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{]:¬)

ACTION ITEM! Help with a liberal ‘c’atholic survey!

Posted on 3 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ACTION ITEM!

One of our regular readers here brought this to my attention.

I alert you to a survey put out by some folks who seem to want 1975 back.

You might want to help them people with their survey! They sent it out to their – say – half a dozen readers. I think we can do better. I hope that thousands of you will jump in.

The American Catholic Council… remember them? (click HERE)… wants your views. They write:

Pope Francis is offering all of us new hope in our beloved Church and he has called out many times for “dialogue, dialogue…” Some have called this the “Francis Revolution” because he is turning all expectations upside down. The American Catholic Council is joining this revolution in an active way and we invite you to help us discern the best way for all of us to engage and support the grassroots in creating change along with Francis.

We invite you to fill out our very short survey as a next step in our mission to support you and your dreams to change the Church. Toward that end, we hope you will also send this invitation and survey to a half dozen of your friends so that we can collaborate widely on planning next steps. Together, no matter how big our dream is, we can achieve much!

Survey will close on Monday, May 12th at noon EDT
Summary of results will be in the next ACC newsletter

If that survey doesn’t come up for you with the link, above, try HERE and then look for the link.

Here are my answers (numbered questions first):

1. We are interested in what it means to YOU to be Catholic in 2014, your vision of the Church. Francis gets a lot of media attention, what if there were a lot of positive buzz about your local Catholic community? If a 60 Minutes reporter visited your ideal local Catholic community, what three things would grab his/her attention and be a part of the story told on television? ( the answer boxes will expand to accommodate whatever you write)

Full, joyous active participation in Holy Mass celebrated according to the pre-Conciliar Missal, in Latin, with many young families and children in attendance.
Preaching that is completely faithful to traditional, official teaching of the Church as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
All male service during liturgy, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, many lay groups and evening activities, the new Communion rail

2. Try a thought experiment: Imagine it is one year from today and there is trouble in your diocese and people are in the streets. Look back: what happened that woke them up and got them into action? Name three things. Please be as specific as possible (the answer boxes will expand to accommodate whatever you want to write)

The full effect of ObamaCare kicks in and many people are without jobs, the economy is tanking, the crime rate is soaring because of unemployment among the young. They request more traditional devotions from their pastors, such as public recitation of the Rosary, processions to ask God’s blessings and forgiveness for to being faithful.
People finally tire of the same old liberal rubbish from liberal priests and nuns who can’t seem to realize that the 60’s are over. They begin to volunteer in parishes to put in more statues, remove the potted plants, mauve carpets, big puppets and install Communion rails and ad orientem altars.
After numerous attacks on the local bishop in the newspapers and other media, people cancel their subscriptions and begin writing letters to the editors and then increase their donations to the bishops fund for conservative seminarians.

You see, in the second point they are looking for things that interest their base enough that they – the half-dozen or so – might go out and protest. You know, relive the 60’s.

Help them out!

This is what my friend wrote for responses:

Great number of devoutly celebrated Masses in the Extraordinary Form (Latin)
Long lines several times a week when Father is hearing confessions
Large number of healthy, intact families with 5, 7, 10 children – parents who fully embrace and live the Church’s teaching on life and sexuality

ad secundum:

People actually realized that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ and took to the streets on Corpus Christi to celebrate that fact
Obama’s HHS mandate takes full effect, requiring Catholic institutions to act against our beliefs. Catholics take to the streets to protest this assault on our religious liberty
The LCWR finally accepts and embraces the reforms of the Council. Habits, common life, orthodoxy, and sanity return. People take to the streets cheering!

Take a few minutes and help them out. Talk about it at home and over coffee and doughnuts at church. Forward it to your friends. Come up with some ideas.

¡Hagan lío!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Liberals, Lighter fare, Linking Back | Tagged ¡Hagan lío!, American Catholic Council, Biological Solution, liberals, survey
39 Comments

Bp Campbell’s Press Release: “I have not closed down Protect the Pope.” ACTION ITEM!

Posted on 2 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ACTION ITEM BELOW!

Take a second and click HERE.

Over the last few weeks we have watched the developing circumstances surrounding the blog Protect The Pope, run by an English permanent deacon, and the Diocese of Lancaster. HERE Most recently I posted: A bishop kills a deacon’s Catholic blog

The Bishop of Lancaster has made a statement through a press release. In fairness to him, I must post it too. With my emphases and comments.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE BISHOP OF LANCASTER

Bishop Campbell did not close down Protect the Pope [NB: It doesn’t bury the lead!]

BEGINS:

‘Back in 2010 Deacon Nick Donnelly set up the Protect the Pope website/blog, as a direct response to the campaign of hostility and ridicule from sections of the media and lobby groups against Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI’s historic visit to the UK in September of that year.

Protect the Pope was particularly successful at this time in articulating a strong defence of the Petrine Office, the Catholic Church, and its teachings against certain secularist and anti-Catholic activists. In the last couple of years, however, Protect the Pope appears to have shifted its objective from a defence of Church teaching from those outside the Church to alleged internal dissent within the Church. With this shift, Protect the Pope has come to see itself as a ‘doctrinal watchdog’ over the writings and sayings of individuals, that is, of bishops, clergy and theologians in England & Wales and throughout the Catholic world.

Protect the Pope makes it clear that the site is a private initiative and is in no way officially affiliated with the Diocese of Lancaster. The fact, however, that its creator and author is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Lancaster and holding some responsibility here fosters in the minds of some people that Deacon Nick Donnelly is somehow reporting the views of the Diocese. [“Some people”? Really? It does? I’ve been at this for a while now and I don’t see that happen. Who takes the writings of a clerical blogger as if they were the official statements of the diocese? Unless, perhaps, the blogger is the diocesan bishop, and there are a few of those.]

It is my view that bishops, priests and deacons of the Church – ordained and ‘public’ persons – are free to express themselves and their personal views, but never in a way that divides the community of the Church i.e. through ad hominem and personal challenges. [Such as tossing out lines like “Repent!” or personal remarks like the Seven Woes, e.g., “Woe to you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!”. Not challenging at all. Cf. Matthew 23. Or “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.” Nothing divisive there. Look, it has been long day and I am just riffing on a theme. ] Increasingly I have felt that Protect the Pope, authored as it is by a public person holding ecclesiastical office (an ordained deacon), has, at times, taken this approach its own posts – but has also allowed for this by facilitating those who comment online.

I note that Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, speaking at a media conference in Rome on 29 April, said: “We adhere to the best and highest standards”—indicating that this doesn’t only pertain to the latest in technological advancements which are “critically important,” but also to “the way we use that technology,” because “how we say something is just as important as what we say.”

Cardinal Dolan also noted the importance of never caricaturing or stereotyping those who oppose the Magisterium. He exhorted that even when confronted with those who attempt to distort what the Church says, or who issue “mean, vicious, and outward attacks,” we must “always respond in charity and love.”

On several occasions, I asked Deacon Nick, through my staff, for Protect the Pope to continue its good work in promoting and teaching the Catholic Faith, but to be careful not to take on individuals in the Church of opposing views through ad hominem and personal challenges. [The blogosphere hardly works that way. This isn’t a game of jacks, but… okay.] Unfortunately, this was not taken on board. Consequently, as a last resort, on 3 March 2014 and in a personal meeting with Deacon Nick Donnelly, I requested, as his Diocesan Ordinary, that Deacon Nick ‘pause’ all posting on the Protect the Pope website so as to allow for a period of prayer and reflection upon his position as an ordained cleric with regards to Protect the Pope and his own duties towards unity, truth and charity. The fact that this decision and our personal dialogue was made public on the Protect the Pope site and then misinterpreted by third parties is a matter of great regret. In fact, new posts continued on the site after this date – the site being handed over and administered/moderated in this period by Deacon Nick’s wife Martina. [Who isn’t a deacon.]

On 13 April 2014 Deacon Nick requested in writing that he be allowed to resume posting again from the date: Monday 21 April 2014. I did not accept this request as the period of discernment had not yet concluded. Again, the fact that this decision was forced, misinterpreted and then released publicly on the site – and miscommunicated by certain media outlets and blogs – claiming that I had effectively ‘closed’, ‘supressed’ or ‘gagged’ Protect the Pope was regrettable and does not represent the truth of this situation. To be clear: I have not closed down Protect the Pope. [NB]

I am certainly aware of the need of the Church and the Diocese of Lancaster to engage positively with the new media, social media, blogs, and the internet for the sake of spreading the Gospel to the people of our age. Indeed, our Diocese has a good track record of such engagement in reaching out to a much wider audience through our active use of the new communication technologies. I have a weekly blog myself. [Ah! Let’s go see! HERE ACTION ITEM! Dear readers, do click there and visit the bishop’s blog. I am sure that someone is watching his statistics for him.]

I am, of course, also conscious, that no bishop can ever ‘close down’ or suppress blogs and websites – such a claim would be absurd. [Yes. It would be.] Bishops can and must, however, be faithful to their apostolic duty to preserve the unity of the Church in the service of the Truth. They must ensure that ordained clergy under their care serve that unity in close communion with them and through the gift of their public office: preaching the Truth always – but always in love.’

ENDS
There will be no further comment from the Diocese of Lancaster on this matter.

+Michael G Campbell OSA
Bishop of Lancaster 2 May 2014

God Bless Bishop Campbell in difficult mandate as one of the successors of the Apostles. We all know that bishops now, more than ever, need the support of prayer.

ACTION ITEM!

The bishop does not have a combox open, but you can go spike his statistics. It might be a good idea to show him that it is possible to reach a lot of people.

Whaddy say? Take a second. Click HERE.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Linking Back, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill | Tagged D. Lancaster, Dcn. Nick Donnelly, Protect The Pope
36 Comments

Venice Day 9 – Of St. Athanasius and risotto

Posted on 2 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This morning we had our Mass at Santo Stefano, quite beautiful though dark on this dark, gray, rainy day.

Some Tintoretto… you know… same ol’…

Okay, forget about the Tintoretto. It poured incessantly for the whole morning and way into the afternoon. Thus, we parked at a great restaurant near La Fenice and settled into to enjoy various courses and wait out rain and the lightening and the splitting thunder.

This risotto of herbs and mazzancolle has raised the bar a notch for me.

The view. This is one of the moments when the tourists couldn’t stand it. They all headed for cover. There are few things I detest more than walking around in the rain. No, seriously. Few.

The rain let up, however, and we dashed over to San Zaccaria. The body of the father of St. John the Baptist is here (lower) and the body of St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor, is above. Today is his feast day in both the new and the traditional calendar. I had to visit.

I said a prayer for readers of this blog while at the body of this courageous defender of the orthodox Catholic Faith. We must be inspired by him.

BTW… I will again say Mass for my benefactors when I return to Rome.

In San Zaccaria you find a main altar with these spiffy walls about it. I would very much like to build a church with one of these!

Another view of the tombs of the saints.

Across the way is a lovely Bellini. Not the drink.

I spotted this in a window of a pastry shop. Everything from mushrooms to mussels, sea bass to squid… all marzipan!

And nearby a €16K watch. I’ll take three, please.

Seriously… what does one do with a watch like this other than gaze at it in a dark cave while dodging orcs?

Posted in On the road, Our Catholic Identity, Patristiblogging, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged St. Athanasius, Venice
17 Comments

NRO on Holy Innocents in Manhattan

Posted on 2 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Those of you who watch the Catholic blogsophere closely may have seen items about the closing of Holy Innocents Church in midtown Manhattan in New York City.

I have written about Holy Innocents, a wonderful place, many times. HERE and especially HERE.

From what I can tell, Holy Innocents is a place where the New Evangelization is actually succeeding, and in its unique way! New Evangelization meets Summorum Pontificum. It is the perfect combination, and it is working. Over the year Mass attendance has been steadily climbing. There is constant traffic in and out of this church as a spiritual oasis. It’s location is ideal. Beautiful things occur at this church.

NB: I understand that the list of churches that has been circulated is a recommendation. This is not the official, final list. Again, I understand that it is only recommended that Holy Innocents and St. Michael’s (where Fr. Rutler is now, after his transfer away from Our Savior) be closed.

That said, I saw an article at National Review Online (my emphases):

Save the Tridentine Mass, or, ‘These Little-Town Blues’

By Michael Potemra

Living in a global metropolis such as New York has its drawbacks, to be sure. But one of the key reasons so many of us choose to do it anyway is that we love being in a place where so many cultural riches are so readily available. Everyone knows about the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera, and the plethora of arthouse movie theaters where films from the whole world are on display (I would contend that for cinema lovers — as opposed to people in the movie business — Manhattan is better than Los Angeles).

But what few people from outside of New York realize is that this city also has an amazing diversity when it comes to the religious aspect of culture. For pretty much whatever religion you want to practice, you can find a house of worship here. And when it comes to Christianity specifically, just about every branch of every denomination has an outpost. It will comes as a further surprise to many that, within Protestantism, it is the conservative NYC churches that attract the largest crowds on Sunday. In many ways, the city conforms to its stereotype of Babylon-on-the-Hudson; but that’s far from the whole story of what goes on here.

This, as I said, is an important part of what makes many of us want to live here. So it was with a heavy heart that I learned that the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New York is considering going “small-time” — and closing one of the few parishes in the world that offers the pre-Vatican II Catholic Mass every day. According to this report, the archdiocese is considering closing Holy Innocents Church on West 37th Street.

I am — as NRO comboxers would hasten to point out — the farthest thing imaginable from a “Traditionalist Catholic.” But I have been been enriched by the Tridentine Mass at Holy Innocents — a Mass that, not incidentally, attracts an appreciable number of worshipers for a weekday service. But whether you are a Traditionalist Catholic, or a Catholic of any sort, or just someone who believes in the culturally conservative project of preserving one of mankind’s richest spiritual traditions, I urge you to contact the archdiocese at communications@archny.org. Let them know you oppose this parish closure — and that, at the very least, if the parish closure turns out to be unavoidable, whatever local parish Holy Innocents is folded into should continue offering the daily Tridentine Mass. It’s a beautiful thing, and there’s support for it, and if it doesn’t exist in what St. John Paul II called the Capital of the World, where can it exist?

NB: I did not know, before reading this report, that Eugene O’Neill, probably America’s greatest playwright, was baptized at Holy Innocents. He, too, was far from being a Traditionalist Catholic. One writer described O’Neill’s approach to faith as follows:

In Long Day’s Journey, Tyrone tells Edmund that he has the makings of a poet. “No, I’m afraid I’m like the guy who is always panhandling for a smoke,” the son replies. “He hasn’t even got the makings. He’s only got the habit.” The same could be said about O’Neill’s Catholicism. He turned his back on it as a creed and practice, but its habits of mind and thought stayed with him. His is a Christianity for a post-religious age. The human condition of sinfulness still applies, and man must still pass through the cross if he hopes to reach the resurrection.

In other words, he was a rebellious son of Holy Innocents, but no less a son for that. St. Eugene, help us keep the Iceman away from this priceless Manhattan institution.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Be The Maquis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, New Evangelization, O'Brian Tags, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM, The Drill, The Olympian Middle | Tagged Archd. of New York, Holy Innocents, Manhattan, New York City
34 Comments

Google and ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ ads

Posted on 2 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Left and entities that push evil agendas will increasingly use bullying tactics and threats to silence all opposition, especially concerning Faith and morals.

From LifeSite:

Planned Parenthood ad shows up prominently in Google search for ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, May 1, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – NARAL Pro-Choice America recently boasted that Google had taken down “deceptive” ads from crisis pregnancy centers allegedly posing as abortion providers. However, a Google search for “crisis pregnancy center” returned a Google ad for an unexpected business: Planned Parenthood.

The nation’s largest abortion provider ranked number three in the ads displayed during a search for crisis pregnancy centers, the pro-life centers that help young women get the medical and economic assistance they need to help them keep their babies.

The ad shows the words “Crisis Pregnancy Center,” followed by the URL “PlannedParenthood.org.” “Learn about pregnancy care and your options,” reads the descriptor text.

Planned Parenthood has been harshly critical of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), dedicating an entire webpage to attacking its pro-life competitors. “Deciding what to do about an unplanned pregnancy can be very difficult. It may be made even more difficult by so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers,’” Planned Parenthood writes. “These are fake clinics run by people who are anti-abortion.”

The abortion giant warns these centers “may not give you complete and correct information about all your options — abortion, adoption, and parenting.” It also states that CPCs “may try to frighten you with misleading films and pictures to keep you from choosing abortion,” and “may lie to you about the medical and emotional effects of abortion.”

“These fake clinics often trick women with false advertising,” Planned Parenthood complained.

It is unclear why the billion dollar organization, which performed 327,166 abortions in 2012, would want to be confused with the humble, often volunteer-led organizations that refuse to perform or refer women for terminations of pregnancy.

A spokesperson for Google did not respond to LifeSiteNews’s question about whether the company considers the Planned Parenthood ad “deceptive,” or whether the case is comparable to the pro-life pregnancy center ads the company has reportedly blocked.

[…]

Read the rest there.

Posted in Dogs and Fleas, Emanations from Penumbras, Liberals, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged abortion, google, Planned Parenthood, pregnancy
15 Comments

Venice Day 8 – Of Moses and Sardines

Posted on 1 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This morning I said Mass for us at San Moisè, which is convenient for the hotel. The sacristan is wonderful. He is as helpful and friendly as (most) Roman sacristan are… not. He was also interested in the older, traditional for of Mass, and stayed to participate.

Our altar, with a Tintorretto.

Tomorrow is the Feast of St Athanasius, whose body is here in Venice. I will stop at the church later to see if I can have his altar for Mass sometime during the day.

Meanwhile, here is a great food arrangement I saw.

A cruise ship was passing by S M della Salute.

For lunch I started with Sarde in saor. Yum.

Then…

A visit to S M del Rosario… once a Dominican church, decorated by Tiepolo and Jacopo Tintoretto.

This is magnificent.

This would be in an illustrated dictionary under “piety”.

Then to the Accademia.

Some power sitting and a Campari.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged sarde in saor, Venice
4 Comments

Catholic pro-marriage speech repressed at Notre Dame

Posted on 1 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

More news from the school that gave the most aggressive anti-Catholic pro-abortion politician we have probably ever seen an honorary doctorate in law (of all things).

From the TFP site:

Young Catholics Not Welcome at the University of Notre Dame
By Peter Miller
April 29, 2014
Officials at the University of Notre Dame revoke permission for pro-marriage table, tell young Catholics to “cease and desist” promoting natural marriage on campus.

Sound Bend, Indiana: April 29, 2014 — Young volunteers with Tradition Family Property Student Action were ordered to “cease and desist” promoting traditional marriage at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, April 25.

“Permission to have a table had been granted through an officially recognized on-campus student group,” said TFP Student Action director John Ritchie. “But that permission was revoked for some odd reason. Police officers arrived soon after we started giving out pro-family literature and cut the event short, informing us that we were no longer welcome to talk to students about the importance of preserving the sanctity of marriage between 1 man and 1 woman, which fully agrees with 2,000 years of Catholic teaching,” Ritchie explained.

The TFP handout, 10 Reasons Why Same-Sex “Marriage” is Harmful and Must Be Opposed, was being warmly received by students and faculty members alike. However, several pro-homosexual students ripped up the flier, shouted obscenities, and expressed their desire to deprive the pro-true marriage volunteers of their right to free speech.

[…]

Read the rest there and find links.

Posted in Be The Maquis, Liberals, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, The Olympian Middle | Tagged homosexuals, marriage, Notre Dame, Notre Shame
33 Comments

Fishwrap piece reveals a dilemma for the ‘c’atholic Left

Posted on 1 May 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is great!

One of the perks of being on the road and having a semi-vacation from reading the interwebs and posting a lot is that I haven’t seen the National Schismatic Reporter very often. Today, however, something from Fishwrappy NSR came across my radar screen and nearly made me laugh out loud.

Fishwrap has a columnist whom we have seen before, Jamie Manson. She outdid herself this time. You can always count on her. She was the first over there to confirm my prediction that the catholic Left will turn on Pope Francis.

Now this. As usual it takes Jamie forever to get to her point, but eventually she slogs up to it, sometimes with readers in tow:

A step forward for married men is a giant step backward for women

Earlier this month, yet another stunning headline came out of the Vatican.
“Pope says married men could be ordained — if world’s bishops agree,” read The Tablet of London. [I wonder if that was written by The Tablet’s former Rome guy, Robert Mickens.]

But this latest news did not come directly from the mouth of Pope Francis. [Of course it didn’t] The message was relayed by Bishop Erwin Kräutler of the Xingu diocese in the Brazilian rainforest. [Yah… and therefore it is reliable. Right?] In an interview with the Salzburger Nachrichten, Kräutler, an Austrian-born priest who has served as bishop of Xingu since 1981, said Francis showed openness to ordaining married men, or viri probati.

Kräutler claimed that during a private audience with Francis, “the Pope explained that he could not take everything in hand personally from Rome. We local bishops, who are best acquainted with the needs of our faithful, should be corajudos, that is ‘courageous’ in Spanish, and make concrete suggestions.”

The term viri probati comes from the Latin “viri,” meaning “men,” and “probati,” meaning “proven” or “tested.” And though the phrase has circulated within the church since the first century, the exact nature of the test that will prove these men worthy of the priesthood has yet to be formally developed or articulated.

[Here we go!] As we begin to imagine who might be welcomed into this widened priesthood, it is important to remain realistic about the kind of men the church will seek. “Viri probati” will very likely be married men who have exhibited a strict adherence to official church teaching. [Get that? In bizarro-Fishwrap world there is “official” teaching and there is the, according to them, real, authentic spirit-inspired teaching which basically reflects there own notions and appetites. “Official” is bad, by the way.]

And if that is the case, what will this mean for the men who left the priesthood but continued to exercise their priestly ministry through small house churches or intentional communities? [Nothing. But note the use of “house churches”, as if they were in any way legitimate. This seeks to use imagery from the ancient Church to legitimize chaos, heresy, etc.] Since they continued to perform what the institutional church views as “valid but not licit” eucharistic celebrations, will they qualify as “proven” men? [Unlikely.] What about former priests who have associated with [Wait for it!] organizations that advocate for women’s ordination, same-sex marriage or the use of contraceptives? Could they ever be welcomed back into the fold? [Jamie’s projects of special interest.]

Is it possible that the hierarchy could disqualify a former priest simply because, decades ago, he willingly chose to break his promises to the church in order to marry the woman he loved? Will church leaders prefer instead to start with a “clean slate” of men who either are already ordained deacons or who have not previously been ordained? Those men might be seen as coming to the priesthood with less baggage for vocations directors to examine. [Sounds pretty grim, no?]

The most important question that arises out of the debate over the viri probati, of course, is how it will affect the ongoing struggle for the genuine equality of women in the Roman Catholic church. [We do not, of course, accept her twisted premise. Women are equal in the Church now.]

The admittance of married men into the priesthood could present a serious impediment to those who seek the full inclusion of women in church leadership. Why? Because lifting the ban on married male clergy could serve a dual purpose: It would take the edge off the priest shortage while recruiting married men who fully support the ban on women priests. [How this must gripe them! the Left dearly yearns for cracks in the structure, but there may be other … consequences for there agenda that they don’t like!]

Pope Francis has been clear in his belief about traditional gender roles, particularly the idea that women, by the nature of God’s design, are not entitled to equal authority in the church. [The language here is both whiny and manipulative.]

[…]

If you can stand it, read the rest there. It is a workshop in Left-think.

The Left is in a hard spot. They are all “Rah! Rah!” for Francis now. Wait a while longer. When he starts to affirm things they want overturned, they will turn on him.

Posted in Francis, Liberals, One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood, Sin That Cries To Heaven, The Drill, Throwing a Nutty | Tagged Jamie Manson, marriage, Pope Francis, priesthood, viri probati
15 Comments

Card. Arinze has done it again. VIDEO

Posted on 30 April 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The great Francis Card. Arinze, titular Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni, has spoken out with his classic clarity.

To wit, check Life News:

April 29, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The question of whether Catholic politicians who support abortion should receive or be denied Holy Communion has been a source of contentious debate amongst many bishops and theologians. But according to one of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals, the answer to the question is so simple that even schoolchildren intuitively know it.

In an exclusive video interview with LifeSiteNews.com this week, Cardinal Francis Arinze observed that he is often asked about pro-abortion Catholic politicians and Holy Communion. “Do you really need a cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?” the cardinal said he tells his questioners. “Is that really a difficult question?”

Instead, says Arinze, he suggests that people who are confused about the issue should go ask a class of children preparing for their First Communion.

“Explain it to them,” he said. “They will ask you, ‘What is abortion?’ Don’t use euphemism. Tell them what it is. It is killing a child not yet born in the mother’s womb. And then tell them if a person is for that, and says that he will continue to support the killing of such children, should such a person receive Holy Communion?”

The cardinal said that one parish priest told him he tested this out on a First Communion class, and they all responded, “No, he should not!”

“These children did not study dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of America or at the Gregorian university in Rome,” said Arinze. “And they saw immediately that killing an unborn child is wrong!”

[…]

I say, such people should not be allow to receive Holy Communion.

I have good company.

Holy Church says so too.

Canon 915.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDw1fV5fJ9s&feature=player_embedded

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, 1983 CIC can. 915, Emanations from Penumbras, Hard-Identity Catholicism, New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged abortion, can. 915, Card. Arinze, pro-abortion
17 Comments

A bishop kills a deacon’s Catholic blog

Posted on 30 April 2014 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

This is rather sad news.

We have seen what happened between an English permanent deacon and his diocesan bishop over the deacon’s blog.

Now this:

Bishop Michael Campbell effectively closes Protect the Pope

BY M DONNELLY, ON APRIL 29TH, 2014

It is with sorrow that I am writing to let you know that Bishop Campbell, the Bishop of Lancaster, has refused Nick’s request to resume news posting on Protect the Pope. Bishop Campbell has also stated that he does not want anyone posting on Protect the Pope on Nick’s behalf. [Let me know if a new blog is started. Seriously.]

Although I have been news posting on my own behalf on the site, I now feel unable to continue.

Protect the Pope will close as a news service on Sunday 4^th May, the Feast of the English Martyrs to allow a short period for readers of Protect the Pope to say goodbye to each other.

Thank you (on my own behalf) for all the prayers, support and help we have received.

Please continue to pray for our Bishop.

Were another blog to start, and were I alerted to the fact, I might be persuaded to mention on my own electronic pages.

I’m just sayin’