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{]:¬)

Your Good News

Posted on 30 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Do you have some good news? I am sure the readers would be happy to hear about positive things happening out there in the world.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
21 Comments

Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Posted on 30 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Was there are good point from the sermon you heard while fulfilling your Sunday obligation?

Share it here and help out those who did not hear a good sermon.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
36 Comments

QUAERITUR: Child on the loose during Mass!

Posted on 30 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a readerette:

I am absolutely mortified right now! My fussy two year old wiggled out
of my arms during daily low Mass today (READ: Lots of grey hair) and
ran up into the sanctuary to the Altar during the Canon. I tried to
catch him, but he’s too quick.

I wasn’t sure what to do about getting him out of there, as I didn’t
want to offend the priest by going into the sanctuary, especially
during the Canon. I hesitated; the priest kept going while looking
down at my son. One of the altar boys knelt along the side got up and
escorted my son out of sanctuary back to me while I did the walk of
shame down the aisle with him in tow.

After Mass the priest made an announcement that those of us with
children need to keep them with us so that they are not running where
they shouldn’t be. I tried to apologize after Mass, but I was told “he
had to leave” and “wasn’t there”.

Should this ever happen again, in your priestly expertise, what should
a mother do?

Do mothers have bad dreams about this scenario? I doubt it. They have too many other things to worry about.

My response… oh well, these things happen. We smile an amused smile and get on with life.

If this were happening all the time, I might have some questions. But for a one time event… no problem. Again, if this sort of thing happened all the time, I would probably say something too.

So, … mothers may have some strategies and tips to offer.

Would a leash you eligible for a visit from a social worker?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged children, children at Mass
43 Comments

October Baby for October

Posted on 29 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

October is a month when we have a lot of pro-life activities and focus.

I bring to your attention that the movie October Baby is available on DVD and Blu-Ray now.

US DVD HERE BLURAY HERE

UK DVD HERE BLURAY HERE

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged abortion, movie, October Baby, pro-life
11 Comments

Bp. Paprocki on voting and on parties which officially endorse intrinsic evil

Posted on 29 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a follow up to my post about His Excellency Most Reverend Thomas Patrocki of Springfield in Illinois (the state in which then-State Senator Obama promoted infanticide) and his comments about thinking over your vote this coming November. You might remember that Bp. Paprocki released a text saying:

There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils.

He did a video, too. Here is the salient section.

[wp_youtube]lfdDNWyGh74[/wp_youtube]

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged B, Bp. Paprocki, Catholic Democrats, D. Springfield, Democrats, intrinsic evil, voting
44 Comments

An Evil Irony

Posted on 29 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From the most aggressively pro-abortion president there has ever been… from the man who even backed infanticide in Illinois…

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, The future and our choices | Tagged abortion, November 2012, Pres. Obama
23 Comments

A new kind of discussion has begun about Vatican II and it cannot be stopped.

Posted on 29 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day I picked up at Ancora bookstore near St. Peter’s Basilica a copy of Serafino M. Lanzetta’s book Iuxta Modum: il Vaticano II riletto alla luce della tradizione della Chiesa. The author proposes a re-reading of the Council in the light of the Church’s tradition… rather Tradition.

These days you can find any number of books and people discussing what Vatican II really said and how Vatican II was really implemented, or not implemented. Lots of questions are being raised, and rightly so. There is a growing sense that a) not everything is going well today, b) some of the problems stem from Vatican II itself, and c) others problems come from its documents poor implementation.

Moreover, I stress that Vatican II was just one Council among many and – attention! – among those Councils, Vatican II wasn’t anywhere near being as important as some think it was.

This was unthinkable speech a few years ago (except in some circles). This double-plus-ungood-thought was the stuff of expulsion from seminaries, of crucifixion in chanceries. It still is, to the extent that men and women of a certain age are in charge. But the biological solution is helping with that.

In any event, there is a great discussion rising about the Council. This is healthy.

My morning musings flow in part from a comment I read over at Rorate, namely:

Whatever might be said about the current situation of the talks between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and whatever one’s doctrinal position might be, one thing is clear: the frank discussion of the ambiguities of Vatican II and of post-Conciliar Vatican documents vis-a-vis the pre-Conciliar Magisterium has begun, and can no longer be stopped. While it would be easy to exaggerate the quality, extent and openness of the discussion so far, it cannot be denied that signs of it have been appearing in unlikely places, ….

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Benedict XVI, hermeneutic of continuity, hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture, Vatican II, Year of Faith
26 Comments

Translators “often” accidently leave things out. This time the lacuna concerns the SSPX and the Novus Ordo.

Posted on 28 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Translation can be hard. Even when it isn’t, translators are sometimes rushed or tired. However, it is good to pay attention to get all the words, especially those pesky little words that can change completely the sense of a sentence.

There is some sloppy translation in the recent Vatican Insider story and it concerns a key point.

The English version has this:

“I will never accept that the new Mass is legitimate or licit; I believe it lacks validity, as Mgr. Lefebvre used to say”

The Italian version has this:

“Mai accetterò di dire che la nuova Messa è legittima o lecita, io dirò che essa è spesso invalida, come diceva monsignor Lefebvre.”

Italian “spesso” means “often”. That little “often” changes the sense of the sentence.

The original French (if someone’s notes can be called “original”) also has the word “often”.

“Often invalid” points to the possibility that there are defects in the way the Novus Ordo is celebrated which might make a concrete celebration of Mass invalid.

Moreover, Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

HE gets to determine what unity with Peter means.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Benedict XVI, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SSPX, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The future and our choices | Tagged Archbp. Lefebvre, Novus Ordo, SSPX
20 Comments

NEW COMET! KABLAM! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE! (Welllll? We are!)

Posted on 28 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is a new and very bright comet out there. Which of course means that it is the end of the world as we know it… maybe. Maybe not. In any event, it should be bright! And we might need either Bruce Willis, or Robert Duval, or both!

From NatGeo:

New Comet Discovered—May Become “One of Brightest in History”
Next year comet 2012 S1 might outshine the moon.

Andrew Fazekas

for National Geographic News

Published September 27, 2012

If astronomers’ early predictions hold true, the holidays next year may hold a glowing gift for stargazers—a superbright comet, just discovered streaking near Saturn.

Even with powerful telescopes, comet 2012 S1 (ISON) is now just a faint glow in the constellation Cancer. But the ball of ice and rocks might become visible to the naked eye for a few months in late 2013 and early 2014—perhaps outshining the moon, astronomers say. [Huge bright comet. What could go wrong?]

The comet is already remarkably bright, given how far it is from the sun, astronomer Raminder Singh Samra said. What’s more, 2012 S1 seems to be following the path of the Great Comet of 1680, considered one of the most spectacular ever seen from Earth.

“If it lives up to expectations, this comet may be one of the brightest in history,” said Samra, of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada. [And then the running and screaming begins, and the doom and rapidly deployed space shuttles… no wait… we don’t have any. We don’t have any civilian shuttles.]

So what makes a comet a showstopper? A lot depends on how much gas and dust is blasted off [rather like the DNC…] the central core of ice and rocks. The bigger the resulting cloud and tail, the more reflective the body may be.

Because 2012 S1 appears to be fairly large—possibly approaching two miles (three kilometers) wide — [We are clearly doomed. Doomed.] and will fly very close to the sun, astronomers have calculated that the comet may shine brighter, though not bigger, than the full moon in the evening sky.

[…]

As the sun’s gravity pulls the comet closer, it should pass about 6.2 million miles (10 million kilometers) from Mars—possibly a unique photo opportunity for NASA’s new Curiosity rover. [That’s pretty cool.]

Current orbital predictions indicate the comet will look brightest to us in the weeks just after its closest approach to the sun, on November 28, 2013—if 2012 S1 survives the experience.

[…]

Since this is Friday, and since we know we are all going to die, this is a great opportunity to remind you to buy some Mystic Monk Coffee (HERE), send me a donation – because the comet is coming and you won’t need it – and then to …

GO TO CONFESSION.

Some of you may have a lot of sins weighing you down.

JUST GO.

Most parishes have some opportunities for confession on Saturdays.

Please?

Seriously, we don’t know the day or the hour. Use the Sacrament of Penance well. This is how the Lord Himself wanted us to return to a proper relationship with Himself and Holy Church and our neighbor, both near and far.

Posted in Global Killer Asteroid Questions, GO TO CONFESSION, Just Too Cool, Lighter fare, Look! Up in the sky!, The future and our choices | Tagged 2012 S1, comet, confession, Curiosity, Mars, reconciliation, rover, sacrament of penance, TEOTWAWKI
21 Comments

Papyrus fragment gone wild!

Posted on 28 September 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Remember the ridiculous “Mrs. Jesus” papyrus fragment flap?

L’Osservatore Romano, taking a break from commentary on The Simpsons, has offered a view. This time, however, the editor, they seem to be on target.

A papyrus adrift

“Harvard scholar’s discovery suggests Jesus had a wife”. With this title Fox News continued the reporting on the conference held on Tuesday evening, 18 September, by Karen L. King during the 10th international conference on Coptic studies at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, only a few metres away from Vatican City. Of similar tenor, but with variations of tone and critical understanding, as well as, the barely pertinent references to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, was the news buzzing around the European and Italian media in the following days. The news was quickly reported. In the course of the conference the scholar presented a fragment of a papyrus which bears phrases, translated from Coptic, of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples about a woman, Mary, whom he describes as “his wife” (ta-hime / ta-shime, which in Coptic corresponds to what we call “woman” or “wife”). There is nothing unusual about this for a scientific congress. However, in this case, the excessively direct link between research and journalism – that makes short shrift of the long periods required by more serious scientific discussion – had already occurred before the conference, given that the very premature news in the American press on Tuesday depended on an an interview that the Harvard academic had already given before leaving for Italy.

In spite of the drift in the media marked by tones which are quick to shock, unlike so many other items presented at the conference, the papyrus was not discovered in the process of excavation but came from an antiquarian market. Such an object demands that numerous precautions be taken to establish its reliability and exclude the possibility of forgery.

Alberto Camplani