Monday, February 28, 2022
Sunday, February 27, 2022
DID POPE BENEDICT MAKE A MISTAKE ALLOWING THE FURTHER LIBERALIZATION OF THOSE CELEBRATING THE ANCIENT LATIN MASS?
The reformed Roman Missal that is Divine Worship, the Missal of the Latin Rite’s Ordinariate community:
Given the fact that Pope Benedict’s successor has put the toothpaste back into the tube (but not entirely) yes, Pope Benedict made a mistake. Has Pope Francis made a mistake in trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube? We’ll have to wait and see what his successor will do. What is clear now, we are subject to the whims of popes, not a consistency in faith and praxis.
Let’s say that Pope Benedict had not issued Summorum Pontificum, but rather began a revision of the latest reformed issue of the Roman Missal at that time. Let’s say that he abrogated all previous issues of the revised/reformed Mass of Vatican II and said the new Roman Missal was the new lex orandi of the Latin Rite Church but in continuity with the Ancient Latin Mass.
I doubt that his successor, Pope Francis, would have turned the clock back as he has done to the time before Summorum Pontificum.
We would have a Roman Missal very similar to the Ordinariate’s Roman Missal, Divine Worship.
We would have a Roman Missal that more than likely would have required the Eucharistic Prayers to be exclusively in Latin, with the Roman Canon holding a place of pride.
We’d have a Roman Calendar more in continuity with the more Ancient and traditional Roman Calendar, as the Ordinariate now has.
Maybe one day, the next pope will do what I recommend and His Holiness, the future pope, will make sure no future pope returns to the 1970 Roman Missal and Calendar.
God willing!
Saturday, February 26, 2022
SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL POPE FRANCIS AND THE CURRENT VATICAN REGIME THAT WOMEN RUN OUR PARISHES IN THE USA INCLUDING THIS MOST HUMBLE BLOGGER’S PARISH
Yesterday, we had a staff retreat at our retreat center on the Isle of Hope which is next to Skidaway Island (both cool names, no?) in Savannah. It is quite a beautiful spot. In the photo below, from left to right are our youth director, office manager/bookkeeper and our coordinator of religious education. Not pictured is our female director of music and female receptionist/assistant bookkeeper. And our female pastoral council president was not there.
The only two full time men on our staff, not in the photo, are the two priests assigned to Saint Anne. Oh, our cleaning service is a woman owned and staffed service, parishioner-owned that is.
And yes, on Friday, it was 87 degrees in these parts.
HAVE YOU MET RIGID SEMINARIANS AND PRIESTS? WHAT ARE THEY LIKE
Last evening I watched the 1936 movie, San Francisco starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Jeanette McDonald (no relationship, I don’t think). It is a musical/drama/disaster picture and for the time, the disaster scenes of the 1906 earthquake are extremely well produced special effects and without computer technology.
Spencer Tracy plays a priest and Clark Gable a very worldly, shall we say promiscuous, rich capitalist. The two are best friends. Gable is an atheist. They box together and it is clear in the movie that there is a platonic love and affection between the two.
The priest never interferes in the life of Gable. They are, nonetheless, friends. (Tracy’s only interference is when he sees Gable trying to sexually exploit his girlfriend, Jeanette McDonald). Because of that, Gable socks his friend in the face, knocking the priest out and giving him a bloody lip. Gable is clearly conflicted about what he has done to his friend in a fit of anger, but later he sees that his best friend holds no grudges against him, another example of Christian love and humility.
Gable also calls the priest by his first name, never uses “Father.” I think this might have been controversial in 1936 and seen as disrespectful, but one knows that Gable respects his best friend and the priest respects Gable. Perhaps both live vicariously through the other. Gable longs for faith, although he mocks it, but the priest’s example and the faith of others in the movie, especially during the disaster scenes, move the atheist to faith and prayer, repentance brought about by conversion where the only preaching is the kindness and example of others including his best friend the priest.
It really is a marvelous movie with deep religious themes but also licentiousness and sin.
The rigid priests I have known, could never be like the Tracy character in the movie. (In fact, Tracy as a priest works in a poor parish which takes care of the poor and homeless and he physically cares for injured and dying people after the earthquake disaster scenes.)
Tracy is the kind of priest that Pope Francis wants. Tracy wears a cassock, tights for the boxing scene with Gable who is wearing a 1936 version of a speedo. Tracy also wears a clerical suit.
Tracy isn’t just about liturgy and liturgical accouterments and clerical finery or a church mouse, praying constantly. He seems to have a well rounded life.
I think we need to make a distinction between introversion and extraversion compared to rigidity or flexibility. I think what Pope Francis wants is human priests, not liturgical machines.
Tracy is a pre-Vatican II ideal priest depicted as such in a 1936 movie.
Friday, February 25, 2022
PAPAL SWAN SONG…HOW SERIOUS IS THIS FOR A MAN APPROACHING 86 YEARS OLD
Pray for the Holy Father
There are rumors in Rome that the pope’s surgery on his colon was for cancer; that His Holiness has terminal cancer. These are rumors, spread in high places in Rome.
Then the Pope himself, stoked the rumors when he told everyone last week that his nostalgic reflection on his own priesthood would be his “swan song.” Yes, the Holy Father is the source of stoking rumors about his terminal health situation.
Then the Holy Father, of all popes, invited two young (rigid?) priests of the FSSP to a full hour audience with him where the Holy Father after hearing of the pain that His Holiness has inflicted upon young Catholics and others who prefer the ancient Lex Orandi of the Church and its liturgical books, seems to have repented in part over his cruel suppression of what was the lex orandi of the Church until about 60 years ago. His Holiness had a smile on his face, unlike the scowl His Holiness often shows forth, after His Holiness’ meeting with these two young loyal sons of the Church.
And then this from the Vatican Press office this morning:
The Vatican has announced that due to “acute gonalgia [knee pain], for which the doctor has prescribed a period of extra rest for his leg, Pope Francis will not be able to travel to Florence on Sunday, February 27, or preside over Ash Wednesday celebrations on March 2.”
EVEN CNN INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY IS AGHAST AT THE IMPOTENCE OF THE USA AND NATO AND OTHERS IN ALLOWING UKRAINE TO BE THROWN UNDER THE BUS AND DESTROYED IN THE HEART OF EUROPE
Putin is a mad man and spiraling out of control and Europe is being made to suffer. There is no strong support for Ukraine from the USA and NATO and others. They light up their buildings with the colors of the the Ukrainian flag thinking that shows solidarity. Absurdity in action.
The fuse is lighted and Europe will fall and maybe the USA.
And they think talking mean to a mad man will stop him, placate him. We have a Stalin in our midst and more must be done.
An elderly weak president with the onslaught of dementia, a shallow Vice President, still virtue signaling by hiding behind her mask, who doesn’t know which way is up and a Speaker of the House, herself in her 80’s and a divisive figure. O my.
And the Prime Minister of Great Britain tells the Ukraine the world is united in horror at what is happening to the Ukraine. I am sure that makes the Ukrainians feel good that their actual horror is matched by his and our mental horror.
And Climate change in their opinion is the the greatest threat to humanity. Not Abortion, not Putin.
And the greatest threat to the Latin Rite and Eastern Rite Churches isn’t the Ancient Lex Orandi and its liturgical books of the Latin Rite Church.
Thursday, February 24, 2022
O MY! LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING PUTIN WOULD DO!
Another Case Study in Colour and Detail: St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa
My observations: Don't get me wrong, the after/after is better than the after but the before/before is the best and completely destroyed and for what purpose. How did the cathedral parish feel at the time of the "bombing" of their beautiful sanctuary prior to the first renovation?
The decorations and paint job are nice in the after/after renovation, but a bit too loud for my tastes. The bishop's throne dead center sends the wrong message to the bishop and to the congregation or unfortunately, maybe the right message!
Before:
After:
After/after:
Read all about it:
Another Case Study in Colour and Detail: St. Ambrose Cathedral in Des Moines, Iowa
OUR LADY, QUEEN OF PEACE, PRAY FOR UKRAINE 🇺🇦
Prayer to Our Lady Queen of Peace
Most holy and immaculate Virgin, Mother of Jesus and our loving Mother, being His Mother, you shared in His universal kingship. The prophets and angels proclaimed Him King of peace. With loving fervor in our hearts we salute and honor you as Queen of peace.
We pray that your intercession may protect the people of Ukraine and all people from hated and discord, and convert the heart of Vladimir Putin and all nations into the ways of peace and justice which your Son taught and exemplified. We ask your maternal care for our Holy Father, Pope Francis who works to reconcile the nations in peace. We seek your guidance for our President and other leaders as they strive for world peace.
Glorious Queen of peace, grant us peace in our hearts, harmony in our families and concord throughout the world. Immaculate Mother, most holy, watch over the Ukraine and protect them and us with your motherly love. Amen.
PRAY FOR UKRAINE AND THE SANITY OF PRESIDENT PUTIN
This is unbelievable and insane in modern Europe. God bless these poor people…
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
SHOULD SEMINARIANS HAVE SECULAR JOBS? I DID!
I've become somewhat nostalgic recently, I guess because I turn 69 this year.
When I was in the 4th to the 6th grade I helped my brother seven days a week to deliver the afternoon Augusta Herald newspaper to about 200 customers. We did so on bike. I also had to go to homes on our route to solicit new customers, collect their payment and some other things. Sunday was the morning paper and my father had us up at 1 am to fold the papers delivered to us and by 4 am we hit the road and finished by 6 AM in time to get ready for the 8 AM Low Mass in my parish.
But I began working for the Dairy Queen/Brazier in Augusta when I was in the 9th grade and 14 years old. That was 1968 and stayed with them for five years until late 1972, well into my first year of college. I worked those years almost full time and went to High School full time of course.
I was a supervisor beginning at the age of 16 and earned enough money to buy in cash a new 1970 Chevy Nova, which then cost $2,500. I managed a stand alone old Dairy Queen (no Brazier of hamburgers) in a bad part of Augusta for a year, my first year in college. I actually packed a 36 pistol in my back pocket to take the earnings for the day to another store. Yes, I did that! I never was held up!
If not for the grace of God, I would have been drafted into the Army in 1972 and sent to Vietnam as I had a low lottery number. But President Nixon deescalated the war and then called off the draft about a month before I would have been drafted!
This looks like the DQ I managed:
Then in late 1972 I went to work for Davison's in downtown Augusta as I also went to college full time in Augusta (now Augusta University). Davisons was the southern division of Macy's. I worked for them just about full time until I went to the seminary in Baltimore in the Fall of 1976. I do think our first Christmas break from the seminary I was Christmas help for the store.
Then in the seminary in Baltimore, I got a part time job with Cross Keys Drug Store working as a cashier and some other things as well as delivering drugs to customers in the rather exclusive neighborhoods of that vicinity.
And at the seminary I was sacristan, head waiter in the refectory and "medic" for minor illnesses.
And in all that time, I managed to get a high school and college diploma. But I still needed one more required subject for my major and so I entered major seminary without having graduated from the college in Augusta and in a very busy first semester at St. Mary's in Baltimore, I took my final undergraduate course at the University of Baltimore downtown. I had to take a bus for the evening class down there and back.
How in the Name of God and all that is Holy did I do this?
THE POPE AND THE FSSP—INTERESTING COMPARISONS WITH THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT
As far as I can tell, Pope Francis has never met with any groups of Catholics who prefer the ancient Lex Orandi of the Church, meaning the pre-Vatican II liturgical books. He has met with the head of the semi-schismatic FSXXP, but never with groups of Catholics in full communion with their Latin Rite bishops who have gathered in Rome for various “conventions” and even Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter’s.
There seems to be a parallel here with Cardinal Bergoglio and the Charismatic Movement in Argentina. He described them in negative psychological terms and had quite an antipathy for them until he got to know many of them in a personal way which changed his attitude completely. It is important to note when large “conventions” of charismatics have met in Rome, the pope has gone to see them and knelt before their leaders for them to pray over him.
No such gestures, yet, for Ancient lex orandi Catholics. His attitude is one of psychological misunderstanding and the suspicions about him by traditionalists which His Holiness himself has created. The closest thing was the pope’s meeting with two relatively young priests from the FSSP and the incredible gesture towards them and other institutes founded to preserver the ancient lex orandi of the Church.
This act of flexibility and generosity by the pope seems to have been “off-the-cuff” and immediate with an actual decree written by the Holy Father with His Holiness’ name affixed to it, not some lower level prelate saying the pope had seen and approved it like the contrived dubia of Archbishop Roche.
I wonder, too, if Archbishop Roche feels as tough he has been hung out to dry by the pope who seems a bit more flexible towards Traditionalists. This is especially true in his letter to bishops with accompanied the decree, which itself is more generous than Archbishop Roche’s dubia which is snarky, mean and clearly not pastoral in any way.
At any rate, Traditionalists, the way to win this pope over is with sugar not vinegar. Remember that! Bee nice! This may well win the Holy Father over and we might see His Holiness, one day, attending an EF Mass to see why so many young laity and clergy are attracted to it and it isn’t just about rigidity and sexual perversion.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
MY PAGEVIEWS SO FAR FOR FEBRUARY (HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??????)
I'm dumbfounded! How did my most humble flexible blog and this most humble flexible blogger get worldwide attention?
Readers in Ukraine! In Russia and Yikes in "Other!"
United States 4.22K
France 1.44K
Canada 288
Turkey 179
United Kingdom 148
Romania 105
South Korea 86
Germany 75
Italy 67
Czechia 63
Netherlands 58
Australia 45
Ireland 41
Honduras 32
Russia 24
Japan 23
Poland 19
Ukraine 11
Singapore 10
Other 255
THE HOLY FATHER DOES APPEAR TO OFFER SOME FLEXIBILITY ON THE USE OF THE OLDER LEX ORANDI
This is rather impressive. The Holy Father personally reads something from the FSSP and their distress over his decision limiting the use of the more ancient Lex Orandi of the Church. He hand writes a note to them and invites them to visit with him.
They go; His Holiness meets with them for an hour or so and then lands the bombshell upon them that they can continue as is with some codicils.
Maybe bishops should approach the Holy Father in such a humble way to ask him to reconsider some of the more rigid answers of Archbishop Roche and his contrived dubia? I have heard the English are more rigid when it comes to rules. Am I wrong in this regard. I have a story to tell about a quite silly thing concerning my luggage and a flight back to the USA from London in the 1980’s. It was incredible.
From Rorate Caeli:
On the Meeting with the Pope - Interview granted 2/21/22 to Anne le Pape by Fr. Paul-Joseph, Superior of the FSSP district of France
Father, what is the backstory of your recent meeting with the Holy Father?
Fr Ribeton, rector of the European seminary of our Fraternity, and I wrote directly to the Pope on December 28 to express our dismay and our incomprehension following the publication of Traditionis Custodes and the Responsa. We confidently appealed to his solicitude. He answered us by hand the next day (everything was done by scan, but yes, the letter was in his hand), reassuring us and inviting us to come and meet him to talk things over. So we contacted his secretariat and the date of February 4, 2022 was set; that is the day when Father Ribeton and I went to Rome.
I HAVE A DIOCESE OF CHARLESTON CONNECTION AND AS SUCH THIS IS MY FIRST BLACK BISHOP SINCE I HAVE BEEN A CATHOLIC!
Oddly enough, I was asked to take Holy Family Church’s 8 am Mass on Monday (my day off) which is on Hilton Head Island in the Diocese of Charleston. Fortunately, I remembered to pray for Robert our bishop, not Stephen my bishop when in the Diocese of Savannah. Little did I know that would be the last time I would pray for Robert our bishop!
From Rocco Palma’s tweet:
Pope’s 2nd US pick in a row for a deeply evocative spot, with today’s Charleston nod, Haitian-born Scalabrinian +Jacques Fabre, 66, becomes the first of the Kreyol diaspora to lead a Stateside diocese; 200 year-old Palmetto fold roughly triple its 2000 size, now w/ 500K members.
LET ME OFFER THE MOST COMMON SENSE RECOMMENDATION ABOUT THE CRISIS OF VALIDITY OF THE SACRAMENTS OF THE LATIN RITE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and we wouldn’t know it, in some cases, if not for video recording of sacraments. What is that crisis? Rogue priests who think their translations and way of celebrating the sacraments of the Church has no implication on the validity of those sacraments. And what a mess this Sacramental abuse is for its victims!
I wondered to myself, self, were you validly baptized (and thus validly received the other sacraments to include Holy Orders)? And then, a sense of relief and calm came over me as I was baptized in January of 1954 by an army chaplain in Naples, Italy. He had to use the Latin formula to baptize me and I doubt seriously that he changed the specific words necessary for validly. Who would do that when Latin was required?
We all know priests who change the vernacular words of the Lex Orandi of the Latin Rite, the modern liturgical books. In what other ways are they invalidating the various other sacraments, like absolution and the words of consecration? What about the Extreme Unction?
I watched the abomination which is call the liturgy at St. Sabina in Chicago and that priest makes it up as he goes and I doubt seriously that the Mass there is valid. Why hasn’t Cardinal Cupich censured and suspended that priest and named a new pastor and asked that parish to stop their divisive and invalid ways of celebrating the Sacraments of the Church?
It’s a head scratcher to say the least!
My solution? Well, don’t tell anyone because it is so novel, so commonsensical, so me: When it comes to the words that affect the validity of the Sacraments, require that these be said in Latin! Wow! I bet I am the first one to come up with that solution that would put this invalidity nonsense to rest!
Like in Arizona, botched baptisms roiled Michigan church
Monday, February 21, 2022
POPE FRANCIS PERSONALLY OFFERS EF BOMBSHELL!!!!!
Photo: Fr. Paul-Joseph (left) and Fr. Vincent Ribeton (right) with Pope Francis – © Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
Decree of Pope Francis confirming the use of the 1962 liturgical books
[Original: Latin and Spanish]
The Holy Father Francis, grants to each and every member of the Society of Apostolic Life “Fraternity of Saint Peter”, founded on July 18, 1988 and declared of “Pontifical Right” by the Holy See, the faculty to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass, and to carry out the sacraments and other sacred rites, as well as to fulfill the Divine Office, according to the typical editions of the liturgical books, namely the Missal, the Ritual, the Pontifical and the Roman Breviary, in force in the year 1962.
They may use this faculty in their own churches or oratories; otherwise it may only be used with the consent of the Ordinary of the place, except for the celebration of private Masses.
Without prejudice to what has been said above, the Holy Father suggests that, as far as possible, the provisions of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes be taken into account as well.
Given in Rome, near St. Peter’s, on February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, in the year 2022, the ninth year of my Pontificate.
Francis
Sunday, February 20, 2022
THE 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, SAINT ANNE CHURCH, RICHMOND HILL, GEORGIA
Yours truly celebrant and homilist and I even speak Spanish at the announcements time inviting people to our monthly Spanish Mass in our chapel:
BEFORE AND AFTER AS WELL AS A QUESTION, COULD WE GET THAT MANY SOLDIERS TO MASS TODAY?
The before photo is 1941 Macon, Georgia. The soldiers from a nearby army camp are preparing to go to war. I don’t know the specifics of this Mass with a bishop, presumably the Bishop of Savannah, but I doubt that the soldiers were ordered to attend Mass by their army superiors. I doubt this is a Sunday Mass.
Could we get that many Catholic soldiers to attend Mass in a community church today? And if so, why? And If not, why?
This is one of the best photos of the Church prior to a complete restoration of the building which included a liturgical renovation as well which is below this very historic photo:
LET’S TALK ABOUT ETHOS, ORIENTATION AND FEELING AS WELL AS DOCTRINE, THAT IS LEX ORANDI; LEX CREDENDI
I know the two photos above show, first, the Ancient Latin Mass and second the Modern Vernacular Mass.
But let’s pretend that they are both the Modern Vernacular Mass and let us talk about feelings these photos or the experience of this Mass gives those who attend and participate.
I will give my feelings and you can give yours.
1. The first gives a sense to me of something awesome occurring and a great deal of attention to detail is occurring also. The second, while more simple, seems more ordinary to me, not particularly awesome but rather like the priest oriented to me rather than to God. If I am an atheist, I would wonder if there is any connection between the two photos. One seems other-oriented and the other seems self-oriented.
2. The complexity of the first photo captures my imagination and leads me to contemplate. If I am an atheist contemplating what I see while not understanding it, it peaks my curiosity of wonder and awe. The second photo does not do this at all for me. Thus, as a priest, I wonder if the first is a better evangelization experience compared to the second photo which seems boring to the eye. An atheist might continue to reflect on what he experienced in the first photo well after he leaves because it is unforgettable while the second photo is quite forgettable after you leave, nothing memorable for an atheist.
I won’t go further. But, again, let’s say these are both the Modern Vernacular Mass. Which one is the better expression of the Church’s authentic prayer that leads to authentic belief.
While I don’t have the Communion Rite pictured, we could ask the same question. Which form of distributing Holy Communion which is itself an act of physical prayer better supports the doctrine of the Sacrificial Banquet? By this I mean the so-called “Communion Procession” where the laity form lines towards various “Communion stations” and receive standing and on the hand and on the run from a variety of clergy and laity ministers compared to the laity receiving kneeling at the altar railing receiving from a member of the clergy and on the tongue?
Thus, my thesis is that the crisis of evangelization and of orthodox belief concerning the Mass has nothing to do with it being the Ancient Latin Mass compared to the Modern Vernacular Mass in terms of the liturgical books which contain the prayers of the Mass, but rather the style of the Mass, its ethos and look may well contribute to the loss of Catholic Faith as it concerns the celebration of the Mass.
It is a crisis of rubrics!
Of course, the Modern Vernacular Mass is valid, it is still the same doctrine as is the Ancient Latin Mass. The problem is that the second look makes it seem as though it isn’t and thus the way you pray and the “look” of the Mass has an affect on what you believe.
The rubrics are important for evangelization and orthodox belief!
Saturday, February 19, 2022
A NOSTALGIC BLAST FROM THE PAST
I was assigned to the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta on June 2, 1991. This was the pre-restoration look of both the church building and me. Please note that I have lots of hair, which is dark brown and naturally so, and that I wear a chasuble which is designed for the stole to be overlaid upon it on the outside. That was very 1970’s and 80’s, if I do say so myself. And it was so me!
This photo is probably 1993 or so. It is the 10 AM Mass there. The Church seats about 900 comfortably. Our 10 AM Mass regularly had standing room only and maybe 100 or so standing at the back and remaining for the entire Mass!
That is not the case today. By that point, we had increased membership from about 600 households to 1,400. Today, I think they are back to around 600 or so.
Just to qualify that growth, Most Holy Trinity in those days benefited from the woes of the other parishes in town and people knew they had a refuge for good liturgy there (established well before I got there, btw, but I put on steroids).
Augusta was in the process of shifting its population westward and well into the next county, which at that time belonged to the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The western parish was on the county line and had a pastor, God rest his soul, who was a bit polarizing, thus we benefited. In the last year or so my my time there, early 2000’s, the next county was annexed by the Diocese of Savannah, the border church in the west was closed and moved deeper into the next county and it grew from about 500 families then to about 2,200 families now and their new church is exceptionally traditional and beautiful, although I’m not sure about their liturgies. Augusta is booming in its western suburbs. Change in pastors accounts for much of the growth in that parish as well as the new church in the new location. But that affected the Church of the Most Holy Trinity which has maybe 200 families today who actually live in the parish boundaries.
Downtown Augusta is contiguous with North Augusta across the Savannah River which is in South Carolina and a part of the Diocese of Charleston. That community is booming too and Most Holy Trinity still has many members who live in South Carolina. If not for crossovers from other dioceses and parishes, Most Holy Trinity could not survive with its downtown parishioners alone.
REVISITING SAINT JOSEPH IN MACON’S BEFORE, AFTER, AFTER/AFTER IN PROGRESS AND AFTER/AFTER COMPLETED:
BEFORE:
AFTER AFTER IN PROGRESS:
AFTER AFTER COMPLETED:
Friday, February 18, 2022
WOW! THIS IS JUST TOO GOOD! NOW IN MY LATE 60'S I FINALLY LEARN ABOUT WHAT MY FATHER EXPERIENCED AND TRIED TO DESCRIBE TO ME WHEN I WAS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!
My father used to talk about this and that he experienced it Rome in the 1940's (during the climax of the war there). And now I finally see what he described to me which as a small child, I couldn't exactly wrap my head around it.
AMAZING! God rest my father's soul!
I saw it at the Liturgical Arts Journal and you can read about it and see even more cool photos about it by pressing the title:
Lost Romanitas: The Virgula Poenitentiaria -- Or Penitential Wand / Rod
THE FIGHT AGAINST RIGIDITY NEEDS TO ALSO BE A FIGHT AGAINST FLEXIBILITY!
There’s an obsession in Rome about rigid personalities. And there is something to it.
In a Crux interview Cardinal Ouellet says this:
“Sometimes that’s abuse,” Ouellet said, adding, “With rigidity, it seems that everything is very uptight, very controlled, but look behind, and sometimes, in those mentalities, you have cases of abuse. So, rigidity is not a guarantee that you have perfect morals.”
I have known a handful of convicted abusers in my 42 years as a priest. The most notorious one in the Diocese of Savannah, now mercifully dead and experiencing his just reward, was far from rigid. He does not fit whatsoever the description of Cardinal Ouellet nor do the other ones that I am aware of, all no longer in ministry and all paying the penalty for their crimes. Thus, I fear this smoke screen of rigidity talk can make people think that the super flexible are safe. Are they?
Being committed to the Truth (Jesus Christ) and the doctrines and morals of the Church isn’t rigidity, it is faithfulness to the perennial Magisterium of the Church, Heterodoxy and the abuse of Truth and those who hold it is a product of flexibility and a commitment to passing fads and worldly trends as well as psychology and pseudo science.
There’s ample evidence from those priests who have been convicted of crimes or at least accused as to their psychological make-up and the way they lived their priesthood. Let’s be fair about this.
And for every rigid sex abuser, there are many more flexible “Cardinal McCarricks”!
And for every abuser in a rigid religious order or diocese, how many are there in the super flexible Jesuits and liberal dioceses? Let’s be fair!
I do agree with Cardinal Ouellet on this:
Ouellet also spoke of the problems of clericalism, meaning the perception that priests and members of the Church hierarchy enjoy an exalted status and laity are expected to show deference and obedience to their orders.
This perception of “the sacredness of priests” was a factor in many abuse cases, not only of sexual abuse, but also abuses of power and conscience, Ouellet said, calling it a “deviation” of the priestly vocation which the Church still has not grasped.
“The spirituality of the priest is grounded in the incarnation, Christ’s incarnation, the washing of the feet, that’s the basis of our spirituality: humility, humility, not to be grown out of our ego,” he said. “Our ego must disappear and serve the ego of Christ, that’s the key of the priesthood.”
Ouellet voiced his belief that the Church is just beginning to understand the problem of clericalism, which he said is multifaceted and contains layers the Church has not yet uncovered.
“If the priest says, ‘I am ordained, so I am the one that is commanding here, and women are second rank,’ then I am falling into clericalism,” he said, but noted that there can also be a streak of clericalism amongst the laity.
But, I have to ask does this description describe all young priests today or is it more of a product of the “spirit of Vatican II” priests, especially those ordained prior to the council, who took advantage of their position after Vatican II to push heterodox positions, their own theology, their own way of celebrating Mass and their own morals (actually immorality) and convince everyone they met that they were right and the old ways of thinking and doing things were completely wrong? You have to convince people that what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong. That happened after the Council! Let’s place the blame evenly please!
Trying to return the focus to abusive priests and not bishops who enabled it because of poor or non existent supervision just isn’t going to work anymore. This scandal is a scandal of enablement by bishops pure and simple. Were they rigid or super flexible with these priests?
And finally, is the problem not just so-called clericalism which has so many manifestations, but also authoritarianism that affects both clergy and professional laity?
Think of the rigidity of Pope Francis, which is really authoritarianism, when it comes to reversing the papacy of Pope Benedict, still living and all those who enjoyed Benedict’s flexibility only to have it overturned overnight?
Isn’t the real diagnosis authoritarianism?
Read the full Crux article:
Thursday, February 17, 2022
THE NATIONAL CHISMATIC REPORTER, TRULY SCHISMATIC, MUST BE DISMAYED!
The NCR also reported this ominous part:
The 85-year-old pope said his reflections may be the "'swan song' of my own priestly life."
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
TRADS HAD BETTER LISTEN UP: ONE OF THEIR OWN SPEAKS THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR ANTIPATHY EVEN TOWARD TRADITIONALLY CELEBRATED ORDINARY FORM MASSES AND THEIR HATEFU RHETORIC TOWARDS ANYONE WHO POINTS OUT THEIR BAD BEHAVIOR
Even before Custodius Traditionis, I have been warning my readers that denigrating a well celebrated Ordinary Form Mass in Latin and ad orientem or any well celebrated OF Mass where the priest and congregation read the black and do the red was heterodox and divisive. It is just as bad as those who continually denigrate the EF Mass and see no good in it.
I warned you all that the EF Mass would never replace the OF Mass although Pope Benedict did desire that the EF Mass would influence the OF Mass (mutual enrichment) and lead to a reform of the reformed Roman Missal more in continuity with what preceded the first reform way back in 1965. And I have emphasized that we already have that Missal’s template in the Ordinariate’s Roman Missal: Divine Worship. We need one Roman Missal but a reformed in continuity Roman Missal!
And now we have an insider calling out what in fact is true, most who attend the EF Mass in fact have a hatred for the OF Mass just like those who love the OF Mass have a hatred for the EF Mass. Both positions are alien to the Deposit of Faith of the Catholic Church, the perennial Deposit of Faith.
Just an antidote on my part. Since Custodius Traditionis, I have been celebrating my parish’s Latin Mass as an Ordinary Form Latin Mass with an EF ethos. I doubt too many would be able to tell the difference between the two. Yet there are several who were there each Tuesday for the Mass when it was EF who will not darken the doors of the chapel for the Latin Mass in the OF but with EF sensibilities.
It seems that the Bishop of Helena is allowing OF Mass to be celebrated like EF Masses and yet no one gives him credit for that and Fr. Z who does no favors for the EF community, is virulent in slamming this bishop and others like him who are “entirely rightful (in their) exercise of …apostolic authority.”
Read the sad commentary that TRADS have brought on themselves and have no one to blame but themselves:
Opinion: In defense of Bishop Austin Vetter
WOW! EVEN SUPER LIBERAL AND OFFICIALLY DISCREDITED FATHER CHARLES CURRAN THINKS THE SYNODAL WAY IN GERMANY AND THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH ARE A WASTE OF TIME!
Since we have returned to the 1960’s and so much do we want to go back to the future, it is appropriate that we hear from Father Charles Curran, a 1960’s darling who seems more cynical now than ever.
I have to say that maybe he has experienced a conversion in the 2020’s that was not present in the 1960’s; who knows? Yet his article on synodality in today’s National Chismatic Reporter is actually commonsensical and there are some good points made as you read between the lines.
First of all, Father Curran is not excited about yet another meeting, this one a meeting on meetings, about structures, about Church politics and about the enclosed circle that the Vatican II Church is.
In his article there is nothing about the Most Holy Trinity, God’s love for the world or Jesus Christ Incarnate, let alone the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels, the Communion of Saints or Scritpure, Tradition and the perennial Magisterium of the Church or the Deposit of Faith.
It’s all about parliamentary procedures. It’s all about organization. It’s all about promoting heterodoxy within a democratic system of voting. It has little to do with people of true Faith.
And yet, much to his credit, he states how devastating Vatican II has been for the Church in Germany, this closed circle that produced abusing priests, who by the way, came from the laity and post-Vatican II families. He states that only 6% of Catholics bother with Mass and after the devastating German synodal process, which he thinks Pope Francis will not approve any of its radical suggestions, even fewer will be going.
Rome we have a problem. Stop worshipping Vatican II, ecclesiology, processes and change. Start with Jesus Christ and the Deposit of Faith that His Holy Spirit has produced over the last 2000 years and embraced by saints and martyrs many of whom were formed by the Council of Trent, not Vatican II.
Read Father Curran here:
A tale of two synods: What will the German and Roman synodal gatherings accomplish?
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