LET’S DIVE INTO TODAY’S LITURGY, CHURCH AND PARISH AND DIAGNOSE WHY THE CHURCH, LITURGY AND PARISHES ARE SO MEDIOCRE….

 

Some who comment on this blog have no historical recollection of what the Church was like prior to Vatican II, warts and all.

I think the greatest problem with the pre-Vatican II Church was its paternalism (a negative, I am not referring to being fatherly or motherly, which is a positive). This paternalism was placed on steroids in terms of authoritarian tendencies and to keep adult baptized Catholic child-like and by this I don’t mean having the faith of a child, in the positive sense as Jesus describes it, but stunting the growth of Catholics in terms of their relationship to the clergy both the higher and lower “archy” as well as the Religious. 

What the pre-Vatican II Church did very well and the post Vatican II is a miserable failure was to build strong Catholics with a strong faith built upon the basics of the Catechism. In this country it was the Baltimore Catechism. The Liturgy and all the sacraments were no nonsense, not based upon the cult of the personality of the celebrant and there was uniformity in styles of celebration. 

Thus there was uniformity, clarity and clear lines of authority when that authority was exercised in service to the Faith.

After Vatican II and overnight, a tightly run institution with a beautiful liturgy, sacramental system, doctrinal apologetic, discipline and culture developed over centuries starting with Jerusalem, then Europe and the rest of the world, collapsed. 

The greatest sign of this collapse began with so many who left the priesthood and religious life only a few years after Vatican II and those who stayed sowed misery, crime, tragedy, victimization, confusion and dissension in parish life, corrupted parishes and built kingdoms on their personality alone, not the perennial magisterium of the Church.

As a result of this, parishes began to decline, laity’s commitment to the obligation of Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation waived and religious education in parishes was abysmal. Catholic schools once staffed by an abundant number of priests and religious became lay operated and the quality of Catholic identity suffered. 

Vocations from normal parishes to both the priesthood and religious life which had been in abundance prior to Vatican II collapsed as well. 

Today, the only groups in the Church providing vocations and with some sense of the Catholic culture and community and Catholic life are the new movements, Charismatics,  Home Schoolers and the Traditional Latin Mass Communities/parishes.

As well, normal parishes with beautiful OF Masses, clear teaching and strong community are also providing vocations.

But your normal parish? Not at all. 

What these new movements and traditional parishes which celebrate the new missal have in common is that they are more like pre-Vatican II parishes were and thus we see where growth in strong Catholicism occurs. 

To deny this is to be like an ostrich with his head in the sand, or an aging hippie Catholic from the 60’s who desperately wants to return to the 1960’s and thinks that mentality will bring about the new springtime for the Church. But that barque has sailed, crashed and sunk and no matter what salvage action is taken it will not sail again but only sink again.

THE NEXT POPE—WHAT QUALIFICATIONS WILL BE MANDATORY AND BY THAT STANDARD WHO WILL BE RULED OUT?

Pope Francis’ criteria for selecting new cardinals is both noble and corrupt. His Holiness chooses candidates from the peripheries who no one knows and who have no known track record except they are aligned with the Holy Father’s ideologies and come from the peripheries except for those minority of candidates who don’t. I would not see San Diego as the periphery but certainly Los Angles has far more Catholics of every ethnic background from the peripheries living there plus an archbishop which this pope has marginalized—one who heads one of the largest archdioceses in the world and evidently well given how big it is and how corrupt the previous archbishop/cardinal was. 

But one wonders what kind of vetting took place. This pope has promoted some very questionable people to the episcopacy, some who are now in prison or should be, very much in the vein of Cardinal McCarrick. 

One new candidate come from a region so small (smaller than my parish) that it is not even a diocese. 

How can a candidate like that lead the world-wide Church as the Bishop of Rome?

How many of these candidates from small places and dioceses are capable of what it takes to be pope, intellectually, morally and administratively, not to mention the debt of their Catholicism?

So, what would be the most important criteria for the next pope?

He must be able to speak Italian fluently, like Pope Saint John Paul II, from Poland, Pope Benedict XVI, from Germany and Pope Francis from Argentina (but technically Italian). 

How can a pope be the Bishop of Rome and at the same time not speak Italian nor have the gift or ability to learn it and fluently? 

So, the main criteria for the next pope is that he be fluent in Italian. All other traits are on the table!

WELL, THIS IS INTERESTING, THE NEXT POPE COULD BE A NEW CARDINAL WHO CELEBRATED THE ANCIENT ROMAN LATIN MISSAL’S SOLEMN PONTIFICAL MASS AFTER TC THIS PAST JANUARY AS WELL AS CONFIRMATIONS PRIOR TO THAT?

S

From a poster on the post below this:

Father, you might be interested in the new cardinal from Marseille, France. He celebrated a pontifical mass in January 2022 (after Roche had forbidden the old pontifical). Here are some photos from that mass: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYhFB2YMC-U/

Also here are photos of Cardinal-designate Jean Marc Aveline celebrating confirmations and a pontifical Mass in 2019:

http://paroisse-saint-charles.fr/galeries-de-photos/confirmations-12-mai-2019-mgr-aveline/

May 29, 2022 at 8:49 PM

LORD HAVE MERCY! BUT PLEASE BE NICE! I AM SURE THIS IS A SHOT IN THE HEART TO ARCHBISHOP CORDILIONE AND TO ARCHBISHOP GOMEZ OF LOS ANGELES

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis said on Sunday that he will create 21 new cardinals, including San Diego Bishop Robert Walter McElroy, at a consistory on Aug. 27.

The 85-year-old Pope made the announcement from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square after reciting the Regina Coeli prayer on May 29.

This is the full list:

• Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (United Kingdom).
• Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy (South Korea).
• Fernando Vergez Alzaga, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State (Spain).
• Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline, of Marseille (France).
• Archbishop Peter Okpaleke, of Ekwulobia (Nigeria).
• Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, of Manaus (Brazil).
• Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião of Rosário Ferrão, of Goa e Damão (India).

• Bishop Robert Walter McElroy, of San Diego (United States)

• Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, of Dili (East Timor).
• Bishop Oscar Cantoni, of Como (Italy).
• Archbishop Anthony Poola, of Hyderabad (India).
• Archbishop Paulo Cezar Costa,, of Brasília (Brazil).
• Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr M. Afr, of Wa (Ghana).
• Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye, of Singapore (Singapore).
• Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores, of Asunción (Paraguay).
• Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, Prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).

Five are over the age of 80:

• Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena (Colombia).
• Archbishop Lucas Van Looy sdb, Archbishop Emeritus of Ghent (Belgium).
• Archbishop Arrigo Miglio, Archbishop Emeritus of Cagliari (Italy).
• Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda sj (Italy).
• Monsignor Fortunato Frezza (Italy).

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has created 101 cardinals from 58 countries at seven consistories.

 CRUX NEWS STORY:

Pope Francis announces 21 new cardinals, including key allies

IS THIS TRUE OR JUST A CARICATURE?

Is Vatican II the blame for about 80% of Catholics no longer attending Mass and most of them no longer even claiming cultural Catholicism for themselves? 

If Christmas and Easter are any indication, in Richmond Hill, a small but very fast growing suburb of Savannah, about 70% of those attending these “high holy days” don’t attend other than Christmas or Easter. At least, though, they still have some cultural or emotional connection with the Church.

But there are more who don’t even attend these “high holy days”. Either they have joined the mega non-denominational church in Metro Savannah, “Compassion Christian Church.” (BTW, I think our next parish in Richmond Hill should be called “Most Compassion Catholic Church”) or, as many suspect,  the majority of non identifying former Catholics attend no church, they are indeed “nones.” 

Why are so many no longer attending? 

Is it:

Vatican II’s deemphasis on obligation and recommendation that one want to go not be forced to go?

Vatican II’s deconstruction of the church’s cultural heritage or trappings for churches, religious and lay Catholics?

Vatican II’s erasure of cultural practices such as fast and abstinence?

Vatican II’s noble simplicity and anything goes for the liturgy and blurring of Catholicism with Protestantism?

I often wonder if we had parishes that mimicked non-denominational churches with lively liturgies, worship and praise rock music and strong fellowship and service oriented small groups, that these parishes would prosper compared to even those EF parishes.

What say you?

IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT THE REVISION OF THE LITURGY ACTUALLY FOLLOW WHAT VATICAN II, MEANING SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM ASKED?

 The video I post below is not the rewriting of history, but the telling of history and the errors of a post-Vatican II commission established by Pope St. Paul VI to revise the Mass. Ideologies beyond Vatican II were incorporated into this revision. 

The revision asked for by Vatican II was a conservative revision. I continue to assert that most of the revisions were meant for Pontifical Masses by bishops, not your ordinary Sunday Mass, Low, High or Solemn High in local parishes. 

I do believe that both forms of the Mass as we experienced it until a few months ago was the way forward. There should never have been an attempt in 1969 to suppress the pre-Vatican II Mass. The revised Mass should have been allowed to be celebrated along side the ancient Mass. 

Where did things go wrong after this first horrible mistake of suppressing the ancient Mass?

1. The complete elimination of Latin in practice. The best form of inculturation would be local languages, or the vernacular. I have always said that the fixed parts of the Mass should have remained in Latin and the laity taught to sing or say those parts that pertained to them. The changing parts in the vernacular as well as the Liturgy of the Word should be in the vernacular or Latin.

2. The encouragement to ad lib during Mass, add commentary, and insert the priest or bishop’s personality, here, there and everywhere. That simply can’t happen at the ancient Mass except at the homily. The disruption to prayer by commentary and ad libbing is too much for so many, so as to be a complete break with prayer at the beginning of Mass which begins with the Entrance Chant leading to the Penitential Act. Why do we need bishops or priests ad libbing at the introduction to the Penitential Act and in a very secular way with welcomes, hellos, good morning, have a nice day? It destroys the flow of prayer. 

3. Finally the template forward is to restore the traditional order of the Mass to the current modern Missal with the PATFOTA, the official introit, Offertory and communion Antiphons and the older offertory prayers, and three-fold “Lord I not worthy.”

4. Restore kneeling for Holy Communion and exclusively receiving on the tongue and ad orientem for the direction of the Mass and pre-Vatican II choreography and rubrics for the ordering the sanctuary. 

Restore the pre-Vatican II rubrics to the Roman Canon. Only have two canons, the Roman for Sunday and Eucharistic Prayer II for daily Mass as a option. 

Eliminate options and stick to the older order of the Mass.

Watch this video and learn from it:

HAS THE ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS MEDIA (USUALLY OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY, THINK ABC AND DISNEY) DULL OUR HORROR OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND GRUSOME DEATHS?

 

Up until the 1960’s, the movie industry had a code of standards that they had to abide. It was a form of censorship for the common good and all the major religions of this country were involved in this censorship which Hollywood submitted. The Catholic Church had a powerful role too.

Movies could not show graphic violence, nudity and graphic sexual content and by the end of the movie the villain could not win, justice had to prevail. 

When killings were shown, it wasn’t graphic and often left to one’s imagination. 

Compare that the what has happened to our media (and what is easily available on the internet) where violence is shown in the most graphic way with slash and kill scenes so graphic and exaggerated as to be unbelievable. Think of the AMC long running and very popular series “The Walking Dead.”

The news now, shows graphic scenes of violence and death, not movie, make-believe, but actual. This was not the case during the Viet Nam War. What was shown publicly was sanitized. 

No American saw the actual assassination of President Kennedy captured by the mcgudder  home film. That wasn’t shown until the late 1970’s or early 80’s. It is very graphic and some networks, when showing  it, would show it in slow motion where the President’s head explodes and blood, skull and brain matter spray forward. For what reason do those who make these decisions to show these scenes do so?

And something I have never used, computer games are so unbelievably violent and addictive to those who pursue these games. 

Obviously, sociopaths and psychopaths often copy what they see in real life and in the various medias today. 

In my most humble opinion, our fascination with guns and the gun culture and limited laws on the selling of guns and the types of guns sold is a cause of these mass shootings, but the media and 24 hours news stations are a cause too and all them need regulations as we once had in this country. 

In addition to this, the Democratic party’s talking points concerning the choice to kill unborn children is very serious and politicians need to be called out on this and perhaps prosecuted for their part in the culture of death and its glorification in this country. Choice glorifies the murder of unborn babies. 

Let’s call it for what it is.

I WANT TO DEVELOP A NEW LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

 

You may or may not know that my rectory is in a nice neighborhood (with a community pool, btw) and is eight miles from the church.

I usually go home for lunch. I'm Italian and need my riposo, although I don't drink wine for lunch, but would like to do so. I will wait for retirement on that. 

But today, I walked out of the rectory to drive back to the church and forgot my phone. On the way, when I realized it, I had a bit of a panic attack and then reminded myself of this: Self, I said, you never carried a damn phone with you everywhere you went from about 1953 to about 1995. And you survived. And for the entire time you lived with your parents, self, you did not have an answering machine either, so chill out and enjoy being liberated from the cell phone!" And I did!

It has changed my life going back to the way I was up until about 1995! Liberation, I say!

I AM NOT SURE WHAT I THINK ABOUT THIS BUT THE OUTCOME IS STUNNING; I HOPE THEIR LITURGY IS TOO

 The relationship of the freestanding altar to the reredos is done perfectly and there are not two altars but a single unit although the altar is detached and freestanding. That’s the way to do it!

This video shows stunning new reredos placed into a church. Three to be exact. The reveal is amazing; but it seems to me to be too theatrical and not necessarily prayerful. But maybe it doesn’t need to be prayerful or even liturgical. 

It is a wow moment though. What do you think? First, about the reredos and secondly about the reveal? Is it too secular? This kind of reveal is done at beatifications in Rome when covered portraits are uncovered. 

View the video HERE.

I LOVE SHOWING YOU PICTURES OF MY BRAND NEW USED BABY! SHE IS SO PRECIOUS!

 V6 power at 3 cylinder gas mileage. You can’t make this stuff up. I took this great photo of my beautiful baby at 5 am this morning after driving 8 miles to exercise at Anytime Fitness. I would say my baby is fit!

THE MENTALLY ILL RADICALIZED BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT MENTALLY ILL, THE SANE PROMOTING THE CULTURE OF DEATH

 O God, grant grace to those who suffer greatly from the demonic actions of others. We lift up in prayer those who grieve the loss of their children and we entrust them and your dear children senselessly killed to your loving embrace and your promise of eternal life in heaven. Calm our anger with your grace and motivate us to bring the culture of life to those blind to the culture of death they endorse and promote. Through Christ our Lord.

The culture of death in this country is at the root of these horrible mass murders where mentally ill people take to its logical conclusion the right to choose to kill  the innocent. 

This is what Nancy Pelosi said yesterday before this mass shooting in Texas:

 “I come from a largely pro-life Italian-American Catholic family, so I respect people’s views about that. But I don’t respect foisting it onto others.”

Wrap your head around that demonic, ignorant statement and ideology! She doesn’t want to foist onto others a pro-life mentality or laws protecting unborn children from murderous abortionists hired to rid a woman of a bothersome child who God placed in her womb for safe harbor until the day of birth.

And what role does the 24 hour news media and social media play in their non-stop coverage of these tragedies and the too many hours of “fame” given to perpetrators of these demonic crimes? 

If we are going to talk about laws limiting the ability of teenagers and the mentally ill to purchase assault weapons, which needs to take place, we also need to limit the non-stop 24 hour news coverage of these tragedies which turn tragedies into reality programs for ratings and money!

Make no mistake, this mentally unstable teenager who killed so many children aborted human life. But he may well have been insane at that moment. What about abortionists who do their murdering of babies and far more murders than this teenage derelict, who do their dastardly deeds for pay and in their right mind?

God help us. God help our nation. Lord have mercy. 

THE CHURCH NEEDS MORE CORAGEOUS BISHOPS TO CHALLENGE THE VATICAN'S RETROGRESSIVE 1970'S UTOPIAN IDEOLOGIES HARMING THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD!

 

Press title for full article:

Returning from Ukraine, Polish archbishop urges Vatican to revise attitude

By Catholic News Service

May 24, 2022

WARSAW, Poland — The president of the Polish bishops’ conference criticized the Vatican’s “naive and utopian” attitude to the war in Ukraine and urged Rome to show “greater maturity” in attitudes toward Russia.

Read the rest there...

I AM AMAZED THAT POPE FRANCIS' ORDERING THAT THE MASS IN INDIA BE CELEBRATED AD ORIENTEM HASN'T MADE MUCH NEWS ON THIS SIDE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN

 EVERY REASON THE HOLY FATHER, POPE FRANCIS GIVES TO DISALLOW MASS FACING THE CONGREGATION CAN BE APPLIED TO THE ROMAN RITE ALSO. IT IS A STUNNING ADMISSION THAT THE TRADITIONAL DIRECTION OF PRAYER, HELD BY TRADITIONALISTS IS UPHELD BY THE POPE AGAINST PROGRESSIVES IN INDIA WHO WANT THE MASS CELEBRATED TOWARD THE CONGREGATION. WHY NO COMMENTARY ON THIS BOMBSHELL IS BEYOND ME!

THIS IS A GOOGLE TRANSLATION OF THE GERMAN ARTICLE:

(Rome) Pope Francis settled a dispute by decreeing that all dioceses throughout the Church should celebrate the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass ad orientem, versus Deum. According to Francis, priests and people have in common to look to the east, from where, according to apostolic tradition, the return of the Lord is expected. No satire. You read that right. But how can that be?

When Cardinal Robert Sarah, then Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Worship, called on all priests to return to the east direction of celebration, Pope Francis vigorously contradicted him. And now a change of heart?

Let's try to solve the riddle.

In his address to the general audience on September 27, 2006, Benedict XVI said:

    “Finally, we recall that according to an old tradition Thomas first evangelized Syria and Persia (as already reported by Origines, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea, Hist. eccl. 3,1), then penetrated into western India (cf. Thomas Acts 1-2 and 17 ff.), from where he finally reached South India.”

So the focus is on India. There the so-called Thomas Christians emerged from the work of the Apostle Thomas, which are now referred to as the Syro-Malabar Church. This was created in 1599 and has been united with Rome ever since. According to tradition, the apostle Thomas stayed in India between the years 53 and 60 until he suffered martyrdom there. The current name of the church refers to the Syrian tradition with which it was connected at the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. On the other hand, the Thomas Christians had hardly any contact with Rome for many centuries, since their territory was outside the Roman Empire. There the Apostolic Church of the East, to which the Thomas Christians also belonged, developed their own East Syriac rite. From the 8th century at the latest, the Christians of India had their own metropolitans and their own hierarchy, but remained connected to the Church of the East.

With the arrival of the Portuguese in India in the 16th century there were contacts with Rome which led to the establishment of the Union in full unity.

Today the East Syriac rite applies in four Eastern Churches, two of which, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church, are united with Rome, while this applies to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the east is not the case.

The Syro-Malabar Church has held fast to the faith bequeathed to it by the Apostle Thomas and is a vigorous, vibrant Eastern Church. This church is "crowned like a bride and filled with every grace and blessing" (Holy Qurbana).

Today around five million believers belong to it, most of whom are concentrated in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the historic territory of this church. The head is the Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly. The incumbent Major Archbishop George Alencherry was in 2011 by Benedict XVI. appointed and elevated to the rank of cardinal. The Church has 35 dioceses, 31 in India (of these 13 outside the canonical South Indian Territory) and four in Anglo-Saxon countries (Britain, USA, Canada, Australia), 8,000 priests, diocesan and religious priests, and about 3,300 parishes. Jurisdiction outside of the state of Kerala has only existed since the 1950s.
Conflict about the direction of the celebration

Conflicts arose from the Latinization of the Church, initiated by Pope Pius XI in the 20th century. has been partially reversed. Since then there has been a Latin and a Malayalam faction in the Church.

More recently, the direction of the celebration has become a new point of contention that has escalated in recent months. In the course of a "liturgical renewal" the direction of celebration should, according to a minority, be reversed in the "spirit of the Second Vatican Council". As is customary in the Novus Ordo of the Latin Church, the priest should no longer look east with the people, but turn to the people. This reversal of the direction of celebration goes back to Martin Luther in the 16th century, who wanted to create an unmistakable distinguishing feature from the "papal church".

In the quarrel, which recently came to a head in the Syro-Malabar Church, the Holy See finally intervened shortly before Easter and decided that the traditional direction of celebration should be retained as before.

The harbingers of this dispute, however, go back a long way, precisely to the liturgical reform of 1969/70 in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2003, in his address, Pope John Paul II admonished the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church during their ad limina visit:

    "An integral part of the rich and diverse Indian culture for centuries, the liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church is the most vivid expression of the identity of your peoples. The celebration of the Eucharistic Mystery in the Syro-Malabar Rite contributed significantly to the formation of the experience of faith in India (cf. Ecclesia in Asia, n. 27). "The Eucharist is the saving presence of Jesus in the community of believers and its spiritual nourishment, it is the most precious good that the Church can have on her journey through history" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 9). Therefore, I encourage you to carefully guard and renew this treasure and never allow it to be misused as a source of division. Your gathering around the altar, "filled with him who rules all things" (Eph 1:23), not only marks you out as a Eucharistic people, but is also a source of reconciliation that helps to overcome those obstacles overcome obstacles that can block the path to unity of spirit and purpose. As primary guardians of the liturgy, you are always called to be vigilant and to avoid unjustified experiments by individual priests, which can damage the integrity of the liturgy and also profoundly harm the faithful (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 10).

    I encourage you in your efforts to renew your "ritual riches" in the light of the Conciliar documents, paying particular attention to Orientalium Ecclesiarum and in the context of the Code of Eastern Canon Law and of my Apostolic Exhortation Orientale lumen.

    With prudence, patience and an appropriate catechesis, this process of renewal will certainly bear rich fruit. The many positive results that have already been achieved make this task less onerous and more a source of future strength. I encourage you to continue this important work so that the liturgy is not only studied but celebrated in all its perfection and beauty.”

But things did not settle down. This spring there was even a loud protest from a group of lay people in Ernakulam, who did not hesitate to publicly burn two dolls with the faces of Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Shortly before, on March 11, 2022, Cardinal Sandri had given the same indication of the direction of the celebration as was then decided by Pope Francis in the last instance.
The Synodal Resolution of the Syro-Malabar Church

In 1999 the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church unanimously decided that the direction of celebration, at least in the celebration of the Eucharist, should be ad orientem together with the people. This decision has since been confirmed several times, but not ultimately implemented. In the summer of 2021, the synod finally passed the resolution that from November 28th and by Easter 2022 at the latest, all dioceses and parishes must implement the uniform celebration of the Holy Qurbana, as the holy sacrifice of the Mass is called in the Syro-Malabar Church. This is a compromise between the forms practiced since the 1970s. The traditional form celebrated ad orientem; the new form, which is entirely Protestant and faces the people, and the compromise formula. This was decided in 1999: in the first part of the Mass and in the Liturgy of the Word, the priest turns to the people. However, he celebrates the celebration of the Eucharist at the altar, which faces east, “in the direction in which the people are looking”.

Violent resistance to this, however, came from the parishes, which after the liturgical reform in the Latin Church, in imitation of it, had arbitrarily changed the direction of celebration and have been sticking to it ever since. For more than 20 years they have been doing this in contradiction to the synod resolution.

Above all, the metropolitan church, the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, headed by the metropolitan vicar Antony Kariyil, has so far allowed the parishes to stick to the practice they have cultivated. He refused to implement the synod resolution. However, the new synod decree of August 2021 left him little room for manoeuvre. Refusing to do so himself, he turned to Rome to have his course confirmed.
In March, the dolls were burned by two cardinals

However, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches reacted negatively on March 11th. According to Cardinal Prefect Sandri, the synod resolution must be observed. Sandri's doll burned on it.

On July 3, 2021, Pope Francis himself wrote to the Syro-Malabar Church that "the Holy See, with special approval and encouragement, on the unanimous decision taken by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church in 1999 - and repeatedly confirmed in the following years - Agreement on a unified way of celebrating the holy Qurban liturgy and this as an important step towards the growth of stability and ecclesialof stability and ecclesial communion within the whole body of your beloved Church.” […]

The decree issued by the synod a month later provided:

    “The bishops of some eparchies, who have expressed difficulties in implementing the decision throughout the eparchy, can introduce the unified form of celebration on November 28, 2021, starting with the cathedrals, the shrines, the religious communities, the parishes, where possible, the small seminars and other training centers. Through effective catechesis, the uniform mode can be introduced gradually throughout the eparchy as soon as possible and no later than Easter 2022.”

The decree stipulated that no exceptions are allowed anywhere for Eucharistic celebrations presided over by bishops. In the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, however, there was no insight.

Thus, on March 25, 2022, just over three weeks before the expiration of the deadline specified in the synodal decree, Pope Francis wrote again to the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church. In it, the head of the church decided the dispute about the direction of the celebration. During the celebration of the Eucharist, the celebrant should face the east, ad Deum, with the people. A key message of the papal letter, which Francis himself called a "fatherly exhortation", read:

    “The world needs the witness of communion that when we stir up scandal with liturgical disputes – and sadly there have been some of late – we are playing into the hands of whoever is the master of division.”

Francis regretted that after November 28, 2021, the synodal decision was implemented by all dioceses except Ernakulam-Angamaly, where Metropolitan Vicar Kariyil refused.

After the Pope's admonition, a disturbing protest ensued, in which the dolls of the two cardinals were set on fire. The pope was spared the macabre spectacle.

In his letter he had also stated:

    “The Syro-Malabar Church has distinguished itself through the centuries for its fidelity that has overcome so many historical misunderstandings, and today it is thriving in vocations and missionary style. The Lord will not forget the sacrifice you offer Him, but in doing so you will open your heart to the fullness of His blessings.”

From the events and the intervention of the Holy See, a number of questions arise, also with regard to the direction of celebration in the Roman rite and the related liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: AsiaNews/MiL

MY CAR IS BLESSED AND YOURS ISN’T, NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!

 Unfriendly dirty birds bomb visitor’s car! Mine untouched next to it. My car is blessed and has a guardian angel to defend it!

POPE FRANCIS’ BOMBSHELL: A FUSE LIGHTER? HOLY FATHER MANDATES AD ORIENTEM, VERSUS DEUM AND HIS HOLINESS OR WHOEVER WROTE THIS FOR HIM, GETS IT!

 From The New Liturgical Movement Blog, press title for full article:

Pope Francis Mandates Ad OrientemWorship

GREGORY DIPIPPO

Pope Francis settled a dispute by ordering that all (Syro-Malabar) diocesesthroughout the Church celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ad orientem, versus Deum. Together, Francis said, priests and people have to look to the East, from where, according to apostolic tradition, the Second Coming of the Lord is expected. No satire. You read correctly. But how can this be?” Read the full article here: (German is a language which the automatic translator of Google Chrome handles very well.)

https://katholisches.info/2022/05/19/papst-franziskus-ordnet-an-ad-orientem-zu-zelebrieren/

PHOTO BOMBER! UNEXPECTED ELEMENT THAT MAKES A GOOD PHOTO GREAT!

 Photo bomber…do you see it? My former parish in Augusta, Sunday’s Confirmation at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity….I saw it immediately! Do you?

ANCIENT ROMAN LATIN MASS, 5TH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER…

Latin Mass Schola receiving Holy Communion 5th Sunday after Easter…

EXCELLENT MUST READ ARTICLE ON THE SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS OF DECLINE IN CATHOLIC BEIEF, CATHOLICS AND PRACTICES!

 This post goes with the one directly under it! I hope the hierarchy reads this article!

A Sociological Analysis of the Liturgical Reform

• In 1970, those raised Catholic who no longer self-identify as Catholic totaled 3.5 million, but by 2020 the number grew to 29.5 million.
• In 1970 there were 426,309 Catholic marriages; yet in 2020 there were only 131,827.
• During the same period, the number of religious sisters went from 160,931 to 41,357, a 74% decline.
• The number of infant baptisms went from 1.089 million to 545,710.

The Holy Father’s recent comments seemingly against the barefoot mother pilgrims’ pleas do not understand this, and end up marginalizing faithful Catholics.

Read the rest there…

EUCHARISTIC REVITALIZATION: WHICH IMAGE CONTRIBUTES TO IT OR HAS LED TO THE EUCHARISTIC CRISIS WELL DOCUMENTED IN OUR CURRENT DAY AND INTERNATIONALLY?

From the National Catholic Register:  (The) Eucharistic crisis is shown, for example, in the fact that only one out of five Catholics in the United States comes to Mass each Sunday, and far fewer attend holy days of obligation, like next Thursday’s celebration of the Lord’s Ascension.  (My comment: and here bishops of various metropolitans, like Atlanta, approved moving Ascension Thursday to the following Sunday, perform two miracles, saying 43 days after Easter is 40 days and that Sunday is a Thursday! And in the Savannah Dioceses, Masses were packed for the Holy Day of Obligation that was once the actual day of the Ascension—they intentionally broke something that did not need to be fixed!)

It’s also evidenced in recent surveys that show that only three of 10 Catholics, and only half of those who attend Mass each Sunday, believe what the Church boldly professes about the Eucharist: that the Eucharist actually and astonishingly is Jesus — his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — under the appearances of bread and wine; that after the words of consecration, God himself is really, truly and substantially present on our altars, in our tabernacles and within us who receive him.  

As the Second Vatican Council famously described, the celebration of the Eucharist is the source, summit, root and center of Catholic faith and life. If, therefore, Eucharistic faith and practice are weak, then all of Catholic life is enfeebled. Hence the urgency and importance of the Eucharistic revitalization.  

My Comments: I am happy that the USCCB recognizes the debacle of so many of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council as these were implemented and called liturgical renewal. Here is their plan: Eucharistic revitalization initiative.

Let’s take the modern Roman Missal off the table as the culprit, because it isn’t the culprit. The culprit is the rubrics of the Mass, so dumbed down as to make them irrelevant compared to the rubrics of the Ancient Roman Missal. In fact, being called “rubrical” after Vatican II was a part of the hermeneutic that Pope Francis has gone backwards to, to ridicule certain aspects of the pre-Vatican II Church and her liturgy. Rubrical was a denigration. 

In addition to the worthy components of Eucharistic Revival that the USCCB want to use, rubrical changes need to take place too. What are these?

1. Altar railings should be restored and kneeling to receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Risen Lord should be the norm. 

2. Receiving Holy Communion exclusively on the tongue

3. Only clerics and formally installed acolytes (with the expansion Pope Francis has enabled) are to distribute Holy Communion at Mass and to the home bound. 

Catholics, clergy and laity, are to model and be witnesses to the reverence that is due to Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, at Mass, at Holy Communion time, in Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament and in the tabernacle restored to the central axis of church buildings. 

These things will do more than any kind of verbal and written catechesis.

AN ENCOURAGING BOMBSHELL FROM SAN FRANCISCO, WILL WASHINGTON EXHIBIT THE SAME GIFT OF COURAGE AND RIGHT JUDGMENT BESTOWED AT CONFIRMATION?

 

BREAKING NEWS: Archbishop of San Francisco BANS 'devout Catholic' Nancy Pelosi from receiving communion because of her vote to codify Roe v. Wade and support for abortion

VATICAN NEWS REPORTS ON VATICAN SHENANIGANS INCLUDING THAT OF THE POPE

 I don’t know what to make of all the moral corruption in Pope Francis’ Vatican, to include outrageous and mafia-like financial corruption. It is as though Pope Francis’ constant harping against legalisms, doctors of the law, canon law, divine law, you name the law, is showing itself in moral corruption not seen since the Borgias! 

An amazing Money byte from Vatican News:

Milone's resignation

Prior to the questioning, Cardinal Becciu first sought to clarify the "issue" of Libero Milone, the former auditor who resigned from his Vatican post in 2017 (which he declared was against his will).

Asked about Milone's "fate" on 5 May, the cardinal had not answered "for love of the Holy Father." Instead, today he explained that he had been authorized in recent days by the Pope himself to speak. He then denied any responsibility for Milone's resignation. It was the Pope, he said, who in June 2017 instructed him to report to the auditor that "as of today he no longer enjoys the Holy Father's confidence" and that "he must resign."

"The reasons," he explained, "are contained in the communiqué of the Holy See Press Office (24 September 2017): it turns out that the Auditor's Office, going beyond its competence, has illegally commissioned an external company to carry out investigative activities into the private lives of members of the Holy See.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT VATICAN NEWS!

EVEN AS DEPICTED BELOW, THE ANCIENT ROMAN MISSAL IS STILL CELEBRATED WITH DIGNITY AND BEAUTY AS WELL AS PROFOUND REVERENCE AND DEVOTION

 This is quite a fascinating liturgical photo:

CLANDESTINE MASS IN BARCELONA DURING THE SPANISH WAR (1936-1939)

WOW! MAKE NO MISTAKE, AS A CITY-STATE, WITH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH MOST OF THE WORLD, THE VATICAN IS NOT JUST A RELIGIOUS REALITY BUT ALSO, BY THE NATURE OF THINGS, A POLITICAL REALITY BUT IN BOTH REALMS AND UNDER THE CURRENT PONTIFICATE, CONFUSION REIGNS WITH DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CHURCH’S RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL AGENDA…

This is from John Allen and Crux this morning and points out that even those progressive Catholics aligned with Pope Francis, there is a great concern about his double-speak on Ukraine and an inability to be clear and coherent about what is happening there. This same concern can be applied to His Holiness’ religious theology or lack thereof.

Read John Allen’s full article by pressing the title: 

Why it’s so difficult to figure out what the Vatican thinks about Ukraine

Money-byte:

In Catholic terms, however, the great unknown at the three-month mark is what, exactly, Pope Francis and his Vatican team make of the situation. So pronounced is the confusion that recently, four prominent Catholic authors, all seen as basically pro-Francis, penned a lengthy piece noting that the Russian Orthodox Church is claiming the Vatican as an ally in the conflict, and insisting that the pontiff needs to make the Vatican’s position clear. Among the co-authors was Massimo Faggioli of Villanova University, one of the most outspoken defenders of Pope Francis in the United States.

The perplexity is understandable, given that papal statements seem almost deliberately calculated to keep people guessing.

Read the rest there…

THE 1970’S REDUX: A BISHOP EMERITUS CRITIQUE OF THE CHURCH GOING BACKWARDS TO THE 1970’S UNDER THE CURRENT PONTIFICATE…

 Contrary to FRMJK’s rantings about my seminary education, unlike his, mine was a thoroughly academic progressive program rooted in 1970’s theological thinking, especially anti-clericalism, liberation theology and progressive liturgical styles to include all sorts of inculturation. 

One of things St. Mary’s in Baltimore did best in the later 1970’s was to teach us what the Church taught prior to Vatican II and how Vatican II undid all of that and the logic behind it. 

The purpose of knowing pre-Vatican II theology was to show how Vatican II was so much more superior. 

And another 1970’s hermeneutic that Pope Francis has gone back to the 1970’s to retrieve is the psychological denigration of those who preferred the pre-Vatican II liturgies and Church. He uses psychological marginalization of them to manipulate them to accept his vision and ideology/theology of the Council. This mean-spirited and uncharitable approach to young Catholics today who prefer the older liturgies does not work just as it didn’t work in the 1970’s. All it does is anger and alienate Catholics and for what purpose? 

This kind of thing, from an authoritarian point of view, is truly what clericalism is in the Church and I think linked to other actual pathologies in the Church associated with abuse of all kinds and not just sexual but certainly inclusive of it. 

Also the good bishop emeritus corrects FRMJK’s claim that no one worships ecclesiology. In fact manic progressives do and this is a priceless paragraph in the good bishop’s very fine academic article I post below:

Liturgy is at the heart of ecclesial life. One can adhere with enthusiastic conviction to the idea expressed by Benedict XVI: the Church stands in its reality on the foundation which is the Sacred Liturgy—or it falls with it. A progressive mania manipulates the liturgy, and turns it into a means to another end, which is no longer the worship of adoration and expiation, but (for example) to meet, gather, and feel good together. The displacement of the source of grace gives way to a purely horizontal, human perspective.

Thus, with this in mind, this article reposted by Rorate Caeli and now by me, gives quite a good overview of what the Church in 2022 under the present pope and those who surround him are doing and it is all based in the 1970’s theology that they embraced in an uncritical manner:

“Progressive Manias”: Powerful article by Archbishop Aguer

What is progressivism? I am referring to ecclesiastical progressivism, which, like secular progressivism, looks to the future as if the world and the Church were on the move, always evolving towards the best.

We could consider evolutionism as a sort of eponym of religious progressivism. This constitutes a system of “advanced” ideas and attitudes, which proudly detaches itself from any adherence to Tradition. The so-called modernism of the early twentieth century was described and condemned by St. Pius X in the Encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis and the Decree Lamentabili sane exitu. It brought together a Kantian (rationalist) philosophy, which repudiated Aristotelian-Thomistic thought; the “positive” studies of Sacred Scripture of a Protestant-liberal origin; and the desire to equate Christian culture with that which reigned in a Europe shaped by the revolutions of the 19th century, which had their roots in the French Revolution of 1789 and its Enlightenment. Modernists suffered from a kind of discomfort, as if they were alien or had been left out of what the Modern Age was proposing. Moreover, confusion reigned in modernism between the doctrine, its contents, and the modes of expression. In this regard, post-conciliar progressivism surpasses it by far.

Read more »

ABORTION LINKED TO THE CULTURE OF CHOOSING TO KILL PEOPLE YOU DON’T WANT AND DON’T LIKE AND WHO YOU PERCEIVE AS INVADING YOUR SPACE…

We have seen over and over again mass murders. Putin of Russia, a truly evil person, is murdering untold numbers of Ukrainians and his own soldiers are dying because of him. But, Democrats should give him a pass because he is making a choice to eliminate a threat to him and his security. 

In my most humble opinion, I now believe the Democratic Party is a dangerous party, similar to the KKK and other radical groups that no Catholic should join. I think, like the Masons, the KKK, Neo Nazis, this organization should be forbidden to Catholics.

We see the true ideology of the Democratic Party as they become unhinged over a leaked document from the Supreme Court that indicates Roe v Wade might, I emphasize, might, be overturned. 

Democrats, like the mayor of New York, but others too, most of them, btw, say that it is a woman’s right to choose an abortion up to the day of birth from a full term pregnancy. Others, even more radical, allow for the choice to murder the baby if it survives a day of birth, 9 month pregnancy, abortion. 

What is the difference between what happened to black shoppers at a grocery store in Buffalo by a compromised teenager radicalized by the racist hate groups he admired and perhaps was a member? 

He “allegedly” chose to kill those who are a perceived a threat to him and his ideology, his way of life, his economic security. 

Let’s call abortion for what it is: hatred of another person, both their body and soul and a threat to one’s way of life in whatever fashion that person wants to live it without another person invading their space.

And let’s talk about the abortion industry and the money they receive for being the hit men as Pope Francis calls them. Are they any less radical than the hate and racist groups that motivated the teenager in Buffalo to do such a heinous, evil and immoral act against another human person(s)?

Let’s call for abortion to be labeled a HATE CRIME. Do I hear an “amen”?