Public service announcement: Card. Müller’s responses to dubia

UPDATE: On a related note, at One Peter Five find the transcript and video of Card. Sarah’s recent talk at the presentation (HERE) of Bp. Schneider’s catechetical Compendium.    Card. Sarah’s talk dealt with the crisis in the Church.  He has a good insight: It is not a crisis of the Church, it is a crisis of the Church’s pastors.   HERE


I’m on the road and my time and tools are limited. However, I was sent this, which I thought might be helpful for those with more time and tools to work on.
Gerhard Card. Müller released his own responses to the dubia sent by the Brazilian bishop to Rome about trans stuff and same sex stuff.

I’m sure these are offered as a kind of “PSA… Public Service Announcement” to help people.

(Also, Card. Müller did an interview with LifeSite.  He is really making himself visible and audible.  I heard him speak at the Rome Forum recently.)

Okay… no sooner did I start this but I found that Maike had posted a translation.  HERE

This is how it starts:

The task of the Roman Magisterium, be it directly the Pope’s or mediated by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is to faithfully preserve the truth of Divine Revelation. It is instituted by Christ and works in the Holy Spirit so that the Catholic faithful are protected from all heresies that jeopardize salvation and from any confusion in matters of doctrine and moral life (cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 18;23).

The dicastery’s answers to various questions from a Brazilian bishop (November 3, 2023) on the one hand remind us of generally known truths of faith, but on the other hand, they also open up to the misunderstanding that there is, after all, room for a coexistence of sin and grace in the Church of God.

Müller text in German:

Klarstellung
zu den Antworten des DDF auf die Fragen von Bischof Negri
Von Gerhard Cardinal Müller, Rom

Die Aufgabe des römischen Lehramtes, sei es des Papstes direkt oder vermittelt durch das Dikasterium für die Glaubenslehre, ist es, die Wahrheit der göttlichen Offenbarung treu zu bewahren. Es ist von Christus eingesetzt und wirkt im Heiligen Geist, damit die katholischen Gläubigen vor allen Irrlehren, die das Heil gefährden, und jeder Verwirrung in Fragen der Lehre und des sittlichen Lebens geschützt werden (vgl.II. Vatikanum, Lumen gentium 18;23).

Die Antworten des Dikasteriums auf diverse Fragen eines brasilianischen Bischofs (3. November 2023) erinnern einerseits an allgemein bekannte Glaubenswahrheiten, öffnen anderseits aber auch wieder Türen zu dem Missverständnis, dass für die Koexistenz von Sünde und Gnade in der Kirche Gottes doch ein Spielraum wäre.

Die Taufe ist die Tür zum Neuen Leben in Christus

Der Sohn Gottes, unser Erlöser und das Haupt der Kirche, die sein Leib ist, hat das Sakrament der Taufe eingesetzt, damit alle Menschen durch den Glauben an Christus und ein Leben in seiner Nachfolge zum ewigen Leben gelangen können. Die bedingungslose Liebe Gottes befreit den Menschen aus der tödlichen Herrschaft der Sünde, die den Menschen ins Unglück stürzt und von Gott, der Quelle des Lebens trennt. Der universale Heilswille Gottes (1 Tim 2, 4f) besagt nicht, dass wir uns nur mit  den Lippen zu Jesus als unserem Herrn zu bekennen brauchen, um ins Reich Gottes zu gelangen, während wir uns mit Verweis auf die menschliche Schwäche von der Erfüllung des heiligen und heiligenden Willens Gottes dispensieren lassen (vgl. Mt 7, 21-23)

Die simple Metapher „die Kirche ist keine Zollstation“, die besagen soll, dass der Christi nicht bürokratisch am Buchstaben des Gesetztes gemessen werden darf, hat ihre Grenzen dort, wo es um die Gnade geht, die uns zu einem neuen Leben jenseits von Sünde und Tod führt. Der Apostel Paulus sagt, dass wir alle „Sklaven der Sünde“ waren, bevor wir zum Glauben an Christus kamen. Jetzt aber sind wird durch die Taufe auf den Namen Christi, des Sohnes Gottes und des Gesalbten des Heiligen Geistes, „von Herzen der Lehre gehorsam geworden, an die wir übergeben worden sind.“ Wir dürfen also nicht sündigen, weil wir nicht mehr dem Gesetz unterstehen, sondern wir dürfen nicht mehr sündigen, weil wir der Gnade unterstehen. „Daher soll die Sünde euren sterblichen Leib nicht beherrschen, und seinen Begierden sollt ihr nicht mehr gehorchen…als Menschen, die vom Tod zum Leben gekommen sind.“ (Röm 6, 12f).

In der ältesten, zu Rom verfassten Kirchenordnung (um 200 n.Chr.), werden die Kriterien der Zulassung oder Zurückweisung (oder auch nur Zurückstellung) zum Katechumenat und zum Empfang der Taufe genannt und verlangt, dass alle zweifelhaften Berufe, illegalen Partnerschaften und unmoralischen Verhaltensweisen, die dem Gnadenleben der Taufe widersprechen, aufgegeben werden müssen (Traditio Apostolica 15-16).

Der hl. Thomas von Aquin, der in den Antworten des Dikasteriums löblicherweise zitiert wird, gibt auf die Frage, ob die Sünder getauft werden können, die differenzierte zweifache Antwort:

  1. Gewiss können die Sünder, die in der Vergangenheit persönlich gesündigt haben und unter der Macht der „Sünde Adams“ (d.h. der Ur- und Erbsünde) standen, getauft werden. Denn die Taufe ist eingesetzt zur Vergebung der Sünden, die Christus uns durch seinem Tod am Kreuz erworben hat.
  2. Denen allerdings, „die Sünder sind, weil sie mit dem Vorsatz zur Taufe kommen, weiterhin zu sündigen“ und damit dem heiligen Willen Gottes zu widerstehen, können nicht getauft werden. Das gilt nicht nur wegen des inneren Widerspruchs von der Gnade Gottes zu uns und unserer Sünde gegen Gott, sondern auch wegen des falschen Zeugnisses nach außen, das die Glaubwürdigkeit der kirchlichen Verkündigung unterminiert, weil die Sakramente Zeichen sind der Gnade, die sie vermitteln (vgl. Thomas von Aquin, Summa theologiae III q. III Quaestio 68, Artikel 4).

In der Falle transhumanistischer Terminologie

Es ist verwirrend und schädlich, wenn sich das Lehramt auf die der Terminologie einer nihilistischen und atheistischen Anthropologie einlässt und damit deren wahrheitswidrigen Inhalten den Satus einer legitimen theologischen Meinung in der Kirche zu verleihen scheint. „Habt ihr nicht gelesen- so sagt Jesus zu den Pharisäern, „die ihm eine Falle stellen wollten- dass der Schöpfer die Menschen am Anfang als Mann und Frau geschaffen hat?“ (Mt 19, 4)

In Wahrheit gibt es weder in der Ordnung der geschöpflichen Natur noch in der Gnade des Neuen Bundes in Christus transsexuelle oder homophile (homoaffektive oder homosexuelle) Personen. In der Logik der Schöpfers von Mensch und Welt genügen zwei Geschlechter um den Fortbestand der Menschheit zu sichern und um die Kinder in der familiären Gemeinschaft mit ihrem Vater und ihrer Mutter aufblühen zu lassen.

„Person“, das weiß jeder Philosoph und Theologe, ist der Mensch in seiner geistigen und sittlichen Individualität, die ihn unmittelbar auf Gott seinen Schöpfer und Erlöser bezieht. Jede menschliche Person existiert aber in der geistig-leiblichen Natur und konkret entweder als Mann oder Frau durch den Akt der Schöpfung, in dem Gott ihn oder sie (und in der wechselseitiger Bezogenheit in der Ehe) zu seinem Gleichnis seiner ewigen Güte und dreieinigen Liebe gemacht hat. Und so wie er geschaffen worden ist, wird Gott jeden Mensch auch in seinem weiblichen oder männlichen Leib auferwecken ohne sich von denen irritieren zu lassen, die (für viel Geld) andere Menschen gentital verstümmelt haben, oder die -durch falsche Propaganda verwirrt- sich freiwillig um ihre männliche oder weibliche Identität haben betrügen lassen.

Der Transhumanismus in all seinen Varianten und ist eine diabolische Fiktion und eine Versündigung an der personalen Würde des Menschen, auch wenn er in der Form des Transsexualismus terminologisch als „selbstbestimmte Geschlechtsumwandlung“ beschönigt wird. Für Lehre und Praxis gilt der römischen Kirche schreibt klar vor: „Die Dirne, der Unzucht treibende Mann, derjenige, der sich selbst verstümmelt, und jeder andere, der etwas tut, worüber man nicht spricht [1 Kor 6, 6-20), soll [vom Katechumenat und der Taufe] abgewiesen werden.“(Traditio Apostolica 16).

Die „gesunde Lehre“ (1 Tim 4, 3) ist die heilsame Pastoral

Das pastorale Motiv, das die Sünder gegen das sechste und neunte Gebot des Dekalogs möglichst „sanft und verständnisvoll“ behandelt sehen will, ist lobenswert nur solange der Seelsorger nicht wie ein schlechter Arzt seinen Patienten über die Schwere seiner Krankheit täuscht, sondern nur wenn der gute Hirte „mit dem Himmel sich mehr freut über einen einzigen Sünder, der Buße tut, als über neunundneunzig Gerechte, die es [in falscher Selbsteinschätzung] nicht nötig haben umzukehren.“ (Lk 15, 6). Hier ist auch grundlegend zu unterscheiden zwischen dem (einmaligen) Sakrament der Taufe, das alle bisherigen Sünden tilgt und uns mit dem bleibenden Charakter des Eingefügtseins in den Leib Christi ausstattet, und dem (wiederholbaren) Sakrament der Buße, durch das die Sünden vergeben werden, die wir nach der Taufe begangen haben.

Es ist gemäß der Heilsorge der Kirche immer richtig, dass ein Kind getauft werden kann und soll, dessen katholische Erziehung von den Verantwortlichen, gerade auch durch ein vorbildliches Leben, garantiert werden kann.

Kein Zweifel aber kann die Kirche lassen an dem natürlichen Recht eines Kindes, bei seinen eigenen leiblichen Eltern aufzuwachsen bzw. im Notfall bei seinen Adoptiveltern, die sittlich legitim an ihre Stelle treten. Jede Form von Leihmutterschaft oder der Produktion eines Kindes im Laboratorium (wie eine Sache) zur Befriedigung egoistischer Wünsche ist in katholischer Sicht eine schwere Verletzung der Person-Würde eines Menschen, den Gott durch seine eigene Mutter und seinen eigen Vater leiblich und geistig ins Dasein verfügt hat, um ihn zur Gotteskindschaft im ewigen Leben zu berufen.

Warum Gott nur durch den rechten Glauben die Kirche aufbaut

Im Zusammenhang mit der Synode über die Synodalität wurde oft die biblische Formulierung bemüht: „Wer Ohren hat, höre, was der Geist den Gemeinden sagt“ (Offb  2,11). Gemeint ist im letzten Buch der Heiligen Schrift „die Treue zum Wort Gottes und dem Zeugnis Jesu Christi“ (Offb 1,2). Der Verfasser der Traditio Apostolica im Rom der Apostelfürsten Petrus und Paulus ist davon überzeugt, dass der „Aufbau der Kirche bewirkt wird durch die Annahme des rechten Glaubens“.  Er beschließt seine Schrift mit den bedenkenswerten Worten: „Denn wenn alle die apostolische Überlieferung hören, sie befolgen und beachten, wird euch kein Häretiker noch irgendein anderer Mensch in die Irre führen können. Denn die vielen Häresien sind dadurch hochgekommen, dass die Vorsteher [Bischöfe] sich über die Lehren der Apostel nicht haben belehren lassen wollen, sondern nach eigenem Gutdünken gehandelt haben und nicht, wie es sich geziemte. Wenn wir etwas vergessen haben, Geliebte, so wird Gott es denen offenbaren, die würdig sind. Er leitet nämlich die Kirche, damit sie den Hafen seiner Ruhe erreicht.“ (Traditio Apostolica 43).

Posted in Pò sì jiù, Sin That Cries To Heaven, What are they REALLY saying? | Tagged , ,
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NOT ROME 23/10 – Day 41: My View For Awhile – Last leg

UPDATE: When I updated this post from the airplane with the cat photo (below), I think the cat ate the chess puzzle.  Darn cats.

BLACK to move.  MATE in FOUR.   Use force!


In Rome I might have seen the sun rise at 06:51 and I could have, were I there, experienced the colors of its setting at 16:57.   Instead, where I am in Brooklyn the sun will set at 16:42, but I will be long gone by then.

The Ave Maria Bell, you ask?  Still at 17:30.

Today in the Novus Ordo calendar it is the Feast of Pope St. Leo I, “the Great” (+461), whose theology and latinity were stellar.   Leo had synods with bishops, by the way, during which he told them what was what.

It is the Feast of Andrea Avellino (+1608) with a commemoration of St. Trypho, who church was subsumed into Sant’Agostino which is why Trypho’s name remains with Sant’Agostino in the list of the Roman Stations for Lent.

Just to make sure that those who think I am avoiding writing about Card. Müller (whom I haven’t yet read, the latest stuff), here’s what my priest friend and I had to eat yesterday, probably the thing foremost on the minds of most of the readership… along with the solution to yesterday’s chess problem.  ‘Cause… you know… it’s called “Fr. Z’s Blog” for a reason.

Firstly, wait… let’s fill in a blank… yesterday we went out into deepest darkest Long Island to see a brand new cemetery chapel build by the Diocese of Rockville Centre.   I must say, they did a grand job of it.   The fact that they built a new church instead of closing one or selling one is already good.   This lovely little church was just consecrated last Sunday!  You could still smell chrism.

Not flashy or innovative, but very well done.

Three cloths, very good.

Alas, they have a picnic table, but the main altar is consecrated for use.

A good job.

UPDATE

Zipped through the process at the airport. I met a rather hairy passenger at security.

The expression – sort of how I feel at this stage of a trip.

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Some clear confusion emerges

By now you will have read something about a new document, responses to dubia that were submitted by a Brazilian bishops about “trans”, etc.   This is not just theological curiosity stuff, but rather practical problems that parish priests must deal with.

LifeSite has a summary of the dubia (questions official submitted to the appropriate authority of the Roman Curia needing official responses to bring greater clarity):

The questions are as follows, although the original July 14, 2023 request from Bishop Negri was not published:

Can a transgender person be baptized?
Can a transgender person be a godfather or godmother at baptism?
Can a transgender person be a witness at a wedding?
Can two homo-affective persons be counted as parents of a child, who must be baptized, and who was adopted or gained by other methods such as surrogacy?
Can a person who is homo-affective and cohabiting be godfather to a baptized person?
Can a person who is homo-affective and cohabiting be a witness at a wedding?

The answers from Card. Fernandez at the DDF?   There are vague aspects which do not resolve the dubia in their practical ramifications.   These are things that parish priests will have to deal with.  I suspect that now parishes will be targeted with test cases.  Perhaps the parish priests should just refer the question to the local bishop and refuse personally to deal with it immediately.

I will ask a couple questions about the question (#2) concerning godparents.

Fernandez said that, yes, transgender individuals could act as godparents at Baptism.

The Code of Canon Law 872 says that “a sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.” Canon 874 speaks to the qualities of a sponsor, such as being “a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on.”

So, does an unrepentant trans person (that is, being unrepentant about having undergone the process) fulfill these points of law?

There may be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each (canon 873), but if there are two sponsors, they should not be of the same sex. If there are two sponsors, one must be Catholic.

QUAERITUR: How can a transgendered person be a godparent since the Church doesn’t recognize a difference between biological sex and gender?

QUAERITUR: How can the Church recognize the suitability of a homosexual couple living more uxorio (committing same-sex acts together regularly) as witnesses to a sacramental matrimony without de facto admitting the moral good of homosexual acts?

About “gender”.  This word is misused.   It is not interchangeable with “sex”.

For priests in parishes… this is going to be hard.   Don’t feel that you must, on the spot, make a decision or give an answer.  Refer it “upstairs”.   Tread carefully.   You decision might have wider consequences.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Sin That Cries To Heaven, What are they REALLY saying? |
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NOT ROME 23/10 – Day 40: Back in the USA and a quick glimpse of Rome

In Rome the sun rose without me at 06:50 and it will set at 16:58.  The Ave Maria Bell is to be at 17:30 but it won’t be rung.

It is the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, some sources say the 1700th.

If anyone out there is name Theodore, it is your name day (martyr, soldier +306)

Where I am the sun will set at 16:43.

Welcome new registrants:

chibago
Joyce

Yesterdays flight was one of the most uncomfortable I’ve ever experienced because of the seat.

Comfort+.

HA!

There was virtually no resistance in the cushion, so it was mainly a metal bar.  10 hours.  I used blankets and a pillow.  That helped, but… whew.  It was awful.  Also, the “entertainment system” kept freezing up and rebooting.  Pull my ball cap down over my eyes and snooze till it comes back.

Entry to these USA was pretty easy.   Luggage came quickly.  No traffic outside so my ride was right there.

For supper we went to a place called….

And we had…

Not Chicago style beef sandwiches, for sure, but really good.  Fantastic onion rings, too.

Which drink is mine?

Moving… hard to get a clean shot.

Meanwhile, back in Rome, a smaller catafalque has replaced the large.

Meanwhile, white to move.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

3:16 isn’t just in John.

Right now, I’m still working through the fascinating…

No Apologies: Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men

US HERE – UK HERE

For example:

No apologies, then, for the masculine institutions of the past. Instead, we should question our refusing to grant to men and boys the opportunity or even the legal permission to form groups that are natural to them and that have proved to be so marvelously productive. I am not going to prescribe for every man and woman what groups they may or may not join. But what if something of that masculine conflict, that dynamic enmity, that sharpening of opponent against opponent and friend against friend, that bold affirmation of equality within hierarchy, and that readiness of equals to form and to submit to hierarchies is dissipated in the company of girls and women, so that the groups no longer accomplish all that they might? What if the sign on the tree house, No Girls Allowed, is not meant so much to keep girls away but to protect the male friendships from having to compete with eros—to attract the boys to male teams and to keep them in, ultimately for the good of the women that those same girls will become?

Think, think. Roman Catholics have abundant experience of what happened when girls were permitted to serve at the altar. The boys disappeared. Why? No doubt for a variety of coinciding reasons, most of which the boys themselves would have been hard put to describe. The camaraderie was spoiled. The older boys, instead of being rather like the first mate or the master-at-arms aboard a ship, instructing the smaller boys in what to do and how to do it, would now stick out and look absurd. The priests themselves lost interest in what had been the church’s most obvious source of vocations to the priesthood. What the servers were expected to do was less and less, till finally in many a parish they are little more than cute decorations in pajamas. Nobody, not even the women who pressed for altar girls, thinks of them as essential, or as soldiers of Christ in training. It is not just that boys find it repugnant to be decorative, to be observed as being pretty. It is that the whole deal ceases to be inspiring or interesting. Thus do boys largely accept the sexual indifference that their elders preach to them, but they behave as anyone with any knowledge of the creature would have predicted. They may indeed say that there should be women priests. They will say so as they stay home on Sunday, playing video games.

Esolen, Anthony. No Apologies: Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men (p. 88). Regnery Gateway. Kindle Edition.

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ROME 23/10 – Day 39: My View For Awhile – Tips

I was up to see the Roman sunrise at 06:49 but I won’t be around to see the sunset at 16:59.  The Ave Maria bell is in the 17:30 cycle still

It is the Feast of the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs.

There will be a total lunar eclipse.  10:58 UTC.

It is the 312th day of the year.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

Meanwhile, BLACK to move and mate in FOUR

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

I thought I might rearrange the order since I’m now working on my phone.

Time to get rid of all that I can from my fridge.

I picked up a little fresh mozzarella for caprese.

This was lunch.   Pane di Lariano.

I had a little bit of eggplant alla parmigiana and some lasagne left, so they were warmed up together.

Last night, after getting everything packed and the place cleaned I met a friend for a final adult beverage at the Campo.

Which drink is mine?

Instead… out my door this morning.

A last glimpse of the Chiesa Nuova where wonderful St. Philip Neri is.

A last glimpse of the Ponte Sisto.  See how dark St. Peter’s dome is?

From my door in a taxi at 0730.   At the airport there was total chaos in the section in Terminal 3 for direct flights to the USA.   Then I found beyond the regular lines, the “Priority” line and zipped in.  From there, passport control opened a new section just as I got there, so – zip again – security pfffft – in the lounge with breakfast in front of me 0830!

You never know about airports.

Tip for those traveling and then LEAVING Rome.  For flight to the USA, have your cab drop you at door 4 of Terminal 3.   Right now (because of construction) that’s the closest to get you into the dedicated check in area.

BTW… I thank one of you who donate by WISE today, because I used my Wise card for the taxi.   Worked like a charm.  Thanks for the ride!

This was the first trip during which I used my Wise card for ATM withdrawal and purchases.  Far lower fees and very favorable exchange compared to using my US cards.   I was using my Wise euro account.  Use the card in the UK and it will take the money from your GBP account.  In the USA from your USD account.  Very handy.   I will use it more in the future, I think, though the monthly limit is a bit limiting.

More along the way.

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ROME 23/10 – Day 38: Last full day

The sun rose at 06:47 and it will set at 16:59. The Ave Maria is still in the 17:3o cycle.

Welcome registrants:

Mary B.
Joyce

It is my last full day in Rome.   It is a sad day.

It is gray and weeping rain.

I hope it will clear up a little tonight for a couple of last errands and a stroll.   I don’t do rain very well, I’m afraid.

Use FATHERZ10 at checkout

I’ve said good bye to all the shop and stand keeper and have most everything tidied up.   I want to leave the place cleaner than I found it, so that will take some work.  For example, I though to soak glassware and flatware in aceto d’alcool, to get all the hard water buildup off them.   This is something that wasn’t done before I got here.  I’ll treat also the things I have not used.

I may start a last bit of laundry to leave all the dishtowels and linens clean for whom ever must clean up.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

Apartment: again, it is sad day.

Meanwhile,…. BLACK to move and mate in THREE.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

Beer and wine for Thanksgiving.

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Feedback for Fr. Z’s Blog – ACTION ITEM!

It’s November.  The end of the liturgical year is coming.  It is a good time to access what’s going with life.

As I have done in the past, in November (though not for a couple of years), I like to assess some of the fruits this blog has produced.

This is where you come in.   This is important to me.

May I ask you, please, to write to me and to describe briefly how this blog has affected your life of Faith?

I occasionally get notes from people to say that, because of something they read here;

  • they took steps to get their marriage straightened out;
  • they returned to confession after many years, or came back to the Church;
  • priests have said that the blog helped them decide about seminary or helped them to stick it out;
  • other priests have written that they determined to learn the TLM because of their reading here;
  • people have written that they’ve learned a great deal about the Church and about our Catholic Faith;
  • others now participate at Mass in a different way because of reading about the content of the Latin prayers;
  • people say they have stayed in the Church even in the face of reactions to COVID and other crazy things they see and hear;
  • some people like the podcasts and seasonal audio offerings, such as those during Advent and Lent.

Perhaps there are other things.

Maybe what happened was recent.  Maybe it was a while ago.  I’d like to know.

Other than the occasional note a person writes out of kindness, it is hard to know what’s up.

Will you please write to let me know how this blog has been of help?

I’ll be especially pleased to hear from long-time readers and also those of you who do not comment often in the combox.

Let me know if any of it could be quoted (anonymized of course!) in a blog post. Posting some of these “testimonials” could encourage others to take similar steps that you might have taken.

I’ll use the rest of this calendar month, until the end of November, for this project.

If you would like to write something, please go to this page and use the form:

HERE

Email verification is required, just so you know. Once when I tested the form I got a message to try again.  I did and it worked.   You can help me not to miss your message by putting

Feedback for Fr. Z’s Blog

in the Subject line.

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Full marks plus an extra kudo to Jesuit Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ. for his comments on “Eucharistic Revival”

I give full marks plus an extra kudo to Jesuit Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ.

His article at Catholic World Report is OUTSTANDING.

How many times have I here urged GO TO CONFESSION!

Have I not again and and begged priests to hear confessions?

Do I not try to help people make a good confession when they go?

That’s because the Sacrament of Penance is of critical importance.  If the Eucharist (the Sacrament Itself and the celebration of the sacrament which is Mass) is the “source and summit” of our Catholic identity and lives, then the Sacrament of Penance MUST also be at the very core of our Catholic identity and lives.

Fr. McTeigue addresses the ongoing “Eucharistic Revival” effort in the USA.  He brings in a serious point and he is absolutely right to do so.   My emphases.

Will there be a Eucharistic revival?

Why invest so much time, personnel, and money into a form of Eucharistic Revival and a National Eucharistic Congress that cannot achieve its stated purposes?

My mother said, “If you don’t want people to read it, then don’t write it down.” What if you didn’t write something down because you didn’t think that it needed to be said? What if you didn’t write something down because you don’t want to say it?

I think of these things while following the three-year “Eucharistic Revival” that is underway (so I’m told) in the United States, a revival whose featured event is a National Eucharistic Congress. (Henceforth I’ll refer to the Revival and Congress together as ER/C.) I’m on the relevant mailing lists and follow the corresponding web pages. Today (10/23/23) prompted me to recall my mother’s wisdom. I searched for the words “confession” and “reconciliation” at EucharisticCongress.org There I found one reference to the sacrament. Under the menu of Frequently Asked Questions by those attending the Congress: “Will confession be available? Yes, there will be daily confession available for attendees.”

The organizers of the Eucharistic Congress, the great capstone event of the three-year Eucharistic Revival (already underway), the people who like to remind us that, “Revival is in the air!”, have nothing else to say about confession and the Eucharistic Congress. I could end here with, “And that’s why there won’t be a Eucharistic Revival.” But let’s look closer.

We needn’t review here the inseparable link between sacramental confession and Eucharistic piety. Regarding the consequences of unworthy reception of Holy Communion, it will suffice to refer to 1 Corinthians 11:27.

[…]

The lay people responsible for the content of the website—they either have a habit of frequent and devout sacramental confession, or they don’t. How likely is it that people with a habit of frequent and devout sacramental confession would have nothing to say about the link between confession and the Eucharist? How likely is it that such people really did mean to say more about it on their website, but just forgot?

Let’s turn to the clergy involved in approving, or at least agreeing to pay for, this website. How likely is it that more than a year after the launch of the website they paid for, reference to sacramental confession is still conspicuous by its absence?

[…]

Either the website for the ER/C is a monument to a lack of due diligence or nothing more was said about confession at the website because the responsible parties chose to say nothing more. In the latter case, we are looking at prima facie evidence of a sin of omission—but perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe there’s a really good reason for this silence about confession, and I’m unable to perceive it. If so, the responsible parties can contact me at the Station of the Cross Media Network. I’ll gladly present their explanation in print and on air.

Let’s expand the scope of our examination, to evaluate my claim that there will be no Eucharistic revival, if symptoms persist. I’ve written elsewhere about the link between and proper ordering of “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi.” Another reason I’m confident there won’t be Eucharistic revival this time around is because the organizers of the ER/C have focused nearly exclusively on the Lex Credendi. Whether this narrow focus is accidental or deliberate remains to be seen; but their trumpeting of Lex Credendi and their quiescence regarding Lex Orandi is at least suggestive.

[…]

I’ll stop quoting and send you there.  There is quite a bit more and he keeps hitting them out of the park.

As to his reference to lex orandi lex credendi

Do I not often say that “WE ARE OUR RITES!”?

This is what Father is getting at.    There must be a courageous and vigorous overhaul of our sacred liturgical worship.   You know the direction I would have it go.  That’s clear enough.  Most of you know, I think, how it would have to start… and NO… it would not start with sudden and brutally imposed changes as it was done in the late 60’s into the 70’s.

 

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ROME 23/10 – Day 37: Spiritual treasures

When the sun rose over Rome on my penultimate full day it was 06:46.

It will set at 17:01

The Ave Maria bell ought to ring at 17:30.

Welcome registrant:

KnoLuvServ

Tomorrow, big day for me.  I will be grateful for prayers today, tonight.

It is a dies non today, so the sacristan had already set out the black vestments for a Requiem Mass.  We are still in that window of time wherein you can gain a plenary indulgence each day.   Take advantage of these spiritual treasures.

I was glad to be able to use my new cassock for the first time today.  It had to be blessed, of course.   This is the text:

The text of the blessing indicates that the cassock is itself a spiritual treasure.  No wonder the cassock has been so hated by regimes such as those in England in the anti-Catholic terror reign of Elizabeth, in Mexico at the time of the Cristeros, in Spain in the civil war.  The cassock arouses strong passions.   Here in Rome my experience has run from violence, usually by those who really need to take their meds or who are maybe being messed around by demons, to instant happy recognition with cordial requests for blessings, prayers, just a greeting.  Oh yes… lots of beggars.   Lots.  You can’t imagine how many.  More and more, it seems.

Speaking of spiritual treasures and my mention of holy relics yesterday, I found a great quote:

“Those who say that the relics of the Saints are not worthy of veneration, that it is useless for the faithful to honor them, that it is vain to visit the memorials or monuments of the Saints in order to obtain their aid, are absolutely to be condemned”

– Council of Trent

So there.

I suppose some think that that pronouncement, being pre-Conciliar, is therefore in need of reinterpretation.  New version:  “Relics?  What’r relics?”

But not yet.

A somewhat Romantic view this morning.

Pray for us, Mother of Sorrows.  We have recourse to thee, especially now.

Meanwhile, white to move. Mate in TWO.

Fun.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

In chessy news, Vidit Gujrathi won in FIDE Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man.  He now qualifies with Hikaru Nakamura (2nd) to be in the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto.
In the Women’s event, Vaishali Rameshbabu won and therefore scored her own Women’s Candidates spot. Her brother Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa had already qualified for the men’s Candidates in the 2023 FIDE World Cup. So, for the first time a brother and sister duo will contend in the Open and Women’s Candidates.  I know you were dying to know the outcome.

Kitchen and food stuff.

Not much of interest, really.  I’ve been emptying the fridge and cupboard, just getting a couple fresh things.  Taking care of left overs.  I won’t be leaving much behind, for sure.  I had some lovely vegetable soup from a batch I made a few days ago, a couple pieces of toast with a schmear of soft bel paese.  Less is sometimes more and simple is just right.

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ROME 23/10 – Day 36: SURPRISE!

The sun rose over Rome at 06:45 and it set some time ago at 17:02

The Ave Maria is still in the 17:30 cycle.

It is the Feast of Holy Relics and the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

I have two full days left here.

Welcome new registrant:

Gregory M.

I renew my request for prayers for a friend, Giancarlo, for a miracle through the intercession of B. Luigi Maria Monti.

I ask prayers for myself.

I spotted something a bit unusual for this neighborhood: a few of the green parrots who are mostly in the Vatican Gardens, big parks.

Hard to see in the photos, but they are there.  It was their noise that attracted my attention.

Anyway… flying things.  A couple of the Italian formation fighters went by the other day in preparation for their bigger holiday fly over.

Also, there’s this.

Today I flew back and forth between my digs and the parish.  The last time because I got a phone call that the TAILOR was in the sacristy waiting for me.

He didn’t tell me ahead.  No one told me anything.  I had no idea.   So back I went, along with my damaged cassock, hoping that he would take it.

The surprise was that HE BROUGHT MY NEW CASSOCK.   I thought I would have to wait until March.  What a surprise.

It fits perfectly, is great fabric, and it has that new cassock smell.

Therefore, I will soon offer a Mass for my cassock contributors.  Thank you.

A couple sights from today.

Note in this inscription (some can take a stab at it), there is an abbreviation for TWO “Pontifices Maximi”.  Note how it is done.

This is of course a reference to another post.

I wonder what it is like to be the SUMMUS SCRINIARIUS.

I’ll bet someone can do this.  Then I have another one, even more interesting.

People are getting interested in The World’s Best Sacristan™.  Here’s what I means when I say he is a stickler for details.

Today he came up to the vestment case next to me and tisked and rearranged the chalice veil.

“What?”, quoth I, using on the standard hand gesture.

It seems that the pattern of the moiré was running the wrong direction.

Because the cross on the veil (it is really more Roman in the old sense not to have one at all) is directly in the center of the veil, it would be easy simply to drape it and scamper.   No no.  Things must be done properly.  The “stain” of the moiré must run the other way.

These, my friends are the important things that we ought to be worrying about.  Almost all the other stuff is really settled, isn’t it.  The Church’s teachings on morals are clear, for example.  Ordination of women.. married priests… hash it out again and again and again… cui bono?  But the direction of moiré.   THAT’s worth getting into.

White to move.  Work it out. Good one. Really think about this.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Buy some beer and work on chess problems… with a little savory sausage… cheese, a nice chair, some quiet. …. Yup.  And THANKGIVING is coming.   Norcia beer.

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE  These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.

Finally, here is an audio recording of the end of Mass.  You can hear what the church sounds like in the sanctuary for some of the prayers, the organ and the congregation singing the Salve Regina.

 

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