Pope Francis did not preside over the traditional New Year’s Eve Solemn Sung Vespers and Benediction with the Te Deum. Officials say “Sciatica”. Hmm! Code word?
Thursday, December 31, 2020
ALRIGHT! LET ME GET THIS OUT OF MY SYSTEM BY USING AN EXAMPLE OF A BEAUTIFUL CHURCH NOT IN MY DIOCESE!
The altar should never, I mean never, ever, ever, be hidden by any decoration and certainly not the Nativity scene. People go wild hiding the altar and ambo with flower and decorations placing these directly in front of these two important liturgical furnishing. Decorations should frame, not block the altar or ambo or hide it.
Never, ever, ever, was the nativity scene placed in front of the altar for the Tridentine Mass prior to Vatican II or after or for Ordinary Form Masses ad orientem! Why, you ask? Because you can't get to the altar for all the clutter of poinsettias and the creche! No one did that for over 1,500 years!!!!!
Priests and people! DON'T PLACE STUFF IN FRONT OF THE ALTAR EVER! I MEAN EVER! It makes me see red!
Okay, my rant is over:
OUT OF THE FOG INTO THE SPLENDOR OF THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND MADE HIS DWELLING AMONG US
Mass for the Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas; did your priest genuflect or profoundly bow when reading the Prologue of Saint John and the words, "and the Word Became Flesh and made His dwelling among us"?
THE DYING PROGRESSIVE CATHOLIC PRESS IS GREEN WITH ENVY OVER EWTN AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES WHICH ARE VERY SUCCESSFUL AND, BY THE WAY, FOUNDED BY A WOMAN, A CLOISTERED FRANCISCAN NUN, IN FULL HABIT AND NO NONSENSE!
You would think that liberal publications like the NCR and Commonweal would extol the marvels wrought by a poor woman in the Church, Mother Angelica, who founded a worldwide Catholic media ministry. She did what the Catholic Bishops of the USA could not do, create a Catholic Cable Network. The one that the USCCB tried to create in the late 1980’s was a miserable failure.
When I brought that up to the late Bishop Lessard, with whom I lived in the same Cathedral rectory, back then, that the Bishops should just let Mother do it since she knows how, His Excellency became very indignant! He was the chair of the Doctrine Committee of the USCCB at that time and I would say he was of the Bernadine school of theology, very middle of the road with a slight tilt to the left.
Thus you have the NCR, smarting from EWTN’s great womanly success, as well as Commonweal, trying their best to denigrate this womanly media giant. Press titles for the green with envy reporting:
Gloria Purvis' radio show 'Morning Glory' pulled from ETWN's airwaves
IS THE MEDIA BEING FORCED TO ADMIT SEXUAL ABUSE OF MINORS IS MORE WIDESPREAD THAN JUST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
Press title for full story:
As deadline nears, adults flood Arizona courts with lawsuits alleging childhood sex abuse
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Republic
December 30, 2020
By Lauren Castle
Hundreds of civil lawsuits by people who allege they suffered abuse as children are being filed in Arizona's courts as a year-end deadline looms for them to seek justice.
Many of those filing are listed in court documents simply as “John Doe” or “Jane Doe.”
They have filed civil complaints against priest (ministers) teachers, volunteers, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Boy Scout councils, Big Brothers Big Sisters and other institutions.
The Arizona Child Victims Act allows survivors of sex abuse to sue their perpetrators and organizations that allowed the incident to happen. The act, passed by lawmakers in 2019, raised the statute of limitations for a civil claim to the age of 30 from the previous age of 20. Survivors who are 30 or older have until Dec. 31 to file a claim.
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
I HATE TO BE ACCUSATORY, BUT EITHER THIS BISHOP IS AN APOSTATE OR HE IS A LIAR AND IF A LIAR AND NOT AN APOSTATE, IS HE SHISMATIC?
A wolf in a shepherd’s liturgical vestments:
This German bishop is a liar in the sense he calls himself a “conservative” but espouses the liberal, gnostic policies of Protestantism. He is actually a neo-Protestant and may well lead the Church in Germany into another reformation. Recall that the first reformation did so much for the unity of the Church.
Maybe though, if Germany has yet again a Protestant Reformation, maybe the True Church will have another Counter Reformation with the world’s bishops meeting in Trent (Torrino) for Trent II! And maybe Trent II will make Trent I look like child’s play.
Read the headline and then press it for the article and scratch your head and then ask the bishop, “how stupid do you think orthodox Catholics are?” He’s a Gnostic.
Just a few of the things he is advocating: blessing of same sex unions and sexual unions of a variety of kinds, thus removing any sense of original or actual sin connected with any type of sexuality.
He asks for the ordination of women deacons and priests.
That’s only the half of it. And he criticizes the progressive stances of the Vatican under Pope Francis; interesting, no?
But let me ask this question, given the gay lobby in society and the Church, is there a way to make sinful homosexuals feel welcomed attending Mass? We make sinful heterosexuals welcomed. Of course within orthodox Catholicism, if a person is in a state of mortal sin, they should not receive Holy Communion until they have repented and received Sacramental Absolution. Some heterosexuals who live in sin or are a civil marriage not recognized by the Church because of a previous Sacramental marriage, are banned from receiving Holy Communion and some ministries. Heterosexual couples living in sin are not banned from attending Mass but are banned from receiving Holy Communion.
If you had a gay son in a civil marriage how would you treat him and how should the Church minister to him. Is the Gnostic bishop in Germany the way to go?
Head of German bishops, self-described conservative, calls for change
- Catholic News ServiceDec 30, 2020
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
THIS MORE THAN LIKLY SAVED THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF MY PARISHIONERS
Before we knew about the threat of Covid-19 in late February and into March, this is the announcement that I made after the Universal Prayer the first weekend of 2020, the weekend of the Feast of the Epiphany:
Because the flu season is becoming an epidemic in Georgia and other states, we will discontinue the use of the common Chalice for the Most Precious Blood so as to assist in avoiding the spread of the flu and other viruses.
Just call me clairvoyant! Of course I have been clairvoyant about the dangers of the common chalice since about 1970 when it was instituted! No brag, just fact.
INCULTURATION IN CATHOLIC ART THAT LOOKS CATHOLIC
The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in downtown Augusta is an integrated parish resulting from the closing of a white parish and an all black parish back in 1970. I was pastor there from 1991 to 2004.
The African American population, augmented by native Africans, Nigeria in particular, were very engaged in the parish and worked hard to make sure integration worked well there. By 1993, we started a Gospel choir at our 12:30 PM Sunday Mass that grew and became well known in the black community in downtown Augusta. They were invited to sing at one of the largest black churches there.
One of the things I wanted to do was to incorporate some inculturated art work depicting the African heritage that would blend well with the traditional Neo-Romanesque architecture of the church which was consecrated in 1863. At that time, we could not find anything we felt would be suitable.
But in recent years, there as been a great deal created that would be perfect in that building. This image of Madonna and Child is a classic example and would fit well not only in a Latin Rite parish, but in Eastern Churches too:
IN HONOR OF SAINT THOMAS BECKET ON HIS FEAST DAY: A MANLY ACT OF LOVE FOR AN ERRANT SINNER
This is a manly act of love, a great excommunication scene. The purpose of this manly act of love was to save the soul of King Henry II. It is a call to repentance and a return to the Full Communion of the Church:
2014 INTERVIEW OF CARDINAL PELL COULD HAVE BEEN THE BEGINNING OF HIS END BECAUSE HE NAILED IT!
This interview of Cardinal Pell in 2014 may well be one of the reasons why he was sent to prison by nefarious moves in the Vatican by shady characters. His telling truth to power did not ingratiate him to the agents of change in the Vatican who, come hell or high water, were going to use the synodal system to change the Catholic Church into an Episcopalian-like Church.
This interview was in reaction to the first disastrous synod of bishops where manipulation galore was taking place and there was a mini-rebellion by about 13 cardinals who knew what was going on.
Thank God Cardinal Pell has re-emerged and stronger than ever—an act of God:
Monday, December 28, 2020
SHOULDN’T THERE BE AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VATICAN II AND A COLLECTIVE REPENTANCE BY THE HIERARCHY?
I firmly believe the hierarchy of the Catholic Church needs to sincerely repent for the manner in which Vatican II was implemented.
Don’t blame the cultural upheaval for what has happened in the Church. Poor management of Vatican II is the primary culprit. Don’t blame Vatican II, but blame the bishops who implemented it and continue the same path over and over again with the same results, a smaller, and often less faithful, Church.
In a matter of less than five years, from 1965 to 1970, the entire culture and edifice of the pre-Vatican II Church had been dismantled intentionally by the hierarchy and they called it renewal and a new springtime for the Church. They used the triumphalism of the pre-Vatican II Church and the authority they had accrued since the Council of Trent to dismantle all that Trent had promoted and quite successfully.
In other words, pre-Vatican II methods were used to implement the spirit of Vatican II.
And now in the Covid-19 age and it causing the dismantling of the post-Vatican II weakened Sunday and Holy Days of obligation to attend Mass, many are asking if Catholics will return to Mass once the obligation to attend is reinstated.
What will the bishops do about it? They’ll blame Covid 19 not their leadership.
A CASUALTY OF 2020: SUNDAY MASS OBLIGATION
Will people ever come back? Father Raymond de Souza has some less-than-consoling thoughts in the National Catholic Register: For many
WHAT AT THE TIME SEEM TO ME TO BE ANCIENT HISTORY
When I was born in Naples, Italy in 1953, that city was being bombed less than 10 years earlier during WWII.
My mom was homeless in Livorno, after she and her family were displaced because of bombing in Livorno which also destroyed their apartment building in 1943, ten years earlier.
The morning of the Cuban missal crisis in October of 1962, in Augusta, my dad was in the army and told us as we left for school that he might not be with us for a while as he might be deployed that day; my mom told us if we were attacked by Russia with the atom bomb, that we should come home immediately. She said that crying. It had only be 20 years earlier that she was living through the bombing of WWII and my father was in North Africa fighting in the same war.
In 1962, our family had been in the USA only six years and English as my second language had become my primary language and also for my older brother and sister.
When I graduated from high school in 1971, the Cuban missal crisis was nine years earlier, the pre-Vatican II Church was six years earlier.
When I entered the seminary in 1976, only twenty years earlier I was living in Naples, Italy where I was born and Italian was my first language and the New Roman Missal was only six years old and 12 years earlier it was the pre-Vatican II Church.
When I was ordained in 1980, the 1970 Roman Missal was only 10 years old.
Today, in the dying days of 2020, 1980 when I was ordained seems only a blink of an eye.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
I LIKE THE MODERN INSIDE
The pre Vatican II altar set up enhances even an ultra modern church interior. That is certainly true of this chapel. While I don’t like the exterior, I do like the interior.
These photos and caption are from Facebook’s ‘I’m fed up with ugly churches.”
St. James' Chapel at St. John's College Seminary in Camarillo, CA. It has since been demolished.
Saturday, December 26, 2020
BEFORE, AFTER, AFTER!
From “I’m fed up with ugly churches” Facebook:
St Stephen's cathedral in Owensboro KY before an after the 2012 renovation by Granda Liturgical Arts
TO SING THE ORDINARY FORM MASS, OR, TOO SING THE ORDINARY FORM MASS?
Some may call it a blessing or a curse, but the Ordinary Form Mass is so fluid that one can do what one pleases with it within parameters of the rubrics which too, are fluid, or too fluid.
You can have some Latin or none or multiple vernaculars (the latter most despised by almost everyone).
You can sing the Mass in its entirety or only some parts. Seldom are the Old Testament lessons and the Epistle chanted and maybe on special occasions, the Gospel might be chanted.
On Christmas Eve, our newly Ordained Roman Parochial Vicar was the Celebrant and I con-celebrated. This was the Family Vigil Mass and normally the homily is geared toward young children. My PV decided to chant the longer version of the Gospel which includes the genealogy. He gave a great academic homily on Jesus’ human lineage. He also chanted from Preface Dialogue through the Per Ipsum and Great Amen the Roman Canon.
He chanted flawlessly.
Thus the entire Mass was chanted, save the OT lesson and Epistle.
In my 40 years of priesthood, I have never chanted the Roman Canon in its entirety. To add solemnity to High Holy Days, like Christmas and Easter, I might chant the Epiclesis through the consecration but not the whole prayer.
Of course, in the Tridentine Mass, the Roman Canon is never chanted and prayed in low voice if not silently. The Preface dialogue and Preface are chanted and the Per Omnia at the end of the Canon.
The Sung Mass in the EF is tightly prescribed. No winging it or adapting it. There is no fluidity whatsoever.
I found the chanting of the entire Roman Canon a bit tedious. And facing the congregation it could come across as increasing the “performance feeling” of the priest entertaining the congregation before him. Of course we have discussed how facing the congregation makes it seem like the priest is playing to the congregation and speaking or singing to them.
The performance aspect of chanting the canon could have been alleviated somewhat by an ad orientem posture of the priest but not entirely.
DISCUSS!
Thursday, December 24, 2020
THE LAST GASP OF THE SEASON OF ADVENT AT SAINT ANNE'S MARTHA AND MARY CHAPEL, RICHMOND HILL, GEORGIA
Mass in the morning of December 24th:
BOMBSHELL!
On Christmas Eve Eve, Saint Anne’s in Richmond Hill, Georgia had our Christmas Confessions. I no longer do a liturgical service (Penance Service) but rather have numerous priests hearing confessions.
Last night we had five priestly types hearing confessions for two solid hours, from 6 PM to 8 PM.
One of those priests, formerly a transitional deacon, was our new bishop, Bishop Stephen Parkes.
That’s the bombshell, our new bishop wants to be invited to parishes for confessions. How great is that!
CHRISTMAS PAST AND CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS TO ALL TODAY!
Memories of Saint Joseph Church in Macon decorated for Christmas. Our nativity approached the beauty of the Cathedral’s nativity in Savannah. The decorations and nativity fit the ornate French Revival Romanesque architecture of the church. I think this is Christmas 2011 or so, prior to the restoration of the altar railing which I had removed during a major renovation/restoration in 2004. And yes, there was a real running water waterfall and pond!
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
I LOVE THE MESSAGE AND LOOK OF THIS MEME, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING INCONGRUOUS IN THE PHOTO; BE THE FIRST TO NAME IT!
The more I study this, there is far more than one thing that is incongruous with this photo, many things, and one thing that is most shocking, which I only now realized. What is it? What is it? O what is it???????????
QUOTE OF THE DAY AND CONNECTING DOTS...........
At the center of Saint Peter’s Square, a metallic tensile structure dominates the scene, hastily decorated with a tubular light, underneath which stand, disturbing as totems, a few horrible statues that no one endowed with common sense would dare to identify with the characters of the Nativity. The solemn background of the Vatican Basilica only serves to augment the abyss between the harmonious Renaissance architecture and the indecorous parade of anthropomorphic bowling pins. +CMV, Archbishop
My comments: As everyone knows, I don't like the fact that Archbishop Vigano has become so uncharitable towards the current Vatican regime to include the Vicar of Christ. I believe it is unacceptable for an Archbishop who has vowed respect and obedience to the Holy Father to do so. There are ways of critiquing persons without denigrating everything.
Thus he shoots himself in the foot because he is no longer taken seriously.
However, with some moderation and less commentary on everything under the sun, he could be a prophetic voice in dark times.
He does seem to connect the dots on so many things as this diatribe indicates. The problem, though, is precisely this, it is a diatribe, and thus not many will pay attention except those whose ears are tickled by it.
Press title for full diatribe:
HAS THE GLOBETROTTING PAPACY CREATED THE DYSFUNCTION IN THE VATICAN?
Pope St. Paul VI began the tradition of globetrotting popes although in a conservative way. Pope St. John Paul II put that traveling on steroids. Pope Benedict felt he needed to continue that tradition but on a modified level. Pope Francis has also and more than Pope Benedict but less than Pope St. John Paul II. Pope Francis has seen a fluctuation in the number of people at these mega events, some shockingly empty.
But is all this travel necessary? Do we need popes to be jet setting celebrities? And the cost of these travels to local Churches, countries and the Vatican is off the charts.
But worse, while the cat is away, the mice play. And that is an understatement.
Thus the pandemic has had a wonderful effect of keeping the pope home where His Holiness should be and be just as effective and His Holiness can deal with what needs to be dealt with and evidently Pope Francis has been doing precisely that.
SO LET’S HAVE A CANON LAW TO CURB PAPAL TRAVEL FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH!
Read the Crux article by pressing the title:
A grounded pope spent 2020 trying to clean house on Vatican finances
Excerpt of what Pope Francis has done by staying home and not being a globetrotter:
Francis has taken several steps to clean house since Italy’s spring lockdown began:
- In March, the Vatican announced the creation of a new Human Resources section called the “General Directorate for Personnel” within the general affairs section of the Secretariat of State, responsible for internal ecclesiastical governance, describing the new office as “a step of great importance in the path of reform initiated by Pope Francis.” Just a day later the Vatican walked that announcement back, saying the new section was merely a “proposal” from officials inside the Council for the Economy and by members of the pope’s Council of Cardinals, indicating that while a genuine need has been identified, internal struggles could still prevent progress.
- In April, Pope Francis appointed Italian banker and economist Giuseppe Schlitzer as the new director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, its financial vigilance unit, after the abrupt departure last November of Swiss anti-money laundering expert René Brülhart.
- On May 1, which marks the Italian celebration of Labor Day, the pope fired five Vatican employees believed to have been involved in the controversial purchase of the London property by the Secretariat of State, which unfolded in two stages between 2013 and 2018.
- Still in early May, the pope convened a meeting of all department heads to discuss the Vatican’s financial situation and possible reforms, featuring a detailed report by Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, named by Francis last November as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.
- In mid-May, Pope Francis shut down nine holding companies in based in the Swiss cities of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg, all of which were created to manage portions of the Vatican’s investment portfolio and its land and real estate holdings.
- Around the same time, the pope transferred the Vatican’s “Center for the Elaboration of Data,” which is essentially its financial monitoring service, from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) to the Secretariat for the Economy, in bid to create a stronger distinction between administration and oversight.
- On June 1, Pope Francis issued a new law on procurement which applies to both the Roman Curia, meaning the Vatican’s governing bureaucracy, and the Vatican City State. Among other things, the law bars conflicts of interest, mandates competitive bidding procedures, requires evidence that that contract expenditures are financially sustainable, and centralizes control over contracting.
- Shortly after issuing the new law, the pope named Italian layman Fabio Gasperini, a former banking services expert for Ernst and Young, as the new number two official at APSA, effectively the Vatican’s central bank.
- On Aug. 18, the Vatican issued an Ordinance from the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, requiring volunteer organizations and juridical persons of the Vatican City State to report suspicious activities to the Vatican’s financial watchdog entity, the Financial Information Authority (AIF). Later, in early December, Francis issued new statutes transforming AIF into the Financial Supervision and Information Authority (ASIF), confirming its oversight role for the so-called Vatican bank and expanding its responsibilities.
- On Sept. 24, Pope Francis ousted his former chief of staff, Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who resigned not only as the head of the Vatican’s office for saints but also from “the rights connected to being a cardinal” at the pope’s request over allegations of embezzlement. Becciu had previously served as the sostituto, or “substitute,” in the Secretariat of State from 2011-2018, a position traditionally likened to the Chief of Staff for a US president. In addition to the allegations of embezzlement, Becciu had also been linked to the London property deal, which was brokered in 2014 during his time as sostituto, leading many to think he was ultimately responsible. Becciu’s removal was interpreted by many as retribution for financial wrongdoings, and a sign that such maneuvers will not be tolerated.
- On the Oct. 4, feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis published his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, dedicated to the topic of human fraternity and in which he advocates for a complete restructuring of politics and civil discourse in order to create systems prioritizing the community and the poor, rather than individual or market interests.
- On Oct. 5, just days after Becciu’s resignation, the Vatican announced the creation of a new “Commission for Reserved Matters” determining which economic activities remain confidential, naming allies such as Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, as president, and Archbishop Filippo Iannone, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, as secretary. The commission itself, which covers contracts for the purchase of goods, property and services for both the Roman Curia and Vatican City State offices, was part of new transparency laws enacted by the pope in June.
- On Oct. 8, three days after the commission was created, Pope Francis met at the Vatican with representatives of Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog, which at the time was conducting its annual review of the Vatican following a year of money-related scandals, including Brülhart’s ouster in November 2019. In his speech, the pope condemned a neoliberal economy and the idolatry of money and outlined steps the Vatican has taken to clean up its own finances. The results of this year’s Moneyval report are expected to be published in early April when the Moneyval plenary assembly takes place in Brussels.
- On Dec. 8 the Vatican announced the creation of the “Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican,” a partnership between the Holy See and some of the world’s largest investment and business leaders, including CEOs from Bank of America, British Petroleum, Estée Lauder, Mastercard and Visa, Johnson and Johnson, Allianz, Dupont, TIAA, Merck and Co., Ernst and Young, and Saudi Aramco. The aim is to harness resources from the private sector to support objectives such as ending poverty, protecting the environment and promoting equal opportunity. The group has placed itself under the moral guidance of Pope Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Pope Francis met the group during a Vatican audience in November 2019.
- On Dec. 15, the pope’s Council for the Economy convened for an online meeting to discuss not only the 2020 deficit, which is expected to be more than $60 million due to both shortfalls related to the coronavirus and the looming crisis in unfunded pension obligations.
A grounded pope spent 2020 trying to clean house on Vatican finances
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)