NYC, Manhattan Solemn TLM news for Christ the King, All Saints, All Souls

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Are you in or near New York City?

There will be a Solemn Mass with the 1962 Missale Romanum at Holy Innocents in Manhattan (near 37th and Broadway) for the Feast of All Saints Monday, 1 November at 6 PM, and for 2 November All Souls Day at 6PM.  On the Feast of All Saints, the choir will  sing Morales Missa Caça and on All Souls Day, Morales Missa pro defunctis.    The choir’s got game, btw.

The undersigned will be celebrant.

Mystic MonkAlso,  on Sunday 31 October, the Feast of Christ the King in the older, traditional calendar, there will be a Solemn Mass at 10 am, also at Holy Innocents with music by Morales, the Missa sobre las voces. (This choir must really like Morales!)  After the Sunday Mass, in the humble hall below the church, there will be a solemn coffee and doughnuts Convivium featuring MYSTIC MONK COFFEE!  I am told there will be a few bags of Mystic Monk given away and some for purchase.

Immediately after Christ the King Mass on Sunday, there will be the recitation of the Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart.  This Act of Consecration may be recited publicly each year on this great Feast.

Here is the text sent by a reader involved at the parish:

Most Sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before thy altar.  We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united to Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; Many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee.  Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful children who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; Grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those who are deceived by the erroneous opinions of whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one shepherd.
Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry; praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; To it be glory and honor forever.  R. Amen.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole |
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Archbp. (Card.) Burke on the obligation to VOTE properly

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Remember how soon-to-be Cardinal Raymond Burke was, as liberals crowed, promoted to a Roman office in order to remove his influence on the American scene?

This is from CNA with my E and C:

Rome, Italy, Oct 28, 2010 / 12:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke stressed to Catholic voters in a recent interview that they have a “very serious” obligation to uphold the truth of “moral law” in the upcoming mid-term elections. He specifically cited protecting unborn children from abortion and defending traditional marriage.

The American Vatican official, who was recently named by the Holy Father as a future cardinal, spoke on Oct. 20 to Thomas McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, just hours after the Pope’s announcement.

Cardinal-designate Burke opened his remarks by saying that “as a bishop it’s my obligation, in fact, to urge the faithful to carry out their civic duty in accord with their Catholic Faith.” [Burke, as a Catholic bishops, is a bishop for the whole Church.] Clarifying that he does not endorse particular candidates, the prelate also spoke of his duty to relay “principles” to the faithful to help inform their vote.

Speaking on the contentious topic of abortion in the upcoming mid-terms, Cardinal-designate Burke said one [NB:] “can never vote for someone who favors absolutely the right to choice of a woman to destroy a human life in her womb or the right to a procured abortion.”

“You may in some circumstances where you don’t have any candidate who is proposing to eliminate all abortion, choose the candidate who will most limit this grave evil in our country,” he explained, “but you could never justify voting for a candidate who not only does not want to limit abortion but believes that it should be available to everyone.”

The Vatican prelate also addressed the issue of same-sex “marriage,” asserting that maintaining the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman is not unjust discrimination.

“Where there is unjust discrimination – for instance, where you say that a fellow human being, because of the color of his skin, is not a part of the same race as someone, say, who is a Caucasian, that is a kind of discrimination which is unjust and immoral,” he said.

However, he added, “there is a discrimination which is perfectly just and good, and that is the discrimination between what is right and what is wrong.” [This might be the bit idiots or the mendacious latch into.]

“Between what is according to our human nature and what is contrary to our human nature. So the Catholic Church, in teaching that sexual acts between persons of the same sex are intrinsically evil, [Idiots and the mendacious will claim that the Church (and Burke) says that the people who do these things are evil.] are against nature itself, [In other words, reason… common sense… informs us that such acts are intrinsically evil.  The Church also has revelation to support her teaching, but she also points to nature itself.] is simply announcing the truth, helping people to discriminate right from wrong in terms of their own activities.”

In his interview, Cardinal-designate Burke also urged Catholic politicians who have caused “scandal” by endorsing positions contrary to moral law to repent through a “genuine reform of heart.” [This is one of the most serious wrongs that Catholic pro-abortion politicians do when they support evil positions contrary to Church teaching: they cause scandal in a very public way.  The Church must defend the faithful against that damage.  First the Church must try to get the person who caused the damage to try to make amends and heal it.  Otherwise, the Church must separate that person from Communion with the hope that she will correct her views.]

“That’s done through the Sacrament of Penance,” he said, adding that political figures must publicly “renounce” their errors, recognizing and recanting the “evil” they have promoted.

Cardinal-designate Burke’s remarks on voting can be viewed at: http://www.catholicaction.org/

WDTPRS kudos to soon-to-be Card. Burke.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Emanations from Penumbras, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged
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Jailbirds get absentee ballots, but not military personnel?

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The men and women serving in the US Military oversees are not going to be able to vote with absentee ballots for some states (Illinois, for example).  But apparently if you are in jail in Cook County (coincidentally in Illinois), that won’t be a problem.

This is from Investors Daily:

Don’t Ask, Don’t Vote
Posted 10/26/2010 07:04 PM ET

Election ’10: The president’s home state gets a pass from the Justice Department on ensuring its soldiers overseas can vote. An administration obsessed with gays in the military doesn’t care about voting rights for GIs.

You can call it a tragedy of errors, a perfect storm of incompetent and uncaring bureaucrats, or you can call it a deliberate attempt to steal what looks to be a close race for both governor and U.S. senator in President Obama’s home state by disenfranchising its servicemen overseas, votes likely to tilt Republican.

[… Read the rest there…]

Meanwhile, the Chicago Board of Elections hand-delivers ballots to inmates in Cook County Jail. The board doesn’t even wait for the inmates to apply — it brings the applications with the ballots! More than 2,600 inmates have cast ballots — strikingly similar to the 2,600 soldiers who will likely not receive a ballot for Tuesday’s election.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged
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Liberals finally defend Liturgiam authenticam!

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Many readers are sending me links to liturgical writers and pages and blogs, liberals, frothing about changes the Holy See is making to the English translation of the Roman Missal approved in 2008 by the USCCB and given the nod by the Holy See.

Rome is making lots of changes to the 2008 and some are not at all pleased.

I have had for a while now the texts of the 2008 and the amended 2010 texts and will one day get around to them.

That said….

Isn’t it fascinating that, now that Rome is making changes liberals don’t like, liberals claimed Liturgiam authenticam as their own?

What does Rome have to do now to get them to read Redemptionis Sacramentum… Summorum Pontificum… Ex corde Ecclesiae… ?

Posted in Lighter fare, The Drill | Tagged
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QUAERITUR: Mortal sin to join SSPX third order?

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have a question about becoming a 3rd Order member with the SSPX. Would it put me into mortal sin to become a member? I have not attended their Mass on general orders from Pope Benedict XVI though I pray for full communion for them. They are also not in my area but I’d still be able to become part of the 3rd Order.

Would you commit a mortal sin by joining?  I think that would depend in part on why you wanted to join.  If you are doing so as a protest against the Holy Father Pope Benedict, against “Rome”, then I think you might be on shaky ground.

Also, if there should be a problem down the line with members of the SSPX (which is clerical) incurring the excommunication that comes from being formally in schism (they seem not to be now and I hope they never are), that might make the situation of lay people in an associated third order a bit less secure.  We know that priests of the SSPX belong to the group, because they are ordained in their ranks, take pay checks and assignments, etc .  We don’t know right now what it means, canonically, for lay people to follow such priests.  If the SSPX eventually is determined to be in schism and that is declared by the Holy See clearly, then would laypeople following them be adhering to schism too?  That is less clear.  Lay people fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation if they go to an SSPX chapel for Mass.  They can even give some money when they go for the upkeep of the chapel.  While I don’t recommend receiving Communion at their Masses, there are conditions under which it would be okay to do so.  So, we have a harder time determining how the status of a layperson might change, than we do with those who accept Holy Orders.  We could use the help of a canonist.

I can see why a traditionally-minded person might want to be associated with a group of manifestly traditional priests such as the SSPX.  Most of the SSPX priests I have met or had dealings with have been upstanding guys.

However, you would not have the benefit of indulgences and so forth which members of approved groups can gain.   The SSPX can do great things for the intellectual formation of laypeople, but they have no authority whatsoever to grant indulgences.   This is one of the principle reasons why people join confraternities and third orders: spiritual benefits.

The Confraternity of St. Peter, associated with the FSSP, Fraternity of St. Peter, has the grant of indulgences for its members:

The Apostolic Penitentiary, by virtue of the faculties granted to it by Pope Benedict XVI, has kindly willed to grant (by decree of June 7, 2008, for 7 years ad experimentum as is customary) to the members of the Confraternity of Saint Peter at the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer at the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff):
1.  A plenary indulgence:

a)  On the day of their admission into the Confraternity;
b)  On February 22nd, Feast of the Chair of St Peter and anniversary of the foundation of the Confraternity;
c)  On June 29th, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul;

2.  A partial indulgence:

Whenever they partake in pious or charitable activities as members of the Confraternity.

This group in in manifest union with Rome and provides the possibility of spiritual benefits such as indulgences.

Something to consider.

I look forward to the day when this is all resolved and these questions never have to be raised again!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged , ,
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Unbleached beeswax candles

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at NLM there was a post about unbleached beeswax candles, which are traditionally used for Masses for the Dead.

Reverend Fathers, Your Excellencies and sundry Graces… please consider the use of beeswax candles for All Souls and Requiem Masses.  They lend a different aspect to the solemn rite.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes | Tagged ,
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QUAERITUR: reconsecrating, restoring a chalice

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Many years ago, a chalice was donated to the parish of my grandfather as a memorial after his death. After several years, my grandmother received a call from the pastor stating that they were cleaning house in the sacristy and that if she did not take possession of the chalice it would be given to the diocesan reclamations office.  She took possession of the chalice and kept it in her home. Unfortunately, it was later subject to improper handling by the family as well as profanation. After her passing it has come into my possession where it is locked in a safe until proper arrangements can be made.  Personally, I would like to give the chalice to a friend of mine who will be ordained to the priesthood this coming May, however, I would not want to give it to him unless proper reparation could be made.  Can a chalice be re-consecrated? Is there another means for dealing with these unfortunate circumstances? Any direction you can give is most appreciated.

That sounds like a good plan for that chalice.

I suggest that you have it cleaned and restored, if repair are necessary.  Sometimes the cup of the chalice needs to be re-gilded.

Then you can simply give him the chalice, telling him that it needs to be reconsecrated.  At that point the ordinandus can handle the situation himself.   He can approach a bishop and have it consecrated or, the less desirable solution, assume that it is consecrated after its first use at Holy Mass.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged ,
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QUAERITUR: priest adds a word to words of absolution

Posted on 28 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Father, i went to confession this afternoon and instead of the usual “I absolve you from your sins…” the priest said instead, “I now absolve you from your sins…”. Was my confession valid?

Yes, it was valid.

In a sense, “I now absolve” isn’t too far from “Ego… absolvo“, given that absolvo is present tense.

That change to the form isn’t enough to invalidate the absolution.

That said, priests should stick to the form as it is given by the Church.   Just say the black words on the page while doing the red words.  In this way, priests don’t a) impose themselves on the rite and b) lead anyone to have a doubt about what happened.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged ,
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“I worked so hard for that title!”

Posted on 27 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I don’t like being called anything but “Father” … except for those times when I don’t care.   After all, I worked hard for that title.

Oooops… er… um… no… um… no, wait.    It has to do with that ontological character and all that.

Remember when the Senator from California made the comment during a hearing that she wanted to be called “Senator” because she had worked so hard for that title?   As I watched that clip on the news I knew I would be hearing it again at sometime during the campaign.

I just thought that was fun.

Titles are important, even in a society in which decorum is going by the board.

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged
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Minnesota Democrats: ANTI-CATHOLIC in print

Posted on 27 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I wonder if there is a federal statute that covers using the U.S Postal Service for the distribution of discriminatory printed material aimed at a specific religious group.  I am no lawyer, but I can wonder.  Right?

Yesterday I posted an entry, others posted on this also, about an election agtiprop postcard sent by Minnesota Democrats.  I and others saw the post card as anti-Catholic.  Some disagreed.  The postcard shows black and white photo (in itself a negative image technique common to political advertising) of a man in a Roman collar wearing a brightly colored button “ignore the poor”.  The button is photoshopped.  The message is that Catholic clergy hate the poor.  Catholics don’t care about the poor.  I believe this was payback aimed at Archbp. Nienstedt and the other MN bishops for initiatives against Obamacare’s federal funding of abortion, and in defense of true marriage against unnatural unions.

A local news station on this.  In this story you learn that the Democrat Party in Minnesota paid for this.

I wonder if the people who used that photograph had the written permission of the cleric whose photo they took and then distributed in the US Postal Service?  Or maybe they dressed some one up in a Roman collar.

Again, some people thought the Minnesota Democrats postcard mailing was not really anti-Catholic.

Now I see another Minnesota Democrat postcard.

MN DEMS = BIGOTS?

You decide.

When bishops raises their voices to express an opinion on moral issues that affect society, the constant drumbeat of the liberal left is that the bishops are being political.

These are anti-Catholic attack ads, pure and simple.

Remember who had them printed and mailed.

The DFL (Democrat Party in Minnesota… Democratic Farm Labor) printed and disstributed these anti-Catholic postcards.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged ,
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