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{]:¬)

QUAERITUR: Stations of the Cross during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

In recent days, I have heard it said a couple of times that praying the Stations of the Cross (in common) during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is not allowed. Is that true? Where is such a directive given? Thanks.

The USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship has an non-authoritative opinion piece about this in which the writer argues that Exposition is a liturgical worship of Christ while Stations is a devotion focused on the Lord’s Passion. She writes, “As commendable as such a devotion may be, it can never fulfill the purpose of eucharistic adoration, that is to draw us more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. Therefore, neither the Stations of the Cross nor any other devotion should be prayed during exposition of the Eucharist.”

Not as bad as the Fishwrap’s Richard McBrien who ridicules Eucharistic adoration as “a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward”.

The USCCB piece a clearly a personal opinion piece by some nameless person. Note that the last paragraph begins with the pronoun “I”, as in “I would strongly encourage…”.

I do not see any reason why, in a communal observance of the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis, the priest or deacon leading them turning to the Blessed Sacrament each time he moves to each Station and each time he says “We adore Thee, O Christ…”.

In any event, I haven’t found any authoritative document which states in a clear way that Stations may not be prayed in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed. When Stations is ended, there could be Benediction.

Is there some other document out there?

I am sure we could argue one way or another about this, but I think the argument against smacks of the same thinking by which people are assumed to be so thick that they will, in the presence of, say, more than one crucifix or more than one altar, or more than one statue of Mary, be struck by mental paralysis like Buridan’s Ass and maybe even fall to the floor racked by sobs of confusion.

On the other hand, in my experience, people who are used to Exposition and used to the Stations seem to be able to put it all together and grasp – mirabile dictu – that the Jesus they adore on the altar under the appearance of bread in the monstrance, is the same Jesus who suffered and died for them, the story of which Passion being related all around them during the Stations.

If there is some definitive document from the Congregation for Divine Worship on this, I would like to be corrected. Otherwise, I think we are free to do this, whether we want to or not.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged Benediction, Blessed Sacrament, devotion, Exposition, Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis
24 Comments

Voris video: where “action” is in Catholic communities. UPDATED with follow-up video!

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ORIGINAL POST: 28 March 2247 GMT:

Michael Voris has a new video about the use of the “Traditional Latin Mass”, the Extraordinary Form. After his travelogue, start paying attention about about 1:45.

He speaks about the young people who are attending the Extraordinary Form. This is obvious to most of us (who aren’t liberals… cough).

Mr. Voris hits the point I am constantly harping about: Catholic identity!

[wp_youtube]mSyN5TNOdZg[/wp_youtube]

UPDATE 29 March 138 GMT:

There is a follow up video posted today. They’ve been busy!

Voris takes up the theme he dealt with last time: Catholic identity and who is winning the battle over our identity. (Think: young people who are traditional)

He gets into the issues of masculine v. feminized liturgy and the difference between the older (spirit of Vatican II) and newer generations (JP 2 era).

Surprise! Mr. Voris has not cooled off his vocabulary.

[wp_youtube]bS-yhdCvIEk[/wp_youtube]

If you are not on offense, you are on defense.

UPDATE 1947 GMT:

On the very heels of my posting the update, I read on the blog of my friend Fr. Blake,who cites the first of the videos above:

I don’t always but here I agree with Michael Vorris.

Trad Mass produces vocations, two of the younger men who serve it are off this summer to try their vocations, sadly not with our diocese. Do pray for them.
Trad Mass attracts and produces parents dedicated to passing on the faith to their children, not that we have that many young families here.
Trad Mass inspires young people to deepen their prayer life and to seek to understand the theology and history of the Church.
Trad Mass appeals to men, especially young men.
Trad Mass is evangelical.

You decide.

While you are deciding, I will add that liberals demand that you deny the evidence of your senses and deny common sense. The older Mass is growing slowly in the numbers of places and priests who say it. It sure seems like a high number of vocations come from these traditional communities.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill, The future and our choices |
69 Comments

FNC: Hemmer interviews Obama surrogate: hijinx and anti-Catholicism result

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw on FNC Bill Hemmer’s interview of two talking heads, Monica Crowley (conservative pundette) and Christopher Hahn (former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer D-NY). I hope they post the video of this surprising exchange.

The wonks were reacting to the interview with His Eminence Timothy Card. Dolan concerning Obama Administration’s attack on religious liberty. Crowley does a workman-like job of laying out the issues. Hahn stages a spittle-flecked nutty.

But in the midst of his nutty, he reveals the unvarnished position he, and those for whom he is shilling (read: Pres. Obama), really hold.

I share the audio (no video) of this because the Democrat surrogate says some really incredible things. He reveals the mindset of the Church’s liberal opponents in an exemplary way, saying that we know they think but rarely hear them say so openly.

Take note of Hahn’s starting point: sex is for recreation. Because of the economic hard times, Catholic Church should abandon the medieval stuff they just made up and stop fighting free distribution of contraception.

His statement left Bill Hemmer, with a shocked expression the audio can’t convey, but you can hear his exclamation of surprise. Hahn goes on to pour out his hatred and contempt for the Catholic Church, her teachings and the bishops.

I think Card. Dolan and the USCCB is making headway and the hysterical reaction of this Obama surrogate is the result.

Pres. Obama’s surrogates will more an more adopt this brutal tone of anti-Catholic bigotry while appealing to the American public’s base appetites and private parts.

Here is the audio of the exchange.

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UPDATE:

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged Bill Hemmer, Christopher Hahn, contraception, FNC, HHS, Monica Crowley, Pres. Obama, religious liberty, Sen. Schumer, sex
22 Comments

CDF: Declaration on break away Greek “Catholic” group, excommunications

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From VIS and Vatican Radio (Bolletino in Italian):

CDF issues declaration on canonical status of “so-called Greek-Catholic bishops of Pidhirci”

Given below is the text of a declaration issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concerning the canonical status of the “so-called Greek-Catholic bishops of Pidhirci”: Fr. Elias A. Dohnal O.S.B.M., Fr. Markian V. Hitiuk O.S.B.M., Fr. Metodej R. Spirik O.S.B.M., and Fr. Robert Oberhauser. The text is dated 22 February and bears the signatures of Cardinal William Joseph Levada and Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer S.J., respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

(1) The Holy See has followed with great concern the activities of Fr. Elias A. Dohnal O.S.B.M., Fr. Markian V. Hitiuk O.S.B.M., Fr. Metodej R. Spirik O.S.B.M., and Fr. Robert Oberhauser who, having been expelled from the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat, subsequently proclaimed themselves as bishops of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church. With their disobedience, these priests continue to challenge ecclesiastical authority, causing moral and spiritual damage, not only to the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat and the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church, but also to this Apostolic See and the Catholic Church as a whole. All this provokes division and bewilderment among the faithful. The aforementioned priests, having established a group of “bishops” of Pidhirci, have recently sought to have that group recognised and registered by the competent State authorities as the “Ukrainian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church”.
(2) Since the beginning of this painful episode, Church representatives of various ranks have sought to dissuade them from continuing a conduct which, among other things, could deceive the faithful, as has already happened in a number of cases.
(3) The Holy See, concerned to protect the unity and peace of Christ’s flock, had hoped in the repentance and subsequent return of the aforementioned priests to full communion with the Catholic Church. Unfortunately the most recent developments – such as the unsuccessful attempt to acquire State registration for the “Pidhirci” group under the name of the “Ukrainian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church” – demonstrates their continuing disobedience.
(4) Therefore, to safeguard the common good of the Church and the “salus animarum”, and given that the so-called “bishops” of Pidhirci show no sign of repentance but continue to create confusion and disarray in the community of faithful, in particular by calumniating representatives of the Holy See and of the local Church, and asserting that the supreme authority of the Church is in possession of documentation testifying to the full validity of their episcopal ordination, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, accepting the request presented by the ecclesiastical authorities of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church, and by other dicasteries of the Holy See, has decided, by this declaration, to inform the faithful, especially in the countries of origin of the so-called “bishops”, about their current canonical status.
(5) This Congregation, disassociating itself entirely from the actions of the so-called “bishops” aforementioned, and from their aforesaid declarations, formally declares that it does not recognise the validity of their episcopal ordinations, or of any and all ordinations that have derived, or will derive therefrom. Moreover, the canonical status of the four so-called “bishops” is that of excommunication, pursuant to canon 1459 para. 1 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO), in view of the fact that an appeal sentence of the ordinary tribunal of the Major Archiepiscopal Ukrainian Church, issued on 10 September 2008, recognised them as guilty of offences under canons 1462, 1447 and 1452 of the CCEO; i.e., the offences of illegitimate usurpation of office, inciting sedition and hatred towards certain hierarchs, provoking subjects to disobedience, and harming a third party’s good name by calumny.
(6) Furthermore, the use of the name “Catholic” by groups which are not recognised by the competent ecclesiastical authority is to be considered as illegitimate, pursuant to canon 19 of the CCEO.
(7) The faithful are, then, enjoined not to adhere to the aforementioned group as, to all canonical effects, it is outside ecclesiastical communion. The faithful are invited to pray for the members of the group, that they may repent and return to full communion with the Catholic Church. (VIS)

Posted in Four Last Things, Our Catholic Identity, Pope of Christian Unity | Tagged CCEO, CDF, episcopal consecration, excommunication, Greek-Catholic, Pidhirci
34 Comments

ACTION ITEM: Entrusting the SSPX to Mary and imploring God’s will

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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From the SSPX comes a Communiqué asking for prayers.

Communiqué from the General House of the Society of Saint Pius X

Since the meeting on March 16, 2012, with Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, has urgently been inviting the faithful to redouble their fervor in prayer and their generosity in making sacrifices during these Holy Days of Lent and in the weeks that will follow the solemnity of Easter, that the Divine Will may be done, and it alone, after the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives: non mea voluntas, sed tua fiat (Luke 22:42).

The Rosary Crusade that started on Easter 2011 and is scheduled to end on Pentecost 2012 is proving more than ever to be indispensable. This is why the Society of St. Pius X, which wants only the good of the Church and the salvation of souls, turns with confidence to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that she might obtain from her divine Son the lights necessary to know His will clearly and to carry it out courageously.

May the faithful be so kind as to offer one holy communion for this intention. May they make fully their own, in thought and in deed, the prayer that Our Lord asked us to address to our heavenly Father: Sanctificetur nomen tuum, adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra; hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Menzingen, March 29, 2012

I add my voice to this petition on the part of the superiors of the SSPX with the additional request that we also pray what Jesus prayed at the beginning of His Passion before he went to Gethsemene, during the Last Supper: Ut unum sint… let them be One.

Please offer earnest prayers and real mortifications for the healing of this rift.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, Four Last Things, Non Nobis and Te Deum, Our Catholic Identity, Pope of Christian Unity, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged SSPX, unity, ut unum sint
76 Comments

WDTPRS Thursday 5th Week Lent (Prayer over the People): of spewing, pointless running, and the virtue of religion

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Today’s “Prayer over the people”, at the end of Mass in the Ordinary Form, was originally in a truncated form in various manuscripts of the Gelasian Sacramentary. However, I eventually found it also in a longer form in the Veronese in this form for the month of July:

ORATIO SUPER POPULUM:
Esto, quaesumus, Domine,
propitius plebi tuae,
ut, de die in diem, quae tibi non
placent respuens,
tuorum potius repleatur
delectionibus mandatorum.

LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord, we beseech You, be
propitious toward Your people,
that, from day to day, spewing out
what is not pleasing to You,
it (the people) may rather
be filled with the delights of your mandates.

The Veronese Sacramentary has it this way:

Esto, quaesumus, domine, propitius plebi tuae, ut, de die in diem, quae tibi non placent, respuentes, tuorum potius repleantur dilectionibus mandatorum et, mortalis vitae consolationibus gubernati, proficiant ad immortalitatis effectum.

Nice. You will also note that a version of this is the Collect in the Extraordinary Form today.

The imagery here, from Revelation 3:16, implies that God’s people, in imitation of our Judge, will also spew out what is not pleasing. But remember that God our Judge will spew what is tepid, uncommitted.

God is not pleased by tepidity, which a form of cowardice.

Sometimes we can get out back up about having to obey mandates that are imposed on us. We have free will. Some things are written into our beings because we are God’s images. Some things are given by divine positive law. Some other things are given Holy Church’s positive law. All of these mandates are for our good, not to oppress us. They are given so that we do not hurt ourselves, and so that we can get to heaven.

Obedience to laws establishes a springboard by which we can rise higher. We lose nothing of who we are by obeying God’s laws. When we submit our will to God, we begin to take delight in what we know is His will for us. As Picarda says in Dante’s Paradiso, “In his will is our peace”.

We must not be afraid to give ourselves wholly over to God’s will. Pope Benedict spoke of this at the end of his first great sermon as Vicar of Christ, at his inaugural Mass:

“Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great.”

Sticking with Dante for a moment more, in the Inferno, when Dante moves through the gate that says “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”, passing into the “fore-Hell”, he sees a great, bare plain upon which a vast multitude of souls run in a circle chasing a meaningless whirling banner. A great moaning wail rises up. As Dante gazes at them, he says, “I had not thought death had unmade so many.” As they run, wasps and flies sting them. These are the souls who were tepid, whom God spewed out. They are “hateful to God and His enemies”. As commentator Anthony Esolen describes them in his good translation, they are the “unnamed spirits whose cowardice relegates them to the vestibule”.

Dante is not trying, in the Divine Comedy, to describe actual Hell. His works is an exercise in poetic theory and political philosophy. But if it is mainly those, that doesn’t mean that we cannot use it for our spiritual reflection on the Four Last Things. This episode in the fore-Hell, with the tepid, gives urgency and force to the verb in todays Oratio super populum: respuo, “to spew out” what is displeasing to God.

Finally, the form of respuo here is an active participle in the singular, because is modifies plebs, God’s “people”. We are all in this together.

Remember: we are looking at the “Prayer over the people”.

As a whole people, a whole Church, we must reject what is displeasing to God and seek to do His will as espressed in natural law, divine positive law and in the laws of Holy Church. For this we need a strong sense of who we are as a Church, who we are as Catholics. And no revitalization of our Catholic identity will happen without a revitalization of our worship of God, that thing we raise to Him which, when authentic, is most pleasing because it is His due by the virtue of religion.

With a strong identity and fervent hearts we will be moved in action to influence those spheres which in our state in life are entrusted to us.

Posted in Four Last Things, LENT, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, WDTPRS, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged banner, dante, hell, LENT, Oratio super populum, Picarda, prayer over the people, religion
6 Comments

Card. Dolan interviewed by Bill O’Reilly

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Last night His Eminence Timothy Card. Dolan was on with Bill O’Reilly on FNC. O’Reilly actually let him get a word in.

This is the first part of the interview. I understand that the rest of it will be posted elsewhere. I don’t know where, but I know one of you will.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty | Tagged 2012, Bill O'Reilly, Card. Dolan, FNC, HHS, HHS mandate, Pres. Obama, religious liberty, USCCB
47 Comments

QUAERITUR: Priest ad libs words of absolution

Posted on 29 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

I have never worried about the words of absolution in confession before, but after coming to know that many of your readers worry about whether or not their sins have been forgiven due to the form variations, it got me thinking.

Tonight I attended the Lenten Reconciliation service at my parish. [Oh dear.] When I sat down with the priest, I somehow gathered up the courage to ask him upfront to use the words “I absolve you…” because the proper form for absolution would make me feel better. He obliged, although he wondered why I asked, and said “well I always say that.” [Oh dear oh dear…] Anyway, when it came time for absolution, he said, “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, RESOLVE AND EMBRACE, and I absolve you from ALL THE SINS YOU SAID AND MAY YOU HAVE PEACE, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Arrrrrggh!!!!

Arrrrgh indeed.

Perhaps I ought to make a coffee mug which has the words of absolution – in Latin and English side by side in the manner of my can. 915 mug. You could give to priests who don’t seem to be able to Say The Black and Do The Red.

Some priests, who don’t think you are very bright, imagine they have to make everything more “meaningful” all on their own authority.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged confession, reconciliation, sacrament of penance, words of absolution
25 Comments

John Allen’s outstanding talk on the world-wide war on Christians

Posted on 28 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have been waiting for the video of the closing “liturgy” of the L.A. ~~Three Days of Darkness~~ … Religious Ed Congress.

In looking for it, I found a video of a talk by my friend the nearly ubiquitous John L. Allen, Jr. (who alas still writes for the National catholic Fishwrap).

Allen gives a REALLY good talk about the world-wide war being waged on Christians.

While you listen, remember that even though this isn’t the topic of Mr. Allen’s talk, more people are being killed world-wide by abortion.

Do listen to this. (When he gets to the very end, about where he grew up, you can start to tune out. Furthermore, I think he comes to a false conclusion at the end about “tribalism”. While he has a point of unity, he overlooks the fact that some people really do get some doctrinal points wrong. There is no excuse for saying, for example, that abortion is okay or that contraception is okay or that homosexual acts are okay or that woman can be ordained or that bishops don’t have jurisdiction or that Christ didn’t physically rise from the dead, etc. Some people are just wrong, when it comes to certain things. That doesn’t mean we still can’t have common goals, but we also cannot overlook the differences. The last half hour or so is Q&A.)

[wp_youtube]Y3h8LsQGHrk[/wp_youtube]

Allen says that the defense of religious freedom will be the premier issue in the future.

UPDATE 2050 GMT:

BTW… Mr. Allen refers to Card. Koch. Read something about Card. Koch HERE and HERE.