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: Msgr. Mannion supports ordination of deaconettes. Fail.

Posted on 28 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Screen Shot 2017-07-28 at 14.53.57 From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

One of our Diocesan (Salt Lake City) Priests [Msgr. M. Francis Mannion] wrote an op-ed for our local Diocese Newspaper entitled “Some Items That Caught My Attention Recently”. In this piece, (HERE) he talks about how the Eastern Rite has ordained numerous Deaconesses (Africa). He then goes on to opine how he agrees with women Deacons and see this move by our Eastern friends as a boon and boost to the cause for women Deacons in the Roman Rite.

First, is it true that women have been ordained in the Eastern Church Rite as Deaconesses?

If so, is there merit to it lending support to the same in our beloved Rite?

Let’s drill down in what the good Monsignor posted concerning deaconesses (aka deaconettes).

What did Msgr. Mannion publish? He has several topics, but eventually gets down to the issue of deaconettes. He wrote (with my numbers):

On Deaconesses: [1] The Catholic Church is always concerned never to do anything that would offend the theology and practice of the Orthodox Churches. [2] On the matter of the ordination of deaconesses, however, the Orthodox Churches might be ahead of us.
[3] Recently, the Patriarch of Alexandria appointed six deaconesses. [4] The Patriarch is no minor ecclesiastic; he is, in fact, the head of the entire Orthodox Church in Africa.
[5] The move follows years of discussion within the various branches of Orthodoxy on whether to reinstate the office of women deacons. [6] Closer to home, this comes at a time when the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas is studying the matter.
As one who favors the institution of the diaconate for women in the Catholic Church, I think the decision of the Patriarch of Alexandria should give a boost to the current Vatican study about the diaconate for Catholic women.

There is not a single sentence in what Msgr. Mannion wrote that is correct.

Let’s break it down… in a moment

Some of you might be saying, “Who?” Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon, which I really like. He founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000. So, he is is considered to have some chops. However, he took a position against Benedict XVI and Summorum Pontificum. HERE

That aside, let’s drill into Msgr. Mannion’s claims about deaconettes and Orthodoxy.

First sentence: “The Catholic Church is always concerned never to do anything that would offend the theology and practice of the Orthodox Churches.”

No, the Catholic Church isn’t concerned never to do anything that would offend, etc. Is he kidding? True, the Catholic Church would prefer not to offend the theology and practice of the Orthodox Churches, but, no, the Catholic Church does not let that preference stop it from contradicting Orthodox Church theology and practice.

For example, the Catholic Church continues to elect Popes who claim universal jurisdiction (Lumen gentium 22; CCC 882: “For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered”, a claim that the Orthodox Churches reject out of hand. Might I add that Pope Francis has not shown himself reluctant to exercise this power?

Other examples are the infallible proclamations of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which the Orthodox Churches reject completely.

So, no. WRONG. Let’s move on.

Second sentence: “On the matter of the ordination of deaconesses, however, the Orthodox Churches might be ahead of us.”

Apart from the assumption in this statement that ordination of deaconettees would represent some kind of theological progress, the statement errs by implying that all of the many Orthodox Churches ordain women to the diaconate. In fact, only 1 out of 14 does.

This is not a matter of what the Roman Catholic Church does versus what the Orthodox Churches do. But if the Roman Catholic Church were to ordain women to the diaconate, then the Catholic Church and the vast majority (and certainly the largest) of Orthodox Churches would be at odds!

WRONG. Next.

Third sentence:

“Recently, the Patriarch of Alexandria appointed six deaconesses.”

Technically speaking, this statement can be read as true. But it is also somewhat incomplete and could be misleading.

Firstly, there are three Patriarchs of Alexandria, two “Orthodox” and one Catholic. Msgr. Mannion referred to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa. However, there is also a Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and a Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria, the latter of whom is in communion with the Pope of Rome.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria today numbers only 300,000 members, mostly in Egypt and East Africa, though its jurisdiction includes the entire African continent. The Coptic Orthodox Church claims millions of followers.

Folks, there are American Catholic dioceses with more members than some Orthodox Churches, for example the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, just to put matters in perspective. It doesn’t take an ecclesiologist to recognize that in Eastern Orthodoxy it is certainly easier for a Synod of a small autocephalous Church to arrive at a major decision that involves significant change than it would be, say, for the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece, or the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, let alone for a Pan-Orthodox Council. It’s a matter of scale.

The other troubling detail is Monsignor’s word “appointed”.

We are told by Mannion that the Patriarch “appointed” six deaconesses. So, were these women “appointed” or were they “ordained”? That’s unclear. Some reports of the ceremony claim that the Patriarch “blessed” the women, a technical term which introduces a distinction that is NOT without a difference.

In antiquity there is a difference between the “ordination” of deaconettes and the “blessing” of deaconettes. The different understandings of the nature and intent of the ritual act and the specific functions it authorized remains today a matter of scholarly debate.

Nor does the use of the title “deaconess” add clarity. It is not prima facie apparent whether a claim is being made that the women were sacramentally ordained to holy orders or, instead, instituted into a public ecclesial ministry that does not entail a sacrament, an ordination, or an order.

It is also not clear how the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria and All Africa understands the relation between these six “deaconesses”, on the one hand, and ordained male deacons within its Church. Nor is it clear how the 13 other autocephalous Orthodox Churches understand the ecclesial status of these women. They are an anomaly within Orthodoxy. Most likely they could not exercise their ministry outside of their own autocephalous Orthodox Church.

So it is patently false to claim, as Msgr. Mannion does, that the Orthodox Churches recognize the ordination of women to the diaconate.

WRONG. Next?

Fourth sentence:

“The Patriarch is no minor ecclesiastic; he is, in fact, the head of the entire Orthodox Church in Africa.”

This, again, is erroneous to the point of being risible.

First of all, there is no such thing as “the entire Orthodox Church in Africa”. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Africa claims to be Orthodox as much as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. The two Churches trace their divergence back to the sixth century schism that finalized the break between the Chalcedonian (Melkite or Greek) patriarchs or popes and the the Non-Chalcedonian (Coptic) patriarchs or popes. There are estimated to be between 10 and 14 million Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt alone, and hundreds of thousands elsewhere in Africa (though these are not called Copts because they are not Egyptian). And let’s be clear: the Coptic Orthodox Christians are NOT the subjects of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, which, as I said before, has about 300,000 members total. Moreover, there are millions of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians currently living in Ethiopia. Hence, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria is in no way the head of the entire Orthodox Church in Africa; in fact, he is the leader of the smallest.

None of the others ordain women to the diaconate.

Ergo… WRONG. Moving on.

Fifth and Sixth sentences:

“The move follows years of discussion within the various branches of Orthodoxy on whether to reinstate the office of women deacons. Closer to home, this comes at a time when the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas is studying the matter.”

This statement is true. But … it misleads by making it appear that the issue is a more important one for the Orthodox Churches than it really is.

Ordination of women deaconettes was nowhere near the agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council held in June 2016 in Crete. Discussions between bishops and theologians in the Orthodox Church rarely have the kind of official significance that they can have in the Roman Catholic Church because of vast differences in ecclesiology and Church governance. Hence, the actions of individual bishops within any Orthodox Church has far less significance than an action of a bishop within the Roman Catholic Church, because of the relation of the Catholic bishop to the Pope (papal primacy).

Need I say… WRONG?

So much for Msgr. Mannion’s support of deaconettes in the Catholic Church based on this Orthodox aberration.

Finally, don’t be confused about “Eastern” Churches. There is no attempt in any of the Eastern Catholic Churches to ordain women to the diaconate. Nor could there be, given the current state of the question.

I hope this helps.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box, Deaconettes, The Drill | Tagged deaconesses, deaconettes, Msgr. M. Francis Mannion, Orthodox
47 Comments

@MichaelSWinters nasty remark about converts. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 28 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today there is a “Defense of Converts” in First Things.

There is a defense because there was an attack.

A couple days back, at the Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitic Reporter), the Wile E. Coyote of the catholic Left, Michael Sean Winters, attacked converts.

At Al Jazeera, Austen Ivereigh debates Matthew Schmitz from First Things. I am so tired of converts telling us that the pope is not Catholic.

What a snotty thing to say. Typical Fishwrap. Liberals have a streak of moral superiority which leads them to all sorts of humorless, condescending lapses.

Leaving aside whether or not any converts really are saying that Pope is or is not Catholic, why should converts not have the right to respect from cradle Catholics?

WINTERS: They can’t say anything because they’re converts.

Guess what. I know a heck of a lot of cradle Catholics who couldn’t tell you what a sacrament is. And some of them would then object to its definition if you told them. What’s so automatically great about being a cradle Catholic if the majority of them have only a vague notion of the tenets of the Faith, neglected as they have been for decades by their cradle Catholic non-observant, contracepting, parents, their cradle Catholic priests, their cradle Catholic bishops? Let’s compare Mass attendance of converts and cradle Catholics. Let’s compare rates of marrying in the Church and of divorce and remarriage. Name your category. How about the number of cradle Catholics who are going to “mega-Churches” compared to coverts?

Let’s see the piece at First Things with my usual:

IN DEFENSE OF CONVERTS
by Stephen Bullivant

Over at the National Catholic [sic] Reporter blog, Michael Sean Winters [aka Wile E.] is pointing readers to a recent Al-Jazeera clip discussing Pope Francis’s record as a reformer. The clip itself I’ve yet to watch; it’s Winters’s gloss on it that I wish to discuss: “I am so tired of converts telling us that the pope is not Catholic. ”

The convert in question is, I presume, First Things literary editor Matthew Schmitz. Of the two pundits featured in the clip, Schmitz is, I believe, the only convert. (The other is British Catholic commentator Austen Ivereigh. We had a very nice chat at a wedding once, but I didn’t think to ask.) Schmitz also regularly contributes to Europe’s finest Catholic magazine, The Catholic Herald—which, let’s face it, probably also implies that he’s an all-round good egg. What really interests me, though, is Winters’s slight against converts.

He is by no means alone in casting such aspersions. Massimo [“Beans”] Faggioli, a US-based theologian and Church historian, retweeted Winters’s remark and added, “I am so tired too.” Earlier this year, Faggioli had tweeted, somewhat gnomically: “One could teach an entire course on fact that in top US universities the course on Vatican II is taught by recent converts to Catholicism.” [It may be that, percentage-wise, more converts have read the V2 documents than have cradle Catholics.]

Nor is such sniffiness towards converts an exclusively American phenomenon. The day after Anglicanorum Coetibus was issued, providing personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering into communion with the Catholic Church, I recall a Jesuit friend remarking: “Yes, but they’re the wrong sort of Anglicans.” One wonders, of course, who the “right” ones would be. [I don’t.]

According to the “regulars” commenting on my own forays in blogging, chief among my own failings is my being a Johnny-come-lately “neo-Catholic.” (Though to be fair, I did once teach a course on Vatican II at a top UK university, after having been Catholic for only two years. So I guess it’s a fair cop.)

Maybe I’m being preciously oversensitive here. Lord knows, it wouldn’t be the first time. Nevertheless, I do find such condescension strange in an avowedly missionary religion. [RIGHT! Make more Catholics, as Christ commanded. Converts are therefore something to be grateful for, not to abuse.] A Church whose very raison d’être is to “go and make disciples of all nations” should, one might imagine, be a little gladder to have them. Not least since, as a group, converts tend to be more knowledgeable, more committed, more active, and more generous than cradle Catholics in general.

Don’t get me wrong, we “baby Catholics” give our older siblings plenty to criticize. [Perhaps impatience with heterodoxy is one of them.] What else would you expect in a faith proclaiming “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3.10)? But the sneering at converts, qua converts, is a bit much. I have a great many faults and failings as a Catholic (and indeed as a human being); but having become a Catholic, however poor a one I might be, is surely one of the few points in my favor.

Furthermore, at the risk, in my arriviste enthusiasm and naïveté, of sounding a little gauche . . . I seem to recall from my catechumenal days that Jesus himself had something to say on the matter. [The perfect passage about the laborers coming at different times of the day.]

Stephen Bullivant is professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University, London, and directs the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society.

Really sad, isn’t it. It is pathetically sad.

“OMG aren’t converts stooopid? They’re too stoooopid to have an opinion.”
“Yeah! I know, right? I’m sooo tired of them.”
“Yeah! Me too! They’re soooo conservative.
“I said they were stoooopid already!”
“Yeah!”
“Yeah!”
*snicker”

Full disclosure: I am a convert to the Catholic Church. As such, I made a choice, after a long period of study and liturgical frequency, to become a Catholic based on my conviction that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ – who is GOD and man. Since He founded it, there is no other place to be. Furthermore, I accept Holy Mother Church’s doctrines because, as the Act of Faith concludes: “I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou, O God, hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.” I made these choices as an adult convert and I have not looked back.

I sense myself, as a convert, to have been the recipient of particular graces which have, along with a lot of decidedly anti-Pelagian elbow grease diluted with tears and sweat, brought me to where I am now, according to the will of the God who chose me, unworthy as I am, and who uses me, crooked, to write straight with my crooked lines. God does not choose those who are worthy, as the TLM constantly reminds the priest. He chooses those whom it pleaseth Him to choose.

On the other hand, …

My experience of being a convert – which is ongoing – is that time does make a difference, though perhaps not exactly in the sense of “time is greater than space” (whatever that means). Certainly not in the sense that Wile E. and Beans would mean it.

Sticking with the “Beans” thing, in cooking, as in conversion, there is no substitute for “slow”. Fast preparations can be spectacular, but slow preps satisfy in a different way.

In Italy, for example, you could put dry, hard beans into an empty wine bottle, give them some seasoning and oil and then put the bottle into the hot ashes and embers of the hearth before turning in to sleep, letting them slowly cook over night. They need time. Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino comes swiftly from the fire and it is great. True ragù alla bolognese takes hours to prepare properly. They satisfy differently.

It takes time for the Catholic “thing” to get down into the marrow. Speaking of marrow – not ossobuco – I am reminded of the scene in the Aubrey/Maturin novel by Patrick O’Brian‘s HMS Surprise. (UK HERE) The ship’s surgeon, an eminent naturalist, Dr. Stephen Maturin was conducting an experiment on some rats. He had been feeding them madder. He intended eventually to dissect them to see if the red stuff had colored their bones and penetrated to the marrow.

Coverts often have an initial burning zeal which carries them rapidly apace. However, as they cool down and begin to live the with cooler zeal, their experience of the Faith changes. Converts need to learn to live with a different kind of zeal after that. This is something that many cradle Catholics don’t experience, unless perhaps they are reverts or newly inspired.

Some converts take to it and settle in as if they’ve never been anything else. Others, however, I’d guess the large majority, need years, maybe even decades. That’s something a new convert – a zealous convert (nearly a tautology, I know) might have a hard time understanding until he’s been inside for a long time.

Frankly, all Catholics should foster the zeal of conversion. If conversion is a constant feature of our Catholic identity, shouldn’t we be constantly zealous? Zeal becomes tempered in time and travail but it shouldn’t rust and fail.

The experiences of cradle Catholics and of covert Catholics and of revert Catholics are not in competition. They are complimentary… as the lives of the saints demonstrate. These modes of living converge, merge, and un-ravel and re-ravel.

I said, above, that there are lots of Catholics who know hardly anything about the Faith. At the same time, there are a lot of converts who don’t know about living the Faith for a long time… yet.

That said, the principle of non-contradiction is not, in itself, a Catholic truth.

Catholics at any stage, if they are honest and half-way intelligent, see the difference between clearly taught truths of the Faith and statements which run contrary to the same or undermine the truth.

Could it be that Wile E. and “Beans” reacted from a scratched conscience?

Faithful Catholics who are converts are their constant reminder.

Posted in Green Inkers, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liberals, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged converts, Massimo Faggioli, Michael Sean Winters, principle of non-contradiction, Wile E. Coyote
12 Comments

Did Pope Francis insult some young priests? Fr. Z opines and tells a story.

Posted on 28 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This isn’t the sort of thing that should pull much of our attention or energy. However, I have been asked about it in email by a surprising number of people, including priests.

It seems that the site Messa in latino picked up on an anecdote recounted by a French site Benoit etmoi. Here’s my translation from the French, which seems to be the original of the anecdote. I’m cutting out the first part, just to get at the core of the anecdote itself. Mind you, we are dealing with something that happened recently, after this spring or early summers traditional round of diocesan ordinations to the priesthood. However, we are also dealing with something that it second hand at best.

A group of young priests from the same diocese, who were just ordained, made a pilgrimage together to Rome. They were not traditionalists, but young priests of today, white shirt with discreet collar, [in some European countries you will see during the summer priests in a white clerical shirt with “tab” collar] classic, pious, normal, very happy with the gift of Christ they had just received. Naturally, they asked and obtained (the chance) to have dinner at Santa Marta and to be presented to the Pope, and also to concelebrate with him at Mass the next day.

They arrived at Santa Marta at the designated time, and went to the place indicated. A secretary pointed them out to the Pope who was approaching. The Pope: “Where are you from?” They, proudly: “Of the Diocese of X”. And he, with a sour expression [avec la mine des mauvais jours]: “Ah, X, there are still many priests there. That means that there is a problem, a problem of discernment.” And he continues his journey.

The young priests, dismayed, looked at each other, conferred, and left without eating. And the next day, they spared themselves the concelebration at Santa Marta.

Okay… what to do with this. And, mind you, I’m doing this here because I’ve had a lot of requests.

It could be that these young men mistook the Pope’s expression. Some people’s default face isn’t always cheerful looking.

It could be that these young men mistook the Pope’s words. There could be a language difference.

However, since there were a few of them, they probably were not all mistaken in their interpretation and it drove them to leave and not come back.

Popes kid around with seminarians and priests. John Paul II sure did. Here is one of my own anecdotes with John Paul. I’ve never told this one here before.

Since my seminary in Rome was named after JPII, we seminarians were often called to serve his Masses. Hence, I had quite a few opportunities as a seminarian and as a deacon. I was a deacon often enough that the Holy Father got to know me. One day, as deacon, I brought the thurible into the small sacristy tucked away near the altar of the Pietà (they laid our our dalmatics, etc., on the altar beneath the Pietà – that wasn’t cool or anything…) for the Pope, as celebrant, to “charge”. As I approached he said in Italian, “You again!” As I held it up he said, “Which seminary are you from?” Of course he knew. He asked every time. “The John Paul the Second International Seminary, Your Holiness.” With clearly mock dismay, he almost bellowed, “Terribile! Terribile!” Everyone was amused, including myself. Then he became very grave. Leaning in almost nose to nose, he repeatedly pounded me hard on the chest with his finger and said, punctuating every word, “Tu… deve essere serio. You… have to be serious.” “Serio” means “serious”, but also “focused, earnest”.

That experience was a little frightening, to be frank. First, that was the POPE. Also, that was Pope Wojtyla. It is a bit cliché to speak of what it felt like when he came into a room, but I guarantee you he was like no one else I’ve seen. Seeing him come in or meeting him briefly is one thing. Having him pound you repeatedly on the chest nose to nose is another.

Clearly the saint was trying in an extremely personal moment to inspire a man to something more than mediocrity. After all, my seminary had his name. Ergo, we reflected him, in a way. We had to live up to that.

Let’s just say that I have not forgotten that moment.

It could be that Pope Francis was trying to do something similar with these young priests, but missed the mark.

“Ah, X, there are still many priests there. That means that there is a problem, a problem of discernment.”

It could be a kind of joking, “Is this the best they can do in X?”

Hah! Hah! Hah!… or not.

One of the things that I have learned over the years is that priests – men in general, but priests and military especially – often show affection through hard ribbing. And it can get a little sharp.

Another thing that this anecdote can teach us is that pebbles, when dropped from a great height, even when small can, do damage. Fathers… bishops… be careful out there.

Yet another thing that this anecdote can teach us is that we mustn’t allow ourselves to melt like snowflakes when something rough comes along.

We priests especially have to have a thick hide. I’m concerned that the young men who have grown up in the relative peace of the JPII and BXVI years of aspiration to priesthood and then then beginning seminary, are not – how to say this – acquainted with battle yet. They don’t have the slightest idea what seminary was like a couple decades ago, or what the majority of lib pastors did to new priests – and can do – who are of faithful Catholic disposition. Those days are returning, I’m afraid. We have to buckle it on and get ready.

In any event, I am not entirely sure what happened between the Pope and those young priests. It seems to have left them with a less than optimal impression.

If any of them every read this, my reaction to a second hand anecdote, I would just say:

Don’t let this get you down.
You have a lot of time ahead as priests.
Stick together.
Be serious.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Francis, Mail from priests, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries, The Drill | Tagged Pope Francis, seminary, Terribile!
22 Comments

A timely review, including the ULTIMATE priest gift.

Posted on 28 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

From a priest, just now:

Just a note to let you know that I bought a portable altar from St. Joseph’s Apprentice a few months back. I couldn’t be happier with it — it is absolutely beautiful! And Rick was a pleasure to work with — a personified blessing!

Thanks for mentioning his work and business from time to time.

And congratulations on your 25th! As I will likely not make a 50th (ordained at 38), I am taking a cue from you and will design a challenge coin for 2021, when I will be ordained 25 years. I already have a crest, so it shouldn’t be too hard, but I wouldn’t have thought of it were it not for you.

If priests out there have their own challenge coins, I’d be open to an exchange… same for military and LEOs.

If you need help with a coat of arms, you might consider the fellow who did mine… on the side bar.

___

One year ago, I posted three posts, each one has some review value.

First, this gets my special attention. I have been readying for a trip for which I will bring the portable altar “St Joseph’s Apprentice” made for my 25th (… which reminds me that I have I to send him a challenge coin). I need a Pelican case for it (… I really want him to build an altar directly into the case itself). A couple days ago I got an email from a chaplain who going to Afghanistan. He ordered one of these portable altars before he is to be deployed.

The ULTIMATE GIFT for a priest revisited: Portable altar from St. Joseph’s Apprentice

In the wake of the martyrdom of the French priest Fr. Hamel…

“Sandwiched between two forms of dhimmitude: Koran or Agenda-driven”

And we can always derive some inspiration from Card. Burke!

Card. Burke’s new book: Hope for the World – To Unite All Things in Christ

And, even though it is not Lent, you might choose to say the Stations of the Cross, or listen to them, as a good Friday devotion. HERE

Pray today.

Examine your consciences. Tomorrow is Saturday. You might…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in Linking Back |
1 Comment

To the defeatists

Posted on 27 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Some years back, 19 March 2013 to be exact, I published here a manifesto entitled “Dear Traditionalists” to which I return from time to time. I still adhere to it.

In that piece I featured a photo of aspiring Navy SEALs during BUD/S working and suffering together as teams to control heavy logs.

Now in my email and elsewhere I see defeatist grizzling about what might happen… boo hoo. People are listening to the enemy and taking it to heart, which is what the enemy wants. They want you to freak out and then watch your heads explode.

I say, we must never give up.

After all, when it comes to working and fighting and praying and sacrificing for what we need to get to heaven, the only easy day was yesterday.

Today I visited the US Navy Seal Museum in Ft. Pierce, FL.

It was a great visit. All through the place there were reminders of the SEAL ethos. At the core of that ethos is

I WILL NEVER QUIT. I WILL NOT FAIL.

During the hell and sifting that is BUD/S, when men have had enough and decide to quit, they can “ring out”. All they have to do is ring the bell that is out in an open visible place, and they are out. No problem. Ring = Quit. Unless… you get through and graduate. Then all the successful aspirants can ring the bell as they leave.

Which are YOU going to be?

Are you quitters?

Are you satisfied with failure?

When are YOU going to ring that bell?

¡Hagan lío!

From my manifesto…

Dear Traditionalists:

[…]

Those of you who want the older form of the liturgy, and all that comes with it, should…

1) Work with sweat and money to make it happen. If you thought you worked hard before? Been at this a long time? HAH! Get to work! “Oooo! It’s tooo haaard!” BOO HOO!

2) Get involved with all the works of charity that your parishes or groups sponsor. Make a strong showing. Make your presence known. If Pope Francis wants a Church for the poor, then we respond, “OORAH!!” [aka HOOYAH] The “traditionalists” will be second-to-none in getting involved. “Dear Father… you can count on the ‘Stable Group of TLM Petitioners-For-By-Now-Several-Months” to help with the collection of clothing for the poor! Tell us what you need!”

3) Pray and fast and give alms. Think you have been doing that? HAH! Think again. If you love, you can do more.

4) Form up and get organized. You can do this. Find like minded people and get that request for the implementation of Summorum Pontificum together, how you will raise the money to help buy the stuff the parish will need and DO IT. Make a plan. Find people. Execute!

5) Get your ego and your own petty little personal interpretations and preferences of how Father ought to wiggle his pinky at the third word out of the way. It is team-work time. If we don’t sacrifice individually, we will stay divided and we won’t achieve our objectives.

At the midway point of SEAL training, BUD/S, there is a “Hell Week” to see how much you want it to keep going.

Do you want this? Do you? Or, when you don’t get what you want handed to you, are you going to whine about it and then blame others?

The legislation is in place. The young priests and seminarians are dying to get into this stuff. Give them something to do.

And to those of you will you blurt out “But Father! But Father!… I don’t like your militaristic imagery”… in order to derail the entry, here’s a new image from your own back yard.

Pope Benedict gave you, boys and girls, over the course of his 8 years, a beautiful new bicycle! He gave you a direction, some encouragement, a snow cone, and a running push. Now, take off the training wheels and RIDE THE DAMN BIKE!

Fathers, lay people.

Read this. I’ve been recommending it to priest friends for a while now:

US HERE – UK HERE

Let’s not sit back and relax. SEALs want to win because they always want another mission.

We must be the same. We want another mission.

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, Si vis pacem para bellum!, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged manifesto, Navy SEAL
31 Comments

Some good things are happening

Posted on 27 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have had notes from reader about good things going on.

First, I call your attention to a good initiative in the Diocese of Burlington (Vermont). A new group has been established called the St. Philip Neri Latin Mass Chaplaincy. I am very much in favor of St. Philip Neri. Included in the email was this:

There will be a special High Mass in the Extraordinary Form on
Tuesday, August 1, 2017, at 6pm, for the feast day of Saint Peter in Chains, followed by veneration of the relic of the chain of Saint Peter. The Diocese of Burlington is the only diocese outside of Rome to possess a link of the chain of Saint Peter. It was brought to Vermont by the first bishop of the diocese, Bishop Louis de Goesbriand (served 1853 to 1899), given to him by Blessed Pius IX. The chain link is stored in the diocesan archives and is only taken out for special occasions, so this is a rare opportunity to see and venerate the relic. The Mass will be celebrated in the basement chapel of the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph, 20 Allen Street, Burlington, Vt., by Father Brian O’Donnell, the chaplain of the Saint Philip Neri Latin Mass Chaplaincy, recently erected by Bishop Christopher J. Coyne. Father O’Donnell celebrates the Extraordinary Form six days a week there.

Facebook event: HERE

In other news, my friend Fr. Dave Ireland wrote with news about the Solemn Mass celebrated there by His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze (Card. Bp of my diocese!) at their parish in S. Euclid, OH. PHOTOS

Moreover, in Philadelphia there has revitalized a community of Carmelite women, who have now a chaplain from the FSSP.

From the Office for Clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia:

Dear Brother Priests and Deacons,

On behalf of Bishop Fitzgerald, who works closely with the many religious communities serving our local Church as part of his pastoral and administrative responsibilities, I write to share joyful news.

Today, six nuns from the Carmelite Monastery of Valpraiso, Nebraska, and four nuns from the Carmelite Monastery of Elysburg, Pennsylvania, transferred to the Carmelite Monastery of Saint Joseph and Saint Anne in Philadelphia. As a result of these transfers, there is now a community of twelve nuns in the Philadelphia Carmel, which was founded in 1902. Since that time it has been home to generations of Discalced Carmelite nuns who have dedicated themselves to a cloistered life of contemplation and prayer for the good of us all.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 26th, the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, all are invited to a Solemn High Mass at the Carmel and are welcome to greet the new sisters in the “speakroom” of the convent following the liturgy. Details are below.

Philadelphia Carmel
1400 66th Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19126

Concert of Sacred Music at 6:15 p.m.

Solemn High Mass at 7:00 p.m.
Celebrant: Rev. William Allen, FSSP, Chaplain for the Philadelphia Carmel
Homilist: Most Reverend Michael J. Fitzgerald

N.B. Clergy in attendance are requested to wear choir dress.

For additional information on the Philadelphia Carmel, please visit http://www.discalcedcarmelitesphila.org/. Kindly consider sharing this invitation broadly with others and join in praying for the Carmelite community in Philadelphia. Thank you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Sullivan
Vicar for Clergy

In the balance this is great news.

Good things are happening. The riches of the Church’s treasury have been opened up and put to good use again. The ripple effects will be manifold. It takes a while to build a beautiful thing, and so we must be patient and we must – above all – persevere in our efforts.

Never allow yourselves to be discouraged. Go forward. Get organized. “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”, with rumors – probably designed to make the trad community go bananas, react sharply and without filters. Then they can point and say, “See how awful they are? The old Mass needs to be suppressed!” Think about it.

¡Hagan lío!

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Be The Maquis, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Archd. Philadelphia, D. Burlington, D. Cleveland
15 Comments

Rumors about Summorum Pontificum – GET A GRIP!

Posted on 26 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My email is filling with panicked messages about a story at LifeSite which suggests that Pope Francis is maneuvering to end the universal legislation established by Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum. HERE

Please, friends, breathe into a paper bag or whatever else you have to do to get a grip.

First, I don’t believe it.

Second, I don’t think it would make a lot of difference: this thing is going to continue one way or another.

So, put on your big boy underwear, stop whining, and GET BACK TO WORK.

Honestly… if some people put half the energy they use to worry and whine and wring their hands about rumors into building up a traditional Mass community where they live, we’d see some remarkable progress.

¡Hagan lío!

Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Si vis pacem para bellum!, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
42 Comments

REVIEW – Peter Kwasniewski’s new book: Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages

Posted on 26 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’m digging into Peter Kwasniewski’s new book:

Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages

US HERE – UK HERE

It has a forward by the great Martin Mosebach, author of The Heresy of Formlessness (a must read, a hard read but richly rewarding).

Firstly, I could read Peter’s prose forever. He writes with clarity and great force, which surely reflect both his deft mind and his convictions.

Next, I think we may have a Vulcan Mind-Meld going on.

Chapters

1 Why the New Evangelization Needs the Old Mass
2 Reverence Is Not Enough: On the Importance of Tradition
3 The Spirit of the Liturgy in the Words and Actions of Our Lady
4 The New Liturgical Movement: Urgent Care for a Sick Church
5 Different Visions, Contrary Paths
6 Formed in the Spirit and Power of the Liturgy
7 Laying Our Foundation on Solid Rock
8 How the Usus Antiquior Elicits Superior Participation
9 A Perpetual Feast of All Saints
10 The Peace of Low Mass and the Glory of High Mass
11 Homage to Our Lady, Queen of the Liturgy
12 “Always Forward, Never Back”

Intriguing, no?

The book is seeded through with exquisite photo images and apt accompanying quotes. There is a prayerful tone within as well. Peter is a Benedictine Oblate. For example, at the end of one chapter you find on a page apart:

Prayer for the Traditional Movement

O Lord, remember in Thy Kingdom N. and N.,
[names of individuals or communities]
and all religious, clergy, and laity throughout the world who are dedicated to the usus antiquior.
Bless us, govern us, defend us, purify us, and multiply us for the good of souls,
for the restoration of Thy Church,
and for the glory of Thy Holy Name.
Amen.

Every couple pages there are illustrative quotes blocked out which you will wish you could commit to perfect memory. For example, just flipping to a random page (106) I find…

Those who doubt and deny win immediate fame. And the defer- ence refused to tradition, to antiquity, to authority, is given at once and wholly, with infinite thoughtlessness, to the notions of some writer or other, to one of those prophets of the hour who trumpet the vague phrases: progress, evolution, broad-mindedness, and dogmatic awakening. This is intellectual foolery. And it seems to me that good sense and dignity require from us not only an atti- tude of reserve, but above all a spirit of tranquil resistance and conservatism. Conservation is the very instinct of life, a disposi- tion essential for existence. We shall be truly progressive if we hold fast to this spirit, for there is no progress for a living organism which does not preserve continuity with its past.

Moreover, the book is deeply personal. I am confident that you will resonate with what he writes. Here is a sample with my usual treatment:

“Always Forward, Never Back”

Every line written in these pages is born from my personal experience of the things of which I speak. I have sat through every possible permutation of the Novus Ordo, and some impossible ones. I have collaborated or argued with every type of priest or liturgist. I have seen the Reform of the Reform in action and made such contributions to it as I could. I have worked with bishops who promote all the best and bishops who ruthlessly stomp on tradition. I have participated in silent private Masses, magnificent Pontifical Masses, and more or less successful dialogue Masses. I try never to write about anything that has not been intimately and frequently a part of my life as a Catholic. [And now some honest self-examnation…] This will, I trust, help explain the bitterness and harshness of some passages, the tolerance and pragmatism of others, and the melancholy triumphalism that permeates the whole—at once exultant over so many victories and chastened by the sight of so much devastation. It is a hard time to be thinking and writing about the liturgy, when so much is in flux, indiscernible and unpredictable, at the mercy of potentates and volunteers. I am thoroughly prepared to be surprised with the passage of each year at how many good things have sprung up and how many bad things have persisted or emerged from hibernation.

Dr. Eric de Saventhem (1919–2005), first President of the International Federation Una Voce, spoke these prophetic words in a speech in New York City in 1970—words all the more remarkable in the face of the escalating victories of philistinism and modernism, the threat of total devastation, and the hopelessness of the situation emerging at that time: [Speaking of great quotes…]

A renaissance will come: asceticism and adoration as the main- spring of direct total dedication to Christ will return. Confraternities of priests, vowed to celibacy and to an intense life of prayer and meditation, will be formed. Religious will regroup themselves into houses of strict observance. A new form of Liturgical Movement will come into being, led by young priests and attracting mainly young people, in protest against the flat, prosaic, philistine or delirious liturgies which will soon overgrow and finally smother even the recently revised rites.

It is vitally important that these new priests and religious, these new young people with ardent hearts, should find—if only in a corner of the rambling mansion of the Church—the treasure of a truly sacred liturgy still glowing softly in the night. And it is our task, since we have been given the grace to appreciate the value of this heritage, to preserve it from spoliation, from becoming buried out of sight, despised and therefore lost forever. It is our duty to keep it alive: by our own loving attachment, by our support for the priests who make it shine in our churches, by our apostolate at all levels of persuasion.1

All this has been fulfilled before our eyes, and there is not the slightest sign that the “new form of Liturgical Movement” will back down just because of new threats and intimidations and the premature swaggering of the anti-Ratzinger faction. Indeed, if history tells us any lesson, it is that unjust persecution makes the flame burn more intensely and then, as soon as opportunity arises, blaze out more vehemently.

And yet, so much more is waiting to be done; there is fire to be kindled on the earth, in every place, every community, every church—the fire of the Catholic Faith in its totality and integrity, its tradition and beauty. In this connection we might draw courage from the noble words of the Book of Nehemiah (2:17–18):

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been upon me for good, and also of the words which the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

[…]

[1. The full text is available at the FIUV website: http://www.fiuv.org/p/address- given-bydr.html]

Do I hear an “Amen!“?

Allow me to continue with Nehemiah through a verse which I have for a long while displayed on this blog’s side bar:

Aedificantium enim unusquisque gladio erat accinctus.

And each of the builders had his sword girded at his side while he built.

– Nehemiah 4:18

Peter’s new book is a sword for your side as you build in your own parishes. It is a new arrow for your quiver when you need to explain, defend and spread the vision we share of a Holy Church revitalized in her sacred liturgical worship.

Without a revitalization of our worship, no other undertaking we mount in the Church will succeed.

Hence, the stakes are high.

Do I need to say it?

Yes, I need to say it.

Buy a least two copies, one for you and one for your parish priest or a seminarian.

Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages

US HERE – UK HERE

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged Peter Kwasniewski
13 Comments

ASK FATHER: Can an ex-woman, a trans “man”, be ordained?

Posted on 26 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

With the increase of transgender people pushing their agenda, would it be possible for a biological woman who thinks she’s a he and has gone through the Sex “change” process somehow slip through the cracks and make it to ordination, or does the screening process to weed out such people, as such would not be able to be validly ordained?

This sex-change, trans thing is intrinsically evil.

Talk about your Self-absorbed Promethean Neopelagians!

A woman who undergoes this ghoulish process is, at the end, not a man. She is still a woman, a seriously mutilated woman. She can dress like a man, try to act like a man, fool some people (not as many as she thinks) that she is a man. She cannot ever be a man.

They are to be shown great compassion, because they are deeply confused and no doubt in a lot of pain. But their confusion and pain doesn’t alter reality.

Women cannot be validly ordained to holy orders. An attempt to ordain any woman, including mutilated women, would be, without question, invalid.

Hence,

Women cannot be ordained.
She is a woman.
She cannot be ordained.

As for a “screening” process, it is hard to imagine that such a person would not be identified as such right away.

Posted in Self-absorbed Promethean Neopelagians, Sin That Cries To Heaven, You must be joking! | Tagged sex-change, transgender
27 Comments

“For goodness’ sake, own your faith, Fr. Martin!” Analysis of Jesuit’s homosexualist activism

Posted on 26 July 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over at Crisis there is a piece by Rev. Mr. Jim Russell entitled

“A Final Word On Fr. Martin”

Alas, I fear that that is far too optimistic. Jesuit Homosexualist-activist Fr James Martin is sure to come up with something weird again soon. He can’t go too long without the spotlight, after all.

Let’s have a look at Russell’s offering, jumping into its midst. My emphases and comments:

[…]

After being asked hundreds upon hundreds of times by hundreds of different people, exactly why won’t Martin himself own the faith of the Church regarding homosexuality? All he does is pull a few puppet-strings each time the question comes up. Suddenly the Gospel he is supposed to believe down to the marrow of his bones, under the same obligation that St. Paul himself was when saying “woe to me if I do not preach,” is magically objectified into a mere “stance” or “prohibition” that the Church only “officially” teaches, and it’s just untouchable because it’s soooo far from the “stance” of the “LGBT community.” And, besides, it’s clear that “LGBT Catholics” have never “received” the teaching in the first place, Martin says. [That is a typical lib ploy: pit the “official” Church against the, say, “spirit-filled” church. Fishwrap writers use this trop all the time.]

If some of this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because the more Martin talks, the more he simply fades into the murky shadows of many who spoke similarly over the last fifty years. It was another Jesuit, the late Fr. Richard McCormick, who famously embraced the falsehood of a “double magisterium” (naturally the second “magisterium” comprised theologians like himself!) and who insisted that teachings “not received” were not even true teachings at all. The more Martin speaks, the more he disappears into McCormick. [Good reminder about McCormick. He exerted tremendous influence on countless clerics and academicians. How often have you, in your internet peregrinations, found some lib claiming that if an “official” teaching (usually about sex) isn’t “received” (accepted, believed) by people (I hesitate to say “the faithful”), then it doesn’t have to be accepted or obeyed. Thus a majority determines what might be the teaching right now. Of course who says which “majority” gets to decide is a little vague. This is also what lies at the black heart of Card. Kasper’s method. For example, the meaning of Christ’s teachings in Scripture can drift around over time, mean different things in different eras according to what Benedict warned of when he wrote for Card. Meisner’s funeral: the Zeitgeist. Thomas Stark put his finger on the bruise when he said that Kasper has replaced philosophy with politics. Read: Stark in Catholic World Report: German Idealism and Cardinal Kasper’s Theological Project. HERE I’m with Stark quoting Péguy: “Modernists are people who do not believe what they believe.” ]

Not only that, but Martin’s approach is also rooted squarely in the hero he’d like to canonize, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, who has famously admitted her strategy for achieving decades of dissent by doing the same thing—not owning her faith. Her self-labeled “creative circumvention” allowed her to “wiggle” around admitting her dissent by also framing true Church teaching as an objectified “stance.”

However, just as a train receding into the midnight horizon might occasionally throw a spark of illumination from its wheels, Martin’s retreat is not flawless. Recently, he forthrightly admitted his erroneous view that God creates LGBT people as LGBT people. Compare this to the Catechism’s clear assertion that homosexuality has a “largely unexplained” psychological genesis. [If God made them that way, then what they are inclined to do isn’t wrong. That’s the argument. Of course that’s crazy.]

This admission is really the crack in the dam that lets the floodwaters past. Virtually everything else that contradicts the Gospel regarding homosexuality arises from this singular flaw. If the entire spectrum of “LGBTQIA” is God’s handiwork, then we can jettison the whole “objectively disordered” kerfluffle and go with Martin’s self-recommended “differently ordered” instead. Then, same-sex sex acts and same-sex “marriage” and transgender surgeries become goods that we don’t have to reject. [Don’t have to? Nay, rather: can’t reject… must accept.] We can let “gay pride” into our sanctuaries, festooning them with rainbow flags. [Can? Nay, rather: must. They will never be satisfied with “can”.]

Make no mistake—Martin’s personal media puppet, which keeps his personal views behind the curtain of the fictional narrative of “created this way,” is nothing more than a Trojan horse. [Interesting mix of metaphors. Although… both are wood… both look like something that they are not…]

Thankfully, more astute minds than mine have seen just how unrealistically wooden the Martin puppet is; many faithful Catholic writers are taking on the myriad false assertions now incessantly repeated at every media opportunity and every presentation at parishes with faux-Catholic views on this issue. This is largely another reason why I believe the entertainment buzz of the Martin marionette’s performance is fading fast. Simply put, the stilted rhetoric and attached strings are leaving neither the Church nor the “LGBT community” feeling very satisfied.

Thus, Martin himself is creating new videos and print responses to the “critiques” he’s getting from both sides of the as-yet nonexistent bridge. Yet it’s all the same dodgy, scripted formula we’ve seen and heard before, attempts that are not passionately, single-mindedly focused on actually building that bridge, but instead are constructed so that, just as in Oz, we pay no attention whatever to the “man behind the curtain” as the spectacle before us plays out.

Am I being too harsh? Is it too much to ask that the creative artist behind the performance come out, and take a bow? I think not. [NB!] Literally, for goodness’ sake, own your faith, Fr. Martin. Stop attempting the impossible task of building a bridge in a bubble, via “creative circumvention.”

Instead, stake your claim. Are you with the Church and the Good News of its teaching on homosexuality, or not? Because, if you are, your stunt-double Pinocchio is doing a really terrible job of preaching that Gospel. If you are not, I’d suggest taking a good, long look at First Corinthians 9:16.

[..]