More news from the New catholic Red Guard

Posted on 21 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are rumors of efforts to crack down on any voice that raises any sort of question during this pontificate.

LifeSite reported that Jesuit Antonio Spadaro of La Civiltà Cattolica (you’ll remember his blinkered view of Americans) wants EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo silenced.

Papal advisor retweets call for Church to shut down EWTN unless they fire Raymond Arroyo

February 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Papal confidante Father Antonio Spadaro retweeted a call for EWTN to be severely censured “until they get rid of Raymond Arroyo.”

The call for an “interdict” to be imposed on the Catholic media empire started by Mother Angelica came from Anthony Annett, Assistant to the Director at the International Monetary Fund’s Communications Department. [NB: Retweet.]

While retweets are not always endorsements, we all know that they usually are unless a) it’s obvious that the retweeter is an opponent of the position or b) there is additional comment added.

Also, what he is talking about here is pretty much impossible.  But it is indicative of an attitude of panic.

I suspect that we are going to see quite a bit of this in the future.   We’ve already seen how Jesuits act in the face of opposition through their machinations with outlets like BuzzFeed.

Were such a crack down to come, spurred by the New catholic Red Guards and their cadres, in short order a Catholic Samizdat would explode into view which would make the Guards long for the old days.

UPDATE:

The fellow whom “2+2=5” retweeted is interesting.

Anthony Annett (HERE) worked for many years in the communications office of the International Monetary Fund and is big into “climate change” stuff even with the UN.  Take a look at this.  HERE

So, the globalist with Soros ties wants EWTN silenced.  But remember!

It’s the capitalists that are ruthless.  Right?

Posted in Liberals, New catholic Red Guards, Pò sì jiù, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , , , , ,
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Making the Church appealing. What “sells”?

Posted on 21 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When it is time to draw people in, do those in charge show ugly modern churches bereft of statues, windows and obviously Catholic elements?   SURE they do!

When it is time to make a movie and portray something about the Catholic Church, do the producers look for contemporary churches that look like municipal airports or theaters.  SURE they do!

When it is time to raise money, do the fundraisers publish literature with whitewashed walls, bizarre interiors, and spaces that remind you of a parking ramp?  SURE they do!

Nothing says “Catholic” like a beige wall with a clump of weeds in a vase and cliches like PEACE on a rainbow made by 5th graders.

I remember my first visit to the Cathedral in Los Angeles (aka The Rodge Mahal).   Ultra-modern, sometimes meeting inexplicably odd.  Then, go down stairs into the crypt… all the traditional stuff preserved from the old cathedral.  And that’s where they asked people to invest money for a burial place.

Shifting gears a little, probably because I am always harping on going to confession and priests hearing more confessions, I got an email about a GREAT project in the Diocese of San Jose.   During Lent the bishop asked all parishes to have confessions on Wednesday evenings through the diocese.   “The Light is On for You” they call it.   The email pointed out something interesting.  Here it is:

Bishop McGrath of the Diocese of San Jose is to be commended for encouraging confession during Lent–every Wednesday evening all the churches in the diocese are supposed to offer evening hours for confession during the “Light is on” campaign. I am all for that but…

There is something ironic about the video of happy and relieved people in a beautiful church exclaiming about how they feel after confession. Seriously, this is wonderful! Look carefully at the church in the background.

The location is not a post Vatican II church-in-the-round construction that speaks to modern man. No, it is Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose. This is an amazingly beautiful church, built by the hard working Portuguese community 100 years ago. It’s also, as far as I can tell, the only church in the Diocese of San Jose offering a TLM, thanks to the ICKSP which has an oratory there.

Interesting, no?

Sure, the fact of the sacrament and effects are the most important, but let’s not kid ourselves into think that people want churches to look like churches.  And when it comes to selling something that the Church is eager to provide, we don’t go modernist, we go trad.

Might I also suggest that teaching and sermons and worship that are in your face Catholic, with tough, clear, explained teaching is going to have a greater appeal than the uncertain trumpet sounded by lib, all-affirming, timid temporizers?

So, everyone in or near the Diocese of San Jose…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, GO TO CONFESSION, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Lighter fare, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged , ,
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20 Feb – Feast of Sts Francisco and Jacinta of Fatima

Posted on 20 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Last year, His Holiness of Our Lord canonized young Jacinta and Francisco, the seers of Fatima. They are, I believe, the youngest canonized non-martyr saints on the calendar.

“On the calendar…”.  They aren’t on the traditional Roman calendar.  I’ve written about that before.  We have to do something to harmonize the traditional and modern sanctoral cycles.  I digress.

In May 2017 I wrote about the miracle for the canonization of the two young saints.  HERE

This is our first opportunity to celebrate their feast!

 

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged ,
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Of “paradigm shift” interest

Posted on 20 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

May I direct the readership’s attention today to an amusing piece at First Things?   The pseudoanonymous writer pokes fun at inconsistencies in a speech recently delivered by a certain prelate at a certain well-known English university.

As it opens, we read:

In a recent lecture on the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (not to be confused with the rather older treatise by the Doctor Consolatorius, De coitus gaudio), His Eminence Cardinal Blase Cupich explained the document as an endeavor to help families face up to the problems posed by the realities of life in the modern world. In the lecture, which would perhaps have been more timely had it been given on February 14, he analyzed this papal initiative in terms of six hermeneutical principles for the “decipherment” of the experiences of the faithful in contemporary family life, principles which together constitute a “paradigm shift” in the Church’s pastoral ministry.

Now in some ways, the cardinal’s use of the term “paradigm shift” might be thought problematic. Its primary sense, according to the online Cambridge English Dictionary, is “when the usual or accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes completely.” The Oxford English Dictionary, more laconically, regards it as a “major change in technology, outlook, etc.” The scholar who coined the phrase, Thomas Kuhn, used it to explain “scientific revolutions” such as the Copernican, the Newtonian, or the Einsteinian, and interpreted it as the rejection of one paradigm in favor of another.[1] It is not surprising, then, if some of the audience (as became apparent in the questions) balked at the suggestion that the Catholic Church had been led by the pope into some process of radical doctrinal change. Fortunately, the cardinal was swift to correct this misapprehension:

I reject the idea that a paradigm shift is a rupture and is not part of organic development. . . . The premise that “paradigm shift” means a break from the past is unfounded.

With these words, of course, he implicitly proclaimed his intellectual affiliation with that Victorian pioneer of the “linguistic turn,” the eminent Oxonian Dr. H. D’Umpty.[2] Armed with this realization, the astute reader is in a much better position to interpret the cardinal’s words, and indeed those of the pope as well. For the pope’s achievement in Amoris Laetitia (not to be confused with “Plaisir d’amour,” the well-known French song)[3] was to pursue doctrinal development only by way of “retrieving a way of thinking” which had “deep roots in tradition.”

[…]

There’s more.

Important speeches are supposed to provide food for thought and discussion.

 

Posted in Lighter fare, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill |
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Spain: young people dancing a jota in reparation for blasphemy against the Blessed Virgin

Posted on 20 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

It seems that there is a conflicting report about this dance.  It is also said to be a flash mob organized for Children with Cancer Day, or similar.  HERE

I like the other version better, but if it isn’t true….

___ Originally Published on: Feb 20, 2018

I saw something at hated Facebook posted by Regina Magazine.

It seems that a Galician writer and dramatist Carlos Santiago made in public some blasphemous comments about the Blessed Virgin Mary. They were so bad that some people (alas, not all) got up and left the event. Our Lady asks us to make reparation for offenses against her. Hence, young people in Zaragoza, Spain danced a jota (the “national dance”, as it were) in front of the Cathedral and Our Lady of the Pillar, in reparation for the blasphemy.

I’m not sure if this video will work. Try refreshing if it doesn’t at first. I got it to work.

If memory serves, the Spanish and Catalans would dance the jota after Sunday Mass in the square before their churches. There is a scene in that mighty font, the great Aubrey/Maturin series. Stephen speaks of it in The Commodore. I think he also does it in another book

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged , , ,
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Mega-Masses and too many Hosts

Posted on 20 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

2013 WYD

I’m on the record as being, at the very least, skeptical about big outdoor Masses where throngs of people are expected to receive Holy Communion (no matter who they are).   There are… problems that arise from these expectations.

One problem: Too many Hosts.  What to do?

One solution has been to send them to local churches for eventual distribution to the faithful.   I believe it was in Washington for a Mass with John Paul II that unconsumed sacred Hosts were sent off in, well, garbage bags.

In any event, in my messages today I received word of a situation following the Holy Father’s visit to South America.

Apparently, one religious house in Trujillo now has 100,000 consecrated Hosts from the Pope’s Mass that they are to distribute.

I seems that the actual attendance was just a little bit off from what was expected.

At one point you would think that someone, looking out at the much smaller than anticipated crowd, would have said, “Gee.  Maybe we should remove some of these ciboria?”

So.  Mega-Masses.  You decide.

 

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The State v. Self-Reliance

Posted on 20 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I nearly missed an email note from a reader (because he didn’t use the contact form) which had a semi-jocular solution to mass shooting attacks on schools.

“Our solution to the school shooter crisis is Universal Mandatory Home Schooling!”

Okay. I guess if your child is being home-schooled, then she isn’t going to be in the school where the madman attacks.

Of course not every family is in a position to school their children well. “Well”, being the key.

On the other hand, this does bring a few questions to the fore.

Have we gotten to the point where we rely on the State for far too much? Where is self-reliance, personal responsibility? It can be argued that, for example, state schools free us up to do other things and provide a minimum level of education. However, it also seems to me that huge damage has been done to the entire nation through a decades long systematic bending of young minds with liberal and atheist agendas.

Just compare the exams (expectations) of grade school students in this decade with those of yesteryear. Take a look at a story about an 8th grade exam from 1912. HERE and HERE  They didn’t have fancy gizmos then. They had simple books, chalk, and a board… and expectations.

So, where’s the benefit from the big State-run schools these days? Students can learn about 57 different self-defined genders, but not much about history… of anything. And we know what happens when history is unknown or ignored.

Are there ways in which we can be more self-reliant, especially in the education of children?   I have in mind in particular religious education.  Parents are the first educators of their children.  Every other resource has to be an aid to parents, not a substitution.

I’m sure that many of you who have raised offspring have some view on this.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Semper Paratus, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged
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Attacks on the family

Posted on 19 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sr. Lucia said that Satan’s great battle is against the family.

Now listen to this.  Please, people, try to think. NB especially about 4:00. Family as the “final bulwark”.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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My View For Awhile: Capital Edition

Posted on 19 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

After Holy Mass, I dashed to the car and zoomed to not too distant Milwaukee’s aerodrome. I’m off for a quick assault on museums of the nation’s capital and for meetings with a priest and lay people about an upcoming pilgrimage which is being organized.

I like this “Recombobulation Area” after security.

You’ve gotta have a sense of humor in traveling these days.

Ah the perks…

Here we go again. Inevitably in the premium boarding process there are those who would trample new born puppies to get onboard before you. They invariably have headphones. Often they wind up getting stuck on the jet bridge 3 passengers in front of you. It is mildly amusing when their bag doesn’t fit in the overhead and, like guy who chosen too high a seat at the banquet must seek the “pink tag”.

UPDATE

For a dear friend, about to enter a new phase.

Meanwhile… just so that everyone knows….

I contacted the people at the Shrine about saying Mass.  Everything was cordial and happy and accommodating…. then I mentioned “Extraordinary Form”.

That’s when the chill and obstacles began.

I was told that to say the Extraordinary Form at the National Shrine, special permission was required from The Rector..

Special permission.  I waited for a response.  Nothing.

Let me be clear that the very nice person I spoke to by phone when trying to figure this out is in no way to blame.  She was extremely gracious.

Never mind that Summorum Pontificum is LAW for over a decade.  Never mind Pope Francis’ concessions to the SSPX.  Never mind everything else, including mere hospitality!   Apparently, the if you want the older form of Mass at the Shrine…  this is the Rector’s shrine and “those people” it seems… well…

St. Peter’s Basilica? No problem.  The Rector’s Basilica?  Keep moving.

So many altars.  Nothing going on at any of them, even though they weren’t built for mere decoration.

Everything was all sweetness and welcome… then I mentioned the Extraordinary Form.

So, my visit to the National Shrine with my friends was great, but tinged with real sorrow.  I walked around in the Basilica with that cloud over my head, asking Mary to help.

It has been hard to be treated so shabbily by stingy priests for so many years.  But that’s the deck we have been dealt.

Those of us who still want what John Paul II called “legitimate aspirations” are sent to the back of the bus.

They can do whatever the hell they want, but those who have “legitimate aspirations” must make sure that they aren’t in town at sundown… or else.

We don’t need your kind ’round here.

 

Posted in On the road, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged
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Books for boys. Suggested titles and an additional point.

Posted on 19 February 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At Crisis there is a good post about

10 Books That Every Boy Should Hazard

I warmly approve his use of “hazard”. Thank you.   He signals the spirit of this list in a word.

The writer, Sean Fitzpatrick, explains:

Thanks to the adulterators of children’s literature, the natural anticipations when approaching forgotten classics have been skewed. Everyone expects that everything will be picturesque, nice, and most importantly, safe. For reality is far too dangerous, far too harsh a thing, and children must be protected from it at all costs. Real stories for real boys, however, refuse to deliver saccharine platitudes. These books are composed of the uncanny, unforeseeable, and unimaginable. They present a reality that is often harsh, terrible, and so far from the idyllic it is free to become adventure. The books every boy should hazard are constantly on the brink of disaster, but still bear the distant but firm promise of final resolution; deftly navigating the fine line between realism and romance—requiring caution.

The books he recommended.

I. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 14-16

Perhaps the mighty Aubrey/Maturin series when they are a bit older.

II. Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 10-14

III. Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 13-15

IV. The Chimes by Charles Dickens

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 15-17

V. The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 15-17

VI. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 14-16

VII. The Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 12-14

VIII. The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 14-16

IX. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope

US HERE – UK HERE

Recommended Age: 14-16

X. The Persian Expedition by Xenophon

US HERE – UK HERE

This one surprised me.  However, I can see why he included it.  As he described: It’s a manual for leadership.

Recommended Age: 15-17

So, those are the books that are recommended in the Crisis piece. You can see more about them over there.

I would add a question and a proposal.

So…. Kindle or a book?   Perhaps a combination of both.   There’s nothing like a real book. But the Kindle makes it easy to read on the fly, and the books don’t gather dust.

In addition to finding books for boys of that age, might I suggest also some effort to read aloud?

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