lunch

Posted on 17 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A few shots:

And while I was having my lunch, … what a difference a few minutes make.

Posted in My View |
18 Comments

QUAERITUR: Dirunale and Nocturnale

Posted on 17 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A reader asks:

I purchased a Monastic Diurnal and am quite pleased with it.  I am interested in obtaining a Nocturnale that contains the entire Vigils of the Monastic Breviary, including the Psalter, Sanctoral, and Temporal, all in the 1962 rite.  I am considering making my own, but if it is available for sale, I would rather just purchase it.  Are you aware of where I could buy this?

 

A Nocturnale Romanum is available from the Abbey of Farnborough in England.

When I visited the Abbey this last year, the Abbot very kindly gave me some of their books, including the Diurnale.

It is a splendid book, beautifully bound.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, REVIEWS |
20 Comments

Note to readers: tips for writing to Fr. Z

Posted on 17 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I get zillions of e-mails every day.  

Many people want me to post this or write on that.

Some tips for writing.

If you want me to look at something, then please:

  • Provide the text
  • Provide the link 

If I have to go hunting for it, I will move on to something else.

Providing the text in a usable format is the best way to send it.

If you send photos, please:

  • Do not embed them in the e-mail
  • Send them as attachments

Also, keep it short.

If by the second paragraph I don’t know what your point is, I will move on.

Before you send recent news, check to see if I have already posted about it.

Finally,

  • I won’t help you with your school homework: I already did that.
  • I see your e-mails as invitations to read: I try, but I don’t feel obliged.
  • I find it in my inbox and it’s mine: I can do what I want with it.
  • I won’t help you name your baby or pick a confirmation saint: pick a saint’s name, spell it normally, and go for it.
  • I don’t want your junk mail too: I get enough.
  • I don’t know why you had the dream you did last night: over the last two nights I have spent time playing Mahjong with Chris Wallace and fighting the Aliens.  Why?  No idea. 

 

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes |
10 Comments

QUAERITUR: Ordination of permanent deacon with the Extraordinary Form

Posted on 17 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Could a married man be ordained to the permanent diaconate using the extraordinary form?

Of course!

A bishop can use either Use to ordain.  And a deacon is a deacon is a deacon.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box |
39 Comments

We need work on the calendar

Posted on 14 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The liturgical calendar needs help.  I hope this is something the Holy See has considered.

Recently we found out that the PCED determined that the old calendar can be used intact despite what is determined by conferences of bishops, viz the tranfer of days of obligation and feasts.

I found something interesting about yesterday, and I am wondering if anyone else noticed.

Yesterday, 13 November, in the FSSP Ordo, we saw that for the USA it was the commemoration of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini.

However, in my 1962 Missale Romanum she is in the aliquibus locis section for 3 January.

But in another hand missal she was on 13 December (I think).

In the Novus Ordo she is observed on 22 December.

There was so much tinkeritis… so very much tinkering.

Cui bono?

I’m just askin’

Posted in I'm just askin'... |
84 Comments

An uplifting sight

Posted on 14 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have days when I am depressed about the state of the Church.

On other days I am more buoyant. 

This morning I received a photo of a two sheets on a bulletin board at the North American College in Rome, where the American and other seminarians live and have their formation while studying at the Roman schools.

These are two sign up sheets for the seminarians.  Left: to learn to say the TLM, especially for deacons and third year guys. Right: to request the new FSSP instructional DVD for learning the TLM.

I purposely blurred some areas to blot names.

Brick by brick?   This is more like hod by hod!

Posted in Mail from priests |
28 Comments

What did you have for breakfast today?

Posted on 14 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Ah… breakfast.

People around the world have different breakfast habits.

Italians often have just a roll and coffee with milk.  And let’s not forget Nutella!

Germans will eat also some meat and cheese, like the "continental" breakfast.

The Chinese have sweet fried bread and rice porridge.

In Vietnam it is common to have a bowl of noodles in broth, pho.

In Mexico, you might have tortillas and huevos rancheros.

English and American breakfasts recall our agrarian past as we ready ourselves for the plow: eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc.  And in America, of course, pancakes and the like.

What did you have?

This morning I had knee-straightening filter coffee, black, and toasted crumpets with strawberry jam.

UPDATE:

As one wag added below:

Drink the Black
Eat the Red.

Get the coffee mug… here…

Posted in My View |
70 Comments

Advent is Coming and Christmas will soon be upon us

Posted on 13 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Advent is not merely about our preparation to receive once again the Christ Child at Bethlehem.  It is also about the Second Coming of the Lord as well as other ways in which the Lord comes to us.

But the Advent season itself is coming and Christmas isn’t far behind.  Just yesterday I penned my last article for The Wanderer for the liturgical year.  Tempus fugit.

Perhaps you readers could use this entry to share some ideas about how to make Advent and Christmas a fruitful time for yourselves and families.

Do you have customs?

Each year I like to make an Advent wreath, and I light the candles in the evening.

Do you have an Advent calendar for your children (or yourselves, for that matter)?

Are there any other things you do, or don’t do, for Advent?

Are you the type who listens to Christmas music before Christmas?

When do you put up your tree and decorated it?

Do you eat fish on Christmas Eve?  Pork hocks and lentils after Christmas?  Goose? Cookies?

Do you have stockings at the mantle or a creche?  Does the youngest child put the start or angel on the tree?

What happens in your parishes?  Are there food and clothing and toy drives?

Does Father still insist on using those cliche blue vestments which are contra legem?

Maybe some discussion here can help other people think, in advance, about Advent, which is fast approaching.

I’m just askin’.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, I'm just askin'... |
50 Comments

QUAERITUR: “penitus” in the Good Friday rubric about celebration of sacraments

Posted on 13 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a priest reader:

Dear Fr Z,

For some time I have been wondering about the word "penitus" in the rubric on Good Friday:  "Hac et sequenti die, Ecclesia, ex antiquissima traditione, sacramenta, praeter Paenitentiae et Infirmorum Unctionis, penitus non celebrat."  (2002 Missale Romanum)

I know the adjective "penitus, a, um" meaning "interior", but this seems to be an adverb meaning something like "not at all".  I can’t find it in Lewis & Short.  Do you know anything about this word?

Many thanks in anticipation,

Do I know about penitus?  Indeed I do. 

Penitus as an adverb can have various meanings.  I suspect that in our rubrical context it does not mean "furnished with or having a tail".  As an adjective, penitus also is, as Father said above, "inward, inner, interior".  But under that same L&S entry, way down there, we find also, "through and through, to the bottom of a thing, i. e., thoroughly, completely, wholly,  entirely, utterly".  Blaise, in his dictionary of Christian Latin, compares penitus to omnino.

Thus, that rubric is to be read this way:

On this and the following day, the Church, from a most ancient tradition, does not at all celebrate the sacraments, except for (the sacraments of) Penance and Anointing of the Sick.  

You could also say:

On this and the following day, the Church, from a most ancient tradition, rigorously does not at all celebrate the sacraments, except for (the sacraments of) Penance and Anointing of the Sick.  

And I have written on this very rubric.

Some priests, liturgical experts and even diocesan liturgy offices claim the rubrics of the Missal or “Sacramentary” forbid the sacrament of Penance.  However, this claim is absolutely incorrect. 

The previous editions of the Missale Romanum (1970 and 1975 of the Novus Ordo) said of Good Friday and Holy Saturday: “Hac et sequenti die, Ecclesia, ex antiquissima traditione, sacramenta penitus non celebrat… On this and the following day, the Church, from a most ancient tradition, does not at all celebrate the sacraments”.  

However, since this is in the Missal (the book for MASS), sacramenta refers only to Holy Mass and not the other sacraments.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments clarified this in its official publication Notitiae (#137 (Dec 1977) p. 602). 

In the 2002 edition of the Missale Romanum at paragraph 1 for Good Friday all doubt is removed. 

The above cited text has been changed to say (the change with my emphasis): “Hac et sequenti die, Ecclesia, ex antiquissima traditione, sacramenta, praeter Paenitentiae et Infirmorum Unctionis, penitus non celebrat… On this and the following day, the Church, from a most ancient tradition, does not at all celebrate the sacraments, except for (the sacraments of) Penance and Anointing of the Sick”.  

Priests can and should hear confessions during on Good Friday and on Holy Saturday.   Who can forget the image of the late Pope hearing confession in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday?

Here is a bonus tip, speaking of confessions.  Some liturgists simply freak out at this idea.  It is both permitted and recommended in some circumstances for confessions to be heard during Holy Mass on other days of the year!  Want proof?  Try the CDWDS document Redemptionis Sacramentum 76 and also the Congregation’s Response to a Dubium in Notitiae 37 (2001) pp. 259-260. 

Here at WDTPRS we have had debates about the confession issue before.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Mail from priests, WDTPRS |
6 Comments

QUAERITUR: What to do about visiting priest preaching error?

Posted on 13 November 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I’ve been troubled by a sermon I heard last Sunday.  It seemed inappropriate, and I’m seeking your advice on what to do.

A visiting priest oftentimes gives homilies heavy on so-called "social justice" themes.  Because of his political appeals, he often squanders  opportunities to preach the gospel.   This week, though, I think he  was actually going against the Church.

Before beginning Mass, he spoke about the election and his excitement for Barack Obama.  Once Mass began, he continued talking about the election and his approval for Obama (this took over 10 minutes  altogether).   

At the homily, he talked about the origin of the First  Nicene Council.  In his words, the church was divided into "conservative" and "liberal" factions regarding the acceptance of traitors during the persecution back into the Church, but eventually the bishops sided with the "liberals." 

He said it’s the same today with conservatives wanting to be exclusivist and the liberals thinking  that the church is for everybody.   He mentioned reading about the  bishops who said that Catholics cannot support pro-abortion politicians like Obama. 

But he said that abortion isn’t necessarily right or wrong; the bishops’ warnings are just one way of looking at it.  Finally, he cited the presidential election (again) as evidence that our society is forward-looking and that the Church will abandon its sexism and ordain women as priests —  perhaps not for several decades, but progress is inevitable.

I knew I should say something to the priest, but I couldn’t think of any way to be civil about it, so I kept quiet.  It’s been bothering me, though, and I wonder what (if anything) I should do.  This priest might be well-intentioned but I fear he may be inflicting untold damage on souls.

Here are the elements I think are important.

First, you kept silent when you knew you would be too harsh.  Excellent.   You don’t get anywhere when you froth.

Second, this is a visiting priest.  But if he is regularly there, then you need to address your concerns to the pastor.

Third, being a bad historian is or having stupid politics are one thing, but distorting the Church’s teaching in the pulpit is another.  If he truly said what you say he said about abortion, he must be corrected.  At the very least the pastor needs to tell him not to say anything like that again from his pulpit.  The same goes for female ordination.  Both of these are clarified by the Church in a definitive way.  If he is confusing people about what the Church teaches, he must be corrected.

Fourth, it is very difficult to apply for correction of a priest when you don’t have proof of what happened.  You have your account of the sermon.  It would help if other people gave their accounts.

This is always a bad situation for everyone involved.  My recommendation is that you talk to the pastor of the parish and tell him your concerns.  Follow it up with a letter about what was said on both sides and save a copy. 

This must be placed in the pastor’s hands to deal with.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box |
19 Comments