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{]:¬)

Akita, Communion in the hand, and homosexuality

Posted on 22 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Bellarmine Forum there is a longish piece which makes a connection between some topics:

Our Lady’s Messages at Akita
Communion in the Hand
Homosexuality

Said Our Lady at Akita:

“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”

Full of those who accept compromises??So the problem is broader than the homosexual contagion.?The problem is the detente with the devil.?Being lax on error.?Going along to get along, it seems.

Here is something that I didn’t remember about the Akita messages:

While the criminal perpetrators have been frolicking around in clerics, some of whom lectured us on the need to be more tolerant, Our Lady gave us a clue in her Akita apparitions as to where the battle line should be drawn. During those apparitions, Sr. Sasagawa received the stigmata on her left hand. The statue of Our Lady had a matching cross-shaped stigmata in the right hand. She and Bishop Ito interpreted this as a sign against receiving communion in the hand. Japan had a vote of its bishops in 1970 permitting communion in the hand. Three years later, Our Lady would tell them it was wrong. This aspect of Akita condemning communion in the hand is frequently ignored by commenters today. Yet, Sister Sasagawa and Bishop Ito repeatedly told anyone who asked that this was a major aspect of Our Lady’s message.?

Our Lady was telling us that the compromise over Communion in the hand was too much.

The article goes on with a misstep, in stating that Bp. Morlino (aka The Extraordinary Ordinary) “ended Communion in the Hand” in his Diocese of Madison. However, Bp. Morlino did ask the priests of the diocese strongly to encourage people to receive on the tongue while kneeling. He said that First Communicants should, first, receive on the tongue. This doesn’t go so far as ending Communion in the hand in the Diocese, but it is a step in the right direction and highly to be praised.

It is also … coincidence?… that Bp. Morlino also sees clearly that homosexuality is at the root of The Present Crisis.

What about “clericalism”? Sure. I guess we can say that the environment of cover-up that the homosexual cabal within the priesthood created is a kind of clericalism, because they are clerics who created it. However, in other environments, such as public schools, it isn’t clericalism. “Clericalism” is not the problem. Everything that goes with homosexualist subculture is the problem. It is simply more evil within a clerical sphere because it is also the perpetration and protection of sins of sacrilege.

And let us not forget that demons attach themselves to people who commit certain sins and to the places where they are committed.

Card. Zen on the “Provisional Agreement” with the PRC on Bishops

Posted on 22 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When I lived in Rome I had some contact with the Chinese Catholic ex-pat community. Today, I can only imagine their heartbreak and fear.

The reaction of His Eminence Joseph Card. Zen is at LifeSite.

“It’s a complete surrender … I have no other words.”

The only consolation is that this is a “provisional” accord.

Communique?
concerning the signing of a Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of Bishops

Today, 22nd September 2018, within the framework of the contacts between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China that have been underway for some time in order to discuss Church matters of common interest and to promote further understanding, a meeting was held in Beijing between Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, Undersecretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, and H.E. Mr. Wang Chao, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, respectively heads of the Vatican and Chinese delegations.

During that meeting, the two representatives signed a Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Bishops. The above-mentioned Provisional Agreement, which is the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement, has been agreed following a long process of careful negotiation and foresees the possibility of periodic reviews of its application. It concerns the nomination of Bishops, a question of great importance for the life of the Church, and creates the conditions for greater collaboration at the bilateral level.

The shared hope is that this agreement may favour a fruitful and forward-looking process of institutional dialogue and may contribute positively to the life of the Catholic Church in China, to the common good of the Chinese people and to peace in the world.

Comment of Greg Burke, Director of the Holy See Press Office:

“This is not the end of a process. It’s the beginning. This has been about dialogue, patient listening on both sides even when people come from very different standpoints. The objective of the accord is not political but pastoral, allowing the faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities”.

Posted in The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Card. Zen
26 Comments

WDTPRS – 25th Ordinary Sunday: Each love fuels the other, when love of God is first.

Posted on 21 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Want a really PIUS clock? Click HERE!

This week’s Collect for Mass for the upcoming 25th Ordinary Sunday (Novus Ordo, obviously), was introduced into the Missale Romanum with the Novus Ordo but it is influenced by a prayer in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary.

Deus, qui sacrae legis omnia constituta in tua et proximi dilectione posuisti, da nobis, ut, tua praecepta servantes, ad vitam mereamur pervenire perpetuam.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):

Father, guide us, as you guide creation according to your law of love. May we love one another and come to perfection in the eternal life prepared for us.

BRUTALLY LITERAL ATTEMPT:

O God, who placed all things of the sacred law which were constituted in the love of You and of neighbor, grant us that we, observing Your precepts, may merit to attain to eternal life.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbor, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life.

This Collect seems to be founded on the exchange between Jesus and a lawyer:

“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets’” (Matthew 22:34-40).

St Thomas Aquinas (+1274) glossed this verse in his Commentary on Saint Matthew:

When man is loved, God is loved, since man is the image of God.

In 1 John 4:21 there is a good explanation of this double precept: “This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.”

All of the Law is summed up in Jesus’ two-fold command of love of God and neighbor.

The first part of the two-fold law is about unconditional love of God. The second follows as its consequence.

We must cultivate our different loves in their proper order.

God comes first, always.

Always.

A married person must love God more even than a spouse. We must never put any creature, no matter how proximate to us in our hearts, closer than the God in whose image and likeness we are made. When this logical priority is properly in place, love of God and neighbor will not conflict or compete.

Each love fuels the other, when love of God is first.

HEY! YOU out there promoting an agenda that can’t honestly be reconciled with the Church’s teaching! You are putting something in God’s place. That’s perilous. You run the risk of burning in Hell for eternity. You know who you are. Some of you have SJ by your name.

Today’s Collect reestablishes that we have a special relationship with each person who lives, and not merely with God alone. People are made in God’s image. They are our neighbors, though some are closer to us than others.

But there is no person on earth who is not in some way our neighbor, even enemies.

This reciprocal relationship calls to mind another act of reciprocity which the Lord teaches us: forgive or you will not be forgiven.

When our Savior taught us how to pray what we now call the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), the first thing he then explained and stressed was forgiveness:

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (vv 14-15).

It is often hard to forgive.

The second section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church [US HERE – UK HERE ] digs into the Lord’s Prayer. When we get to the examination of “…as we forgive those who trespass against us” we read (2842):

“This ‘as’ is not unique in Jesus’ teaching: ‘You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect’; ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’; ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.’ It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make ‘ours’ the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves ‘forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave us.’”

QUAERITUR: When it is your time to go to Your Lord, will you be well-reconciled with the neighbors you leave behind?

Our time will come. Let us pray daily that we will not die without the solace and strengthening of the sacraments and an opportunity to make peace with our neighbor.

Do you have unfinished business?

Time is running out.

Reconcile with your neighbor. Get right with God and others.

GO TO CONFESSION!

tick… tick… tick… tick… tick… ti-

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION, WDTPRS |
4 Comments

VIDEO: Fr. Murray on aspects of The Present Crisis

Posted on 21 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Let libs tremble and clutch their pearls upon their fainting couches.

My good friend Fr. Gerald Murray was interviewed by Raymond Arroyo last night on The World Over.

Posted in Mail from priests, The Coming Storm, The Drill | Tagged Fr. Gerald Murray
5 Comments

ASK FATHER: Adding water to Holy Water

Posted on 21 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

What are priests for?

Short answer: They offer sacrifice.

The role of the priest is to confect the Eucharist, absolve sins, impart blessings, preside at all manner of approved rites. The jocular Scriptural basis for this is, of course, “For God so loved the world that he did not send a committee.” Priests these days are pulled into all sorts of parish activities because of their role of governance in the Church, which goes along with their priestly and prophetic roles. However, governance has been drawn down into the minutiae which can, if permitted, take him away from what he is really for: offering the Sacrifice, absolutions, blessing.

There has been for many decades now an erosion of the identity of the priest and of the bishop. As the lodestone of liturgical worship which energized and activated them weakened, other forces drew them in. Now they are pulled into all sorts of things and away from what they ought to be doing.

This struck me forcefully during the 7.5 hour ceremony for the consecration of the new Gower Abbey church. There we no other place where it was better for priests and bishops to be. What was going on there is precisely why we are ordained. We were kicking the Enemy out of the place with mighty rites of cleansing and exorcising. We were readying the sacred space for the people to enter. We were making it into a mighty transceiver of grace and intercession. That’s what priests and bishops do. Only they can do it!

Hence, they should be allowed to be free enough to do those things that only they can do, for the sake of the People of God.

This little rant is a prelude to a question I received.

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Dear Father,

I was asked to help clean our parish Baptismal font (also use as a holy water font by parishioners). When we finished putting about 30 gallons of fresh water in it I was instructed to get one cup of holy water from the holy water container by the main entrance.

When I placed the cup of holy water in the baptismal font I was told this made all 30 gallons holy water?

It does not seem right to me? Can you tell what is going on?

Your sense did not fail you. That wasn’t right.

What’s going on?

A couple things.

First, it sounds as if you have one of those “font of living waters” gizmos or one of those “wading pools”. They are sort of silly, but let that pass.

Some people are under the impression that adding a little Holy Water to a large amount of unblessed water will render the whole into Holy Water.

No.

Some say that you can add some Holy Water to regular water as you describe. Some will even say that so long as you add the same amount of Holy Water to regular, plus just a bit more – like one percent – and that’ll do the trick. Thus, you would double the amount. I think that’s a bad approach. We should be more prudent and respectful.

The REAL solution I’ll post below.

But, in the meantime, let’s use the analogy of how much water can be, should be, added to the wine at the offertory in the preparation of the chalice.

Manualists say that no more than 1/5 (one fifth) of the volume of the wine should be added by the water to be sure that the substance of the wine has not been compromised and, therefore, consecration would be invalid. One fifth.

Let’s now apply this for the combination of Holy Water to water. I would say that perhaps 1/5 of the volume of the Holy Water in regular water could be added to the Holy Water, in order to increase its volume by 20%. And I think you could do that once.

You see… I think that Holy Water is important. You don’t fool around with this stuff because we use Holy Water for serious purposes. It is not a toy, part of a game, or a souvenir. Holy Water puts to flight the influence of the Enemy.

That’s why I have never, not even once in 27 years of priesthood, ever used the new prayers for “holy water”. I have always ever used the older, traditional form, with the exorcisms of the salt and the water before their blessing and mixing.

Here is the REAL solution for the concrete case described above.

Father should get off his backside, go over to the church and BLESS THE WATER (preferably with the older Ritual).

If Father can’t be bothered because he is involved with more important things, like a committee meeting, then, I contend, his priorities are screwy. Sure, he might not be able to come at this very minute, but that’s his job: bless stuff.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Hard-Identity Catholicism | Tagged holy water
19 Comments

ASK FATHER: If in letters Benedict XVI imparts still the Apostolic Blessing…

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Debates about the true status of Benedict XVI could root the stuff of novels.

There are those who say that Benedict XVI is still really Pope. There are different reasons given. One is that his abdication was under duress and is, therefore, void. Another is that he himself did not intend to resign: why else would he remain in Vatican City, retain the papal name Benedict XVI and dress in the classic white cassock with white zucchetto, but not the simarra which, with its pellegrina or cape, is a symbol of jurisdiction? Some wonder if there isn’t a way in which Benedict remains Pope but with a solely contemplative role, while Francis is pope with an active role which includes potestas, such that the munus Petrinum is now shared.

Here is another bit of information to toss into the speculation ring.

I received an email from a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Can Benedict XVI impart an apostolic blessing if he has ceased to be the Pope?

In the Bild article leaking excerpts of Benedict XVI’s letters to Brandmuller, he ends one with:

Beten wir lieber darum, wie Sie es am Ende Ihres Briefes getan haben, daß der Herr seiner Kirche zu Hilfe kommt. Mit meinem apostolischen Segen bin ich

Ihr

Benedict XVI

My translation:

Let us pray, as you did at the end of your letter, that the Lord will come to the help of His Church. I am with my apostolic blessing

Your

Benedict XVI

It may be that His Holiness B16 dashed that off as a matter of habit. Heck, I know an older priest or two who still mention John Paul in the Eucharistic Prayer.

It may be that His Holiness is using the term somewhat loosely.

That said, the Apostolic Benediction is given by the Pope. They do so solemnly on occasions such as the Urbi et Orbi blessing. It is done at audiences (except when Francis chooses not to bless at all). They do so also in writing for some occasions.

A few others in limited circumstances impart the Apostolic Blessing. A priest can give it with an indulgence when someone is dying. Bishops could give the blessing three times a year on solemn feasts.

However, in general Popes give this blessing and Popes customarily end special letters with an expression that they impart the Apostolic Blessing.

It is possible that Benedict XVI was using terms loosely, and really meant his pontifical blessing, his episcopal blessing as a bishop.

Finally, I suspect that Benedict, who by all reports is still as sharp as a scalpel, knows very well what he can and cannot do, none better.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Benedict XVI, The Drill | Tagged Apostolic Blessing, Benedict XVI
22 Comments

A story of spectacular complexity, involving shady people, huge money, interlocking directorates, vast loans, and the Papal Foundation.

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Read this.

Zenit reports.

Pope Francis on September 20, 2018, received in the Apostolic Palace Consistory Hall of the Vatican, the participants at the Conference of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Venerable Joseph Frassinetti death, founder of the Congregation of Santa Maria Immacolata Sons.

Now read this at Crux about the hospital in Rome – called the Immaculate Dermatological Institute or IDI – run by them.

This is a story of spectacular complexity, involving this order, extremely shady people, huge amounts of money, interlocking directorates, vast loans, and the Papal Foundation.

[…]

Left with no alternatives, Pope Francis asked Wuerl to help him find a way to once again fend off the “social catastrophe” of an IDI collapse. The American cardinal forwarded the request to the Papal Foundation, a group of wealthy U.S. benefactors who gave their first grant for charitable initiatives under St. Pope John Paul II in 1990.

Among those pushing for a $25 million grant to be sent to IDI, sources within the foundation said, was also McCarrick, now at the center of a sexual abuse scandal hitting the Church’s hierarchy, and who participated in some sessions of the Papal Foundation until June 2017.

But lay foundation members were not so eager to spend that money, especially since IDI did not release any financial statement or strategy. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the former chairman of the foundation’s audit committee, businessman James Longon, called the grant an “irresponsible and immoral stewardship of funds.”

Though ostensibly a dispute about the proper use of funds, the fight over IDI inside the Papal Foundation is also seen by many observers as a proxy battle for the larger war over Francis and his leadership of the Church. Many of the clergy supporting the hospital are also major Francis loyalists, while several of those most skeptical have their doubts about the pope on other grounds as well.

Normally the foundation offers grants for the poor in amounts that rarely exceed $300,000, and its members found themselves at odds with the Vatican’s leadership, to the extent that an audience with the pope last April had to be canceled.

Eventually the lay members capitulated to the request. In July 2017, the first $5 million was approved, followed in January by another $8 million. While these first two payments have already been sent to IDI, the remaining $12 million is still in the foundation’s account, sources within the foundation told Crux.

How those U.S. funds were used by IDI, and the reasons behind the delay of the final payment, remain shrouded in mystery.

[…]

They couldn’t run a bird cage, these people.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, You must be joking! | Tagged Papal Foundation
6 Comments

One Mad Mom spanks James Martin, LGBTSJ – UPDATED

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

I had a call from a friend who underscored her real shock at Martin’s ghastly suggestion in his tweets. The more I think about it, the more loathsome the true content of Martin’s tweets appears.

He told people that they shouldn’t pray or do penance. The underlying message is that their prayer and penance would not be effective, that their prayers and penances wouldn’t help or do anything.

How twisted is that?

Originally Published on: Sep 18, 2018

One Mad Mom is one mad mom!

She tackles, as well as anyone could, something deeply deceptive that homosexualist Jesuit James Martin, LGBTSJ, said.

In full disclosure, I am one of those leaders who call for the laity to do penance and make acts of reparation for the sins of priests. Now that I know that Martin thinks it is a bad idea (actually, he is doing something far more slithery), I know that I am right.

Fr. Martin – Don’t Be That Guy!

Only from the mind of Fr. James Martin, LGBTSJ, can we get this shocker. I had another post all tee’d up but this one deserved a response.

I understand the desire among some church leaders to call for the church to fast and pray in response to the sex abuse crisis. It’s a recognition that we are all the Body of Christ, the People of God, united as one, in Christ’s name. And we are all called to prayer. However, in this case, to imply that the laity, in any way, should perform any kinds of penances, including fasting, is simply wrong. The laity should not have to do one minute of penance for the crimes, sins and failings of the hierarchy and the clergy. And yes, we are all one, but it’s important, especially in this case, not victimize people all over again. To use the model of the sacrament of reconciliation, it is the sinner, the one seeking forgiveness, who repents, not the one, or ones, sinned against.

Put your eyes back in your head. Yep, he actually said that. It was so fantastical that I screenshot that puppy for you. Oh, Fr. Martin, where in the heck is the Catholicism in this three tweet rant? Sorry, Blessed Mother. All of those times you urged us to prayer, fasting, and penance to hold back God’s wrath and drive the evil out of the world, well, you were wrong. Oh, and your spot at the foot of the Cross was useless, since you were free from sin. Not your problem. And Apostles, you wasted your time, too. Please, please, tell me that even some of the Fr. Martin groupies cocked their head at this one!!!

[…]

You might check out my Sunday Sermon.

Posted in Liberals, Sin That Cries To Heaven, You must be joking! | Tagged Fr. James Martin SJ, homosexualist agenda, One Mad Mom, reparation
28 Comments

BOOKS RECEIVED: Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

So time ago, I received a new book from a reader about Vatican I. I am not a great fan of the author, John W. O’Malley, who is a liberal Jesuit (tautology). His book on Vatican II was sharply partisan.

Hence, I hesitated in regard to the new book

Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church

US HERE – UK HERE

However, I read a review of O’Malley’s new book at First Things by Russell Hittinger. He put my mind at ease by saying:

O’Malley gives an accessible, even-handed overview of the council with a minimum of interpretive gloss. He excels in describing the ways in which the council initiated deep changes that still affect the everyday lives of Catholics.

I’ll be digging into it right away.

I am particularly interested right now because of how the word “ultramontane” is being thrown around rather irresponsibly. Right now, ironically, catholic libs who have never spoken well of the last couple Popes, now use “ultramontane” to bludgeon anyone who resists what Francis is up to.

Posted in REVIEWS | Tagged John W. O'Malley, ultramontane, Vatican I
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YOU are other people. It’s always someone else… until it’s YOU.

Posted on 19 September 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Last night I watched the news for the first time in a few days.

One guy in North Carolina, who lost everything because of Florence, said that he’d seen things like this on TV but he never thought it would happen there.

From time to time, I remind you to make at least basic preparations against the day when you might need to move fast or when disaster strikes.

We don’t know the day or the minute when we will go before our Judge. Whether it is a natural event like a storm or meteor, or a man-made event like a drunk driver or a nutjob with a rifle, we just don’t know.

Avoid the trap of thinking that these things only happen to other people.

YOU are other people. It’s always someone else… until it’s you.

You can lose your house and everything you own in a storm, but you can lose your immortal soul from a mortal sin unconfessed.

So, examine your consciences and …

GO TO CONFESSION.

I would also add as a regular feature of your daily prayers that important petition in the Litany of Saints:

“A subitanea et improvisa morte… From a sudden and unprovided death, spare us O Lord.”

Sudden is one thing. Unprovided is another. An “unprovided” death is a death without access to the last sacraments, especially absolution from a priest.

That’s a scary thought…. especially if you haven’t been to confession for a long time.

When did you last go to confession?

Moreover, consider well your living conditions and security.

If you haven’t done so yet, begin to develop a physical situational awareness. Seek advice and training from professionals.

If you haven’t done so yet, begin to develop a spiritual situational awareness. Seek advice and training from priests.

Also, you should be reviewing what you will do, especially with your loved ones, when the big storm comes. Will you have food, water, clothing a place to go, a way to keep yourselves safe if you have to move fast?