ALERT! Introduction in House of Reps. of “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” WDTPRS POLL!

I understand that there is a vote in the House of Representatives tomorrow which concerns the repeal of the pro-abortion “Obamacare” legislation as well as the introduction of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”

If you have a strong feeling about this, perhaps you would call your congressional representative.

You may have other ways of contacting your representative, but I found this link from the Susan B. Anthony List to be helpful.   All you need to do is type in your zipcode and you will find the phone number of your rep in congress.  Also, there are some talking points.   You could use those or others.

You would do well to call before 5 pm EST.

If you are not in the habit of calling your Representative, you might give it a shot.  They have to be re-elected every two years.  The people who their respectful wishes known get some attention.

It only take a few minutes.  It could make a difference with some representatives, especially those who think they have “cover” from other Catholics to be pro-abortion.

Note: You do not have to registered on this blog to be able to vote in the poll below.

Did you call your representative about this issue?

View Results

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, POLLS, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged , , ,
Comments Off on ALERT! Introduction in House of Reps. of “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” WDTPRS POLL!

For your consideration

I am sure that the readership here would prefer to have Catholic blogs make a good showing in the Bloggers’ Choice Award for this year.

Would you take a moment to vote for WDTPRS?  We may be the Catholic with a chance to come out on top.  Perhaps other bloggers could lend a hand.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
Comments Off on For your consideration

A request for prayers: Robert Crouse – R.I.P.

Robert CrouseA favor please.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Rev. Robert Crouse, a priest of the Church of Canada (Episcopalian/Anglican) who was a friend.

I met him years ago at the Augustinianum in Rome where he taught as a visiting professor.

Prof. Crouse taught for a long time at King’s/Dalhousie in Halifax, NS, in the Classics Department.  His former students speak of him always in glowing terms.

Robert was a great scholar, a fine musician, brilliant educator, excellent cook, and one of the finest gentlemen I have ever met.

He shared my apartment in Rome for a semester while he was teaching there.  In the evenings I would prepare the first course, he the second, and then we read Dante’s Divine Comedy from beginning to end, a few cantos a night, I reading in Italian with facing page translations, and he commenting and explaining.  He was a great expert on Dante, and also on John Scotus Eriugena.  He helped me with my first thesis as well.  We also traveled around looking at Romanesque churches, sometime way out in the countryside so that we nearly needed hayricks to reach them.  It was he who spurred my love of that style of architecture.

Robert Crouse is one of those men for whom I have little worry as far as the after life is concerned.

But we who are still in this vale of tears must never presume.

We must constantly implore God’s mercy for the souls of those who have died and He will dispose all according to His will.

Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Robert Crouse, who died recently.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
29 Comments

England and Wales will use new translation in September, not December

The UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald, has a story stating that…

New Mass translation to be used in parishes from September

By Mark Greaves

The new English translation of the Order of Mass will be used in parishes in England and Wales from September, it was announced today. [I wonder if that will be the case elsewhere.  The text has been finalized, so there is hardly any reason not to allow implementation of the new translation.  This is the internet age, a time when we can print out texts at every parish.]

The bishops’ conference said it would be introduced into parishes three months before the new Missal is published in Advent and would thus provide an opportunity for “in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist and renewed devotion in the manner of its celebration”. [Doesn’t that imply that the intense catechesis should start before September?]

The bishops also announced the creation of a website and a DVD to prepare the faithful for the transition.

They confirmed that the new Roman Missal was complete and that the Holy See had given its recognitio.

Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), which drafted the new text, said it was “a tremendous opportunity for the Church in England and Wales to learn about our faith and the Mass”. [Yes, so long as priests make the effort.]

The bishop said: “The new translation is a great gift to the Church. The Mass is at the heart of what the Church is, it is where we deepen our faith in Christ and are nourished by him so that we can glorify the Lord by our lives.

“In the new translation we find a text that is more faithful to the Latin text and therefore a text which is richer in its theological content and allusions to the scriptures but also a translation which, I believe, will move people’s hearts and minds in prayer.”  [What, pray tell, is wrong with that?   The new translation is not perfect.  No one has claimed that it is.  ANY translation would still require explanation (=catechesis).  But, for the love of God, let’s jettison the lame-duck translation disaster as soon as possible and get on with it.]

The bishop said he hoped people would use resources provided by the bishops’ conference to prepare for the new translation.

He cited a DVD produced by ICEL, called Become One Body One Spirit in Christ, which has already been sent out to parishes. It features six hours of footage of experts talking about various aspects of the Mass. Bishop Roche said it would help people “uncover the riches that the Eucharist offers us”.

We truly need intense catechesis.

But we need that catechesis because, frankly, we need catechesis, not just because we are getting a new translation.

UPDATE: 2102 GMT:

I learned from Fr. Finigan (who was kind enough to link back here) that the Missal in England will be… well.. here… let him say it:

The CTS website shows A first glimpse of the new Roman Missal with the above photo of a dummy version without any printing or gold blocking on the cover. This paragraph warmed my heart:

Beauty and Practicality
CTS is working with highly-skilled printers and binders in Italy to ensure a high quality of craftsmanship in the finished volume. The choice of paper, binding, marker ribbons and leather page tabs has been made to ensure ease of use and durability over many years.

For the interior, colour illustrations have been sourced from medieval illustrated manuscripts, and decorative elements from skilled contemporary artists and from volumes in the British Library.

Here is the photo:

CTS Roman Missal

Posted in WDTPRS | Tagged ,
21 Comments

Vidi on VIS

This is from VIS:

– Appointed Rev. Keith Newton as first ordinary of the new Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the territory of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Rev. Newton was born in Liverpool, England in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1976 for the Anglican diocese of Chelmsford. In March 2002 he was ordained as suffragan bishop of Richborough.

Notice anything odd about that?

How extraordinary, as my friends across the pond would say.

Fr. Keith Newton was ordained a priest in Westminster Cathedral on 15 January, for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  No?

Sure, an announcement can’t say everything about a man’s life, include every point in his CV, and sure, there is a specification of “Anglican” in the announcement above, but… perhaps I am being too touchy… would it have been out of place to mention that he was ordained a Catholic priest at some point?  Or… is this an instance of the “bella figura” bone in someone’s head kicking in?  Are they trying to avoid the “heri catechumenus hodie pontifex” thing.  Dunno.

It just stuck me as …. odd.

By the way… have you ever noticed that VIS has a combox?   I suspect the powers-that-be would rather be eaten alive by wild swamp rats than publish comments, but… somebody reads them.

Posted in The Drill |
26 Comments

Common Sense and Mutual Enrichment

I have spoken lately of music, that is, the Sanctus divided Benedictus and the silent recitation of the Roman Canon.  I even dealt with it in my last PODCAzT (here).

With a brotherly tip of the biretta to His Hermeneuticalness o{]:¬)   I refer you again back to the blog of Fr. Hunwicke for a note about the 1st Mass of Fr. Andrew Burnham of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Thus, Fr. Hunwicke:

We had examples of what the American blogosphere now calls Common Sense and Mutual Enrichment. Sanctus covered the (silent) first half of the Canon Romanus and Benedictus the second half; we were spared those horrid ‘Acclamations’ after the Consecration. At the Invitation to Communion, Bishop Andrew continued his custom of using the New ICEL translation of Ecce Agnus Dei.

Anglicanorum coetibus and Summorum Pontificum thus converge.

Benedict XVI is the Pope Christian Unity.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , , ,
7 Comments

Quando si chiude una porta si apre un portone.

Our friends over at Rorate have picked up on something I suggested here, and I am sure many others have thought of as well.

The beautiful Ushaw Seminary in northern England is slated to be closed.  That belongs to the “it’s a damn shame” category of what is going on these days.  Take a look at the place.

The new Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walshingham needs a home, a point of reference, decent digs.

Hmmm… what to do… what to do….

If only there were some sort of…. I don’t know…

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , ,
11 Comments

Christian leaders against deviant activists ‘hijacking’ Martin Luther King

What did Martin Luther King really say?

He didn’t, and wouldn’t, say that there was a moral equivalence between skin color and deviant inclinations.

From CNA with my emphases and comments:

Christian leaders rally against gay activists ‘hijacking’ Martin Luther King legacy
By Kevin J. Jones

Atlanta, Ga., Jan 17, 2011 / 02:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On the observance of Martin Luther King Day, African-American leaders noted the slain civil rights figure’s Christian position on cultural issues like abortion and sexual ethics. Illinois religious and political leaders also organized to challenge the “hijacking” of the civil rights movement by homosexual political activists.

Dr. Alveda King, full-time director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and King’s niece, cited her uncle’s advice columns written for Ebony magazine in 1957 and 1958.

“In advising men and women on questions of personal behavior 50 years ago, Uncle Martin sounded no different than a conservative Christian preacher does now,” she commented. “He was pro-life, pro-abstinence before marriage, and based his views on the unchanging Word of the Bible. Today, Planned Parenthood would condemn Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as part of the ‘religious right’.

King reported that one of her uncle’s columns concerned a young man who had impregnated his girlfriend and refused to marry her, resulting in a “crime,” a euphemism for abortion. Martin Luther King, Jr. advised the man that he had made a “mistake.”

He also urged another reader to abstain from premarital sex, saying that such activity was contributing to “the present breakdown of the family.”

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man of peace, justice, and most of all a man of God,” Alveda King continued, suggesting that he would be working today to secure justice for those in the womb endangered by abortion.

In Hillside, Illinois more than 40 African-American religious and political leaders gathered on Jan. 17 at Freedom Baptist Church to lament the misrepresentation of King’s legacy. [Here it comes…] During the Illinois House debate on the issue of civil unions for homosexuals, two backers of the proposal compared same-sex “marriage” to interracial marriage.

[Bogus] Comparisons between homosexual rights and civil rights have become increasingly common in recent decades. In its own Martin Luther King Day message, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s executive director Rea Carey also [crassly] invoked the leader.

“We believe that were he alive today, Dr. King would be standing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as we too reach for equality,” she said. [and returned to her hallucinogenic mushrooms.]

However, the press conference of African-American leaders in Illinois challenged this view. Its announcement denied that opposition to discrimination based on “immutable, non-behavioral, morally neutral condition like race” was equivalent to an effort to “normalize and institutionalize deviant sexual relations.

David Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, was of a similar view.

Skin color is not analogous to behavior,” he said.

Homosexual activists and their allies are advancing their subversive moral and political goals by hijacking the rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy,” [Well put.] the Institute said in a press release. It said attempts to associate “philosophical conservatives” with racism and bigotry constituted intimidation.

“We shouldn’t allow the exploitation of the legacy of Dr. King to be exploited for the destructive purposes of the movement to normalize homosexuality and demonize traditional moral beliefs.”

A similar press conference was scheduled to take place in East St. Louis.

Posted in Throwing a Nutty | Tagged ,
49 Comments

Continence and married deacons/priests

Yet another about deacons.  This would also concern priests in the Latin Church who, as married ministers in other churches, were received into the Roman Church and ordained.

A few days ago distinguished canonist Ed Peters posted on his fine blog an entry about CIC 1983 277, which concerns clerical “continence”.

I particularly liked his statment:

Canon 277 (and the immemorial tradition behind it) either means what I say it means, or it doesn’t.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines “continence”:

Continence may be defined as abstinence from even the licit gratifications of marriage. It is a form of the virtue of temperance, though Aristotle did not accord it this high character since it involved a conflict with wrong desires–an element, in the mind of the philosopher, foreign to the content of a virtue in the strict sense. Continence, it is seen, has a more restricted significance than chastity, since the latter finds place in the condition of marriage. The abstinence we are discussing, then, belongs to the state of celibacy, though clearly the notion of this latter does not necessarily involve that of continence.

Prof. Peters has stirred up the ant hill, for sure.

Now he has posted: “Why Canon 277 § 3 does not allow bishops to exempt clerics from the obligation of continence

I shall carefully watch the unfolding drama.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged , ,
90 Comments

REVIEW: 2011 Angelus Press Calendar

The kind folks at Angelus Press sent me again this year their wall calendar.

ordination

This year the calendar features beautiful photos of the illicit but valid ordinations to the priesthood of some of their members, and, it appears, a benedictine monk (at least a religious with hair shaved in the “corona”).

The photos take you through the main points of the older form of ordination, showing some things that are now, sadly, missing.  They should be restored, in my opinion.  I digress.

The days show indications for fasting.

I look forward to the day that when men who are ordained to the SSPX they will be able to exercise their priestly functions licitly, side by side with the Church’s priests, and they will contribute as well to the restoration of so much that we have lost, particularly in our Catholic worship.

In the meantime, nice calendar.

Posted in REVIEWS | Tagged , ,
23 Comments