Office of Readings for Bl. John Paul II available

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Latin texts of the Office for Bl. John Paul II for the Liturgia Horarum are now posted on the Vatican website.

Latin

English

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“But… for Wales?”

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is fascinating.  NCFishwrap is urging support of one of their darlings, the Hon. Doug Kmiec, Attorney General for Wales…. er um… Ambassador to Malta.  You will remember that Amb. Kmiec argued that Catholics could vote for pro-abortion candidates.  Amb. Kmiec now receives his paycheck from Pres. Obama and Sec. Hillary Clinton.

Therefore the support from Fishwrap, which supports the merger of big government and big abortion.

Has Douglas Kmiec been muzzled?
by Joe Ferullo on Apr. 13, 2011

He was one of President Obama’s earliest supporters among the Catholic intellectual community [catholic] — but Douglas Kmiec now finds himself in a battle with Obama’s State Department. [awwww]

According to columnist Tim Rutten in The Los Angeles Times, Kmiec has been muzzled in his role as Ambassador to Malta. He’s done an impressive job by all accounts, [From all accounts?  Like this one?] strengthening ties with a strategically important and conservatively Cathoic [sic] country.

But the problem is, apparently, Kmiec’s faith — or at least his desire to “go public” about his faith.

Kmiec, a former dean of the Catholic University of America law school, argues that one key reason he was brought into the administration by Obama was so that he could continue his work promoting interfaith initiatives. But the diplomatic bureaucracy has its rules, yes it does — and has demanded Kmiec stop all “outside writings.”

According to Rutten, the State Department even heavily edited a memorial piece he wrote upon his father’s death for the Jesuit magazine America. [What a surprise!]

Obama worked long and hard during the 2008 campaign to show himself a friend of the faithful — and break the Democratic image of a party hostile to believers. [NB] Kmiec’s support was an important part of that push.

Obama now needs to step in, along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and support the man who has supported them. And there is a larger question at play here, too: does becoming a diplomat mean turning in your rights to free speech and religion?

Qui cum canibus concumbit, surgit cum pulicibus.

It has the markings of a tragedy, doesn’t it?

Don’t worry, Amb. Kmiec.   This isn’t Spain, this is… the Obama Administration!

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Linking Back, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged , ,
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A note of thanks

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am particularly grateful to the participants who wrote to tell me that, because of one of the entries here, they determined to make a good confession.

It is nice to know that

Whatever else this blog produces, it it serves to move a single soul to seek the sacrament of penance, it will have been worth the time and effort.

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Former Congressman Bart Stupak, stupaks again.

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Remember the verb “to stupak”?

This is in from Catholic Vote:

His tears have turned to smiles with bigger paydays.

Formerly principled former Congressman Bart Stupak, being a “former” congressman, has decided to cash in.

Now he’s a partner with a lobbyist law firm that has as one of its clients Planned Parenthood of Maryland.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged ,
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Another reason for a govt. shut down and the Closing of National Parks

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Hugh Hewitt‘s blog.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Posted by: Hugh Hewitt at 8:40 AM

Because it ought all to be Yellowstone alarmism.  When this wakes up, and it will, the world will know climate change.  May it be another 100,000 years from now, but it could be much sooner.

Yellowstone

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Scotland’s Bishops to deploy the new, corrected translation in September

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My emphases in this story from CNA:

Glasgow, Scotland, Apr 12, 2011 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- Scotland’s bishops have become the latest to give their backing to the new English translation of the Roman Missal. The bishops said the new translation would gradually be introduced, beginning on Sept. 4.

“(W)e welcome the opportunity this affords to renew our faith in the Eucharist and in all aspects of its celebration,” Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll & the Isles, head of the bishops’ liturgy commission, said in a statement to Scottish priests.

“Ours is a strong and very real faith in what happens at Mass and it is appropriate that the robust words used in Latin to express the human reality and our need for the Lord’s redeeming mercy are translated accordingly in English,” he added.

Bishop Toal said the new translation returns to “older, more traditional terminology.”

“This is particularly the case with regard to the words which encourage us never to lose sight of the unity between Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and the Holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist, in which the Lord’s self-offering is made present for us in the sacrament of his Body and Blood,” he said.

The Scottish Church plans to deploy resources to priests, including DVDs and websites, to help them adapt to the changes.

The move comes as priests in some countries are threatening to boycott the new translation.

[…]

If people don’t like the new, corrected translation, they can just use Latin.

Just.Use.Latin.

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22 October: a new feast day and an old feast day!

Posted on 13 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A long-time participant here just pointed out to me in my email that the new feast day designated for Bl. John Paul II, 22 October, is also the feast of Sts. Nunilo and Alodia!

Nunilio and Alodia were 9th c. virgin martyrs in Huesca, Spain.  They were born to a Muslim father and Christian mother.  They chose their mother’s Christianity.

During the Emirate of Abd ar-Rahman II they were first put in a brothel and then were executed as apostates according to Sharia law.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Linking Back | Tagged ,
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NYT: liberals massaging liberals over the new, corrected translation

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have dozens of emails alerting me to the fact that Hell’s Bible (aka The New York Times) ran an A1 page story by the always objective Laurie Goodstein about the new, corrected English translation and… this will shock you… those who object to it!

The Decrepit Lady hit the usual benchmarks for any article on the Church, which includes a bias in favor of liberals with a few tokens touched just to say they are fair.

The New York Times on the new translation.  Imagine the combox.

This was another chance for readers of that paper to receive another does of back-patting self-affirmation.

But here is a hermeneutic to use if you do read the piece and look at the combox.

From Bill Donohue of The Catholic League:

What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church? Let’s face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago.

Irritate some liberals.

  • Subscribe to The Catholic Herald and The Wanderer and The Remnant.
  • Attend a TLM and bring a friend.
  • Buy Pope Benedict’s book Jesus of Nazareth.
  • Drop donations in my box on the side bar.
  • Buy lots of Mystic Monk Coffee…. or tea.
  • Pray the Rosary for an increase in vocations to the male-only priesthood.
  • Support organizations like Courage and Priests For Life.
  • Convince a friend to drop the New York Times.

I am sure you can come up with a few of your own.

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Another verminous blog entry, brought to you by… Adam and Eve

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

… and spring.

Since I have had posts on rats in rectories and skunks under houses, let’s have another one in which we can reflect on our mortal state and the fact that Eve tried the apple, and got Adam to do the same.

From And Sometimes Tea… which you can now buy from the Carmelites in Wyoming, in case you didn’t know.

Today, just to prove how a Monday can be, we had bugs start dropping from the ceiling. Freaky, earwig-like bugs. Except they had wings, twice as long as their bodies, and antennae that did not have a bend in them.

They were coming from a couple of vents, one in the girls’ bathroom [I’ll bet that went well.] and one in the living room. We vacuumed up bugs at twenty-minute intervals while waiting for the pest control guy to come by.

He came by as his last appointment of the day, around five p.m. He gave us the bad news: termites.

[…]

Commiserate with them over at And Sometimes Tea… and then buy some tea from the Mystic Monks.

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WDTPRS Tuesday 5th Week of Lent: bittersweet

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

COLLECT
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
perseverantem in tua voluntate famulatum,
ut in diebus nostris
et merito et numero populus tibi serviens augeatur.

In the Tridentinum and in the 1962 Roman Missal this prayer is listed for Tuesday after Passion Sunday as the Oratio super populum.  It also has roots in the Gelasian.

The verb famulor gives us famulatus, which in the Lewis & Short means “servitude, slavery”.  In Blaise/Chirat there is an additional meaning, which is predictable, “service de Dieu, dévotion” attested to by, for example, St. Augustine of Hippo (cf. conf 10.35.56).

LAME-DUCK ICEL:
Lord,
Help us to do you will
that your Church may grow
and become more faithful in your service.

7 months… 12 days….

SLAVISHLY LITERAL TRANSLATION
Grant us, we beg, O Lord,
persevering service in Your will,
so that in our days
the people serving You may be increased both in merit and in number.

NEW CORRECTED ICEL:
Grant us, we pray, O Lord,
perseverance in obeying your will,
that in our days the people dedicated to your service
may grow in both merit and number.

My instant reaction to this prayer is rather bittersweet.

The Church’s shifting demographics in wealthy countries reveals that, while more people may be identifying themselves as Catholic, the percentage of Catholics going to Mass remains steady or is falling.

This means that we are going backward.

Also, in European countries which were once Catholic countries, such as Italy, the birth rate is far below replacement rate.  Yet “Eur-Arabia” is swiftly multiplying.  Contraception and abortion is killing off one dimension of the life of the Church.

The forces of the “Prince of this world” do prevail, will prevail in some places.

Pope Benedict has called for a “New Evangelization”.

How is that going to happen?

While Our Lord promised that “the gate of Hell” would not ultimately prevail, He did not promise they would not prevail in some places, such as the United States or Europe…. or your home town.

We can take an example from the fate of North Africa, the land of the great St. Augustine.  Where there was a powerful, vital and thriving Church, to which we in the modern world are so indebted, there are now… well… not much.  The word famulatus is rooted in the ancient Oscan word faama.  In its root, this word for service derives from the house or household and the extended relationships within a household.

The prayer’s force turns on the ut with the subjunctive.  Our increase in merit and number depends on our perseverance in dedicated service to God’s will not our will.  Rather, our will also insofar as it is in conformity with God’s will.

Even our ability to persevere is a grace given to us by God.

He begins good things in us and, when we chose to cooperate, He makes us strong enough to bring to completion what He began in us.

A lot of work is to be done to bring people back to regular use of the sacraments.  Perhaps the new, corrected translations around the world will help.

I am convinced they will help only if they are accompanied by a reclamation of our liturgical traditions.  There are many elements which must be refitted so as to bring about a healthy organic whole.

We need a sound and widespread liturgical catechesis as part of a larger effort to present and instill a Catholic identity in many of the last two generations who know nothing of their Church, what she teaches or who she really is.

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