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About this blog…
“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
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Recent Comments
FireFly on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “During the time that I was forced to attend a diocesan, aka Novus Ordo parish TLM, I had my fair…”
DoghouseRiley on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “I close my eyes, put my head down and stick fingers in my ears. I guess they think I’m a…”
Fr. Reader on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “Sometimes it is advisable to close ones eyes and ostensibly pretend to sleep to send a signal to the priest.…”
GHP on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “I sit through it and try to pick up a few words. This particular father is from Haiti and has…”
L. on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “I used to have a co-worker who then was a Mass-going Catholic– he’s since lapsed– who told me that he…”
The Bruised Optimist on ASK FATHER: If a bishop and also priests confirm at the same time, who is the minister of confirmation?: “Mea culpa, Fr. Z. (I’m only just now realizing that I have been to Mass outside the US exactly once,…”
pcg on ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?: “Recently at my old NO parish, the new deacon (who I do not know/met) launched into a political diatribe against…”
david-oneill3 on REVIEW: New biography of the late and truly great Michael Davies: “I a m reading this great book in smaller chunks as (at 88) I tire easily. Having known Leo Darroch…”
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Recent Posts
- ASK FATHER: If a bishop and also priests confirm at the same time, who is the minister of confirmation?
- ASK FATHER: Is it a sin to take a 15 minute leave during a terrible homily?
- ROME 26/5– Day 56: All that Jasmine… no, not the…
- ROME 26/5– Day 54 & 55: double
- Pagliarani and Leo at Tanagra
- ROME 26/5– Day 53: Persevere!
- ROME 26/5– Day 52: lace imitates God’s beauty enlaced in flowers
- (no title)
- ROME 26/5– Day 51: munch
- Thoughts about the collision of the Holy See and the SSPX. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
- ASK FATHER: Question about the impacts of Excommunication
- ROME 26/5– Day 50: It’s THURSDAY not Sunday
- “Declaration of Catholic Faith addressed to Pope Leo XIV by the Superior General of the SSPX
- The Devil makes pots, but not lids.
- WDTPRS: Ascension Thursday – Hope informs our trials
- Ascension Thursday and Lordly Feet
- ROME 26/5– Day 49: short
- 13 May: Statement by Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith about the 1 July SSPX consecration of bishops. Fr. Z makes a plea.
- ROME 13 May 609 – Exorcism, screaming demons, terrified people fainting
- Dealing with some misleading … not quite fake… news
- ROME 26/5– Day 48: Good news
- Vestment Instruction from The World’s Best Sacristan™
- ROME 26/5– Day 46 & 47: Shall I tell you a story?
- How many times have written on this blog…
- WDTPRS – 5th Sunday after Easter (V.O.): Liturgical goop. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
- ASK FATHER: A point about papal pronouncements and the truth
- WHEREIN FR. Z offers a new project: rescue, restore a spectacular set of vestments – UPDATED
- ROME 26/5– Day 46: Details and a Bell
- ROME 26/5– Day 45: Fr. Z gives you the bird
- 8 May – Happy Feast of Mary… under which title?
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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.”
- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61
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- 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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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“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.”- Fulton Sheen
Therefore, ACTIVATE YOUR CONFIRMATION and get to work!
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Fr John Zuhlsdorf
Tridentine Mass Society of Madison
733 Struck St.
PO BOX 44603
Madison, WI 53744-4603
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- “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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frz AT wdtprs DOT comAs 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
Let us pray…
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.
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Tag Archives: confession
Penances assigned in confession, memorization, and helping people be less afraid. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
I have in the past ranted that priests, when hearing confessions, do well to give simple penances which people can do immediately and then know they are completed. I have been to confession to priests who assign something too complicated, … Read More
QUAERITUR: Too many people for confession. Priest gives General Absolution.
From a reader: This past Saturday afternoon, I went to confession (or, rather, I tried to go to confession). The good news is that the line was full of penitents. There were at least 25 people waiting in front of … Read More
QUAERITUR: Act of Contrition in Latin. Okaaayyy.
Every once in a while I get an email asking for the Act of Contrition in Latin. I am not sure why one would want to say her Act of Contrition in Latin. It seems to me that the Act … Read More
QUAERITUR: Priest ad libs words of absolution
From a reader: I have never worried about the words of absolution in confession before, but after coming to know that many of your readers worry about whether or not their sins have been forgiven due to the form variations, … Read More
Reader Feedback about going to confession
From a reader: Dear Fr Z Until today, I had not been to confession (and therefore not taken Communion) this calendar year. My spiritual life was decaying and I was “lapsing”, having lost trust and hope in the saving grace … Read More
Feedback from a reader about confession
From a reader: Hello Father! Thank you for your constant reminders about confession…I had been in a state of mortal sin for 3 weeks and every Reconciliation time somehow never happened…not being able to receive the Eucharist was a source … Read More
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QUAERITUR: Writing sins on a card and burning it instead of confession.
Please use the sharing buttons! Thanks! From a readerette: I went to church this wednesday to a Lent conference. The guest Father organized a “write your sins in a card, be absolved and burn your sins” ceremony. Is my understanding … Read More
Bp. Morlino provides some reminders about why we “Rejoice”, in this 4th week of Lent.
Life got ya down? Irritated and depressed by the kulturkampf raging and the attacks of the Obama Administration on the freedom of all Americans? Laetare, Ierusalem! I have written before about His Excellency Most Rev. Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of … Read More
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Pope Benedict: “Each confession … a step forward for new evangelization.” Wherein Fr. Z rants.
Every personal sin drags down the entire human race. Every sacramental reconciliation helps to build us up. We are in this together. I have incessantly hollered that no initiative of renewal (New Evangelization, etc.) will succeed if we do not … Read More
Confession for the first time in close to four years.
From a reader: I don’t know whether you’ll get a chance to read this email, but I just thought I would send you a quick note and say thank you for your constant prodding to go to confession. Thanks to all your … Read More





















