After Nobel to Liu Xiaobo, repression of other dissidents

Posted on 13 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Asia News:

After Nobel to Liu Xiaobo, repression of other dissidents

The government is concerned that, spurred on by the prestigious award, Chinese human rights activists will organize new protests or demonstrations. Police unleash a wave of arrests and round the clock surveillance on virtually every “sensitive” home. Meanwhile, Liu Xia, wife of the author of Charter ’08, complains: “My house arrest is illegal.”

Beijing (AsiaNews) – The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, a university professor and author of the democratic manifesto Charter 08, has unleashed a wave of repression against human rights activists in China. According to Chinese Human Rights Defender, police are currently holding at least a dozen people in detention or under house arrest: the government fears demonstrations in support of Liu and his wife, Liu Xia, currently illegally detained under house arrest.

The security officials are guarded the house of Liu in the last days, has increased considerably the number of policemen around the building. The police also follows the well-known constitutional expert Zhang Zuhua, who is accompanied in each shift. On 12 October, the activist in Beijing Fan Yafen was blocked by guards in the house: it had to give an interview. Currently, more than 20 agents are monitoring him.

On 11 October, even lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who defends the human rights activists, was put under house arrest. Zhou Tuo, a Democrat, is one of the “four gentlemen of Tiananmen”; since October 9 he has been under house arrest and no contact has been made with him. But the repression has not remained confined to Beijing on 11 October in Deyang, Sichuan province, the activist Li Yu was detained and interrogated. Her crime is to have texted some friends to celebrate the new Nobel Laureate. The police ordered her “not to organize anything.”

Also in Sichuan the police have the houses of Mu Jiayu and Li Guohong, in Chongqing, under surveillance since the announcement of the prize. On October 12, Chen Yunfei was brought home after he tried to reach other dissidents. Liao Shuangyuan and Wu Yuqin, members of the Forum for Human Rights in Guizhou, disappeared on 8 October, they were in Beijing to attend a dinner in honour of Liu Xiaobo, when they were stopped by police. Wang Sen, a democracy activist from Sichuan, is under house arrest.

Meanwhile, Liu Xia has protested against the “illegal arrest” that the Chinese authorities have imposed on her in a message posted on Twitter. “I protest strongly against the government which has actually put me under house arrest illegally.” A few hours ago Xia Liu said, also on Twitter,  that Chinese authorities have stopped her meeting a Norwegian diplomatic delegation who came to check on her conditions of detention in her home in Beijing. The U.S. and European Union have called on Beijing to grant the woman freedom of movement.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Helmet

Posted on 13 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Just too cool… from artdaily.com.

Ancient Roman parade helmetRoman Bronze Helmet, Found with a Metal Detector, to Be Offered at Christie’s

LONDON.- The auction of Antiquities on 7 October at Christie’s  South Kensington will offer an exceptional survival from Roman Britain discovered by a metal detectorist. Discovered in Cumbria, in May 2010, the Crosby Garrett Helmet dates from the late 1st-2nd Century A.D. and is one of only three comparable examples ever to have been discovered in the United Kingdom complete with face-mask in the last 250 years. It will be on public display for the first time at the King Street salerooms from 14 September and again at South Kensington from 2 to 6 October before being offered at auction on 7 October where it is estimated to realise £200,000 to £300,000.

Georgiana Aitken, Head of Antiquities at Christie’s, London: “This helmet is the discovery of a lifetime for a metal detectorist. When it was initially brought to Christie’s and I examined it at first-hand, I saw this extraordinary face from the past staring back at me and I could scarcely believe my eyes. This is a hugely important discovery and we expect considerable interest at both the public preview and at the auction where it is sure to generate great excitement from museums and collectors alike. The market for Antiquities continues to show great buoyancy fuelled by new collectors entering the category – the sale in April here at Christie’s achieved a total of £3 million/$4.6 million/€3.4 million ? the highest grossing Antiquities sale in London since 2004.”

With its enigmatic features, the Crosby-Garrett Helmet is an extraordinary example of Roman metalwork at its zenith. It is one of only three that have been discovered in Britain complete with face-masks, the others being the Ribchester Helmet, found in 1796 and now in the British Museum, and the Newstead Helmet, in the Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, found circa 1905.

The Crosby Garrett Helmet sets itself apart by virtue of its beauty, workmanship and completeness, particularly the face-mask, which was found virtually intact. In addition, the remarkable Phrygian-style peak surmounted by its elaborate bronze griffin crest appears unprecedented.

These helmets were not for combative use, but worn for hippika gymnasia (cavalry sports events). The polished white-metal surface of the Crosby Garrett face-mask would have provided a striking contrast to the original golden-bronze colour of the hair and Phrygian cap. In addition, colourful streamers may have been attached to the rings along the back ridge and on the griffin crest. Arrian of Nicomedia, a Roman provincial governor under Hadrian, provides us with the only surviving contemporary source of information on cavalry sports events. He describes, in an appendix to his Ars Tactica, how the cavalrymen were divided into two teams which took turns to attack and defend. He suggests that the wearing of these helmets was a mark of rank or excellence in horsemanship. Participants would also carry a light, elaborately painted shield, and wear an embroidered tunic and possibly thigh-guards and greaves, all of which would contribute to the impressive spectacle. These events may well have accompanied religious festivals celebrated by the Roman army and were probably also put on for the benefit of visiting officials. The displays would also have been intended to demonstrate the outstanding equestrian skill and marksmanship of the Roman soldier and the wealth of the great empire he represented.

Posted in Just Too Cool | Tagged ,
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Request for prayers for a priest

Posted on 13 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Would you in your kindness please pray for the swift recovery of a priest who is ill?

Thanks!

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
20 Comments

Update on E-Mail

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I believe I am finally emerging from the email cloud of unknowing.

Gigabyte after gigabyte of email is migrating even as we speak.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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QUAERITUR: Deacon’s choir dress

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a deacon reader:

I assume a permanent deacon’s choir dress would be cassock and
surplice, just like a priest. But if he were to receive communion,
would he bring a diaconal stole and put it on at the appropriate time?

A deacon is a deacon is a deacon.  He therefore uses proper clerical dress when in choir.

He wears the cassock, with the Roman/military collar, surplice and biretta.

To receive Holy Communion, put on the stole in the manner of a deacon just before you receive and take it off after you have received.  Don’t wear it in the entrance procession or recessional or during the whole Mass.  Bring the stole in draped over your left arm, or put it in place at your kneeler before Mass begins.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick |
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Ubicumque et semper: New Motu Proprio and new Vatican office

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am reading the new Motu Proprio by Benedict XVI entitled Ubicumque et semper, by which His Holiness established a new dicastery of the Roman Curia: “Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization”.

One might imagine that an English text could be useful at the time of its release.  English is a moderately important language these days I hear.  I understand that Spanish has produced a little interest as well.  But the MP is out in Latin, at least, and in Italian, read by Church insiders but not too many others.  Not many other who care, that is.  “Massimo the maintenance man” isn’t going to care about this document.

The MP outlines the new office’s objectives:

  • To deepen the theological and pastoral meaning of the new evangelization.
  • To promote and foster in close collaboration with bishops’ conferences, teaching of the Magisterium relative to the new evangelization.
  • To make known initiatives already under way in local churches and promote new initiatives, involving also resources of religious institutes and groups of the faithful and new lay communities;
  • To study and foster the use of modern means of communications as instruments for the new evangelization.
  • To promote the use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I am not sure how this all differs from what dicasteries, local churches and religious and lay movements are supposed to be doing now.  Is this new dicastery supposed to act as a goad?  Its head is, after all, Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

In any event, there is now another bureaucratic structure in the Vatican bureaucracy.   I wanted it to be called the Consilium pro Repropaganda Fidei.  Instead it is called Consilium de Nova Evanglizatione Promovenda.

We shall have to wait and see what effect this new office will have.

QUAERITUR: How will the new office use the internet?

UPDATE 1544 GMT:

Typo in the Latin:

Venerabilis Dei Servus Ioannes Paulus II hoc grave officium cardinem habuit lati sui Magisterii, sententia “novae evangelizationis”, quam ipse compluribus documentis penitus perpendit, complectens munus quod hodie Ecclesiae impendet, perculiarem in modum in regionibus religione christiana antiquitus institutis.

Posted in New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, SESSIUNCULA |
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Card. Rivera: Priests must work to transform society

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From CNA:

Card. RiveraCardinal Rivera to priests: Transform society with the light of the Gospel

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct 11, 2010 / 10:01 pm (CNA).- Mexican priests must resist growing efforts to build a society without the guidance of the Gospel, said Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City.

“The Church exists to be the light of the world,” he told an Oct. 5-6 assembly of priests.

There is a temptation for priests to focus only on liturgical, sacramental and internal Church matters, Cardinal Rivera said. But the Church has a duty for the evangelization of all “temporal realities” of Mexican culture and society.

“We have a great responsibility to form others … to imbue our culture with Gospel values,” he said.

He added: “In many places there is no one to bear witness, to strongly defend or to explain with valid arguments so many issues that would help Mexico take a different direction,” he said.

The Church’s witness must include defending human rights and concrete works of charity and social development, Cardinal Rivera said. In addition, the Church must strive to illuminate and transform all areas of society with the “leaven” of the Gospel.

Certainly His Eminence is right.  At the same time, our liturgical worship remains the tip of the spear.

As I read this what came to mind was how after the Council the texts for the Mass for the Feast of Christ the King,  Solemnity in the new calendar, were radically changed.   The older texts are grounded in the belief that Christ is the Kind of this world and all structures of this world in the here and now.  The new texts stress an eschatological kingship.

Posted in New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged
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QUAERITUR: More graces from a High Mass?

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

TwitterFrom a reader:

I have heard that there are more graces available at a High (EF) Mass
than a Low Mass. Is that true? (I am aware that graces received are
dependent upon one’s being properly disposed and attention during
Mass.)

I would not say that a person has the opportunity for “more graces” from a High Mass just because it is a High Mass.  There is not more “Mass” or more “Jesus” at a High Mass than a Low Mass.  This would probably depend on – as you suggest – your disposition at Mass.  It may be that the High Mass will aid your participation and your desire to be united with the Lord in the action of Holy Mass.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box |
17 Comments

Dallas, TX: A new church for the old Mass. Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here are some excerpts from a brick by brick success story in Dallas.  From dallasnews.com:

Dallas Diocese’s only Latin Mass church, Mater Dei, celebrates opening of Irving sanctuary

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodges@dallasnews.com

Jack Schmidt converted to Catholicism about a decade ago and never learned Latin. But that’s the language he prefers for Mass.

“I really feel like I’ve been to Mass when I come to the Latin Mass,” the Irving man said.

Andrew Davis does know Latin and struggles in English to describe how much the traditional Latin Mass means to him.

“The liturgy is so beautiful and inspiring,” the Corinth college student said. “It’s something that really raises my heart and mind to God.”

For Schmidt, Davis and a few hundred other North Texas Catholics, this is a big day. Mater Dei Catholic Church, local home of the traditional Latin Mass, will be in its own sanctuary for the first time.

Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas will come to Irving this morning to bless a former Korean Methodist church building that had a $600,000 makeover to become Mater Dei’s worship space.

The location would seem unlikely for the only Diocese of Dallas church where Latin liturgy is the norm. Tractor-trailer trucks grind their gears on nearby East Highway 356. Neighbors include a Waffle House and a body shop.

But Mater Dei has doubled attendance to 600 at two Sunday Masses since buying the property last December and beginning to meet in the fellowship hall.

Mater Dei leaders believe the sanctuary will only boost the pace of growth.

“It’s going to be too small, very fast,” said the Rev. Thomas Longua, pastor.

[…]

In 1991, the Mater Dei (Latin for “mother of God”) community formed in Dallas in connection with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in North America, which is committed to the traditional Latin Mass. That group met in borrowed space, including for more than 17 years in the chapel of a local convent.

Last year, Farrell gave Mater Dei permission to buy the Irving property. Longua said he got the keys on Dec. 6. Church members had the fellowship hall ready for Mass in less than 24 hours.

At Easter, Farrell established Mater Dei as a “personal parish,” meaning Catholics from around the diocese are free to be members there or just attend.

[…]

“At our church, people go to confession a lot,” said Julie Dougherty, who has been part of Mater Dei almost since its beginning.

Mater Dei’s approach to Catholicism is, in fact, comprehensively traditional.

[…]

Longua noted that nearly all Mater Dei parishioners are involved in anti-abortion efforts. Many parents home-school their children. Adherence to the Vatican’s teaching against contraception is high.

That means big families.

[…]

For some photos and insider observations, check the blog Ut videam.

As I read this, what flashed through my mind was that there are many bishops and priests out there who are just fine with any number of liturgical abuses of the Novus Ordo, all manner of shabby preaching, loss of Catholic identity resulting in shrinking congregations, closing schools and loss of hospitals.

But remember! …  It’s the old Mass that’s dangerous and has to be contained.

Posted in Brick by Brick, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged ,
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Going to Angon

Posted on 11 October 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We have torrential rain in NYC tonight.  That usually makes figuring out where to eat a little easier (read: don’t go too far).  But tonight we dashed down to the East Village and had a great surprise.

At Holy Innocents tonight we had a Solemn TLM for the Motherhood of Mary.  The Sisters of Life were there.  Afterward they received an award from the local council of the Knights of Columbus, a council whose members all want the traditional liturgy.

Then it was time to find some supper.  Since we had been discussing Indian food for a few days, we figured that tonight was the night.

One of our group suggested going to 6th St. between 1st and 2nd where there are many restaurants.  Happily, he had a car.

Searching on my mobile phone I found that the name of Angon on the Sixth kept coming up as a great place to eat.

We drove downtown in torrential rain and hail.  As providence had it, someone pulled out of a parking spot in front of the restaurant.

We had wonderful food, including vegetable and meat Samosa, Lamb Rezala, Lamb Vindaloo Chicken Tikka Massala, and regular and garlic Nan.  At the end there was a little sweet rice pudding.

The service was cheerful and attentive.  Good food and good service at good prices.  What’s wrong with that?

But the real surprise came when the owner came and spoke to us for a while.  It turns out that the family are all practicing Catholics.  They even had a little wooden bust of the Lord with the Crown of Thorns and a rosary in view on a small table.

They said they were working very hard to keep the restaurant going.

I think we will be going back there again, as a group.  This was a wonderful evening and great food.    The place gets great reviews, too.   If you are in Manhattan and want some Indian food, try Angon!

Posted in REVIEWS |
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