Hats off to the fun and practical saturno
Catholic bloggers leapt to the defence of the clerical headgear known as the saturno last week. An anecdote by Pope Francis about a vain young traditionalist had cast the hat under the shadow of suspicion. Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society, asked: “How could a harmless hat become the object of such strong feelings?” After all, “saturnos are fun” and, as far as he was concerned, the perfect antidote to “liberal killjoys”.
He said: “Catholic culture is all about innocent pleasures, healthy and often edifying pleasures: about music and art and food and family life, about the joys as well as the pains and perils of pilgrimages, about feasting as well as fasting. Liberals hate those things.”
To its defenders, the saturno is also practical. Fr John Zuhlsdorf pointed out on his blog that “it keeps the rain and snow from going down your neck and it will shade over a book as well”. Pope St John Paul II used to wear a saturno when it was hot.
However, Fr Z issued a word of caution. “Too much of a good thing is too much. If you are a young priest or a seminarian, and you are really into these things, examine your motives and consciences. I’m not saying give them up. On the contrary! I’m saying that if you are too attached to them, to the exclusion of prudence, make some changes.”
Christmas is anything but sentimental
Christmas should be offensive to everyone, said Bishop Robert Barron on his Word on Fire website.
Trendy messages that Christmas is merely about love and sentimentality are banal, he wrote. An “honest look at the biblical texts” should remind us of this when we consider, for example, that St Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus’s birth “greatly troubled” King Herod and “all Jerusalem with him”.
In fact, “all four of the Gospels play out as a struggle, culminating in the deadly business of the Cross, between the worldly powers and the power of Christ.
“For Jesus is not simply a kindly prophet with a gentle message of forgiveness; he is God coming in person to assume command. He is the Lord. And the entire New Testament couldn’t be clearer that his lordship means that all those who follow a contrary rule – meaning, pretty much every one of us – are under judgment.”
Diary of a Wimpy Kid family are Catholics
Jeff Kinney, author of the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid, told Raymond Arroyo of EWTN that in his mind the family of the main character, Greg Heffley, was Catholic. “I try to keep it generic in a way so that it’s accessible to everyone but I would say the family is a churchgoing one.” Kinney also spoke about seeing the Pope receive a copy of his latest book. His Italian publisher had suggested a Latin edition. His response was to wonder who would read it. “Then they sent me a picture of the Pope being handed his first copy so that really was cool.”
✣Meanwhile…
✣ Miss Universe 2015 has given her own shoes, handbags and dresses to Caritas Philippines. Beauty queen Pia Wurtzbach met Cardinal Luis Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, to donate her belongings to the charity as a Christmas present along with the proceeds she raised from a gala she launched in aid of Caritas.
✣ Madonna told Late Late Show host James Corden that she had “been excommunicated like three times.” Though a cardinal once suggested Madonna should be excommunicated for performing a mock crucifixion during a concert in Rome, Madonna’s claim appears to be an exaggeration. She also said that when growing up, she “kind of wanted to be a nun. I like their uniform.”
✣ A 325ft Christmas tree, made out of iron and wire mesh, has been built in the centre of Colombo, Sri Lanka, despite the opposition of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. The unveiling of the tree was delayed after the Archbishop of Colombo said it was “wasteful”. But the £64,000 project went ahead after the intervention of the prime minister. Project organiser Arjuna Ranatunga said that plans were back on track after prime minister Ranil Wickremesing had spoken to the cardinal.
✣The week in quotations
A silly understanding of him has encroached on public perceptions Peter Seewald On Benedict XVI ,The Big Issue
Shame on the bishops of Canada’s Maritime Provinces RR Reno First Things editor on the bishops’ statement on assisted suicide
Touch the hardened heart of the new President-elect Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City Praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Breitbart.com
The Spirit has spoken Greg Burke Vatican spokesman on the Pope’s view of Amoris Laetitia, National Catholic Reporter
✣Statistic of the week
43.4 Percentage of Scottish inmates who, if they drank before offending, drank Buckfast wine Source: Scottish Prison Service (2007 survey)
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