6 December: Exorcists call for Fasting, Prayer, Reparation

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

At National Catholic Register see the article about a call from exorcists to pray and fast in reparation for the demonic idol worship in the Vatican and during the Synod (“walking together”) on the Amazon.

Four Exorcists Urge Day of Fasting, Prayer and Reparation Dec. 6
The priests suggest the Rosary and prayers to the Sacred Heart, as well as “some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification”

Bree A. Dail

WASHINGTON — Four exorcists have issued a joint statement asking Catholics worldwide to dedicate Dec. 6 as a day of fasting, prayer and reparation, “for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of recent events.”

The exorcists, who have requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their ministries, cited in a particular way the controversy that took place during the recent Pan-Amazon Synod, when statues purportedly of Pachamama, a goddess worshiped by indigenous Andeans, were incorporated into various synod events.

“These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare,” they said in their statement, “and that warfare is happening with the Church itself.”

The full statement follows:

In light of recent events regarding the Pachamama ritual in the Vatican Gardens, the subsequent procession of the idol into St. Peter’s, as well as placing the idols in St. Maria in Traspontina church, we are reminded of the words of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:20), “Do I say, that what is offered in sacrifice to idols, is anything? Or, that the idol is anything? But the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God. And I would not that you should be made partakers with devils.”

The Psalms (95:5) tell us that “all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.” These events bring home the reality that (Ephesians 6:12) “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” These events bring home the reality that we are in spiritual warfare and that warfare is happening within the Church, itself.

We are, therefore, encouraging all Catholics who recognize the evil of the events to join us in a day of prayer and penance on December 6th, for the purpose of driving out any diabolic influence within the Church that has been gained as a result of these recent events — along with any other events.

We are asking all of those who participate to do the following for this intention:

1.) say the Rosary;

2.) take on some form of penance, such as fasting, abstinence and other forms of mortification;

3.) to offer the prayers to the Sacred Heart, as seen below.

Other recommended acts which we encourage others to do for this intention is make a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament and attend Mass that day, offering the merits of the Mass for this intention.

May the Divine Mercy rest upon all of us.

Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thy altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but, to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father’s house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof; call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.

Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism; refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. Turn Thine eyes of mercy toward the children of that race, once Thy chosen people: of old they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may it now descend upon them a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and Honor forever. Amen.

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thy altar eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy Law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.

We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Thy Divine Love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.

Would, O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou didst once make to Thy eternal Father on the cross and which Thou dost continue to renews daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent other from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may one day come to that happy home, where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.

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21 Nov: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With a prayer of my own.

Today is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple.

The Collect for the Mass in the traditional form:

Deus, qui beátam Maríam semper Vírginem, Spíritus Sancti habitáculum, hodiérna die in templo praesentári voluísti: praesta, quaésumus; ut, eius intercessióne, in templo glóriae tuae praesentári mereámur.

O God, who desired that the Blessed Ever-virgin Mary, dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, be presented today in the Temple: grant, we beseech Thee; that by her intercession, we may merit to be presented in the temple of Thy glory.

Such a simple, and straight forward prayer.

As I read it, I consider the present state of crisis in the Church.

I ask the Blessed Virgin, Queen of the Clergy, to take all the bishops under her protecting mantle and to shield them from the attacks of the Enemy.

Under her protection, as Queen of the Clergy, I pray that she will then bring them to whatever crosses they must endure in expiation and in reparation and in the right guidance of the flock to that heavenly temple of God’s glory which we have longed for in the prayer.

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Worthy reading. More Pachamama and more from Archbp. Viganò.

At the Pontifical Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last week (HERE with VIDEO), you could tell that quite a few of the congregants were unfamiliar with the Traditional Mass by the fact that they sang the Pater Noster with the celebrant (at 1:29:30 in the video). (And the person who directed the choir also didn’t have a clue what to do either.)

I was struck by the large presence of the unfamiliar. It added to my growing suspicion that The Present Crisis of the Church in this pontificate is bringing more and more people to explore the option of the TLM rather than or in addition to the NO. It could be that the blatantly weird things perpetrated in Rome and elsewhere, especially in October, are starting to get to people. The phrase “red pill” is showing up more frequently these days. I am reminded of something I saw in a gun store a few years ago: a framed picture of Pres. Obama with various prize ribbons appended with the sign, “Salesman Of The Year”. Something like that is going on right now, it seems to me, in the Church as well.

My friend Fr. David Nix has a good piece today which touches on this.  In reference to a podcast he heard with the author of Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (US HERE – UK HERE), He cites the experience of the British during WWII, when the Blitz brought people together. Facing adversity together knit them together in a way that many would long for after the war. We in these USA also had a few fleeting moments of that after 9/11. Nix applies this to The Present Crisis with a couple of bullet points. Here they are. Go there for his fuller explication.

1) Stop blaming God for the crisis of bad leadership in the Catholic Church, even implicitly in your heart, since “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.”—Rom 8:28.

[…]

2) Welcome the stragglers into traditional communities. Many neo-cons tell me they don’t go to the TLM because trad families are too judgmental. Now, half of this is an excuse (as there really are many humble families at the TLM) but half of it is true: Some TLMers reject neo-con stragglers as Johnnies-come-lately. Some newcomers are rejected from the TLM as “less-holy” for having come from the Novus Ordo.

[…]

On the point of “belonging”, I guide the readership to my ranting about how “We Are Our Rites”.    Think about how the Novus Ordo has atomized Roman Catholics into smaller communities with hardly any points of contact.  Think about how there is a Rite which cut across boundaries, cultures and even centuries into a common body of worshiping believers.  That Rite produced the saints we venerate and many patrimonies which have been denied to so many for so long since the 60s.

I am also reminded of Anthony Esolen’s book Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World.  My post HERE.  Nostalgia, as the Greek indicates, a pain (algea) we feel for our “return home” (nostron): “pain for the return, ache for the homecoming.”  It is an essential longing.   It has nothing to do with the wacky charge often leveled at those who desire traditional liturgy.

One of my frequent correspondents happens to be in Venice right now.  As you may know, there was record flooding recently which shut down the unique city.  I was sent the photo of a sign on a shop door.

Such is life.  You fall seven times and you get back up eight.  We need a few days to get back on track… with a smile and energy as always.

In the matter of birettas… some people ask me if seminarians can or should use them when in choir.

Yes, I think so.

It looks like those birettas have four, rather than three, points.

Please consider the ongoing BIRETTAS FOR SEMINARIANS PROJECT.

Next, if you haven’t seen it, check out a piece by George Weigel at First Things about a week ago.   He offers a summary in the wake of the disastrous Amazon Synod (“walking together”), which clearly also involved veneration of a pagan, demonic idol.  I wish we had in English as apt a word as the Italian smascherare… to unmask.  That’s what Weigel does to the synodal rhetoric and the fawning gobbledygook from the papalotrous camp followers, in particular relentless tweeter and self-promoter Massimo “Beans” Faggioli.

Finally, read about an amazing little Chinese girl martyr who loved the Blessed Sacrament.  HERE  She inspired Fulton J. Sheen, who will be beatified in December.

UPDATE:

This, in Spanish, from INFOVATICANA. A week or so ago in Madrid, some Jesuits had a conference at a parish in which members of REPAM participated. REPAM was a driving forcing behind the crazy stuff, and the pagan stuff, at the Synod (“walking together”). There were, at that conference, Pachamama idols. Some people who call themselves “Comando San Bonifacio… St. Boniface Commandos” took pamphlets and posters and dumpsterized them.

Also, Archbp. Viganò has issued at Inside the Vatican an essay about the danger of syncretism.  He is especially concerned about the inter-faith project in Abu Dhabi.

“[T]he Temple of the world syncretistic Neo-Religion is about to rise with its anti-Christian dogmas. Not even the most hopeful of the Freemasons would have imagined so much!”

 

 

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ASK FATHER: Guidelines for sitting in choir, including birettaquette and also hoodiquette. With a short Fr. Z rant.

From a Dominican…

QUAERITUR:

Regarding the Pontifical Mass, there were Dominicans in choir. There is a resurgence of the traditional Dominican Rite.

I am writing to ask if you can point to a source that tells what Dominicans are supposed to do with their hoods during the Pontifical Mass in the Roman Rite.  Do Dominicans follow the same rules as priests with birettas?

Thanks for any clarity or resources you can provide!

Hmmm… what religious do with their hoods, specifically Dominicans.

Dominicans at Mass at a mystery to me.

I am reminded of an old Roman joke, which may not survive translation out of a now outdated but very Roman context.    How does one gauge how “successful” a liturgy is among the different religions families?   It seems that it is successful for the Benedictines if they have sung more than half the notes correctly; for the Dominicans if at least half are still there at the end; for the Jesuits if at least half show up at all; and for the Franciscans if half are still uninjured.

As far as birettas are concerned, the vested sacred ministers wear the biretta in church during the processions in and out.  Others in procession, once they enter the church, remove their biretta and hold it top outward before their breast with both hands.  If they carry a book, they hold the book upright before their breasts, open pages to their left, and they hook the biretta below the book with their fingers.

When seated in choir, unless the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, cover.  Before standing, uncover.  That is, remove your biretta before you stand, not while you rise. Not after you have risen.  Before you rise.   Cover after you sit down.   When the Holy Name is said or sung, you uncover or tip, according to local custom.  Sometimes the Holy Name is used quite often, and constantly uncovering or tipping is untenable.   There is usually a general agreement in places about how this will be handled. For example, in a sermon, the first time uncover and lower the biretta to the right knee, the second time tip, the third time nihil fit.  If someone “reverences” you, with a bow, a liturgical acknowledgement, you tip back.   You bow your head while standing when the celebrant at the altar bows his head, as when during the Gloria the celebrant bows his head during his own recitation when he says the Holy Name or the phrase “…suscipe deprecationem meam…”.  If everyone is seated as the choir sings the Gloria, you uncover at those moments.  You bow your head or uncover as appropriate at the name of Mary and of the Saint of the day.

Also… and this is important….

DO NOT SIT ON YOUR BIRETTA.

That is your basic birettaquette.

Hoods.

There was a Cistercian in the choir with us.  Among Cistercians, only the vested sacred ministers put their hoods up.  Benedictines will vary according to their congregations or monasteries, but in general, they put their hoods up during Matins, but not during the day, and also at Mass during the Epistle, Gradual or Tracts, Alleluia.

Dominicans… I dunno.  But I know that Dominicans will chime in!  I’ll wager that Dominican hoodiquette is not the same as birettaquette.  As far as the other religious who wear hoods (Franciscans) rather than birettas (Norbertines, Augustinians, etc.) are concerned, I am not sure.  They all have their own customs.

After the Mass in at the Shrine, one priest mentioned to me that it would have been helpful to have a card available to tell the men in choro what to do.

For standing, sitting, etc. during a Pontifical Mass.  This is from Stehle, p. 291.

While the bishop vests stand
During the Confiteor kneel
While the celebrant ascends the altar rise
When the celebrant sits (Kyrie, Gloria) sit
When the celebrant rises rise
At the Epistle sit
At the singing of the Gospel stand
When the celebrant sits (Sermon, Credo) sit
When the celebrant rises rise
After Oremus (Offertory) sit
When the bishop goes to the altar stand
When the bishop ascends the altar sit
When the deacon some to incense the choir rise
After the Sanctus kneel
After the elevation of the Chalice rise
After Communion sit
At Dominus vobiscum rise
At the Postcommunion stand
At the Blessing kneel
At the last Gospel stand
While the bishop divests stand

Meanwhile, what do nuns do when they are in choro in their own communities?   Well… women should have their heads covered all the time in church (cf. St. Paul).

For absolutely comprehensive rules for secular priests, see Martinucci.

Some of you might be thinking dissident thoughts such as the always dopey, “But Father!  But Father!  Don’t we have more important things to worry about than your hat during Mass?  Why have a hat anyway?!?  Because YOU HATE THE POOR AND VATICAN II!”

I always enjoy that one.  The general idea is that we can’t do more that one thing at a time.  Libs always use a “zero sum” approach when they flail around for a way to hate on tradition.  If you have a hat, you don’t care for the poor.  If you are using a hat, you are not caring for the poor.   The utter stupidity of that line of thought is amazing.  This is the logic of Judas, the thief.

Firstly, if you are AT MASS you are not on the street with the poor.  But, you could be praying for the poor, strengthening yourself spiritually to help the poor when you go back out of church, listening to a text or a sermon that moves your heart to acts of mercy, etc.

Also, using a hat during Mass doesn’t take anything from the poor.  It does, however, contribute to decorum.   Beauty and decorum, the aptum, the pulcrum, nourishes the spirit.  Beautiful liturgical music and beauty in art and architecture, beauty and solemnity and order in liturgical worship may be the only beauty and order that many hungry souls experience today.  The poorest of the poor alongside the wealthiest of the world should have a way to nourish the soul through beauty.  Archbp. Cordileone made this point in his sermon at the Shrine.  He cited Dorothy Day and her thoughts about how the poor are hungry for beauty and how they can find it in beautiful churches, extravagantly built.  It is a work of mercy to build transcendentally beautiful churches and compose exceptional music and provide lavish vestments and execute dignified and decorous liturgical rites as a service to the poor.

And it is obvious that this is what is needed according to the virtue of Religion.

Another thing.  Men are hardwired and respond well within structure and rank with clear missions.   These marks of identity, the habit, the cassock, the biretta, the dignities and so forth are important for mission and, ultimate, service to all.   This is just axiomatic and needs no further explication because all reasonable people know that this is true for boys and men. If you don’t get that, then just… go away.

Taking them away, downplaying them, denying them when they ought to be used and given is, well, an indication that something is deeply wrong especially when men deny them.  It is a sign that a man is employing the FFLF, the Female Fun Limitation Factor.   I’m only being partially facetious here.   The FFLF is the effect produced on one or more males having fun when a female of any age asks in that special tone of voice, “Do you really think you should be doing that?”, and in all its variations, especially through The Look and other non-verbal signals.   An example: men are horsing around and having fun at something which, admittedly, might be better left undone.  At some point when real fun is being had, a female walks into the scene and, with The Look or some other merriment extinguishing comment snuffs out the activity.   When, in the Church, men start doing that in regard to those things which are clearly important and not “horsing around” at all, when men act like Susan From the Parish Council, then … well… you probably can guess what I think about them.

So, come around with your asinine, “You are more interested in hats than people!” B as in B, S as in S, and you can stick it in your clatfarting hat.

Ritual is foundational for who we are and how we fulfill that all-important duty of Religion: giving God what is due.   Ritual is just that… formal, repeatable, imitable.  It requires rules that can be understood and followed, that can be handed down and followed.   We are our rites.  We convey from generation to generation profound truths through fidelity to and care of our rites.

Sloppy rites, shabby gift, confused identity.

Confused identity… easy pickings for the roaring, prowling Enemy of the soul.

UPDATE:

A tip of the biretta to Garage Logic, btw.    o{]:¬)   I am reminded that a couple of these tropes, like B as in B, S as in S and the FFLF are from a talk radio guy in my native place, Joe Soucheray.  This is from years and years ago.  I don’t know if he still uses those tropes or not, since I haven’t heard him for eons.

 

 

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ASK FATHER: We can eat halal meat?

For some reason the issue of idols keeps coming up.

Pope Francis had a meal catered for 1500 poor people.  He served them lasagne alla bolognese, lasagne in the style of Bologna.  Sort of.

By the way… it’s lasagne, plural, just as it’s spaghetti, plural.  Lasagna is from Latin laganum or Greek laganon, for rectangular sheets of pasta. There is a 14th c cookbook, Liber de coquina which has a recipe that is moving in the direction of more modern lasagne.  I digress.

Italians have their traditional recipes which have come even to be codified by commissions. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina informed the Camera di Commercio di Bologna that they identified the traditional recipe. The sauce for the dish, ragù, includes both beef and pancetta, that is, salt cured pork belly.

Il Messaggero reports that Francis served lasagne alla bolognese made without pancetta!    HERE

Oh the humanity! 

Okay.  Perhaps the world won’t fall apart if something that is not lasagne alla bolognese is called lasagne alla bolognese.  

The point is that the recipe, the meal – according to the report – was “rigorosamente halal” so that Muslims could eat it.   That obviously requires the omission of pork.

However, it also includes halal meat in the lasagne!

(One of my correspondents quipped to me that the only religious prescriptions he seems to respect are the non-Catholic ones.  Also, we must leave aside that Francis had served tortellini made with – I can hardly bring myself to write – chicken.  The newish Archbp. of Bologna, Zuppi, thought this was a good idea for the annual feast of San Petroniothus sparking polemics and even comments from politicians about undermining tradition for the sake of illegal immigrants.  Yes, tortellini are important.)

This brings up another question.  Many people over the last few years have asked me if it is okay for us to eat halal meat.  

This is complicated.   And, again, we are into a discussion of the worship of idols and the possible involvement of demons.

Halal meat. What is it?

I am not an expert on Islam, nor do I play one on TV.  What follows is a sketch.  There are variations according to the Islamic group, but the framework seems to be the same across the board.

Interpreters within Islam are themselves divided over how animals for food are to be ritually slaughtered (dhabihah). Suffice to say that there are Islamic certifications for meat slaughtered in a way they deem acceptable.

Regardless of the method, there is always a prayer pronounced over the animal while killing it.  The prayer to be recited is “Bismillah allahu akbar… In the name of allah; allah is the greatest.”  If the name “allah” is accidentally omitted the meat might permissible. If purposely omitted it is haram, forbidden.  Slaughtering in the name of any other god is forbidden.  Different communities differ on the admissibility of meat ritually slaughtered by Jews (shechita) or slaughtered by Christians in whatever manner.

Muslims are obliged to eat only halal meat.  (Therefore the papal lasagne had halal beef.  If it didn’t they massively offended the Muslims to whom they were catering.)

Many groceries are caving into this and provide only halal meat.  Some tell their customers and some, apparently, don’t readily admit it.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:

Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

Is halal meat the same as the meat offered to idols against which St. Paul inveighs?  I’ll get to that.  Are Christians permitted or forbidden from eating halal meat?

Going on.let’s consider what else Paul says in 1 Cor 10:

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market [including meat sacrificed to false idols] without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.  (But if some one says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then out of consideration for the man who informed you, and for conscience’ sake— I mean his conscience, not yours—do not eat it.) For why should my liberty be determined by another man’s scruples? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

One can argue that the animal slaughtered in the Islamic way, is a kind of sacrifice to a false god.

Must Catholics automatically accept that the God of Jews and Christians and the god of Islam are the same?  LG 16 and CCC 841 pretty much say so.  According to Islam – again, I am not an expert on Islam – Mohammed was visited by an angel, supposedly Gabriel.  However, what Gabriel told Mohammed contradicts what we know the Archangel Gabriel told Mary.  Hence, we must conclude that a false “gabriel”, a fallen angel visited Mohammed.  In that case is “allah” the same as a the Christian/Jewish God?

The 1st Commandment of the Decalogue forbids us to partake in false religions.  As a Christian, I contend that Islam is a false religion.

So, if “allah” really is a false god and not, in fact, the same God of the Jews and Christians, then eating halal meat, ritually slaughtered in the name of a false god, violates what Paul said in 1 Corinthians.

In the case Paul brings up, the person tells the other explicitly that the meat was sacrificed to an idol, hence, its eating is intended to be an extension of participation in the worship of the false god/idol.   If the idol meat is simply meat that was once sacrificed to an idol but now who cares?  That distances the consumer from the act of worship.   Nitpicking?  No.  That’s making distinctions.  As Paul did.

Many places serve halal meat without obviously notifying the customer.

Peter, in Acts 10, receives a vision of all sort of animals including those forbidden in the Law. He hears God’s voice to “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” God explains, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  This is repeated three times, just in case Peter doesn’t get it. Three seems to be Peter’s thing.  There are no animals which are, by their nature, impure.  However, as Paul said, food should be avoided if eating it would be a participation in false worship.

Apparently food sacrificed to idols is still a thing.

Does the prayer to “allah” pronounced in dhabihah ritual slaughter tantamount to sacrificing the animal to an idol?

Frankly, the manner in which the animal is slaughtered and the prayer which is pronounced, make it seem very much like a sacrifice to rather than just a invocation of blessing.

So, the slaughter is one thing.  Let’s say for the sake of this post that halal slaughter is the same as sacrifice to a false god.  That’s debatable, but let’s say that it is.

I have in mind a scenario of a barbecue.  Lots of stuff on the grill.  Some of the meat is halal.  The grillmaster says, “Come and get it!”  A prayer is said, “Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts…”.  Everyone digs in.  Acceptable?   I am leaning towards ‘yes’.

Alternatively, the grillmaster says, “This is halal meat, which was killed in the name of Allah.”   Nope. Sorry.  That seems to me to be, by intention, an extension of participation in a false religion.

To be on the strict side, avoid halal meat if possible.

NO MATTER WHAT, always ask God’s blessing on anything you purchase and what you cook and what you eat.  As Paul says, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

There is nothing wrong and everything right with asking God to bless foodstuffs

  • after you buy them,
  • while you are preparing and cooking them, and
  • before you eat them.

Pious Jews say their blessing prayers – beautiful prayers – even for different categories of foods as they eat.

Again, I am not an expert on how Muslims kill animals for food or how they pray.  I am happy to be corrected if I have put my foot wrong.   However, I suspect that I am on the right track.

I close this post with a reminder of the nice little booklets published by a monastic community in France, Èditions Pax Inter Spinas, that is, Benedictiones Mensae, or “table/meal blessings” with Gregorian chant notation.  These are the traditional meal blessings used in the Roman Rite, especially in communities like seminaries and monasteries.  I think it would be great for even families to have these booklets and learn how, as a family, to sing these prayers.

I posted a podcast about this.  HERE

https://zuhlsdorf.computer/2019/08/podcazt-176-how-to-sing-table-prayers-in-latin/

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, PODCAzT | Tagged , ,
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ASK FATHER: Why didn’t the Assistant Deacons wear surplices during the Pontifical Mass at the Shrine? #MassoftheAmericas Wherein Fr. Z analyzes and then rants.

The other day, His Excellency Most Rev. Salvatore Cordilone of San Francisco celebrated a Pontifical Mass at the Throne at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  It was televised.  A new musical Mass setting was used and new vestments were designed.  All in all it was wonderful and all involved are to be thanked and congratulated.

That said, under the post in which I wrote about the Mass (HERE – VIDEO!) some one asked…

QUAERITUR:

Father, why are the two “deacons” with him not wearing surplices?

Yes, I found that a little puzzling.

What is this about?  At these Pontifical Masses, the bishop can be accompanied by two Assistant Deacons, who help put the miter on and off, etc.  They wear dalmatics, as deacons, though they can be ordained priests.  They wear their choir dress with the dalmatic over.  Thus, you expect them to wear also the surplice under the dalmatic.  When that is done, they were also the amice over the surplice before putting on the dalmatic.

What happened at this last Mass?

A little strange.

Let’s check out what happened at other televised Pontifical Masses at the same Shrine.

When Bp. Slattery celebrated…

When Archbishop Sample celebrated.

Elsewhere, here in Madison, the Extraordinary Ordinary of happy memory (almost one year ago…), often celebrated these Masses.   Here’s a shot.   Yes.  Surplices.  In this small space we did what I’ve seen done in narrow spaces in Rome and I, as MC, put the sacred ministers on the altar steps.

Card. Burke in Minneapolis.  Yup.  Surplices on the Assistant Deacons.

What do manuals say?

Stehle says that, before Mass, the Assistant Deacons wear their choir dress – cassock, surplice and biretta – to accompany the bishop to visit the Blessed Sacrament and then take him to where the bishop will vest. Then they go apart and put on the amice and dalmatic. They are not instructed to remove their surplice. Instead, it seems as if they are to put the amice on over the surplice and then the dalmatic over all. However, Stehle says that, at the end of Mass, the Assistant Deacons accompany the bishop to the throne and then “go to resume their surplices”. That sounds like they might remove their dalmatics and amices and then put on surplices that they had previously removed. Otherwise, it could be interpreted as simply removing their dalmatics and amices and then going back to the bishop in the surplices they were wearing beneath the amices. In other words, they resumed the dress in which they began, “resume” not necessarily meaning putting on something removed.  The Assistant Priest is described by Stehle at the beginning of Mass wearing “amice and cope over his surplice”.

In processions with the Blessed Sacrament, priests and deacons wear their proper vestment over the surplice and amice.

In one commentary I saw – contra Trimeloni – in some places Assistant Deacons could wear albs.  If albs, then surely surplices.

Collins says that the Assistant Deacons vest in the amice and dalmatic over the surplice (Vol 2, p. 53).

Reworking Fortescue O’Connell (silent on Pontifical Masses), Reid says that the Assistant Deacons put the amice and dalmatic on over the surplice (p. 200).

Trimeloni says that, for a Pontifical Mass, there is prepared in the sacristy (or wherever the bishop vests), surplices, amices and dalmatics for two Assistant Deacons.  That means that they put them on (p. 756).  Also, after the recitation of Terce, Trimeloni says that the Assistant Deacons, “go to put on over the surplice (sopra la cotta), the amice and dalmatic” (p. 771).  Not much doubt there.

So, is this a case of auctores scinduntur?  No.  I don’t think so.  I am going with an interpretation of Stehle that is consistent with the others.   “Resume” means returning to being only in cassock and surplice.

It seems to me that the Assistant Deacons ought to have been vested in the surplice, with the amice and then dalmatic over all.   I won’t hazard a guess as to why this choice was made other than, perhaps, a strict reading of Stehle was chosen without checking other sources.

We had better go back to the Shrine and do the whole thing over again with surplices on those Assistant Deacons!  Let’s repeat it often!

Lastly, a note about these ceremonial manuals.

There is interplay between the manualists, each pinging off the others.  However, each manual seeks to describe what is done to follow the written rubrics and solve the problems of what is not written within their spaces and with their personnel available.   Some MCs solve their particular problems with a little creativity, but also within the “genius” of the rubrics, of the rite.  For example, a Pontifical Mass in a cramped space might require that we place sacred ministers on the altar steps rather than with a chair for the Assistant Priest and sedilia for the Deacon and Subdeacon.  This isn’t wrong.  It’s a variation that is well founded within the rites.   Hence, in Madison, where we have had probably more Masses at the Throne in recent years than anywhere else, we made choices according to which church we are in (there is no cathedral).

The Roman Rite has strong bones and structures and strictures.  It is also flexible.  We mustn’t be inflexible when it comes to the rites.  One manual doesn’t solve all issues.  One manual is not the be all and end all for our rites.   Reading widely and then doing it slowly but surely teaches those doing it how it is to be done.  Fabricando fabri fimus!  You become a carpenter by doing carpentry.  By immersing in the rites, reading the experiences of those in the past, you get a sense of the “genius” of the rite.  “Genius” is a Roman concept which I am borrowing and baptizing.  The ancient Roman “genius” was a tutelary spirit that accompanied a person from birth to death, fate-like, or spirits that went with offices.  I don’t mean that pagan thing, which was demonic and to which Christians were forced to sacrifice or suffer.  I mean something more like Romanitas when it comes to the Roman Rite.  I mean something more like Gesamtkunstwerk, a vision that integrates all the elements of texts, music, architecture, movement, ornament, etc.  This isn’t something that springs Athena-like from forth a single head.  It is rooted in generation upon generation of shared experience around a singular purpose.  And in liturgical worship that focus rests in the virtue of Religion, giving to God what is His due and doing so, incarnationally, in the Roman way.

We are our rites.  To know ourselves – which is necessary – we have to know our rites.   And the way the rites are known and used has a simultaneous interplay with our environment and exigencies.

Enough for now.

Suffice to say that Roman Catholic priests really ought to know their Roman Rite.  Really know it, be in it, resound with it.

UPDATE:

Some have asked about liturgical sources.

Stehle

US HERE – UK HERE

Trimeloni

US HERE – UK HERE

Fortescu-O’Connell/Reid

US HERE – UK HERE

Collins

HERE

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , , ,
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ACTION ITEM! Seminarians are waiting for BIRETTAS! Priests are waiting for SATURNOS!

I had a note from John in Church Goods at Leaflet Missal in St. Paul.  John is at the action center of the Birettas for Seminarians Project and the Saturnos for Priests Project.

John reports:

Update:

Priests waiting for Saturnos – 23

Seminarians waiting for birettas – 31

Okay, folks… do you thing!

For more information click

HERE

And let’s not forget those saturnos for priests.  The more, the merrier.

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Priests and Priesthood, Seminarians and Seminaries | Tagged ,
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Ultra-dissident “Voice of the Faithful” to host an online meeting about deaconettes. Anyone can register!

This is interesting.

Voice of the Faithful – which is neither – is sponsoring an online meeting about the ordination of woman to the diaconate.   It is hosted through the super-liberal Hofstra University.

Anyone can register!  HERE

Women Deacons Now [That‘s objective!]

Women Deacons Now that the Synod is Over

Dec 4, 2019 07:30 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

To learn more about Voice of the Faithful try HERE.  This group is the very paradigm of dissident.

There are real problems with the suggestion that women can be ordained.

First, we don’t know enough about what female deacons were in the ancient Church.

Second, the Sacrament of Orders is one sacrament, not three.  The one sacrament confers three orders, diaconate, priesthood, episcopate – that is, deacons, priests and bishops.   Only men can be ordained as priests and bishops.  It is by divine appointment that men only can be ordained with this sacrament as bishops and priests.  Hence, women cannot be ordained as deacons with Sacrament of Orders.  Cf. Lumen gentium 20 ff.

 

Posted in Deaconettes, You must be joking! | Tagged ,
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For some lighter reading

If you are looking for some lighter reading today, zip over the Sandro Magister’s page.   He has a post about how the semi-official journal of the Holy See La Civiltà Cattolica (edited by Jesuits, ), promotes Francis as a master of eloquence.   It’s director is the great fan of  Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Fr Antonio (“2+2=5”) Spadaro, SJ.

I promise you that this is not from The Onion.  It is from the other “Onion”, La Civiltà Cattolica (edited by Jesuits).

 

 

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes

Was there a good point made in the sermon you heard at the Mass that fulfilled your Sunday Obligation?

What was it?

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