Convert from Lutheranism, ordained to the priesthood in 1991 by St. John Paul II in Rome for the Suburbicarian Diocese of Velletri-Segni. Classics at University of Minnesota. Licence and Doctoral studies in Patristic Theology at the Augustinianum in Rome. Formerly a collaborator of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," moderator of the Catholic Online Forum, columnist for The Wanderer and the UK's Catholic Herald, Fox News contributor. Speaker. Blogist. fatherzonline.com @fatherz
Author: Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
His Passion and His Victory
Ever since we set out on our spiritual journey on pre-Lent Septuagesima Sunday, step by step we have approached Holy Week. While a measure of weariness might distress us as we slog along the paths of penance and discipline, of …
The Holy Crusade of the High Priest
From the pre-Lent, “Gesima” Sundays onward, Holy Mother Church began her plunge into liturgical death. At first we lost the “Alleluia,” the Gloria, and on Sundays we dressed in penitential violet to herald the proximity of Lent. With Lent, these …
The True Miracle of the Multiplication of Loaves
It is a fact of human nature that if our senses are constantly bombarded with the same thing, say for example, music that is too loud or an environment that is all the same color, or even violent or wicked …
Mary, Exorcism, and the Memory of Past Sins
The Roman Station for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is the Minor Papal Basilica of St. Lawrence outside-the-walls. There are five Papal Basilicas, four Major and one Minor. They were once called Patriarchal Basilicas and they corresponded to the five …
The Mystery of the Transfiguration
You’ve probably noticed that Gospel readings begin, “In illo tempore… in that time.” Well… what time is that? It is helpful to interrogate texts with classic questions from ancient rhetoric: “Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando?” You can …
United to the Mystery of Jesus in the Desert
With the “Gesima,” pre-Lent Sundays we added a layer of context to our contexts: Roman Station churches. Each day of Lent has, by millennial tradition, an assigned church in Rome. On weekdays, people gathered at a nearby “collect” church and …
We Are Going up to Jerusalem to Suffer
Context is important. We are in “Gesima” time, Pre-Lent, a time of preparation, for the time of preparation, for Easter. Holy Church, like our mothers, remind us that we have some chores coming due; she reminds us that Lent is …
The Cost of Being a Christian and the Vice of Curiosity
In union with the catechumens preparing for baptism in the early Church of Rome, we stroll from the heart of the City under the long covered walkway that stretched from the great walls to the Ostian Basilica, the Roman Station …
Septuagesima Sunday
We are now nine Sundays out from Easter. Once again, context helps. In the course of the Church’s liturgical year, we have great cycles, such as the one we just concluded, which stretched from Advent, through Christmas, Epiphany and, in …
The Family and the Church Militant
As it happens, I wrote about this very Sunday a couple of months ago, at the beginning of November. That’s because of when Easter fell last year. There were few Sundays between Epiphany and pre-Lent’s Septuagesima Sunday and empty slots …