The blog was down in a strange way today. It would not load. Perhaps one of the web processes had a problem. Server reboot. Fixed.
However, both Free Republic and Drudge were down today too.
And now that the blog is loading again, the podcasts (LENTCAzTs) won’t play.
UPDATE:
Okay… that got sorted out.
I understand that the Catholic Herald in the UK had problems yesterday as did Drudge and a few other sources.
As I explained in today’s LENTCAzT there is a connection between today’s Ember Day observance and Japanese food.
In honor of that connection … tempura!
Here is a point that is so obvious that I am surprised no one has made it yet.
Some people are talking – as they did in 2005 – about the election of a cardinal from the “emerging” Church. Several names have been mentioned as “papábili”.
Cardinal Electors who may be thinking along these lines might want also to consider that, once one of their brothers is elected, investigative journalists will start looking for clerical sexual abuse in dioceses in which he has ever breathed air.
They will bring divining rods, Geiger counters, scalpels and microscopes.
The shoes have not yet dropped in lot of places.
Remember how the newsies found a thin story about something that happened in Munich when Pope Benedict was still Cardinal Archbishop there? They beat him with that story for months. They are still beating him with it.
I propose to Their Eminences that it could be better to elect someone whose record on clerical sexual abuse we know a lot about.
Otherwise, in this media age, the next Pope’s pontificate could be hobbled from the starting gate.
In some countries, such as these USA, Ireland, Canada, a little bit in some European countries, the press has been crawling all over diocesan bishops for years and a great deal has been exposed to the light of day.
This has not yet occurred in the “emerging” Churches, such as in The Philippines or Brazil.
In fact, has it happened yet even in Italy?
It will.
If a cardinal from one of these places is elected, it will happen a lot faster wherever they have served.
Do any of us want to discover that the next Pope screwed up something about the abuse of kids in his diocese?
I just want you to consider what you are calling forth. Know what you are getting into.
Sometime ago I wrote about the a fairly new publication called Laudamus Te, HERE. You can find readers’ comments about it under that entry. One year subscription is $32 per year. They have a volume rate, which will help parishes and chapels. Their website shows that they are just getting started. HERE.
Laudamus Te is to the Extraordinary Form what Magnificat is to the Ordinary Form.
Here is a shot of the last and the present issues. The one on the right is the Pre-Lenten period issue. The one on the left is the Lent issue. You should recognize the familiar artistic styles of Daniel Mitsui and Matthew Alderman, respectively.
Each issue has the Ordinary for Mass, the Propers day by day, and spiritual readings, useful prayers, etc.
For example, in this issue…
The texts for Mass are laid out side by side and indications are included for when the congregation is to kneel or stand etc. This could be pretty helpful for some whom you have invited to come to the older for of Mass for the first time: get a copy in advance and give it to him beforehand as his own to keep!
and
Useful essays to deepen your understanding.
This is a good project and it must take a lot of work to produce.
In see that the in the Readers Choice Awards (this blog is nominated in the blog category) Laudamus Te is doing pretty well among the finalists, which have some big names. The results so far:
Again, it may be that you have your own hand missal, and therefore have less need for Laudamus Te. Consider this. Every one of you who prefers to attend the Usus Antiquior should be going out of your way to invite and bring at least one new person every month to Holy Mass. If you subscribe, you can give the issues to those whom you invite.
Please vote daily!
One of the more entertaining aspects of a papal election is speculation not only about whom the Cardinal Electors will choose, but what the new Pope’s name will be.
Entertaining, yes, but there is a serious side to it. John Paul I – the Pope people forget to remember – chose his name to honor his two predecessors. John Paul II to honor his three predecessors and to take up that baton that was so quickly dropped. Benedict XVI’s choice hearkens to Holy Church’s liturgical prayer and an era when Western Civilization was tottering.
The next Pope might select a name that is meaningful.
For example, imagine a man chosen as Vicar of Christ looking around the world and wondering, with Christ, whether there will still be any faith in the world when Christ returns. Such a man, taking up Benedict’s vision for a Year of Faith, in the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council might pick the name “Paul VII” after the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Another man might want to send a message to the Jesuits and take “Clement XV”. Perhaps he will be deeply interesting in the Church’s “social teaching” and therefore choose “Leo XIV”. It may be that there is some period in the Church’s history which he sees as relevant for today and will pick the name of a Pope such as “Sylvester” to underscore religious freedom in the centenary of the Edict of Milan.
Perhaps he will choose his own baptismal name?
Perhaps he will surprise us with something new?
Here is a poll for you. You can make ONE choices. (I tried to get it to work with more choices… no joy.)
I suspect that Pope Lando II isn’t going to be on the top of many lists, so I axed his name along with Miltiades, Hormisdas, Conon, Deusdedit, Hiliarius – for obvious reasons – and a few others. Five choices should help us winnow out less likely candidates.
Along the way I may start axing some names that don’t garner votes. Right now the poll is set to expire at 8 pm Rome time on 28 February, at which point we could continue with a second phase with just the top candidates. Haven’t decided how to do that yet.
So, pick ONE and give reasons in the combox. You don’t have to be registered to vote, but you must be to comment.
NB: When you vote you might get a message that the votes can’t be tabulated. You might need to refresh. I sure hope this doesn’t kill my server or db!
What name will the next Pope choose?
Total Voters: 5,051
In the meantime:
Great missionaries once went to mission countries such as China.
These U.S.A. are now mission territories.
I was inspired by something I read at NEWS.VA. Is this an idea for the weathly, formerly Christian lands in which most of you readers live?
Wen Zhou (Agenzia Fides) – Witnesses of faith, a spiritual retreat, visiting confessors are just some of many initiatives undertaken by the Catholic Wen Zhou diocese, in the Zhe Jiang province of mainland China, to help the faithful live a fruitful Lenten season in the present Year of the Faith. According to the
diocesan Web Site, on 13 and 14 February the Cathedral hosted a two-day Lenten retreat, on the theme “Consolidating the faith and proclaiming the Gospel”. During the days of retreat, besides reflecting together on the faith, local Catholic laity, priests and religious, recited the Rosary, made the Stations of the Cross and celebrated Holy Mass, as well as sharing testimonies of faith in this Year of the Faith. In response to indications given by Pope Benedict XVI, the diocese launched an unusual initiative: Visiting Confessors. On February 15, a team of 11 priests visited Le Qing and heard about 2,000 confession. This initiative led many lapsed Catholics return to a life of faith. The diocese is organising another Visiting Confessors mission towards the end of the month of February to be held in a parish, still to be identified.
Perhaps we need this in the affluent, spiritually dying West, in the Northern Hemisphere.
I can imagine a team of “flying” confessors. Remember the “flying bishops” amongst Anglicans before Anglicanorum coetibus?
These “flying confessors”, a team, would come at the invitation of a bishop. They would swoop in and hear confessions of the priests (and the bishops), give workshops on matters such as how to have recourse to the Sacra Penitenzieria Apostolica for internal forum issues, refreshers on moral theology and changes to canon law pertinent for the confessional, and then hear confessions for all comers for a few days during a diocesan wide campaign.
Just thinking out loud.
Maybe without the ominous larynx crushing Force grip part… for the lay penitents, at least. For the priests… well…
Reminder: Help each other out by checking “Your Urgent Prayer Requests”
Also, earlier today I wrote about a nice project for 28 February. HERE.
You can also decorate your ride home (and other things) with bumperstickers and magnets.
In English and in Latin (click to see the variations).
And just for nice. Many have gotten these.
I got one of my car mags the other day and they are really clear!
Click to buy
While I’m at it, until 8:00 Rome time on 28 February, may I suggest that you all pray, even several times a day…
?. Oremus pro pontifice nostro Benedicto.
?. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Benedictum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.
?. Let us pray for Benedict our pope.
?. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Last year I posted about some sheets developed by my friend the great Fr. Finigan, His Hermeneuticalness, to help people with an examination of conscience before going to confession. He made them available at the blog of his parish, Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen.
Parish websites could have something like this available for their parishioners.
Of course the priests would also have to hear confessions, wouldn’t they?
Check it out HERE.
Confession Leaflets
I put a supply of these leaflets outside the confessional so that people can use them and take them home with them. I usually print them on coloured pre-printed leaflet blanks.
I use the children’s leaflet for confessions in the Junior School and for children making their first confession. I use the “teenagers” leaflet for my Faith Youth Group and for the Confirmation Class.Confession leaflet for children
– A5 leaflet suitable for children aged 7-10.Confession leaflet for teenagers
– A4 tri-fold leaflet suitable for young people 11-16.Confession leaflet for adults – A4 tri-fold
leaflet for adults.
Those are on the paper format A4, common to Europe. But you can adapt.
I will add that we must confess all our mortal sins… not “the thing that is bothering me today”… in both kind (what the sin is) and number (how many times or frequency). No, really. I am not making this up. Kind and number. Kind and number. Kind and number.
When Pope Benedict announced his impending departure into the sunset, the first thing that stood out in Obama’s statement was that he made the situation about himself. Someone else had the same reaction
I picked this up from The Right’s Writer.
My emphases and comments:
Obama on Pope’s resignation: “I have appreciated our work together over these last four years” [BAH!]
President Barack Obama has released a statement on the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and, as usual, it’s all about himself. In three spartan sentences, he manages to use the word “I” four times.
The use of the first-person singular is Obama’s own Holy Tradition, a hallmark of both his rhetoric and his governing style. His administration is a Magisterium of one.
Nonetheless, one line is particularly galling: “Michelle and I warmly remember our meeting with the Holy Father in 2009, and I have appreciated our work together over these last four years.” [And Rod Serling steps into the screen… from the left…]
That mutual work has consisted of:
- Stripping the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops of federal grants to fight sex trafficking, because the USCCB would not refer patients for abortion;
- Forcing Catholic non-profits and laity to violate their faith by financing abortifacients at home and abortion around the world;
- Publicly advocating the redefinition of the family, something the pope said just last month threatens “the future of humanity”;
- Trying to have the government decide who is a “minister,” a ploy with far-reaching implications that the Supreme Court unanimously struck down;
- Reducing the “freedom of religion” to a mere “freedom of worship”; and
- Generally trying to shoehorn people of faith into a tiny, hermetically sealed box as far removed from the public square as possible.
In other words, Obama thanked himself for a four-year relationship that has been purely adversarial.
As Bill Clinton might say, that takes a lot of brass.
One is tempted to interpret Obama’s strange show of appreciation as a sign of good sportsmanship, rather like opposing teams shaking hands after a basketball game. One could also detect an oblique sense of gloating, as he congratulates himself on outflanking the Church in the United States, often with the active aid and participation of the Catholic laity and ordained.Compare Obama’s statement with that of House Speaker John Boehner, who is Catholic:
The prayers and gratitude of American Catholics are with Pope Benedict XVI today. The Holy Father’s decision displays extraordinary humility and love for the Church, two things that have been the hallmarks of his service. Americans were inspired by his visit to the United States in 2008, and by his quiet, steady leadership of the Church in uncertain times. People of all nations have been blessed by the sacrifices he has made to sow the seeds of hope, justice, and compassion throughout the world in the name of Our Lord and Savior.
Note the reverence, the attention to the good the
other person has done, the beneficial impact someone
else’s actions have had, and the reference to a Higher Being. [Doesn’t Obama usually expunge “Creator” when quoting a certain document?]
Obama essentially read the pontiff out of his own statement, indulging him only insofar as the pope happened to coincide with his interests and those of the coalition that elected him.
Note to Speaker Boehner: This is how the conservative grassroots expect you to “work together” with President Obama in his second term.
“I have appreciated our work together over these last four years.”
Riiiiight.
My friend the great Roman Fabrizio sent me an article about an initiative of support in Rome for Pope Benedict in his last days as Bishop of Rome.
At CulturaCattolica.it we read:
On 27 February, His Holiness Benedict XVI’s last evening in the Vatican, we want to promote a silent candle/torchlight demonstration (fiaccolata) at St. Peter’s from 7 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For those who cannot come to Rome, we ask that at the same hour you display a candle and observe a minute of silence at precisely 8:00 p.m.
The piece is signed by “The nuns of Eucharistic Adoration”.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
APX on 10 November – St Andrew Avellino (Vetus Ordo). Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Many priests live alone, with no one to notice if they fail to rise, suffer a fall, or become suddenly…”
on 10 November – St Andrew Avellino (Vetus Ordo). Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “Father, in case you haven’t already considered this, an iPhone might help you or another priest in that situation. “…”
on 10 November – St Andrew Avellino (Vetus Ordo). Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “his Theatines maintain a minor seminary in the neighborhood under his patronage. i drove by it on the way to…”
on WDTPRS – 9 November: Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, Rome’s Cathedral: “Great stuff Fr Z….. are the doors to St John Lateran originally the doors from the Roman Curia in the…”
on 10 November – St Andrew Avellino (Vetus Ordo). Wherein Fr. Z rants.: “As the demographic collapse accelerates, priests may find it prudent to live together in a central location with their deanery.…”
on Some notes for your Sunday Mass in the Vetus and the Novus Ordo: “This is the best explanation I have heard in my almost 50 years. I wish it was what was heard…”
on Some notes for your Sunday Mass in the Vetus and the Novus Ordo: “moon1234: We have to understand something about the Lord’s parables. The parable, or Hebrew mashal is an allegorical lesson of…”
on WDTPRS – 9 November: Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, Rome’s Cathedral: “The obelisk outside the building was originally built by Thutmose III, and contains dedications from subsequent pharoahs. If you follow…”
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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