ACTION ITEM! FLOODS! Fr. Z to BISHOPS and PRIESTS – Pray Against Floods

Posted on 28 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

action-item-buttonI have read reports about flooding in Iowa.

I have a STRONG SUGGESTION to the BISHOPS of the areas that are affected by floods.

It sounds as if the pastors of the area and their assistant bishops, the bishops – ESPECIALLY the diocesan bishop! – and religious priests of the region should get out their copy of the traditional Rituale Romanum and use the Benedictio contra inundationes aquarum…. NOW.

Fathers… Bishops… put on all your gear, get some people together, get out there and PRAY!

Benedictio contra inundationes aquarum

Blessing of a community against floods

Sacerdos indutus superpelliceo et stola, populo concomitante, portet ad rivum vel flumen benedicendum Reliquiam sanctae Crucis, ibique in quatuor partibus legat devote initia quatuor Evangeliorum, et post singularia Evangelia subjungat sequentes Versiculos et Orationem:

The priest, vested in surplice and stole, accompanied by the people, carries the relic of the True Cross to the river or stream, and there devoutly reads at each of four different spots of the introductions to the four Gospels.  After each Gospel he adds the following verses and prayers:

V. Adjuva nos, Deus, salutaris noster.
R. Et propter gloriam nominis tui libera nos.
V. Salvos fac servos tuos.
R. Deus meus, sperantes in te.
V. Domine, non secundum peccata nostra facias nobis.
R. Neque secondum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis.

V. Stand by us, O God, our Helper.
R. And for thy name’s sake deliver us.
V. Preserve thy servants.
R. Who trust in thee, my God.
V. Deal not with us, Lord, according to our sins.
R. And take not vengeance on us because of our misdeeds.

V. Mitte nobis, Domine, auxilium de sancto.
R. Et de Sion tuére nos.
V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

V. Send us help, O Lord, from thy holy place.
R. And from Sion watch over us.
V. O Lord, hear our prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

Oremus.

Deus, qui justificas impium, et non vis mortem peccatoris: majestatem tuam suppliciter deprecamur;  ut famulos tuos de tua misericordia confidentes, ab aquarum periculis, caelesti protegas benignus auxilio, et assidua protectione conserves: ut tibi jugiter famulentur, nullisque tentationibus a te separentur.  Per Christum Dominum nostrum.  R. Amen.

Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris, et Filii + et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super has aquas, easque coerceat.

R. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, Who dealest justly with the wicked, and dost not will the death of sinners, humbly we entreat they Majesty!  Protect with heavenly aid thy trusting servants from perils of flood, and keep them constantly under thy heavenly protection.  May they at all times serve thee, and never through any temptation be separated from thee.  Through Christ our Lord.  R. Amen.

And may the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit descend upon these waters, and keep them under control.  R. Amen.

From The Romanum Ritual: In Latin and English With Rubrics and Plainchant Notation. Translated and Edited With Introduction and Notes by Philip T. Weller.  Volume III: The Blessings.  Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1946, pp. 161-3.

 

 

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Priests can indeed decline to hear confessions face-to-face

Posted on 28 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

confession-731x1024e must revive the Sacrament of Penance.  Fathers!  Preach about it!  Also, make sure that you have usable confessionals. Via California Catholic:

Confessionals required in every parish
Sacramento diocese reminds parishes they must “provide a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor”

The following is from the Diocese of Sacramento, posted last week on the diocesan website:

Liturgy Reminders:
Commentary on the General Instruction of the Roman Missal

Re: Sacrament of Reconciliation: the Confessional

Confessionals should be built so as to give penitents the option making their confession from behind a screen or ‘face-to-face’. Penitents cannot be required to offer their confession in one way or the other.  [Well… I think they can be.  See below.]

From the USCCB, October 20, 2000 –
“Provision must be made in each church or oratory for a sufficient number of places for sacramental confessions which are clearly visible, truly accessible, and which provide a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor. Provision should also be made for penitents who wish to confess face-to-face, [Ummm … NB] with due regard for the Authentic Interpretation of canon 964, §2 by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, July 7, 1998” (AAS 90 [1998] 711).

Thank you for all that you do.
James Cavanagh Director of Worship

Let’s drill for a moment.

Back in 1994 the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, with the Holy Father’s approval, published a response to an inquiry posed by several conferences of bishops regarding confessionals. That response said:

“If, according to Canon 964, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law, the minister of the sacrament, for a just cause and excluding cases of necessity, can legitimately decide, even in the eventuality that the penitent ask for the contrary, that sacramental confession be received in a confessional with a fixed grille.”

EXPLANATION: A priest can refuse to hear a confession if there is no confessional with a fixed grate. Even if the person insists that it be face-to-face, the priest can decline.  That means that there doesn’t have to be a provision for face-to-face.

Say some priest or other, just for the heck of it call him Fr. Z, wants to use a confessional that only has the grate and does not have a way to make a confession face-to-face.  That’s fine.  He is within his rights.  At the same time, penitents are also not obliged to go to Fr. Z for confession.  But if they insist on face-to-face and he insists on a fixed grate, they will be at loggerheads.

The response from the Holy See underscores that a) confessionals are important and that b) there should be a grill or grate. The Church considers the grate or grill to be important.  So does the letter from the Diocese of Sacramento, which is a good thing.

That said…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests | Tagged , , , ,
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ASK FATHER: Father says Mass without a chasuble, only a stole over the alb

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

chasuble_arrow copyFrom a reader…

QUAERITUR:

It is my pastor’s practice to wear only the alb and stole when he says Mass on weekdays. I find this very distracting and irreverent. Is a priest required to wear a chasuble when saying Mass?

Is your parish is so poor that it cannot afford a chasuble?  Perhaps a gift from a wealthier parish can be arranged.

The ever useful document from the CDW Redemptionis Sacramentum helps us out with this question.

4. Liturgical Vesture

[123.] “The vestment proper to the Priest celebrant at Mass, and in other sacred actions directly connected with Mass unless otherwise indicated, is the chasuble, worn over the alb and stole.” Likewise the Priest, in putting on the chasuble according to the rubrics, is not to omit the stole. All Ordinaries should be vigilant in order that all usage to the contrary be eradicated.  [So, this says that the local bishop needs to make sure that priests are properly dressed for Mass.  How odd that that should be necessary, but apparently some priests think they are so wonderful that they can ignore these important requirements.]

[124.] A faculty is given in the Roman Missal for the Priest concelebrants at Mass other than the principal concelebrant (who should always put on a chasuble of the prescribed colour), ….

The rubrics are clear. Weekdays or not, a chasuble is required for the celebration of Mass.

If (when), however, Father is to offer Holy Mass in a prison camp, as many priests may be doing in the near future, he will have to make do with what he has.

Meanwhile, before contacting anyone else (such as the local Bishop – see above), Father should be urged not to go out to say Mass half naked.

It’s embarrassing for everyone!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liberals, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged ,
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Via Michaelica: a “Ley Line” Pilgrimage, and You

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Have you ever heard of a “ley line”?   These are straight lines that can be draw on a map linking both man made and natural sites that line up in a significant way.  For example there is a Ley Line of St. Michael in Southern England, which links up various abbeys, etc.

However, there is an even more spectacular Ley Line of St. Michael the Archangel.

linea_sacra_san_michele

This ley line of this Via Michaelica links…

  • Skellig Michael in Ireland
  • Saint Michael’s Mount in Cornwall
  • Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France
  • La Sacra di San Michele in Piemonte, Italy
  • Santuario di San Michele Arcangelo di Monte Sant’Angelo in Gargano, Italy
  • St. Michael Monastery, Panormitis on the Island of Symi, Greece.
  • Ruins of the Carmel on Mount Carmel.

As a friend recently wrote to me about how to get to these places:

Fly to Shannon, from Shannon go to Cork and get a boat to Cornwall, then train to London, chunnel to Paris, bus to Mont St. Michel, then back to Paris and train to Torino, — bus to San Michele — , train/bus to Gargano-Monte Sant’Angelo, back to Rome, then fly to Istanbul, and train or bus to Marmaris and the island of Symi (belongs to Greece, not Turkey — you could even do a side trip to Patmos), then back to Istanbul and a short flight to Tel Aviv.

So… imagine a pilgrimage with daily TLM and really good food.

¡Hagan lío!

Just thinking aloud, as it were.

linea_sacra_san_michele_2

Oremus:

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.

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30 November – MADISON – Confirmation in the Traditional Rite

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ConfirmationHis Excellency Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, has graciously consented to confer the sacrament of Confirmation according to the traditional form of the Roman Rite on the evening of Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at St. Mary’s Church in Pine Bluff, WI.

Bishop Morlino understands that there may be some confirmands from outside of the Diocese of Madison.

Anyone who is interested in being confirmed, should quickly take steps to make contact and send the proper information by 11 November.

If you are interested in confirmation for yourself or for your child, please take note of this letter from Bp. Morlino. Click  HERE

If you have not been confirmed, consider the graces you are offered in this wonderful sacrament.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Events, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Our Catholic Identity, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged , , ,
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FOLLOW UP POLL: 26 Sept 2016 – Trump v Clinton

Posted on 27 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We had a poll before the 26 September debate.  I had a pre-debate post (with food) HERE.

Who won the 26 September Debate?

View Results

Did the debate change anything?

Was there anything that happened during the debate that moved the needle for you?

After watching the 26 September debate...

View Results

And…

After the 26 September debate

View Results

Anyone can vote, but if you are signed up you can use the combox.  Think and breathe first.

 

Posted in POLLS, The future and our choices | Tagged ,
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CHICAGO: 26 September – Essential Debate Day FOOD Edition!

Posted on 26 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am in Chicago.  More exactly, I am in Park Ridge, the city where the worst of the presidential candidates grew up!  I will be here tonight and will watch the first presidential debate with friends.

There will be cooking.  There will be popcorn, too.  I have seen the actual popcorn to be popped, so I know that’s going to happen.  Despite the gravity of the stakes, popcorn is essential.

For lunch, however, we went to….

SUPERDAWG!

This isn’t your average Chicago hot dog shack. Nosirree.

Note the giant hot dogs on top of the restaurant.

This is one of the places where you can still drive up, park, order from your window and the food will be run out to you.

I know you would want a closeup.

NB: W.  It was the Cubs last home game yesterday and they won.   “Cubs win” has not been unusual this year.   They won more home games (57!) than in any season of the storied history of woe and resignation.  Are they Series bound?  Franky, she looks a little apprehensive.   He, on the other hand, is jazzed.

My dining companion informed me (after his own 52 years of dining here) that if you ask for a “hot dog” you will be told that they “don’t have any of those”.  They have, rather,…

…. SUPERDAWGS!

I got one with everything.  And, yes, that’s a pickle.  You can’t see the Superdawg itself under all that onion and relish, etc.  I assure you, it’s there.  The fries were greasy but crispy!  NB: hot peppers.

It was really good. And it is owned by… I’m not making this up… Mo and Flo.   You can’t make this up.

Tonight will involve preparation in a large quantity of my good ol’ standby Spaghetti al seminario followed by mastodonic-size pieces of beef from the grill in the Florentine fashion.  We do, after all, want to make American great again and that’s a good way to start.  Or, to revise, not make it as nearly bad as it would be if one in particular of these candidates is elected.

Meanwhile, in regard to making America great again, my friend Fr. Heilman (who always has some project going) now has these.

No.  Neither pumpkin or… hopefully hat will be on the menu this debate night.

Do I hear an “Amen!”?

UPDATE:

Second course.

Second course… again.

Gremolata.

Yum.

The debate is on!

UPDATE:

A reader wanted to know how I made the gremolata.    It’s easy: chopped flat leaf parsley, minced garlic, lemon zest.  Experiment until they are in the right proportion for your taste.  Easy peasy.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged , ,
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“If I were a bishop, I would send round formidable, even terrifying, hit squads of young clergy…”

Posted on 26 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We have to get serious about our sacred liturgical worship.  Every initiative we undertake in the Church must begin in worship and come back to worship.  If our liturgical worship is screwed up, nothing else will work correctly.

From Fr. Hunwicke’s excellent Mutual Enrichment.  Here is only part of what he wrote.  Find the rest there!

[…]

I wonder why some priests of a certain generation and a ‘Conciliar’ culture have such a rooted aversion to preaching. This leads me on to wonder what exactly it was that they were taught in the corrupted and emptying seminaries of the post-Conciliar decades. We know that (despite Canon 249 and the Veterum Sapientia of S John XXIII) they were not taught Latin or Greek; because of this, they were blocked from sudying Patristics. [They were kept in the fog…. on purpose!] They did not … clearly … do Liturgy or Liturgical Theology or Practical Liturgy; it appears that they received no education in Scripture, Biblical Theology, or how to open the Word of God for their people. I somehow doubt that they were all given a deep formation in traditional moral theology or the hearing of confessions, because I know of (another) church in the South of England where the priest explained that the difficulty about hearing confessions was that the Confessional had for many years been used for stacking away the unsold debris of Parish bazaars. What, in the Name of God Almighty and God most Adorable, did all those men learn in those seven expensive years of ‘priestly formation’? [It was a horror show, let me tell you.]

I know some traddies cheerfully but (IMHO) irresponsibly point out that Monsignor Time will solve the problem of that generation of clergy; [What I have called the “Biological Solution”.] but, in a decade or two’s time, will the joyless and infantilised congregations still be in existence? These are souls for whom Christ died.  [“But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?” Maybe in small communities.  “Base” communities?]

CLICK!

If I were a bishop, I would send round formidable, even terrifying, hit squads of bright, orthodox, and cheerful young clergy with the oil of ordination still damp upon their hands, to teach the dear old gentlemen all the things that their lecturers forgot to mention in the 1970s and 1980s; and to overhaul a radicibus the parish liturgies. [I once thought that we needed a new religious order called The Rubricians. They would go two by two into the world to battle liturgical abuses and teach the erring the error of their ways.] Cardinal Sarah’s recent extremely sound suggestions could provide a lively and exciting start to a programme of restoring catholic authenticity in the desert areas. And His Eminence, with his true and accurate pastoral heart, clearly understands the urgency of this need. Happily, one hears of diocesan bishops loyally responding to his timely initiative. Let us hope that, on Advent Sunday …

But not, sadly, quite all bishops. One or two Ordinarii locorum prefer to resemble stewards careering crazily around on the Great Liner’s dangerously sloping decks while shouting noisily and inaccurately at anyone they meet about the ‘true post-Conciliar’ alignment of deckchairs.

Fathers, yes, we are all busy.  But let’s crack the books again.  Let’s set some priorities and work harder.

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URGENT POLL – 26 Sept 2016 – Trump v Clinton Debate

Posted on 26 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

PLEASE SHARE THE POLLS WIDELY!

A great deal hangs on the outcome of tonight’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (boooooooo).  I, for one, would vote for the corpse of Millard Fillmore to keep the later out of office of any kind, much less the White House.

I will watch the debate with popcorn and friends in an unlikely place: Park Ridge, IL.  As you may remember, that is the hometown of the candidate whom I hope to watch self-destruct in front of some 100 million viewers.

Are you planning on watching the debate?

Everyone can vote in these polls.  If you are registered to comment, use the combox, below… but THINK before posting, please.  No one can see how you voted, signed in or not.

Trump v Clinton Debate of 26 Sept 2016

View Results

Let’s have a YUGE turnout for this 2nd edition of this poll today, before the debate.  I’ll post a follow up after.

As of right now, BEFORE the 1st debate, I am inclined to vote on the US presidential ticket for...

View Results

PLEASE SHARE THE POLLS WIDELY!  

UPDATE:


 

Posted in POLLS, The Drill, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
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Bp. Olmsted (D. Phoenix) interprets ‘Amoris laetitia’

Posted on 26 September 2016 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Bp. Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix continues to impress.  Remember that he had the steel to remove the title “Catholic” from a hospital where – at the approval of women religious – a direct abortion was performed.   Lately, Bp. Olmsted has planned to open a seminary.  Take a look at his clarion call to men HERE. Take a look his letter to priests about confession HERE.

Now Bp. Olmsted issued directive about Amoris laetitia and Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.  Accompaniment, yes. Communion, not yet.

Amoris laetitia was written with great ambiguity.  This ambiguity, which some say is itself an indication of the mind of the writer, allows for those who are faithful to the Church’s teachings to be faithful to the Church’s teachings.  However, it also provides a measure – not complete, but only a little – of cover to those who are not faithful to the Church’s teachings, who want to do something which the Church hasn’t ever approved.

It is possible that things have gotten to such a point that even had Amoris laetitia been crystal clear and in unambiguous continuity with previous doctrine and discipline, both the faithful and the less-than faithful would have simply continued to do what they wanted, in fidelity or not.  However, the studied ambiguity will surely perpetuate the rupture, so that in side-by-side parishes, different practices and messages are found.

From LifeSite:

Bishop Olmsted: Amoris Laetitia does not allow Holy Communion for remarried divorcees

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Amoris Laetitiadoes not open the door to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion, Bishop Thomas Olmsted told the faithful of his diocese in the diocesan newspaper last week.

Amoris Laetitia “calls for deeper and sustained pastoral accompaniment of … suffering families,” Olmsted, the bishop of Phoenix, wrote in an article reflecting on the controversial exhortation. Pope Francis “[assures] them that they are welcome in the Church family, and that we are eager to seek ways to integrate them more fully into our local communities. … They should be encouraged to pray, attend Mass, and rectify the situation in communication with their pastor, who remains their pastor despite the case of objective sin. Accompaniment is possible and should be the case in our parishes.”

“This does not, however, include receiving Holy Communion for those who are divorced and remarried,” he noted. The bishop said Amoris Laetitia is in continuity “with the Church’s Magisterium especially that of Blessed Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI which reaffirm the constant tradition of the Church.” [Here is a solid, faithful bishop who has determined to interpret AL in continuity with the Church’s teachings.]

What Pope St. John Paul II laid out in paragraph 84 of Familiaris Consortsio is the “consistent teaching and practice of the Church,” Olmsted wrote. Paragraph 84 explains why it is incompatible with Catholic doctrine to give Holy Communion to those living unrepentantly in objectively sinful relationships. It says in part:

… the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and affected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: If these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church’s teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.

In a September 5 letter to Argentine bishops, Pope Francis wrote that there is “no other interpretation” of Amoris Laetitia than one that allows Communion for the divorced and remarried. Vatican Radio confirmed the letter as authentic.

Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Olmsted.

 

Posted in One Man & One Woman, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , , , ,
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