“I’m delighted – if that’s the right word – to see this morning…”

Posted on 22 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

As I was doing the first triage on my email, culling with sangfroid, I saw in the list an article alert from The Catholic Thing to which all you readers should subscribe.  I saw “The Devil, You Say” by Francis X. Meier and the  blurb, “Nefarious is a film about demonic possession, ….”.

Instantly, there flashed through my mind the phrase I knew I would start with in writing the post I knew I would write.

“I’m delighted – if that’s the right word – to see this morning…”

I opened the link to the article itself and read…

“One of the delights – if that’s the right word – of the recent film Nefarious …”

GMTA

Maier looks into the reactions of critics to the superbly crafted, powerfully acted film. “The pros” panned it, but El Pueblo loved it.

Nefarious is a must see movie.

US HERE – UK HERE

It is not for the very young. Don’t expect projectile vomit or levitations. Do expect a roller coaster into the psychologically cruel torture of the human participants.  It is also a mini-workshop on accurate angelology from the Catholic (therefore correct and true) perspective.

A sample from Maier:

There comes a moment in Nefarious when the prison’s Catholic chaplain makes a brief appearance.  The demon initially recoils in fear. . .until the priest starts blathering about how the Church has “evolved beyond” belief in devils, thanks to enlightened psycho-social tools.  Later, along unintentionally similar lines, the unbelieving psychiatrist lists all the human advances in knowledge and behavior that today make religion obsolete.  The demon in the human prisoner pauses.  Grins.  And then says, “I think I love you.”

That’s about right. The Enemy has human agents not just human objects of abuse, victims.

On that note, I read yesterday that the Jesuits have dismissed serial abuser, sex predator of those in his spiritual charge, Mark Rupnik for violations of obedience….  For being disobedient.  They wanted Rupnik to “change community and to accept a new mission” and he wouldn’t do it.  His puerile art is everywhere seen in the Novus world, especially in Italy.  In the midst of his problems of excommunication and lifting and suspension etc he went right on publicly functioning, even giving the Lenten retreat for the VATICAN CURIA.

He was dismissed for disobedience.

I guess that, based on this, were a Jesuit superior to require a Jesuit involved in a certain type of activism that blurs distinctions of compassion and permission, and serious undermines Catholic moral teaching, to stop what he is doing he would either have to obey or be dismissed from the Jesuits.   Right?

 

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged
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SUMMER SOLSTICE 2023: “He must increase.  I must decrease.”

Posted on 21 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the Summer Solstice.  From now, our northern hemispheric days get shorter, as the world’s tilt starts changing our daily/seasonal clocks.

I was so aware of how the days were changing while I was in Rome, especially because I would post the sunrise and sunset and the Ave Maria.

Today, in Rome, the sunrise was at 05:32 and the sunset was at 20:31.  The Ave Maria bells was to ring at 21:15.

An ancient Augustinian sermon made a connection between the Birth of the Lord, when the days go from shortest to getting longer, and the Birth of the Baptist, whose feast falls near the Summer Solstice.

So let both their deaths also speak of these two things: “It is necessary for him to grow, but for me to diminish.” The one grew on the Cross, the other was diminished by the sword. Their deaths have spoken of this mystery, let the days do so too. Christ is born, and the days start increasing; John is born, and the days start diminishing. So let man’s honor diminish, God’s honor increase, so that the honor of man may be found in the honor of God.

As the Baptist said, “He must increase.  I must decrease.”

I said, above, “Augustinian sermon”, because s. 380, preached in a year we can’t quite figure out, might not be an authentic sermon of Augustine.  Still, it is certainly Augustine in spirit and style.

Is HE increasing for you today?

Posted in Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged
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Meet the new Synodal (“walking together”) Mascot! “BLATHER”!

Posted on 21 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From my good friend and the Official Parodohymnodist of the blog, Fr. Tim Ferguson about a matter of great importance for the synodal (“walking together”) process (emphases added):

I was thinking this morning (dangerous occupation) about the Synodal Synod on Synodal Synodality, and the recent graphics issued. I’m sure there will be more, and probably even more artwork issued (who will take Fr. Rapenik’s place as artist laureate?).

But, thinking of the Olympics, what’s missing is a synodal mascot.

Since a mascot needs to exemplify the event, but also drum up interest and support in it, a mascot should be cute and cuddly.

Since the synod is largely useless, the mascot should be similarly useless. It should be something that makes little evolutionary sense and adds next to nothing to the ecosystem in which is dwells.

My first thought to propose for a synod mascot was a panda – cuddly, cute, endearing, but totally and entirely useless (I was sorely disappointed on a recent trip to Green Bay to find that the ubiquitous chain, Panda Express, offers absolutely no panda-based entrees, express or otherwise). But, upon reflection, a standard panda would not be a good mascot for the Synod, since their coloration is black and white. And if there is anything we are learning from the synod is that nothing is black and white anymore.

That led to consideration of the red panda, but it has a problematic name. For most in the world “red” is associated with socialism, and while the synod has many seemingly socialist tendencies, I’m not sure the organizers want that aspect of synodality to be widely known. Here in the States, red has become synonymous with the Republican party, and that would hardly be appropriate for an association with synodality.

So, back to Wikipedia to look for a more appropriate mascot. Then, I happened upon the quokka. It is cute, cuddly, and entirely useless. It provides little food, it has a very narrow habitat. While it appears to smile and be friendly, like the synod, these appealing aspects are largely a lie. It does not smile, it’s face is just made that way. When threatened, a mother quokka will throw her offspring in the way of the predator and make her escape. It is willing to throw the children under the bus, as it were, in order to preserve itself. Much like the synod.

Many celebrities have taken selfies with quokkas, they just love the little buggers, but again, its just for show.

Quokkas are also quickly going extinct, their population declining by half in recent decades, and are down to just a few thousand wild members, mostly in the brush around Perth.

I propose that we name him (or her) Blather, the Synodal Quokka.

He added.

I have no artistic skill, but by googling, I found this page of quokka pictures that are freely reproducible. Perhaps someone with better artistic skill than I could develop a cartoon for the synodal mascot Quokka.

Rhymes with “wokka”?

This rendition seems good, down to the selfie-stick.   It’s there for others… also.

Posted in HONORED GUESTS, Lighter fare, PRAYERCAzT: What Does The (Latin) Prayer Really Sound L | Tagged , ,
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From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 2019-02-21 – New personal stationary

Posted on 21 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Dear Diary,

June 21st, 2023

The new personalized notes that Mrs. Kennedy ordered for me a couple of month ago arrived today. Finally!  So classy!  Cards and envelopes and a tear-off pad. Fr. Tommy worked with me on it because I wanted something from the Bible but with real oomph.  When is Fr. Tommy coming back, I wonder?  Gotta get a date on paper.  Fr. Gilbert drives okay and he is a good golfer and there are fewer problems with Chester when he is here but there’s something about him that grates my cheese.  From day one there has been a stream of cookies and pies sent up from the gals all over the office – that’s not bad since I get a lot.  But, it’s all the special attention.  And Chester just sorta goes limp.

The notes are nice white paper with a bit of a grain and the lettering is bright gold. My names on the top with a plus sign or a cross, I guess. The sides are decorated with a doohickey like tubes or sticks wrapped up in a cord.  I have the sense of seeing them before somewhere. Rome maybe?  I thought it might be spaghetti but something sticks out of the side. Anyway, its classy!   Orlando?  I know I’ve seen it.

Anyway, Fr. Tommy did a great job.  I said I wanted a nice Latin inscription at the bottom. He was overjoyed.  I made him happy. It’s the little things.  I told him to choose it.  It looks great. It says, I copied it down, “Quod Scripsi Scripsi”. More class yet!  Why it has that word twice I don’t know.  I asked Fr. Gilbert.  He just shrugged and dimpled and went back to shaking Chester’s head by the ears saying it over and over in baby talk.  If anyone else tried that with Chester, they’d get a new face.   Dang, even that bugs me.   Was it a typo?  Nah.  Tommy’s super accurate with writing stuff.  Anyway, who’s gonna know?  But it looks great!

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants | Tagged
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Daily Rome Shot 723

Posted on 21 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Four hours of OTB yesterday brought experiences good and better. Good were those in which playing black I overwhelmed strong opponents in QGD and others. Better were games with a very strong players who used the Italian Game and another who threw wild stuff at me with white like the Fried Liver and King’s Gambit. I handled the openings, losing by not being able to convert and then blundering a piece. It’s a pattern.  I come into the middle game strong and don’t convert.  The second, in two runs (at my request) again, I got the upper hand only to a) again blunder and b) get outplayed.  With each lose I try to figure out where I went wrong, not just concretely but inside my head.  All were with a clock – 15/3. I am not used to a clock, which was part of the point.  I want to get used to the rhyme of moving and recording and also being forced to play faster and not move without due consideration.

Here is a puzzle. White to move and mate in 3.

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

Right now, 80% off on courses. Take a look Try THIS.

The Prague Chess Festival is beginning.

To demonstrate that chess is on the rise, chess.com was included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential companies.  In this I learned that Chris Prat is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son-in-law, and that Prat has not yet beaten him in chess.  Both are avid.

Also, playing chess is getting so popular among kids that some school districts are banning chess.com.

“The New York Times also reported on Chess.com’s “Stealth Campaign That’s Getting Your Kids Hooked On Chess.””

College friends Erik and Jay bought the Chess.com domain for $55,000 in 2005.

Imagine.

Chess.com has hit number 1 on both Google Play and the U.S. iOS app store. In May, Chess.com’s membership went past 140 million worldwide, which represents a 355% increase since January 2020, with 150,000 new users registered each day. The site also had more than 57 million monthly active users playing 840 million games during the month, up 550% since January 2020. Chess.com is the 114th-ranked site on the internet.

I keep pounding away about learning to play and teaching your children.   Some of my best memories of my grandfather stem from our playing chess together.

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

I’m counting on you!

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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HAZMAT SUITS! Fishwrap time. UPDATE: DE-HAZ after Fishwrap!

Posted on 21 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I put on my hazmat suit this morning after a friend sent a link from Fishwrap to our chat group.

Vatican’s secretary of state: Clerical abuse not linked to homosexuality

Yet while the cardinal’s reflections are notable coming from the second-highest ranking person in the Vatican and indirectly push against claims from a number of right-wing prelates and activists who have repeatedly tried to tie clergy abuse to homosexuality, they are consistent with leading scientific findings on the origins of abuse.

Fishwrap… homosexuality… yeah.   Never mind the percentages and ages.

River in Egypt.

Also, I learned that the Ass. of Catholic Priests met.

Assembly of US Catholic priests discusses calls for women’s ordination

If you read that one, get out your emesis basin or barf bag.  No well-grounded person can keep down that quantity of sentimental Karo syrup.  In short, a Hispanic woman comforted a crying young college age man (?), upset because others in his dorm were messy and wasted food.  This means that women should be deaconettes and priests.   We clearly need more synodality, it concludes.  Beans gave a presentation. McElroy of San Diego:

Doctrine is in service to the pastoral service of the church. It cannot be erected in opposition to it or without reference to it without being more deeply and profoundly in the pastoral mission of the church,” McElroy said to applause.

Of course they applauded.  That essentially means, “Put doctrine on the back shelf.  Do what you will is the whole of the law”.

Fishwrap enriched our day with yet another story from the meeting of the Ass of Catholic Priests.  Card. Tagle of Propaganda (aka Dicastery for Evangelization) was to address the Ass in person.

Cardinal Tagle tells US priests that resistance to pope is rooted in fear of change

He was, instead, sent to do something in the Congo so he spoke by video.  The core: more synodality (“walking together”)!  Anything other than leaving behind all that isn’t in keeping with a certain way of reading the Vatican II documents is rooted in “insecurity”.   Sticking to tradition and reading Vatican II in keeping with tradition is “fear” and “ideology”.

Tagle said experience has taught him that fear of change can limit how the church responds to the needs of the world and works to further keep communities separated rather than unified. He expressed concern for the temptation to use faith-related matters to support ideology rather than Catholic teaching.

Am I wrong the key messaging in these stories?  I don’t think so.

For the church of the future we need more homosexuality, female clergy, and wholesale jettisoning of everything that happened before about 1965.

Oh… and yoga.  Yoga will help.  Aimed at women and others.

Forming a sustainable Christian hope through the practice of yoga

Hmmm.

Forming a sustainable path to demonic oppression and possession through the practice of yoga

There. I fixed it.

UPDATE: 

At Catholic World Report there is a lovely article by George Weigel about his high school Latin teacher who became Bishop of St. Augustine, the late Bp. Victor Galeone, who died at the end of May at 88 years of age.

A sample.

(His episcopate embodied his determination that the Novus Ordo be celebrated with dignity, including musical dignity. Thus a few years after he went to Florida, he called me one morning and said, “Hi, George, it’s Vic. You would have been very proud of me this morning.” To which I replied, “Victor, I’m always proud of you, but why should I be even more proud of you today?” “Because this morning I called the diocesan liturgy director and told her, ‘If the bishop ever hears “Gather Us In” at the beginning of a Confirmation Mass again, there will be no Confirmation!’”)

Not very synodal (“walking together”).

Posted in Deaconettes, Pò sì jiù, Sin That Cries To Heaven |
17 Comments

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 2019-02-20 – The problem of Fr. Mark Rogers

Posted on 20 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Editor’s Note: Due to the mention of Fr. Mark Rogers, we asked the mole to search back through previous photos to learn more.  Here is something of what was turned up from 2019.

____

20 February 2019

Dear Diary,

There was a really bad storm last night that dumped a lot of snow.  It was fun to see Chester drag Fr. Charlie into the big piles that the plow pushed around.

Finance meeting.  It’s just not getting better.  Gotta get more staff in to figure out where the money is going.

The worst part of the day was dealing with Fr. Mark Rogers. He was one of those hang overs from the time of old Bishop Hughes. Super conservative.  For a long time he was at Hughes’s trad place – Shrine of the Martyrs of Islamic Terror – gotta do something about that name before the Nuncio gets on that one – because I couldn’t put him anywhere else.  He used Latin and wore a cassock all the time and his parishioners were always on my case.  He wouldn’t play ball.  When his people visited someplace normal like Fr. Bruce’s community, they were always kneeling for Communion and causing a scene.  Every time he or his people came up there was a headache. I figured he had psychological problems since he didn’t update. I sent him to that priest place out east, St. Leo’s.  He really fought going.  Not only that, when news got out about Fr. Mark leaving the Shrine and going to St. Leo’s an added positive was that a couple of the younger priests stopped showing up for things in cassocks.  Leo’s is expensive, but two birds, and all.  Some of the other bishops do this too, when they need to lay down the law and scare guys into line.  The doctors reports said that they worked wonders with Fr. Mark.  Odd, because he seemed sorta weird and downcast when he got back.  Not happy at all.

When Fr. Mark came back I put him at Sing* so he could get into the swing of ministering in today’s Church.  He came to see me several times and asked – pretty near begged – either to be moved or to be let go to do something like study or even go over to Black Duck where he knows some of the priests but I had to have bodies in the parishes. He didn’t want to live alone and wanted fellowship and community and worship with priests who were “actually Catholic”, which made me mad.  He really must have been loopy because he just up and quit one day, disappeared out of the nice apartment we were paying for.  I guess that proves I was right to send him in for treatment.  We haven’t heard from him and don’t know where he is.

Anyway, I signed some papers and couple of letters sent word to DC and approved an announcement for the Glimpse**.  Fr. Mark Rogers is suspended now and off the website.  Sad, but what was I supposed to do?  Fr. Charlie and Sr. Randi wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the day.  It’ll blow over in a few days.

Steaks and taters tonight with Dozer who is in town.

*Sing A New Faith Community Into Being Faith Community

**The newspaper of the Diocese of Libville.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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Daily Rome Shot 722

Posted on 20 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo from A.

White to Move. Black king is exposed and White is well coordinated but black is threatening mate.

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

Interested in learning?  Try THIS. Right now 80% off!

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.

Chess news. Richard Rapport emerged victorious in the Europe & Africa qualifier of the Armageddon Championship Series, defeating MVL and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The broadcast set up is a little kitschy but the chess was good. Richard Rapport recorded a heart rate of 175 bpm.

In non chess news, after losing a hard fought pawn end game yesterday OTB I went to Five Guys (1st time) for a burger. It wasn’t bad, but it was smallish, poorly constructed (yes, there are ways to do it so that it doesn’t fall or slide apart) and really EXPENSIVE. Won’t be doing that again. I also went to see the new Flash movie, which has been hyped with lots of amazing looking previews. I kept waiting for it to get better. It was cringeworthy awful, puerile, gimmicky. It was clearly aimed at the younger and the less intellectually astute. Some off color language. They’ve also gone the way of Marvel with an extra scene at the end of the credits. Pulling weeds while being chewed by noseeums and mosquitoes would have been a better use of my time on my slotted “light day”.

Internet was down here for a substantial portion of the day. There are no lack of books and other things to do, not to mention cleaning.  I have a good and under-utilized monthly chess magazine with puzzles.  I also receive Touchstone, which is very good and requires actual reading.  I finally delved into a paper article in Nature from 1983 sent by a reader about the dating of the Crucifixion  by two authors in the Department of Metallurgy and Science of Materials as well as the Department of Astrophysics at Oxford University.  They dig deeply into the question of the lunar eclipse.

It is nice getting unhooked for awhile.  There are days when I go out for errands, etc., and I leave The Precious … phone at home.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

May I recommend some reading?

Posted on 19 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

May I recommend reading this from Andrea Gagliarducci, puts out am internet column every Monday on things “Vatican”?

This week he covers the removal of Archbp. Georg Gaenswein from the Vatican.

Pope Francis, a break with the past

Sample…

Pope Francis’ decision to ask Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, now prefect emeritus of the Papal Household, to return to his native diocese testifies not only to the fact that the Pope wants to cut ties with the previous pontificate completely. The decision regarding Archbishop Gaenswein is further proof of the modus operandi of Pope Francis and a signal that the last period of his government will not be easy for anyone.

The communication of the decision on Gaenswein arrived in a few lines of the bulletin of the Press Office of the Holy See of June 15, where what was not said was heavier than what was written.

Writing that Archbishop Gaenswein had finished his mandate on February 28, 2023, Pope Francis, in fact, not only suspended his salary but also required Gaenswein to return the salary he has received from February 28 to today. When there is no communication to the contrary, the institution considers the person confirmed in the position and continues to pay the monthly salary. However, if the time of expiry is determined, the salary can also be reclaimed.

It is not the first time that Pope Francis has used this formula.

[…]

Beyond the superficial courtesy, in the end, it becomes clear that Pope Francis has not tolerated well, not so much the presence of a Pope Emeritus in the Vatican, but the fact that some still saw Benedict XVI as a point of reference, even though he was no longer pope. It was as if the Pope saw in the love for Benedict XVI a contrast to his pontificate. And probably from there comes the Pope’s bitterness towards those he called “backwardnessed people,” and the increasingly harsh restrictions on the traditional Mass, reversing an opening made by Benedict XVI himself, and the decision to practically kick Gaenswein out without ever making this decision official.

[…]

Also, among my recent book acquisitions, I will remind you about this terrific find which is turning out to be rewarding. From Fr. James Mawdsley, fellow cancelled priest,

Crucifixion to Creation: Roots of the Traditional Mass Traced back to Paradise

US HERE – UK HERE

Also, this book pertains to the attempt by some to build up the Council by bashing tradition.

Illusions of Reform – Responses to Cavadini, Healy, and Weinandy: in defense of the Traditional Mass and the the faithful who attend it.

US HERE – UK HERE

Raymond Leo Card. Burke’s book from Sophia Press about worthy reception of Communion.

Respecting the Body and Blood of the Lord: When Holy Communion Should Be Denied

US HERE – UK HERE

Posted in Benedict XVI, Francis | Tagged
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From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-06-17 – Back from the meeting

Posted on 19 June 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Editor’s Note: Obviously it wasn’t possible for our mole to access the Diary while +F.Atticus was at the Bishops Meeting in Orlando. However, this just came over the transom.

17 June 2023

Dear Diary,

Florida. GAH!  Move and you sweat.  Don’t move and you sweat.  Fr. Gilbert did great, though. Annoying. It has been great to see Dozer, Jack, Mateo, Andrew, even Terry (or Larry? I can’t remember).  Jack Daniels is really fun after a couple of Jack Daniels!   What were his parents thinking?  As if I should talk!  HA!  Jude too, I guess. We’re neighbors, so “love thy neighbor” and all.  But Jude always makes an early exit from these things instant the meetings are over or lunch is over. He’s outta there. Fr. Tommy said one time that Jude ran out holding his prayer book. So who knows.

That thing with Jude and supper and him wanting to talk about Fr Mark Rogers who was one of ours.  Suspended.  We lost track of him after he disappeared and I took him off the books.  He’s been living alone in Black Duck.  Jude recognized him in the back of a church when he did one of those fancy Latin Masses and managed to chase down some info about him.  Fr. Mark was really into the Latin thing which was his problem. Jude reached out to him.  He said Mark seemed “broken”.  He wants to see if maybe he can’t somehow get him reinstated or something, put him to work in Black Duck but wants me involved. Review, excardination, that stuff.  Fr. Mark just drifted a while, cut himself off.  He’s living now by driving an Uber car.  Jude had some pretty hard things to say about that priest clinic place St. Leo’s out East which I made him go to and what they did to him.  I could tell by the way he was talking that he blamed me.   I don’t know what to do about this.  I don’t want yet another thing going to the Nuncio.  I don’t want Jude to be unhappy with me.

Anyway, the food was great in O.  Lot’s of surf and turf, which figures for a place full off golf courses surrounded by water.  The sessions of the meetings were an ordeal, as always, especially because they are on camera.  Cameras add ten pounds? Or twenty?  And the grandstanding!  Blah blah blah.  Delays lunch every time.  Since the Nuncio I found a spot behind old Billy Barnes, whose even bigger than I am.  I think he blotted me out.  I think the noonch is chapped about the white pantsuit couple.

Sr. Randi said that Chester was a handful, but that he didn’t do too much damage.  She had Chester proofed the apartment as best she could but there is now a new hole in her sofa.  Gotta buy her a new one.  I got her a nice Florida snow globe from a shop at the airport as a thank you.

With the travel and all, I’m really tired.  I think I’ll cancel my appointments for tomorrow and go golfing.  I’ll be nice to be outside and not feel like a sauna.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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