Words Without Which We'll Weather Whatever Wends Its Way Into Our Lives... Well Enough

(I ran out of "w"s, or rather, the imagination to think of words with that initial.)

Someone has just called my attention to the fact that Anna Wintour, (She Who Must Be Obeyed, even if she tell you to hoist her up a flight of stairs, it seems) is sick of the world "journey" too.

Of course I can walk, thank heavens I don't HAVE to!

Himself has been repeating, with less and less enthusiasm, directors' use of the word for years, either in pep talks to casts at first readthroughs, ("this journey we'll all be taking together..."   or in  notes of gratitude to audiences in programs, ("thank you for joining us on this journey.")

(I was heartily sick of it way sooner, but I believe I was able to keep my eye rolls, which are the only thing youthful about me, to a minimum.)

But even more so, I am beyond sick of, "enough said," or even worse, " 'nuff said."

I don't object to its use after a conspiratorial verbum sapienti, an assurance that both speaker and listener, (or writer and reader,) are on the same page, but in a conversation where there are differing points of view, it seems the height of dimwitted arrogance to give ones opinion and then punctuate it with the phrase, implying that what one has just pronounced is such genius that no more can be said.

Really, I whine about a lot, don't I?

(And yes, everyone is sick of "amazing," I should think even the people who overuse it. Enough said.)

Saving the World

Some of the best news I've had in a long time...

 Jennifer Donelson said on Facebook - 

I am delighted finally to be able to announce that I have accepted the position of Associate Professor and Director of Sacred Music at St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) in New York....
 I am looking forward to this new opportunity to serve the Church and Her future priests in a more dedicated way.

I can think of little more important to the continuing mission of the Church than training up the next generation of priests, (unless, as Jenny reminded me, it were training up the next generation of children, who will become the NEXT  next generation of priests.)

Save the Seminaries, Save the Liturgy.... Save the Liturgy, Save the World

Altar Boys and Girls

USCatholic has an editorial by an all grown-up altargirl, accompanied by a survey.

It made me think about the subject a little more deeply than I usually do, (my thoughts on servers usually run to,  Maybe bubblegum pink mules were not the best footwear choice for an acolyte, or Couldn't that kid wait and pick his nose later? or Would it kill the servers to learn the basic responses? and to at least stand for the EP if they're not going to kneel?)

I ticked off a lot of "others" because the survey, like most surveys, is leading, and makes certain presumptions of the If you think X then you probably don't think Y variety.

So, agree? disagree? other?
I present some of my answers, (yeah,  I tapped that keyboard like they was payin' me by the word,) as a woman who went through here childhood and adolescence pretty sure I was going to be a Catholic priest when I grew up.

I suspect "allowing girl altar servers has hurt the number of vocations to the priesthood", but I don't know.
I do think women are innately more inclined to serve, (and I mean that generally, not just at the altar,) and males are all too willing to let females take up the slack in many areas.
Look at the make-up of other ministries in your parish.

I think males have a much harder time than do females of understanding the concept of the Servant/Leader which is so central to Jesus' mission, and I suspect service at the altar is one of the few ways boys learn the concept.

It is possible that [the author of the piece] doesn't understand the concept either, from the way she mocks the idea of girls serving in other capacities, "helping with the flowers, the linens, and the sacristy," and maybe "the washing and ironing too ," which she apparently feels are demeaning.

It is fortunate that Peter's mother-in-law, Martha, and the various Marys of the New Testament had a better grasp of what service means than the writers at USCatholic.

The reader is asked whether this is a statement with which they can agree:
"Parishes should just be happy that any kids want to become altar servers, regardless of their sex."

Idiotic.
Of course they should be happy.

They should be happy if a four year old wants to celebrate Mass, too, but that doesn't mean that they should let him.

Or if they agree with this one: Having girls as altar servers discourages boys from getting involved in the ministry. -

I don't know, I only suspect that it does.
Nobody is going to compile statistics, lest they contradict ones already held opinion.

(Kind of the way they fail to keep track of abortions and their aftermath in this country.)

And statistics that rely on self-reported reasons are not very useful in these matters.
Look at simple Mass attendance - who is going to answer, "because I'm too lazy to get up on Sunday," when asked why they don't attend?
A PC answer, such as a distaste for hypocrisy, or disagreement with "what the Church says," (without much effort made to find out what the Church actually teaches,) is face-saving,  it seems more thoughtful and responsible than "I like to get loaded Saturday nights".

Look at how many young Catholic men in this country say that mandatory celibacy is the main factor in keeping them from the priesthood, survey after survey - if this were true, the marriage rate would be rising, or at least holding steady, wouldn't it?

Because celibacy is the last thing we ask of married Catholics, so if the thought of never having sex were the actual reason for any downturn in ordinations, you'd be jumping at the chance to marry, right?

But who's going to say,  I just don't want to make a commitment, I want to keep my options open rather than taking on any encumbrance.

Why, that would make you sound shallow!

I think "opportunit[ies] to be involved in parish ministry" is one of the worst reasons for having servers of either sex.
There is a far too common attitude toward Liturgy among the laity, adult and children, that unless one is an EM, or a lay reader, or a choir member, or an usher, one has "nothing to do," at Mass, ignoring the fact that those in the pews who listen to the Word and receive Christ and worship the Triune God have "chosen the better part," and that those who serve are, when it gets down to it, sacrificing their freedom to do just, and choose the better part that by service.

The biggest danger of eliminating female altar servers is:

Huffy people deliberately absenting themselves from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because of elimination of female servers is not their personal preference, not "how they would have done it."

I know too many people who claim to be Catholic but don't go to Mass because of music/boredom/bad preaching/being ticked off with the priest.

Well listen up -
If there's something that you dislike more than you love receiving Communion so that you allow whatever that distaste is to keep you from partaking of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, then YOU DON'T REALLY BELIEVE IN THE REAL PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE EUCHARIST.

And if you don't believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, then YOU ARE NOT REALLY CATHOLIC.

If boys in your parish shied away from altar serving because they didn’t want to serve with girls, the parish’s response should be:
If, IF, anyone actually said that, I'd try to find what they meant.
I suspect any boys who did say that would have a variety of meanings - "I don't like girls" or "I have contempt for 'women's work'" seems to be [the USCatholic author's] assumption, since she also wrote, "Are those really the type of priests we want leading a parish? The best pastor is not likely the one who has had females cleared out of his path and been taught that if he doesn’t want to deal with women in his vocation and work, he doesn’t have to."

There is also shyness, and as boys get older, nervousness around members of the opposite sex.
It's a delicate age, and there is no question in my mind that possessors of XY chromosomes are the "weaker sex."

And finally, it seems to me that a "calling" of any sort is more easily discerned, and more keenly felt if one grasps the necessity of ones stepping up to the plate, rather than being given the impression that "oh, anyone can do it, there's no reason for me to put myself out, they don't need me."
I think that over the last 30 years, (and perhaps before that, I don't know,) there was a concerted effort on the part of a lot of people to give that impression to those priests whom we were already fortunate enough to have.

Restricting service at the altar to boys might just be necessary damage control after 40 years in the desert.

Jesus the Teacher?

I am sure it was not intended as a dig at anyone in particular, but not for the first time, the Holy Father seems tone deaf to some of his own phraseology.

Jesus is not a professor who speaks from the professor’s chair; rather, He goes among the people and lets them touch Him so that they can be healed. 

So much for the "Both/And' of the Faith.
Because sometimes...

The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’

And...

With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

Perhaps Pope Francis just means that Jesus never had tenure.....

A Peerlessly Expressive Voice Swelling the Chorus of the Thrice-Holy Hymn, Magda Olivero Dead at 104

I know one shouldn't presume on God's grace, one should pray for the deceased, but I must say, if Magda Olivero was not the kindest, gentlest, most gracious, most generous woman you ever met... well, than she was an even greater actress that she was given credit for.
I believe she is even now singing, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus at the throne of God.
And God is enjoying it immensely.

A hundred and four... my, my.
When I say that I had the great good fortune to meet her and even appear  with her onstage it makes me sound even more ancient than I am, but remember, not only was she pushing 60 when she made her American debut, but the verismo roles which were her meat and potatoes often feature choirboys and urchins and shepherds and the like.

"If one just sings, without putting in any heart or soul, it remains just beautiful singing and not a soul that sings!”

And hers was a soul that sang.

And there I was, just complaining about the canonization of the recently deceased.
Do I contradict myself?
Well, then - I contradict myself.
I am large, I contain multitudes.

And here's another - some beauty of voice is the sine qua non of operatic singing.
Right?
And what did she think of herself?

"I never had a voice, what I had was expression, a face, a body, the truth. If one prefers the opposite, that is his right."

She sells herself short, her sound could be exquisite.

But with Mme. Olivero mere beauty of tone was superfluous, too much would have been gaudy, trivial, vulgar -- set beside her eloquence, merely pretty singing would have been unsatisfactory indeed.

And yet, Ira Siff in Opera News reminds us,

in 1993, at eighty-three, Olivero recorded excerpts from her beloved Adriana Lecouvreur, making a final artistic statement on the role, still able to offer passages of ethereal beauty and expression. [emphasis supplied] Her art is extensively documented in live-performance audio recordings and a handful of video documents —  every one a lesson.

Rest in peace, you lovely, lovely woman.

The Link Between Football and Domestic Abuse, Just Because It's Likely To Come Up?

Well, despite my yammering about primary sources, at some point we all have to put our faith in what someone else says, and I've found Snopes to be awfully reliable.

And now that the NFL has finally understood that "Hey, what's the best way to pick up hot chicks? BY THEIR HAIR!" isn't really a particularly funny joke, and said...

Well, GEE... we didn't really know how HARD he punched her till now!

...as I said, it's bound to come up, the supposed link between watching the Superbowl and smacking your wife around, thereby blackening the reputation of American football further.

'Tain't true.

Suicide and Romance and "But its what he wants...."

A friend urged me to check out a book of which I've never heard, 'cause you know, I'll cry and cry and cry.
So I checked.

Even before finding the "spoiler" page I had pretty much guessed the ending of "Me Before You." (I am curious, but not curious enough to read the thing, does the title mean, "I'm remembering the way I was before I met you and yeah, I'm a better person now" or,  does it mean, "Yeah, I'm gonna die before you do"?)

Like a television "presenter" whose brother died rather horribly, some romantic fiction fans agree that forcing them to suffer with "ammonia" is the dread consequence of not killing your loved ones.

Yes, isn't it sadly romantic, or romantically sad, or something, that the protagonist of the novel defies the mother of the man she (I'm guessing?) loves and goes along with his wishes to off himself....

No.
No it is not.
It is sugar-coated pure evil.

What is wrong with us? with Lord Falconer, with the entire nation of Belgium, with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, with the terrorists and Clint Eastwood and Richard Dawkins and the people of Oregon?

I don't know that these things are truly related, but I read somewhere that there were actual protestations over the recently dedicated memorial in Germany to the disabled who were "euthanized" by the Nazis.

Too many monuments, do we really need to talk about more victims? there are already so many, it's excessive....

What hardening of the heart allows people to value human life so low?  to adopt "a way of thinking that presumes to judge the worth of individual lives"? what "deformation of moral senses which ultimately led many people to believe that killing sick and disabled people was something like an act of pity, and ethically legitimate"?

Read about how wrong-headed Lord Falconer is.

And read what real love says  in answer to death and dying.

If It Weren't For Jumping to Conclusions, I'd Get No Exercise At All

Himself and I have had our share of tense moments.

Most of them are caused by my asking questions after he has made a statement. Why do you say that?

He usually hears in this a challenge, an initiation of debate, an insistence on him defending his position -- and honestly, it's not.

Not that I'm not perfectly capable of devious conversation, manipulating another into taking a thought to its logical conclusion and then pouncing -- Aha! if you believe THAT then you would also have to believe THIS, and you couldn't possibly, so I force you to rethink your initial premise, GOTCHA!

But I don't do that with him, because it's a fragile part of his psyche we're dealing with.
All I'm doing is asking why he said something, did he just read a novel or news article from which he drew the conclusion? has he actually experienced what he is talking about or have other first hand knowledge? was this reported as news?

And sometimes, I'm saying that so far, yeah, there IS disagreement on my part, but I'm actually asking--- what have I not considered, what don't I know about this?

Anyhoo, this is just a too-wordy preamble to ruminations on jumping to conclusions.

Facebook, of which I haven't really bothered to figure out the workings, delivers to my inbox snippets of what people I know are thinking about, and what many of them have been thinking about the past month or so is Ferguson.
So a cop jumped to a conclusion, (as cops MUST, they don't have the luxury of socratic-method interaction with civilians,) and in the aftermath of this, absent any real knowledge on the subject, everybody in the country seems to have drawn a conclusion as to who was at fault.

And everybody thinks the same thing.

Oh really? you ask.

Yes, they do all think the same thing, it's always the FillInTheBlank - that the blame lies with the person with whom the blame always lies, that this tragic incident is the result of CommonKnowledge.

Because, um, racism.

Or alternatively, because, um, minority crime.

And I think a prime mover in this certainty so many express about so many events in the face of virtually no evidence is because quasi-journalistic sources, (which mimic authentic journalism, or often in earlier days were actual journalistic sources with credibility and integrity,) have no compunction about reporting with no more concern for only presenting facts than your average guy on a bar stool shooting the breeze.

At a reunion of sorts this weekend a dear friend, a Catholic, while we were discussing matters only peripherally related to the Church came out with, Okay, I'll say it - I don't like the Pope.
I said that it was hard for me to be objective because of how much I love his predecessor, and she interrupted with, Oh, I liked Benedict.
Okay, I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but why don't you "like" Francis?
She replied, he said XXXXXX. (What  it was doesn't matter.)
Did he? I don't think he said that, but I only skimmed the document, have you read his actual words? Because I haven't, I don't really speak Italian or Spanish, but have you at least read the official translation?
Yes.
Oh, okay. If that's what he said, I disagree with it too.
But later I did a little work on the google machine, and no, the phrases and words with which she took issue which she attributed to him do not occur in the document in question.
Hmmm... where they occur is in the ranting of a radio personality who is reading not from the document in question but from another media outlet's reporting on it.

Does anyone remember what they learned in school about the value of primary sources? Anyone? Anyone?

At RelEd, where the main focus of this year is the the importance of a well-formed conscience, among other concepts I am concerned that they understand the difference between actions that are always and everywhere evil and actions that require context, (if you think that's because abortion is going to come up whether we will it or no, you get a gold star.)
I asked a bunch of 10 year-olds this weekend to make some judgements, to jump to conclusions, is someone bad if he sticks a knife in you?
They were unanimous in condemnation until I said, what about a surgeon who's operating to save your life?
Okay, that made sense.
Is someone nice if he gives you the most delicious piece of chocolate you ever tasted?
They knew enough to hesitate, that the answer might not be the obvious one, but it took a while - finally, my gold-star kid ventured, like, it could be poison or you could be allergic to it?
Ding-ding-ding...

It is not long before these lovely little children, (and they are little children,)  are going to be faced with situation where phrases such as "but he likes it" and, "if you loved me you'd..." and, "who's it gonna hurt?" and  "wait till you see how good it feels," are going to be uttered.

They need to be prepared to make judgments about actions without judging people, to draw rather than jump to conclusions.
And they need this done in ways that do not do violence to their innocence.

Speaking of jumps, one girl, whose parents' economic/political bent, I suspect, is the polar opposite of that of my friend who doesn't "like the pope," came out with this - Rich people are all mean. I hate rich people.

Cue Lt Cable's second act number.

Is it my imagination, or are people dressing more and more inappropriately all the time, at funerals, graduations and other solemn occasions?

I mean, red? Really?
A little attention hungry, isn't it?
I can't even.

Not Sex, but the Mass

Perhaps my worst post title ever...

But after reading Peter Kwasniewski's article about Liturgy and FOR the Poor.

Although some may find it surprising, I find it utterly fitting that the Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World—an heroic apostolate whose priests, nuns, and laity work with people of desperate poverty—have in recent years discovered the treasure of the usus antiquior and have embraced its celebration as a potent source of life and energy for their work. The same has been true for other congregations, such as the Missionaries of Charity and the once-flourishing Franciscans of the Immaculate. As for the congregation, it is well known that the poor, contrary to all the prognostications of clergy and experts, have flocked to Masses in the usus antiquior. 

The manifest reverence, pregnant silences, and redolent symbols of the old Mass speak eloquently to simple souls who find in it an encounter with the Passion of Christ that can give meaning to their own sufferings. The traditional Roman Rite has a purity of focus and a strength of passion that make it particularly suitable for radically poor missionaries to the poor. It is a liturgy that pulls down the ego of the celebrant by plunging him into a ritual that is his demanding master, not his plaything; and yet, it is a liturgy shot through with a lover’s gestures: the altar is kissed many times, and telling phrases are repeated, just as we often do in intense situations. This Mass has the virtue of purity of heart, which Kierkegaard defined as “willing one thing.” It wills the Sacrifice of the Cross, and subordinates everything to that. As such, it is an incomparable school of poverty of spirit, conforming the worshiper to the single-hearted Christ. 

Among poor people huddled in a hut, before whom a scrubby priest dressed in rags celebrates the Eucharistic sacrifice with total focus and passion―here, amid woes that drive desperate souls to meaningful prayer, there is likely to be a real participation in the ecstasy of the crucified and risen Savior.

The photo that accompanies the piece shows a priest wearing a grandly embroidered stole and swinging a thurifer that, (although not particualrly grand,) is probably worth more than some of the congregants make in a year.

Such ruminations and such sights always remind me of learning what, IIRC, is a Neapolitan saying: "Sex is the Opera of the poor," in other words, the activity both entertaining and hopefully transcendent that even they can afford.

Even at the time, I knew that was wrong, and as Italians and putative Catholics, whoever coined the aphorism should have known it - the Mass, the Mass is where anyone always and everywhere has access to the transcendence, (that may, let's be honest, elude one at La Scala or in bed,) and is without doubt the only access for many of us, to beautiful aromas of clouds of incense, to gorgeous and gorgeously sung music to which we can even contribute, (a simple three note "amen sung by 500 people can thrill ones very bones,) to the visual splendour of great buildings and great art, and (forget Parisian ateliers,)  the absolute height of  accomplishment in textile and lacework and embroidery.
There were many times in my school days when I could not scrape together the money for a ticket even to a score desk at the Met, but was blessed to stumble upon a church in Manhattan where they did the rite right.

All that earthly beauty  --- and Jesus too!!!!!!

No, not sex....

Liturgy is the opera of the poor.

Does This Ever Happen To You?

After the entrance antiphon I put my Magnificat away until the Communion antiphon, (we had priest and lay reader with terrific diction, no need to "follow along in the book,") and the opening collect, which I had not glanced at a head of time was wonderful, a really exciting turn of phrase and I made a mental note to read it over and ponder on it later.

Turns out, whatever it was Father was saying, 'twernt the words in the Missal...

Oh well.

Cardinal Muller Invites Bishop Fellay

After a week of bad news, disappointment, horror, and even tragedy, some on a personal, some on a universal level -- isn't this a piece of glorious news?

Having been invited by Rome, Bishop Bernard Fellay will meet with Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, during the second half of September 2014.
This interview was presented to the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X as an informal meeting to review the relations between the SSPX and Rome, which were discontinued at the departure of Cardinal William Levada, Cardinal Müller’s predecessor, and the resignation of Benedict XVI. This will in fact be the first meeting between Cardinal Müller and Bishop Fellay.

On September 3, 2014, on his website the Vatican Insider, the Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli announces this meeting and noted that the new District Superior of France, Father Christian Bouchacourt had the opportunity when he was superior of the District of South America, to meet Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Since then they have had contact on purely administrative matters concerning the District of South America.

The Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X will go to Rome, following the example of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who always accepted invitations of the Roman authorities.

I hereby offer to make the cookies and brew the tea.

Although I have, over the past  16 years or so, developed a deep and abiding love for and admiration of the Extraordinary Form, I still, when push comes to shove, lean toward the Ordinary, or rather WOULD, (doncha love the subjunctive?) lean towards it if it could be celebrated in a manner befitting the awesome grandeur of what happens during it, (and happens regardless of careless and misleading ars celebrandi,) and for want of a better word, tweaked.

And I do not think either of those conditions will be met as well as they could be without the work of the SSPX.

This past week I have attended two of the canonizations which have de facto replaced the Requiem Mass in my lifetime, a concert which a Mass interrupted, and a meeting at which a large faction wanted to "make our own Mass."
(This was just careless phraseology on their part, they really only wish to pick their own random songs and install their own actors in the performance, but it reveals their impoverished liturgical theology that fails to recognize the Source and Summit of our Faith as something we receive, not fabricate.)

Anyway, I needed that bit of cheer, that bit of hope this gave me.

Bishop Nunzio Galantino to St John Fisher:

"The burden of exclusion from the sacraments is an unjustified price to pay," because  sacraments are really important, so exclusion from them would be mean..... wait, I mean exclusion from those other sacraments, not matrimony, I mean, it's not like marriage itself is a sacrament or anything.

“[Those in irregular marriages] live in their situation with great suffering,” he said, “and they perceive the church’s regulations as very severe."
So, you know.....sorry about that.  

Did you say they're "suffering"?

Pope St Gregory the Great

So I'm glancing at tomorrow in my little Magnificat and I think, gee, that's a lovely text, oh, a hymn for St Gregory, and I check in the index, and wouldn't ya know?

The work of the great Kathleen Pluth.

Mother Sauces? or Old Maid Aunt Sauces....

(I realize I'm married now, but I feel I acquired HImself at an advanced enough age to qualify for permanent old maid status.)
Well, don't I feel dumb....

I thought mayonnaise, or salsa mahonesa as I am from this time onward going to call it, was one of the Mother Sauces, and that I could check that off my bucket mixing bowl list.

Well, no matter, I am still thrilled with my little successes, and shall carry on from here, (I already make a very creditable veloute and bechamel.)

Purely Instrumental Music at Mass of Christian Burial?

Certainly not the liturgical hill on which I'd care to die.

And even less so, say, flowers, since there are, [or so ISTM, I've never looked them up since they have never been my purview in any situation,] contradictory instructions, or rather, contradictory traditions, since the OCF currently in force allows for them.

I would not be hard-nosed about anyone of this, were I advising or helping mourners.

Where I AM inclined to hard-nosedness is with "authorities" misstating liturgical law to reflect their inclinations, and passing off their preferences or opinions as rubrics.

What are the liturgical colors for a funeral Mass?

White. The liturgical color chosen for funerals should express Christian hope but should not be offensive to human grief or sorrow. In the United States, normally a white vestment is worn at the funeral rites and at other offices and Masses for the dead.

Um, no, liturgists of St John's Chelmsford.

GIRM, Chapter VI

346 As regards the color of sacred vestments, traditional usage should be observed, namely:  .......

d) The color violet or purple is used in Advent and Lent. It may also be worn in Offices and Masses for the Dead.

e) Besides the color violet, the colors white or black may be used at funeral services and at other Offices and Masses for the Dead in the Dioceses of the United States of America.

Please, please, please, black at my funeral, and violet if inky vestments aren't to be found.