Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Reason #28867 for Summorum Pontificum

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The folks who organize the education conference in L.A. are going to be sooooo jealous.

You might need to turn the sound down after a little bit. I will not be blamed if your ears start to bleed.

[wp_youtube]MxfO7a7_bWs[/wp_youtube]

Posted in Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM |
95 Comments

Some feedback

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I do not have any question to ask you, but I just wanted to say thank you for your promotion and education on your blog of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I have only been to Latin Mass twice so far, but right away I knew I had discovered a hidden gem of the Catholic Church. The Latin Mass is not difficult to understand and foreign as some make it out to be. It is so filled with reverence and rich in history- I can say with certainty that it made me proud to be a Catholic! Thank you for introducing it to me!

You are welcome.

The New Evangelization continues.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Our Catholic Identity, Reader Feedback, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged TLM
7 Comments

Benedict XVI to change mind on women’s ordination? Have stranger things ever happened?

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I picked this up from Eye Of The Tiber. I didn’t hear about this epoch-changing story in the MSM or the Catholic blogosphere, did you?

Hmmmm…. perhaps there is a conspiracy.

Former LCWR President’s Dynamic Speech May Change Pope’s Mind On Female Ordination

ROME––Former President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Pat Ferrell, delivered an electrifying speech yesterday to Pope Benedict XVI and top Church officials regarding the necessity of female priests. Many Vatican analysts now believe the speech will be the catalyst to female ordination. “It was one of the most insightful…one of the most profound talks since John Paul II gave the address that helped bring down communism,” an aide close to the Pontiff said, choking up. In an amateur video shot by one insider, Ferrell can be seen with tears in her eyes as she walks away from the podium after giving her address. The Pontiff, visibly moved by the passionate speech, stands with tears in his eyes and begins to clap, slowly. Gradually, his aides, one after another one, rise to their feet and begin to clap, louder and louder until the entire antechamber is filled with thunderous and uproarious shouts and whistles, as all begin to cheer, “Fe-rrell…Fe-rrell…Fe-rrell…”

I guess we all better make some adjustments.

I, for one, welcome our new female overlords.

Posted in Lighter fare, Women Religious | Tagged LCWR, parody, Sr. Pat Farrell, women's ordination
59 Comments

Nuns On The Bus Warmed-Over: a stop at Ohio Dominican University

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Apparently the Nuns On The Bus are still going ’round and ’round with their blatantly partisan political agenda.

From a reader:

The “Nuns on the Bus” tour has C-Bus for its next stop. This is the group that has been touring the country promoting the Democratic agenda. Spokesperson and media darling Sister Simone Campbell, you will recall, gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Sister Campbell has been an outspoken supporter of the new health care law, [think “tax-payer funding of abortion”, “HHS mandate”….] failing to get behind the bishop’s clear opposition and repeatedly calling the law “pro-life.” She has refused to speak out against the HHS mandate and, when confronted with her views on abortion, responded, “It is above my pay grade.” Really? I thought one of the primary missions in religious life is the evangelization of culture and the promotion of Catholic truth. It seems that abortion is well-within the pay grade of consecrated religious. And we wonder why the Vatican sees fit to reform the LCWR. [I don’t.]

Well, the plot thickens for the Nuns on the C-Bus. It seems that their main media stop is at none other than Ohio Dominican University: a Catholic college. [In the Diocese of Columbus.] This is not the first time that ODU has invited questionable speakers. In 2007 they invited dissident Sister Joan Chittister to give the commencement address.

In this political environment, and given the current investigation of the LCWR, it seems at the very least an act of grave imprudence to permit this event. It will cause inestimable confusion among the Catholic students of ODU, which I believe is the definition of scandal. This is reason #43264 for Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

P.S. I love the irony that the liberal wing of the Church so desperate want to minimize her “intrusion” into politics when it comes to issues of life and religious freedom, but they see absolutely nothing wrong with a representative of the Catholic Church coming to a Catholic university for the sole purpose of advocating a political position just weeks from a major national election, still less with the same representative giving a ringing endorsement of the Democratic platform by speaking at their national convention.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Blatteroons, HONORED GUESTS, Liberals, Magisterium of Nuns, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, Women Religious | Tagged abortion, D. Columbus, HHS mandate, November 2012, Nuns On The Bus, Ohio Dominican University, Pres. Obama, Sr. Simone Campbell
9 Comments

Pres. Obama’s wedding ring

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is something very interesting from WND:

NEW YORK – As a student at Harvard Law School, then-bachelor Barack Obama’s practice of wearing a gold band on his wedding-ring finger puzzled his colleagues.

Now, newly published photographs of Obama from the 1980s show that the ring Obama wore on his wedding-ring finger as an unmarried student is the same ring Michelle Robinson put on his finger at the couple’s wedding ceremony in 1992.

Moreover, according to Arabic-language and Islamic experts, the ring Obama has been wearing for more than 30 years is adorned with the first part of the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada: “There is no God except Allah.”

The Shahada is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, expressing the two fundamental beliefs that make a person a Muslim: There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s prophet.

Sincere recitation of the Shahada is the sole requirement for becoming a Muslim, as it expresses a person’s rejection of all other gods

Egyptian-born Islamic scholar Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., examined photographs of Obama’s ring at WND’s request and concluded that the first half of the Shahada is inscribed on it.

“There can be no doubt that someone wearing the inscription ‘There is no god except Allah’ has a very close connection to Islamic beliefs, the Islamic religion and Islamic society to which this statement is so strongly attached,” Gabriel told WND.

[…]

Read the rest there. There are many interesting photos.

Intriguing!

Posted in The Drill | Tagged Five Pillars of Islam, Islam, November 2012, Pres. Obama, ring, Shahada, The First Gay President
56 Comments

QUAERITUR: Can a traditionalist priest require women to cover their heads during Mass?

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have read web sites from FSSP Traditional parishes that indicate women are to cover their heads during Mass. My understanding is that the requirement was removed from Canon Law, thus it is no longer a sin to not cover. However, if a traditionalist priest made it a requirement for his parish, or for his congregation in the case of a quasi-parish, would the woman sin by disobedience if she refused to cover her head, and could a priest make it a requirement in order to, for example, receive communion?

I am glad that this is only a hypothetical question and that no priest has been foolish enough to deny women Communion if they had no head covering.

News of that sort, if true, would provoke The Wrath Of The Whatever From High Atop The Thing.

Univerase Ecclesiae 28, which clarified some points of Summorum Pontificum, stated that those rubrical things and practices in force in 1962 which were in the Missale Romanum were to be maintained now. Thus, no Communion in the hand, no altar girls, etc. Summorum Pontificum did not revive the canon of the old, 1917 Code of Canon Law concerning head coverings.

I think a case can be made that during celebrations of Holy Mass with the 1962 Missale Romanum it is good that women cover their heads. As a matter of fact, why limit that to the 1962MR? Let’s apply that the Ordinary Form as well! That said, there is no law on the books right now that obliges women to cover their heads during Mass. But think: New Evangelization…. Year of Faith… New Evangelization… Year of Faith….

So, while there is no strict obligation according to the law, the ethos of the older use of the Roman Rite creates a soft obligation, an environment in which people will of their own free will conform to what the older use is about. That suggests a willingness on the part of women to use a head-covering in church. It does not impose any hard obligation. I don’t think anyone should look cross-eyed at a woman with an uncovered head in church for the Extraordinary Form. That would be boorish.

Were I to hear that a priest would not give Communion to a woman for the sole reason that she was not wearing a head covering… well… let’s just hope that never happens.

Anyway… ladies… promote the New Evangelization during the Year of Faith and start wearing those chapel veils in church!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, Universae Ecclesiae | Tagged chapel veil, head coverings, mantillas, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Wrath Of The Whatever From High Atop The Thing, UE 28, Universae Ecclesiae
45 Comments

Is something being done about the “homosexual Masses” in London?

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I picked this up from Marco Tossati at Vatican Insider – in Italian – about the homosexual Masses being celebrated in London in the Soho district at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Gregory (not at St. Patrick’s on Soho Square itself):

Messa gay a Londra, si muove la Dottrina della Fede (“Gay” Mass in London, the [Congregation for] the Doctrine of the Faith makes a move)

The offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have decided to deal with the problem of services celebrated in the district of Soho in the British capital

The new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, (Archbishop) Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, intends, very firmly, to deal with the problem of the Mass which twice a month is celebrated in London, Warwick Street in Soho for homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered, with the approval of the Archbishop of Westminster, (Archbishop) Vincent Nichols. It seems that already in the recent past other dicasteries of the Roman Curia, at the request and solicitation of London Catholics, have asked for clarifications and have underscored the concerns connected with an initiative of this kind. Among other things, an expert on liturgy and theology noted that there is a danger that the initiative will lead to a ghetto-ization of the persons involved.

What bothers the sensibilities of London Catholics in the quarter and nearby area, is the form in which the Mass is celebrated. In the petition sent to (Archbishop) Nichols some time ago, and in copies sent also to some Roman congregations, there is a complaint that homilies are given that seem to justify behaviors considered wrong in the doctrine of the Church.

[…]

There is more there, but that’s what I have time for right now.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged London, Marco Tosatti, Soho
17 Comments

“I want to share why I choose to wear a veil… and why I love it.”

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the blog Fide Et Literis: By Faith & Learning there is a post entitled I love my chapel veil.

She wrote:

I recently read an article about the comeback of chapel veils entitled, “Head covering is thinly veiled patriarchy.” The author wrote to call out what us veil-wearers don’t seem to see – that “Catholics are not the Amish,” that this trend is anti-feminist, and that wearing a veil is “downright repressive.”

What I’d like to share is that I’m not a barefoot kitchen slave because I wear a veil, nor do I feel repressed as a woman. I want to share why I choose to wear a veil… and why I love it.

My first encounter with veiling happened when my husband and I were visiting my out-of-town sister-in-law about a year ago. We joined her family for Tridentine Mass one Sunday and it was only my first or second time ever attending the traditional Mass. My 12-year-old niece offered me a veil to borrow on our way there, noticeably excited to be able to share something precious of hers with her super cool soon-to-be aunt. I declined her offer. I’d never worn a veil before and really my only thought was, “This is weird.”

[…]

You can read the rest there.

Ah, the New Evangelization!

I will now back out of the room.

Posted in Just Too Cool, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged chapel veil, head coverings, mantillas, women
42 Comments

The Holy Father’s Wednesday Audiences will now include Arabic

Posted on 10 October 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ARABIC TO BECOME A PART OF THE POPE’S GENERAL AUDIENCE

Vatican City, (VIS) – Beginning on Wednesday 10 October, during the Holy Father’s weekly general audience, an Arabic speaker will join the other speakers who provide a summary of the papal catechises in various different languages.

In this way, in the wake of his recent trip to Lebanon and the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Medio Oriente”, the Holy Father intends to express his perpetual concern and support for Christians in the Middle East, and to remind everyone of their duty to pray and work for peace in the region.

A couple problems I can see with this are a) the audience will be longer and b) if they end using Arabic, some Arab-speakers will take it as an insult.

Sts. Nunil0 and Alodia, pray for us!

BTW… 22 October is the Feast of Sts. Nunilo and Alodia! Start planning.