From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 06-15-25 – Parish Festival

June 15th 2025

Dear Diary,

Today was the summer parish festival at St Polycarp or as I call it the Deep Fried Fest. Fr. Gilbert got us turned around on a back road after hitting a detour near Pine City but we got there in time for me to bless the beer tent. I got to judge a pie contest. Heh. I had to sample to judge.  Gilbert convinced me to bring Chester with assurances that he’d be good. And he usually is with G, who knows why. I don’t know what I was thinking. Even though he is somewhat deformed he can be as fast as a greasy weasel. With a lurch that knocked G off his feet Chester dove into the kiddy bounce house. What happened after sounded pretty bad.  Those were doggy howls I didn’t think possible. Thank God not a single kid was permanently hurt. Traumatized, maybe. I’m still getting over it.  There was a lot of crying, but pie helped. It always does.  Crying kids, that is.  It’s amazing how parents took it in stride. I guess its just life for them. If only some of the pastors were like that. Whine whine whine.

Beautiful day.  Sun.  Breeze.  Lots of happy people.  I’m sunburned. Totally worth it for fried chicken. I might have had too much.  The auctions made a lot.  They’ll make their “dratickum”* this year!


*HERE

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants |
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Daily Rome Shot 1377 – Is this true?

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Black to move and mate in 4.

Meanwhile…

Is this true?

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Wrapping it up at Fishwrap?

I don’t often mention the Fishwrap these days… how long ago was it that I started with that nickname?… because of their wearying lack of relevance.

However, I saw this:

This is interesting.

Remember this? You old timers will. HERE

Originally Published on: Dec 3, 2015


May I ask you all to pray to St. Joseph, patron of the diocese where the offices of the Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) are located? Pray that all the writers and staff of that heterodox and destructive publication either covert to orthodox Catholicism or else that they are driven to closure. Pray also that the bishops of these United States of America develop the courage to strip that publication of the word “Catholic” in their title.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Dest-joseph-patron-of-the-churchar St. Joseph, Terror of Demons and Protector of Holy Church, Chaste Guardian of Our Lord and His Mother, hear our urgent prayer and swiftly intercede with our Savior, whom as a loving father you defended so diligently, that He will pour abundant graces upon the staff of that organ of dissent the National catholic Reporter so that they will either embrace orthodox doctrine concerning faith and morals or that all their efforts will promptly fail and come to their just end. Amen.

Posted in The Drill |
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Daily Rome Shot 1376

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HEREWHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Welcome Registrants:

ljprevo
Oregon
wiestr@yahoo.com
KenHood0

Remember… the TLM is against unity.

Wanna see what Sunday is like there? Someone sent me a note about these … fine people a few days ago. I was going to post it, but my anti-nausea medication kept me from the board.

You might remember that in the recent Norway Chess match, Magnus Carlsen blundered and lost a game to Gukesh, whereupon he angrily banged the table with his first, knocking over the pieces, and then stormed off.   This went viral, to say the least.  The effect at chess.com was amazing. I’m an affiliate, btw.  After the table bang, in the last round of Norway Church there was a peak of 225000 concurrent viewers (more than for my Mass stream) and on the same day there were 20 MILLION games played.  The incident also spawned memes of people imitating the moment while playing other games.  There is a funny one with a cat.

Interim, motus ad lusorem cum militibus nigris pertinet. Scaccus mattus, scilicet mors regis, quattuor in motis veniat.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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New recording from the London Oratory Schola boys choir – Terrific!

I was contacted by the director of the boys choir of the London Oratory.  They have made wonderful recordings, discs/downloads, in the past.  The present is no exception.   There is a new collection available for pre-order:

Sacred Treasures of Rome

Links below.

Sacred Treasures of Rome is a new recording from the boys of the London Oratory Schola directed by Charles Cole.  It focuses on Palestrina in this, his quincentennial year, as well as other composers working in his orbit in Rome.

The London Oratory Schola is an all-boys choir with an average age of fourteen across the four voice parts.

The album includes some of the great iconic motets by Palestrina such as Tu es Petrus, Sicut cervus and Dum complerentur.

I’ve just listened to the album I was privileged to receive in advance.  Wow.

The (digital) booklet has fascinating and fun tidbits., including things about my guy St. Philip Neri.

Did you know that Palestrina died in the arms of St. Philip Neri?

Did you know that the mother of the composer Felice Anerio did St. Philip’s laundry?

Did you know that Giovanni Maria Nanino was buried beneath the Caravaggio’s in the Contarelli chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi?

One thing which many of the composers on the disc share was a connection with St Philip, who founded The Parish™ in Rome.  The disc has a motet by Giovanni Animuccia, who was one of St Philip’s brother priests during the early beginnings of the Oratory at San Girolamo della Carità, which is literally across the way from the door of my former apartment.  Much of Animuccia’s music has been lost, aside from some beautiful editions of his three Masses and some motets in the Vatican Libraries. The fate of the rest is a mystery, though an ignominious legend exists that the scores were sold to a Roman cheesemonger to wrap his wares, such was the value of parchment paper at the time. Fortunately, a few motets can be found scattered across part-books, one of which, O crux ave spes unica, has been reconstructed for this recording.

The album also includes works by other composers who had connections to the Rome Oratory including Allegri, the Anerio brothers and Giovannelli (of Velletri), who succeeded Palestrina.

The London Oratory Schola will be touring the USA in July and singing much of this music both in liturgical and concert contexts, including an appearance at the Palestrina500 Festival.

Sacred Treasures of Rome is released worldwide on all major platforms on 4 July 2025.  It is available NOW for pre-order.

Link for preview of Sicut cervus, Palestrina: HERE

Amazon USA link for album: HERE

Amazon UK link for album: HERE

Posted in Just Too Cool, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged
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19 June 325 – Adoption of the Nicene Creed

On this day, 19 June 325, exactly 1700 years ago, it is thought that the Council of Nicea adopted the original Nicene Creed.   It would be amended in 381 by the Council of Constantinople.

This creed was adopted to combat the Arian heresy, which held that the Son was created.  The Nicene Creed affirms that the Son is “of the same substance… consubstantial” with the Father.

I think we have a lot of Arian today, in high places.  I sincerely hope we do NOT have a Council to deal with it.  Other means should be used.

Posted in Just Too Cool |
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Starlink

Let’s talk about Starlink.

Do you have it?  What’s it like?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, I'm just askin'..., Just Too Cool | Tagged
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Pope Benedict XVI on Corpus Christi processions and a rant from Fr. Z

Today is the true Feast of Corpus Christi.  In many places the Feast of Corpus Christi gets an “external celebration” on Sunday.  There’s nothing wrong with that, as it gives more people a change to participate.  It is wonderful to see the multiplication of Eucharistic processions.  This happened especially with the explosive growth of the Traditional Latin Mass before the oppressors started to oppress the people who love it.

In 2008 Pope Benedict taught about processions, a message we could all use today.  The full text is HERE.

“The Corpus Christi procession teaches us that the Eucharist seeks to free us from every kind of despondency and discouragement, wants to raise us, so that we can set out on the journey with the strength God gives us through Jesus Christ … Each one can find his own way if he encounters the One who is the Word and the Bread of Life and lets himself be guided by his friendly presence. Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going! “Progress” does not suffice, if there are no criteria as reference points. On the contrary, if one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly distancing oneself from the goal. God created us free but he did not leave us alone: he made himself the “way” and came to walk together with us so that in our freedom we should also have the criterion we need to discern the right way and to take it.”

This is a key point for our times in the Church right now….

“[I]f one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly distancing oneself from the goal.”

We’ve gone down the wrong road for too long and we are paying the price.

As in geometry, the farther two rays extend from a point, the farther apart they get.  As in making a journey, if you want to get from, say, Chicago to Texas and, after driving for a long time, discover you are at the Canadian border, you would do well to turn around, retrace your MISTAKE, and start again on the right road.  As a matter of fact, you would be stupid to keep driving north.

Bashing Tradition to promote the Second Vatican Council is like driving north from Chicago in order to get to Texas.  

No new initiative we undertake in the Church is going to succeed unless we revitalize our sacred liturgical worship and seek to fulfill the virtue of Religion, to give God what is His due.  Everything we do must flow from the Eucharist – by which we must understand both the sacred Eucharistic species and also its celebration which is Holy Mass.  Everything we do must then be brought back to the Eucharist.

Among the things that we can do relatively quickly are reinstitute many of our devotional practices: recitation of the Rosary (perhaps while a priest is in the confessional), exposition (perhaps while a priest is in the confessional) followed by benediction, novenas on weeknights (perhaps with a priest in the confessional), processions… litanies… vespers… Forty Hours Devotion.

PROCESSIONS!  More processions!  Less chatter!

FORTY HOURS!   If there was ever a time in the life of the Church when we needed to recover the practice of FORTY HOURS DEVOTION… not pretend Forty Hours… not dumbed-down Forty Hours … but REAL Forty Hours, it’s now.

Undiluted… unblended… undaunted… unmodified… unapologetic… traditional Forty Hours Devotion.

Thus endeth the rant.

We are our rites.

God, Our Father, with Your mighty steering hand guide Your priests and bishops out of the fog of worldly notions and onto a course of true renewal.

God, Our Savior and High Priest, chart onto the minds and hearts of Your sons a destination of a traditional priestly identity for our turbulent context here and now.

God, Holy Spirit, fill Your sons with zeal and with the courage to persevere when stormy resistance will rise from the agents of the Enemy.

Mary, Queen of the Clergy, put your protecting mantle over your sons who will be persecuted by their brethren and superiors when they implement traditional worship.

St. Joseph, Protector of Christ, Protector of the Church, guide the efforts of your sons to build up the Temple of God for worthy worship according to the virtue of Religion.

Holy Angels, guard us from evil and prompt us to do good.

And an old initiative which is especially relevant with a new Pope!

ACTION ITEM! Be a “Custos Traditionis”! Join an association of prayer for the reversal of “Traditionis custodes”.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Save The Liturgy - Save The World, SESSIUNCULA, Wherein Fr. Z Rants |
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CQ CQ CQ: #ZedNet – Leo XIV pays a visit

I’ve been wanting to revive Zednet. Alas, I cannot do it alone. I don’t have possession of the components or the knowhow. Maybe, someday soon we can get it going again.

Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV went to the transmission center of Vatican Radio (think BIG ANTENNA). As hams know, the antenna is everything.

This is so cool.

Usually, new Popes make the rounds of all the curial offices. I imagine he will visit the offices of Vatican Radio, down the street from San Pietro, but I didn’t imagine this.

Alas, Vatican Radio is greatly reduced now. They depend more on digital, internet diffusion. But they are still transmitting programs in many languages on various frequencies. Even in Latin.

Posted in Ham Radio, Just Too Cool, Leo XIV | Tagged
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VIDEO: A Jesuit commentator hits it outta da park! Stark clear REALITY.

This is one of the best brief “tell it like it is” videos I’ve seen in a long time.

Watch it. Watch it again. And send it to at least five people.

Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged
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