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{]:¬)

Fr. Z’s Tips and Tools for #Synod15 Members

Posted on 12 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I heard a rumor… and you know how those are… that some members of the Synod are concerned that the central office of the Synod of Bishop might be spying on the dealings of the different language groups (circuli minores) through the use of hidden microphones.

I can neither confirm nor deny whether I believe that or not, but I can confirm that I heard the rumor!

I have some advice for the bishops at the Synod.

My many years as a agens in rebus for super-ultra-double-top-secret Vatican – VVAS … stuff… prompts me to share with the Synod Fathers a few tips and tools in the spirit of transparency that surrounds this year’s gathering.

First, bishop members should be sure to have a…

Cross Digital Cam-Corder

They are available on Amazon! (Your Excellencies, please use my links so I get a cut of the sale.)

Under $40!

I’d get ahead of this and order right away, lest a whole bunch of you show up wearing the same Cross. How embarrassing would that be?

Spy Briefcase

These are essential in my… err um… that line of work.

Note the really cool sunglasses to conceal your eye-movements.

Secret Compartment Ring

The Italians are usually the only ones who get to poison people… if you get my drift. Fool them! And, as a bonus, the Masonic looking symbol (and/or Irish) will lull your target into a false sense of security when you finally get into that office where they keep the stolen books and … who know what else? I’d say, but… you know.

If your impossible mission brief doesn’t cover the whole poison thing (after all, there are faster ways, involving less foaming and writhing), or if they have those pesky poison sniffing dogs around, conceal some Holy Water in there. They hate that stuff too, lemme tell you!

Invisible Ink Pens

You will need to identify your allies (HAH! if there are any) and be able to set up dead drops and like. So, use these horrid pastel colored pens to write secret messages.

If nothing else, having a pen of any of these colors in the Synod will probably gain you a nod of approval from some of the members and organizers … I think we know which ones, don’t we.

Electronic (what else) Bug and Hidden Camera Sweeper

Finally, when you are in those circuli minores, you need to find out if people are listening before you find out who are listening (and their subsequent elimination or subversion).

Get the one with the extra cool ear piece (which you probably have in piles already, but hey!).

WARNING: Do NOT switch it on too close to your digital CrossCam!

That would be bad.

Just some friendly tips to help the Synod go more smoothly.

Posted in Lighter fare, Synod | Tagged Synod
7 Comments

Synod note: Monday will bring interventions on Instrumentum Laboris 130

Posted on 11 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On Monday there will be interventions on Instrumentum Laboris 130:

130. Some families have members who have a homosexual tendency. In this regard, the synod fathers asked themselves what pastoral attention might be appropriate for them in accordance with Church teaching: “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.” Nevertheless, men and women with a homosexual tendency ought to be received with respect and sensitivity. “Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, 4).

Pray and fast.

See also Fr. George Byer’s comments HERE.

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven, Synod | Tagged Fr. George Byers, Synod of Bishops
18 Comments

11 Oct: St. John XXIII

Posted on 11 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the feast of the Pope who issued the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia.

Today is the feast of the Pope who didn’t like it when people clapped in church.

Today is the feast of the Pope who issued the Roman Missal of St. John XXIII.

His propers are HERE.

It is also the anniversary of the famous “Under the Moon” speech after the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Missale Romanum of St. John XXIII, moon, St. John XXIII
17 Comments

CQ CQ CQ #HamRadio Saturday – NYC, stuff I don’t understand, and #UnaVoce

Posted on 10 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I set up on Twitter FrZ_HamRadio so we might more easily make contacts on the fly. I believe KD8ZFF also set something up. He can chime in with details.

During my recent too brief trip to New York City I was able to make contacts using Echolink via iPhone while sitting outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while waiting to meet someone (another kind of QSO) and also in Bryant Park. Next, I used Echolink aboard an airplane and made a contact with someone on a train!

Thanks to WB0YLE for being so generous. More on him below.

I went to the only ham radio store in Manhattan, which is a stone’s throw away from Holy Innocents Church. There isn’t much to report about this place, except that the fellow who runs it is both friendly and chatty… when he is there. I ran into a closed door the first time I tried to visit.

But the next day I had more success…

You should probably call first.

Next, I am getting feedback about the QSL cards I sent. They are arriving. I am trying to figure out the best timing for me to get that vanity call. I suppose I should just pull the trigger. Or did I just commit a micro-aggression? Sorry… I intended a hyper-macro aggression.

Meanwhile, also through the kindness of WB0YLE some possibilities are opening up about a Catholic Net. He sent me a few mails about technical things. I imagine that this is how some readers might react when I write about Latin. For example:

building these up; full asterisk and echolink node with a radio adapter on top; have it working with a wouxun in simplex right now. Raspberry pi computer, etc. can also hang a wifi dongle on it, and pair to a phone hotspot…to get on the net Just In Case with an RF link.

I believe this has to do with remote operation of a station.

But of my living situation – which is suboptimal at best for good antenna placement and a place to work – I would like to find a way to work a station remotely. Right now, where I have my antenna is sort of like a Faraday cage. Not good. I can still get out, but…

And now a happy conjunction of Traditional Liturgy and Ham Radio….

I received an email from the head of the newly formed Una Voce chapter in La Crosse, WI. They had their first event recently. You can see some pictures at their web site, www.unavocelacrosse.org. They want me to attend an event sometime. HA! Say I. Invite me to sing a Mass for you. I generally can’t drive across the state only to sit in choir.

As it turns out, the nice fellow who wrote is a Ham, as are his chilluns’. He wrote (I’ll for now blank the callsigns unless he wants to make them visible himself):

On an unrelated note, my son ___ (currently a junior in chemical engineering at ___) mentioned to me that you are a ham.

We’re a ham radio family — I’m W9HQ, my son is _____, wife _____ is ____, and eldest daughter is _____. We’re prodding the younger two girls to start studying for the Technician exam. I am very active in VHF-UHF weak-signal work and host a modest blog, Standing Waves. It would be great to connect on the air sometime. We don’t have an Echolink node here in La Crosse, but perhaps when I get my new gain vertical antenna for 2 meters on the roof I’ll be able to hit a repeater in Madison and we coull chat. Or if you ever get on 160 or 80 meters, all the better. And having you on 144 MHz single side band would ice the cake.

That would be icing indeed. Let’s try to make that work.

And, sincerely, I’d like some cooperation of that chapter with my own Tridentine Mass Society of Madison (which accepts tax deductible donations).

Also, check out his cool Ham Radio blog. HERE Kudos.

Remember: More than one person can connect via Echolink to WB0YLE-R. Use it!

Ham Radio and Traditional Latin Mass. Non plus ultra.

KC9ZJN (for a little while longer)
73

Posted in Ham Radio | Tagged CQ, D. LaCrosse, Echolink, Ham radio, Ham Radio Saturday, QSL card, Una Voce
68 Comments

Great analysis of some Synod issues – VIDEO

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On EWTN my friend Fr. Gerald Murray is doing analysis of the workings of the Synod. He made some outstanding observations yesterday.

NB: If you need a recommendation to watch it, Fishwrap‘s MS Winters viewed the program from his Fainting Couch and didn’t much like what he saw. HERE

May I recommend these moments in the video (below):

Start at 3:45 and get his comment about the danger of sociology replacing theology, about describing how people live and then falling into the trap of conforming the Church to shifting mores.

Start at 8:45 about the reporting about what is going on in the Synod.

Start at 11:15 – Is this Synod rigged? The danger of process overcoming product. (Channeling his inner McLuhan) And get his comments about Card. Kasper’s proposal.

Start at 12:30 for how the Church should talk about homosexuals. Includes a video clip of Fr. Thomas Rosica (so you can get a sample of his style). The “embracing reality as it is” comment is like what Fr. Murray said about sociology replacing theology. In a way, this is a variation on what Robert Stark wrote about Card. Kasper’s approach: in a nutshell, politics replaces philosophy. Doctrine shifts according to how people feel, etc.

Start at 17:15 to get how bishops are bringing in issues that have nothing to do with the work of the Synod (like ordination of women… what could be more irrelevant than that?)

Start at 19:45 for how the faithful must raise their voices in defense of Catholic doctrine.

Posted in Synod, The Drill | Tagged EWTN, Fr. Gerald Murray, Synod of Bishops
31 Comments

9 Oct – Feast of Bl. J.H. Newman: “To be deep in history” Mug

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s the feast (in some places and for some groups) of Bl. John Henry Newman. Who can forget his beatification by Benedict XVI?

Also, Fr. Hunwicke has a note about Bl. John Henry and the Synod. HERE

Those of you who may be new readers may not know about the mug I made with a phrase of Bl. John Henry Newman: “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.“

Around this Synod perhaps we could say, “begin to be Catholic”?

Thinking back on the course of my own conversion, the elements which made it easier to take the plunge, and considering the growing projects of the Anglican Ordinariates, and also remembering that Benedict XVI – the Pope of Christian Unity – beatified John Henry Newman…. I put the phrase on a coffee mug.

Fill yours with Mystic Monk Coffee as soon as humanly possible.

Here is a shot of the regular sized coffee mug… I’ll bet you could put your yogurt and granola in it too.

The Z-Swag Store is HERE.

A shot of the larger coffee mug.. I’ll bet that you could put … hot chocolate in it too!

You see that for this mug I really wrapped the design across most of its surface.

Here is the largest mug, the stein. I suspect that this might be coaxed into holding a beer.

The image itself (it’s larger on the mugs):

Here are three shots of the ur-mug, the larger coffee mug. It is made from the same durable stuff I punished for years in the microwave and dishwasher. Though I don’t have a dishwasher now… other than my hands.

I also made another version, with the phrase tighter on one side to make it easier to read:

After years of treating these things with great brutality in the nuclear reactor and the bottom rack of the washer near the heat, I succeeded in getting a crack in one of them, cosmetic, but not fatal.

It might start a conversation. But I suggest that before flashing it about, you might brush up on why being deep in history leads to the Catholic Church.

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged Bl. John Henry Newman, Synod of Bishops, Z-Swag
4 Comments

END OF WORLD! #Synod15 or Globe Killing Asteroid?

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We don’t know the time or place, but we will on day die and face our Judge.

I saw this at NASA after a priest friend alerted me to it. He went to confession … I’m just sayin’.

At Express I saw this:

Shock as NASA confirms asteroid TWO MILES wide will pass close to Earth TOMORROW

A HUGE asteroid measuring almost two miles across will skim past Earth tomorrow, Nasa has confirmed.

[What could go wrong?]

It should fly safely past earth, but astronomers are keeping a close eye on 86666 (2000 FL10) which, according to NASA, will be one of the biggest to pass close to our planet in recent times.

The giant lump of rock is currently hurtling through space at 40,000 miles an hour. The asteroid’s exact size is still unclear though it is estimated to be between 0.7miles metres and 1.6 miles wide – more than 15 times bigger than other asteroids currently on Nasa’s radar.

A collision would be nothing short of catastrophic with the rock fragment thought to be around a quarter of the size of Mount Everest.

Nasa has released an animated projection of the asteroid’s path, which you can watch below. 86666 appears from the top left of the screen as it nears Earth’s orbit.

[…]

Everyone… for the love of God…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Synod Fathers… for the love of God…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in Four Last Things, Global Killer Asteroid Questions, GO TO CONFESSION, Look! Up in the sky! |
16 Comments

9 October: St. Abraham, patriarch

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Before I forget, as I did yesterday, 9 October was the feast of St. Abraham, partriarch of the Old Testment. Here is the entry in the newest edition of the Martyrologium Romanum with a translation:

3. Commemoratio sancti Abrahae, patriarchae et omnium credentium patris, qui, Domino vocante, ab urbe Ur Chaldaeorum, patria sua, egressus est et per terram erravit eidem et semini eius a Deo promissam. Item totam fidem suam in Deo manifestavit, cvm, sperans contra spem, unigenitum Isaac ei iam seni a Domino datum ex uxore sterili in sacrificum offerre non renuit. …

The commemoration of Saint Abraham, patriarch and father of all believers, who, since the Lord was calling him, went froth from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, his home land, and wandered through the land promised by God to him and to his seed. He manfiested his complete faith in God when, hoping against hope, he did not refrain from offering in sacrifice his only-begotten son Isaac, given by the Lord to him, an old man, from his sterile wife.

Nothing is impossible with God.

For the Fathers, Abraham is a great “type” or foreshadowing figure. Some, such as St. Ambrose (+397) for example, and St. Jerome (+420) took his journey from Ur to the Promised Land to exemplify the journey of purification necessary for union with God. For Origen, his obedience in offering up Isaac as faith in the resurrection. Others see Abraham and Isaac, ascending the hill for the sacrifice, as, together, a foreshadowing of Christ the Priest who is also Victim.

A propos the limbo debate, the “bosom of Abraham” is considered sometimes as an intermediate place between heaven and hell where the just are consoled while awaiting the final resurrection (this is what Tertullian thought) or the refuge of eternal peace (Ambrose, De obitu Valent. 72).

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged Abraham
2 Comments

Questions about how you recite the Holy Rosary. POLLS

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am curious about how you readers recite the Rosary. There are regional and cultural variations.

Context: I found my old audio files of my recitation of the Rosary in Latin that I used on my old Ustream feed (back when I had one – remember that?). I am considering working up a new version.

Some people like to add the “Fatima Prayer” after each mystery.

Some people like to a short phrase about each mystery during each “Hail Mary”. Such as

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus… He Who was crowned with thorns for us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen.

Some people add the Litany of Loreto at the end.

Let’s have some polls. Please respond in all three, if you can.

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, POLLS | Tagged Holy Rosary, Litany of Loreto, rosary
68 Comments

Card. Napier corrects part-time papal spokesperson – UPDATE

Posted on 9 October 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

1726 GMT: I just saw Card. Napier live on EWTN who had come directly from the Synod Hall.

He made a bit of a correction to his own correction/addition of Fr Rosica. Be sure to pay attention to this.

____

ORIGINAL Published on: Oct 9, 2015 @ 09:42

‘Bout time.

This comes from LifeSite.

Wilfrid Card. Napier, Archbishop of Durban in South Africa spoke up in defense of Jesus today. Rather, he spoke up in the defense of the rest of Jesus’ message of mercy and compassion. When the Lord encountered sinners, rather, when sinners encountered the Lord during His earthly life, the Lord tried to take them out of their sin and to God through conversion: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” That last part is necessary. Leave it out and you distort every other aspect of Christ’s saving mission.

Card. Napier used the tweetosphere to make a point. My emphases and comments.

Leading African cardinal critiques Vatican spokesman Fr. Rosica

ROME, October 9, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, a leading cardinal on the organizing committee for the Synod on the Family, issued a pointed critique on Twitter of a controversial report on the Synod by the Vatican’s English-language spokesman, Fr. Thomas Rosica, in which the priest emphasized that the Church should “embrace reality” in dealing with sinful situations.

Rosica’s summary of Synod fathers’ addresses at Tuesday’s press briefing was widely criticized for its emphasis on liberal proposals and the strong language he used to describe them. [Could it be that he has a personal agenda?]The remarks fueled ongoing concerns from last year’s Synod about the manipulation of the message by the Vatican press office and the Synod’s organizing body. [There must be 50 ways to rig a Synod. Use of the presser is one of them.]

After the press conference, Salt and Light TV, Rosica’s Toronto-based media organization, tweeted out a link to an article about Rosica’s remarks, saying, “Fr. Rosica Speaks on Synod Delegates, The Need to Embrace People Where They Are.”

In reply, Napier tweeted: “‘Meet people where they are’ sounds nice, but is that what Jesus did? Didn’t he rather call them away from where they were?” [Do I hear an “Amen!”?]

At Tuesday’s press conference, Rosica had said, “There must be an end to exclusionary language and a strong emphasis on embracing reality as it is. We should not be afraid of new and complex situations. [?] … The language of inclusion must be our language, always considering pastoral and canonical possibilities and solutions.”

Napier has been among the more outspoken tradition-minded Synod fathers. His criticism of last year’s controversial interim report at the Synod, given at a Vatican press conference, made international headlines. “The message has gone out and it’s not a true message,” he said. “Whatever we say hereafter is going to be as if we’re doing some damage control.” [And that has been proven true.]

“The message has gone out that this is what the Synod is saying, this is what the Catholic Church is saying, and it’s not what we are saying at all,” he said. “No matter how we try correcting that … there’s no way of retrieving it.”

Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins spoke on a similar theme as Napier’s tweet during his intervention at the Synod this year, emphasizing the need to promote repentance and conversion while the Church accompanies people. He described his three-minute speech to Catholic News Service on Thursday. [Remember: the rules of the Synod have been rigged in such a way that we have to get what Synod members said through circuitous routes.]

“The truest compassionate mercy is a compassion that challenges,” explained the cardinal. [Right on.] He said meeting people “where they are” comes first, “but that is only the first thing. The second thing is to help them become what God wants them to be.” [And that does not include committing sodomy. That does not include reception of Communion in the state of sin.]

“Just to have accompaniment as people are moving in the direction away from the Lord is not enough. We need to be with them in order to help people to follow our Lord,” he added.