When I started this project, I had a different label. So, I am reposting Sonnet 1!
@SirPatStew is recording #ASonnetADay by Shakespeare. Charming short videos! I’ve been challenged to do the same. “Why not?”, quoth I. It’s a chance to revisit poems I used to know well. Here’s Sonnet 1. pic.twitter.com/wCxPZ7CEii
— Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (@fatherz) August 8, 2020
Catholic Signal Corps. I posted that it was finally up and running last April. It is time to remind everyone.
What do I mean?
Consider…
Think about this if your parish or a priest is trying to set something up.
In “COVID TIME” this is important.
It is hard to find good tech help that is both capable and reliable.
I am happy to announce that…
WE DID IT.
We have formed the
We have a Patreon site to raise money so we can also pay – at least a little – the team members.
We have also teamed up with Roman Catholic Gear to provide “Thank You!” gifts to people who become Patrons of the Corps through Patreon.
There are two more levels we are working on.
How does one participate in the sin of another person? We sin through another person’s actions by …
1. Counsel: If you tell or advise another person to do something sinful, so that they do it, you have sinned by participation in that person’s sin.
2. Command: If you have authority over another, and you forced that person to commit something which is sinful, while that person might have mitigated guilt, you don’t.
3. Consent: If you are asked if you think a sin is good thing to do, and have some power over the situation, and if you permit or approve or yield to the commission of the sin, you’ve sinned.
4. Provocation: You badger or drive or dare a person to do something such that he does it.
5. Praise of flattery: Pretty clear. This is another way of prompting a person.
6. Concealment: A person commits a sin and then you help that person conceal the evidence or the action.
7. Partaking: Another person is the principal person involved, but you are right there helping the actual sinful deed. For example, a person helping a doctor commit an abortion, a politician helping an aggressive governor or president or speaker of the house drive through recognition of contrary-to-nature “marriage” by providing a vote.
8. Silence: There is an old adage that “silent implies consent”. If a person with great authority or moral authority is in a position to stop a sin from happening, and yet stays silent and doesn’t get involved, then that may constitute participation in the sin committed. This is trickier to figure out, but it isn’t rocket science. There may be attendant mitigating circumstances, such as the probable invasion of Vatican City, the capture of the Roman Pontiff and destruction of the Church in many places. In the meanwhile one could work quietly. One cannot, however, do nothing. Another point must be considered: the rules governing fraternal correction. It may not be your place to correct another person, depending on the circumstances.
9. Defense: Pretty clear. You defend or justify or give an apology in favor of the sin committed. This is not the same as what a defense lawyer does in the case of a person who is guilty.
It is good to review this list once in a while with a view to your own examination of conscience.
It is also helpful to know this list when looking at the catholic media coverage of this critical upcoming election.
I direct the readership’s attention to something that Jesuit-run Amerika magazine has posted:
Joe Biden’s Catholic politics are complicated—but deeply American
[…]
But despite the thrill of meeting John Paul, there was one thing Biden refused to do: kiss the pope’s ring, a customary greeting when meeting an esteemed cleric. It was later revealed that it was Biden’s mother who insisted he refrain, telling her son, “Don’t you kiss his ring.”
His refusal has become a hallmark of how Biden manages his faith, a throwback to a brand of mid-20th-century political Catholicism that eschews obsessive obedience to the Holy See on matters of policy.
[…]
It’s a form of faith that experts describe as profoundly Catholic in ways that resonate with millions of American believers: It offers solace in moments of anxiety or grief, can be rocked by long periods of spiritual wrestling and is more likely to be influenced by the quiet counsel of women in habits or one’s own conscience than the edicts of men in miters.
[…]
“His separating of the secular sphere and the sacred sphere, not in his personal life but in his approach to governing, is straight out of that Kennedy lineage,” Natalia Imperatori, a professor at Manhattan College who studies Catholic ecclesiology, said of Biden.
But in the years that followed, the line between public policy and private beliefs seemed to fluctuate. Biden voted against the anti-abortion amendment when it once again appeared before the Judiciary Committee in 1983, but in 1984, he backed an amendment praising the so-called Mexico City policy, which banned the use of federal money for foreign groups that provide abortion counseling or referrals. By 1987, advocates for abortion rights were already describing his voting record on the issue as “erratic.”(Editor’s note: Vice President Biden’s position on public funding for abortion has also shifted over time. Though once a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of taxpayer funds for abortion, he reversed course in June 2019 after intense criticism in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. See “Joe Biden Says He No Longer Supports the Hyde Amendment,” June 7, 2019.)
Do you see what Amerika has done here? He’s sooooo deeeeeply Catholic. Like JFK! But you have to really sophisticated to get it how Catholic he is.
Fr. Z says:
CANON 915
On Thursday, 27 August 2020, His Excellency Most Reverend Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison, will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Traditional Roman Rite.
The Rite of Confirmation followed by a Solemn Mass will take place at 6:00PM at St. Maria Goretti Church in Madison.
Bishop Hying, as did his predecessor Bp. Morlino, understands that people from outside of the Diocese of Madison may be interested.
Because of constraints on seating capacity in the church as dictated by civil government, it may be necessary to cap the number of people who can be admitted.
There is a deadline for correspondence: no later than Monday 24 August 2020. However, digital correspondence is possible, provided that a hard copy is also sent by mail (or delivered by hand).
All of this is spelled out in a letter that Bp. Hying has issued.
Download Bp. Hying’s letter HERE
Download sample letter from parents HERE
IMPORTANT: Send the confirmation NAME also to the parish!
#ASonnetADay – SONNET 9.
The “procreation sonnets” continue… pic.twitter.com/JIyLSiA7j5— Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (@fatherz) August 17, 2020
Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass for your Sunday, either live or on the internet? Let us know what it was.
Also, are you churches opening up? What was attendance like?
For my part,
#ASonnetADay – SONNET 9. pic.twitter.com/4PiMVqVHCv
— Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (@fatherz) August 16, 2020
#ASonnetADay – SONNET 8.
The bells! The bells! pic.twitter.com/3T70DyVBEV
— Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (@fatherz) August 15, 2020
In Classics I worked on reconstructed Classical pronunciation of Latin. In my English minor I did the same for Early Modern English (e.g., Shakespeare).
That’s probably why today I received this. It seems to be a kind review of the ancient Roman version of Amazon’s Alexa*.
*I will never get one. However if you get one, use my link so that I will get a percentage of the sale. Hey! Pecunia non olet et rationes sunt mihi!
I have a question. Usually, when I ask the readership for help with some information, smart people step up.
Today during a presser, a newsie asked Pres. Trump if he agrees with a Georgia Republican who holds to what the reporter called the “QAnon conspiracy theory”. The newsie’s maneuver was obvious to the point of being gawkish. The President just ignored that part and moved on.
In any event, the question left me scratching my head. What’s “QAnon” and why is it a conspiracy theory? On the surface, it seems that this QAnon theory holds that there is a “deep state” against Pres. Trump and anyone who supports him.
Given the main-stream media’s treatment of Trump, and the way that certain agencies have acted in the last couple of years, I can see why some might get that impression.
And I read that in July 2020, Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-affiliated accounts and changed its algorithms to reduce the spread of the conspiracy theory.
This is obviously something Twitter doesn’t want people to talk about.
Searching the interwebs for “qanon conspiracy theory”, virtually all of the top level responses were from ultra-liberal, Trump Derangement Syndrome crazed outlets. The top level commentators post astonishing synchronized swimming Capoeiras to debunk QAnon as a fake “conspiracy theory” as well as to mock and excoriate anyone who believes or adheres to it. 
The very fact that it is called a “conspiracy theory” frames the whole question in a certain way, right? After all, “conspiracy theories” are only held by nut jobs… like Mel Gibson in the coincidentally named Conspiracy Theory.
Also, I clicked on a recent video from the BBC “QAnon: The conspiracy theory spreading fake news”, and in its lead in I heard the same puerile argument from sentimentality – the sort you are not supposed to respond to because if you do you are “mean” – that I read over at Jesuit-run Amerika, namely that critics of Pope Francis are “tearing my family apart”. That’s what QAnon adherents are apparently doing: Anyone who “tears families apart”.
Pace Matthew 10:35.
In the BBC piece 23 July piece, “This person I knew as my mother is probably not coming back.”
At Amerika on 13 August Mike Lewis writes in a piece called “Pope Francis’ critics are dividing the church and families—including mine”. Interspersed with remarks about Francis that could have come straight from the Second Nocturn, Lewis wrote:
“My mother, who never read anything Pope Francis actually wrote, became convinced he was a heretic by her friends at church, members of her Catholic book club and through watching “The World Over Live,” a weekly talk show on EWTN hosted by Raymond Arroyo, which often features outspoken papal critics. … At a certain point, I realized that I would never persuade her, and I tried to avoid the subject rather than create more division. When she became sick, I raised the subject a few more times, but it was clear that her views had become entrenched. She even had a coffee mug with the word “Viganò” written on it in capital letters. … This division in the church is a tragic situation that is harming families and communities of faith. … Which leaders among us will respond to the urgent need for action to promote unity in the church?”
She listened to EWTN and even had a “VIGANO” mug!
Underdog! Help us!
Since this is about conspiracy theories, wasn’t Amerika one of the outlets invited to the secret, invitation only, Zoom meeting for on 29 July with Bp. Barron, organized by his kuroko Brandon Vogt, to discuss, inter alia, the “rise of ‘radical Traditionalist’ movements that are often marked by personal attacks and vitriolic commentary”. HERE
Hmmmmm.
Back to my initial issue.
The QAnon thing is always attached to labels like “far-right” and “alt-right”
Can anyone out there give me a sober explanation of the “QAnon” thing with a sober assessment? Is there some sober and objective site or article out that which describes this? I look over the Wiki entry, but – frankly – I don’t have a whole lot of time: it’s pretty extensive and convoluted. Someone put a lot of time and energy into crafting that entry. As I write there are 181 linked footnotes! Just scan them to get a sense of the positions of those who edit the entry.
Frankly, the impression I get from the lefty media is that they have a – here we go – conspiracy to coordinate their messaging to make the QAnon thing so toxic that it can’t be touched. We all know that that happens. It seems on the surface to be a campaign to cover up something that is real, namely, what QAnon holds (there is a “deep state” against Pres. Trump and anyone who supports him). A conspiracy to cover up a conspiracy and then another conspiracy to blast the conspirators who unmasked the conspiracy. It gets confusing.
So, anyone? Anything out there that isn’t kooky? Is this something real or has it just been trumped up?
I’m getting a strong whiff of disinformation.
Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism by Ronald Rychlak and Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa.
BTW… in the movie I mentioned, above, the Mel Gibson character was right. There was in fact a conspiracy.
HEY! Patrick Stewart – who lately inspired me to read a #SonnetADay was a bad guy in that movie. And – hey! – Patrick Stewart was in Star Trek Next Generation in which they had to deal with….. Q!
Coincidence?!?
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
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