Brick by Brick in Oakland, CA

Posted on 15 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For your Brick by Brick file a reader in the Diocese of Oakland wrote:

His Excellency, Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, will visit St. Margaret Mary’s Church for the second time on May 20, 2010 (Thursday). Bishop Cordileone will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Traditional Rite (Extraordinary Form), followed by a Pontifical Low Mass and then Reception at the Father Kozina Hall. This is the 3rd Pontifical Event in the Extraordinary Form by His Excellency on his first year as Shepherd for the Diocese of Oakland (the 1st was September of last year during St. Margaret Mary’s 20th Anniversary of the Indult Mass where he had his first Solemn Visitation and Pontifical High Mass at the throne, followed by the Ordination to the Priesthood of Fr. Jose Zepeda, FSSP, at St. Jarlath’s Church last December). 

Also, I am told by another source in that area that His Excellency also has a "Say The Black – Do The Red" coffee mug.

There are many reasons to like Bishop Cordileone it seems.

Posted in Brick by Brick, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , ,
15 Comments

How to get bad news: a practicum

Posted on 15 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I don’t often look at these "Hitler finds out about [FILL IN BLANK]" videos, but this one is pretty funny.

If you understand German, you might have to turn the audio down a little bit so you won’t be distracted by what the Führer is really saying.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCJPmvfU4Ow]

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged
11 Comments

And now for this lighter note… about SSPX Bishop Williamson

Posted on 15 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Pain is a matter of perspective and priority.  You cease to think of your headache if you hit your thumb with a hammer.

After the last couple of weeks of slime in the MSM, how pleasant it seems – by contrast – to be able to post something about SSPX bishop Richard Williamson.

From AFP with my emphases and comments.

Catholic group silences Holocaust-denying bishop
Thu, Apr 15, 2010
AFP  

BERLIN – A breakaway ultra-conservative Catholic group ordered British [SSPX] bishop Richard Williamson not to speak in public or testify at his trial for denying the Holocaust, German media reported Thursday.

The secretary general of the Saint Pius X Society, Father Christian Thouvenot, wrote to Williamson, a leading member of the group, telling him to stop giving interviews or communicating publicly, according to the daily Tagesspiegel, which obtained a copy of the letter.

Williamson’s lawyer, Matthias Lossman, on Wednesday confirmed that the bishop, who lives in London, would not attend his trial which opens in the southern German city of Regensburg on Friday.

The society told Williamson to "stop communicating by Internet, be it by blog, forum or via his web page," the Tagesspiegel said.

He has also been ordered not to give interviews on general issues, and only to speak on matters of faith after obtaining permission from the society.

Williamson was fined 12,000 euros (S$22,473) earlier this year after giving a television interview in Germany in 2009 in which he argued that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps" and denied there had ever been any gas chambers.

A further trial was ordered after he refused to pay, [ROFL!] although the Regensburg court does not require the bishop to be present. [Which is a not comforting.]

Denying that the Holocaust took place, or questioning key elements, is illegal in Germany and Austria.

Williamson’s comments prompted a rare comment on religious matters by German Chancelor Angela Merkel, who called on Pope Benedict XVI to "clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial" the Nazis killed six million Jews. [No evidence that anyone is getting any smarter when it comes to this.]

The pope has drawn strong criticism for reversing the excommunication of Williamson and three other bishops in the Saint Pius X Society.

Posted in Pope of Christian Unity | Tagged , ,
36 Comments

Kung claws his way back into the news

Posted on 15 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I suspect Fr. Kung was getting nervous about not reading his name in the paper for a while, and so he staged another little nutty for the press.

German theologian urges bishops to pressure pope

By JUERGEN BAETZ (AP) – 3 hours ago

BERLIN — Dissident theologian Hans Kueng urged bishops on Thursday to push for reforms in the Roman Catholic in defiance of Pope Benedict XVI. [True to form.  I am surprised to see "dissident"… unless in the AP’s dictionary "dissident" is a good thing.]

Kueng, an 82-year-old former colleague and friend of the pontiff, said the church was now in its deepest crisis since the Protestant Reformation after recent revelations of sexual abuse by clergy caused an erosion of trust. [Could the crisis have been exacerbated by people such as… say… Hans Kung?]

In an editorial published Thursday in daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and other publications, Kueng said bishops should call for a new synod to discuss reforms. [He is not talking about a synod.  He is talking about a Council.]

Kueng accused pope of not living up "to the great challenges of our time," saying on the fifth anniversary of Benedict’s election to the papacy that his traditionalist approach had failed. [Kung has ever thought that Vatican II didn’t create nearly as deep a break with the past as was needed (to his mind).]

Bishops should not be "actors without voice or rights," Kueng said, arguing that it was legitimate for them to press Roman authorities for reforms if the pope blocked their efforts. [Blocking efforts to do what, exactly?]

[…]

"It may not be silenced [That’s not an awkward translation…] that the worldwide system of covering-up of sexual offenses by clergy men was steered by Cardinal Ratzinger’s Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith," Kueng said in the editorial, which also appeared in the New York Times, La Repubblica and other dailies in France, Spain and Switzerland. [Kung – unless he is simply senile – is purposely distorting the truth.  He is too intelligent not to know what he is saying isn’t true.]

[…]

Germany’s justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, met Thursday with the head of the German Bishops Conference, Robert Zollitsch — two months after she had irked him [No translation problems there!  Nosirree!] by saying she believed the church was not truly interested in clearing up all sexual abuse cases.

The justice minister has spoken of a "wall of silence" surrounding the church. [Impartial zealous advocate for justice.  right?]

Some German dioceses have reported big increases this year in the number of people leaving the church. Zollitsch’s Freiburg archdiocese said 2,711 left the church in the southwestern region in March — compared with 1,058 a year earlier. [Are they just dodging the church tax?]

The Wuerzburg diocese in Bavaria said 1,233 left the church there in March — three times the 407 recorded a year earlier. The Munich archdiocese, where Benedict once served as archbishop, said it did not yet have figures for March.

Associated Press Writer Verena Schmitt-Roschmann in Berlin contributed to this report.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Clerical Sexual Abuse, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged
22 Comments

Sydney Morning Herald columnist with her head screwed on straight

Posted on 14 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A reader down under said that Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald has a piece about how the Holy Father and Church have been attacked.

Let’s have a glance.

Evildoers, not Pope, to blame
April 15, 2010

Miranda Devine
Sydney Morning Herald columnist

The pursuit of the Pope reached absurd heights this week with news that atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have asked the Australian barrister Geoffrey Robertson to draw up a case to arrest Benedict XVI for alleged cover-up of paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

That these exhibitionist atheists should seize on the tragedy of child sexual abuse by a small minority of Catholic priests to pursue their vendetta against religion is stomach-turning. [OORAH!] Dawkins has become shrill with excitement, describing the Pope as ”a leering old villain in a frock”.

He said the Pope "should remain in charge of the whole rotten edifice – the whole profiteering, woman-fearing, guilt-gouging, truth-hating, child-raping institution – while it tumbles, amid a stench of incense and a rain of tourist-kitsch sacred hearts and preposterously crowned virgins, around his ears”. From what deep cesspool of hatred do those words spring?

But it is even more nauseating to read about the priests who abused children [I agree.]

[…]

Just to contemplate the depths of human depravity can make you wonder about the value of life at all. But it also has to be said that if paedophilia seems to be on the increase, it has been enabled by the eroticisation of our culture over decades, and even priests are not immune.

Why, for instance, should the Dutch be surprised by the launch in 2006 of a paedophile party, the Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party, which wanted to cut the age of consent from 16 to 12. Since dissolved, it was just another step in the continuum of social disorder in which the taboos and social norms protecting children break down.

In a similar vein were moves in 2003 by psychiatrists at an American Psychiatric Association conference to stop classifying pedophilia as a mental disorder, thus normalising it as just another sexual preference.

It is the Catholic Church which has been most vocal about the breakdown of moral order, from paedophilia to abortion. And this has made it a target of those who object to moralising they regard as an infringement of their freedoms.

You can read the rest over there.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Clerical Sexual Abuse | Tagged ,
14 Comments

Fr. Scahill, Pope basher

Posted on 14 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You all know about the contumacious antics of Fr. James Scahill, a priest of St. Michael’s Parish in East Longmeadow, MA in the Diocese of Springfield. 

Father Scahill says, "The church will not have myopic obedience from me like the myopic obedience of the soldiers of Hitler."
 
He accused Pope Benedict of lying and has called for the pope to resign. Fr. Scahill states the pope is lying about his own involvement in covering sex abuse of children. The comments were made as a part of Fr. Scahill’ sermon.
 
A past story about Fr. Scahill.

A statement was released by Springfield Bishop McDonnell. 

    “There is a sad irony in that Father Scahill’s remarks were delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday,” said McDonnell, adding the church has expressed “tremendous sorrow, sadness and shame” about clergy abuse cases.
    “The church leadership knows how difficult it is for those who have suffered abuse at the hands of clergy who should have been signs of God’s love rather than inflictors of pain,” the bishop said.”Here in the Diocese of Springfield, as in trouble throughout the United States and beyond, we are vigilant in the efforts undertaken to ensure such tragedies can never happen again.”

 

So… is Fr. Scahill still in his parish?

Posted in The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged
34 Comments

O2 TANK EXPLOSION… 40 years ago tonight

Posted on 13 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

40 years ago.

The time of the explosion of the O2 tank:

April 14, 1970, 03:07:53 UTC
April 13, 22:07:53 EST

I’ll be watching the movie Apollo XIII tonight at that time.

40 years ago.

I remember being glued to the TV.

More.

 

Posted in Just Too Cool | Tagged
16 Comments

PRAYERCAzT: Vespers (BrevRom) and PENJING REPORT

Posted on 13 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Again.. just some prayer.  I just turned on the mic and read.  Not a single frill.

Sometimes that is what we are left with.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

I reduced the bit-rate on this recording.

If there is enough interest reflected in the stats I’ll do these more often.

PENJING REPORT

Penjing and the Bonsais are back from their spring tour and the penjing sitter, a master gardener I hasten to add.

On their return, Penjing and the Japanese Maple Irohamomiji got a make over.  Re-potting.  The maple is in a new pot sent from my amazon wish list by one of you readers!   The other pot was seriously ugly.  Come to think of it: all three trees were sent by readers!

The process.

Penjing‘s turn.

Penjing is still not at 100%.  There is some good growth, but the color of the leaves isn’t yet right.  Some fertilizer has been added and we now wait.

Irohamomiji has lots and lots of buds, but only a few tiny leaves unfurling.  He has ever been behind schedule.

Penzai the Elm simply flourishes.

My mind is turning more and more to some gardening. 

That will be so refreshing after the slime of the news.

Penjing has no comment about the mainstream media.

Posted in PRAYERCAzT: What Does The (Latin) Prayer Really Sound L | Tagged , , ,
8 Comments

Strangely shifting news story title… does it reveal an agenda?

Posted on 13 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw some odd inconsistencies on the CBS site this morning about stories concerning comments made by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, in Chile.

I noted in this Google search that titles of a story seems to have shifted.

It seems… seems to have started as

Pope’s No. 2: Sex Abuse Not Tied to Celibacy

… but they changed to…

Pope’s No. 2: Sex Abuse Tied to Homosexuality

I would appreciate it is some of you readers could dig into this and see what happened.

We also find this inconsistency in the title here.

I am puzzled.

I know that stories are sometimes amended and that we have to compare filing times… but this seems to be a real shift in what the editors want to think as you go in.

Remember… I think the MSM is trying to force the Church to make changes.  It doesn’t help them to have a title that the child abuse problem isn’t linked to celibacy.  Instead, they would rather get homosexuals angry about a different title.

Am I off base?  Am I missing something?

Posted in The Drill |
11 Comments

TO ARMS! POLL ALERT! TO ARMS! BIGOTED POLLS ABOUT THE POPE!

Posted on 13 April 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE!  THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE OF THESE POLLS!  See below.

Some people say there is no such thing as a stupid question.

I beg to differ.

TO ARMS!  VOTE!

How bad is the liberal media when it comes to the Catholic Church?

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation‘s radio page as this poll…

The question….I am not making this up….

Should the Pope be charged with ‘crimes against humanity’, over the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church?

It’s that "alleged" that makes this particularly smarmy.

At the time of this writing, here are the results:

We could start another poll.

Should the editors of ABC in Australia stop being bigots?

TO ARMS!  VOTE!

Readers… please follow the results.  

BLOGGERS… post and get involved.

UPDATE 1458 GMT:

On The New Humanist there is a similar but more elaborate poll.  Perhaps their readers are more literate than those who frequent the Australian site?

The question on The New Humanist: Do you think the Pope should face legal action over the Catholic child abuse cover-ups?

The way they have the poll box set up is REALLY clunky.  You have to scroll for results.

The only two somewhat acceptable answers are 3 and four, but even they are problematic, as you can discuss in the combox, below.  Note the language they use and what they avoid.

Posted in POLLS |
83 Comments