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{]:¬)

In the wake of the big storms: Prayers of THANKSGIVING!

Posted on 14 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In the wake of hurricane IRMA, many have written to say that they are well.

My mother and her friends are fine.

I advocated prayers before the storm.

Now I recommend prayers of thanksgiving after the storm.

From a priest…

I am a priest in Wauchula Florida. I saw your post about the
Procession to Avert Tempests and we did exactly that along with Holy Mass, Adoration, and Confessions the day before the storm hit. Thanks be to God, there was no real damage to any parishioners or the Church. Thank you for posting that because I am sure that God greatly protected us from Irma’s wrath. God bless you and your apostolate.

Thanks be to God, indeed Father.

Have your people kneel down and say prayers of thanksgiving for God’s blessings.

Let there be sung Non Nobis and Te Deum.

Be the 10th Leper.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Non Nobis and Te Deum | Tagged hurricanes, storms, Te Deum
4 Comments

MADISON – 14 Sept: PONTIFICAL MASS AT THE THRONE

Posted on 14 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today in Madison, WI, His Excellency Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, the Extraordinary Ordinary, will celebrate Holy Mass in the Roman Rite’s greatest form, at the Throne in the Vetus Ordo.

Mass begins at 5PM at the chapel of Holy Name Heights (once Bishop O’Conner Center). 702 S. High Point Road – Madison, WI.

All are welcome.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
2 Comments

Rome – Day 3: Summorum Pontificum 10 Years ONWARD!

Posted on 14 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’m in the hall at the Angelicum for the day conference on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum going into effect.

As we start… in one view Martin Mosebach, Cardinals Burke and Müller.

The place is packed.

So we start.

Archbp. Pozzo gave a good talk. He included stats about the growth of the use the Vetus Ordo over the last 10 years, without the SSPX and occasional. One thing that stood out were the numbers for the USA. And yet at this conference the is not a single American voice scheduled. Once again, it is Eurocentric. Pozzo said that in Columbia in 2007 there were 5 Masses available for Sunday.. Now there are 40. Small but good growth. In France there were 104 which grew to 221. Italy 30 to 56. In USA 230-480.

Might there have been some American presence?

BREAK

UPDATE:

With Archbp. Pozzo.

I shared my concern that, while we rightly praise the work of institutes set up under the umbrella of Ecclesia Dei, diocesan priests are the ones who really suffer and risk a lot to implement SP. Also, while the institutes, etc., do great work, the real gains will come when diocesan priests really dig in.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Burke listening to Cardinal Sarah. Does it get better than that?

With my old friend John Allen of CRUX. We are trying to figure out a lunch time.

On the way to church for Mass, I spotted this.

Well… okay!

Column of Trajan, old, but never gets old.

Our Lady Loretto.

More adventures tomorrow.

I really enjoyed talking to great people today, some readers of this blog and folks and allies whom I’ve know for years.

I need to absorb a couple good points from the day.

Everyone should know that there were people here from HONG KONG! I must seek them out. I would love to say Mass for them in Hong Kong.

There was also a representative from women religious from waaaaaaaay far north in northern SWEDEN. That’s cool. And we had a message from Catholics in Tanzania.

However, as far as the conference is concerned, I would have hoped that it was help at a center that was better suited for the crowd and the temperatures. It was terribly uncomfortable. They needed a place like the Augustininaum, with its state of art meeting place. That greatly diminished the day. Also, the lack of an American – South or North – was a terrible lacuna, bordering on, well, insulting. Europeans… the world doesn’t revolve around you in this thing we have going with SP.

The talks had some good points, but in the main there was nothing particularly electrifying. Card. M had some good side comments on issues concerning translations. Card. Sarah, at the very end, gave an insight about whether or not we should refer to ourselves as traditionalists or just as catholics. A canonist gave a great talk on legal issues, from the time of the first changes in 1965 to the present day: I learned a few things! Were it not for the horrid heat and uncomfortable locale, it would have gotten more than three stars for the day.

Still, what a great pleasure to be with so many good people.

And I am getting texts from the Diocese of the Extraordinary Ordinary! They are getting ready for the Pontifical Mass at the Throne!

WE ARE DOING IT!

Posted in On the road, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM
14 Comments

What Did Council Fathers REALLY Say About LATIN?

Posted on 14 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski wrote to me the other day to alert me to his post at NLM about the Second Vatican Council and the Latin language. It is MUST READ reading. HERE

A taste to get you in…

The documents were compromises, no doubt about it; the liberals did plan to leave them behind as soon as possible, like lower stages of a Saturn V aiming for the moon; the traditional elements in the documents are, by now, almost completely buried and forgotten; the Church is plentifully reaping the destructive results of rupture and discontinuity. All this is true. But it still gives us no carte blanche for rewriting the Council itself, unless we wish to be among those whose mouths will be stopped.

Therefore, it is surprising, to say the least, to find a recent document making such claims as the following:

[…]

Guess which brand new Motu Proprio on translations he quoted next?

How curiously unlike what one discovers poring through the great big volumes that contain the speeches of the Council Fathers — all those religious superiors, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals who spoke day after day in the opening session in 1962!

When reading their speeches on the liturgy schema, one is struck by how often they return to the subject of Latin. Even after repeated requests by the moderators to stop talking about it, the subject kept popping up.

[…]

He then provides – no doubt at the cost of long labor of retyping – many summaries of interventions of Council Fathers provided by Henri de Lubac.

This is a real service to all of us.

Thank you, Peter.

Posted in Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, The Drill | Tagged Latin, Peter Kwasniewski, Second Vatican Council, Vatican II
7 Comments

Rome – Day 2: Stoffa and nonsense

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

If I am of an early morning out and about, my standard “large” Roman breakfast…

Things you see when walking about.

Lovely little neighborhood Marian shrines. People take care of them.

I really enjoy the old “don’t be a litter bug” signs from “Monsignore Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Presidente delle Strade”. This is from 1 March 1741.

As you pass through side streets, look to the left and to the right.

Today in church I lit the four candles on the right on the upper part: parents, a friend, vocations for the diocese, and my benefactors.

Mass was celebrated for my benefactors. I remember all my donors and benefactors in my prayers. I’ll do this again for you while I am in Rome.

Kinda cool photo, shot by www.passioxp.com.

Last Gospel.

And flock of Dominicans invaded!

The other day, because of the rainfall, there was a little flood in the sacristy. Hence, some wag dug this out and put it up.

Supper was a riot, with all sorts of great (traditional) people.

Mortadella di cinghiale!

On the way home, the little chapel on the hill.

In another street, however, I spotted something interesting on the facade of this church. It has been obscured for some time with scaffolding. In Rome it is customary to put the coat of arms of the Pope above the doors of the church. Sometimes, if it also a cardinalatial church, the cardinal’s arms will be tacked up as well.

Here’s the stemma of Pope PIUS XI, still on this church, or newly put up. I guess they either didn’t get the memo, or they didn’t like the memo they got. I’ll try to get a better shot in the day light with a better camera.

Today I did lots of fabric and vestment stuff, for the “travel vestments”.

I have one donor and another potential donor. I have acquired all the fabric and made some decisions about trim. Now, the last thing to do is to turn in everything, hammer out the details, and then… pull the trigger.

Tomorrow, the conference for the Summorum Pontificum conference begins. This should be interesting.

I am already running into people I know. It’s great. I’ll see a lot more tomorrow.

Posted in On the road, The Feeder Feed |
7 Comments

Excerpt from a conference Card. Caffarra was slated to give

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At Rorate there is an extract from a text that the late, great – and already deeply missed – Carlo Card. Caffarra would have delivered to a conference in Milan on 10 Sept 2017.

Some time ago, there fell into my hands the text that he would have delivered to a conference in London in October 2017. The topic was to be “John Henry Newman and Moral Conscience”.

Here is an extract, in my translation:

On the morning of 12 May 1897, Newman received the official communication that Pope Leo XIII had created him a Cardinal, having received the proposal from many English lay people, in primis the Duke of Norfolk. Newman expressed his gratitude to the Holy Father with a brief discourse, which has passed into history as the “Biglietto Speech”.

The text is of extraordinary importance in order both to grasp wholly Newman’s spiritual journey, as well as to grasp his thought. I wanted that this marvelous text should conclude my reflection.

Giving an account of his life, he wrote:

For thirty, forty, fifty years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of liberalism in religion. … Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another, and this is the teaching which is gaining substance and force daily. It is inconsistent with any recognition of any religion, as true. It teaches that all are to be tolerated, for all are matters of opinion. … Men may go to Protestant Churches and to Catholic, may get good from both and belong to neither.”

It is in the liberal principle that Newman individuates the principle factor of the reduction of the conscience to a simple personal opinion, which nobody has the authority to judge.

Before this counterfeiting of conscience, what must we do? Newman’s response is the following:

“Christianity has been too often in what seemed deadly peril, that we should fear for it any new, trial now. So far is certain; on the other hand, what is uncertain, and in these great contests commonly is uncertain, and what is commonly a great surprise, when it is witnessed, is the particular mode by which, in the event, Providence rescues and saves His elect inheritance. … Commonly the Church has nothing more to do than to go on in her own proper duties, in confidence and peace; to stand still and to see the salvation of God….. Mansueti hereditabunt terram et delectabuntur in multitudine pacis … “The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace” (Ps 37:11).

Posted in The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged Card. Caffarra, John Henry Newman
6 Comments

ASK FATHER: Resources to explain Collects in parish bulletin.

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a deacon:

Let me begin by thanking you for your vocation and ministry. You have been a tremendous resource over these past few years, especially as I was in formation. The main reason I am emailing your today in light of a discussion I had with my pastor about the recent motu proprio. The priest I serve with dislikes the collects for all the reasons you have outlined and argued against for years. [What reasons are those?] Nonetheless, he said the people can’t understand the collects. I responded, let me write in the bulletin to explain the weekly collect. Here is the question, what are some resources I can use to explicate the collects? I just purchased Collects of the Roman Missals: A Comparative Study of the Sunday and and thinking of buying a book by Christopher Kiesling Before His majesty: A study of the spiritual doctrine in the Sunday orations of the Roman Missal (English and Latin Edition). [I don’t know that. I’ll put it on my list.] Do you recommend anything else?

Right now, while there is a great deal that can be said about each and every prayer, I think that the most accessible explanations are probably my own. I guess that means that I have to get those books out. Right? I project three volumes: Advent/Christmas cycle, Lent/Easter cycle, Ordinary Time.

Meanwhile, you can search up all sort of stuff on this blog using the search box on the sidebar.

That said, I don’t get the claim that people “can’t understand” the current ICEL translation. Dumb the translation down any more and, well, it would be insulting, just as it was insulting for decades before the new translation came into effect.

Anyone who wants to understand the prayers, will get something from them. Different people will gather different things from the content of the translated prayers according to their capacity, education and present concerns.

Another component is: How are they being proclaimed aloud?

If the priest has a facility with language (a think not automatically to be assumed), and his takes a little care to read them aloud thoughtfully, they are fine and comprehensible.

If many people can’t understand, perhaps Father could adjust his own style?

Also, even if a translation is little bit clunky – and they are not all clunky! not by a long shot! – that’s just fine with me. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE TRANSLATIONS! I don’t care if translations sound like translations. Let everyone remember that our worship should be in Latin. LATIN is the official language of prayer of the Latin Church, after all.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 |
8 Comments

“A Jesuit commenting on liturgy is like…”

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitic Reporter) contributors are wetting themselves – and each other – over the Motu Proprio Magnum principium, by which Pope Francis took part of the role in working up liturgical translations, etc., away from the Congregation for Divine Worship and made it more firmly the role of conferences of bishops.

The libs are really feeling their oats right now, no doubt. Reading them, you’d think that they’d received the 11th Avatar of Vishnu.

There are several rather sad offerings at Fishwrap, which have exaggerated the ramifications of the document somewhat.

The most risible of them must be that of Jesuit Thomas Reese who was so radical as editor of the Jesuit organ Amerika Magazine, that he got the heave-ho. He has been drifting from site to site ever since.

His premise is so dopey and, frankly, anti-Catholic, that I won’t give you any samples. You can go see for yourselves. HERE It’s an exercise in pure selfishness with a strong dash of malice. It’s not just that he clearly dislikes tradition, which is bad enough. He dislikes the people who want to be traditional.

Clement XIV, of happy memory

I will however observe that there is an old saying about people who are completely bumfuzzled, like fish out of water: Like a Jesuit during Holy Week.

Mind you, there are few exceptions, but they prove the rule by the great contrast they offer to their confreres.

This morning brought some other apt Jesuit v. liturgy comparisons to mind. These are from a couple of my pals, as they filled in the blank.

A Jesuit commenting on liturgy is like…

… Falstaff commenting on sobriety.
… a slave trader commenting on human rights.
… Judas commenting on loyalty.
… the KKK commenting on integration.
… Nero opining on religious liberty for Christians.
… Diocletian declaiming on the veneration of relics.
… Semiramis commenting on morality.

Ahhh Semiramis,…

“…that ancient queen who was the first person to castrate male youths of tender age”.

If you do go over there to read, put a dab of Vick’s under your nose before you click.

The moderation queue is ON.

Posted in Liberals, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged Magnum principium, Thomas Reese
22 Comments

St. Jerome named Patron Saint of the “Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center” @DLIFLC

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is for your Just Too Cool file.

I’ve been informed that the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center has made St. Jerome their patron. HERE

During a humble ceremony at the Presidio of Monterey Chapel Sept. 11, St. Jerome, who lived from 347 to 420, became inducted as the patron saint of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.

St. Jerome has been associated with writing, cataloging and translating works of history, biographies, and a biblical translation and is traditionally regarded as the most learned of the Latin Fathers. Therefore it is only fitting that he be chosen as the patron saint of linguists, according to Chaplain Maj. Chan Young Ham.

The tradition of patron saints as guardians over areas of life, to include occupations, dates back to as early as the fourth century. St. Michael, paratroopers, and St. Barbara, field artillery, are examples of military occupations that have previously inducted a patron saint.

I have a couple of friends who were sent there for language studies.

If they have a challenge coin, I’d be happy to make an exchange!

Posted in Just Too Cool, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged St. Jerome
5 Comments

Should a seminary headline a homosexualist activist as a speaker?

Posted on 13 September 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I’ve been made aware that Theological College in Washington DC, for their “Alumni Days” coming up in October, is scheduled to have homosexualist activist Jesuit Fr. James Martin as their speaker. HERE

Theological College is the National Seminary of Catholic University of America.

Does it seem right to you that a seminary should spotlight an open promotor of a homosexualist agenda?

Screenshot…

I’ll grant you that a speaker might be capable of addressing more issues than just his primary focus. But there is no way around the fact that, right now at least, when Fr. Martin’s name comes up, the first thing you think is activist for a homosexualist agenda.

I don’t get it.

If I were a bishop or an alumnus of Theological College, I’d have some questions.

What message are they trying to send?

What are they promoting by this move?

What are they teaching those seminarians?

The moderation queue is definitely ON.