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{]:¬)

POSITIVE! New head transformed Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” within the CDF

Posted on 31 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Edward Pentin reports at the National Catholic Register that Francis has appointed someone to run the new section within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which has taken over the brief of my old stomping ground the former ad hoc Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“.

Msgr. Patrick Descourtieux!

Descourtieux, French, has been a professor of Patristics at my school, the Patristic Institute Augustinianum (across the street from the Palazzo Sant’Uffizio and colonnade of St. Peter’s Square). He also worked with the now CDF-absorbed PCED for many years.

Msgr. Descourtieux is sincerely dedicated in regard to traditional groups, level headed, very smart and well-informed.

This is a very positive development.

Posted in SSPX | Tagged CDF, Msgr. Patrick Descourtieux, PCED, SSPX
6 Comments

WDTPRS – 4th Sunday of Lent- Laetare: Prompt devotion, eager faith – PHOTOS

Posted on 29 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Finigan when he was still PP of Blackfen in the Rose vestments YOU readers helped to purchase in 2009!

The nickname Laetare originated from the first word of the Introit chant for Sunday’s Mass, “Rejoice!”

On Laetare Sunday there is a slight relaxation of Lent’s penitential spirit, because we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming at Easter, now near at hand. Moreover, in the ancient Roman Church, before Lent was lengthened, the real, strict discipline began on the Monday after this Sunday.

The custom of using rose (rosacea) vestments is tied to the Station churches in Rome. The Station for Laetare Sunday is the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem where the relics of Cross and Passion brought from the Holy Land by St. Helena (+c. 329), mother of the Emperor Constantine (+337), were deposited. It was the custom on this day for Popes to bless roses made of gold, some amazingly elaborate and bejeweled, which were to be sent to Catholic kings, queens and other notables. The biblical reference is Christ as the “flower” sprung forth from the root of Jesse (Is 11:1 – in the Vulgate flos “flower” and RSV “branch”). Thus Laetare was also called Dominica de rosa…. Sunday of the Rose. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to develop rose colored vestments from this. Remember, the color of the vestments is called rosacea, not pink (especially not baby-rattle pink). This Roman custom spread by means of the Roman Missal to the whole of the world.

Our Collect is a new composition for the 1970MR and subsequent editions of the Novus Ordo based on a prayer in the Gelasian Sacramentary and a section of a sermon by St. Pope Leo I, the Great (+461). There is some similarity between this Collect with those of Advent. On the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we heard: in tui occursum Filii festinantes… “those hurrying to meet your Son.” On the 3rd Sunday (this Sunday’s fraternal twin Gaudete, the only other day for rose vestments) we heard: votis sollemnibus alacri laetitia celebrare…”, to celebrate…with eager jubilation by means of solemn offerings.”

There is rosy anticipation in today’s Collect just as there was in Advent.

Without further delay, here is the beautiful Latin followed by the current ICEL version, the atrocious but happily obsolete ICEL version, and then… a couple of surprises!

COLLECT (2002MR):

Deus, qui per Verbum tuum
humani generis reconciliationem mirabiliter operaris,
praesta, quaesumus, ut populus christianus
prompta devotione et alacri fide
ad ventura sollemnia valeat festinare.

Sollemnia is the neuter plural of the adjective sollemnis meaning “yearly”, that which is established to be done each year. In religious contexts, it comes out as “religious, festive”. As a substantive, it is “a religious or solemn rite, ceremony, feast, sacrifice, solemn games, a festival, solemnity”. Sollemne, the neuter noun, is also, “usage, custom, practice”. In legal contexts, it can be “formality”. In later, Christian Latin words related to sollemnis came to indicate the celebration of the Eucharist. Alacer is “lively, brisk, quick, eager, active; glad, happy, cheerful”. Promptus, a, um is from the verb promo. Promptus indicates, “brought to light, exposed to view” and by extension “at hand, i. e. prepared, ready, quick, prompt, inclined or disposed to or for any thing.”

LITERAL RENDERING:

O God, who by Your Word
wondrously effect the reconciliation of the human race,
grant, we beg, that the Christian people
may be able to hasten toward the upcoming solemnities
with ready devotion and eager faith.

CURRENT ICEL (2011):

O God, who through your Word
reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way,
grant, we pray,
that with prompt devotion and eager faith
the Christian people may hasten
toward the solemn celebrations to come.

Note the marvelous parings of alacer fides and prompta devotio … “eager faith” and “ready devotion”. We know that fides “faith” can refer to the supernatural virtue which is given to us in baptism and also to the content of what we believe. This content must be understood as both the things we can learn and memorize with love, but more importantly the divine Person whom we must learn and contemplate with love.

There is a faith by which we believe, the virtue God gives us, and a faith in which we believe, the content of the Faith.

On the other hand, whereas fides is a supernatural virtue, devotio is an “active” virtue according to St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. The Angelic Doctor wrote:

“The intrinsic or human cause of devotion is contemplation or meditation. Devotion is an act of the will by which a man promptly gives himself to the service of God. Every act of the will proceeds from some consideration of the intellect, since the object of the will is a known good; or as Augustine says, willing proceeds from understanding. Consequently, meditation is the cause of devotion since through meditation man conceives the idea of giving himself to the service of God” (STh II-II 82, 3).

The Jesuit preacher Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704) underscored devotion as especially “a devotion to duty”. What we do, including our “devotions”, must help us keep the commandments of God and stick to the duties of one’s state in life before all else. There is an interplay between our devotions and our devotion.

Each of us has a state in life, a God-given vocation we are duty bound to follow.

We must be devoted to that state in life, and the duties that come with it, as they are in the here and now.

That “here and now” is important.

We must not focus on the state we had once upon a time, or wish we had, or should have had, or might have someday: those are unreal and misleading fantasies that distract us from reality and God’s will. If we are truly devoted and devout (in the sense of the active virtue) to fulfilling the duties of our state as it truly is here and now, then God will give us every actual grace we need to fulfill our vocation. Why can we boldly depend on God to help us? If we are fulfilling the duties of our state of life, then we are also fulfilling our proper roles in His great plan, His design from before the creation of the universe. God is therefore sure to help us. And if we are devoted to our state as it truly is, then God can also guide us to a new vocation when and if that is His will for us. Faithful in what we must do here and now, we will be open to something God wants us to do later.

This attachment to reality and sense of dutiful obedience through the active virtue devotio is a necessary part of religion in keeping with the biblical principle in 1 John 2:3-5:

“And by this we may be sure that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says ‘I know Him’ but disobeys His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in Him: he who says he bides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Father of peace,
we are joyful in your Word,
your Son Jesus Christ,
who reconciles us to you.
Let us hasten toward Easter
with the eagerness of faith and love.

This makes you want to pound your head against the table.

What would happen if we translated the ICELese back into Latin? If the ICEL were accurate, you might expect some similarities, right?

WARNING: Do not attempt this at home. Spiritual harm and damage to property can be caused by thinking about these ICEL versions. Leave this sort of thing to trained professionals and people with tough foreheads.

LATIN REVERSION of the OBSOLETE ICEL:
Pater pacis,
in tuo Verbo, Iesu Christo filio tuo,
qui nos tibi reconciliat, laetamur.
Fidei studio et amoris
ad diem Paschalis festinemus.

So, just for kicks we can see how the Google translates the Latin original.

GOOGLE TRANSLATOR MACHINE VERSION:
O God, who by your word
reconciliation of the human race dost wonderfully,
grant, we beseech Thee, that the Christian people
with ready devotion and eager faith
the formalities to come to the be able to hurry up.

Oookaayyy… ‘nuf said about that.

And there are some in the church today who want to revise the norms for liturgical translation. Talk about wanting to “turn back the clock”! The irony would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so high.

Meanwhile, wanna see some photos of our rose solemn set? I had this made for the TMSM. We will eventually (next year?) make a Pontifical set!

PLEASE SEND TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS! HERE We are really doing our best here to raise the tide and all boats with it.

Here are shots of when I put appliques on the rose set. I had the letters custom made.

And in action… alas, from a mobile phone camera. We may get better ones in a while.

From the Live Stream:

Mass is worth it!

Posted in LENT, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS | Tagged devotio, hic et nunc, Louis Bourdaloue, rosacea, rose
3 Comments

ACTION ITEM! Prayers for His Hermeneuticalness – Fr. Finigan – UPDATE

Posted on 29 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 3 April 2019:

You can “Pound Fr. Finigan” by using this address/link:

paypal.me/FatherTF

And of course mine is

paypal.me/fatherz

UPDATE 29 March 2019:

Click over to the great Fr. Finigan’s blog. His Hermeneuticalness has at last departed from his parish in Margate, which I’m sure was pretty hard. He describes his present situation.

Also, he has a good post about “Our care and responsibility for Mary“. In general, we think about this the other way around, her care for us, which is lavish. But this is a two-way street. Our Lady is ignored and blasphemed, for example. We must make reparation.

On the sidebar I have a link to a daily Marian Prayer. HERE Also, there is a link to a daily prayer for priests. HERE

In any event, you might drop over to Fr. Finigan’s place (and take note of the donation option on his left sidebar). Moving is bothersome, after all.

___ Originally Published on: Jan 28, 2019

May I ask that the readership offer some prayers and penances for the intention of my good friend Fr. Timothy Finigan?

He is quite ill and awaiting the results of some tests. He would much appreciate your prayers.

Over the years we have benefited from his great blog Hermeneutic of Continuity. Fr. Finigan is a terrific priest, an outstanding parish priest, and great supporter of renewal of our liturgical worship.

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Mail from priests, Urgent Prayer Requests | Tagged Fr. Tim Finigan
16 Comments

Putting Ring-gate To Rest

Posted on 28 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Tonight I saw that the FNC crew of The Five showed the video and, at first, thought it was a joke.

My posts HERE and HERE.

There is a piece at LifeSite which seeks to put to an end the Ring-gate episode. In effect, the explanation is that, for most of the time Francis allowed his ring to be kissed. Then, something happened and he needed to keep his hand safe for a bit. Later, he was again allowing people to kiss his ring.

Admittedly, Francis was a little rough with these unsuspecting faithful.

However, in my previous piece a couple days ago, I wrote:

Consider the experience of a public figure. Everyone wants to shake your hand. Imagine you are, say, a politician, pressing the flesh. In a campaign, the repetitive stress of handshakes is horrendous. Watch how public figures, after a while, tend to offer their hands: they protect them by offering just a few hooked fingers, which is bad enough.

I’ve had a few experiences at conferences where many people want to shake my hand. I’ve gotten it crunched a few dozen times by happy well-wishers. It’s the repetition that causes the problems.

Just a thought as we watch this rather ghastly video. I am not saying that I know for sure that Francis is trying to protect his hand. I think he is trying to keep people from kissing his ring. On the other hand – *cough* – that’s the hand that everyone goes for.

In the LifeSite piece we read:

However, if one studies the complete video, one sees that for about 40 seconds before he begins to draw back his hand, from 1:00:15 to 1:00:55, several of the faithful grasp the Pope’s right hand (his ring hand) and kiss the hand or the ring, holding the hand tightly with both of their hands.

This series of “graspings” may have led the Pope (even, perhaps, only subconsciously) to feel he needed a bit of “space” in order not to be “captured” by these grasping hands.

So, in the succeeding 55 seconds, every time someone began to reach for his right hand, he drew it back. That is the part of the video that has “gone viral.”

Indeed, the Pope in these moments did something he did not do during the rest of the video: he lifts his right hand and grasps each person on their upper left arm, guiding each person to the side so that he can receive the next person.

We can put this aside for now.

In the meantime, I think that these old practices are good and should be fostered and respected.

Moreover, noblesse oblige.

I also have great sympathy for those who have people grabbing at them all the time.

Posted in Linking Back | Tagged baciamano
22 Comments

News about a something for Gower Abbey and a CALL TO CATHOLIC CARPENTERS!

Posted on 27 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

You may recall that the late and great Extraordinary Ordinary, Bp. Robert Morlino, who died too early last November, consecrated the new Abbess of Gower Abbey in Missouri. These are the wonderful Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles who make the lovely music recordings which I often raid for my podcasts.

I just received from St. Joseph’s Apprentice the maker of the beautiful portable altars – the ultimate priest gift – a photo of the missal stand that he made for the nuns, with a memorial inscription.

We use one like it at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff.

I am so glad that the nuns have this wonderful missal stand. You may not be able to tell, but the top part with the book swivels, while the base remains in place. It’s great for adjusting the angle of the missal.

Also, I am trying to persuade St. Joseph’s Apprentice to make us a Tenebrae Hearse. He says he has a lot of work to do. So, dear readers, please say a prayer to your Guardian Angels to gang up on him and persuade him that it would be the best thing in the world to make our hearse.

Meanwhile… calling all Catholic carpenters. Need some work? I have some projects that must be done.

Drop me a line. HERE

Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Just Too Cool | Tagged Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles, Gower Abbey, St. Joseph's Apprentice
1 Comment

ASK FATHER: Surrounded by modernism, only TLM available is schismatic

Posted on 27 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. In my diocese there is no traditional latin mass available. When we ask through mail, email or petition list, we are ignore. As a result some people, including me, have defected to a unaffiliated mission with a very devout young priest who left the SSPX in disagreement with the possible unification with Rome. We ear the latin mass ounce or twice a month. I have doubts that this is any good for our souls. On the other hand, the entire diocese seems determined to modernize ever more. Do we owe obedience to our bishop when he shows so much contempt for the Tradition of the Church? I suffered the new mass for a good 50 years of my life, longing for the tradition to return. I don’t know who else I could ask for advice in this case. Thank you in advance. God Bless you.

GUEST PRIEST RESPONSE: Fr. T. Ferguson

Tough situation. What do we do when our pastors don’t meet our legitimate spiritual needs?

These are difficult times, but difficult times have always given rise to saints.

Firstly, I think we need to have plans in place – long term plans and short term plans.

Long term plans: where are our future priests (and bishops) going to come from. If it’s tough now and we do nothing, it’s only going to get tougher. Pray for vocations and encourage vocations among the young people. Put together funds to help young men pay off any debts they may have and go off to study for the priesthood. If the diocese is shaky and the seminary they support is shaky, encourage the young men to go off and study for one of the stable and orthodox religious orders, even if that order doesn’t have a presence in your community (and if the order doesn’t have a presence in your community, but five men show up each year at the door of their novitiate asking for entrance, it won’t be long before they do have a presence in your community).

Shorter term – you’re getting a “fix” by going to a Mass offered by a priest who left the SSPX. It’s a valid Mass (presumably), but definitely not in communion with Rome and the priest does not have the faculties to hear confessions or officiate at weddings. Things get a bit shaky here, and I realize that you feel caught between the Scylla of a modernizing and unsympathetic diocese and the Charybdis of a schismatic priest. Neither option is appealing, but a third way does not seem to available. Perhaps continuing to split your time between the two is the best option – but the danger is trying to avoid modernism on one hand and schism on the other – two very dangerous dragons to wrestle with.

I wish I had a better answer.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, SSPX | Tagged modernism
34 Comments

CQ CQ CQ – #HamRadio Wednesday: Zednet – UPDATE

Posted on 27 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 29 March:

It looks as if some of you hams are poking around!

Also, I now have access – thanks to a reader – to a remote station! I’ll be getting active (phone) pretty soon.

I’m working on MORSE again, so QRP is down the line, once I figure out what rig I want for that. Elecraft?

___ Originally Published on: Mar 27, 2019

I’ve been dormant too long!

One of our frequent commentators here, WB0YLE, who is my online Elmer, has been lavishly generous with technical knowledge and skills. He is the one who set up the Echolink node for our use.

Today I had a great pleasure of welcoming WB0YLE to Mad City (he has come for work). We got together with my local Elmer and his gracious wife (and also a ham) for supper and chat.

WB0YLE brought a Baofung DMR – RD-5R radio (US HERE – UK HERE), with a mobile repeater made with RaspberryPi, configured for a future “Zednet”.

WB0YLE is taking our networking possibilities to a new level. Zednet might be activated on a regular basis.

We could post the specs and basics for all who are interested.

ZedNet will be available on Wires-X room 28598, if any of you ham readers are near a Wires-X repeater. It will also be available on DMR Talkgroup 31429 for those near a Brandmeister multimode repeater. I am also pretty sure that you can join through Echolink, which he has patched in. That means that even if you are out and about, you could access the net through your smart phone if it has an Echolink app.

I guess that that would make participants ZedHams rather than ZedHeads.

He is working on all the mechanics. However, people can monitor the network now:

http://hose.brandmeister.network/31429/

What we would need to do, I suppose, is find out how many of you are operating in these digital modes.

For those of you who are digitally active, WB0YLE set up the Echolink node available to us (554286 – WB0YLE-R – Thanks! – Remember: You must be licensed to use Echolink.

I created a page for the List of YOUR callsigns. HERE Chime in or drop me a note if your call doesn’t appear in the list.

73!

W9FRZ

Posted in Ham Radio | Tagged CQ, DMR, Ham radio, ZedNet
5 Comments

Catholics and the kissing of rings… or not. Wherein Fr. Z rants. – UPDATES

Posted on 26 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE 27 March:

Look at this spectacularly cheap shot from Christopher Lamb who writes for RU-486 (aka ultra-lefty The Bitter Pill, aka The Tablet)

There are also plenty of ways to respect the office of the papacy without kissing the fisherman’s ring, and it’s noteworthy that people expressing upset over the Pope’s reticence over this custom showed great enthusiasm in promoting a dossier from a retired papal diplomat that took the unprecedented decision of calling on a Pope to resign.

Get that?

Disgusting.

UPDATE 27 March:

Concerning below, the Catholic Herald corrected its report to say that a “close aide” made comments about Francis and ring-kissing, not “a Vatican spokesman”.

UPDATE 26 March:

I saw this at the Catholic Herald:

A Vatican spokesman said the Pope was “amused” by the reaction to the video. “Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he does not. It’s really as simple as that”.

Francis was “amused”?

“Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he does not. It’s really as simple as that”?

Whatever this is, it isn’t simple when you are on the receiving end of his “back hand”.

____ Originally Published on: Mar 26, 2019 @ 14:06

It could be that you have tried to kiss the hand or ring of a bishop, only to have him snatch it away in an extravagant and conspicuous gesture of humility.

You’ve perhaps by new seen the painful video – it is painful to watch – of the Pope jerking his hand away, even with force, from happy, smiling people at Loreto, Italy, who want to kiss his ring.

In another post, I added a note that public figures often, through repetitive stress to their hands from enthusiastic well-wishers, start defending their digits from painful grabs and twists. I grant that popes have to do that. But that does not seem to be what is going on in this infamous video.

And, it seems that Francis is not consistent.

In Italy there is a long custom of the baciamano. It is a gesture of courtesy (from courtliness), loyalty, submission. It is deeply ingrained in Catholics to kiss the ring of prelates, because there was also an indulgence attached. There was once an indulgence attached to kissing the hands of the newly ordained.

Catholics of certain cultures are pleased to kiss the hands of priests, whom they see as alter Christus, because their hands touch the Holy Eucharist. During the celebration of the Roman Rite, it is formally inscribed in the rubrics to kiss the hand of the celebrant and objects presented to him and taken from him. These are the famous solita oscula… the usual kisses.

Kissing the hand of the priest, kissing the ring of the bishop – and especially of a pope – is about as Catholic as it gets. It is in our DNA. Does it carry with it the traces of the trappings of a bygone age and highly stratified societies? Sure.

So what? Why is that bad?

Fr. Dwight Longenecker jumped into the discussion with a post at his place. His main point:

These displays of “humility” are embarrassing and indicate (like not allowing people to kiss his ring) that he sees himself as bigger than the office he holds.

The difficult with these displays is that they are not much more than theatrics. There are more substantial things Pope Francis might do to make his point. Wouldn’t a top to bottom house cleaning of the Vatican finances complete with total transparency do much more to make the point about poverty and faithful stewardship than the histrionics of living in the Casa St Martha? Wouldn’t it be truly humbling if the Pope were to root out the gay mafia in the church rather than promote them?

The fact is, when Catholics honor their priest they should be honoring Jesus in that man. The priest should understand that and echo St John the Baptist–pointing to Jesus and saying, “He must increase and I must decrease.”

Likewise, to kiss the pope’s ring is not to honor that man, but to honor St Peter, whose successor he is.

Quite a few times here I’ve written about why we must deck out our liturgical celebrations with the best that we can muster, why we must dress our sacred ministers in glory, for the most glorious of all actions, our sacred liturgical worship. The finery is not about them.

Libs will, like jack asses, bray about the “triumphalism” and ridicule what the Church has through centuries done out of sheer love. Catholics low and high, poor and rich, gave from their earnings, meager or great, the material representation of sweat and devotion, their money, to build beautiful churches, to obtain fine liturgical objects, to develop art and choirs and windows and statues.

The beauty and the gestures are about self-gift, submission, gratitude. Catholics know that graces come from God through the mediation of outward signs, through the minister of sacraments, through the matter of sacraments, through our many symbols. They know that when they kiss the ring of a bishop, they honor much more than, say, the unworthy Most Rev. Fatty McButterpants, by God’s mysterious ways disgraceful wearer of his office.

A whole world of mystery opens up through these gestures and signs. The one who performs the gesture, comes to a threshold of encounter.

Can anyone who truly understands what authentic religious experience is ridicule this powerful impulse of the devout Catholic to revel in and create and support these threshold signs and gestures?

Take, for example, the way that a bishop is vested – by others – for a Solemn Mass. He must sit, with docility, and allow himself to be dressed, rather like the paschal lamb about to have his throat cut. Layer after uncomfortable layer is imposed on him by ministers who work him over literally from head to toe, from miter to those odd booty things on his feet.

Every object and garment of his pontificalia has meaning. When he allows someone else to put the ring on his finger – a nuptial sign of his vocation – he prays

Cordis et corporis mei, Domine, digitos virtute decora, et septiformis Spiritus sanctificatione circumda.… Adorn with virtue, Lord, the fingers of my body and of my heart, and wrap them about with the sanctification of the sevenfold Spirit.

“The fingers of my heart”! It is as if the very beating heart of the man who accepts the ring can reach out to touch those who come to him for what he can give.

Snatch that away?!?

Perhaps more bishops should celebrate the traditional form of the Roman Rite, and drink in with these prayers the deep draughts of identity, finely curated by the faithful through millennia of love!

The priest who learns the older, traditional form, with its vesting prayers, its prayers after Mass in the Breviary, with the many reminders of who he isn’t during the Mass, is never the same thereafter.

Identity is offered in these rites. If so for the priest, how much more for the bishop.

It is interesting that, in these days, I’ve never met a mean bishop who is willing to celebrate the traditional form on a regular basis. In the past, there were quite a few. But… now? I’m not looking for suggestions of names, but I’m racking my brain about the men I’ve observed over the past 30 or so years. And I mean regularly, not rarely.

I’ve met a lot of truly nasty liberal bishops who won’t have a thing to do with tradition. Yes, there are kind men as well. I like to imagine how they would benefit from the gifts of tradition.

When We have been elected Pope, and the lib bishops come to pretend and to prevaricate, I’ll slip the ring off and put it in my back pocket. They can kiss it there.

But seriously, these gestures are important for us as Catholics.

In 1 Timothy, Paul gives advice to a young bishop, in charge of a community being disturbed by the “circumcision party”. He quotes Deuteronomy in a way that cuts two directions: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” We must respect our elders in the Church, who do so much work for the Lord. However, we also shouldn’t starve the faithful who are also workers in the Church.

Snatching your hand away “muzzles the ox”.

Fathers, Bishops, accept honors with submission and cheerful gratitude, recognizing all that lies behind them.

Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged baciamano
34 Comments

Jesuit-run homosexualist Amerika’s latest pro-sodomy blasphemy

Posted on 26 March 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Jesuits. What more is to be said?

The Jesuits who run Amerika Magazine have a homosexualist agenda, that is, the promotion and normalization of sodomy.

Look past the homosexualist fanaticism of Jesuit Fr. James Martin, and you find also the editors of Amerika.

The latest example is found in a self-centered blurb by a “gay” priest who is, I guess, so much happier now that he has outed himself and shared his burden with just about everyone. The priest’s essay is sloppy with sentiments and he is a bit of a mess. That’s not the problem. We all have flaws, principle faults, sinful inclinations, weaknesses, etc. That’s a problem, but that’s not the problem here.

Here’s the problem. Look how the homsexualists of Amerika framed the priest’s essay.

The homosexualists of Amerika subtly promote their pro-sodomy agenda, to normalize sodomy. Even to sacralize it. First, they associate it with priests. Then, in the headline, they associate “gay” (I hate that word) with the Annunciation, the moment the the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In the essay you read:

“While on a retreat, I shared the truth about my sexuality for the first time with the Jesuit priest assigned as my spiritual director. I prayed that he would help me get back on track. I wanted to learn how to repress these impure thoughts. Instead, Father Paul explained that my sexual orientation is part of who God created me to be. I was and am wholly loved by God.”

God “made” him this way, you see, and this is celebrated on the day, with blatant iconography, of the moment when the Word was made flesh.

This is both blasphemous and sacrilegious.

Blasphemy involves words or gestures, also thoughts, which show contempt for God or dishonor God regardless of whether the person intends that contempt or dishonor or not. Blasphemy is against the virtue of religion and a mortal sin. Blasphemy is direct when it is aimed at God. It is indirect when aimed at Holy Church or the saints or any sacred thing or person or place.

The graphic in the Amerika article, which juxtaposes a beautiful painting of the Annunciation with the “gay (I hate that word) flag is blasphemous.

Sacrilege, also a sin against the virtue of religion, is the improper or irreverent treatment of something sacred (persons, places, things, etc.). Sacrilege can take various forms including acts of violence, or vandalism, or purposeful harm, such as using something sacred for a sinful purpose or monetary gain.

The graphic and the Amerika article itself is an irreverent treatment of something sacred, and they have done it to promote an unholy agenda and to make money.

Concerning the priest himself, I believe that he has done himself and the whole priesthood a grave disservice. He has also allowed himself to be a tool. On the other hand, I take him at his word and respect him for this. He wrote: “Although I never acted on any of my desires, I needed to consciously recommit myself to this way of life in order to live as a priest with integrity.” I choose to believe him.

Furthermore, if he can live with “integrity” after this, then it could very well be that he will have a far higher place in heaven than I ever will. He has been offered a great cross to carry. The graces that come with that great cross will be magnificent.

But for that Jesuit retreat director and the Jesuit homosexualists of Amerika… you have caused great harm and scandal.