Real Catholic Blog

I have a confession to make. Last week, when I wrote about iPadre Father Jay Finelli, something didn’t feel right. Not about him. He seems an outstanding priest.

I got the idea about the “iPadre” from I saw something on television a few days before. I caught it in the middle, and didn’t get the whole story, but I did see where this priest was a Apple aficionado and had developed an iPad app for the Roman Missal and used it rather than the actual Missal at Mass.

I heard the reporter use the moniker “iPadre” for him. So, I Googled “iPadre” and only one news article registered, much less any television reports (the one I found was from a local station and buried on his Web site), and that article was from the The Georgia Bulletin (Archdiocese of Atlanta) — strange, since I also thought the iPadre was in Italy. Stranger still since the article was about a priest in Diocese of Providence.

Oh, well, what do I know. The “Heat Index” has hovered around 110 degrees for about two months. Maybe I was suffering from heat fatigue and thought “Italy” because I heard an Italian name, which Father Finelli has. I further researched Father Finelli, found more information, was quite impressed and wrote a blog about him. I’ve heard from some people and have had interesting discussions about the use of technology in bringing the Word to more people.

But something still stuck in me. I’m the type that simply cannot go unfulfilled in the pursuit of a story and my instincts are pretty good. I’m the type that just has to know. I’m not satisfied until I’m satisfied all avenues are exhausted to confirm or deny any hunch I have. Yesterday, I was still thinking about it. Then, it hit me: Although one might think it specific enough, instead of “iPadre,” Google instead, “priest uses iPad at Mass.”

Thank you Saint Anthony! (Don’t laugh, he helped me find deleted blog posts on another blog, once — Google and Yahoo! cache them.) So, today, here’s a post about the real iPadre!

He happens to be Father Paolo Padrini, 36, an Italian priest who consults with the Vatican, (indeed, from Italy) and another Mac head (see boing boing). Now that I know his name, there’s miles of info on him. He created the Roman Missal app for the iPad and it became available for free in July in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Latin. He created it with his own money and mind — the Vatican, though approving, had no role in its initiation or creation. According to Rebecca Boyle at PopSci.com, via the AP, an audio version with suggestions for homilies will be available before too long. But it wasn’t his first Apple app. He also invented an iPhone app called the iBreviary, which contains the book of daily prayers used by priests. More than 200,000 people have downloaded it (AP/PhysOrg.com).

All of this is seen by both the Vatican and Father Padrini, who serves as an advisor, fittingly, to the Vatican on social communication, as a plus, both in reaching young people and logistically for priests, especially for those who travel much. Having the Bible, Missal, Breviary and more at the their finger tips, in one piece of technology, rather than several bound editions, is convenient.

So, we have iPadres on two continents. Doubtless, the American iPadre is one of those 200,000 downloaders. Both priests are doing creative, yet labor intensive, work in the Lord’s vineyard to bring the Faith to more people. It wasn’t by design, but I was happy to learn about both. Confession is, after all, good for the soul.

Regular readers here know I’m very interested in what Michael Voris has to say. Sure, he can be blunt, even negative, and some might say, “Way out there.” I’m aware of that and don’t disagree that he has a deeply held passion and love for Christ and the Church. But much of what he says is documented and true, and needs to be said. After all, someone needs to sound the alarm.

So it is nice to see him more upbeat and positive this week as he is reporting from the Vatican. He reports a first hand look at some of the changes Pope Benedict is making — a counter revolution as Mr. Voris terms it. It also is nice to hear him acknowledge that there is a movement of traditional Catholicism that has been afoot for some time now, something, that if I were to critique him, he does not exult enough, if at all.

He wisely recounts that in times of need Christ always raises up saints and he believes Pope Benedict is one. The changes going on now are not perceptible, just as when an aircraft carrier starts to turn. But once it picks up speed, watch out. For right now, though, please watch the short video below and let me know what you think of it.

Captain Saint Benedict? The Holy Father is turning the Church around, as a captain turns around a large ship, and doing so when Christ needs saints to save the Church.

Many of you probably remember the purported 70,000 nuns who, during the final hours leading up to the health care bill vote in the House of Representatives, announced their support for the bill — and this was before the window dressing executive order bone President Obama threw Rep. Bart Stupak, the allegedly pro-life Democrat from Michigan. Making matters worse is the gloating from the vile, nefarious group Planned Parenthood.

Thomas Peters, at CatholicVoteAction.org Blog, makes note of the thank you message sent to the nuns by Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood. The abortion-on-demand leader wrote this Wednesday on the left-wing Huffington Post:

Richards claimed that it was Catholic nuns who “most importantly broke with the bishops and the Vatican to announce their support for health care reform.”

“This brave and important move, demonstrating that they cared as much about the health care of families in America as they did about church hierarchy, was a critical demonstration of support.”

These nuns must know Catholic Teaching. They must also know the heinous nature of Planned Parenthood. Most people, even if unfamiliar with an issue or proposal, can make an informed decision based on who supports and opposes it. Doubtless, these nuns knew the issue involved.

But even if they didn’t and were sold a bill of goods, in what world are they, or any Catholic with proper formation, living in when they side with Planned Parenthood? On anything?

What a coincidence! After yesterday’s post about the Vatican announcement that the use of the Latin Mass is acceptable under any condition, I received an article from Catholic Family News about the Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, his Excellency, Edward J. Slattery. While he doesn’t celebrate the Mass in Latin (yet), he does celebrate it facing the Altar and not the congregation.

Bishop Slattery explained in his diocesan paper:

Christ’s sacrifice under the sacramental signs of bread and wine. … From ancient times, the position of the priest and the people reflected this understanding of the Mass since the people prayed, standing or kneeling, in the place that visibly corresponded to Our Lord’s Body, while the priest at the altar stood at the head as the Head, We formed the whole Christ — Head and members — both sacramentally by Baptism and visibly by our position and posture. Just as importantly, everyone — celebrant and congregation — faced the same direction, since they were united with Christ in offering to the Father Christ’s unique, unrepeatable and acceptable sacrifice.

More about Bishop Slattery is at the blog ad altare dei. A Bishop practicing this traditional form of celebration truly is exciting for the Church in America. Whether you prefer the “new Mass” or the traditional, one should respect the method of celebrating Holy Mass as the Church offering the options to attract as many people to Christ as possible.

This was the real controversy of the weekend: Henry Knox, an appointee to President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said Pope Benedict XVI a is “hurting people in the name of Jesus” because he upholds Catholic teaching against birth control, pre-marital sex and homosexuality. It prompted a segment featuring Thomas Peters and Brent Bozell on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show Friday night. 

According to an April article at CNS.com, Knox is:

a self-professed Christian who holds that the New Testament’s teaching that homosexual behavior is unnatural and wrong —which is found in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans — “is not true.”

(He) has also said that Obama’s decision to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to say a prayer at the Inauguration “tainted” the ceremony and that Pope Benedict XVI is a “discredited leader.”

Knox (is) a professed gay Christian who is director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual rights group. …

Here’s the video from CNS.com of Knox’s more recent comment lie about the Pope. When confronted with the Truth, he sticks to his slander. It’s time President Obama, who claims to want friendly relations with the Vatican and Catholics, put an end to appointing people such as Knox to his administration. It’s another example of how leftists use the power of government to try to shut down and shut up people, through discrediting them, people who have a different point of view.

Hint, Mr. Knox: The Pope isn’t interested in your politically intolerant governance. He’s perpetuating the Truth of God. You might not agree, but your tactics won’t work.

Another radical leftist, homosexual activist in the Obama administration: Henry Knox takes every chance he gets to disparage Pope Benedict for upholding the Truth.

Below is a very informative video from RealCatholicTV.com (via YouTube.com) about corruption and scandal at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, especially as it relates to personnel there and the activities in which they are engaged which are counter to the teachings of the Church. One individual, John Carr, served on the board of the radical leftist group Center for Community Change (see Bellarmine Veritas Ministry).

Mr. Carr and others at the USCCB are funding organizations — remember the revelation of its funding to ACORN? — that have a left-wing political agenda including those that work to advance the agendas of pro-abortion and homosexual rights groups. As Michael Voris (Catholic.org) and Vic Faust (The American Catholic) explains in the video, it calls into question the role of the USCCB. For example, the Conference doesn’t rule on doctrine and teaching — that is up to the Vatican.

However, that doesn’t stop it from issuing letters, which it represents as authoritative. But its biggest fault is that it has and continues to staff its organization with leftist political ideologues who have, since the USCCB’s inception, used the imprimatur of the U.S. Bishops to influence the notions of the faithful, seminaries and Catholic colleges. In this way, it has poisoned the faithful by confusing them as to what the Church (God) teaches. This has led to division within the Church and a weakened voice in the culture of our country which abets abortion, a weakening of marriage and a general deterioration of our culture and spiritual lives.  

By the way, we have added two sources from the video — RealCatholicTV itself and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry to our Media section and Blogroll, respectively. Two others, American Life League (see article) and Pew Sitter (see article) are mainstays in our Public Policy Section and Media sections, respectively.

The USCCB needs a staff and policy house cleaning. Michael Voris and Vic Faust  provide a detailed report.

As we’ve noted before, Pope Benedict XVI endorses new media and digital technology as a vital tool in reaching and teaching people about God, our faith and the Church. Now, he’s taking it a step further. In a recent message, he promoted the 44th World Day of Social Communications, and calls “urgent and unavoidable task for priests and consecrated men and women,” to communicate through this new avenue of reaching people not before available through traditional forms of communication. He practices what he preaches — the Vatican has an excellent YouTube channel and Web site, for example. We would add that lay people have their own responsibility to reach out to those who are not familiar with the Church; or those who are, but who have declined the Lord’s invitation to come home.

Pope Benedict says: Get online, log on and log into the Word of God!

This is a very interesting ritual of Church tradition: According to the Vatican . . .

This morning, for the Memorial of Saint Agnes, two lambs whose wool will be used for the weaving of the sacred pallium, were brought to the Pope. The pallium is a stole of white wool with six black crosses, which is kept in an urn at the Tomb of Saint Peter and conferred by the Pope on June 29th, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, to the new metropolitan archbishops, so as to remember the special communion that binds them to the Apostolic See. The lambs are raised by the sisters of the Roman convent of San Lorenzo and offered to the Pontiff by the Canons Regular of the Lateran on the day of the Memorial of Saint Agnes, the Roman martyr traditionally depicted with a lamb. 

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the lambs for use in the sacred pallium.

Not exactly, but he does encourage Catholics to use the Internet, responsibly, to spread the Gospel. We’re during our part. Join in our discussion: While the Vatican and many dioceses have sophisticated media operations, as do independent Catholic organizations (think EWTN, Catholic Online) and some orders, what do you think Catholics groups and layity can do better to spread the Truth via new media and technology?

Pope Benedict: Catholics, get online and spread the Truth!

Yesterday was the Feast of two great saints. One, Saint John of the Cross (see DoctorsoftheCatholicChurch.com) is better known and it was his feast celebrated on the Latin Rite calendar. Also, yesterday, celebrated in the Eastern Rite, specifically, the Maronite Rite (see MaroniteMonks.org), was the feast of my ancestor, Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini (Hardini.org), a Lebanese Maronite monk who was the mentor to the best known Lebanese Maronite Saint, Saint Charbel, whose Feast is celebrated in the Latin Rite in July (see Catholic Online).

Saint Nimatullah (1808-1858) was known for many things (see Eparchy of Saint Maron). He was an efficient administrator, a scholarly teacher and a devout priest. He was especially noted for his love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament (see Vatican biography). He spent many hours in Eucharistic Adoration, often at the expense of sleep, kneeling in the chapel, arms raised cross-like and eyes trained on the tabernacle (see LebaneseSaints.com). Although there are photographs of him, the image below is the most famous one, and was used at his canonization, and honors his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

There is volumes of information on Saint Nimatullah and other Maronite Saints. He lived an extradordinary life as a monk and was widely regarded from the Middle East to Rome, and was given great responsibilities. However, when the opportunity came to move to safer quarters at the outset of war, he remained, to look after those in need.

I could go on, but who better than John Paul The Great to speak of him? Saint Nimatullah was one in the last group of saints canonized by John Paul, on May 16, 2004.

Said the His Holiness about Saint Nimatullah:

A man of prayer, in love with the Eucharist which he adored for long periods, Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini is an example for the monks of the Order of Lebanese Maronites as he is for his Lebanese brothers and sisters and all Christians of the world. He gave himself completely to the Lord in a life full of great sacrifices, showing that God’s love is the only true source of joy and happiness for man. He committed himself to searching for and following Christ, his Master and Lord.

Welcoming his brothers, he reassured and healed many wounds in the hearts of his contemporaries, witnessing to God’s mercy. May his example enlighten our journey and bring forth, especially in young people, a true desire for God and for holiness to proclaim to our world the light of the Gospel!

Devout to the Blessed Sacrament, in his love for the Lord and for the Church, Saint Nimatullah is a role model in many respects.