New art from Daniel MITSUI – great gift idea

Posted on 5 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Are looking for unique religious gifts? May I suggest checking out the beautiful art of Daniel Mitsui?

Daniel works with a fascinating fusion of forms and produces some invocative religious images, pleasing at a glance but profitable for contemplation.

He sent me prints of new work.

First, a work inspired by the old classic, which may hang in some of your houses (or parents’, or grandparents’), 1851 Light of the World  by Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt, in color or black and white prints.

Mitsui has a twist.  Holman showed Christ knocking at the door.  Mitsui shows Christ in the doorway after you open the door.

Mitsui always includes descriptions of the symbolic elements.  Note well the spiderweb in the doorway… the door has been closed on Christ for a long time.

Also, he made an image of Our Lady of Hope.

These prints are lovely.

Why not – for the heck of it – go to his site and just scrounge around for awhile.  There is some great stuff available.

One of these, or another, framed, would be a lovely gift.

BTW… Fathers… his altar cards are wonderful.  HERE and HERE

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After the funeral of @BishopMorlino of @MadisonDiocese

Posted on 5 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are some good web pieces available about the funeral Mass of the late, great Extraordinary Ordinary, Bp. Robert Morlino of Madison.

One of the better is at CWR.  [UPDATE: Nothing at Fishwrap.  There is, however, a piece by Jesuit arguing that the bishops should cave in on paying for contraception.  After all, can’t we all just get along?]

His passing is an important moment in the Church in these USA.  His death and the funeral were followed all over the world.  Bp. Morlino was and still is seen as a strong, orienting beacon guiding people to the truth. His sermons, writings and interviews are like buoys, guiding people in the life-rafts around the Barque of Peter away from the rocks and back to the boat.

The naming of his successor will be a watershed in the Church in these USA.

We must now pray with redoubled efforts for the soul of the late bishop, and also for all those who will be involved in the naming of his successor.

Some people might make the grave error of thinking that that little and mostly rural and ultra-liberal diocese of Madison is some sort of ecclesiastical fly over country.   I assure you that that is mistaken thinking.

There are a couple of factors which people might remember when thinking about the open see of the late Extraordinary Ordinary.

First, Mary has placed her blessing on this state.  To the East of Madison, in central South Wisconsin, is Holy Hill, the National Shrine of Our Lady, Help of Christians.  To the West of Madison is the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  To the North is Champion, the only officially approved Marian apparition in these USA.

Second, there are a few “force multipliers” in Madison.  The greatest of these is the legacy of Bp. Morlino himself.  However, his voice and message were, I must in honesty, admit were also amplified by other force multipliers which continue even now.  For example, here in the Diocese Fr. Heilman is doing his good work, which is having a national impact.  And, well… I’m here.  If anyone thinks we’ll be quiet, think again.

Third, this is a diocese where the most important legacy of Benedict XVI is being implemented.  Benedict XVI did what he could to deal with the increasingly alarming erosion of Catholic identity through artificial or badly-conceived liturgical worship.  Much of the deeper foundation of the terrible times we are is a crisis of liturgical worship.  Madison has many, especially, young priests who are saying the TLM and saying the Novus Ordo having been shaped by learning the TLM.  The knock on effect, ripple effect, is spreading on many levels, affective, intellectual, spiritual.  This is spiritual warfare we are engaged in.  Liturgy is one of the most important activities we engage in.  Madison is where the vision of Benedict XVI has put down roots.  This vision was also the vision of the Extraordinary Ordinary.  And, remembering the motto on his episcopal arms: Visus non mentietur…The Vision Will Not Disappoint”

This is an important time for the Church in these USA.

 

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ASK FATHER: Can we cook with or drink Holy Water?

Posted on 5 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Is it a sin to drink/use to cook/use for other purposes BLESSED WATER A/O SALT?

No, it is not a sin!  On the contrary.  Blessed salt and bless water are meant, among other purposes, also for consumption.  There is a caveat, however.

In the traditional exorcism of the salt, the priest prays: “May you be a purified salt, a means of health for those who believe, a medicine for body and soul for all who make use of you.” And it its blessing, he prays: “May all who use it find in it a remedy for body and mind.”

There are also blessings for many other foods, intended to help especially the sick, such as the blessing for wine and all manner of foods.  If it is common fare, there’s probably a blessing for it.

The problem is that sometimes Holy Water is not “fresh”. The salt slows the water going bad, but it doesn’t hold it off indefinitely. I would not use anything for cooking or consumption that wasn’t just blessed and then stored well.  That goes for every other kind of waters.

 

 

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TAMPA: A TLM at a Jesuit school?!?

Posted on 4 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I received news of a TLM in Tampa.  What caught my eye is that it will be at a Jesuit High School.

ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

“Jesuit High School, the Latin Mass Society of Tampa Bay, and Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church cordially invite you to the third annual Rorate Mass, this year to be hosted at the Chapel of the Holy Cross on December 15, 2018 at 6:30am.

Fr. Vincent Capuano, S.J. will celebrate Solemn Mass for Our Lady in Advent, with Fr. Paul Mangiafico of the Diocese of St. Petersburg serving as Deacon and Mr. Steven Rabanal of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter as Subdeacon.

The men of the St. Dunstan Schola will present the chants of the Mass, and the boys of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen and Jesuit High School will serve at the Altar.

The Chapel will be open at 5am for private prayer and devotions. Pamphlets with the texts of the Mass will be available at the door.

Jesuit High School is happy to host and collaborate with the community and clergy of Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church to host this beautiful liturgy in our newly dedicated Chapel.

But that’s not all.

There is a new chapel at Jesuit High School.  The old, modernist (=ugly) one was torn down and a new one was built by Duncan Stroik.

Before… photos from NLM:

 

After
The new church’s façade. (Courtesy of Jesuit High School of Tampa)
(Courtesy of Jesuit High School of Tampa)
Posted in ¡Hagan lío!, The Campus Telephone Pole |
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The Exequies for @BishopMorlino in @MadisonDiocese

Posted on 4 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Last night I attended a Vespers service held to pray for the soul of Bp. Morlino. A former Vicar General of Madison, now Bp. of Sioux Falls, Most Rev. Paul J. Swain presided and preached. There were many people whom I recognized from out of town in a packed chapel.

It was consoling to see that the diocese availed itself of vestments, candles, and so forth, from the Tridentine Mass Society of the Diocese of Madison.  It is a great honor.  You readers who have contributed to the TMSM helped and were part of it.

Today we go to a large parish for the funeral.  Again vestments of the TMSM will be used, and, again, those of you who have contributed to our projects are morally present.

Please say a prayer for the soul of Bp. Morlino and for those who must choose a successor.

Also, the funeral will be broadcast LIVE on EWTN.  Perhaps you readers can post links to watch it online.

This is an important moment for the Church in these USA. 

I strongly recommend a sound examination of conscience and good confession.

We are in turbulent spiritual times marked but clear markers.

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And now a message from fictional priest Fr. Charles “Chuck” O’Malley

Posted on 3 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Now that I am at home and banged up, instead of on the road and banged up (that was not fun), I think I have some good evening viewing lined up.

There is a great article at The Catholic Sun about the late actor Bing Crosby and his playing of movie priest Fr. O’Malley in Going My Way (US HERE – UK HERE) and The Bells of St Mary’s (US HERE – UK HERE).

The article was occasioned by a second book by Gary Giddins; Bing Crosby, Swinging on a Star, Vol. 2: The War Years, 1940-1946 (US HERE – UK HERE).

Quotes:

As emblematic of the war years as Atticus Finch was to the civil rights era (and inspiring seminarians much as Atticus did law students), O’Malley represented a righteousness people could feel and believe in.

and

Early in 1946, Crosby, in New York, visited the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Francis J. Spellman, the powerful “antipode of Father O’Malley,” as Giddins calls him. Crosby wanted to discuss a possible split from his wife, Dixie, whose alcoholism had grown worse. At the time, he was considering marrying the actress Joan Caulfield.

“The visit to Spellman,” Giddins writes, “was seen by her family as evidence of his intentions. If he expected an ecclesiastical solution, he was disappointed. In the account he gave of the meeting, as remembered by (Joan’s sister) Betty Caulfield, ‘Cardinal Spellman said, “Bing, you are Father O’Malley and under no circumstances can Father O’Malley get a divorce.’” Betty added, ‘I think that was the beginning of the end for Joan and Bing.’”

On a personal note, my grandmother, long widowed, in her 80’s married an old widower and converted to Catholicism.  She took to it right away, getting involved in the parish, singing in the choir, saying the Rosary each night with her new old husband, Joe.   As it turns out Joe and Bing were childhood friends growing up in Spokane, WA, though education at Gonzaga.  They kept in touch.

This comes in the context of my catching up on news, including the death of Pres. George HW Bush, arguably one of most honorable and admirable civil servants of the last century.

Fr. O’Malley may have been fictional, but he nevertheless represents something which has seemingly been lost.  Something of that same something is woven through the life of Bush 41.

We’re losing it.   Can we regain it?  Perhaps not without great suffering.

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My View For Awhile: Au revoir Edition

Posted on 2 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Bye, Paris.

Thanks to readers for help with the better seat.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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ASK FATHER: Why should a Protestant convert and join the Catholic Church?

Posted on 1 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Why should a Protestant like me convert and join the Catholic church, given the current corruption that appears to reach all the way to the top?

(This is not an idle question. I was ready to call a priest and learn more, just before the recent scandal broke.)

I get it.  I really do.  I am a convert and those times when I came into the Church were also troubling.  They have been for a while.  As a matter of fact, there has been controversy swirling in and around the Church since the moment Our Lord’s feet disappeared into the heavens at his Ascension.

First, remember that the Church was founded for sinners.  Therefore, let’s not be surprised when we find that the Church is filled with sinners, at every level.

Second, remember that the Devil hates the Church.  The Enemy attacks relentlessly.  It is a good strategy to strike high, strike the shepherds so that the sheep will scatter.  It should shock us but not at all surprise us that there are corrupt clergy and lay people in the Church at every level.   The attacks on the Church are, themselves, proofs that she is who she says she is.

Third, the fact that there is corruption or incompetence in the Church, and that the Church  has always prevailed and moved forward in the Lord’s mission is a sign that this, the Catholic Church, truly is the Church that Christ founded.  Left to us, we would destroy it.  The continuance of the Church demonstrates God’s favor and grace and protection, even from us.

There is no better place to be than in the Church that Christ Himself founded.  The faults of individuals disgust and demoralize from time to time, but they  are not “the Church”.  The Church is, truly, the spotless bride of Christ.  God’s love for us is so great that He entrusts His Church to us little sinful mortals as we muddle along.

If you believe in Christ’s promises and in the Church true claims – as they really are, and not at the fools, libs, modernists, liars and confused distort them for their worldly objectives – then there is no where else that we can be.  We must be Catholics in the Catholic Church.  And if we, knowing the claims of the Church and Christ’s promises, knowing that this is Christ’s Church, fail to enter her embrace or determine to leave it, we put our salvation in peril, because, in rejecting the truth, we reject our Lord Himself.

Great spiritual gain (membership in the Church) comes at a cost.   There is always a cost.   For some it is giving up a known community.  For others it is giving up comfort.  For others it is giving up customs or other matters.   There is always a cost.

The benefits, however, are abundant, if not always immediately comfortable.

Crises come and go.  The Catholic Church was founded by Christ.  And, given that truth, there is no place else we can be.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
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Francis: Homosexuals “should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life.”

Posted on 1 December 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Aciprensa has it.  HERE

The UK’s (and now US’s) best Catholic weekly has it.  HERE

Francis made a book/interview which will be released next week.  A sample has been released.

In the sample we find that Francis says that pastoral care must be given to homosexuals, but that they should not be admitted to formation as religious or as priests.

“But FATHER! But FATHER!”, some of you are howling, “You are NOT reporting accurately.   There have to be… nuances… subtleties… complexities and refinements.  There must be…rainbows and bridges and…”

NO.  That’s what Francis said.  Read:

Francis warned. “It’s [Homosexuality is] not just an expression of an affection. In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection. [Even in the Jesuits?] Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.”  [Or her.]

We “have to urge homosexual priests, and men and women religious to live celibacy with integrity, and above all, that they be impeccably responsible, trying to never scandalize either their communities or the faithful holy people of God by living a double life. It’s better for them to leave the ministry or the consecrated life rather than to live a double life.” [He is talking about active homosexuality.]

The pope was asked in the book if there are limits to what can be tolerated in formation.

“Of course. When there are candidates with neurosis, marked imbalances, difficult to channel not even with therapeutic help, [So, here he seems to put homosexuality in with other disorders.  Rightly so.] they shouldn’t be accepted to either the priesthood or the religious life, They should be helped to take another direction, but they should not be abandoned. They should be guided, but they should not be admitted. [Third time!] Let us always bear in mind that they are persons who are going to live in the service of the Church, of the Christian community, of the people of God. Let’s not forget that perspective. We have to care for them so they are psychologically and affectively healthy,” the pope replied.

That seems to settle that.

Remember: Priesthood and religious life are not rights.  No one has the right to be a priest or religious.

Posted in Sin That Cries To Heaven | Tagged ,
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ASK FATHER: Recourse to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”

Posted on 30 November 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Recently, our stable group of roughly 50 people took the extraordinary step of asking our bishop for a regular celebration of the EF, having already spoken to the pastor of the parish. He responded in the negative. How do we go about appealing to the PCED? Any recommendations?

You should send all the accumulated correspondence to the Pontifical Commission.  I have tips for writing to bishops and offices and such on the lower menus, waaaay at the bottom of the blog.  HERE

A couple things are not clear here.  Pardon if I get right to the point.

I assume you spoke to the pastor, as a group, and he said “yes”.  Then WHY OH WHY go to the bishop?

Summorum Pontificum leaves this in the hands of the pastor of the parish.

If the pastor said “yes”, he does not need permission from the bishop.

One of these days, this will sink in. It’s only been 11 YEARS.

On the other hand, if the pastor said “no” (I can’t tell from the email) and then the “bishop” said “no”, then, yes, writing to the PCED is the last resort.

However, either way, you should persevere, making the request in ever larger numbers of people who actually participate in the life of the parish.   Let me make that point again: who actually participate in the life of the parish.  Get people on board who are involved, who are known.  Make yourselves available.  Be cheerfully relentless.

Anyway… people…. PLEASE TRY TO GET THIS INTO YOUR HEADS.

Art. 5, § 1. In paroeciis, ubi coetus fidelium traditioni liturgicae antecedenti adhaerentium stabiliter exsistit, parochus eorum petitiones ad celebrandam sanctam Missam iuxta ritum Missalis Romani anno 1962 editi, libenter suscipiat. Ipse videat ut harmonice concordetur bonum horum fidelium cum ordinaria paroeciae pastorali cura, sub Episcopi regimine ad normam canonis 392, discordiam vitando et totius Ecclesiae unitatem fovendo.

Art. 5, § 1.  In parishes, where there is stably present a group of the faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition, let the pastor willingly receive their petitions that Mass be celebrated according to the Rite of the Missale Romanum issued in 1962.  Let him see to it that the good of these faithful be harmoniously brought into accord with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the governance of the Bishop according to canon 392, by avoiding discord and by fostering the unity of the whole Church.

It’s the pastor.  And the bishop cannot say the pastor cannot decide, because the bishop cannot override the legislation of the Supreme Pontiff.

The bishop can, with a raw exercise of unjust power crucify the priest who obeys this law, but that is another tale for another time.

 

 

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