JOHNNY CRAWFORD CHILD STAR OF THE RIFFLEMAN DIED ON APRIL 29TH

 My favorite western of the early 1960's was The Rifleman. It was a half hour show and its two stars, Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford were great and made it believable. Johnny Crawford was a great child actor and had great acting skills. He died yesterday at age 75 from complications of Alzheimer's. 

It is interesting that there were two shows of this same era whose main star was a widower with a young son, The Rifleman, a western and The Andy Griffith Show, a comedy, with another great child actor, Ronny Howard. 

Ronny Howard is exactly my age and I can say that I grew up with him watching him grow up like me season after season of the Andy Griffith Show. 

Both TV shows were great morality plays.

 Here's the first episode of The Rifleman. I loved the intro to this show with Chuck Connors shooting his riffle and then starring into the camera! That was great!

TIS THE SEASON

 When and where did you make your First Holy Communion? Mine was at St. Joseph Church, Augusta, Georgia on Mother’s Day, 1961 in the Ordinary Form of the Low Mass, the Tridentine Low Mass, at the parish’s 8 AM Mass. I made my First Confession the day before.

Back home after my First Holy Communion:

RCG RECOMMENDS THIS SURVEY ON THE USE OF LATIN IN THE CATHOLIC MASS

 FIND YOU WINGS AND YOUR LATIN! TAKE THEIR LATIN MASS SURVEY!!!

This is from Kennesaw State University In Kennesaw, Georgia:

Title of Research Study: The Use of the Latin Language at Catholic Masses

Introduction
My name is David Johnson and I am a Professor of English and Linguistics at Kennesaw State University (USA). You are being invited to take part in a research study that I am conducting on opinions concerning the use of the Latin language at Catholic Masses. Before you participate, you should read this form and ask questions about anything you do not understand.

Description of Project
The purpose of the study is to understand the opinions of clergy and lay persons on the use of Latin at Catholic Masses.

Explanation of Procedures
The survey consists of demographic questions and opinion questions (both multiple-choice and short-answer). The survey should take approximately ten minutes to complete.

Read the rest there and take the survey!!!!! 

THE SECOND CATHOLIC PRESIDENT FINDS SUPPORT FROM CATHOLICS, BUT WHY? IS IT SOMETHING SYSTEMIC IN THE POST-VATICAN II CHURCH?

 

The National Catholic Register has this article which you can read:

Joe Biden’s First 100 Days: Scandalous Actions on Abortion from Our Second Catholic President

President Biden cannot claim to be both a faithful Catholic and an abortion champion. He cannot have it both ways.

My comments: 

Many Catholics, no matter political affiliation, place their political party above the Church. That is a mortal sin of course. 

But is there something systemically wrong (not systemic racism, but like it) that enables Catholics to be pro-choice even though it is an excommunicable offense to have an abortion or assist in one as President Biden’s does with his executive orders on abortion as well as his complete support for it?

I think this grave corruption in Catholics be they clergy or laity, is linked to how bishops responded to heinous cases of child abuse. They thought, as well as many lay Catholics, okay, so and so abused a child but look at all the good things he did and does. Get him back to work.

Abortion is right up their with child sexual abuse in its heinous characteristics. 

Why is there systemic support of Joe Biden, the second Catholic president, who enables abortion like bishops enabled some of their corrupt priest to abuse children over and over again.

Is there no Boston Globe to put a spotlight on this systemic corruption in the post Vatican II Church as it concerns clergy and laity’s support of the second Catholic president who supports and legally enables abortion to the point of even the most heinous and morally corrupt partial birth abortion. 

THIS INTERVIEW WITH SISTER LEFT ME FEELING LIKE WE WORSHIP THE CHURCH AND HER STRUCTURES AND NOT CHRIST

 

Call me old, cynical and fed up. Do you want to know why so few people are attending Mass and could care less about synodality, pastoral councils, parish committees and lay men and women involved in the Church’s structures? Because they don’t want their faith to be about one more adventure into human sociology but they want their faith to enable a personal relationship with God who is personal. 

This is just more of the same crap we’ve have for the past 50 years that has done nothing to improve the Church in terms of retaining Catholics, evangelizing a non-believing world and making truly committed disciple of the Lord in the world, not just in churchy things. 

In addition to that, it is all so worldly. Apart from my cynical critique, what strikes you about the interview?

You can read the full interview at the link below this “sound byte”:

What is the difference between collegiality and synodality?

In a technical sense, collegiality is for the bishops. The First Vatican Council emphasized the primacy of the pope, with the view that the bishops received their authority from the pope and have to approve what the pontiff decided. The church was conceived very hierarchical. The Second Vatican Council debated a lot this question of collegiality and concluded that the pope was not separate from the college of apostles and that power could be exercised together by the pope and the bishops.

Synodality, in today's sense as emphasized by Pope Francis, who is calling for a synodal church, means that the whole people of God, who, by their baptism, are called to be actors, are to participate in discernment.

Yes, the challenge is now to see pastors not separated from their people. Vatican II has made things move, has rediscovered the vision of Christians from the first centuries, when the governance of the church was synodal and collegial.

Synodality is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council, a kind of rediscovery of a way of seeing the church first as people of God, people journeying together as pilgrims. What is complicated in the present situation is that we are in a transition phase, with two ecclesiologies that are colliding.

On one hand, we inherit from more than 1,500 years a hierarchical, clerical church where the clerics are separated from the laity. On the other hand, we can imagine a synodal church as described by the Second Vatican Council but which has not yet been received and implemented.

The situation of the church in the world is very varied, very contrasted. It is necessary to look beyond one's own parish. Several currents and sensitivities coexist within the Catholic Church. A majority of laypeople, including women, aspire to see a synodal church, but there is also some resistance from others.

Synodality means that the whole people of God, who, by their baptism, are called to be actors, are to participate in discernment.

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

ANOTHER EASTERTIDE MIRACLE! WHEREIN I AGREE WITH AN ARTICLE IN THE NATIONAL cATHOLIC REPORTER!

 Will miracles never cease?

Villanova conference elevates calls for Biden to be denied Communion

Apr 27, 2021

by Christopher White

 

People

Politics

Villanova Biden conference RESIZE.jpg

Clockwise from top left: Fr. Gerald Murray, Patrick Brennan, Stephen White, Helen Alvaré, Joe Capizzi and John McGreevy discuss President Joe Biden's Catholicism during "Taking Measure of the 'Biden Effect': American Catholics and the President," a virtual conference hosted by Villanova University's law school April 23. (NCR screenshot) 

What do President Joe Biden and ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick share in common? According to the organizer of a recent conference on Biden's Catholicism, the two men have been "abandoned" by the church's pastors for not having been barred from Communion.

The Vatican's McCarrick report, which chronicled his decades of abuse of minors and seminarians and was released last fall, illustrates "what happens when the church fails to be church by preferring instead to be, as a practical matter, to be a bureaucracy," said Villanova University professor of law Patrick McKinley Brennan on April 23.

"What McCarrick needed was callously denied," he said, going on to argue by comparison that Biden's support for legal abortion demands that "the church's pastors ... show the truth" and deny the president Communion.

READ THE REST AT THE NCR

WESTSIDE STORY REMAKE BY STEVEN SPIELBERG LOOKS LIKE A WINNER WITH CATHOLICISM FEATURING PROMINENTLY

 

A SPAGHETTI WESTERN

 This photo was taken on our terrace in Naples around the summer of 1955.

I have always been a bit of an Italian cowboy! But the woman with the binoculars in the background has always fascinated me. Is she a member of the liturgical mafia?

A GOOD EXAMPLE OF INCULTURATION IN ART WORK

 Main Altar of the Gereja Hati Kudus Yesus  

(Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), Bantul, Indonesia

The church also houses an image of Jesus depicted as a Javanese king

THE PATER NOSTER IN ARAMAIC CHANT!

I was just inform that what I thought was an Eastern Rite Greek Chant offered as an anthem during Holy Communion at the Cathedral’s EF Mass was actually the Our Father in Aramaic! The schola accomplished this without accompaniment but did provide the harmonizing hum. 

I believe this is the same one they chanted:

THE GENIUS OF THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM: THE FOUCS IS ON GOD NOT THE PRIEST OR THE CONGREGATION OR OTHER IDOLATROUS ISSUES

 

I celebrated the EF Mass at our Cathedral on Sunday for the 3rd Sunday after Easter (the count starts after the Second Sunday of the Octave of Easter, unlike the Ordinary Form where this Sunday was the 4th Sunday of Easter, the count starting after the First Sunday in the Octave of Easter. But I digress. 

The Cathedral’s EF Mass has to be the most splendid EF Mass not only at any cathedral in the world, but anywhere in the world. Why? You ask?  Because of the young schola which chants the Mass flawlessly. There are about 8 to 10 young people, the oldest in the their mid 20’s. 

And they chant a cappella! It is the pure form of a Gregorian Chanted Mass. They also chant polyphony marvelously. And on Sunday they did a Greek Chant that was heavenly with an Eastern Rite sound. Don’t know the name of it though. 

I am almost in ecstasy celebrating this Mass with this schola. 

But more to my point, in this form of the Mass there is no idolatrous distractions supplanting what is at the heart of the Mass or should be: The Worship of God the Father, through Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since Vatican II and to this very day, idolatrous distractions have supplanted the true worship of God. 

What are these idolatrous distractions, you ask?

1. Active participation of the laity and a preoccupation with that

2. Liturgical roles for the laity, boys and girls, men and women

3. Ecclesiology

4. Vatican II

5. The push for females, transgendered and otherwise other LGBTQetc people or whatever descriptive they demand, to be ordained to Holy Orders

6. Contemporary music/hymns/anthems etc

Any other idolatrous preoccupations supplanting the true worship of God?

The Cathedral schola at St. Anne’s Martha and Mary Chapel at the break out of the pandemic one year ago:

A COOL RECESSIONAL PHOTO

 A cool photo of Bishop Stephen Parkes at the recessional of a wedding he celebrated at Sacred Heart Church in Savannah on Saturday. The bride and groom were his former parishioners when he was pastor of Annunciation Parish in Orlando. 

It’s a great photo for Good Shepherd Sunday in the Ordinary Form:

TRULY EXTRAORDINARY!

 

NORMALCY RETURNS TO A PAPAL LITURGY AT ST. PETER’S BASILICA

 The first video is a brief synopsis of this morning’s priestly ordinations at St. Peter’s with Pope Francis shows the papal altar being used for the first time since the pandemic shut-down. The Basilica itself is quite full of people in its main nave. The second video is the entire ordination:

THE CANCER OF POLARIZED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS OF ALTARS

 But it does appear this altar suffers from cancer:

ANOTHER EASTERTIDE MIRACLE! SEAN MICHAEL WINTERS HAS A GOOD COMMENTARY ABOUT CHICAGO PRIEST, EXCEPT.....

 

NCR: What is not in doubt is that Pfleger's work in the South Side community he serves has made him a hero to his flock, a champion, someone on their side. Many of the poor people in that part of the city are not used to having someone on their side, let alone an older white man. I find his sermons histrionic and overwrought, but there is no doubting he connects with his flock as few pastors do.

MY COMMENT: That’s Fr.  Pfleger’s problem and it is related to clericalism. He has formed a cult of the personality around himself and in this is not much different than charismatic founders of religious movements or in leadership in the Church, like the founder of the Legion of Christ, and the now former Cardinal and defrocked bishop of Washington!

Other than that, Sean Michael Winters makes good points. Read the NCR article:

Parishes cannot obstruct sex abuse investigations

BY MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS

APR 23, 2021

SWEET HOME ALABAMA! BIRMINGHAM THAT IS!

 I like it; I like it....

Before and after: 

Of course, we all know that if this was 1971 and not 2021, the before would be the after and the after would be the before. Thus, we can earnestly say that in the 9th years of the current pontificate great progress has been made in terms of the reform of the reform in many, many dioceses. 

Please note that the most important liturgical restoration is the restoration of the altar railing to this church. Marvelous. 

Although it does appear that there are two altars, which I don’t like, from the vantage of the camera it doesn’t look like there are two. I think you can have a lovely rererdos without an attached altar. There is no need for two altars back to back. 

Kudos to St. Leo the Great and the vision that has brought this forward and the willingness to spend money on it. 

More photos HERE.

WHY IN THE NAME OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY? AND, NO. NO. NO. NO!

 Look at the original altar!

Look at the thing in front of it! 

What does the new altar say about the Mass?

What did the original altar say about the Mass?

Be that as it may, no, no, no, no flowers in front of any altar new or old! Come on ministers of decorating people! Think about what you are doing!

ROCCO PALMA HAS A PECULIAR PHOTO FOR A TWEET HE MAKES AND IT CONSTITUTES THE MYSTERY OF DAY!!!!

 I don’t think it is from the Ordinariate’s Divine Worship, the Missal, so where in the name of God did he get this photo and from what Missal???? Do you see what I see that I haven’t seen in any Ordinary Form Missal I use????????

Rocco’s tweet and photo:

With much of US braced for sizable protests and unrest upon a verdict in Chauvin murder trial, lest it’s useful over the coming days, the Collects of the Mass for Peace & Justice – already being used today across ground zero (ie. Twin Cities arch.) as jury deliberations begin:

WHERE-IN POPE FRANCIS CONFIRMS MY BRILLIANT OBSERVATION THAT SO MUCH OF WHAT THEOLOGIANS AND BLOGGERS ARE TEACHING ABOUT THE LITURGY AND SACRAMENTS IS IDOLATRY

 Pointing out others’ golden calf! What is yours?

Of course, I have recently been blogging how progressives in the Church, like Praytell and the NCR are leading the Faithful into idolatry as it concerns sacramental theology and practice. 

What are the most important aspects of liturgical sacramental theology for them? It is the following:

Vatican II; Ecclesiology; active participation; lay ministries; creativity, translations; you name it; but they leave out one thing and it isn’t an “it” or a “thing”, it is Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

But not Pope Francis! He gets it! This is what His Holiness said at this past Sunday’s Angelus:

“Being Christian is not first of all a doctrine or a moral ideal; it is a living relationship with him, with the Risen Lord: We look at him, we touch him, we are nourished by him, and, transformed by his love, we look at, touch and nourish others as brothers and sisters,” he said.

Please note, the Pope did not say being a Christian is following Vatican II or Ecclesiology; or active participation, or lay ministries, or creativity, or translations or you name it. 

What the pope said on Sunday was directly linked to Cistercian monks who died protecting the Most Blessed Sacrament from desecration by French soldiers who had been sacking churches and monasteries in southern Italy, specifically my hometown of Naples. 

They did not become martyrs for Vatican II, Ecclesiology, active participation, lay ministries, creativity, translations or you name it. They died for Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament consecrated at the pre-Vatican II Mass. They died for the personal relationship Jesus had to them and they with Him! They died knowing Jesus saves them from the fires of hell through His passion, death and resurrection and that in Him the gates of heaven are flung wide open for them.

Theirs was a vertical relationship with God and God with them! And that saved them, thanks be to God!

WHEN IT COMES TO RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MORTAL SINNER NOT TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION UNTIL THERE IS REPENTANCE, AN INTENT NOT TO SIN AGAIN AND ABSOLUTION AND PENANCE

 

The height of clericalism is that a priest or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion decides who should and shouldn’t receive Holy Communion. No, the one receiving Holy Communion makes that decision to the salvation or damnation of their soul. The Church’s ministers are not dictators of a nanny church. 

But read this from the Jesuit publication America:

Priests should think twice before denying Communion to Catholics in same-sex unions.

Consider this situation. A woman, who self-identifies as a lesbian and who has entered a civil marriage with another woman, presents herself for Holy Communion. Her priest is aware of her marriage. Should he share the sacrament with her? Much depends on how that priest sees himself. Is he a pass-giver or a gate-keeper? A pass-giver, who most likely is of a certain age and with a more liberal attitude, inclines to “just give” the sacraments to people upon request. If pressed to provide a theological justification, he may point to inclusivity and mercy—both of which have a firm foundation in the Gospel. A gate-keeper worries about the integrity of the sacraments, the connection with genuine commitment and the danger of scandal. These concerns are also well-founded in the Gospel.

Read the full article here.

Do you see the inherent clericalism here. It on hinges on the priest to decide who is to receive Holy Communion. Why not the person presenting herself? Does she not know what sin is? Does she not know what the Church teaches? Does she not have a Catechism of the Catholic Church? 

She should know what the Church teaches to be sin and the distinctions between mortal and venial sin.

She should know that if she is in a state of manifest and public mortal sin, knows that it is a sin and continues to sin with full consent of the will and with forethought and planning, then she should not present herself for Holy Communion. The burden of sin is on her and a sacrilegious Holy Communion is her sin and digs the hole of possible damnation deeper. 

Why should the priest at the moment of Holy Communion have to say to her, like the soup nazi in Seinfeld, NO HOLY COMMUNION FOR YOU!

Yes, the clergy and catechists have a responsibility to teach the CCC and canon law! A bishop, priest or deacon can catechize their congregations during Mass on who should refrain from receiving Holy Communion.

But the communicant should know better either to the detriment or health of their salvation! 

TO WHOM IS HIS HOLINESS SPEAKING?

The Holy Father sometimes says good things but in manner that is not clear. When I listen to His Holiness, it seems to me His Holiness is saying what I have been writing the last few weeks. Progressive or heterodox Catholics who want to change the Church do so from the point of their idols: Vatican II, lay participation, sensum fideli, women’s ordination, LGBTQetc ideologies, ecclesiology, etc. But where is the worship of God in all this? Where is authentic prayer in all this? Where is gratefulness for personal salvation from the fires of hell? Where is the fear of God? Is that what the pope is saying?

GOOD WORDS BUT DIRECTED TO WHOM?

SWEET JESUS! HAVE MERCY! LITURGY THAT DEMANDS A LENGHTY KYRIE ELISON!

I posted below some letters to the editor from the NCR concerning Fr. Thomas Reese's article on returning the Church's worship to what Vatican II wanted (its spirit of course) and banning the EF Mass which to him is anti-spirit of Vatican II. 

One letter writer wrote that Nativity Parish in Lutherville/Timonium, Maryland gets liturgical renewal right! All liturgies should model themselves after them!!!!

Fortunately for us who are pre-Vatican II, they posted some of their Masses on line from their exciting webpage.

This is non-denominational catholicism mega-church approach to being church. It is so meaningful!

It takes a while to get to the Mass with the various blah, blah, blah introductions and a really, really, really serious series of gathering songs, but the music tells it all! WOW!

This reminds me of something Cardinal Ratzinger said many years ago, that in the reformed Mass, it can be as different as different can be not only in Masses in the same parish, but in different parishes. One wonders if this parish isn't a breakaway parish trying to hard to compete with the non-denominational approach to church and music and ministry. Can't we all just be Catholics?

THE FRUITS OF VATICAN II

 

The NCR has some selected letters to the editor concerning the Jesuit, Fr. Thomas Reese, who is not a liturgist or a sacramental theologian, and his 1970’’s piece on the liturgy and wanting to suppress the liturgy of the Extraordinary Form like the communists tried to suppress it.

I think the only people today who read the NCR, like Fr. Reese, are well into their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and beyond.

Yet, like a time capsule, they are the victims of the transition from the pre-Vatican II Church to the Post Vatican II Church which caused them to become post-Catholics. Vatican II did this.

You can read all the letters concerning Fr. Reese’s liturgy hit HERE.

But here are three examples. Thank you Vatican II:

Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese failed to mention the most important changes that should happen for liturgical reform: ordaining women deacons and priests and allowing priests to be married. I am not familiar with the 1998 English translation of the Mass, but I surely hope that it uses inclusive language for God and humans.

Also, could not God be called "mother" somewhere in the Mass? At the very least, the pronoun "him" should not be used for God, who is both father and mother. Could not women be allowed to preach while we are waiting for the church to allow them to be ordained? Could not priests be encouraged to use feminine and inclusive names for God in homilies and announcements while we are waiting for changes in the Mass?

I have waited all my life for these changes, and they have not happened yet.

LOUISE T. CUNHA
Stuart, Florida

***

As a (now retired) Catholic hospital chaplain, the reform that resonated with me most was to allow persons other than a priest to administer the Sacrament of the Sick. So many anxious hours were spent trying to find a priest who could be available in an emergency. Not to mention worrying about asking often elderly men to venture out in the middle of the night or in inclement weather. Or in the middle of a pandemic.

I suspect a number of patients (or more often families) would still request a priest. And some work-around for the absolution of sins would be required. But distributing the privilege of administering this greatly comforting sacramental presence more widely would, in my opinion, be a literal godsend.

MARGIE HARDEBECK
Covington, Kentucky

***

I am a resigned married priest now retired with degrees in philosophy, theology, a master's in adult Christian community development and a PhD in the management of the non-profit organization. I have been faithful to the baptismal call and have tried for more than 40 years to be a positive influence as a member of the local Christian community and regard my present state (vocation) as a gift that came about through a call by the Spirit of Christ.

Reese is spot on when he suggests that Catholic liturgical reform is long overdue. The renewed understanding of the Eucharist is what I wish to address. The current Eucharistic liturgy draws its influence on a cosmic story that is derived from an understanding of humanity that is derived from a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. As such I wonder if his suggestion that "eucharistic prayers that use more biblical language" would work. In this I am open to the suggestions of scripture scholars.

We badly need to understand and experience this transformation of the community into the body of Christ so that we can live out the covenant with God through Christ with an understanding that God (divinity, the creator) from the beginning has willed to co-participate with humanity in the evolution of a new creation.

This has huge implications on how we view ourselves as humans. God has chosen to join with us in this unique venture of creating "a new heaven and a new earth." If we accept the offer, we receive the energy (grace) to participate and the world with us will be transformed.

This transformation has already begun and is underway. When the community gathers as the body of Christ, it recognizes the work of the Spirit of Christ already underway; world poverty is shrinking, giant strides are being made in health research, AI is addressing work drudgery, gender equality is being recognized, racial diversity is happening, respect is growing in the workplace and climate change is gaining momentum; there is much to celebrate and so much yet to do.

It is time to create liturgies that celebrate all this: that we are the hands and feet of the body of Christ.

CHARLES FRANCIS (FRANK) FOLZ
Wasaga Beach, Ontario

SPEAKING ABOUT SERMONS/HOMILIES...

 

The best sermons I heard in my boyhood parish of Saint Joseph Church in Augusta, Georgia always occurred in the peak of the summer in a church with no air conditioner but huge, loud fans.

It went this way:

“It’s too hot for a sermon today, so I will dispense with it. God bless you.”

THE ENGLISH AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND CERTAINLY KNOW HOW TO DO STATE FUNERALS AND WEDDINGS!

 God provided a beautiful English Spring afternoon. The English and the Church of England provided a splendid royal Requiem. Requiescat in Pace.

DOES EVERY MASS AND SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION NEED A HOMILY/SERMON??????

 

I am edified this morning as I hear that the Church of England Funeral Service for His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip will not include a homily/sermon or eulogies! Yes, you heard that correctly, no blah, blah, blah, blah!

Prior to Vatican II only the Sunday Mass was to have a “sermon.” But the sermon was clearly seen as “stepping” out of the Mass into the realm of priestly teaching and ability or disability. This was/is signified by removing, at the least, the maniple and at the most, the chasuble too.

I don’t think any priests preached during daily Mass prior to Vatican II.

With the 1970’s Roman Missal, preaching a homily was reiterated for Sunday Mass, but as a homily, focusing in on the Lectionary as opposed to a sermon which is topical and not necessarily linked directly to the lectionary.

It is highly recommended that a homily be preached at daily Mass and other Sacraments. 

I have done so faithfully for over 41 years now.

Except with my once a week daily EF Low Mass. I don’t preach at it.

The EF Mass is more contemplative than the OF Mass is and it is more like Adoration is compared to the OF Mass. Thus no homily is in perfect continuity with contemplation and adoration. So, too, is the laity not actually receiving Holy Communion. Of course, the priest must consume the ‘Holocaust”  in order to conclude the Sacrifice and make it efficacious. 

I might add, though, my OF daily homilies are no more than two or three minutes. My Sunday Mass homily is 7 to 9 minutes long. 

IS THE SPIRIT OF VATICAN II AND AN IDEOLOGY OF THE PHRASE “THE GOD OF SURPRISES” THE CAUSE OF THE HERESY, APOSTASY AND SCHISM HAPPENING IN SLOW MOTION IN GERMANY AND OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD?

 

Has Vatican II inadvertently led to Catholic Lite? Prior to Vatican II, the Church was a rigorist Church emphasizing sacrifice, obligation, discipline, asceticism and most of all, fidelity, fidelity, fidelity. 

The members of the Catholic Church, since the time of Jesus Christ’s public ministry, have been a mixed bag of sinners, saints, corrupt and incorruptible. All, though, were called to the same standard of perfection and sin and corruption would never be seen as something that should be seen as good and codified as good in the Church’s pastoral theology and ministry except for it leading to Jesus Christ and His call to convert to Him and His Truth. O Happy fault, of Necessary sin of Adam that led to such a great Redeemer. 

Vatican II led to the dismantling of the Church of Rigor as well as all cultural aspects of the Church held in common by all Catholics throughout the world.

Inculturated public and private devotions were suppressed. The universality of the Latin Liturgy was dismantled, the common moral and doctrinal teachings of the Church were called into question and almost immediately after Vatican II. Seminary training and religious life were thrown into chaos by unbridled changes and throwing off the yoke of rules and regulations in favor of personal psychological growth.

Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s heroic effort at preventing Catholics from spiraling into moral chaos caused progressive Catholics to either reject Humanae Vitae altogether or leave the Church for other religions or none at all. 

But progressive Catholics who remained, many led by liberal theologians like Hans Kung and others of his generation saw the spirit of Vatican II as a means to make a new Church altogether. 

And the logical conclusion of the rejection of Humanae Vitae goes way, way, way beyond artificial contraception, it goes to the heart of God’s moral law that everyone can discover in Natural Law. It is a rejection of God and His Moral Law, found first in Natural Law and then in Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church which has given us the Deposit of Faith. 

Thus you have Germans and others promoting the ideology of the LGBTQetc political movement as a sort of Magisterium for the new “church” that is being founded by these apostates. There are no moral standards apart from experiencing erotic love in any method or manner.

Archbishop Lefebrev only questioned certain pastoral aspects of Vatican II, its document on the liturgy, and its documents on religious liberty, ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and openness to dialogue going with the world, i.e. pagans, agnostics and atheists. 

He did not question actual revealed dogmas, doctrines, Natural Law, Scripture and Tradition.

What are the Germans doing and those who support them in this country and abroad and what are their parishes and liturgies like?

MIKEY LIKES IT, BUT....RE-ENCHANTMENT

 It is marvelous, the renovation that is, especially when you think that if this were the 1970’s the after would be the before and the before would be the after.

My only but is that I don’t like double altars which there appears to be in the after:

 Thomas Aquinas College

Before:

After:

PROGRESSIVE SOLEMNITY IN THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS

 

In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, there is a kind of progressive solemnity but not quite, meaning there is little flexibility in adding it or taking it away, but there are some:

1. Low Mass, nothing of the Mass is sung only spoken, but for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, four hymns can be added in the vernacular or Latin. That's a form of progressive solemnity.

2. In the Sung Mass, aka, High Mass, everything is chanted, meaning the Mass itself, but other anthems or hymns could be added as a processional, offertory, Communion and recessional. Incense is or isn't used. It is optional.

3. Solemn Sung Mass with priest, deacon and subdeacon is very prescribed although even there something could be added in terms of music. 

4. And of course there is the Pontifical High Mass which most never attend.

 In the Ordinary Form of the Mass there is all kinds of flexibility for "progressive solemnity" and no longer are the EF's terms of low, high and solemn high used. 

At my parish, we chant all the parts of the Mass at all three weekend Masses. At our 10:30 AM Mass we use incense. However, we never chant to Old Testament or Epistle readings and very rarely chant the Gospel. 

With the pandemic, we stopped the "presentation of the offerings". 

And then today, I had a bright ideal, concerning adding solemnity to our more solemn Masses and how to do it since we have so much solemnity at our normal Masses. 

1. We do chant the Gospel, rarely, but for special Solemnities. We could choose to do so for other feasts and solemnities celebrated on Sunday.

2. For really high holy days, we could have someone chant the other readings. 

3. While we use incense at our principal 10:30 Sunday Mass, we seldom incense the elevations, thus that is another avenue for progressive solemnity for Feasts and Solemnities.

BUT HERE'S A NEW TWIST AND I LIKE IT!

We could have the "presentation of the offerings" only for special feasts, solemnities and sacraments, like Easter Sunday and its Vigil, Confirmation, First Holy Communion, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, etc

Brilliant if I do say so myself! 

THERE IS NOTHING NEW ABOUT HOMOSEXUALS WANTING TO BE MARRIED IN THE CHURCH, I JUST LEARNED AND THERE WAS AN ILLICIT MARITAL CEREMONY AT MASS IN ROME IN THE 1500'S!!! ABOUT THE TIME OF LUTHER'S REFORMATION

Sandro Magister has a very interesting article on the brouhaha in Germany and elsewhere concerning blessing homosexual partnerships and their illicit forms of sex. After reading it, I realized, as I have always known, there's nothing new under the sun or Son:

Blessing of Same-Sex Couples. That Time the Holy Office Washed Its Hands of It

In this phase of growing, thunderous rejection - especially on Germanic ground - of the “Responsum” of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith against the blessing of homosexual couples, it is startling to know that in Rome “five centuries ago there were marriages between men in church”, As Settimo Cielo documented in a previous post.

In effect, same-sex unions have always speckled the history of the Church, which has always condemned them. But that such unions should aspire to be recognized as good and legitimate by a liturgical blessing is a novelty of these times. With very rare precedents.

One of these precedents is precisely that reported by Michel de Montaigne (see illustration) in a passage of his “Journal de Voyage en Italie” dated 1581, which Settimo Cielo has reproduced in its entirety.

READ THE REST THERE!

 

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE GOD LAUGH, TELL HIM YOUR PLANS”

Happy Birthday Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. He is 94 years old today, April 16. His personal secretary/caregiver stated a few days ago that no one thought Pope Benedict would live this long after he resigned/renounced the papacy. Everyone, including Benedict, thought the end was near. That was February of 2013. 

Currently, Benedict’s legacy is that His Holiness renounced the papacy. But, clairvoyant as I am, I know that one day His Magisterium and theology will have a resurgence to rebuild the Catholic Church which since his resignation has become a tattered, listing ship, taking on water, and not Holy Water and in some places Catholic bishops are dangerously close to a true schism as well as apostasy. 

DEFIANCE: GERMAN CATHOLIC LEADERS SUPPORT PLANNED ‘BLESSING SERVICE’ FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES

April 15th, 2021

Details:  Continuing to openly challenge the Vatican, several Catholic leaders in Germany are openly supporting the blessing of same-sex couples,

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