Fr. Z’s Kitchen: Shiny little fish!

Posted on 15 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I was at the market and spotted shiny little fish in the ice bank. Someone had ordered fresh sardines and didn’t need them all. They were fresh, unfrozen, and uncleaned. I got them on the spot.

So… what to do?

Gut them.

Stuff some lemon and thyme in them.

Put them on pans with more thyme, oil, and garlic.   Sprinkle salt.

I did 2 and then 3.

They need only a few minutes, close to the heat source.

These critters are as oily as a conference of bishops!  Hence, you need something that will cut through.

I had an unusual Basque white wine with strong citrus overtones and slightly effervescent.  Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina (pronounced “cha-koh-leena”)

In the end, I had 5 nice broiled sardines and a green salad.

Don’t be afraid to try new things.  When something catches your eye, it’s generally okay to change plans and work with it!

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Interesting observation by @CCPecknold about laicization of McCarrick

Posted on 15 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Rumor has is that ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick – disgraced – may very soon be “laicized”, that is, stripped of the clerical state.

Prof. Chad Pecknold of CUA has a piece today in the NY Post.  He has some interesting posts:

Behind Ted McCarrick’s fall: the wrong kind of ‘openness’

The Roman Catholic Church is sometimes viewed as an impenetrable fortress. To many liberals, that’s exactly the problem.

The church, they think, needs to come of age, modernize its teachings and ­accommodate ­itself to the sexual revolution that has been roiling the West since the 1960s.

Yet those who want a church “open to the world” must face an inconvenient truth: Theodore “Uncle Ted” McCarrick championed just this kind for openness. And this emblem of openness, this man who caused so much pain to underage boys and young seminarians under his authority, will be laicized, likely Saturday.

Before last summer’s sexual-abuse revelations put an end to his brilliant ecclesial career, McCarrick, as cardinal archbishop of Washington, promoted Catholic chumminess with cultural liberalism. [NB] He was a regular visitor to President Barack Obama’s White House. He ran interference for Notre Dame University when it conferred American Catholicism’s highest honor on the pro-abortion-rights Obama. He opposed calls to deny Communion to pro-abortion-rights politicians. He was beloved at Davos.

An entire generation of boomer-age bishops, priests and theologians claimed that the Second Vatican Council demanded a concordat with liberal values. But no one chanted the mantra of openness louder, or raised more money around its central aims, than did McCarrick.

He personified the spirit that swept the church in the immediate years after the council — one that mistook the council’s teachings for an invitation to endless experimentation and the demolition of ancient moral barriers. McCarrick’s laicization is a judgment not only against the man but also against that rebellious spirit.

[…]

I can see Team Francis – the New catholic Red Guards – balling up their fists in rage but unable screeching in protest, because it would seem as if they were defending McCarrick.

Posted in Liberals, The Drill, The future and our choices, Vatican II | Tagged , ,
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Flowchart

Posted on 15 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I very much liked this tweet…

Posted in GO TO CONFESSION |
7 Comments

Of Flaring Suns and Starry Nights

Posted on 14 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

While Ham Radio operators are vexed by the lack of spots on your planet’s yellow star, there is still activity.

Frankly, having read recently 48 Hours by William Forstchen – US HERE – UK HERE – this sort of story makes me edgy enough to push me to an examination of conscience.  Scary stuff.

From SpaceWeather.

BIG ACTIVITY ON THE SUN: A gigantic filament of plasma is dancing along the northwestern edge of the sun, rising more than 150,000 km above the solar surface. How large is that? It’s fully 1/10th of the sun’s diameter and almost a dozen times taller than our entire planet. Click to view a 2-day movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory:

This is called a “hedgerow prominence.” Hot glowing plasma inside the structure is held aloft by unstable magnetic fields. If the magnetic support collapses, plasma can fall back to the solar surface, exploding in a Hyder flare–a type of solar flare that can occur with no underlying sunspot.

NASA and Japanese space telescopes have taken high resolution images of similar prominences and seen some amazing things such as (1) tadpole-shaped plumes that float up from the base of the prominence; (2) narrow streams of plasma that descend from the top like waterfalls; and (3) swirls and vortices that resemble van Gogh’s Starry Night.

I like that reference to Van Gogh.

Did ya’ll see the movie Loving Vincent?  US HERE – UK HERE

This tells something of the painter’s rather sad story, but in an amazing way.  They found a way to animate some 90+ paintings… portraits, landscapes, stills, etc…   It is a painted movie…. a motion painting. There is a sample of one his “Starry Night” paintings in the trailer, moving like the SpaceWeather piece suggests.

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Posted in Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged ,
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A quick book plug: A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament

Posted on 14 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

May I have a moment of your time to plug a book?

Since it has been a loooong time since I’ve had formal courses in Scripture (and some of that wasn’t so great), I’ve determined I need some refreshers. I’ve been gathering materials and doing a little each day.

Regarding the Old Testament, may I recommend to my fellow priests, especially, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre published by Ignatius Press?

US HERE– UK HERE

This is turning out to be a very good resource, especially in the sometimes murky front of the Bible.

These guys get the need to maintain an excellent approach to texts according to modern tools of scholarship.  At the same time, they are rock solid faithful to the Church’s teachings and traditions.  They seem to have taken their marching orders from Benedict XVI and his Verbum Domini.    They’ve sought an integrated approach.

You might remember that Benedict, in the introduction to one of his Jesus of Nazarth volumes, said that we need to recover a way of Scripture that is faithful to the texts’ content, much as the Fathers read it.  Without, of course, abandoning modern scholarship.

Also, quite helpful in the book, are frequent references to the CCC.

That said, I would like there to have been much more on the Psalms.  As I’ve been reading the Office lately, I’ve been marking things mentally and then seeking greater understanding through some online resources (there are some good Protestant Scripture tools online with interlinear texts, etc.).  The authors, while stressing the importance of the Psalms, don’t devote much time to them.  One might respond that that, in itself, would take a large book and this book is intended as an introduction.  They make the introduction, and move along.  However, good bibliography is provided for further reading.

I warmly recommend this.

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, REVIEWS | Tagged , , ,
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Opportunity: R.I.P.

Posted on 13 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

How sad.  Mars rover Opportunity seems to have come to the end of its mission.  HERE

Low batteries and a bad dust storm.  That was it.

A 3 month mission lasted almost 15 years.

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Posted in Look! Up in the sky! | Tagged ,
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POLL: Prayers after Mass

Posted on 13 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is a poll at the ridiculously liberal blog Pray Tell which some of you readers might want to look at.

The question of the poll:

Should additional prayer texts be recited communally after the dismissal of the Mass?

HERE

While this might have something to do with special petitions for important concerns in a parish or diocese, it seems that this really has to do with the recitation of the traditional “Leonine Prayers” after Mass, or at least part of them, such as the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.

Some bishops asked for the recitation of the St. Michael Prayer in response to the homosexual crisis in the Church which is at the root of abuse of minors and of seminarians, etc.   That has, apparently, upset the curator of Pray Tell.

Right now there are not many results in their poll.  I doubt there would be anyway, since it isn’t widely read.  As I write, the score is NO-10, YES-4.

Because they have a thin readership, you might want to help them out and give them a larger sample in their informal poll.

Meanwhile, this is where you can find their poll, right now.  I added some indications about other items they have going, in red.

Posted in Liberals, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, POLLS | Tagged
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“Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times.”

Posted on 13 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Matins today:

Lesson from the second letter of St. Paul the Apostle to Timothy (2 Tim 3:1-5)

Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times.
Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked,
Without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness,
Traitors, stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasures more than of God:
Having an appearance indeed of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now these avoid.

Our Lady at Akita, Japan:

October 13, 1973

“My dear daughter, listen well to what I have to say to you. You will inform your superior.”

After a short silence:

“As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.”

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

“The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them”

“With courage, speak to your superior. He will know how to encourage each one of you to pray and to accomplish works of reparation.”

“It is Bishop Ito, who directs your community.”

And She smiled and then said:

“You have still something to ask? Today is the last time that I will speak to you in living voice. From now on you will obey the one sent to you and your superior.”

“Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”

Our Lady at Quito in 1610.  Brrrrrr!  Read that yourself.  HERE

 

Posted in Four Last Things, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged
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Do you know priests who are struggling, under attack? Terrific movement: Seven Sisters Apostolate

Posted on 13 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The other day I posted about priests who are bullied when they do the right thing.   In my email I got notes from people offered financial help, a place to live, pro bono counseling, etc.  Some of you readers are simply amazing.  You keep me going on a daily basis.

On the sidebar of this blog, I have an item you can click to say a daily prayer for priests.   The prayer, which has been around for awhile, was renewed through an imprimatur given by the late, great, Extraordinary Ordinary, Bp. Morlino, who understood the needs of priests none better.

This morning another thing came to mind.  Hence, below, I repost something I wrote back in August 2018.

Originally Published on: Aug 18, 2018

Terrific movement of prayer for priests: Seven Sisters Apostolate

Recently, I’ve written about some things that bishops and priests should do in this crisis time.  I’ve also made suggestions to lay people about things they can do.

However, there is one thing that lay people can do… especially lay women… which will be of enormous value in the coming days.

Last June, I attended a party arranged for the 90th birthday of a priest friend in my native place at the parish where he still helps on Sundays.  The pastor there is also an old friend.  While I was there, I kept hearing references to the “Seven Sisters”.  I inquired and learned of this great apostolate.

Seven Sisters Apostolate

This is a bit of a movement, actually.

In essence, 7 women and perhaps a couple alternates, commit for 1 year to 1 hour of prayer for 1 priest each week.   Hence, there is a lady on Monday, one on Tuesday, etc., ideally in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

In some cases, though this is not obligatory, the priest or bishop may not even know who they are.

There are good resources at their site.

This is a terrific apostolate.   They are in the process of having the movement designated as an association of the faithful.

May I suggest to some of you women who read here regularly that you might contact them and seek to start a local group for your local bishop and priests, the pastor of your parish, a retired priest, where you are?

Also, I would not object were a group of Seven Sisters might consider praying for me.   Perhaps one of you know six others where you live who also read this blog.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged ,
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Movement in the causes of Bl. John Henry Newman and Card. József Mindszenty

Posted on 13 February 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here’s some news from today’s Bolletino.

Francis met with the Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and he approved some decrees.  Among them…

il miracolo, attribuito all’intercessione del Beato Giovanni Enrico Newman, Cardinale di Santa Romana Chiesa, Fondatore dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri in Inghilterra; nato a Londra (Inghilterra) il 21 febbraio 1801 e morto a Edgbaston (Inghilterra) l’11 agosto 1890;

That is, a miracle was authenticated by the intercession of John Henry Newman.  Since he has already been beatified, the way is open to his canonization.

And also…

 le virtù eroiche del Servo di Dio Giuseppe Mindszenty, Cardinale di Santa Romana Chiesa, già Arcivescovo di Esztergom e Primate di Ungheria; nato a Csehimindszent (Ungheria) il 29 marzo 1892 e morto a Vienna (Austria) il 6 maggio 1975;

The heroic virtues of József Card. Mindszenty have been recognized.  That means he will now be called “Venerable” and, with a miracle, the way is open to his beatification.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged ,
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