Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

Daily Rome Shot 741

Posted on 8 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In Rome, in the Borghese Garden the summer Shakespeare season starts at a replica of the Globe, similar to the one on the Surrey side in London. HERE

The Rapid portion of the Rapid and Blitz concluded in Zagreb. Magnus is still down in the standings while young Gukesh beat Obi Wan… et um… Vishy Anand. Blitz is next. Fabi is leading, tied with Nepo.

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.

White to play and mate in TWO.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

A thought or two from Mass today…

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
1 Comment

Any readers from Kotor in Montenegro? – UPDATED

Posted on 7 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Are there any readers here from the Diocese of Kotor in Montenegro (Dioecesis Catharensis) or from the nearby area of Croatia?

Why? I’m looking for a priest. When the recent Grand Chess Tour started in Zagreb, there was a simul match between selected participants and the grand masters who came for the tournament. A priest was at one of the boards. Anyone know him? Drop me a line.

UPDATE:

I posted this at 12:02.

At 14:04 I get an email.

A good friend of mine lives in Montenegro and is well-connected in the Catholic world, so I shot him the link to your blog post today. He immediately knew which priest you’re looking for.

He proceeds to give my the guy’s name and email.

You people are AMAZING.

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Mail from priests |
1 Comment

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-07-07 – Tribunal Update and Anniversary

Posted on 7 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

July 7th, 2023

Dear Diary,

I asked Fr. Gilbert to ask Vice for the status of the Pie Town couple. Gilbert came back and chirped, “Sheila is working on it!” Sheila. The canonist gal in the tribunal. I’ve hardly seen her, but then I try to avoid the ACLU* all together. All canon lawyers are grating, but a woman telling me I’M the one doing the wrong thing “according to canon law”? The worst!

Anyway, Sheila and her secretary, old Mrs. Cifuentes been there about a thousand years – called the guy who wants to get married here. As I get it, he is civilly married but wants to get married in the Catholic Church so he and his wife can get back to the sacraments. Mrs. C dug around and found out his parish in his native village wanted to charge him the two hundred dollars for his baptismal certificate! So she went online and found a number and called the man’s childhood parish and the pastor himself answered. Mrs. C said it was a Milagrow, which I suppose is like a family name down there. Pretty soon the pastor, Fr. Milagrow? sent a photo of the certificate front and back to her cell phone, and promised to send it by mail when he goes to the capital next week. I guess mail is unreliable there. Sheila and Mrs. C also called their diocesan tribunal and there was no answer. They found an email address. It took a couple days but someone answered back in Spanish that his first marriage was declared null but there’s a vetima sp? or something for this guy. He can’t get married again without going to counseling first. Why our staff is handling this is beyond me. These people live in Pie Town! Vice says the Pie Town tribunal is famous for never answering the phone. Why are my people doing Dozer’s people’s work? They say high school never ends, but let me tell you seminary never, ever ends. I was doing Dozer’s papers for him in seminary too! Serves him right cause we both nearly flunked out. I really outta send Doz a bill for this.

*Fr. “Just Call Me Bruce” Hugalot over at the Sing A New Faith Community Into Being Faith Community calls them the “Annoying Canon Law Undesirables” and it sort of stuck in what passes for his mind.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged Bp. Fatty McButterpants
4 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 740

Posted on 7 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From The Great Roman™ – very cool.

Yesterday, Magnus had a rough day in Zagreb where the GCT Rapid and Blitz is going on. He lost two in a row, before coming back to beat former World Champ Vishy Anand. Meanwhile, the leadership in that competition shifted around. Quite dramatic. Ian Nepomniachtchi won three straight. Today he faces Fabiano Caruana and Vishy in rounds 8 and 9. There was a storm in the Netherlands because of a storm in the Netherlands which prevented a player at the Dutch Women’s Chess Championship from arriving in time to play a game. The gummit had declared a “code red” in which people were advised not to try to travel. Games were postponed, but it wasn’t enough for one of them to get there. “Too bad,” said the organizers. In Shanghai the score is tied 1-1 between Lei Tingjie and Ju Wenjun in the women’s FIDE Women’s World Championship.

Meanwhile, Lei saw the Synod (“walking together”) list.

As I write, Tour de France coverage is still on, but yesterday as of Stage 6 Vingegaard is in yellow, Philipsen in green, Powless (USA) in the prestigious polk-dots, Pogacar in white and Jumbo-Visma leads. Some crazy climbing yesterday and real tactics.

The coverage of the Tour is fantastic, even just from the point of view of the shots of the land and sites from helicopters following the group. Truly beautiful.

NB: I was asked by a priest to ask YOU to pray for him, his bishop and an abbot as he discerns joining a monastic community.

Speaking of monastic communities, the Benedictine monks in Norcia make great beer and you can have some. Wonderful with savory sausage and cheese.

White to play, mate in 2.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Interested in learning? Try THIS. He helped my game.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
1 Comment

16th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum – Thoughts on how this might end and a fitting song.

Posted on 7 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

What a day that was. I was still at the “Sabine Farm”, like Horace away from Rome’s summer heat. The days were bright and full of hope. A friend stopped in to share a bottle of “The Widow”. What a day.

Sincerely, I think all this madness will pass one way or another.

Today is the anniversary of the release of Summorum Pontificum, the saintly Pope Benedict XVI’s “emancipation proclamation” for those who desired what they ought to have had all along: freedom to use the Church’s traditional Roman Rite.

That endured – although hampered by those who hate those who love Tradition – until it was shut down, again an act of hatred of those who love Tradition, under the cruel document Traditionis custodes and subsequent incoherent burpings of dyspeptic micromanagement from what is now called the “Dicastery”.

Traditionis custodes is to Summorum Pontificum what Plessy v Ferguson was to the Emancipation Proclamation. If that trend holds, who shall issue the parallel to Brown v. Board?

They won’t win. Too much is at stake. Too many people are now involved with traditional sacred liturgical worship. Too many people hardly involved in anything are dropping away. Too much information is available on the internet.

So, it is going to end, someday. I foresee different possibilities.

First, Rex Novus In Aegypto doesn’t have to be bad. It can be good. Perhaps the next man elected to the See of Peter will be more compassionate.

Second, people will simply, in larger and larger numbers, ignore the cruelty and will take matters into their own hands without – NB – without malice or any sense of separation or schism from legitimate authority legitimately exercised. Home chapels and perhaps even purchased places, plenty of cancelled priests to help, lots of willing and happy hands, ready to build the ark and ready to turn it all back to normal when the storm ends.

Third, the Lord will return.

Fourth, in view of the Lord returning, there may be an extinction level cataclysmic event, such as a massive meteor that strikes the planet. Along the lines of this song sent by a priest friend this morning.

Posted in Look! Up in the sky!, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Traditionis custodes | Tagged SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
11 Comments

What will the Synod (“walking together”) on Synodality (“walking together-ity”) be like? The LIST of participants is out.

Posted on 7 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

What will the Synod (“walking together”) on Synodality (“walking together-ity”) be like?

One clue is to look at the list of the participants.

First, however, I note this, from Jesuit-run Amerika Magazine:

Here is a list of the participants: HERE

NB: The List is FIFTY (50) pages long!

One of my interlocutors this morning asked our chat group:

How are this many individuals going to work effectively in two weeks on a document that runs to 50 pages? Unless the thing is rigged?

As an experiment, open that and then do a CTR+F search for Stati Uniti d’America

WARNING: Before doing that, if you suffer from depression or anxiety attacks, it might be better to go to one of my chess posts.

You might not be as familiar with names from other countries. However, the list includes a broad range of notorious lay communists from Italy.

Oh… and there’s Timothy Radcliffe, who has something in common with James Martin.

I am amused by the participants of the Synod (“walking together”) of Bishops who are listed under:

DALLE ASSEMBLEE CONTINENTALI
MEMBRI NON INSIGNITI DEL MUNUS EPISCOPALE
TESTIMONI DEL PROCESSO SINODALE

These are the non-bishops who are the “witnesses” of the synodal (“walking together”) process.

Remember the other day I posted something HERE about how those bishops who choose not to go along with everything that the Synod (“walking together”) comes up with will owe “restitution” to those who participated in the “process”? Their job is the “confirm” the “community discernment process”. You should review that. Can one imagine that perhaps some strong arm tactics might be employed against what is obviously a minority to go along quietly with the hand they are dealt knowing full-well that the deck was stacked a long time ago?

Here’s the “deal”.

This is going to be something else.

BUT… we’ve been told that it is going to be something else. After all, Francis quoting Congar said HERE in an opening address at the Synod (“walking together”) in 2022:

“We must not make another Church, we must make a different Church”

That wasn’t just a rhetorical flourish. I think we should take him at his world, Jesuit background notwithstanding.

I assume that more and more we will be reading about how the “Spirit” is going to be at work.

Dear readers, what I can offer is the suggestion that you make sure you are living your vocation well, you are staying in the state of grace and using the sacraments well. Especially, regularly examine your conscience and GO TO CONFESSION. Stick to our solid, tried and true traditional practices of devotion and sacred worship. We all shall weather this storm. There will be those who are swept over the side. As Benedict XVI said, the “boat” is taking on water. But the boat shall remain.

None of this should come as a surprise. Sure, it shocks, but it really doesn’t, does it?

Again, look for possible holes in the way you are living your state in life. Redouble your devotions and your will to do penance in reparation.

Posted in Pò sì jiù, Synod, What are they REALLY saying?, You must be joking! | Tagged Synod
8 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 739

Posted on 6 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Scaffolding is going up to restore the façade of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome. It is one of the few churches around now that still has a reddish ochre wash on plaster.

However, underneath all that is the original travertine! When it is done. It should be spectacular.

Will it be completed by the time I get back there in October? Help me to get back there in October! Days in Rome Project – October ’23!

And you can see little rondini above, in mid-swoop.

Reminder. Taken from the steps of the church under that façade.

Here is a great puzzle. I’d be interested to know how long it took you to solve it.

White to play and mate IN TWO.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Interested in learning? This guy helped my game. Try THIS.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE

In SPORT news… there’s an overwhelming panoply of choices.

First, the Tour de France is on. Wimbledon is underway.

In Shanghai the Women’s World Championship Match has started and World Champion Ju Wenjun held to a draw in game one against challenger Lei Tingjie.

Magnus Carlsen on Tuesday went 11/11 in a Chess.com “Titled Tuesday” match online and he did it by playing as his opening move – I am not making this up – playing in his opening move in every single game when he had black: 1. … a6. In one game with white he started 1. b3. Then he had an 1. f4. Only one was rather prosaic, 1. e4 e5. Another 1. c4, not unheard of. Otherwise, he also went 1. a3! But when he had black, he played 1. … a6 and he stomped the life out of his opponents. This on the heels of a podcast in which Fabiano Caruana opined that perhaps Magnus was giving up on chess and was maybe over the summit (a little TdeF reference from me, there, if you saw it).

Look at what Magnus does with his king. It’s crazy stuff.

In Croatia, Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz is going on. My brain hurts.

In a few days I will be in WV for a conference, mainly for priests. I understand that anyone can follow along via video.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-07-06 – Poles

Posted on 6 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

July 6th, 2023

Dear Diary,

Fr. Janosh* over in the Black Duck diocese is definitely connected to the “Polish mafia” – all the Polish priests know each other! We asked him a couple of years ago if he could help find an extra priest for us, and he found one that was willing to help us out here in Libville for a few years. This Polish priest has a much less daunting name: Novak. A good American name. Juri Novak. He’s been here six months. I asked him if he’s had Juri Duty yet, but he just stared at me. Not sure he got that. I thought it was pretty good. But he says he’s settling in fine at St Cashmir. Thickest accent you ever heard! Kinda like Dracula, but that’s okay. He said last time, “Beeshop, I am fine here. I love America. I am happy you welcome me here. In rectory we have refrigerator, new, like one in your kitchen. All the time play Katy Perry! Polish people here get for me new car. Murano car like your. Maybe soon I be beeshop!” On second thought I wonder what his game is. I better watch him. Chester growls at him, but that’s not much of a compass.

Inner city parishes still problems. I gotta get a religious community and give them one, because there are not a lot of deep pockets there. That’s the best solution. Give these poorer parishes to the Orders. When its time for the draticum the Order chips in and makes up the difference! How clever is that? Franciscans maybe? After all, the Franciscans are richer than God! It’s like one of those things that not even the Holy Spirit knows. ~~What Jesuits really think… How much they really know. What Dominicans really think. How many…~~ Gotta ask Fr Tommy. Time to give him a call.

___
*Fr Janusz Włotrzewiszczykowycki-Brzęczyszczykiewic, Polish, is a priest of the Oratory of Mary Cause of Our Joy in the neighboring Diocese of Black Duck near the University. They say the Traditional Latin Mass and have a full house. When asked about his complicated name, he says he legally joined them, one his father’s and the other his mother’s, to annoy government bureaucrats.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants | Tagged Bp. Fatty McButterpants
4 Comments

Nicaraguan Bishop chooses to stay in jail rather than compromise – “CARDINALE SUBITO!”

Posted on 6 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Reuters:

July 5 (Reuters) – Nicaraguan Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez was returned to prison on Wednesday after negotiations between the government and church representatives broke down over the terms of his possible release, according to local news outlet Confidencial.

Citing church and diplomatic sources, Confidencial reported that the talks stalled over whether or not Alvarez would consent to leave the country, as well as over the possible release of other jailed priests.

The bishop, a prominent critic of President Daniel Ortega, was sentenced in February to more than 26 years in prison on treason charges after he refused to be expelled to the United States.

The conflict between the Catholic church and Ortega’s government dates back to 2018, when church leaders were asked to mediate anti-government protests that turned violent, leaving more than 300 people dead.

So, Alvarez choses to stay in jail rather than betray his priests in jail with him.

From the Vatican…. CRICKETS.

And it’s not because there are “secret negotiations”.

The next step in the pattern is that he will start converting the guards.

I’d rather see a guy like this made a cardinal than the pathetic and somewhat creepy recent, inevitable appointment.

One of my correspondents wrote…

…he is kept in one of the worst prisons of the country (and that’s saying something) sitting naked in a 10 square ft cell, having to [relieve himself] on the floor and with a bottle of dirty water a day to drink, all at Fahrenheit 100 day and night.

He added…

That’s a ring I’d kiss without having to forget who wears it

Cardinale SUBITO!

But, no… the next guy they will announce is probably that guy in Benin who protests the use of plastic bags. HERE

In other news….

… yesterday Francis received in an unannounced private audience a delegation led by Bill Clinton, including the son of George Soros. Twitter HERE (I’m told you now have to have an account to view. Get one and FOLLOW ME @fatherz)

The video and photos show how happy everyone is to be there… not even a hint of “Grumpy Cat” face. Francis seems positively giddy. He was moving, however, with obvious difficulty and pain.

Posted in Modern Martyrs, Religious Liberty | Tagged Nicaragua
6 Comments

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-07-04 – Day off

Posted on 5 July 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Editor’s Note: Entries from the diary come in when our “mole” can get at them. Also, some aren’t appropriate to post for reasons of confidentiality etc. It’s a tough call.

July 4th, 2023

Dear Diary,

Had nothing on calendar. Asked Fr. Gilbert at breakfast about what we could do for the day. He perked up and almost yelped, “shopping!” A man after my own thing. We parked Chester with nervous Sr. Randi. Skipped the golf course. Went to the mall. Gilbert knows all the stores, which is a little strange, but he is young. I’m still p-o’d that Sharper Image isn’t there any more. Great gadgets. Sport Gate had great socks and tees, got a bunch. Got new sunglasses. Bought new stuff for Chester at Canine Cave: plush bed, plaid. He probably won’t use it. He’ll probably destroy it in record time. Oh well. Diocesan appeal of some kind. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factor. Gilbert ate even more than I did. How does he do it and stay so trim? That, and he’s always got something going on his phone, texts, etc.

Got home wiped out. Gilbert whisked it all the bags upstairs for me. His mom keeps dropping off food at the chancery. My fridge is full of leftovers. They’re delicious, but still a little annoying.

Found out that the Latin at the bottom of my new notes says, “What I have written, I have written.” Ain’t it the truth! Fr. Tommy made a great choice. He knows me well. Gotta nail down when he’s coming back.

Dear Diary,

Big firework display tonight over the lake. Even Chester sat still and watched. I had a nice cigar and remember being a kid, getting so excited about the 4th. Not anymore. Why is that? We had firecrackers when we were kids and we made stuff to blow up and had a great time. It was so exciting. But now, it’s just another day sort of. With nothing on the calendar I got out a lot today but something was missing.

Also, Fr. Gilbert left for me in my folder on my private study desk another letter about Fr. Mark [Rogers… whom +F.Atticus pretty much cancelled.] signed by a few priests. Really on his case. This is getting awkward. Who should I listen to? Jude still wants to help him.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants | Tagged Bp. Fatty McButterpants
6 Comments