Yes, we tried to be as prudent and discreet as possible in exercising our special right which gives the General Chapter in session “supreme authority in the Institute”, in accordance with the Constitutions (§ 81). The last General Chapter held in 2008, established that the General Council (that is, Fr. Stefano M. Manelli and his five advisors) was to draft a protocol for the Vetus Ordo to be introduced in our communities. This was done in the form of a letter sent on 21 November 2011. The Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” considered this letter carefully, taking account Benedict XVI’s thinking, but this official judgement was not taken into consideration during the developments in our case. We do not understand why and are greatly saddened by this. We entrust our cause to Our Lady Queen of the Seraphic Order.”

Posted in Francis, Linking Back, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill | Tagged , , ,
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