Priests and bishops who are probably going to Hell

Posted on 13 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is a good piece at Crisis today about the Sacrament of Penance.  It touches on many issues, including availability of confession times, some poorly formed confessors who don’t acknowledge certain sins as sins, and the lack of support some sound priests have for teaching the truth.

At the onset, the writer gets into the availability, or lack, of confession times.  I was pleased that, when she used the site masstimes.org she found something good:

The situation regarding availability of scheduled confessions is, quite literally, all over the map. You can find plenty of confession times throughout the week in Madison, WI, the diocese of the late great Bishop Morlino. Further east in Saginaw, Michigan most churches only offer a half hour on Saturday. My childhood diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts remains a confession desert as does much of the once Catholic stronghold of New England.

Yet another indicator of why so many people are watching the appointment of Bp. Morlino’s successor.

All in all, the Sacrament of Penance is a mess, for reasons that I mentioned above.   Some parishes offer a scant 15 minutes.  Some confessors are off their rockers when it comes to the most basic tenets of moral theology.  Some sound priests are constrained by their superiors.

Clamor for confession times!   Don’t let dopey priests get away will saying that black is white or that 2+2=5!   Thank the priest after receiving absolution!   Show up when confessions are scheduled, not when they are about to end!

GO TO CONFESSION!

Fathers, bishops, if you are not hearing confessions because you don’t want to or because you think the practice is outdated or because you don’t believe in mortal sins… listen closely now…

… YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO HELL.

In the Novus Ordo Rite of Ordination of Priests, you priests made a solemn promise during the examination by the bishop of the ordinands. You promised

to celebrate faithfully and reverently the mysteries of Christ handed down by the Church, especially the sacrifice of the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation, for the glory of God and the sanctification of the Christian people.

Holy Church puts hearing confessions right up there with saying Mass.

Some might argue that, in the first version of the rite of ordination, revised after the Council under Paul VI, when it came to the examination neither Mass nor Penance were mentioned.  How many of you readers know this I wonder.  In face, that first version said: “Are you resolved to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully and religiously as the Church has handed them down to us for the glory of God and the sanctification of Christ’s people?”  The absences were in the Latin.   This was considered a serious problem about the identity of the priest.   Hence, in 1990 John Paul II approved a new Rite, which restored language about Mass and Penance.  That’s the version in use now.  I could go on about this at length, but suffice to say that…

THAT’S NO EXCUSE for priests not to hear confessions!   And no priests can ever claim ignorance without culpability.   If he doesn’t know what his duties are, then he is culpabably ignorant, just as much as a doctor is who doesn’t keep up with his professions developments.

What do you suppose will happen to a priest, a bishop, at his Judgement, if he has been lackadaisical or obstinately obtuse in teaching about the Sacrament of Penance and hearing confessions.

I think I know.  I think you know.  I think they know.   But they get distracted by their own odd notions, their busy work, their convenience.  That’s not going to help them at their Judgment.

BTW… I think that, by making your good confession, you help priests.  You help them to be priests.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, GO TO CONFESSION, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Priests and Priesthood, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
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Holy Face of Manoppello, Sankt Gallen, “designer babies”

Posted on 12 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At LifeSite there is an engaging article/interview with an expert, Paul Badde, who has written about the image of the Holy Face kept at Manoppello, Italy.  They touch on the role this image might have played in the thwarting of the infamous “Sankt Gallen” mafia that tried in vain to engineer the papal conclave of 2005.

Speaking of Sankt Gallen, you might check Taylor Marshall, who interviewed McCarrick’s victim.  HERE

In the piece on the image at Manoppello, I found this is of special interest:

LifeSiteNews:What do you hope the fruit of the further knowledge among Catholics about this Holy Face would be?

Paul Badde: What do I hope the fruit would be? That we will be better prepared to see Him again. Here I have got to tell you a last little story. I’ve been befriended for many years until his death in 2002 with Zvi Kolitz, an old Lithuanian Jew from New York, who cherished very highly the wisdom of Rabbi Loew, who lived in Prague in the 16th century.

And he was fascinated that this famous Rabbi said, time and again, that the Messiah would finally appear in that hour of history when men would try to stretch their hands towards the biblical “tree of life.”

And today, I read in the news that in China, the first “designer babies” have been made. I wouldn’t say in that context, though, that the miraculous reappearance of the Holy Veil is part of the Second Coming of the Lord already.

In Manoppello, however, you can already look into his eyes, the eyes of the God of Jacob.

In finem citius… right?

Posted in Four Last Things | Tagged
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Card. Müller’s interview about Church and theology in Germany

Posted on 12 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

LifeSite has a precis of Card. Müller’s interview with the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost.  He talks about the state of the Church and of theology in that caput malorum, Germany.

Scathing.

Also, of great interest, were his comments on homosexuality:

For the U.S. audience, however, it might be especially of interest that Cardinal Müller, when once more discussing the matter of homosexuality, quotes the U.S. author Daniel Mattson. Mattson’s recent book is entitled Why I Don’t Want to Call Myself Gay, and the German cardinal quotes it when saying that “‘homosexuals’ as a third species, next to men and women, does not exist. I rely here on the book by [Daniel] Mattson” who, as someone affected by this problem, “is more trustworthy than all the prominent ideologues together.”

Posted in Liberals, The Coming Storm, The Drill | Tagged ,
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TERRIFIC! School Choir accomplished, back to back, Solemn Roman and Eastern liturgy!

Posted on 11 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is impressive by anyone’s standards.

The wonderful Lyceum school in Cleveland, has a great choir.  They sang for a Pontifical Mass with Card. Burke and then a Divine Liturgy with Bp.Milan Lach.

Read about it HERE.

I want to offer official Fr. Z kudos.

First, Roman….

Then they got on buses and went to an Eastern church for this!

Firstly, this is serious breathing with both lungs!

Secondly, this is what we are talking about when it comes to proper worship of God.    In this afternoon, it would have been possible to see and to hear and smell the height the Roman Rite, Pontifical Mass at the Throne and then see how it lines up with and is different from (in details, but not so much in spirit) the Divine Liturgy of the East.   Each have their apophatic dimension, that comes through in the hard elements.  Each have their inner genius and orientation.

Impressive.

And I send my greetings to my friend Fr. DI who was involved.  Good on you guys!

What a great story.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Both Lungs, Brick by Brick, Fr. Z KUDOS, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Just Too Cool, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization | Tagged , ,
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NYC Day 1: Of Borscht and Buttons

Posted on 11 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Anyway, the way I figured, I could sit on my duff in my apartment or I could say, “Screw you, Paris, and all motorcycles!”, and get up and around. There are no scenarios right now where I don’t have some pain, so I may as well have some pain and some fun.

Fun was had last night, at the supper wherein my friend Fr. Murray was appropriately honored.   It was also a great fundraiser for a good pro-life group founded by Fr. Benedict Groeschel.   I knew lots of people and lots of people knew me.  It was a pleasure to catch up and to hear new names and stories.

This morning I decided, “Heck yeah! I’m going for some Borscht!”, and so I did.   The Uber network was a little wonky, so it took a while to take, but I got downtown to Veselka, a favorite stop of mine for the aforesaid…

I started with a bowl of the usual.

Then had a cup of the seasonal Christmas Borscht and half a sandwich with a little piece of kielbasa to boot.

Uber’s network was completely down by the end of lunch.   You could get nothing on their map, couldn’t set locations, could see cars.   So, good ol’ two finger whistle and a cane wave  to a yellow got me home just fine.   I checked out the Uber network map: down.

There’s a new app for cabs that can function a bit like Uber, with calling cabs, on the phone pay, etc.

Back to the rectory to rest.   I was picked up by friends for supper.

Which drink is mine?

I was impressed by the simple butter lettuce with vinaigrette.    The leaves were stacked large to small and dressed along the way.  When cut it gave a nice “wedge” like appearance, but so not like iceberg.   Nicely done. I’ll file that away.

At some point in the last 36 hours, someone gave me one of these buttons.  I won’t say where or when.   It’s missing the final Ò but the intent is clear.

So far so good.   While I won’t be able to do all the things I would like, with careful pacing and prudent use of transportation I can do some of the things that I would like.  We mustn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

And there’s always next time.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged ,
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“If only women were in leadership positions…”

Posted on 11 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sometimes you hear the facile repeat: “If only women were in leadership positions, this sort of thing wouldn’t happen!”

Is that so?

Here’s a case to consider…

At Crux:

Church says nuns embezzled from school to cover Vegas trips

LOS ANGELES, California – Two nuns who worked for decades at a Catholic school in California embezzled a “substantial” amount of money from tuition and other funds and used it to pay for gambling trips to Las Vegas, church officials said Monday.

The embezzlement from Saint James Catholic School in Torrance appears to have gone on for as long as 10 years, Archdiocese of Los Angeles media relations director Adrian Alarcon said.

During that time Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was the school’s principal and Sister Lana Chang taught eighth grade students. Both retired earlier this year. Neither has been charged with a crime.

The amount taken from tuition payments and other funds is still being tabulated, Alarcon said, adding she couldn’t confirm some reports that it was as much as $500,000.

[…]

These gals are exactly the new type of women religious, in habits and who pray, whom the Vatican seems intent to stamp out.  No no.  These are pants-suited LCWR types, St Joseph Sisters of Carondelet.  The CSJs in my native place are pure nuts.

Posted in Women Religious | Tagged ,
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Anglicans to mock baptism with transgender ceremony

Posted on 11 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 14 Dec:

Rod Dreher put it well HERE.

At this rate, by 2030, they’ll be ordaining sexbots to preach to empty cathedrals.

____

Originally Published on: Dec 11, 2018

This is what happens when churches … rather… ecclesial communities… hitch their wagons to the state and/or trends.

From a nauseous piece at The Telegraph:

Church of England to offer baptism-style services to transgender people to celebrate their new identity for first time

The Church of England has encouraged its clergy to create baptism-style ceremonies for transgender people to welcome them into the Anglican faith.

New pastoral guidance, published on Tuesday, advises clergy to refer to transgender people by their new name, though it stops short of being a baptism.

The guidance, which was approved by the House of Bishops on Monday night, also details how elements including water and oil can be incorporated into the service.

It also advises that as part of a special service, they can be presented with gifts such as a Bible inscribed in their chosen name, or a certificate.

[…]

Read the rest there, if you would. You may feel nauseated by the details.

I think it was the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus who quipped that the purpose of the Anglican Church was to make irony redundant.

They are going to make a mockery baptism.

Posted in Liberals, You must be joking! | Tagged , , ,
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A priest’s thought after going ‘ad orientem’

Posted on 10 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From an old friend of mine in my native place, Fr Tom Dufner, a great priest.

 

We’ve been doing ad orientem at daily Mass on and off for a few months. We’ve put several articles in the bulletin to prepare the way. This Sunday we preached on ad orientem at all the Masses and celebrated facing the liturgical east at all Masses! It was well received.

I was so moved during the evening mass I almost wept bowing low for the priest’s Communion prayers. I found myself using a different voice. At the gospel I use a proclamation voice, and when facing the people I use something similar during the Eucharistic Prayer, though directed to the Father. But now I found myself using a quieter voice, almost intimate, though overheard by everyone because of the microphone. It became more personal. I could feel the gaze of the congregation upon me, but they were with me in a new way. They weren’t just watching. They were praying.

The ad orientem direction tends to move the Mass from an informal communal meal, (worse still, a celebration of ourselves), to the realm of a sacrificial banquet.  The sacrificial aspect is definitely more pronounced. The prayers are directed to God the Father of all and the Real Presence of Christ seems to emerge. We are drawn into an “I-Thou” relationship.

It seems to require a wider and more beautiful altar than our postage stamp, but that is for another day.

That’s terrific news. I am so pleased.

Fathers, take note!

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Turn Towards The Lord | Tagged
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Priests and Latin. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 10 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Since I posted on the issue of the Latin text of Benedict’s resignation and brought up, again, the issue of poor to zero Latin preparation of seminarians and priests, I have to make a few observations.

Fathers.  If you belong to the Latin Church, if you are priests of the Latin Rite, there is no excuse for you not to know – and to able to pronounce properly – at least sacramental forms in Latin, together with some other basics that belong in our priestly toolbox.  Some of you might say, “But we were never taught!”

Fine.  The burden is now on you.

Today I had a note from someone who observed that, during a baptism in Latin the priest mispronounced the Latin to the point that the writer didn’t know if the form was valid or not.   As it turns out, if I understood correctly, it wasn’t so bad that it invalidated the sacrament.

However, there should never be a question in people’s minds about the validly of sacraments!   This is not rocket science, friends.  Sacraments have matter and form.  It is necessary that the priest be sure that both are in order.  The last thing there should ever be is a doubt about whether or not a sacrament was administered.

If we were to look into the basics of other professions and found that their practitioners didn’t know or couldn’t even pronounce the fundamental terms of formulae of their field, we would hold them in contempt.

Imagine someone teaching French lit who couldn’t even pronounce French names or terms.   How about a pharmacist who has no idea how drugs interact (or who can’t pronounce their names)?

Let’s get serious.

Our Catholic identity has undergone a series of devastating blows from the 60’s onward.  One of them was the systematic and purposeful elimination of Latin from curricula and its denial to seminarians and priests.   With the elimination of Latin, priestly identity was horribly affected.  That, in turn, had its own knock on effect among the people of God. The same goes for the systematic destruction of Latin liturgy, with the subsequent slamming and locking of the treasury of the Church’s music, so important in worship.

Devastation.

There is something seriously wrong in the identity of the Church if its priests have no idea of the language of their Rite.

And consider that the Code of Canon Law requires that seminarians be “very well trained” in Latin before ordination.   At ordinations, some official has to stand up and attest before the Church and God that the ordinands were properly formed.  But if they were not given Latin, were they?!?  Deacons and priests of the Latin Church who can’t even pronounce three words together without making a hash of it?

Look.  Some people have better language acquisition aptitudes than others.  And we know that with age, language learning abilities don’t usually improve.  But, I still hold that that those are not adequate excuses not to try, to try really hard, if necessary.

Fathers, for the love of God, learn at least how to pronounce Latin.

You can do it.  Get those ears and pathways open.

I’ll do what I can to help.  I had already started, long ago, on series of podcasts called “What Does The Prayer Really Sound Like” or “PRAYERCAzTs”.  They are still available on this blog, just search at the bottom menus.   I can do more if they would be helpful.

 

 

 

Posted in Latin, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged
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Of getting Latin wrong, corrections, and of priests and their Latin or lack thereof

Posted on 9 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have notes from people asking about something that my friend Ann Barnhardt wrote about the Latin text of the address Benedict XVI gave when he announced that he was going to abdicate.  Ann contended that the Latin, as written and pronounced, indicated that Benedict did not truly resign.  She took a subjunctive vacet to to be potential and to mean that the See of Peter “might/could” be vacant, not that it “will/shall” be vacant.  What she didn’t know to account for was a pesky ut indicated the result of the action of resigning and, hence, the subjunctive was needed, vacet. In English, it has to sound future.  Blah blah.  She got out too far over her Latin skiis with this one but, to her credit, she posted an update HERE.

In her original post, she made some comments about priests not knowing Latin.

Yes, friends, this is a problem.  I think that Latin Rite priests – in their copious free time – would do well to work on Latin, the language of their Rite.  Makes sense, no?  Would it be hard?  Damn straight.  I am, however, encouraged by the story of the converted Ignatius of Loyola, sitting with children in Latin class, catching up.  And I am not unsympathetic.  I work on languages for the interest and to keep my mind active.  I suspect that for most priests Latin is to them what Japanese is to me: hard.

There are all sorts of funny stories out there about clerics and their lack of Latin.  My favorite is about the simple country priest who walked down the road to meet the bishop who was riding out on the appointed day for a parish visitation.  As the parish priest drew close to the bishop and the rest of his retinue, to the astonishment of all, Father, after greeting the bishop bowed low to the bishop’s horse.   “Why, Father,” quoth the bishop, are you bowing to my horse?”  The priest, momentarily flummoxed, responded “Your Grace, do we not say every day during Holy Mass, ‘equum et salutare‘?”

brrrrDMP

Yes, folks, be sure to tip your waitresses.  I’m at HaHa’s in Manhattan next week.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Latin, Lighter fare | Tagged
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