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.

Posted in Brick by Brick, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , ,
10 Comments

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.

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

Posted in Just Too Cool, Linking Back | Tagged ,
32 Comments

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.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged
Comments Off on NYT: liberals massaging liberals over the new, corrected translation

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.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
9 Comments

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.

Posted in New Evangelization, WDTPRS | Tagged , ,
6 Comments

We do not know the day or the hour.

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We do not know the day or the hour.

I had seen this video before, but Patrick Madrid posted it on his page.

It reminds me of in our Latin Church we sometimes pray about living amidst the vicissitudes of this world.

It reminds me that we as Catholic pray in the petitions of the Litany of Saints to be preserved from a sudden and unprovided death.

This is a video of the tsunami which struck Japan a month ago.

Warning: The last couple minutes are hard to watch.

[wp_youtube]8vZR0Rq1Rfw[/wp_youtube]

Life is not CGI, friends.  Bad things happen to nice people who are going about life just like you.

As this Lent continues, ask yourself the questions:

  • Are you ready now to go before the Lord your Maker and your Judge?
  • Have you helped those for whom you are responsible to be ready?
  • When was the last time you made a good and complete confession of your sins and received valid absolution?

“But Father! But Father!”, some of you may be saying now.  “Are you trying to scare us?  Shouldn’t we go to confession out of love and not fear?”

Yes, I am trying to scare you.  I want to scare the hell out of you.

Going to confession for the higher purpose of expressing sorrow for violating God’s love is laudable.  But going to confession because you are afraid of hell and because you know your life could end at any moment is enough.   If I can get you out of your complacence and into a confessional even out of fear, fine.  I take that.

I’ll take the fear now for a confession. We can work on the love part brick by brick.

Priests… bishops… this includes you.  Your judgment … our judgment… is going to be exacting, for so much more has been given.  “I don’t have time” isn’t a good plan.  Just go.  Die in the state of mortal sin and you’ll go to hell.

On that note, I see also that, as I write, A G1-class geomagnetic storm is in progress, sparked by a high-speed solar wind stream which is buffeting Earth’s magnetic field.

High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.  For more see Space Weather.

Posted in Global Killer Asteroid Questions, Look! Up in the sky!, The future and our choices | Tagged , , ,
32 Comments

QUAERITUR: Mephitidae

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

QUAERITUR: MephitidaeFrom a reader:

Father,

I have read with interest your posts on Mice in the Rectory. Now, perhaps you have something for Skunks under the Farmhouse.

Our air-conditioner repairman just informed us that we have a family of skunks residing under our 100+ year old farmhouse. He had to go through the crawlspace to fix the overflow drain pipe and saw them in a corner which is probably right under the dining room. (!)

The exterminator will be out tomorrow, but he says the only way to get rid of them is to trap them when they come out, but that could take weeks as each one is trapped and then disposed of.

QUAERITUR: Do you have a “potent” prayer for getting skunks to come out from under the house and into the waiting trap – without spraying everything and everyone?

I can understand why you would want to avoid going in after them, with the usual mephitic consequence.

A prayer?   I think the imprecatory prayer mentioned in regard to rats could work with adaptations.  I think skunk is a viverra putorius.

Otherwise, to get them to go on their own…. could you get someone to announce a Synod?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged ,
12 Comments

REVIEW: Letters to an Altar Boy (Angelus Press)

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

REVIEW: Letters to an Altar Boy (Angelus Press)The publishing arm of the SSPX has reprinted a 1952 work by Fr. David E. Rosage, Letters to an Altar Boy (reprint 2011).

The thin book begins with a quote from Rev. Thomas O’Donnell, CSC (Director of the Knights of the Altar):

Any lad who read this book is bound to be better and to have a better understanding of the great privilege that is his.

The book is laid out well and there are recent color photos which nevertheless could have been from 1952.

REVIEW: Letters to an Altar Boy (Angelus Press)

The idea of the book is clear: give boys a sense of the importance of what they are called to do, the honor there is in being able to do it, and then to conform their lives to that as an identity.  It stresses things that boys resonate with: belonging to a group, doing clearly spelled out tasks, doing something important, making sacrifices, being loyal, advancing to new duties, etc.

Along the pages many important issues are addressed, such as being of good character and reliable, tidy, pure in heart, avoiding filthy language.  There are practical points, such as making sure your hands are clean, your shoes are shined.  There is even a short list of the four brushes:  scrub brush, shoe brush, hair brush, tooth brush!

There are practical pointers about what to do with your hands when you serve, making a thanksgiving after Mass, keeping silent, seeing Mary as the mother of altar boys…

I found this book charming. I actually have a touch of envy for boys and men who grew up in the culture that could still produce such a book.  Of course it wasn’t perfect, but it was a bit more connected to what really matters.  And one of the best things about this book is that it acknowledges time and time again that you may not be a perfect boy, but you can always try to be the very best at what you do, and be virtuous and faithful as you grew up, taking those same lessons into manhood and, perhaps, the seminary if that is your calling.

In the last few decades there has been such a horrible war on boys.

Finally, it must be said that this book has nothing to do with altar girls.  No-thing.

Parents.  Have boys?  Go to the other form of Mass?  Are some of them servers?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, REVIEWS, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged ,
23 Comments

WDTPRS: Writing in your books

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

WDTPRS: Writing in your booksI love books.  I enjoy and use books (cf. utor and fruor).  I might actually have too many books.

(Hmmm… Possible?)

I also write in books.

I write in my own books, occasionally, depending on the book.   I often read with pen or pencil in hand… again, depending on the book.  For example: I have often filled the margins of books on theological issues, or poetry, or contemporary issues, or novels…. or … cook books… ummmm… okay… nearly any book on anything.

I wasn’t always this way.  But, as I get older, I write in books more and more.  Also, some books don’t have adequate indices.  I compensate for the defect by notes in the margins and even making my own index in the back.  Ignatius Press is a real culprit for books with this dire flaw, btw.

Pros?  Cons?

What do you do?

Select your best answer and then add a comment.

I know that this may be as controversial as the infamous “Gins & Tonic?” question some years ago, but try not to come to fisticuffs.

Writing in books you own.

View Results

Loading ...
Posted in POLLS, The Drill | Tagged ,
73 Comments

Atlas Shrugged – book discussion as the movie comes out

Posted on 12 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Atlas Shrugged - book discussion as the movie comes outToday I noticed on Twitter that a movie based on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is soon to be released.  At least the first part of the book in the first installment of the movie.

And it’s pronounced like the letter “I” with an “n” tacked on.

By coincidence, I am in the midst of rereading it.   Boy… did she need an editor.  Her endless descriptions of meaningful looks and more than likely some personal fantasies make some sections real “page turners”, and not in the good sense.

That said, I think Atlas Shrugged is one of those books we should all have read at some point.  Given the fact that the movie seems to be coming soon, it might be hard to get it from the library.  But you also could find it at a used bookstore… and through Amazon by that link I gave above.

Keep in mind that her main accomplishment is her ability to make the unwary or slightly-informed reader feel superior to every one else he knows or meets.  Thus, for young people, this book can produce bothersome results…. for a long time.

And… it is uncanny how some of the economic and social lines of the plot describe our own time.  And given that it was written in the 50’s, it has some pretty good science fiction riffs.

I had read Ayn Rand’s book when I was in my first year of university and was – in my youthful way – impressed by her notions concerning excellence and her criticism of altruism. Her “objectivism” is … interesting.  Interesting … in the way we Minnesotans often use the word.

There is something flawed at the heart of her thought, however.  I can still resonate with her fierce blasting of cringing altruism, the self-satisfied sort.  I can still resonate with her exaltation of the excellent.

That said… aside from the objectivism and some of her more turgid prose, her book reads as film noir ought to feel.

Given that this movie is coming out soon, it would be interesting to have some discussion here about Atlas Shrugged from an informed Catholic perspective.

The first thing one has to get past, of course, is her near reduction of the divine to the human and exaltation of the human to nearly godlike status.

Come to think of it, how else could her characters pick up 20 different thoughts and conflicting emotions from the mere side-long glimpse of the side of the face of a person across a room. C’mon Ayn.

Thoughts?

UPDATE:

My friend Greg DiPippo alerted us in the combox, below, to the Youtube video of Wm. F. Buckley interviewed on Atlas Shrugged.

[wp_youtube]5KmPLkiqnO8[/wp_youtube]

Also, I found the trailer to the new film, part 1.   It is very slick and updated.  I wish it was more of a 1950’s period piece in the film noir style it deserves.

[wp_youtube]6W07bFa4TzM[/wp_youtube]

And do read Acton Institute’s comment on the new film: Atlas Shrugged – See the Movie, Skip the Book.

UPDATE:

An essay on the not exactly conservative Salon called How Ayn Rand ruined my childhood.

My parents split up when I was 4. My father, a lawyer, wrote the divorce papers himself and included one specific rule: My mother was forbidden to raise my brother and me religiously. She agreed, dissolving Sunday church and Bible study with one swift signature. Mom didn’t mind; she was agnostic and knew we didn’t need religion to be good people. But a disdain for faith wasn’t the only reason he wrote God out of my childhood. There was simply no room in our household for both Jesus Christ and my father’s one true love: Ayn Rand.

[…]

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , ,
40 Comments