Let us not forget about our necessary battle for our religious liberty. Let us not forget the HHS mandate.
Catholics must declare themselves in the public square, especially in the context our struggle with the anti-Catholic Obama Administration for our freedom to act like Catholics (cf 1st Amendment).
Thus, I remind you of this car magnet and/or sticker:
It has turned out well.
For this design click HERE.
Lefty-catholics and Fishwrap readers are having a spittle-flecked nutty over Rep. Paul Ryan. Fishwrap today compared Ryan to Dr. Kevorkian.
You will no doubt be hearing from some of them that Ryan is a “Randian” and “Objectivist”, that is, an adherent to some of the ideas of Ayn Rand. That would be a lie, of course, though that won’t bother catholic supporters of The First Gay President as they trample each other to slash at Ryan as a candidate and as a person.
Last April Leroy Huizenga had a good piece which clarified Ryan on Rand.
Read this, file it away, and use it when necessary.
Thursday, April 26, 2012, 9:08 AM
It’s a common misconception on the left and on the right that Congressman Paul Ryan, architect of the GOP’s de facto budget and entry on every pundit’s vice-presidential short list, is a devotee of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of “objectivism.”
Were this true, it would be deeply unsettling, given that Rand’s philosophy (such as it is) is desperately wicked. As Whittaker Chambers wrote in National Review in 1957, “From almost any page of [Rand’s novel] Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: ‘To a gas chamber — go!’” Rand’s ultimate hatred of the human race should have no place in the governance of the nation.
But it’s not true that Ryan follows Rand. National Review Online reports on a conversation with Rep. Paul Ryan, in which he disowns her (having never really owned her) and speaks of his devotion to Thomas Aquinas:
“I, like millions of young people in America, read Rand’s novels when I was young. I enjoyed them,” Ryan says. “They spurred an interest in economics, in the Chicago School and Milton Friedman,” a subject he eventually studied as an undergraduate at Miami University in Ohio. “But it’s a big stretch to suggest that a person is therefore an Objectivist.”
“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.
The whole piece is worth reading. It’s good to know that regardless of whether one approves of Rep. Ryan’s budget or politics, there are yet a few in Washington trying to wrestle with the issues of the day appropriating substantive philosophies.
Also, check out Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s piece about Ryan HERE.
Some time ago, a Catholics for Romney committee formed to support the campaign of Mitt Romney.
WDTPRS would vote for the corpse of Millard Fillmore – a Know-Nothing member – if it meant the removal of the anti-Catholic, anti-constitution incumbent from the White House.
That said, Catholics For Romney group includes as their national chairmen six former Vatican ambassadors including Frank Shakespeare, Tom Melady, Ray Flynn, Jim Nicholson, Francis Rooney, and – and this is very important to me – Mary Ann Glendon, for whom I have great respect. They wrote the following letter supporting the former governor.
The Romney campaign has a section for Catholics For Romney on their page HERE.
Not to be outdone, the Obama campaign has started a “Catholics For Obama” group.
Who, you might ask, would be on such a committee?
Here are the names of the co-chairs, gleaned from a story from the Religion News Service:
Former State Representative Polly Baca, Colorado
Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, Washington, DC
Representative Xavier Becerra, California
Nicholas Cafardi, Pennsylvania
Former Representative Kathy Dahlkemper, Pennsylvania
Representative Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois
Miguel Foster, Michigan
Thomas Groome, Massachusetts
Representative Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Massachusetts
Victoria Kovari, Michigan
Sister Jamie Phelps, Louisiana
Governor Martin O’Malley, Maryland
Former Representative James Oberstar, Minnesota [Pretty good life record.]
Lawrence Parks, Washington, DC
Fred Rotondaro, Washington, DC
Representative Tim Ryan, Ohio
Stephen Schneck, Washington, DC
John Sweeney, Maryland
Mark Tuohey, Washington, DCThe Obama campaign said that state co-chairs will be announced in the coming weeks.
What a crew.
Rosa De Lauro?
Dick Durbin?
Thomas Groome?!?
If you want to know about Thomas Groome read Eamon Keane’s excellent and educational book A Generation Betrayed: Deconstructing Catholic Education in the English-Speaking World.
In the meantime, their bedfellow at the Fishwrap – Tom Gallahger – is hysterically comparing Rep. Paul Ryan to Dr. Kevorkian.
Let us now see if the Catholics For Romney group actually does something.
Just a quick note to remind you that in the Rituale Romanum there is for the feast of the Assumption a special blessing of herbs and flowers.
Click HERE for more.
And the Assumption is, this year at least, a Holy Day of Obligation.
For your Brick by Brick file.
In another entry I answered a question from a lay person who desired to pray for a priest as he learns the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass at the request of his bishop. It occurs to me that this is a good intention, since the Devil hates priests and the older form of Mass and the sacraments and will work with the assiduous malevolence of fallen angels to undermine, to block, to harm priests who are thus tasked or attached.
However, learning the older forms is necessary. Expanded the use of the Extraordinary Form is clearly something that our Holy Father desires for priests to do as part of a larger project, call it a “Marshall Plan“, to rebuild our devastated Church’s identity in continuity with our magnificent heritage through the worship which is God’s due. No other good projects we can undertake as Catholics will get true traction if our worship of God is not sound.
To this end, I hereby share a photo of His Excellency Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madision, who during his recent week-long pow-wow with all the seminarians of the diocese, celebrated Holy Mass for them in the Extraordinary Form.
First of all, before some grumbler out there (whom I may eject from the blog) grips censoriously that the altar cloth does not reach to the ground (there are some trads who constantly make the perfect the enemy of the good) I want to relate what Bp. Morlino told his seminarians.
Bp. Morlino told the men – 32 in number! – that it was his expectation that all of them learn how to say Mass in the Extraordinary Form before they are ordained.
Morlino did not say that they would be required to use it all the time, but that they must know how to use it. If seminaries are not offering the opportunity to learn the older form (which they ought to be, by the way), they could go to workshops or find priests who could help them to learn it. Bottom line: they are to learn the Extraordinary Form.
I think this was a remarkable.
How many bishops, after all, are saying this openly to their seminarians?
It was also, frankly, a paternally charitable thing to tell the seminarians.
First, if there were any doubts about their bishop’s attitude toward his seminarians and traditional forms, these doubts were thereby removed. They need never fear the bishop or worry about what would happen to them when he heard that they were going to TLM’s here or there, learning the rubrics, serving Masses. They need not on this account fear the rector of the seminary they attend, since they are following the expressed desire of the bishop. Moreover, Universae Ecclesiae (the Holy See’s commentary on Summorum Pontificum) gently asserts that seminarians are to know the Extraordinary Form.
Second, knowledge of and use of the older form of Mass teaches men -seminarians and priests alike – something about the priest and the priesthood which the Novus Ordo doesn’t really do on its own. The older form stresses the sacrificial and priestly nature of the priest’s actions and words during Mass as well as the priest’s own deep unworthiness and complete dependence on God’s mercy and grace.
Third, no priest of the Roman Rite ought to rest easy until he knows also the older form. Ignorance of the older form means ignorance of his own rite. Furthermore, when it comes to their ordination, someone must stand up and attest to the ordaining bishop that the men have been properly formed. How can he honestly say they are properly formed if they have been left ignorant by their seminaries of their rite? The seminarians of Madison, by learning the Extraordinary Form, can always be at ease on this point.
At last, the bishop brought them into a larger vision for the “new evangelization”, as it were. I prefer the image of the “Marshall Plan”, by which the USA rebuilt devastated post-war Europe so as to foster good trade and to build a bulwark against encroaching Communism. In our day and in the Church, Benedict XVI is helping to rebuild our Catholic identity in continuity across borders and centuries as well as bolster a bulwark against the dictatorship of relativism. By giving these men their task to learn the older form, Bp. Morlino also brought them as actors into our Holy Father’s project. It seems to me that, as the men ready themselves to go back to their respective seminaries, this is a good start for their participation in the Year of Faith.
WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Morlino and the seminarians of the Diocese of Madison.
UPDATE:
You can support Bishop Morlino’s effort to help the Extraordinary Form grown and help with the formation of seminarians. Send an online donation to support the diocese’s seminarians. The diocese has 35 seminarians right now, if I am not mistaken. They have foundation that budget for only 2 per year, which means that they are way over their budget to pay for the formation of the seminarians.
I have met some of these men. They are great. Also, Bishop Morlino has told them -and I heard this with my own ears – that he expects all of them to know the Extraordinary Form before he ordains them! I wrote about that HERE.
The diocesan website has a donation page with a drop down menu. Choose the St. Raphael Fund.
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From a reader:
Fr. Z-
During his homily this weekend, my pastor stated that our bishop asked him to learn to say the TLM so that he can say mass for a group of Carmelite nuns who recently moved to the area.
I would like to pray for my pastor as he learns to say the TLM . Do you know of a prayer the purpose of which is to ask for assistance for a priest learning to say the TLM?
P.S. – I asked my pastor (paraphrasing) if he has seen any “gravitational pull” effects from learning to say the TLM. My pastor (60+ years old, socially liberal but liturgically conservative) said he had.
Of course he has. Time and time again I hear that learning the older form of Holy Mass changes the priest and the way he says all Masses. That will have a knock-on effect with congregations. Brick by brick.
A prayer for a priest as he learns the Extraordinary Form.
First, try this:
| Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende. | Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. |
| ℣. Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur; ℟. Et renovabis faciem terrae. |
℣. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created ℟. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. |
| Oremus: Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere, et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. |
Let us pray: O God, Who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit, we may be always truly wise, and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Here is a prayer that I say after every Mass I celebrate for the intention of a short list of bishops. It is one of the most direct and effective prayers I know. Ask the Queen of the Clergy to help the priest in his efforts.
| Memorare, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen. | Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen. |
And because the Devil and the powers of Hell and their willing agents and dupes on this earth hate priests, and hate the older form of Mass with demonic malice, I would also add this one, for the priest, once a day at least, or as often as he pops into your mind.
| Sancte, Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen. | Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen. |
Another thing you can do to help Father is to get a whole bunch of people praying for him. Do that to.
Of course, bishops should be asking ALL THE PRIESTS of the diocese to learn the older form of Holy Mass. ALL OF THEM. This is, after all, our Rite.
After Sr. Simone Campbell degrading appearance with the anti-Catholic Jon Stewart show – such gravitas! – she has gone on with Bill O’Reilly of FNC.
He doesn’t let her get away with everything.
I believe Campbell wants to help the poor, but she is wrong about how to help them. Also, when I hear her speak, I never come away with the sense of charity which Benedict XVI described in Deus caritas est.
A good refutation of her washed up notions about the economy on O’Reilly would be Fr. Robert Sirico’s recent book. My review HERE.
Fr. Robert Sirico of Acton Institute has produced a new book entitled Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy.
Hardback HERE, Kindle HERE. (UK HERE). And if you don’t have a Kindle yet, consider getting one. I love mine.
One of Fr. Sirico’s great strengths is his ability to write with clarity and concision which enables me, decidedly not an economist, to follow easily what he is talking about.
Speaking of the free market, refresh your coffee supply now with Mystic Monk Coffee!
Are people having a hard time reading the blog on their iPads?
What is happening?
UPDATE 14 Augs 2130 GMT:
I switched off the iPad theme. I hope that helps. Keep the feedback coming if there are still problems on iPad.
His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke, in this video interview with Raymond Arroyo of EWTN, in commenting on Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum speaks to something that I have been harping on incessantly for years.
I have been saying that we must revitalize our Catholic identity. We cannot do that if we don’t know who we are. We cannot know who we are or be who we are called to be without a proper liturgical worship of God. For there to be any renewal of the Church, a new evangelization – call it what you will – we must first of all revitalize our worship of God. This is why Summorum Pontificum was such a great gift. We cannot revitalize our worship without striving to reestablish continuity with how Catholic have always worshiped and brought petitions to God.
Here is my transcription of a key part of Card. Burke’s interview:
What the Holy Father… and I’m just reflecting now on what he himself has written… is tyring to communicate is the continuity of our Catholic faith down the centuries. Sadly, what happened after the Second Vatican Council was – an idea developed that we were forming a new Church and that everything that had gone on since the time of the first Chrsitians was all retrograde and in some way a defection from what was supposedly this Church of freedom and truth and joy. And what happened in the process is that the tradition was lost, especially in the sacred liturgy. There were many abuses and even the reform of the rite itself was so radical that people didn’t see sometimes how there was a continuity between what’s now called the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and the Extraordinary Form. The Holy Father … and this is important not just for the sacred liturgy but is important for every aspect of our life … we can see it in catechesis, we can see it the moral life, we can see it in family life, religious life, priestly formation – no need to go into all of that. The Holy Father rightly has put his focus on the sarcred liturgy because this is the highest and most perfect expression of our life in Christ. And if we can reestablish in the celebration of the sacred liturgy a strong sense of the worship of God as God wants it, not my creation, but the gift of God, that sacred worship has been handed down to us in the Church through the centuries, we’ll get a lot of other things straightened out at the same time. It has to start with the sacred liturgy.
Hear the rest of His Eminence’s comments in the actual interview. There’s more.
Would you do me the kindness of offering some prayers and perhaps fasting for me and a couple intentions?
Thanks in advance.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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