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{]:¬)

SPAIN: Terrorist Bomb in Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza

Posted on 3 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I wonder if the MSM will have any coverage of this.

Left-wing anarchists blamed for Zaragoza Basilica bombing [Spain]

A small bomb consisting of a camping gas cylinder combined with gunpowder exploded in Zaragoza Basilica in Spain on Wednesday afternoon. No one was injured and left-wing anarchists against the Bourbon monarchy are being blamed.

The bomb exploded in the central area of the Zaragoza Basilica of our Lady of the Pillar (Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza) at around 13:50 local time. There were no injuries and no damage to the Baroque church was reported.

Spanish news agency Efe is reporting that police suspect left-wing anarchists in the placing of the home-made device. Reportedly the bomb bore the hallmarks of similar devices used by left-wing groups….

A large cloud of smoke and dust emanated from the explosion, frightening parishioners who were waiting to attend Mass at 14:00. Fortunately the area where the bomb exploded was empty of people at the time….

Police believe that the work is being organized by radical anarchist leaders from Greece and Italy. Information Commissioner General, Enrique Barón says “it is terrorism, pure and simple.”

One of your readers sent this:

I don’t know whether or not you’ve already heard about this, but yesterday someone planted a small explosive device in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Nuestra Señora del Pilar) in Zaragoza.

The explosive device was a homemade one, created using a small butane gas tank and hidden underneath a pew in the main chapel of the Basilica. Thank God there was no Mass being offered at the time and that no one was sitting on that pew. No one was seriously injured, although one woman who was praying near where the explosive device was placed was reported to have suffered some damage in one ear. The basilica did not suffer any significant damage beyond the destruction of several pews. The altar and its magnificent marble altarpiece were unaffected, as was the Pillar and the image of Our Lady.
12 October is the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar. Not only is she the patron Zaragoza, but of all of Spain, and is a national holiday throughout the country. It’s also the Día de la Hispanidad in most of the Spanish-speaking world, celebrating the cultural bonds and linguistic ties between Spain and her former territories. There’s little chance that the timing of this was accidental then, as the city prepares for the festival. Initial reports suggest that individuals from Spain linked to an Italian anarchist group may be behind the attack.
Perhaps you also remember that a bomb of similar construction was placed in the cathedral of Madrid back in February. In that case, the device was discovered by a parishioner and deactivated by police before it exploded.
Below is a link to one of the regional newspapers in Aragon with info about yesterday’s explosion in the Basilica. If I have a bit of time on my break, I’ll try to find one in English to forward to you, or I’ll translate the most relevant sections of that article.
Explota un artefacto en la Basilica del Pilar
God bless, Father. Be assured of my prayers for you, and please say a quick one for me today if you can.

UPDATE:

WaPo has it.

Posted in The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged bomb, terrorism, Zaragoza
10 Comments

Pope Francis v. Medjugorje?

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Someone alerted me to a piece at the Italian site Corrispondenza Romana about something that Pope Francis said during a morning “fervorino” at Mass.

My translation:

Last Saturday 7 September during his morning meditation in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis, speaking on the theme “there is no Christian without Jesus” criticized Christian “revelationists” and expressed his strong reservations about the supposed apparitions at Medjugorje.

The official site of the Holy See and the L’Osservatore Romano, however, purged his words of the reference to Medjugorje, confining itself to refer to them in these terms: “There is another group of Christians without Christ: those who look things that are kind of rare, a bit special, who chase after some private revelations,” whereas instead revelation was concluded with the New Testament. The Holy Father warned about the desire of such Christians to go “to the spectacle of revelation, to hear some new things”. But – and this is the exhortation that Pope directed to them – “Pick up the Gospel!”

Here’s the deal.

There isn’t an attribution here, a source, the name of the person who heard the Holy Father speak specifically about Medjugorje.

That said, if you are interested in Medjugorje in a positive way, I suggest that you get used to the idea that there may be an official pronouncement about it that you are not going to like. My spies used to tell me that the former Pope was not a supporter either.

I’m just saying.

Finally, the Holy Father doesn’t seem to be against apparitions in general. The Holy Father is a huge supporter of Aparecida and he will be welcoming the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in St. Peter’s Square on 12 October.

With that news, I will keep the combox closed. I’ll allow pingbacks. If I get interesting comments by email, I may post something… and I may not.

Posted in Francis | Tagged apparitions, Medjugorje, Pope Francis
2 Comments

Tornielli calls into question accuracy of Pope Francis’ interview. Fr. Z asks a serious question.

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Andrea Tornielli has a piece today at Sacri Palazzi wherein he calls into question the veracity of Scalfari’s account of the interview with Pope Francis.

I don’t have time to translate the whole thing for you at the moment, since I am off to lunch and then to the firing range for some therapy.

However, Tornielli points out that more than one cardinal told him that Francis did not go apart into a room before he accepted the election as Pope during the conclave. That’s just one point.

However, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, the papal spokesman, responded to a question from journalists, saying: “It isn’t clear to me that the text of the interview with the Pope on La Repubblica was revised.”

Tornielli goes on to write:

“Lombardi didn’t deny any passage in the conversation, and he explained that the overall reconstruction of the papal affirmations was faithful. But [NB…] he made it clear that it is necessary to be cautious in attributing with precision to the Pope every single quoted word.”

Is that so?

Then I have to ask: If we aren’t sure about the exact words of the Pope:

Why the hell is the interview posted on the Vatican’s website in the category of “Speeches” of Pope Francis?!?

HERE

Click to go to the page.

What am I missing? Is it just because L’Osservatore Romano also printed it? If so… isn’t that enough? If people need to find it, they can find it there.

If we don’t know for sure that what La Repubblica printed is what Pope Francis actually said, then why is it posted on the Holy See’s website as if it is really a “speech” of Pope Francis?

We now rely on the more or less “faithful” reconstruction of the Pope’s words by an avowed atheist journalist who has for years had a bone to pick with the Catholic Church?

Will the interview be in the Acta too?

I’m just asking because I think it is important that we get the Pope’s words (read:thoughts) right. He’s the POPE, not the neighborhood butcher talking about the movie he saw last night.

Posted in Francis, I'm just askin'... | Tagged Andrea Tornielli, Eugenio Scalfari, interview, La Repubblica, Pope Francis
47 Comments

Fr. Z asks your help for someone you know: Daniel Mitsui

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I have written from time to time about the artist Daniel Mitsui.

First, right now, say a prayer for him and his family.

I now ask you to visit his online shop for reasons that will be obvious. HERE

I read this on his blog. HERE

My daughter, Alma Hildegard Mitsui, was born at 7:14 on Wednesday, 25 September. She is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and will likely remain there for a long time. She was born at 25 weeks and 4 days gestational age, and weighed 1 pound and 7 ounces. Please pray for her survival and health.

[…]

In your charity, consider ordering a piece of art from him, to help the family. You might have it framed and give it to your parish priest, if you don’t put on your own wall. I have one on mine and I have one outside my door in the hallway.

UPDATE:

Ooo.. I just saw his St. Joan of Arc for the first time.

And here is his Four Last Things!

And I very much want a set of his Stations of the Cross for my future chapel! HERE

Posted in The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged Daniel Mitsui
11 Comments

Wm. Oddie on the rumor about Marini and the CDW

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

P Marini style

William Oddie has a spot-on column at the UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald.

A few comments before we get to the main course.

First, a few years ago a book came out over the name of (Archbishop) Piero Marini, the former MC for John Paul II and, for a while, Benedict XVI. He is a disciple of the late Annibale Bugnini, supporter of “gay” marriage, herald of discontinuity, etc. In that book, Marini attacked Benedict XVI and crowed that when the Consilium was meeting, they knew they were going to change doctrine by changing liturgical worship.

Context: The Consilium has just just taken a major step in moving from an informally meeting group to an officially and formally established body. They have their first plenary session.

“They met in public to begin one of the greatest liturgical reforms in the history of the Western church. Unlike the reform after Trent, it was all the greater because it also dealt with doctrine.” (p. 46)

P Marini style

They succeeded. The work of the Consilium, in revising the Missale Romanum, did indeed change the Church’s doctrine. Change they way you pray and you change what you believe… and vice versa.

Second, we have to be ready to Be The Maquis.

Third, when the appointment takes place, I’ll believe it.

Is Pope Francis thinking of appointing as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship a disciple of Annibale Bugnini deeply hostile to Benedict XVI’s reforms?

If Archbishop Piero Marini really is appointed, it will be an unmistakeable declaration that we are all to be plunged back into the hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture

By William Oddie

There have, it seems, for the last four or five months been persistent rumours from the eternal city that a dedicated opponent of Benedict XVI’s liturgical reorientation of the Church (certainly including Summorum Pontificum) is to be appointed prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship by Pope Francis. I have to say that these rumours had passed me by (a little fiddling round on the net reveals that Damian Thompson spotted them back in June) and I have only just caught up with them thanks to Fr Finigan, who in his indispensable blog The Hermeneutic of Continuity has this: “There is a rumour (and I understand from various sources that it is not a wild one) that Archbishop Piero Marini may be appointed as the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Archbishop Marini (not to be confused with the papal MC Mgr Guido Marini) was removed as papal MC by Pope Benedict. He is a disciple of the late Archbishop Bugnini and published a book A Challenging Reform: Realising the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal.” [That’s the book I mentioned.]

The foreword of this book says, I find, that it “is intended as a complement and supplement to the account of the liturgical reform published in 1985 by Annibale Bugnini, La riforma liturgica (1948 – 1975)”. Archbishop Bugnini, of course, was the chief architect of the “reformed” liturgy which actually emerged, and the great bugbear of liturgical traditionalists, a “Spirit of Vatican II” type if ever there was one. Piero Marini was his personal secretary, was himself deeply involved in the “reforms” and is still a fervent disciple. Fr Z has a killing story about Bugnini. When the Ayatollah Khomeini took control in Iran, he summoned the diplomatic corps into his presence and made them kneel down to him. Bugnini, then the papal nuncio to Iran, did it. He knelt. When news of this reached Rome, some wag in the Curia quipped that Bugnini was doing in Iran all the genuflections he had removed from the Mass.

The publishers of the English edition of Marini’s book, are an obviously highly ideological outfit, called the Liturgical Press, who also published the English edition of Bugnini’s book (of themselves, they say that “The Liturgical Press is a trusted publisher of liturgy, scripture, theology, and spirituality evolving to serve the changing needs of the Church”). About Marini’s book, they say this: “In these pages Archbishop Piero Marini reveals the vision, courage, and faith of the pastors and scholars who struggled to implement the Second Vatican Council’s teachings on the liturgy. While in some circles it is fashionable to propose ‘a reform of the liturgical reform’, any such revision needs to take into account the history of the consilium — the organism established by the Holy See to carry out the initial liturgical changes. This story of the work of the consilium offers a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and tensions that accompanied the realisation of the council’s dream to promote the ‘full, conscious and active participation’ of the faithful in Roman Catholic worship.” [Fascinating glimpse. Road kill can be fascinating too.]

Well, we have been warned: there would be no more reform of the reform if these rumours are true: if Marini really does become prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship it will be back to square one with a vengeance. And a real message would be being sent out: that all those who have been issuing Jeremiads to the effect that Pope Francis’s pontificate is taking a radically different path from that of Pope Benedict will be proved right, and I among many others, who have been saying that there is a real continuity between the two popes, will have got it badly wrong. Back to Marini’s book. I haven’t yet read it (nor, unless he is appointed, do I intend to): but here’s part of its review in Adoremus (which I tend to trust) by Fr Neil J Roy:

[…]

Read the rest over there.

To Mr. Oddie I would respond, even if he is appointed as Prefect, we would have to see what, in fact, happens in the Congregation.

Posted in Francis, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, The Drill | Tagged Archbp. Piero Marini, CDW, Congregation for Divine Worship, hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture, Pope Francis, William Oddie
45 Comments

WDTPRS: What Did The Pope Really Say? 1 – UPDATES

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I finally got the glacial site of the vile Italian daily La Repubblica to cough up the latest Franciscan interview… in Italian.

When I read in the English version that Pope allegedly said,

“The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood”,

I said to myself, “That can’t be right. Swap out brotherhood with something like ‘sisterhood’ and he sounds like an LCWR nun, and he is no fan of theirs or of their ‘female machismo’!” No! Allow me to amend. None of them would have said that. They’ve grown beyond Jesus and words like “son”. But you get my drift. The Second Person of the Trinity did not incarnate in the “souls of men”.

So… What Did The Pope Really Say? My emphasis.

Il Figlio di Dio si è incarnato per infondere nell’anima degli uomini il sentimento della fratellanza….

The Son of God was incarnate in order to instill in soul of men the feeling of brotherhood.

Perhaps better… “awareness… sense” of brotherhood?

I would like to take that “sentimento” in the Italian sense of “awareness”, but since Pope Francis is fundamentally a Spanish speaker, I don’t know what he meant by it here. I suspect we have to hear “sentimento/sentimiento” as “feeling”. Honestly, my Spanish isn’t quite strong enough yet to hear that possible nuance behind the Italian. In Italian I would have said something like, “consapevolezza”… or, now that I think of it, “senso”.

We have to be careful with the reports about what Francis said. We have to check the English version of the interview against the Italian.

I am sure there will be other examples.

UPDATE:

In the meantime, the vile La Repubblica has this as a headline right now, filtered to you from a twit on Twitter:

“Questo Papa è il Rohani del Vaticano”… “This Pope is the Rohani of the Vatican”.

Yah… that’s right. Talk about not getting this at all.

UPDATE:

From a reader:

Pope Francis–“Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.”

Here, man “conceives” what is good or evil. Conceiving what is good or evil on an individual level is Moral Relativism.

Catholic Church in GS 16

16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects [Latin detegit] a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.

Here, man “detects a law” in his conscience he must be “obedient” to. Conscience “reveals that law”, not “conceived” by each according to one’s liking.

How do we reconcile these things that seem to be in direct opposition?

It think you may be over analyzing this on the basis of the English alone.

What Did The Pope Really Say?

Ciascuno ha una sua idea del Bene e del Male e deve scegliere di seguire il Bene e combattere il Male come lui li concepisce….

Each person has his idea of Good and of Evil and he must choose to follow Good and combat Evil as he perceives / understands them…

In this case, Italian “concepire” is clear understood in the sense of “understand, believe, perceive”, maybe even “grasp” and not English “conceive” in the sense of making something up on one’s own, as in “devise”.

In English we can say that “he conceived a plan”, which is something that he comes up with. Otherwise, we can say that “he couldn’t conceive what she was rattling on about”, which means that he didn’t understand, couldn’t workout out what she was saying. Be careful of “false friends” in translation. Sometimes similar words do not have the same meaning or the same impact.

Let’s turn back to your citation of GS16 with that “detects”. Latin detego, detexi, detectum (compound of tego “to cover, hide”) is, in the first place, “to un-cover, lay bare” and also to “dis-cover, dis-close, de-tect”.

From Vatican website: In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that.

Latin (doesn’t hack up the sentence): In imo conscientiae legem homo detegit, quam ipse sibi non dat, sed cui obedire debet, et cuius vox, semper ad bonum amandum et faciendum ac malum vitandum eum advocans, ubi oportet auribus cordis sonat: fac hoc, illud devita.

Fr. Z: In the depths of conscience man discovers the law which he does not give to himself, but which he is obliged to obey, and whose voice, always summoning him to do good and to avoid evil, whenever it is necessary rings in the ears of the heart: do this, shun that.

There is juridical language: lex, advoco. However, the Holy Spirit is referred to in language both juridical and moral: Advocate, Counselor. Advoco can also mean “console” and the Holy Spirit is called Consoler.

I love the image GS16 invokes: the “law’s voice summons” us to obligations, to obedience, to action. It is as if we are, in the moment of “discovery” of the previously hidden evidence in the case, then placed before the bar in a moment of truth, when we are called to act justly and truthly in the face of the evidence that has been uncovered.

I digress.

I don’t see much daylight between Francis’ “concepisce”, rightly understood, and the GS 16 detegit.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Francis | Tagged GS 16, interview, La Repubblica, Pope Francis, What Did The Pope Really Say?
78 Comments

Pope Francis interview in La Repubblica, or, “Is This Now My Fate?”

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My email is filled with notes from people who need to be talked off the ledge.

The reason – this time – is Pope Francis’ interview with Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist editor of the vile Italian daily La Repubblica.

BTW… in Rome some wags are now referring to La Repubblica as L’Osservatore Romano.

I have not read the new interview in Italian yet (La Repubblica‘s site loads at tectonic plate speed), but I have read it over twice in English.

A sense of the tone of many of the Holy Father’s comments in this interview – I repeat – interview, can be gleaned from one of his observations about Augustine:

“Someone who is not touched by grace may be a person without blemish and without fear, as they say, but he will never be like a person who has touched grace. This is Augustine’s insight.”

Let that sink in for a while, keeping in mind that everything the Pope said to Scalfari is off the cuff and… well… off the cuff.

In the meantime, some of you may be having a little melt-down regarding his comments on proselytism, the Curia, conscience, etc.

The Curia…

“You know what I think about this? Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.”

The leprosy of the papacy, those were his exact words. But what is the court? Perhaps he is alluding to the curia?

“No, there are sometimes courtiers in the curia, but the curia as a whole is another thing. It is what in an army is called the quartermaster’s office, it manages the services that serve the Holy See. But it has one defect: it is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests. This Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and I’ll do everything I can to change it.

Of COURSE the “Vatican” is the problem! This is news?

I am reminded of candidates who make Washington the enemy. They become President in Washington and they make Washington the enemy. John Paul II had problems with the “Vatican”, but he became the “Vatican” eventually. Benedict was betrayed again and again within the “Vatican”. Francis is going to have his own Sisyphus moments with the “Vatican”. Good luck.

That said, I think the Francis has a pretty good BS detector. He’ll need it.

Conscience…

Your Holiness you wrote that in your letter to me. The conscience is autonomous, you said, and everyone must obey his conscience. I think that’s one of the most courageous steps taken by a Pope.

“And I repeat it here. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.”

Is there more to say about “conscience”? You bet. Can it be said in an interview… this interview in this moment? Nope.

But let’s see if what Francis said has foundation in what the Church teaches:

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1800: A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience.

Or:

1790: A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.

Or:

1782: Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. “He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.” (Dignitatis humanae 3 § 2.)

How about:

2106 “Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others, within due limits.” (DH 2 § 1) This right is based on the very nature of the human person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth which transcends the temporal order. For this reason it “continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it.” (DH 2 § 2)

I will add believers and Catholics are obliged to follow their FORMED consciences, and those consciences are enlightened by Divine Revelation, by apostolic tradition and by the Magisterium. Once again, His Holiness is right, but within the context that he had in mind, which context is only implicitly evident in the interview because of the nature of that genre.

Could Francis be faulted for not talking about defective conscience or lack of formation of conscience? I suppose. But the Church teaches that people cannot be coerced in matters of conscience. This is a natural right as well. But the context here is non-believers. When the LCWR nuns try to cite Dignitatis humanae as an excuse to not obey, they err and err gravely. But the Pope was talking with a non-believing journalist, not LCWR nuns.

Context, friends, context.

Sigh… are we going to have to do this everyday? Is this now my fate?

It’s an interview, friends.

Popes don’t govern or shape doctrine in interviews.

Proselytizing…

The Pope smiles and says: “Some of my colleagues who know you told me that you will try to convert me.”

It’s a joke I tell him. My friends think it is you want to convert me.

He smiles again and replies: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.”

When you read this, you have the sense that the Pope is really in the moment. This is how you talk when you are involved with the emotion of the moment, with the adrenaline of the occasion. Alas, your Earth’s yellow sun doesn’t give me the power of reading minds, but this is how it feels to me, having read that bit – aloud, though in English – and thought about it.

In any event, some quick thoughts after having read the interview:

abortion is still murder,
gay marriage is still no marriage,
we’re going to jaw-jaw with nonbelievers,
we’re still going to be a minority,
Former-Fr. – Mister Reynolds is still excommunicated!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Francis, The Drill | Tagged CCC 1782, CCC 1790, CCC 1800, conscience, DH 3, Eugenio Scalfari, interview, La Repubblica, Pope Francis, proselytize
115 Comments

ROME: Repentant abortionist lays his surgical instruments at the feet of the Pope

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From ProLife.org.uk:

Repentant abortionist lays his surgical instruments at the feet of the Pope

On September 20th, during a Papal Audience, a man drew close to Pope Francis, carrying with him a somewhat suspicious looking bag. Inside were half a dozen surgical instruments of various types and sizes which he, Dr Antonio Oriente from Messina, ex-abortion gynaecologist, wanted to deliver at all costs to the Holy Father.

This luggage had already created problems as he boarded the plane from Palermo. He then became the central protagonist in an event, that despite being unscheduled on the programme of the Mater Care International Conference in Rome had an enormous symbolic impact on the participants.

These were the surgical instruments which, until 1986, Dr Oriente had used to break apart tiny developing human lives before they had a chance to be born; scalpels and forceps used by him, before his conversion, before he had embraced with courage and conviction the pro-life pathway.

Dr Oriente is now vice-President of the Italian Association of Catholic Gynaecologists and Obstetricians.

For those who read Italian the story is reported in the Catholic daily newspaper ‘Avvenire’ , Thursday 26 September.

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Francis, Just Too Cool | Tagged abortion, Pope Francis
15 Comments

An intriguing parish project

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I like hearing about people who see a problem and don’t wait for someone else to do something about it.

A parish in Georgia is trying to get a film project going. HERE

Posted in Just Too Cool, New Evangelization, The Campus Telephone Pole | Tagged film, Hollywood, movies
1 Comment

Fr. Z kudos to Archbp. Vigneron

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

When I hear about the “New Evangelization”, I often wonder when the “Old Evangelization” concluded.

For your Just Too Cool File.

Archbp. Vigneron of Detroit did some sidewalk evangelization!

The group that organizes this is St. Paul Street Evangelization.

“This ministry proudly announces the blessing and honor of welcoming Detroit’s Archbishop, Allen Vigneron, to lead the Detroit team in evangelizing this past weekend. The team was also blessed to have four priests joining in the fun. Imagine the thoughts of people walking by this ordinary street corner and seeing an archbishop and four priests sharing the Gospel! This week this ministry will feature some of the amazing conversations the team had to share.”

Bishops can’t lead from behind.