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{]:¬)

ASK FATHER: Priest with bad eyes has a woman read the Gospel at Mass

Posted on 16 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Recently, while we were away on a vacation, my husband, children and I attended a NO Mass as that was what was available to us at our vacation destination. At the time the Gospel was to be read, the presiding Priest said that the Deacon had tested positive for COVID-19 that morning, so was not there to read the Gospel and instead the lay person, a woman, who had just read aloud the second reading would proclaim the Gospel. After she read the Gospel, the Priest came to give his homily, and before beginning provided the explanation that his eye sight is poor and he can’t read the small print of the Gospel, showing the congregation his homily notes which were printed for him in rather large font.

It has always been my understanding that in the presence of a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, a lay person is not permitted to proclaim the Gospel. I understand that there were unusual circumstances afoot what with a Priest with poor eyesight and a Deacon unavailable owing to illness. I know that there was another Priest in the Church building during Mass, as he came out of the confessional during announcements at the end of Mass to remind people that he was there hearing confessions and the opportunity for confession would continue after Mass as long as the people needed.

Still, I am left uneasy by the laywoman proclaiming the Gospel during Mass. I wonder if it was licit for her to do so and what other solutions could have been found under such circumstances.

Thank you for all you do, Father Z. I remember you daily in my prayers and thank God that I came to find your blog, as it was instrumental in my re/conversion.

GUEST PRIEST RESPONSE: Fr. Tim Ferguson

It is not licit for a layperson, man or woman, to read the Gospel. The Mass was still (presumptively) valid, but this is something that should not have happened. Still, one has to take into consideration the circumstances. If the priest truly can’t read the Gospel (though one wonders, if this is an ongoing situation, why doesn’t the parish have a large-print lectionary or evangelary? – perhaps such could be a welcome gift from parishioners, or even someone passing through on vacation), then it sounds like he made do the best he could, or at least, the best he thought he could. The other priest, who was hearing confessions could have (and perhaps should have) come out for the brief time needed to proclaim the Gospel, but still, it’s good that he was engaged in priestly ministry, hearing confessions and thus saving the world, rather than simply sitting back in the rectory cracking a beer and catching up on Tivoed baseball games. The priest who was offering Mass, who had obviously prepared a homily, surely could recite a line or two from the Gospel by memory, even if it wasn’t the Gospel of the day, apologizing to the congregation for his lack of ability to read the fine print.

At the end of the day, this was illicit, but not the sort of thing that would seem to require a phone call to the bishop’s office and rallying the pitchfork and torch brigade outside the rectory. It seems to me the best resolution to this scenario would be for a well-meaning parishioner, or vacationer, to purchase for Father a large-print lectionary, lest the scenario repeat itself.

FR. Z RESPONSE:

I get that “things happen” and sometimes those things are truly at 11:59. I really do. Still, I’m having a hard time buying the priest’s scenario and explanation. If Father could have “homily notes which were printed for him in rather large font”, then he could also have the Gospel reading “printed for him in rather large font”.

It might be interesting to see if this is some sort of running gag that he regularly uses precisely in order to get a woman to read the Gospel. Still, having a priest hearing confessions at that time rather militates against that.

That’s pretty cynical of me, isn’t it. Such are the days we are in. Keep in mind some recently posted videos of crazy goings-on in churches.

For sure, it would help to have a large-print book for Father. That’s an investment that should be made right away. In the interim, print out the readings for him head of time just in case.

Finally, there will never be sacramentally ordained female deacons. Can’t happen.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, HONORED GUESTS | Tagged Gospel
22 Comments

“A dogmatic reference-point for the continual renewal and growth of God’s People”

Posted on 16 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The trend over the last few years, from “high atop the thing”, has been to distance Cult, Code and Creed (worship, discipline and doctrine) from anything that happened before 11 October 1962. Marked for special treatment is whatever came out of the Council of Trent (namely clarity in our Cult, Code and Creed). They are forcing, imposing, pressuring, constraining that the Second Vatican Council be the interpretive lens through which the entirety of the Church’s history, and her Cult, Code and Creed, be reinterpreted. That’s the goal. Hence the constant undermining of the magisterial teaching of St. John Paul II and the savage attacks on anything associated with Trent.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi let’s have a taste from St. John Paul’s 2003 encyclical letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia:

9. The Eucharist, as Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history. This explains the lively concern which she has always shown for the Eucharistic mystery, a concern which finds authoritative expression in the work of the Councils and the Popes. How can we not admire the doctrinal expositions of the Decrees on the Most Holy Eucharist and on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass promulgated by the Council of Trent? For centuries those Decrees guided theology and catechesis, and they are still a dogmatic reference-point for the continual renewal and growth of God’s People in faith and in love for the Eucharist. In times closer to our own, three Encyclical Letters should be mentioned: the Encyclical Mirae Caritatis of Leo XIII (28 May 1902), the Encyclical Mediator Dei of Pius XII (20 November 1947) and the Encyclical Mysterium Fidei of Paul VI (3 September 1965).

The Second Vatican Council, while not issuing a specific document on the Eucharistic mystery, considered its various aspects throughout its documents, especially the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium.

If you, as many do, want to uphold and even emphasize the Second Vatican Council, it isn’t necessary to cut it off from everything that went before. If you, as many do, want even to turn a blind eye to pointed and important questions that have been raised about the Council’s documents, it isn’t necessary to ignore the past. It is possible to embrace a continuity between all the Councils rather than impose, as some influencers are now doing, a “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture”. (Oh, how they despise poor Pope Benedict XVI, who put his finger directly on the Rahnerian wound in that 2005 Christmas address.)

Posted in The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged Council of Trent, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul II
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Pope Benedict XVI on Corpus Christi processions

Posted on 16 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In many places the Feast of Corpus Christi gets an “external celebration” on Sunday. It is wonderful to see the multiplication of Eucharistic processions especially with the growth of the Traditional Latin Mass. TLM began, processions generally followed.

In 2008 Pope Benedict taught about processions, a message we could all use today. The full text is HERE.

“The Corpus Christi procession teaches us that the Eucharist seeks to free us from every kind of despondency and discouragement, wants to raise us, so that we can set out on the journey with the strength God gives us through Jesus Christ … Each one can find his own way if he encounters the One who is the Word and the Bread of Life and lets himself be guided by his friendly presence. Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going! “Progress” does not suffice, if there are no criteria as reference points. On the contrary, if one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly distancing oneself from the goal. God created us free but he did not leave us alone: he made himself the “way” and came to walk together with us so that in our freedom we should also have the criterion we need to discern the right way and to take it.”

This is a key point for our times in the Church right now….

“[I]f one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly distancing oneself from the goal.”

We’ve gone down the wrong road for too long and we are paying the price.

As in geometry, the farther two rays extend from a point, the farther apart they get. As in making a journey, if you want to get from, say, Chicago to Texas and, after driving for a long time, discover you are at the Canadian border, you would do well to turn around, retrace your MISTAKE, and start again on the right road. As a matter of fact, you would be stupid to keep driving north.

Bashing Tradition to promote the Second Vatican Council is like driving north from Chicago in order to get to Texas.

No new initiative we undertake in the Church is going to succeed unless we revitalize our sacred liturgical worship and seek to fulfill the virtue of Religion, to give God what is His due. Everything we do must flow from the Eucharist – by which we must understand both the sacred Eucharistic species and also its celebration which is Holy Mass. Everything we do must then be brought back to the Eucharist.

Among the things that we can do relatively quickly are reinstitute many of our devotional practices: recitation of the Rosary (perhaps with a priest in the confessional), exposition and benediction (perhaps with a priest in the confessional), novenas on weeknights (perhaps with a priest in the confessional), processions, litanies, vespers, Forty Hours Devotion.

FORTY HOURS! If there was ever a time in the life of the Church when we needed to recover the practice of FORTY HOURS DEVOTION… not pretend Forty Hours… not dumbed-down Forty Hours… not updated (see previous) Forty Hours… but REAL Forty Hours, it’s now.

Undiluted… unblended… undaunted… unmodified… unapologetic… traditional Forty Hours Devotion.

Thus endeth the rant.

We are our rites.

God, Our Father, with Your mighty steering hand guide Your priests and bishops out of the fog of worldly notions and onto a course of true renewal.

God, Our Savior and High Priest, chart onto the minds and hearts of Your sons a destination of a traditional priestly identity for our turbulent context here and now.

God, Holy Spirit, fill Your sons with zeal and with the courage to persevere when stormy resistance will rise from the agents of the Enemy.

Mary, Queen of the Clergy, put your protecting mantle over your sons who will be persecuted by their brethren and superiors when they implement traditional worship.

St. Joseph, Protector of Christ, Protector of the Church, guide the efforts of your sons to build up the Temple of God for worthy worship according to the virtue of Religion.

Holy Angels, guard us from evil and prompt us to do good.

ACTION ITEM! Be a “Custos Traditionis”! Join an association of prayer for the reversal of “Traditionis custodes”.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, Save The Liturgy - Save The World | Tagged processions
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ROME 22/6 – DAY 14: Stirring it up a little

Posted on 15 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I was not up to see it, but I am confident that the Roman sunrise was at 5:32 and that the sunset will be at 20:50. In the Vatican City State the Ave Maria bell won’t ring at 21:15 as it ought.

There are 200 days left in this calendar year.

This corner view is really Roman.

My view while working on some chess openings. My opening game pretty much sucks. Gotta improve. Working on chess problems, with a nice view, a little pepper grinder converted into a bud vase with cheerful diminutive carnations… not bad. I am so grateful to the people who donated for my stay here.

The new Decree about new religious communities gives St. Rita a headache.

The ceiling of Sant’Ignazio. Let’s have another look. If you could walk diagonally across the nave, navigating around all the chairs and little herds of tourists gathered near their vapid guides, it would look by genius mathematical design as if the figures in Andrea Pozzo’s Late Baroque vault images were moving. Truly amazing. Standing in the center (there is a disk in the pavement marking the spot) you have an illusion of infinite space.

Jesuits were into scientific things, such as new-fangled gadgets like telescopes. They had a little observatory at the Roman College, part of the whole complex with Sant’Ignazio, the church. For years, as I would walk over the Gregorian University in the afternoon for Latin with Fr. Reginald Foster, I would stop to look at the meteorological data that they posted each day in the case to the left of the door. Let’s see what’s posted today? Sunset? Sunrise? Ave Maria?

Hmmm… that seems a little out of date.

Did someone lose the key to the case?

Meanwhile…

Supper with The Great Roman™ involved the killing of a kilo of clams:

Even better than last time. I’m getting the hang of this. Next time also with razor clams if they have any.

Please think about supporting the traditional French Benedictines of Le Barroux who are making good wine in the old papal vineyards from the Avignon Papacy.

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Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged vongole
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New Decree from Rome cuts the legs from under bishops and strangles new religious groups in the crib.

Posted on 15 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t it once a project of Francis to decentralize some of the power from the Roman Curia out to the local Churches? I have this nagging memory that local bishops were to have more power.

On the other hand, in the last few years it seems to be going the other way.

Today, another thing struck local bishops, removing even more of their influence in their own dioceses under the guise of “accompaniment” as we all “walk together”.

The aim of this new Decree from Rome is to strangle nascent religious groups in the crib. Strangle new traditional groups in the crib. This makes sure that any bishop even slightly friendly to tradition will have his hands tied.

This is from Italian Vatican News:

Public associations of faithful in itinere [Latin, literally “on the way, road”]:

The green light from the Holy See is necessary

From now on, the diocesan bishop must have the authorization of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life before establishing associations of the faithful who are waiting to become an Institute of Consecrated Life or Society of Apostolic Life

“Before the diocesan bishop erects – by decree – a public association of the faithful with a view to becoming an institute of consecrated life or a society of apostolic life of diocesan right, he must obtain the written permission of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of apostolic life “.

This is what Pope Francis ordered in a Rescript regarding public associations of faithful in itinere, following the audience granted on 7 February last to Cardinal João Braz de Aviz and Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, respectively prefect and secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of consecrated life and Societies of apostolic life.

The Rescript, which enters into force today 15 June with the publication in L’Osservatore Romano, is part of the synodality promoted by Francis, intending to develop closer collaboration between the offices of the Holy See and the diocesan bishops in a “mutual listening ”, as the Pope underlined in his speech to the Plenary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, on 11 December last year. Listening and collaboration that are expressed in a process of discernment and accompaniment with particular attention to recent foundations and new forms of consecrated life, as stated in the Code of Canon Law (can. 605).

It’s part of “synodality” (walking together)!

“Recent foundations” will have “particular attention”.

Because – recently – there are lots of new groups forming that aspire to throwing off the last shackles of “restorationism”, right? These rapidly multiplying new groups have only blue skies in their wide-open eyes as they lift their faces like fresh daisies toward the sunshine of Vatican II and take root in the rich soil of post-Conciliar liturgy. Yeah, that’s the sort of groups that are trying to form in dioceses.

No, no. The new groups forming aren’t interested at all in things like recognizable religious habits, clear charisms, spirituality anchored in the writings of saintly founders, traditional liturgy and devotions. Nope.

Posted in The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged religious communities
14 Comments

“Restorers”! “Against the Council”! “MAKE IT take root”! What are they really saying?

Posted on 15 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It strikes me that relative newcomer around the Holy See Press sector, listed as CNA‘s “senior Rome correspondent” – which as I get older strikes me as amusing – Hannah Brockhaus should rethink her priorities.

Francis had an audience with a bunch of editors of European Jesuit journals – imagine what that was like. In the Vatican News piece relating what was exchanged in their Q&A there are some 2400 words. The section Hannah chose to report on is 188 words of the whole. La Civilità Cattolica HERE. What was her game? Click-bait?

The topic: Francis criticized, belittled, “restauratori”, “restorers who do not accept Vatican II”.

According the Francis, …

Q: What signs of spiritual renewal do you see in the Church? Do you see any? Are there signs of new, fresh life?

FRANCIS: It is very difficult to see a spiritual renewal using very old-fashioned schemes. [Is that what he was asked?] We need to renew our way of seeing reality, of evaluating it. In the European Church I see more renewal in the spontaneous things that are being born: movements, groups, new bishops who remember that there is a Council behind them. [Like in Germany?] Because the Council that some pastors remember best is that of Trent. [And why would that be?] And what I’m saying is not nonsense. [Oh… my….]

Restorationism has come to gag the Council. [1!] The number of groups of “restorers” – for example, in the United States there are so many – is impressive. An Argentine bishop told me that he had been asked to administer a diocese that had fallen into the hands of these “restorers”. [Given Francis’ disdain for Americans and the United States, you would think that he knows that Argentina and the United States are sort of far from each other.] They had never accepted the Council. [2!] There are ideas, behaviors that arise from a restorationism that basically did not accept the Council. [3! Say it again, until people believe it.] The problem is precisely this: that in some contexts the Council has not yet been accepted. [4!] It is also true that it takes a century for a council to take root. We still have forty years to make it take root, then!

To MAKE IT take root.

That’s one way to do things. If it doesn’t work, force it.

One thing I do know is that Francis doesn’t have 4o years. I suspect he knows that and so he is… what?… dominated by the idea of these “restorationists”? Whoever they are! Are “restorationists” the boogey-men hiding under the bed?

QUAERITUR: Do those who want traditional liturgical worship and solid preaching really want things as they were before the Council?

No, I don’t think so. For the most part, they want clear teaching from the Church and reverent worship. They find that the old ways appeal more, work better, and are, therefore, their preference. They have seen that the new ways are hardly recognizable as Catholic sometimes and they don’t prefer them.

QUAERITUR: Why would some pastors remember Trent better than Vatican II?

Just a couple thoughts on that.

Why accept the premise? Maybe pastors know Vatican II quite well! They have not forgotten Vatican II, which they had to study in seminary and which they have heard of ad nauseam ever since. It could be that Vatican II just wasn’t as important in the long run, in the history of Councils, and, though they remember it, they have other things to worry about.

Another idea.

QUAERITUR: Could be it that when you read what the Council of Trent produced, it is clear? The human mind, especially well-trained, is better proportioned to clarity than it is to foggy. The documents of Vatican II, while they have moments of clarity, as when they cite previous Councils, get a little dreamy and ambiguous.

No. This is a straw man.

There are some people who really hate the Second Vatican Council. I am not sure that they know why they do. There are others who resist what the Second Vatican Council’s documents say and suggest because they sense – on the basis of pretty good arguments – that they are imbued with modernism, in particulars and in an overarching way. Some parrot this, others can articulate exactly what they mean with citations and arguments. They resist certain things in the Council, while admitting that it was a real Council.

Others… okay, we can play this game forever. There are always more wrinkles.

This is a straw man. There is no homogeneous group as Francis describes. It’s fantasy.

What is clear, however, is that if you want “those people”, those “restorationists” to come on side, it might be better to stop treating them like trash, even if you think they are trash. It’s neither smart nor pastoral. As a matter of fact, in places like the United States, where there are (apparently) many restorationists and where there is a demographic sink hole opening up under the church gobbling up those imbued with the last 60 years of Vatican II… it’s kind of stupid to treat them like trash, because they are going to be the only ones left.

Back to the Q&A with Francis and the Jesuits.

After he said what I fisked, above, Francis added comments about how wonderful the late Jesuit leader Fr. Arupe was. Then he said:

A Jesuit from the province of Loyola was particularly aggressive toward Fr. Arrupe. He was sent to various places and even to Argentina, and always made trouble. He once said to me: “You are someone who understands nothing. But the real culprits are Fr. Arrupe and Fr. Calvez. The happiest day of my life will be when I see them hanging from the gallows in St. Peter’s Square.” [NB:] Why am I telling you this story? To make you understand what the post-conciliar period was like. This is happening again, especially with the traditionalists. That is why it is important to save these figures who defended the Council and fidelity to the pope. We must return to Arrupe: he is a light from that moment that illuminates us all. It was he who rediscovered the Spiritual Exercises as a source, freeing himself from the rigid formulations of the Epitome Instituti, the expression of a closed, rigid thinking, more instructive-ascetical than mystical.

I can’t help but think of a caudillo talking about opposition.

BTW… Arupe was the first General of the Jesuits to RESIGN instead of remaining in office until he died. He resigned and St. John Paul II – whose magisterium someone seems determined to obscure – appointed Paolo Dezza as General over Arupe’s vice general.

Arupe could be a personification of the 60s-70s for Francis, a halcyon age.

The Civiltà version has a footnote about the Epitome Instituti (consider the source, of course – Spadaro): “a kind of practical summary in use in the Society and formulated in the 20th century, which was seen as a substitute for the Constitutions. Jesuit formation in the Society for a time was shaped by this text to such an extent that some never read the Constitutions, which are the foundational text. For the pope during this period in the Society the rules risked overwhelming the spirit.”

Some insight is gained from this about whom Francis thinks “restorationists” to be.

Here’s a problem.

Vatican II was one among many Councils. Some of them were far more important in the history of the Church that Vatican II. However, today some people (Francis?) have reduced Vatican II to a new Epitome Instituti. It is the be all and end all for them. However, there remains the whole gamut of the Church’s Councils and history.

Vatican II must be read with all other Council and not against all other Councils. Certainly not instead of other Council.

What the team, the New Red Guard, around Francis want to do is turn Vatican II into the sole-hermeneutical principle through which the entirety of the Church, her doctrine, practices, laws, liturgy, are to be – must be – must be made to be – reinterpreted.

Never forget this when you hear certain figures in Francis’ orbit talk about the Second Vatican Council.

Meanwhile, I just read elsewhere that when Francis was faced with an accusation of being pro-Putin he responded:

“Someone may say to me at this point: so you are pro-Putin! No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing. I am simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good guys and bad guys.”

Posted in Francis, Just Too Cool, Liberals, New catholic Red Guards, The Drill, The future and our choices, Vatican II | Tagged Francis, Jesuits, Vatican II
24 Comments

St Philip Neri’s revived Confraternity fed the poor and got attacked for it. Wherein Fr. Z rants

Posted on 14 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I seek to accomplish a few things in this post. First, it is good to set the record straight, lately distorted by a minor trad site, gloria.tv. Also, repeat something I’ve bashed away at for years, but haven’t bashed lately. Thirdly, pose a reminder about the times we live in.

This is the Oratory of the Caravita, in the clutches of the Jesuits, near to their great church Sant’Ignazio. Churches on this site have through history been in various hands and have been demolished and rebuilt. That’s how Rome is.

For some years now it has been used by the far-lib English speakers in Rome who like hyper-touchy-feely liturgy on their own terms. I used to stick my head in there once in a while on a Sunday just to see what was going on and who was there. It was a who’s who of that crowd, including journalists, and what was done in there … I wouldn’t do with a gun to my head.

I do not for a second doubt their sincerity. I think they’ve been over a long time bamboozled.

In the entrance, narthex to the place one spots a painting of St. Giovanni Battista de Rossi, a magnificent saint who had epilepsy and who performed great works of corporal and spiritual mercy in Rome and was beloved, called by some another St. Philip Neri.

As his health declined and he became a well-known confessor, he relocated to Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, which today is Rome’s official Traditional parish, and my adoptive parish, for I’ve known that church well since the late 80s.

San G.B. died in 1763 and was buried in a side altar of Ss. Ss. Trinità. He was beatified by Pius IX and canonized by Pope Leo XIII. Eventually his body was moved to a church given his name on the periphery of the City.

Here is the inside the Caravita Oratory. “Caravita” could be a distortion of the family name of a Jesuit who was known for his work with the poor.

The first thing you ought to notice is that the whole of the church is encircled with stalls. That’s because this was a setting for activity of a Confraternity and it was a place for sacred concerts and oratories. The Oratory is dedicated to the Trinity and St. Francis Xavier.

You can tell a lot about the thinking of the people who have charge of this little oratory by this photo.

There is a body of a Blessed in the ~~plant stand~~… er… altar.

Tools for Sunday. The bongo drum is not to be ignored.

Now we get to another point. As I walked in, this was still on the door of the oratory.

What’s going on? For the 40oth centenary of the Canonization of Sts. Philip Neri and Francis Xavier (and other famous saints) the Confraternity found by “Pippo Bbono” Neri of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini sponsored a lunch, in two seatings, for poor people. The place they chose for this was within the Caravita Oratory.

And… to their everlasting credit… the Jesuits let them use the Oratory! Kudos for that, and charity covers a multitude of sins.

I remember years back when I was involved with the Chinese community in Rome that they, having no place meet outside of the church they could use, set up tables in the church so they could eat together and stay close.

At first, that rubbed me the wrong way. I quickly understood it to be the most Roman of approaches. Romanità is flexible, permeable. There are limits, but by Romanità we don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Would the Chinese have desired to meet elsewhere for lunch? Of course.

Would the organizers of the lunch for the poor at Caravita have preferred to hold it somewhere else? Such as in the very refectory of the complex of Ss. Trinità founded by St. Philip attached to their church? The one in the hands of another group that won’t let it go even though it is really needed by the parish? Of course.

The Confraternity that is being revived at Ss. Trinità is serious about being what they were founded to do: perform works of mercy. Lots of confraternities survive in a handful of members who, a couple times in year, put their gear on and carry a banner. That’s not what confraternities were for. They were for action, not show.

I’ve railed away over the years that those who love Tradition have to be the first ones to get involved with works of mercy in their parishes. They must be the first to volunteer and be available. Always. This is authentic Catholic identity of the finest Tridentine stamp. The confraternities, each having different apostolates, exploded in the post-Tridentine, Counter-Reformation. Members of nobility and simple laborers alike belonged side by side. They fed the poor, educated orphans, took care of widows, picked up bodies out of the Tiber River and gave them burial. This apostolic action was a direct result of the identity of the Church expressed in the Council of Trent. This is when new orders sprang up, missionaries sailed off into the blue, veneration of the Eucharist and defense of the priesthood was magnified into an entire world movement expressed in the Baroque.

And they fed the poor.

The folks at gloria.tv posted a snarky attack on the people of Ss. Trinità and their day of feeding the poor at the Caravita Oratory. They said that they desecrated the church by feeding the poor, by “turning it into a restaurant”. They said, I am not making this up, that the people of Ss. Trinità and the Confraternity did this for an ignoble purpose: “La chiesa ristorante allevierà senza dubbio l’odio di Francesco e della sua fazione contro il Rito Romano…. The church restaurant will without question alleviate the hatred that Francis and his ilk have toward the Roman Rite.”

Let’s be clear about something. Libs control everything. When they want to feed the poor, they’ve got all sorts of places to do it in Rome. When traditionalists, who have virtually nothing at their disposal, want to feed the poor, they make due and get the job done.

gloria.tv owes the good people of Ss. Trinità, and its pastor whom they attacked by name, an apology.

I actually have some sympathy with their frustration and some things they post, though I don’t see it very often. There are some aspects that I find a bit off-putting, including their video production values. I want things like gloria.tv to succeed in the right way and for the right reason and not just because they might appeal to anger and frustration – which we admittedly succumb to.

Here’s something to think about.

By posting that nasty post about Ss. Trinità, what did gloria.tv a) hope to accomplish? b) actually accomplish?

Did they help or hurt the overarching cause that we who want our Catholic Tradition are now struggling to maintain under the cruelty of Traditionis custodes?

It seems to me that gloria.tv would do well to bring a camera or two and see what goes on at Ss. Trinità: the church packed on Sundays and feasts with young people from all over the world, young families, regular collection of groceries for a “food bank”, ongoing catechesis. When dozens of people show up for Vespers on a blazing hot Sunday afternoon,… maybe something is happening.

Go to some other churches in Rome’s center and see what’s going on.

It is inevitable, in the face of the demographic sink-hole opening up under the Church that there are going to be declines and massive losses of numbers and properties. Eventually, only the committed will remain, charismatics, converts, traditionalists. They will have to find each other, work with each other. I find this a hopeful vision. It is realistic, too. There will be frictions, of course. But imagine Catholics committed and catechized like converts, who bring in their knowledge of Scripture from other churches and zeal of apostolic action, enthusiastic application to prayer from charismatics who now also have stronger and clearer Marian and Eucharistic devotion, and the grounding, anchoring, energizing force of Traditional Sacred Worship to provide the impetus out of which Catholic life flows and the goal back to which all things are drawn.

One of the people said, “No one has ever poured anything to drink for me.”

l‘Arciconfraternita ha organizzato un pranzo per i bisognosi di Roma presso l’Oratorio del Caravita. L’Arciconfraternita ringrazia i parrocchiani per il contributo mensile che ha reso possibile questo evento seguendo le orme di San Filippo Neri pic.twitter.com/ijUC0liUCI

— SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini (@fssp_roma) June 5, 2022

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Caravita Oratory, Gloria TV, SS. Trinita dei Pelegrini
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ROME 22/6 – DAY 13: What is it with Jesuits and cubes?

Posted on 14 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

5:32 was sunrise in Rome and 20:49 will be sunset, by which time I hope to be eating Spaghetti alle vongole with The Great Roman™. The Ave Maria bell is in its 22:15 cycle.

I put some time and energy into a longer post today, with quite a few Roman things and some substantive comments. So, here is a quick walk through of sights.

BTW… wavy flag… gotta start thinking about October.

Every city needs a street with a large marble foot.

The once great Collegio Romano, the Jesuit school. Now a state school… high school, I think.

St. Ignazio.

“My Father’s house is a house of prayer….”

St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church and Fascinating Man.

A prayed here for a long time ~~for~~ … about and for a certain group and certain person.

Nice job taking care of the grave and altar of one of your greatest saints, guys.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

Again, I prayed here for a good long time.

A young American Jesuit came out for Mass in English and used the REAL altar! There were lib shenanigans for the three people present.

Why, I wondered, di the female reader have to raise her hand during the responsorial psalm? For, what, three people?

“‘Cause… ’cause… YOU HATE VATICAN II!”

Meanwhile, not triumphalist at all.

The confessional… “It’s bigger on the inside!”

And.. you know… it really is! It opens onto eternity.

It’s sort of like another cube, however. Hmmm.

The confessional of Fr. Cappello (+1962).

A view from below.

A presepio. Not bad. No bridge with a pig, but not bad.

Meanwhile, I had some shopping to take care of. No, not one of these. I already have all this stuff.

Boxes of birettas give me almost as much joy as the banks of flowers at Campo de’ Fiori.

Lunch: Rip figs with prosciutto. A material proof that God loves us.

Please remember to give some business to friends of this blog, such as the traditional Benedictines in Norcia. They make mighty good beer, my friends, and they are, thereby, building their new monastery.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
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Francis: Patron Saint of…. ?

Posted on 14 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Catholic Culture:

Posted in Lighter fare | Tagged lace
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ROME 22/6 – DAY 12: Full iron circle

Posted on 13 June 2022 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The time of sunrise in Rome today was 5:32. Sunset will fall at 20:49. The Ave Maria won’t ring at 21:15 in the Vatican, but it should ring at one Roman parish at 21:19.

It is the feast of St. Anthony of Lisbon… er um… of Padua (+1231). He was canonized a year after his death – at only 35 – and named Doctor of the Church by Pius XII.

My favorite story about Anthony is that when he was in heretical Rimini the people wouldn’t listen to him. He therefore went to the shore and began to preach and the fish gathered and stuck their heads out of water to show that they were listening.

Also, for fun, there is a recording of a hymn called “O Gloriosa Domina” by Venantius Fortunatus which Antony’s mother used to sing to him. It is said that he died singing this beautiful hymn to Our Lady.

And… how about this! Stunning… Matthew Curtis does all the voices. I have used his pieces in my LENTCAzTs.

It is done quite differently on this disc, which brings together the music of the East with what early missionaries carried from the West.

US HERE – UK HERE – It seemed appropriate

The Gesù. The Roman flagship of the Jesuits. A monumental rebuke to the Protestant Revolt and confident expression of joyous Catholicism, focused on the Most Holy Name.

This is how the Church perceived herself the gifts given by God from on high.

The whole building was directed to the altar, where the priest renewed the Sacrifice of Calvary, the focus of the whole place.

So, obviously, set up something in front of the focal point of the building.

I waver between thinking about The Borg or, perhaps, the ring of power that Sauron gave to the Witch King of Angmar.

It reminds me of any number of movies where someone goes up to the cube with the glowing streak in it and, when he touches it, the ancient thing with glowing eyes and tentacles comes out and eats everyone in the room except the one who gets away to sputter the tale.

If you are going to set up something that looks like it belongs in a mini-golf course, you might as well have a strange Paschal Candle stand too.

UPDATE: One of my correspondents sent this image with the comment.

“The Gesu candle stand looks like a gyro.”

Meanwhile, on your left, the Catholic Faith Triumphs over Heresy on the right side of the tomb of St. Ignatius Loyola. Truth is smashing Heresy and the snakes are making a slithering run for it. Happy, intense putti lend a helpful hand by tearing up the ghastly books of the heretics.