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{]:¬)

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-03-24 – Priests retirement home

Posted on 24 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

March 24th 2023

Dear Diary,

Gave an afternoon of recollection at the retired priests’ home yesterday. During drinks before dinner, ancient Msgr Hinckley motioned for me to come over. Wasn’t sure I wanted to do that, since he’s been picking on me for well over forty years, since seminary. But I thought maybe he’s mellowed with age. I go over. He takes my hand, patting it, says, “I see they’re feeding you well, Francis!” Dang! He always gets me. He’s been lobbing that zinger at me since I was 20! And all the guys all picked up on it. Years of, “Oh, Francis!” He’s half the reason I dropped Francis and started to go by Atticus, leading to the inevitable. Didn’t even see it coming. Too late now. Might as well embrace it.

The coordinator of the retirement home was telling me about the recent increase in costs. Astronomical! Why can’t we get some nuns or something to help out? Would be cheaper, that’s for sure. What happened to all the Sisters who taught in our schools anyway? I had them when I was a kid, and they were great. The schools weren’t free, but they didn’t cost anywhere near what they charge now! The few nuns we have are as old as Hinckley, so that’s not gonna work. How do you get some of those young gals like Jude has in his diocese? It’s like they want to go there. Must investigate. NOTE: Ask Fr Tommy if any of his friends over there have a clue.

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

Daily Rome Shot 699

Posted on 24 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Welcome new registrant:

KCF

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

Meanwhile… White to move. Find the mate!

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In chess news…. alas I was not able to watch since I was with a big group of priests, some diocesan, some of a certain priestly fraternity for super chow and great chat. His dictis, Wesley dealt with Levon with a tie breaker yesterday to take the lower bracket. On the women’s side, diminutive 13 yr old Alice Lee seesawed against Paikidze and rose to victory in their lower bracket. Some of the written commentary was fun: “In the tiebreaker, Lee understandably decided to avoid a return trip to Shabalov Land, an amusement park she clearly didn’t enjoy nearly as much as her more experienced opponent.”

In college hockey news, the noble scholar athlete Gophers of MN (1) sounded defeated the Griffins of arrogant-effete Jesuit-founded Canisius (4). Griffins are, of course, a symbol for Christ while Golden Gophers are, of course, a symbol of the 13-Stipped Ground Squirrel. And yet, we don’t care because everything Jesuit must be defeated. Ite Rodentes!

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 698

Posted on 23 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by The Great Roman™

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Meanwhile,…

White’s move. Find the net!

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

Interested in learning? Try THIS.

The wonderful nuns of Gower Abbey, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, have a new disc and digital download:

Tenebrae at Ephesus

US HERE – UK HERE

These are the RESPONSORIES of Tenebrae for all three days of the Triduum. They are, arguably, the most beautiful chants of the entire liturgical year.

In chess news, alas Wesley So fell to Hikaru last night in the American Cup. Wesley drops down to the lower bracket to face Levon Aronian who ousted Lenier Domingeuz. If I understand correctly the winner of the lower bracket then pops back up to the upper bracket to tackle Hikaru for all the skittles.

On the women’s side, alas my favorite, little Alice Lee (like Wesley also of my native place and only 13 years old) didn’t hang on against Irina Krush. So, with the same geometry as the men’s bracket, Lee faces Nazi Paikidze to pop back up to face Krush.

All of this today, Thursday. HERE And YouTube’s St. Louis Chess Club. And HERE

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
4 Comments

Pig hearts over altars in Austria, pagan Mayan Mass rite in Mexico, but people who want the Traditional Latin Mass must be ghettoized and railroaded to oblivion.

Posted on 23 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’m not making this up.

Bishop Hermann Glettler of the Diocese of Innsbruck installed the so-called ‘lenten cloth’ in the 18th century Innsbrucker Spitalskirche. The giant cloth bears a photo of a a pig’s heart. Over the altar. HERE

I’m not making this up.

A 31-page long document outlining the proposed new Mayan rite highlights the institution of lay leadership during Mass and ‘the relationship with sister mother earth,’ including prayers to the four directions of the earth. If you guessed that this new rite with “indigenous adaptations” might contain pagan elements, you’d be right. HERE

But the people who desire the Traditional Latin Mass must be placed in ecclesial ghettos and eventually “railroaded” to oblivion.

Posted in Liberals, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices |
22 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 697

Posted on 22 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Photo by The Great Roman™

Meanwhile, black to move.

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

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE

This is from Day 5 of the American Cup. Look at this low time rush to the end. Whew.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
4 Comments

VIDEO: Glimpses of Forty Hours

Posted on 22 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The practice of Forty Hours Devotion should be revived.

Forty Hours originally evolved to ask God’s protection from external threats, such as invasion or disease. Now, it should be undertaken because of internal menaces to the Faith.

Here is a fine, brief video of Forty Hours at one of my favorite places, the Brompton Oratory in London.

Posted in Just Too Cool, Our Catholic Identity, Save The Liturgy - Save The World | Tagged Forty Hours
4 Comments

From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-03-21 – Troubled seminarian

Posted on 21 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The “mole” has been stuck at home with a bad cold and so there have not been any entries for a few days. We hope for a swift recovery. Meanwhile, here’s an oldie.

September 20th ~~2023~~ [2022]

Dear Diary,

Shocked yesterday. The Chancellor of Vice told me he was looking at Dcn Butch’s Instagram. He’s always cruising clergy accounts looking for trouble. Hard to say what he thought he’d find on Butch’s account, since he’s dead and all, last month. I guess he’s being thorough. Vice found a strange entry. Butch’s grandson went off to one of these seminaries run by schismatics or something. He entered with at least THIRTY guys in his class.

I’m scratching my head. Why not go to our regional seminary? He’s lived here his whole life. Close-knit family. Why’s he going all the way across the country for this? I had no idea he was interested in being a priest. I saw him among the servers at Mass whenever I’d go up to Spud Corners, but I’m really surprised. Fr. Tommy didn’t seem to be at all surprised. I think he even approved! These young priests. I should ask Fr Bill not to put anything in the bulletin about this. I really don’t want folks to the idea that this is okay. Some other young guys might go for it. Latin and all those books instead of CPE and ecumenecal days. I mean “stop the spread”! Right?

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

Priests saying STUPID THINGS in the confessional… again

Posted on 21 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I had an exchange this morning via texting with a friend who was wondering about the validity of an absolution.

I suspect that priests who screw around with the words of absolution aren’t purposely trying to be cruel… but that’s the result. It is cruel to fool around with the form of sacraments because you cause real doubt in the minds of the people who want to receive them.

There are those priests who are either a) lazy and they’ve simply drifted away from the proper form or b) they are stupid and they never truly committed it to memory and don’t have a card as a reminder, or c) they think penitents are stupid so they tweak the form with their own touches to make it more meaningful (sometimes making it quite UNmeaningful) or d) a combination of all of the above.

Fathers! Don’t be lazy, stupid or condescending! USE THE PROPER FORM! It is nothing short of CRUEL to ad lib.

Lay People! Don’t let priests get away with this. Ask them to use the proper form. If they don’t or won’t report them to the pastor or the bishop. Keep in mind that priests of other Catholic Churches may have variants. Also, make sure you know what the form is.

Recently, the translation of the form of absolution in these USA was slightly altered to be more in keeping with the Latin (post-Conciliar) form. More about that HERE

Finally…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Save The Liturgy - Save The World |
10 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 696

Posted on 21 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Use FATHERZ10 at checkout

Meanwhile,… I had a request to make the puzzle image larger. Do you also want the variety of board and pieces or does that not make any difference? This look reminds me of my childhood, yearning for the newspaper each day during Fisher v. Spassky.

White to move, of course, as indicated by the notation.

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

Interested in learning? Try THIS.

For priests… I warmly endorse these conferences!

In chess news yesterday in the American Cup going on in St. Louis, Wesley So (yay!) duked it out with the always deadly Fabiano Caruana. Wesley (yay! – he’s a solid Christian gent and lives in my native place) sent Fabi down to the lower bracket when he will face Aronian. Wesley must now go up against Hikaru Nakamura. This will be tough, to say the least. Hikaru has been very strong in the classical format lately.

In my chess news, yesterday I played a couple OTB against the group’s strongest (probably). Both time black. I played as if I had never heard of “middle game”. Strong out of my opening, when I was clearly up, I completely went to the zoo in the late middle game. A couple of bad words offered themselves to me, but only in Russian, so I kept them to myself. It’s my pattern: obtain a strong position and then snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. There was no handy bridge to hurl myself off of, so I resolved to do better today. What I need is a coach. I renew my call for a Catholic Grand Master to give me a hand. Anyone? Know someone? Know someone who knows someone?

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
5 Comments

Happy AEQUINOCTIUM!

Posted on 20 March 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the North, which is where most of you readers are, it is the first day of Spring, the Vernal Equinox, today. We are interested in this day in particular because we date Easter as the 1) first Sunday 2) after the first full Moon 3) on or after the Vernal Equinox.

An equinox (twice a year, in the Spring or in the Fall) is the exact moment when the plane of your planet’s equator passes through the geometric center of your yellow star’s disk. The Sun’s “equator” is lined up with the Earth’s equator.

Aequinoctium in from aequus (equal) and nox (night). At an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal length.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox is called the vernal or spring equinox while the September equinox is called the autumnal or fall equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, the reverse is true. The dates slightly vary due to leap years and other factors.

In the Roman Curia calendar says that the Equinox occurred at 2124 UTC.

And the Roman “Ave Maria” changed to 18:45! I’ll soon be reporting those again…thanks to you readers… from Rome!

Posted in Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged Vernal Equinox
1 Comment