The Feast of the Chair of Peter was transferred in the Vatican Basilica to today. It is normally on 22 February. This year the Feast, important in the Vatican Basilica for obvious reasons, would conflict with Ash Wednesday.
A shot of the Roman Curia wall calendar.
I wish all those who belong to the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter a fine day.
National Review has a mordant piece by Mark Steyn. There are good points here. He links the so-called “social issues” (and if they go wrong, everything else must necessarily go wrong) and the partisan political mud fight, and the rapidly approaching collapse of the economy.
My emphases.
[…]
The U.S. economy shuts down in 2027? [During a House hearing, Rep. Paul Ryan – R-WI – had sketched out where the economy is headed.] Had you heard about that? It’s like the ultimate Presidents’ Day sale: Everything must go — literally! At such a moment, it may seem odd to find the political class embroiled in a bitter argument about the Obama administration’s determination to force Catholic institutions (and, indeed, my company and your company, if you’re foolish enough still to be in business in the United States) to provide free prophylactics to their employees. The received wisdom among media cynics is that Obama has engaged in an ingenious bit of misdirection by seizing on a pop-culture caricature of Republicans and inviting them to live up to it: Those uptight squares with the hang-ups about fornication have decided to force you to lead the same cheerless sex lives as them. I notice that in their coverage NPR and the evening news shows generally refer to the controversy as being about “contraception,” discreetly avoiding mention of sterilization and pharmacological abortion, as if the GOP have finally jumped the shark in order to prevent you jumping anything at all.
It may well be that the Democrats succeed in establishing this narrative. But anyone who falls for it is a sap. In fact, these two issues — the Obama condoms-for-clunkers giveaway and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 900 percent by 2075 — are not unconnected. In Greece, 100 grandparents have 42 grandchildren — i.e., an upside-down family tree. As I wrote in this space a few weeks ago, “If 100 geezers run up a bazillion dollars’ worth of debt, is it likely that 42 youngsters will ever be able to pay it off?” Most analysts know the answer to that question: Greece is demographically insolvent. So it’s looking to Germany to continue bankrolling its First World lifestyle.
But the Germans are also demographically exhausted: They have the highest proportion of childless women in Europe. One in three fräulein have checked out of the motherhood business entirely. A nation that did without having kids of its own is in no mood to maintain Greece as the ingrate slacker who never moves out of the house. As the European debt crisis staggers on, these two countries loathe each other ever more nakedly: The Greek president brings up his war record against the German bullies, and Athenian commentators warn of the new Fourth Reich. The Germans, for their part, would rather cut the Greeks loose. In a post-prosperity West, social solidarity — i.e., socioeconomic fictions such as “Europe” — are the first to disappear.
The United States faces a mildly less daunting arithmetic. Nevertheless, the Baby Boomers did not have enough children to maintain mid-20th-century social programs. As a result, the children they did have will end their lives in a poorer, uglier, sicker, more divided, and more violent society. How to avert this fate? In 2009 Nancy Pelosi called for free contraceptives as a form of economic stimulus. Ten thousand Americans retire every day, and leave insufficient progeny to pick up the slack. In effect, Nancy has rolled a giant condom over the entire American economy.
[…]
So, what we really need are free sterilizations, free abortifacients, free contraceptives and contrary-to-nature unions recognized as “marriage”. Under nationalized healthcare, I can imagine a One Child Policy. After all, babies are expensive.
Furthermore, when we have all these things, liberals will force the Church to accept them (and never preach against them) under pain of fines and prosecution of her bishops and priests.
Hurray for the American Patriot Catholic Association!
But first, we need to endure a couple more election cycles. Then we can get down to work!
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No frills Vespers from the Breviarium Romanum for the weary brethren.
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From a reader:
I went to make confession at a local parish, but saw the priest walking around near the confessional. Since it’s not a priest I wanted to make my confession to, I left to go to another church. On my way to the car, another woman came by and I told her which priest was hearing confessions. She ranted against priests walking around where they could see potential penitents in line or praying during posted confession times, and how she didn’t think privacy was taken seriously enough. She was deeply concerned. While less harsh, I, too, prefer to remain unseen before confession (especially if I am the only young woman and my voice could therefore identify me). I imagine there are many others who are made uncomfortable by being seen before confession, and might even skip the confession if they are (I’m not saying they should skip, but they might skip nonetheless).
It may be that the priest needed to get up a move a bit because of a cramp in his leg or pain in his back from sitting or maybe the poor guy suffers from claustrophobia… whatever. I admit that there have been a couple times when, on a blistering hot, humid day and during a lull, I have open the confessional door or gotten out to stretch my legs and get some air.
That said, if you are conscious of mortal sins, and there is a priest ready to hear your confession, then make your confession!
In general, I think it is a good idea if priest confessors make as little eye contact, or any contact, with people in line. If getting in or out of the confessional a priest has to pass by people who are in a line (perhaps at a different confessional) or who are in church still doing their penance, in my opinion, he ought to keep him eyes down and do his best not to give people a sense that he is looking at them. Other than that, he should probably stay in the box. Younger priests out there – if you haven’t been told this at some point, you would do well to pay attention: make your way to and from the confessional with as little contact with people as possible.
Keep in mind that priests are bound by the Seal of Confession. They will not reveal anything you confess, whether they know you or not.
I think it is rather unlikely that a priest would radically change his opinion of you from what you confess. My experience is that I forget almost immediately what people have said. I don’t know why. It just happens that way. This same experience – of forgetting – has been backed up by other priests I know. It wouldn’t surprise me if a few priests chimed in under this entry to say the same thing.
From a reader:
I thought I heard somewhere that a priest ought to avoid hearing the confession of a close relative, especially his parents. I presumed this was for practical and not canonical reasons, no? Thanks for your consideration and faithfulness.
There is no law that prohibits a priest from hearing the confessions of family members. That said, I recommend avoiding doing so. A priest can’t prevent anyone from getting into his confessional, but I would try to dissuade someone who is a close family member. The reason for this is, mainly, the Seal of Confession might thereafter make it hard for a priest as a family member to deal with some family matters. This may not be the case for all priests and their families, but it seems to me best to avoid the whole situation.
In a similar way, a priest or bishop shouldn’t hear the confessions of those directly under his authority. The Seal would make it very difficult to deal with any disciplinary matters which were not also public knowledge. If, for example, a bishop consented to hear the confession of one of his priests who, during the confession, revealed to the his bishop that he had done something which would otherwise require the bishop to remove the priest from his position or even from ministry, that bishop’s hands would be in a hard situation because of the Seal.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule of thumb, as in cases of true emergencies or danger of death, but in normal circumstances I would avoid hearing the confessions of close family members and perhaps even close friends.
Again, there is no law which forbids a priest from doing so, but it seems to me to be fraught with complications.
Sometimes you don’t want to look at road-kill, but you look anyway.
So it is too with this video of a simulated “mass” by some “women priests”.
It is at the same time both funny and quite sad.
The way they change the texts reveals the deep confusion in which these people wallow.
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I’m shocked! Is it possible that HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius, pro-abortion catholic who may not receive Holy Communion according to can. 915, in some way helped Planned Parenthood officials dodge prosecution for failing to report cases of child rape?
From LifeSite:
No charges will be filed in connection with a national scandal involving the destruction of Planned Parenthood records during HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ time as governor of Kansas.
The Obama official has come under heavy fire from pro-life groups who are pointing out how a state attorney general she appointed in Kansas destroyed documents related 107 criminal charges former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline filed against the abortion business. The charges alleged that planned Parenthood failed to report cases of child rape on children on whom Planned Parenthood did abortions, that it failed to test whether an unborn child was viable (as required by state law) before doing a late-term abortion, and that it manipulated records it submitted to the state to cover up those crimes.
Because former attorney general Steve Six, the Sebelius appointee, destroyed the documents, a court dismissed all of the felony charges filed against Planned Parenthood because the evidence supporting those charges had been destroyed.
Late Friday, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said he will not file charges, according to the Associated Press.
Under Sebelius, the Kansas Health and Education Department fought access by Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline to original copies of abortion reports needed to prosecute Planned Parenthood.
[…]
There’s a lot more to read over there.
You may have heard, but the Pope created a few more Cardinals today, 22 to be exact, though several are over 80 years of age and therefore cannot enter or vote in a conclave.
Each cardinal is assigned a church in Rome, a titular or diaconal church. Remember that the College is still divided into three groups, cardinal bishops, priests and deacons. With a few exceptions all cardinals are bishops or will be consecrated before being created cardinal (Jesuits are usually dispensed from being consecrated if they are over 80). Cardinals who are ordinary bishops of dioceses are generally made Cardinal Priests, while curial officials are generally made Cardinal Deacons. After a number of years a cardinal deacon can be “promoted” to the order of priests. Some cardinals in key positions, such as the Dean of the College or prefect of an important dicastery, are elevated to an open slot among the six Cardinal Bishops. There are seven cardinalatial titular dioceses, but the Dean always has two, Ostia and one other. There are also a four Cardinal Patriarchs of Eastern Churches, who rank in the College just after the Cardinal Bishops.
Here is a list of the new cardinals and their titles.
– Cardinal Fernando Filoni, diaconate of Nostra Signora di Coromoto in San Giovanni di Dio.
– Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro, diaconate of San Domenico di Guzman.
– Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, diaconate of San Ponziano.
– Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, diaconate of San Cesareo in Palatio.
– Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, diaconate of Santi Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia.
– Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, diaconate of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami.
– Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, diaconate of Sant’Elena fuori Porta Prenestina.
– Cardinal Edwin Frederick O’Brien, diaconate of San Sebastiano al Palatino.
– Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, diaconate of Annunciazione della Beata Vergine Maria a Via Ardeatina.
– Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, diaconate of Sacro Cuore di Gesu a Castro Pretorio.
– Cardinal George Alencherry, title of San Bernardo alle Terme.
– Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins, title of San Patrizio.
– Cardinal Dominik Jaroslav Duka, O.P., title of Santi Marcellino e Pietro.
– Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, title of San Callisto.
– Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, title of San Marcello.
– Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, title of Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario.
– Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, title of San Giovanni Maria Vianney.
– Cardinal John Tong Hon, title of Regina Apostolorum.
Over 80:
– Cardinal Lucian Muresan, title of Sant’Atanasio.
– Cardinal Julien Ries, diaconate of Sant’Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia.
– Cardinal Prosper Grech, O.S.A., diaconate of Santa Maria Goretti.
– Cardinal Karl Josef Becker, S.J., diaconate of San Giuliano Martire.
The ranking Cardinal Bishop is the Dean, Angelo Cardinal Sodano who has both Diocese of Albano and the Diocese of Ostia. The lowliest Cardinal Bishop is José Cardinal Saraiva Martins, C.M.F of Palestrina, though he can’t vote, which makes Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, S.D.B. of Frascati the lowliest Cardinal Bishop who is an elector. He is the Camerlengo.
The ranking Cardinal Priest is Eugênio Cardinal de Araújo Sales of the title S. Gregorio VII, though he is not an elector. The top ranking elector in the order of priests is Godfried Cardinal Danneels of the title S. Anastasia. The lowliest Cardinal Priest is Lucian Cardinal Muresan of the title Sant’Atanasio, though he is over 80. The lowliest Cardinal Priest elector is John Cardinal Tong Hon of the title Regina Apostolorum.
The ranking Cardinal Deacon is Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran of the diaconal church S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine. He is still an elector. That makes him the Protodeacon. He gets to announce the name of the newly elected Pope. The lowliest Cardinal Deacon is Karl Josef Cardinal Becker, S.J. of the diaconal church. He is over 80. The lowliest Cardinal Deacon who can vote is Giuseppe Cardinal Versaldi of the church Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio. If I remember correctly, as the lowliest deacon he seals or unseals the door of the conclave, or some such gesture.
Also, over at Catholic Hierarchy, today is the only day you will see these new Cardinals with zeros by their names for length of time they have been Cardinals.
UPDATE 18 Feb 17:58 GMT:
I received this from the person whose question sparked this entry:
I’m the guy who left a question about what to expect a few days back.
Turns out, I did go to the Extraordinary Form this morning. As people suggested, the thing most different was the level of silence as the priest silently prayed. I didn’t really follow along with the book that closely, instead reminding myself that the priest was praying for all of us present, and tried just to pay attention to the actions of the priest.
Another thing I enjoyed was how much more apparent the sacrificial nature of the Mass was in this form and the extended period of private prayer while the priest washed the vessels. Certainly, both forms complement each other well in various ways and have their own purposes in the Church. I am glad to be more familiar with this way of prayer, used by countless previous generations.
I just thought you would like to know.
ORIGINAL POST:
A reader asked:
I am thinking about attending my first EF Mass this Sunday at a church near my home. I was wondering what I can expect to be really different from OF (besides the language, of course). What can I “expect” to be surprised by? Are there any resources to prepare me for the experience?
I hope you do go.
I have several entries here already which might be helpful
Let the New Evangelization begin!
Anyone want to chime in?
What can our friend expect? Have some personal experiences?
I ask that this NOT be a discussion thread.
Do NOT therefore engage each other’s comments. Let people comment freely without fearing that others will tear them apart.
USE the social media tags, above.
I felt a bit physically sick as I read this whole thing. I give only a part of it, below.
Part of what makes me sick is the manifest death of reason together with ethics. It seems that liberal politicians today are wicked and, in many cases, fools. They they are foolish for because they “reason” that the number of people or institutions which do X or Y provides the justification for X or Y. And they are wicked because they have no interest in anything objective. They are interested only in their agenda.
From the Cardinal Newman Society:
I Hold in My Hand the Names of 20 Catholic Colleges that Cover Contraception
In a scene reminiscent of anti-communist Congressman Joseph McCarthy holding in his hands a fraudulent list of names of communist spies in an effort to silence his political opposition, Rep. Elijah Cummings [D-MD, a Baptist] submitted a list of Catholic colleges in twenty states that already provide contraceptive coverage during a hearing on religious liberty yesterday. [Even if the list is correct, that doesn’t change the basis issue: this is the Obama Administration telling the Church what to do.]
In closing out his question and answer with The Catholic University of America President John Garvey, who said that Catholic colleges couldn’t violate their conscience by providing contraceptive coverage, Rep. Cummings countered by submitting into the record his list.
After repeated calls to Cummings’ office and the Committee of Government Oversight and Reform, The Cardinal Newman Society learned that Rep. Cummings obtained the list from the pro-abortion National Women’s Law Center.
The Cardinal Newman Society has obtained that list and looked into it to see whether it stood up to scrutiny.
It seems that many of the colleges on that list provide contraceptive coverage in states that mandate they do so. So, in short, the politicians in those states forced colleges to provide contraceptive coverage, and then the politicians on the federal level use the fact that they’re providing it as evidence that it’s okay for others to do the same.
It’s worth noting as well that many of the colleges on the list provide contraceptive coverage but not for reasons of birth control and only when medically necessary, like the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the University of Dallas and the University of Notre Dame, among others.
[…]
It seems some Catholic institutions have been given a lot of leeway by the bishops in recent decades. That leeway is now being used as a weapon against the bishops to curb religious liberty.
The President of The Cardinal Newman Society Patrick Reilly was quoted in an interview with Reuters talking about exactly this:
“This really highlights the elephant in the room,” said Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, which works with colleges to strengthen their Catholic identities. “It is absolutely a wake up call.”
That wake up call may begin what Reuters called a “crackdown” on wayward Catholic institutions. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport acknowledged to reporters that, “I’m sure there’s going to be some discussion about that.”
But for Rep. Cummings to use that list as a cudgel to discredit the testimony of CUA President John Garvey is simply disingenuous.
Now, to be fair, the list must also make some Catholics wonder why this admirable fight for religious liberty didn’t take place years ago, when states began mandating contraceptive coverage. Shouldn’t many of these Catholic schools have battled against their state legislatures in the same way many colleges are battling the federal mandate now?
There’s the analogy of the frog in boiling water, and it seems that Catholics are wading in some pretty hot water right now as they prepare a strong defense of religious liberty. Let’s just hope it isn’t too late.
What do we do?
The immediate thing we can do is to call the offices of our representatives and senators and tell them what we think about issues.
We can inform ourselves and vote intelligently.
We must pray and fast and even give alms for the sake of the country, in preparation for the sufferings to come, and even for the removal of those in office who endanger our religious liberty.
Lent is coming.
We need to join our spiritual disciplines and physical mortifications to prayers.
Our problems must be tackled with grace and elbow grease.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
A Daily Prayer for Priests
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