QUAERITUR: Forcing people to pray “spontaneously”. (Turn the tables on ’em.)

Posted on 22 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a professed sisterly readerette:

Many teachers on our staff are involved with the Charismatic Movement, including our principal. At the end of our faculty meetings she goes around the table requiring each teacher to make a spontaneous prayer. I am not comfortable doing this and how could I politely “pass”?

Pass?!?  Why would you want to “pass”?   Have a little fun with this!

How about memorizing and then “spontaneously” reciting with true fervor the Loríca of St. Patrick?

It’s long, which will make them all uncomfortable, and the invocations will scare the grits and biscuits out of the liberals present as you go on and on and on.

Maybe even stand up and put your arms in the orans position as you recite.  Or even cruciform!

Be sure to include all the good bits which will make feminists squirm in self-conscious guilt:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Lorica of Saint Patrick
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

It’s also environmental and green!  The LCWR should recite this at every meeting…. but then a whole bunch of the members would then instantly be expelled from the room, wouldn’t they.

Forced spontaneous prayer… pfft.

Consult also the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum for those brief, spontaneous little prayers that are so helpful to dispose us to greater devotion along with spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Just Too Cool, Lighter fare | Tagged , , ,
40 Comments

Abuse by priests

Posted on 22 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I saw a great post about the motives of liturgical abuse at the blog Waiting For Godot To Leave (fun title).

Here is some of it.  See the rest there.  My emphases and comments:

The Precision of Abuse – Liturgical and Otherwise

Yesterday, on the road again, my actress and I attended a Vigil Mass somewhere in America. It was definitely America, though it may not have been a Mass.

The priest was a 70-something soft-spoken slow moving effeminate fellow, and the music was all the Bad Stuff, about a dozen of the worst “hymns” played over and over again on piano before Mass even started, kind of like an episode of The Twilight Zone where you’re trapped in an elevator with horrible “muzak” and nobody else trapped with you seems to mind or even notice.

The priest assured us in the homily that when Moses lifted his arms and God’s staff before the Israelites battling Amalek (Ex. 17:8-13), he was “giving them instructions on the battle,” showing them where to attack and where to draw back, and so forth. Far from being miraculous (which the text implies, the strength of Israel growing when the staff of God was raised and faltering when it was lowered), this was merely a natural event. Moses’ arms being held up in a cruciform manner by Aaron and Hur was not a foreshadowing of Christ (as I’ve heard) but just an example of people helping people, which is why we’re all here at Mass. Oh, and don’t forget to pray.

He talked a lot about prayer, eviscerating the rather shocking parable of the Importunate Widow and domesticating it so that we all understood the message: “Pray. And come to Mass to be with one another.”

Then, when the Liturgy of the Eucharist began, he not only improvised the “Pray, brothers and sisters” part (#29 here), but made up something that was wildly and strangely unrelated to anything I’d ever heard from the altar. No mention of “sacrifice” of course, but a totally ad-libbed thing that made no sense. So I figured I’d better follow along in the missal. And here’s what I noticed.

[NB] His liturgical abuse was not accidental and merely an expression of a kind of misplaced enthusiasm, but it was, like the sexual abuse scandal in the Church, very deliberate, specific and precise. [Get that?  It is, in some – many? – cases calculated.  It is predatory.  It preys on innocence and trust.  It twists what is good and true and beautiful.  It is psychologically unstable and immature.  It is probably not curable.  It must be extirpated.]

For despite his homily’s mundane emphasis on the need for prayer, every time the words “we pray” came up in the text, he deliberately skipped them. Every time Jesus was called the Son, he refused to say “son” and either skipped the words or made up something of his own. There were other patterns I noticed, and each was the result of a kind of careful forethought and deliberate planning: for he skipped only certain words and said only certain others. This man was no simple fool, carried away with a kind of “Spirit of Vatican II” sense of innovation. Soft spoken, harmless and dull as this priest seemed to be, he had an agenda and was exercising it.

Then we came to the words of consecration, almost nothing that came from his lips matched what was printed on the page.

[…]

A post like this makes me wonder about something.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to take a look at dioceses were liturgical abuse abounds unchecked over decades by bishops and then match that up with instances of other kinds of abuse?  I don’t know how one would go about studying such a thing, how one would collect statistics that are other than anecdotal.  But I have an inkling that something is there.

Putting that connection aside now, this post provides food for thought for the next time you hear some priest screwing around with the texts of Mass.  Sirens and flags should go off in your head.

Why is he screwing around with the texts?  Really, why?  What is his agenda?  What is he deliberately or systematically changing and why?

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Clerical Sexual Abuse, Liberals, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged ,
38 Comments

QUAERITUR: Sacraments for children at some different parish?

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

Can I arrange for my daughter to eventually attend catechism classes, and have First Communion and Confirmation in a parish outside of our geographical parish?

Or is she required to receive the sacraments in our geographical parish unless the parish priest will give written permission for her to have them elsewhere?

What does Canon Law permit/prohibit in this case?

There may be particular law on this in your diocese.

In the Church’s universal law, there is no requirement to receive these sacraments in one’s proper parish.

There could be good reasons for going outside one’s parish for First Communion and Confirmation.

Ordinarily you should seek your pastor’s (parish priest’s) permission to do so, but that is not required in the universal law.  However, there may be a diocesan or national law that requires such permission. Even that would not affect the validity of the sacrament.

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

Of Z-Swag and Hans Küng and stolen vehicles

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At the blog Defende nos in proelio there was a great post about what happens when you put Z-Swag on your car.

Go over there and spike their traffic.  It involves Fr. Finigan, and a car blessing and a run in at a gas/fuel station.

Here is the teaser:

After our van was stolen in a burglary last year, we replaced it with another, slightly less snazzy, one. I was determined to make this  new one unstealable, and so applied a selection of stickers that would take hours to remove thereby making our van immediately recognisable and, hopefully, less attractive to any thief. I mean, can you imagine a car thief bombing down the road with “Lex Orandi / Lex Credendi” on the bumper, “We love our priest” on the side window and a large image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour on the windscreen? Didn’t think so. And that’s only a small selection of the adhesive novelties bedecking our vehicle.

[…]

The stickers have attracted attention. A few days after I put a “Thank you Pope Benedict” sticker on the boot (that’s “trunk” for readers across the pond), I was filling up with diesel when an older lady in a car at the pump behind started gesturing rather excitedly at me. Her husband was dressed in North African type clothing and she was wearing a veil over her hair so I assumed that they were Muslim. Perhaps my assumption was wrong: as I looked questioningly at her she gestured again at the back of the car and clearly mouthed “Pope Benedict! Pope Benedict!” then gave me repeated “thumbs up” signs with a huge smile on her face.

More recently, my husband parked at a petrol station to nip in and buy something. As he parked the van, a man in the car beside him gestured and said something out his window in my husband’s direction. As he was in a hurry, and it was clear that whatever the man was saying was friendly, my husband smiled, parked the car and went into the shop. He was standing in the queue to pay when a voice behind him said “So: ‘Save the Liturgy / Save the world’ — what does that mean, then?”

[…]

Read the rest of the hijinx there!  What follows is a hoot.

To get Z-Swag of all kinds click HERE.

 

 

Posted in Hard-Identity Catholicism, In The Wild, Just Too Cool, Lighter fare, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , ,
10 Comments

UK: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (invitation to laity!)

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From my friend Fr. Finigan over at his place.

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy – and an invitation to the laity

Wednesday 23 October sees the Autumn colloquium of the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. I have advertised this here before but want to give a last-minute reminder because it promises to be such a worthwhile event. Here is some information from the Confraternity:

Due to unforeseen complications in the major building works currently taking place over the next 12 months at the Reading Oratory School, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has been obliged to re-locate the 2013 Colloquium. Both the Confraternity organising committee and the Oratory School apologise for any inconvenience caused, and plan to return the 2014 Colloquium to the Oratory School.

The Fathers of the Oxford Oratory have kindly agreed to host the 2013 Colloquium on Wednesday 23 October, which would have been the second day of our residential conference. The revised Colloquium will take the form of an extended day conference with meals, and will include – an event we have long desired – a final talk open to the laity (as Friends of the Confraternity). Places are limited due to the size of the meeting rooms, so please book early to avoid disappointment. This Oxford Colloquium provides an opportunity to dedicate the Confraternity to Blessed Dominic Barberi and Blessed John Henry Newman.

For priests who wish to book for the talks and meals, the Confraternity website has full information and a booking form.

Speakers will be Fr Francis Marsden: “Priesthood under fire – Past, Present and Future”, Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett: “The Priest as Teacher: Opportunities and Challenges for the renewal of adult Catechesis in the parish” and Fr Jerome Bertram, Cong. Orat: “The Conversion of England”

Fr Bertram’s talk, at 7.30pm, is open to priests, friends of the Confraternity, the University and the laity. This will take place in the Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius and booking is not necessary. Do come along if you can. Not only is Fr Bertram a most engaging speaker but this will also be a good opportunity for priests and laity to meet up. I’m told that the initiative to have an open lecture was partly influenced by this blog, [Fr Fingan’s blog!] so do take up the opportunity!

Posted in Priests and Priesthood, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged
Comments Off on UK: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (invitation to laity!)

QUAERITUR: People’s names on chalices, windows, etc.

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The chalice I mention, below.

From a  reader:

I have noticed that on some of the vessels, vestments, and crucifix at Mass, there is an inscription to a deceased person.

Is this a tradition? Is there some sort of indulgence for the deceased person?

Yes, it is a tradition and, No, there is no indulgence for the person whose name is on something, because of donations made to obtain the object in question.

It is a common thing to inscribe a sacred vessel with the name or names of the donors.  This is especially common with chalices.  You will see this also for furnishings of the sanctuary, statues, stained-glass windows, etc.

As a matter of fact, I am trying to raise some money right now to buy a chalice which someone offered me for sale.  It is pretty spiffy.  I would then want to add the names of the people somehow on a plate I would have made to cover the bottom of the chalice.  That is what I did for the chalice I have from when I was ordained.  Then I would ask the bishop to consecrate it with the older rite.  When I use my chalice from my ordination, I think of the people who gave it to me and I remember them during Mass at the “Memento of the living” and the “Memento of the dead”.   Thus, they are constantly prayed for during Mass.  Not bad.

The diligent priest will do this, happily and eagerly and regularly.

Moreover, the thoughtful lay person, especially lay people who are not well-off enough to give larger or more costly items which enrich the parish’s worship, would do well to pray for the people whose names they see inscribed.

We should be grateful for donations and benefactors.  We benefit from the the gifts other people make to the parish.  Those beautiful vestments you see up there may have been given by someone to whom you ought to be grateful.  You can see names on the stained-glass.  Say prayers for them, lest their generosity or the person in whose remembrance they were given be forgotten.

It is important to remember benefactors, living and dead, in prayer.  That is why I remind people that I say Masses for benefactors.

And, may I add, those of you who benefit from this blog and who have never donated… you might pray for my benefactors as well.  Without their help, this blog would not exist. Be grateful to them.

I especially recommend to your prayers DY, without whose help none of this would be here.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged ,
6 Comments

Global Islamic War on Christians

Posted on 20 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have been spot reading in John Allen’s new book, The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution.

Along the same line, I saw this at CNS:

Sen. Paul: ‘Worldwide War on Christians is Being Waged by a Fanatical Element of Islam’

CNSNews.com) – Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said the mainstream media try to ignore it but there is a “worldwide war on Christianity” being waged by a “fanatical element of Islam,” and that U.S. policy towards Syria has resulted in America now sending weapons to “Islamic rebels who are allied with al-Qaida.”  [What could possibly go wrong?  Does the word “mujahideen” come to mind?]

“From Boston to Zanzibar, there’s a worldwide war on Christianity,” said Senator Paul at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 12. “Christians are being attacked around the world, but you won’t hear much about it on the evening news because the answer’s not convenient. It doesn’t fit the narrative we have been told about radical Islam.

“The president tries to gloss over who’s attacking and killing Christians,” said Paul. “The media describes the killings as ‘sectarian.’ But the truth is, a worldwide war on Christians is being waged by a fanatical element of Islam.”

Paul, a conservative Republican popular with the Tea Party, explained that while not all Muslims support violence against Christians, the minority of radical Muslims numbers in the tens of millions worldwide.

“[T]he whole truth is that there is a minority of Muslims who condone killing of Christians, but, unfortunately, that minority number is in the tens of millions,” said Paul. He added that a Pew Research poll showed that 21% of Egyptians, 15% of Jordanians, and 13% of Pakistani Muslims think terrorism against Christians is acceptable.  [Only 21%  15… 13… not so many, right?]

Add up the numbers for just those three countries, and “it’s over 40 million Muslims sympathize with violence against Christians,” said Paul. Another poll, he said, showed that 100,000 Muslims living in Britain supported the London subway bombings. Another 400,000 said they had sympathy for the bombings.

Paul also talked about the murder of Sarkis el Zakhm, who was killed in the Christian city of Mallula in Syria by radical Muslims solely because he was a Christian. When Islamic rebels overran the town, said Paul, “Sarkis el Zakhm stood up and he answered them, and he said, ‘I’m a Christian, and if you want to kill me because I am, do so.’ These were Sarkis’s last words. Sister Carmel of Damascus said of Sarkis, ‘His death is true martyrdom, a death in odium fidei,’ or a death in the hatred of faith. Make no mistake. This is about your religion.”

“Elsewhere in Syria, Islamic rebels have filmed beheadings of their captives,” said Paul. “They’ve filmed themselves eating the heart of their enemy. Two Christian bishops have been kidnapped, and one priest was recently killed.”

Senator Paul also said, “These rebels are allies of the Islamic rebels that President Obama is now arming. We are now arming Islamic rebels who are allied with al-Qaida that attacked us on 9/11. Does that make any sense at all?”

It makes sense to me, but only when I consider the “why” from a certain angle.

May I recommend a book?  The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America
by Andrew C. McCarthy.

Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us.  Their feasts are on 22 October!

Posted in Modern Martyrs, Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, The Religion of Peace | Tagged , , , , , , ,
21 Comments

QUAERITUR: Can bishops forbid people from going to SSPX chapels?

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader:

A little over a year ago, the bishop of the Diocese of Calgary issued a statement banning Catholics in Calgary from attending the SSPX church stating that:

“1. According to Canon 300 – No association may call itself catholic except with the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority…. St. Dennis Church does not have canonical status within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary.”
– See more HERE

A number of members of our FSSP Latin Mass Community state that the bishop is wrong and that he has no authority to ban Catholics from attending their church, and see no problem attending their Masses and going to confession to their priests (they have been told SSPX cannot validly absolve, but they disagree).

Has the bishop over-stepped his authority, or is this perfectly legitimate?

The text of Bishop Henry’s letter (for the Diocese of Calgary) seems reasonable and in keeping with canon law.

He correctly sums up the situation regarding the SSPX and their canonical situation. He says, clearly, that Catholics should not attend the SSPX chapel, and he provides direction to a local parish where access to the Traditional Mass (and presumably, the other sacraments) is available in full and unambiguous communion with the Holy See.

One might quibble with Bishop Henry’s unfortunate expression where he invites the faithful to “celebrate (sic) the Traditional Latin Mass”.  We must presume he means something like attend, participate in, hear, worship at, etc.  But let that pass.

Notice that Bp. Henry does not indicate a penalty against Catholics who do, against his advice and his pastoral guidance as their pastor, attend the SSPX chapel.

Thus, it is wrong to say Bishop Henry is “banning” anything.

He is correcting, warning, illuminating – shepherding – his flock.  He is advising them of the spiritual danger of flirting with those who flaunt (or flout – see below) legitimate ecclesiastical authority. The letter indicates his pastoral solicitude.  Instead of just saying, “You shouldn’t go there,” he provides an alternative, “Why not go here, instead?”

Members of the faithful who “disagree” are free to do so.  They should, however, remember that all actions have consequences. Christ and the long tradition of the Church make it clear that obedience to the shepherds that have been placed in authority over us, when they are exercising their legitimate authority, is the path to paradise. Engendering a spirit of disobedience to them places souls on a perilous path.

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

23 OCT – Masses for Bl. Karl of Austria – WHERE and WHEN

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have noticed in some of the churches I have visited during our pilgrimage to Rome that Mass will be celebrated in honor of Bl. Karl of Austria

My good friend Fr. Robert Pasley of Mater Ecclesiae in the Diocese of Camden, NJ, sent the following.

On Wednesday, October 23, 2013, Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin, NJ, is honored to host a special evening of prayer and devotion dedicated to Blessed Karl of Austria. The Bishop Emeritus of Funchal, Portugal, His Excellency Don Teodoro de Faria will celebrate a Pontifical Low Mass at 7:00PM. The Mass will be followed by veneration of the relics of Blessed Karl and then a conference will be held in the parish hall. The main speakers will be Ricardo Dumont dos Santos who is the leader of the Emperor Karl Prayer League and Raymond de Souza, and EWTN host, ands special missions coordinator for Human Life International. This special conference is made possible due to a joint effort between the Knights of Columbus Councils: 12833 (Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin, NJ), 2161 (Woodlawn, Aliquippa, PA), 12361 (Agnus Dei, New York, NY, 423 (Regina Coeli, New York, NY), and 433 (Potomac, Washington, DC).

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged
4 Comments

My present reading list

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Someone wrote to ask what I am reading these days.   A while back all my sidebar widgets mysteriously disappeared and I haven’t gotten around to rebuilding the widget that had links to a few books and movies I have been into.  (Last night I settled back and watched The Avengers.  Fun and a real diversion.

I have been traveling and therefore have been using my Kindle for reading.   Some of you have sent books from my wish list, which is deeply appreciated and encouraging. If you don’t have a Kindle, get one!  They are great, especially for books that may soon be “dated”: get the Kindle version and the book doesn’t gather dust and it is cheaper.  There are different versions of the Kindle.  You can find one that will suit your needs.  If you are a reader, and you need to save money (and don’ we all), between the library and Kindle you can get into just about anything.

These days I have been reading the nautical “Kydd” series by Julian Stockwin.  It starts with Kydd.  I am up to Quarterdeck.

Also, I have started to look at the hardback edition of John Allen’s book on the persecution of Christians: The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution

Allen is passionate about this topic and he deserves some kudos for tackling it.

Since my trip to Florence, I have also slated for re-reading Ross King’s Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture.

This is a great book along the lines of Dava Sobel’s Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.  If you haven’t read Longitude, stop everything, click and buy it!

Along the art history line, I have also slated for re-reading a useful and utterly fascinating book on the rivalry and accomplishments of Bernini and Borromini The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry That Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey.

And still in the line of art history, but also about Rome of the period, the best book in English on the painter Caravaggio is Caravaggio: A Life.  This book goes into what Rome was like culturally and spiritually during that period and how Caravaggio’s checkered, short life and his works reflected and shaped art of the time.   I warmly recommend it to anyone interested in art.

I also just finished listening to, through Kindle with Audible, Glen Beck’s Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns.  There are some pretty loopy arguments from liberals – which are often founded on ridiculously flawed studies and even more flawed reasoning.  Beck drills into some of them.

In the queue is the next book in the “Patriots” sage by James Wesley Rawles, called Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse.

And I brought along a book that is not yet out, but was sent to me by he publisher, by a certain Jorge Maria Bergoglio: Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus.  It is available for PRE-ORDER.

I still have to get through Samuel Gregg’s Tea Party Catholic: The Catholic Case for Limited Government, a Free Economy, and Human Flourishing which, remarkably, has very little to do with the Tea Party as such.   This promises to be an interesting and useful read.

So.   That lips keeps my lips moving (along with my office, of course).

If you are from the UK, please use my search box for Amazon at the bottom of the page.  Just copy and paste titles into the search box.   And of course all you in the USA could use the search box on my right sidebar.  I get a small percentage of each purchase, no matter what it is after you surf around shopping within Amazon.  Amazon “remembers” that you came in through my links and I, again, get a small percentage.  (This is how I budget to pay for my health insurance.)

 

Posted in What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged , , ,
5 Comments