Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] @BishopBarron held a secret, “invite-only” meeting about the rise of “trads”. Wherein Fr. Z opines and invites (again) As reported by Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter), it seems that Bp. Robert Barron highly-visible, media-prelate, Auxiliary of Los Angeles, … hosted an invite-only meeting of Catholic media professionals last week to discuss “disturbing trends in the online Catholic world,” including the rise of “radical Traditionalist” movements that are often [?] marked by personal attacks and vitriolic commentary. Personal attacks?!? He would do better to start with those site which manifestly, repeatedly, shamelessly undermine the teachings of the Church and cause scandal,...

Quick thoughts about Archbp. Viganò’s Letter to Pres. Trump I’ve had a lot of people asking me via email to comment – or rather why I haven’t commented – on Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s Letter to Pres. Trump (V2POTUS).I’ve been busy!However, a little gap of time before rushing into the click scramble does everyone some good. We can think a little.First, I’ve enjoy immensely the reactions from the radically papalotrous New catholic Red Guard after Pres. Trump tweeted about The Letter.  Some examples from Twitter:And these only scratch the surface. BTW… Austen is rejoicing at the civil violence of the...

Edward Pentin’s talk at the Catholic Identity Conference 2017 Posted on 4 November 2017 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf Edward Pentin – at present the best English language Vaticanista in Rome – gave a talk at a conference. There is a video of his talk.You might give it a shot. Pentin, a sharp and reasonable guy, touches on a lot of sore points.We have to stop blowing happy gas all around, as if everything in the Church was great. It’s not great. Some things are great, but a lot of really important thing aren’t good at all. Before we can get to...

At Heat Street, Damian Thompson asks: “Is the Pope Catholic?” That site is a mess to read, so let’s see some of it here. My emphases and comments: Is the Pope Catholic? Here’s Why Many of Pope Francis Flock Aren’t Sure Pope Francis, we learned this week, will take part in a service next year to celebrate a great moment in Christian history. The Reformation. Yes, you read that right. ‘Pope celebrates Reformation’ sounds like an Onion headline, but it’s actually going to happen – when Francis travels to Sweden next year to mark the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s...

Today, via Pewsitter, I read two particularly vapid and banal pieces that had as their end the minimizing of the damage being done by Pope Francis' ill-advised utterances.  See here and here.  A rebuttal is needed, and Mundabor stepped up admirably to the plate.  I suspect Mundabor was commenting on Father Z's piece but it could apply to the Catholic Lane one as well. Both of the authors of the articles seemed hell-bent on trying to stifle some very appropriate concern and even indignation.  Their "don't worry, be happy" approach is, in my opinion, does not conform to what...

From the canonist Ed Peter’s fine blog In The Light Of The Law. He doesn’t have a combox over there and doesn’t mind if we use his stuff here. DO, however, go over there to his place regularly. Emphases are from Peters, comments mine: Misunderstanding the (alleged) 'Congo contraception' caseEven by the standards of his reign, the presser Pope Francis conducted on his return flight from Mexico has provoked an unusual number of questions. [No kidding. You should see my inbox, too!] I wish to address only one of those here.Preliminarily, I note that the burden is not on the...

Ross Douthat of the NYT really got under the skin of a whole raft of libs who, in typical lib fashion, reacted badly and are now trying silence him. Douthat wrote about how the libs lost at the Synod, how they did not get their Church and doctrine changing agenda through. HERE – go read it now. That made liberal heads explode. They signed on to a group letter whining to the Editor of Hell’s Bible that that sort of thing shouldn’t be permitted. After all, they sneered, Douthat doesn’t have a theology degree. So the libs wrote a letter....

How to Save the World, God’s Way – A Reflection on a Liturgical Teaching of Pope Benedict By: Msgr. Charles Pope Whenever I write on liturgy, I usually get a lot of comments. Many people obviously care deeply about it.Yet I also get comments that decry my “preoccupation” with liturgy, saying that it is of minor importance compared to the issues of poverty, abortion, etc. Some on the left will say, “Who cares if the Pope washes certain feet or doesn’t wear a fanon! Get out there and take care of the poor and show compassion. Frankly, your elaborate and expensive liturgies are...

Navis Pictures Producer Jim Morlino was looking for a story for his next film when a friend gave him a book with a story about a little known war in an area of Western France known as the Vendee - a story that he believed would be especially compelling to modern day Catholics. "More than just compelling, the magnitude of the story of the French Revolutionary Government's war against the Catholic Church, and the fact that these events were virtually unknown to most of the world, I found shocking," said Morlino. "How could a war which lasted for years,...

Father Z Equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis UPDATED July 27, 2013 By Sam Rocha 31 Comments Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, also known (and hereafter referred to) as “Fr. Z,” will surely dispute the claim of this headline, however, this post will show that the proposition “Father Z equates Catholic Bishops at WYD 2013 with Nazis” is true, by examining the words used by Fr. Z in today’s post at his web log, “Your Excellencies? REALLY?!?”Fr. Z’s post begins with the YouTube video (below) of a large group of Catholic Bishops, dressed in ecclesial attire, rehearsing hand movements to an upbeat religious...

Yesterday I facetiously posted about Friday penance during the Octave of Christmas. Days (other than Sunday) within the Octave of Christmas are not “heavy enough” (as a “solemnity” would be) to “outweigh” the Friday obligation to do some sort of penance as determined by the conferences of bishops. In the 1962 Missale Romanum they are “II class”, which corresponds to the newer, non-traditional calendar’s “feast”. In the 2001 Missale Romanum they are categorized as second class, as “feasts”. If, howeverm you are at a parish named “Holy Innocents”, such as that great place in Manhattan, and the Feast of the...

Does this seem to you to be a new journalistic low? Posted on 9 June 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf I haven’t ever heard of anything like this, except in my sometime-interest in astronomy, when people were recruited to monitor big listening arrays or perhaps help map the genome. The Washington Post has asked for 100 volunteer readers to go through some 24K emails from Gov. Sarah Palin’s tenure as Governor of Alaska.Can we imagine they are looking for the good things she did as Governor with the purpose of praising her?  Surely there will be some.  If they...

Liberals are beginning to twit. They are just warming up, but soon it will be a grand mal twit. They are panicking about Pope Benedict and his provisions for Anglicans who, after their long nightmare with liberal on their side of the Tiber, may want unity in the Catholic Church. Be alert. The liberal Catholics will try to pull a sleight of hand. They will attempt to get you to believe that what Pope Benedict is doing is not true ecumenism. They will claim to be the sole arbiters of true ecumenism. They will claim that conservative Catholics, traditional Catholics...

Why everyone logs on to ‘Father Z’ He was once a long-haired Lutheran. But now, says Anna Arco, he is a legend in the conservative Catholic blogosphere29 February 2008 The legendary Fr Z Fr Z walks through the bitterly cold Oxford night with the firm, fast steps of a man who has relentless energy, determination and strong convictions. With his black trilby tilted at a raffish angle and his black scarf firmly tucked into his black coat, he looks like a character out The Matrix. With three mobile devices on him he certainly carries enough electronic kit to warrant the...