I like the stained glass and I like the arrangement. Imagine it was converted for Catholic use, but for the Ancient Roman Missal Mass with the traditional altar, altar railing and some nice statues, icons and murals.
Saturday, April 30, 2022
THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION AT SAINT ANNE CHURCH, RICHMOND HILL (WHERE NO HILL IS TO BE FOUND) ON THE FEAST OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA…
And yes that is a first class relic of St. Catherine of Siena on the side table with candles:
Friday, April 29, 2022
THIS IS THE BESTEST YET!
I just took this photo of my most recent trip from the rectory, eight miles away, to the church. And this is in my brand new, 2020 used Nissan Murano! It has a V6 engine, mind you! V6 power at an economy car gas mileage. Phenomenal, miraculous, stupendous, outstanding who is the priest that made this deal!
APRIL 29, 1968: WHEN YOURS TRULY COULD HAVE BEEN ATTACKED AND DEVOURED BY FOUR ESCAPED LIONS IN SOUTH AUGUSTA NOT TO MENTION BEING SWEPT UP BY A TORNADO IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND SWEPT AWAY TO THE LAND OF OZ! AND YES, YOU CAN’’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
This should have been made into a movie!
On this day in 1968, four lions escaped a horrible zoo in South Augusta where we lived. I was 14 years old and in my first month of working at the Dairy Queen in West Augusta. This video is great as it recalls the incredible circumstances on a rainy night in Georgia which included a Tornado warning in South Augusta with an army of people outside in the heavy rain and lightening, in the dark under a tornado warning in the woods looking for four lions on the loose! You can’t make this stuff up! Enjoy the southern Augusta accent too….
TO AVOID THE THEATER OF THE ABSURD, THE BISHOPS, INCLUDING THE POPE, AS WELL AS CLERGY MUST LISTEN TO SCHISMATICS AND HERETICS AND THEN CORRECT THEM, ISSUE ANATHEMAS AND EXCOMMUNICATE AS A LAST RESORT TO MAINTAIN SANITY IN THE CHURCH AND YES, ORTHODOXY!
Here’s the sound byte from the linked article below:
The Archdiocese of Cologne has just under 1.9 million Catholics, KNA reported. More than 1,700 people — about .09 percent of archdiocesan Catholics — took part in the nonrepresentative online survey, “Tell the pope — what should the future of the church look like?” They submitted more than 5,400 contributions and 1,200 comments.
The survey results were summarized by an agency in accordance with social science standards. The findings showed that respondents favored a “separation of powers as in democracies” instead of “priest-centeredness.” In addition, people of all sexual orientations and those who had been married several times should feel fully accepted in the faith community, respondents said.
Same-sex couples should be entitled to be blessed and married in the church, and divorced Catholics should be allowed to marry in the church again, the survey showed. Respondents also demanded an admission of guilt by the church for the “discrimination and personal injury of nonheterosexual people.”
A person’s gender and sexual orientation should not affect their ability to serve in church ministries, respondents said. Also, “women as well as trans people should be able to hold all ordained offices in their calling.” In the future, respondents said, priestly celibacy should be voluntary rather than obligatory.
Cologne Catholics who answer survey demand curbs on leaders’ power
EVEN CATHOLIC ANCHORS ON FOX NEWS DECRY THE CHURCH DOING WHAT CHRIST HIMSELF EXPECTS THE CHURCH TO DO
This is a new form of anti-Catholicism that comes from radical right wing politics espoused by some Catholics including Church Militant. Unfortunately, many of these people also love the Traditional Latin Mass and that could be just another reason for the crackdown these communities by the pope and bishops.
CATHOLIC LEAGUE V. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE
"Her burst of anti-Catholicism now demands stronger sanctions against her." It's rare to see a politician on the national stage
Thursday, April 28, 2022
THE BISHOPS OF THE USA ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE DECLINE IN BELIEF IN THE REAL PRESENCE BUT THEIR SOLUTIONS ARE LIKE SPITTING IN THE WIND AND WON’T CHANGE MUCH
We all know that in many modern Roman Missal parishes, the liturgy is abysmal from accoutrements to the way of celebrating, casual and blah and a failure to follow even the minimal rubrics.
Belief in God is diminished as is belief in the real presence. Some believe it is just an “it” and a symbol of Christ. Others believe Christ is on the Host like a magic carpet. Others simply think it (and the word it is a problem, no?) is a spiritual reality but not physical. We can go on.
If the bishops had bothered to do surveys of those who regularly attend Mass using the Ancient Roman Missal, they would find thoroughly orthodox beliefs on God, the Church and the Most Holy Eucharist.
What is it about that Missal that preserves the Faith of the Church in the Most Holy Eucharist whereas the manner in which the modern Roman Missal is celebrated so diminishes the true Faith of the Church?
It is God-centered, formal, rigid, rubrical and an obsession with attention to detail. It is predictable from priest to priest, parish to parish, diocese to diocese and nation to nation. Not so the modern Roman Missal.
For example, when I made my First Holy Communion in 1961and at a formal “Low Mass”, as a 7 year old, I had to fast for three hours before that Mass. I had to kneel for Holy Communion, remember to tilt my head back, slightly stick out my tongue and reverently receive. I had to judge the appropriate time in which to swallow the Host, allowing the Host to dissolve on my tongue, without chewing, and then swallow without choking. I had to think of Jesus the whole time.
After receiving at the railing, I was to remain a moment or two thinking about our Lord, make the sign of the cross, return to the pew, kneel and swallow the Host properly. God forbid the Host stuck to the roof of my mouth and in no instance was I to use a finger to remove it!
And once home, I was to drink water, swish and swallow in case any particle of the Host remained in my mouth.
Going through all of that indicated the importance or gravity of what I was doing when receiving our Lord in Holy Communion.
Until the bishops look to ancient Roman Missal Masses and what its participants believe and why, we will go no where.
Simply telling priests and congregation to read the black and do the red in the Modern Missal and a return to Holy Communion, kneeling, at the rail and receiving on the tongue will accomplish much more than just one more complicated program that only a handful of Catholics, mostly professional ones, will appreciate.
And after all the efforts at implementing that program, for the majority of Modern Roman Missal Catholics the abysmal status quo will remain.
Sad!
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
NICE! FATHERS OF MERCY CHAPEL IN AUBURN, KENTUCKY…
Please note they did the freestanding altar correctly: it ties in very well with the reredos and creates a sense of unity between the two. There are not two altars in competition with each other and the new one losing out over the older higher one. And there is harmony in everything!
WOW, THIS AMERICA MAGAZINE (JESUIT) ARTICLE IS VERY INSIGHTFUL
Basically, the Ancient Latin Mass is spiritual, not academic. It begins with the soul not the mind, but certainly the mind is involved. But this Mass isn’t a classroom experience. It is a mystical experience.
But this article nails it, no?
Don’t get the appeal of the Latin Mass? Look to an Indigenous sun dance
Monday, April 25, 2022
TO THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER ON THIS ARTICLE: DUH!
Do public leaders, like the pope, have a right to privacy concerning their health? Yes, they have a right to disclose or not disclose what ails them.
But reporters have a right to dig and investigate and report on a leader’s health issues.
Pope Francis biggest health issue right now is called “aging”. And its ultimate outcome for someone 85 years old is decline and death. That’s life.
This pope has limped ever since being elected. They say it is sciatica. But now, he can hardly walk and is curtailed in what he can do liturgically and adjustments are being made for him, but in an unfortunate progressive way setting a horrible example for other clergy his age, no vestments for Mass when not celebrating and not even a stole when preaching during Mass. UGH!
I’m not a doctor, but there seems to me to be three things going on in addition to sciatica. Perhaps he needs a knee and hip replacement? Why hasn’t that taken place? Is it too dangerous of a surgery for a man his age with perhaps colon cancer?
And then the other issue. The NCR says a doctor told them the pope is over weight and eats too much pasta. I think his stomach is distended and not due to pasta but other reasons.
But here is the NCR’s seemingly nonsensical lead story on their webpage this morning. I like Christopher White’s reporting. But I think he needs to dig deeper, no?
Argentine doctor: Losing weight would ease Pope Francis' knee pain
Sunday, April 24, 2022
IS IT JOHN RUTTER'S REQUIEM OR REQUIEM BY JOHN RUTTER? I REPORT; YOU DECIDE...
UPDATE: BRIEF VIDEO CLIP OF SAVANNAH PHILHARMONIC REHEARSAL AT SAINT ANNE’S HERE…
John Rutter who composed his Requiem is still living. So, it is a bit indelicate to describe tonight's Requiem at Saint Anne Catholic Church in Richmond Hill, (Savannah is our suburb) as John Rutter's Requiem as John Rutter is still living!
The Savannah Philharmonic made a poster describing it as John Rutter's Requiem, but it isn't; it is a Requiem by John Rutter. I wonder if they did not realize this or thought it funny? What say you?
Three years ago, John Rutter directed his own Requiem at the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence, Italy. But did he really conduct his own Requiem? What say you?
WHICH, EXACTLY, IS THE FRONT SIDE OF THE ALTAR, ANYWAY?
When the Mass is celebrated by the priest toward the apse, often called, ad orientem, or toward the liturgical or geographical east, the front of the altar is that which faces both the priest and the laity.
In this orientation, the front of the altar is the same for both the priest and the laity.
This is not so when the priest faces the nave. The front of the altar is always the side on which the priest is not the side of the congregation. Thus when the priest faces the nave, the front of the altar is in front of the priest but to the back of the laity.
Even in pre-Vatican II times in the major basilicas of Rome, like St. Peter's and St. John Latern, the celebrant always faced the altar's front although he was facing the nave because he was facing the true liturgical east (except for St. Paul's outside the wall, where the celebrant faces Peter or St. Peter's to the west).
Thus at St. Peter's the Gospel side of the altar is to the left of the pope and the Epistle side to the right. This is true no matter if the celebrant faces the apse or the nave, the correct orientation is from the priest's perspective.
Is this a form of clericalism? Yes, in a slight sense, but only when the celebrant is in a confrontational position to the laity at the altar, but not when he joins the laity in facing the same direction toward the altar.
I am sure the Holy Father and other progressives in the Church, now knowing the clericalism of what is the front of the altar, depending on the priest's position at it, will want to return to the non-clerical ad orientem position to crush this kind of clericalism and make the front of the altar common to both the celebrant of the Mass and the laity behind him in the nave.
Makes perfect sense to this progressive!
Saturday, April 23, 2022
THIS IS REALLY COOL FOR SAINT ANNE’S ON DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY!
Richmond Hill, a once tiny hamlet, has never hosted anything like this….everrrr!
Saint Anne is pleased to provide our new church for this concert Mass:
A REAL ITALIAN BLOGGER’S RECIPE FOR AN ITALIAN FAVORITE OFTEN MADE IN THE WRONG WAY
Pasta Amatriciana comes from the Italian town in northern Italy’s province of Lazio called Amatricia. The original recipe was for shepherds to make in the mountains with only a few ingredients so they didn’t need to carry around too much. Originally, it may have not included tomatoes or simply peeled fresh tomatoes. They would not have had canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes were seasonal. Thus it would have been pasta, pecorino Romano cheese and Guanciale which is from the pork cheek and is cured and didn’t need refrigeration.
Of course Italians make due with what they have. Today, truly authentic Pasta Amatriciana is made with Buccatini Pasta, Peeled canned tomatoes, Pancetta which I substitute for Guanciale since I can’t get it here. (Pancetta is cured pork belly). And that’s it. No added oil, no onions, no garlic, no herbs, no nothing else, not even wine, a mortal sin to add in Amatricia! Water is added to the tomatoes. That’s it.
You can watch my facebook videos of how I made it on Friday night in the Octave of Easter and yes, we are dispensed from any penance on Friday in the Octave of Easter.
My facebook page videos on me making this is HERE!
IS HAVING A POPE EMERITUS LONGER THAN THE CURRENT REIGNING POPE AN ACT OF GOD OR JUST HUMAN FOLLY OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH?
Book focuses on anomaly of two popes, as Benedict XVI turns 95
The link above is a good article from the Associated Press concerning the issues Pope Francis has experienced by having a high caliber theologian-pope, now emeritus, living so long and at times inserting himself into the drama that is the current papacy with it incoherence.
On one hand, I feel for Pope Francis, who is the first pope ever to have an emeritus pope living next door and being an emeritus longer than he has been pope. New pastors who have to contend with former pastors hanging around their parish and critiquing the new pastor is bad enough, just imaging an emeritus pope doing the same thing.
But on the other hand, Pope Francis, from the first hour of his papacy has shown himself to be the anti-John Paul II/Benedict. He appears to many to be not only incoherent in his thought, especially the off-the-cuff way too many comments, but also in his theology. But he certainly seems to have come in to undo everything that Pope John Paul and Benedict have done to clarify what the Church’s true identity is in the aftermath of the confusion caused by competing views of how to implement Vatican II and that progressives in the Church have deified or made into an idol an ecumenical council, namely Vatican II in order to shift Catholics from God to man (humans) in order to social engineer a new Church that worships itself and not God.
And to complicate things for Pope Francis, some of his choices for cardinal have said that Pope Francis desire was to reset the Church to 1978 in order to recover the mentality of that period of the post-Vatican II Church in order to move forward with the chaos of that period in the modern age.
Thus having an emeritus pope who often has spoken publicly about his sentiments about the current course of the current papacy may be indelicate and unfortunate for the current pope, but is it an act of God too?
How has the God of surprises been present in the extended life of an emeritus pope who many thought only had months to live after his abdication?
Why at this juncture in Church history, politics and self awareness, has God allowed two popes of basically the same generation but with two different views of how to interpret Vatican II, one correct and one deleterious for the people of God, the Church, to coexist and temper the return to the 1970’s for ideological purposes in order to move forward again?
It must be the God of surprises, as there is no other explanation other than supernatural.
Friday, April 22, 2022
IS YOUR PARISH CELEBRATING DIVINE MERCY SUNDY WITH ADORATION, CONFESSIONS, DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET, BENEDICTION AND VENERATION OF THE DIVINE MERCY IMAGE?
This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday.
đŸ”´ What is the Divine Mercy image?
In the 1930s, Jesus appeared to a Polish nun named Maria Faustina Kowalska. He was wearing a white garment and had red and pale rays coming from His heart. Jesus told her that He desired for an image to be made depicting His appearance, and that the image should be venerated throughout the world.
đŸ”´ What does the image mean?
In the image, Jesus is lifting His hand in blessing. From His heart flow streams of red and white (or blue) which symbolize Blood and Water. At the Cross, Blood and Water gushed forth from Jesus's side. By this Blood and Water, which "flows as a Fountain of Mercy," we are saved and made clean.
đŸ”´ What is Divine Mercy Sunday?
Jesus told St. Faustina that He desired for the Sunday after Easter to be known as "Divine Mercy Sunday." According to the Diary of St. Faustina, Jesus said, "On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet." Pope John Paul II, who was also from Poland, announced the first Divine Mercy Sunday in 2000.
đŸ”´ What is an indulgence and how do I obtain one?
An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins which have already been forgiven (through the Sacrament of Confession.)
On Divine Mercy Sunday, one obtains a plenary indulgence by participating in the "prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy"
In addition, the regular requirements for an indulgence are necessary:
- Sacrament of Confession
- Holy Communion
- Prayer for the intentions of the pope.
đŸ”´You can learn more at https://www.thedivinemercy.org/.
Thursday, April 21, 2022
WHATEVER LIBERALISM TOUCHES, IT DIMINISHES, INCLUDING RELIGOUS ORDERS, THE PAPACY, THE EPISCOPACY, THE CLERGY, THE LAITY AND YES CNN--A TRAINWRECK IN SLOW MOTION.....CHOO, CHOO....
OUCH! This has to be humiliating not only for the disgraced, fake news network, CNN but especially for disgruntled former Fox star, Chris Wallace. What will happen to him and his bias?
Whatever liberalism touches it eventually degrades and destroys, even itself. For that let us take comfort as the synod on synods unravels because of the schismatic Germans and their synodal process, kind of like CNN...
CNN+ streaming service to shut down after just one month
Parent company Warner Bros Discovery pulls plug on CNN's much-hyped new venture
A TALE OF TWO MASSES, ONE EASTER AND THE OTHER WESTER…
This photo of yours truly and some other priest was created by the Latin Mass Society of the United Kingdom:
There is no liturgical abuse in either photo. And just to be clear, the one with me from a 2009 photo from Saint Joseph Church in Macon is an ad orientem verncular post-Vatican II Roman Missal Mass. It is not the Ancient Latin Mass, although, yes, it looks like it, but it isn’t.
The meme photo, though, is about the orientation of the priest, either toward the nave or the apse.
Which one is more attractive? Well, certainly, the priest in the top photo is more attractive, whichever way he faces. But let’s take the handsomeness of that good looking priest out of the equation.
It doesn’t matter how his face looks, as good looking as he is. It isn’t about his pious look either. It isn’t about his facial expressions or lack thereof.
And the top photo from an instinctual perspective is evocative of something other-worldly, mysterious and magnificent as well as reverent. It is the epitome of Catholic spirituality and iconography, not to mention awesome beauty and classic sensibilities.
The bottom photo is blah and uninspirational. There is no sense of mystery, only the priest playing to the audience. Am I right or wrong and what say you by looking at the two photos, my glorious one or the bottom inglorious one?
A RISEN CATHOLIC FAITH
The polarization within Catholicism is fueled by political ideologies, not Catholic theology. And this comes from both the left and right and from the highest realms of the Church.
For most rank and file Catholics, though, the Catholic Faith is something personal, sometimes fueled by gnostic tendencies, but personal none the less.
A Catholic psychiatrist says this about Faith and Spirituality in general:
ROME – Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas, Director of the Spanish Institute of Psychiatrics, believes that the four cornerstones of a person’s psychology are intelligence, will, affectivity, and spirituality. Faith, he said, is what gives a person perspective to see what truly matters.
“I would never tell a patient to give up religion, because religion, when it is properly understood, is never a hindrance,” Rojas said. “Faith is good, and it is necessary. Telling a patient to leave faith aside would be like telling them to ignore culture or work. That is not to say that the church, as an institution, is not flawed. But much like I cannot give up on politics because a politician disappointed me, I cannot leave the church because a cleric disappoints me.”
Read the rest there:
Catholic psychiatrist urges life balance in increasingly isolated world
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
LATIN MASS SOCIETY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM MISINTERPRETED ONE OF MY MASSES...BUT THAT'S OKAY
The Facebook Page for the Latin Mass Society, UK is here:
This is a photo on one of their recent posts:
That's yours truly in the top photo celebrating the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Saint Joseph Church in Macon on March 19, 2009.
It is a vernacular Ordinary Form Mass (as we called it way back then).
The Latin Mass Society of the United Kingdom thought is was an EF Latin Mass (I know, there isn't any other language EF Mass.)
I don't know what or who Wester is....
NOW THAT’S AN EASTER VIGIL GLORIA!
But the rubrics say to turn the lights on after the third Lumen Christi, not at the Gloria…
A flair for drama at the BROMPTON:
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
LORD HAVE MERCY! CAN’T THE POPE AND THIS PRIEST’S BISHOP CRACK DOWN ON THIS? NORMAL ORDINATFORM ANTICS!
IF A PERSON SLIPS AND FALLS AND SUES THE CHURCH FOR EVERYTHING IT IS WORTH, MAYBE BISHOPS WOULD THEN REPRIMAND A PRIEST LIKE THIS, CENSURE HIM OR SOME OTHER DISCIPLINARY ACTION.
PHYSICAL OR MENTAL ABUSE IS ONE THING, BUT LITURGICAL ABUSE THAT ABSUES THE CATHOLIC FAITH IS SERIOUS TOO!
Sunday, April 17, 2022
FROM OUR PARISH'S FACEBOOK LIVESTREAM SCREENSHOTS OF SAINT ANNE’S EASTER VIGIL-MORE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS OF THE TRIDUUM TO COME LATER, I HOPE..
We baptized 18 souls! We began outdoors at 8 PM and concluded a little before 10:30 PM...
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