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{]:¬)

Ultra-liberal NPR manages decent interviews about the LCWR dust-up. Donna Bethell shines.

Posted on 26 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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I read the transcript (there is also audio available) of an National Public Radio segment on the recent develops between the American Bishops, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (a subsidiary of the Magisterium on Nuns).

The players are the NPR interviewer, who despite working for this ultra-liberal outlet does a fair job, the nearly-ubiquitous John Allen of the Fishwrap, Donna Bethell, Chairman of the board of directors for Christendom College, Sr. Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK (one of the organizations associated with LCWR and under review by the Holy See).

Some great things happen in this interview.

Allen gave a workman-like summary of what is going on, but the really interesting stuff happens in the second part of the segment.

First, Donna Bethell really shines, hitting one after another out of the park. Don’t miss her demolition of Sr. Campbell’s utilitarian eisegesis of Scripture moment of Our Lord and the Samaritan woman at the well. Also, when a caller named “Mary” presented her point of view:

CONAN: So you don’t think that your disagreements on doctrine make you any less of a Catholic?

MARY: No, I think I’m a good Catholic. In fact, when I go to confession, I sit there, and I say: You know, I really don’t have a whole lot to say because I think I do a pretty good job. [The confessor heaves a sigh…] Maybe pride is my biggest sin. But no, I think I’m a good Catholic. I think our social doctrine, social justice doctrine is ignored, and we’re focusing on this contraception. [How paradigmatic this is!]

And when I’m out feeding people and helping women with three or four kids, they could probably do without all these kids with no family support. And to be pushing against contraception and pushing against, you know – and I get so – what was your question?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

MARY: No, I don’t think it makes me worse of a Catholic. I think I’m a good Catholic if I pay attention to the doctrines that are important: Eucharist and social justice. I think our social – and taking care of the poor. That’s – that is what we’re supposed to be doing, and so few do.

CONAN: Mary, thanks very much for the call, appreciate it.

MARY: Thank you.

CONAN: And I wonder, Donna Bethell, that’s somebody who people would – some would uphold as a model, and others would say, well, that’s an a la carte Catholic.

BETHELL: Well, in effect she said she was an a la carte Catholic. She said that she was going to accept the things that were important to her. And I think she sounds like a wonderful lady, a very generous lady, a very warm and caring lady, and that’s just the sort of person that you would like to have as a Catholic.

I think she has not been presented, probably, with the fullness of Catholic doctrine. She probably has not been – had a full explanation to her of why contraception is a problem.

[…]

Anyway, if I ever run into Donna Bethell, I’d be happy to buy her lunch and thank her for her recent media appearances!

Take the time to read the transcript or listen to the audio. There is a lot going on. And you who have been reading here for a while will hear all the themes and cliches.

We could even try to create a list of themes to listen or watch for!

So, share your favorite bits here.

And listen for how Sr. Campbell tries (and fails) to back herself and NETWORK away from the Magisterium of Nuns. Too good.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Magisterium of Nuns, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged CDF, Donna Bethell, John Allen, LCWR, magisterium of nuns, NETWORK, NPR, Sr. Simone Campbell, USCCB
26 Comments

Of whales and cannons and movies and burgers and consonants

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I was flipping around on movie channels while flipping a burger for supper (lots of double consonants) and I caught this:

“He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I’ll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up! Prepare to alter course!”

You must know which movie this is! The quote, however, is obviously an allusion to Moby Dick by Melville. Ahab, obsessed with revenge against the white whale cries out:

“Aye, aye! It was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!” Then tossing both arms, with measureless imprecations he shouted out: “Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.”

More double consonants! Too bad the whale’s blubber isn’t referred to there.

Moby Dick is a favorite of reference point for Star Trek movies, I think. In another one, First Contact, Picard says:

“And he piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it.”

Cannon!

In Moby Dick the real quote:

“He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.”

Come to think of it, a character in another vast SiFi series is named from a character in Moby Dick. So, through I am in the middle of prepping supper, and the burger zizzles and I must away to put creatures in my body (trekkies will get the reference), I thought I would scribble this note. As soon as possible I will butter and grill the bun on the griddle and, all hassles aside, take the opportunity to apply pepper and drizzle mustard.

Burgers are a dish best not served up cold, after all.

I was out of gagh.

[wp_youtube]wRnSnfiUI54[/wp_youtube]

UPDATE:

I had forgotten that the movie ends with a quote not from Melville, but from Dickens.

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged Ahab, burgers, consonants, Khan, Moby Dick, whale
36 Comments

Pope Benedict’s “pro multis” letter to German-speaking bishops now in English. Wherein an HONORED GUEST ranteth.

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a follow up to my post about the Holy Father’s letter of instruction to the German speaking bishops about the translation of “pro multis” in the new liturgical books.

An English translation of the Holy Father’s letter is now to be found on a Dutch blog, In caelo.

I enjoyed a commentary about this Ziegen Rodeo sent me by my friend the Roman Fabricius Magnus. Thus, Fabricius:

Needless to say, still not a sign of this on vatican.va, not even in German. Argh.

I didn’t fall off the tuna boat yesterday but it still drives me crazy that the Pope has to explain these things that have been said a gazillion times before to bishops who should know better. I know what they think but they are pretending that the discussion just started an hour ago.

My letter would have been much shorter. On a day of exceptionally cheerful mood it could have been:

“Venerable Brothers in the fullness of the Priesthood, greetings and Apostolic Blessing! Because we all strive to be worthy successors of Peter and the Apostles after Pentecost and not of Judas during the days leading up to the Sacrifice of the Calvary, we are obliged under penalty of the eternal fire to serve the Lord in the Church he himself consecrated with his Most Precious Blood, shed for many in atonement for our sins. If you don’t like the new, correct translation of the formula of the consecration, you can always stick with the Latin original and use that for Mass, just as I do most of the time. If you like the old, incorrect and exegetically silly translation so very much, you can always apply for an indult which will be evaluated with the renown celerity of the Roman Curia and submitted to me the day after a sudden drop in temperatures occurs in a place whose existence should be affirmed more often by some of you, if anything as a reminder to self. In the meantime, it’s either Latin or “for many”. By the way, I have never before spent so much time and so many words discussing improvements whose implementation I had ordered a LOOOONG time ago. Venerable Brothers, get busy before I do my routine checks on vacant episcopal sees in North Korea, Iran and other places eager to learn the ways of inculturation and social justice from you. With Easter blessing, I remain in the Lord, Genghis PP I”

Thank God there’s a much much much much holier, wiser and more patient man in charge of this…

That, friends, is what the Romans call “papale papale”!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, HONORED GUESTS, Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Fabrizio, German, PRO MULTIS
16 Comments

Mike Malloy (liberal radio talk-show host) calls Pope “Nazi scum” and all Catholics “child-raping sons of bitches”

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is something I saw on CMR:

Lib Radio Host: “Scum, Nazi Pope.”

Remember when everyone in the media lit their torches and sharpened their pitchforks for Rush Limbaugh for calling a woman who wanted the Catholic Church to pay for her contraception a “slut.”

But last week a liberal radio host in discussing the Hilary Rosen/Ann Romney story, called Catholics “child-raping sons of bitches” and then dropped the “Nazi scum” moniker on Pope Benedict XVI. But oddly,this outburst has hardly caused a ripple among the powers that be.

According to Google News, there has not been one mainstream media story. Not one.

Here’s the transcript from Newsbusters and I warn you, it’s pretty offensive.

MALLOY: And the Catholic League – that piece of human waste Bill Donohue – then twitted or tweeted or tweaked – ‘glad to know Hilary’s fans are in a state of apoplexy – you’d think she was outed by their hysterical reaction. Get over it and grow up! You child-raping sons of bitches in the Catholic Church, I am so sick of all of you – especially your priests and your bishops and your scum, the Nazi Pope, I am so sick of all of you. And this Donohue freak — wow.

Can you honestly imagine saying similar things about any other group of people without becoming the lead story on Anderson Cooper? Jews? Muslims? Gays? Heck, I don’t even think you could say that about oil men and get away with it.But denigrating Catholics with truly offensive language is just completely ignored.

I wonder if President Obama will call Pope Benedict like he did Sandra Fluke. I’m sure Pope Benedict will be waiting by the phone.

I have never heard of Mike Malloy. His page is HERE.

I think this is a list of the stations which carries his show. HERE. If you are in the area of one of these stations, you might call the manager and express your opinion about what they are broadcasting.

Posted in The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged anti-catholic, bigot, Mike Malloy
47 Comments

A shift in the cyber meaning of “pro-life”?

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Dictionaries are important. When dictionaries change there can be wide repercussions. For example, when the standard reference point for American English back in the day, Webster, changed their basic approach, their lexicographical theory, as it were, from being being proscriptive (saying what a word means and ought to mean) to being descriptive (saying how a word is being used), the ground for the meaning of words and communication started to get squishier.

Back in the day when I was studying German, I learned about the differences in the definitions of the same word in dictionaries made in West Germany (in the free West) and East Germany (under Communist domination). Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a particular term that had disparate meanings on either side of the Iron Curtain, but imagine how commies would want to have certain political and economic terms tilted in a favorable or unfavorable direction.

Today I read an entry on Life News:

Wikipedia May Redefine Term “Pro-Life” in Every Abortion Entry
by Ryan Bomberger

Yesterday, official discussion ended in Wikipedia’s effort to possibly redefine the abortion debate according to its contributors’ worldviews.

Wikipedia, which ranks 6th in the United States and globally as the most accessed website, is not known for its accuracy nor impartiality. [On the other hand, if a printed book gets something wrong, it will still be wrong tomorrow. Wikipedia can be corrected.] From reporting people dead before their death (Ted Kennedy, Miley Cirus, Sinbad) to defaming the famous (Bill Gates, Rush Limbaugh, Fuzzy Zoeller) to contributors posing as authoritative figures and then being debunked (supposed professor of religion exposed as 24 year old college dropout) the online encyclopedia is a constant source of controversy.

Wikipedia’s bias toward abortion is nothing new. Conservapedia (which itself reveals bias and incomplete information) lists a handful of examples that only scratch the surface of Wiki’s glaringly evident pro-abortion advocacy. A more recent example of the absurdity of contributor-bias is Wikipedia’s Maafa 21 entry. It asserts that the film “has been praised by pro-life activists and condemned by historical scholars, pro-choice activists, and other writers…”

Apparently, pro-life activists are not historical scholars, or medical professionals, or professors, or other types of educators…just nebulous “activists”.

The article then avoids any of the actual substance of the thoroughly researched documentary and instead relies upon mostly unattributed assertions or feelings about Planned Parenthood. Most noticeably, however, is the ratio of Support versus Criticism in the entry with 5 sentences supporting the documentary and 20 criticizing it. Nowhere in any of the criticism is any actual assertion proven wrong in Maafa 21. [Perhaps more people with credentials should get involved with Wikipedia?]

The closest the pro-abortion critics come to denying anything specific is in the false accusation that the Negro Project was cast as an abortion initiative, when clearly the documentary (if any of the contributors actually watched the film) presented the initiative as a failed birth control initiative.

Within its official “discussion”, numerous options are provided in changing the vernacular Wikipedia will pursue in addressing abortion in the United States. Its bias toward the ever genteel sounding “abortion rights” is summed up in one assertion found under “Arguments regarding Support for the Toleration of Abortion/Opposition to the Toleration of Abortion”, stating: “virtually no one is in favour of abortion per se”. Yes, Wikipedia, there are many who are in favor of abortion-on-demand for any reason and at any point in a woman’s pregnancy—Planned Parenthood, NARAL, NOW, International Planned Parenthood Federation, ACLU et al.

Wikipedia never opted to include the labeling choice “Opposition to care for both women and (born/unborn) child” versus “Support for care for both women and (born/unborn) child”, pro-abortion and pro-life respectively. It goes to show how myopic a Wikipedia worldview of abortion is and continues to be. Liberals always define the pro-life side as “in opposition” to or “anti” something. These gatekeepers of voluminous misinformation have the audacity to point to mainstream media’s depiction of each side of the abortion debate as proof that they should follow suit.

Invoking the AP, NY Times, CBS News, NPR and other blatantly biased news networks’ use of “anti-abortion” and “abortion rights” to define each side apparently doesn’t immediately strike these self-described “neutral administrators” of the inherent bias.

Bias is the natural result of agenda-driven funding. Wikimedia Foundation’s short list of major donors includes two of the largest population control organizations: the Ford Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation. Both of these organizations have poured hundreds of millions into population control efforts including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the International Planned Parenthood Federatio–the world’s largest killers of the unborn. In fact, Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, is a recent Board Member of the Ford Foundation.

Funny. Like so many other crucial and relevant details, that fact isn’t mentioned on Wikipedia.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, The Drill | Tagged dictionaries, lexicography, pro-life, Wikipedia
18 Comments

A reader on going back to Confession, the Sacrament of Penance

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I’ve been reading your blog for a few years and I wanted to write and thank you for continually posting about getting back to the Sacrament of Confession. For the past 3 years I have been discerning a call to the priesthood. I knew that to discern properly I needed to get back to Confession, but your blog and insistence on going really brought me back to the Sacrament and made it less “scary” as it has always seemed. It was a truly awesome experience and confession has made helped my discernment so much that I was recently accepted as a seminarian for ….

To all the Priests that may read your blog: I hope they would consider offering confessions more than once a week at their parish. They’d be pleasantly surprised at the response from the faithful! Keep spreading the Good Word!

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Just Too Cool, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged confession, reconciliation, sacrament of penance
10 Comments

Sally Quinn of WaPo: a lesson in getting it wrong.

Posted on 24 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sally Quinn of WaPo offers her stunningly shallow take on the reforming efforts by the Holy See and USCCB now being applied to the LCWR (a subsidiary of the Magisterium of Nuns).

Aside from the risible claims Quinn makes, I found this part amusing:

While the “radical feminist” nuns were taking care of the poor and the sick, what were the priests and bishops doing? More than a few were being accused of sexually abusing children and covering up for each other.

[…]

This is worthy of special attention not because of the increasingly cliché liberal tactic of throwing out the child abuse issue every single time the Catholic Church acts like the Catholic Church ought to act, but because the very LCWR Quinn is defending has itself cooperated in the cover-up of sexual abuse of children by women religious.

Don’t take my word for it.

It seems that even SNAP (and I am no great fan) protested at a meeting of the LCWR in 2010 because the leaders of the LCWR (the darlings of Sally Quinn’s defense) were resisting and squelching every effort to get them to come clean about the sexual abuse of children inflicted by women religious.

Even the National catholic Fishwrap… er… Reporter wrote about this.

To quote the Fishwrap:

[SNAP director David Clohessy] said that in coming forward and sharing the pain, healing can finally take place. The second reason for the conference, he said, was to send a message to the women religious leadership that it should do more to “come clean” about abusive nuns. He called for LCWR to develop a national abuse policy that could be a model for the bishops and for the entire world. Sadly, he said, efforts to work with LCWR have been rebuffed for the past six years.

During these past six years, Clohessy said, SNAP has repeatedly asked to address LCWR at its annual national gathering, a request that has been denied. He said SNAP has also asked LCWR to allow a SNAP link on the LCWR website and to give SNAP the names of regional women religious sex abuse victim coordinators, requests that have also been denied, he said.

Maybe Sally Quinn could do some real reporting and write an article about women religious who abused children.

There is a lot of material out there on the internet… if you look for it.

And WDTPRS has looked for it.

Posted in Biased Media Coverage, Clerical Sexual Abuse, Dogs and Fleas, Magisterium of Nuns, The Drill, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged LCWR, magisterium of nuns, NCFishwrap, Sally Quinn, SNAP, WaPo
16 Comments

Ex ore infantium perfecisti laudem! A must see video.

Posted on 24 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is stupendous. Take a few minutes to watch this.

[wp_youtube]5LFPTwVMUVE[/wp_youtube]

Biretta tip to Kathryn Lopez.

Posted in Just Too Cool |
22 Comments

Denver priest ‘pulls out the big guns’: TLM outside Planned Parenthood

Posted on 24 April 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is something Life News to stir the heart.

Fr. Joseph Hearty. OORAH!

Denver priest ‘pulls out the big guns’ on Planned Parenthood: says Mass on the street outside clinic
BY CHRISTINE DHANAGOM
Mon Apr 23, 2012

DENVER, CO, April 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Prayerbooks, rosaries, and pro-life pamphlets are a common sight outside Planned Parenthood’s massive facility in downtown Denver, but this year, local organizers of this spring’s Forty Days for Life campaign decided that one last piece was missing to bring the light of Christ to the country’s second largest abortion facility: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The idea to celebrate the Catholic Mass in front of Planned Parenthood came from Fr. Joseph Hearty, Assistant Pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in nearby Littleton, who felt that it was time to “pull out the big guns.” It was, he told LifeSiteNews, an inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

“If we can pray the rosary, why not offer the Mass, why not use the Mass and the Eucharist as a means of fighting this tragedy,” he said. “Why not use the most powerful means that we have?”

As it turned out, the idea energized the local pro-life community far beyond what organizers had expected. Fr. Hearty planned for thirty attendees at his first Mass on March 3rd, and got a hundred.

Providentially, an empty parking lot right across the street from the Planned Parenthood owned by a pro-life couple was big enough to accommodate the crowd.

As a member of the traditional Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Hearty celebrated the traditional Latin Mass, known as the Tridentine Mass. Diocesan priests have also gotten in on the action, though, with six different Masses offered in the parking lot during the Forty Day campaign in English and Spanish. All six Masses were well attended, averaging between fifty and a hundred persons.

A March 31st closing rally kicked off with a Spanish Mass, followed by a rosary led by Bishop James Conley, apostolic administrator for the Denver Archdiocese. In comments at the rally, Bishop Conley urged pro-lifers to vigilance as Planned Parenthood continues to build “megaplex death mills” across the country, the Denver Catholic Register reports.

According to the Register, over 300 people attended the rally, which ended with a second Latin Mass celebrated by Fr. Hearty. There were so many at the final Mass that the priest returned to the altar four times to break up the hosts for distribution before finally running out.

The popularity of the idea, says Fr. Hearty, is a sign that “people really want to do something.” He hopes the idea will spread, and in particular that clergy in other parts of the country will be inspired to become more involved in pro-life work.

[…]

“Our fight is not against the world, it’s against principalities and darkness, it’s against evil, it is against the devil,” says Fr. Hearty. “Why not make a few demons quake?”