From a reader… The Fourth of July is on a Friday this year. I’ve been told that there used to be a dispensation from the requirement to abstain from meat on a Friday 4th. Is that true? It would be … Read More →
Once again, someone wrote to ask me if it is okay to eat alligator on Friday during Lent. Is this a put on? Is this a joke? Of course it’s okay to eat alligator! And crocodile, if you have some. … Read More →
For those of you who may think that Lent is a pretty tough time to be a Catholic, giving up chocolate and all year in and year out, this came to me email today. This is what our forebears did … Read More →
Now that we are coming up on Lent, people are starting to think about what may be eaten on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays. May I eat insects? May I eat crocodile? May I drink Mystic Monk Coffee? Yes, and … Read More →
From WND: An announcement by a television station in the United Kingdom that it will broadcast the Muslim call to prayer daily during the month-long religious observation called Ramadan has sparked concerns by those who point out that the nation’s … Read More →
From a priest: For those that follow the 1962 calendar or simply follow the traditional penitential days, are the ember days in the octave of Pentecost days of fast? It would seem not since the octave days, similar to Easter, … Read More →
From a reader: I listen to the Catholic Channel on Sirius/XM a lot and yesterday a priest who is usually fairly reliable made the comment that it is a sin to fast during the Octave of Easter. My wife started … Read More →
Since the topic came up elsewhere, I thought it a good idea to revive this question from a reader and repost it: From a reader: Do insect products count as meat products, and therefore prohibited on Fridays and other days … Read More →
Someone sent me a copy of a letter written by the Archbishop of New Orleans to a member of his flock about eating alligator during Lent. The answer is “yes”. You may eat alligator during Lent. This is old news … Read More →
As the U.S. bishops prepare to meet in their autumn assembly, I represent this poll (originally HERE): The bishops of England and Wales did this. You can vote even if you are not registered here. Please give your reasons in … Read More →
Under the entry about our obligation to attend Holy Mass, someone posted this comment (I removed it to here): I’ve always had a fantasy where I make wallet sized Catholic obligation cards. These would have check boxes or punch boxes … Read More →
Ex lectoris e-pistulis extractum: Reverendo patro Ioanni Zuhlsdorfo discipulus C. salutem et commemorationem in precibus suis. Gratias meas, sivis, ob opum tuam tibi agere volo. [Acceptae.] Mihi, catholico iuveni et discipulo in collegio liberalum artis et liberalum (aut impudicarum) mentum, … Read More →
POLL BELOW! From a reader: I was watching TV last night & on the program they were talking about fish & chips fried in rendered beef fat at a restaurant. Fish & Chips is one of my favorite Friday dishes … Read More →
It is a Christian custom that we fast before our feasts. Our friends at Rorate remind us that before 1965, 23 and 24 December were days of fasting and abstinence. May I suggest to you good readers that you do … Read More →
GMTA. Over at His Hermeneuticalness’s place we find a photo of eggs and toast. “But Father! But Father!”, I thought. “I also had an egg and toast today!” Then, I continued needlessly, “Why? I’ll tell you why. Which it’s Friday, … Read More →
If perhaps the Conference of England and Wales won’t be enthusiastic about Universae Ecclesiae I read this with pleasure from the site of Peter Jennings: Fish on Friday re-established by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales By Peter … Read More →
From a reader: Friday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. I know that according to canon law, solemnities take precedence over any day of penance, at least in ordinary time. Are we still bound to abstinence from meat on March … Read More →
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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Books which you must have.
This REALLY helps! And it’s great coffee (and tea)
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
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