Wednesday, August 9, 2017

HABEMUS NEW OFFICES AT ST. ANNE CHURCH ON THE HILL!

After a year of planning and volunteer work, we have returned our parish offices to the building next to our old church which at one time was both the rectory for the priest/parish office, parish hall and classroom for CCD!

Now it is a large meeting room, two classrooms and houses all our offices with the entrance where the old rectory once welcomed people.

It is a vast improvement over the offices that were in our much larger Holy Family Hall that were cramped, uninviting, quite depressing and cluttered. I had to get through garbage, boxes and other obstacles to get to my office and so did my visitors!

This is my new office and it is oh so better and more private and easy to enter! It isn't depressing either nor are any of our offices. And we have an appropriate waiting room too! God is good!

GLEN CAMPBELL AND THE JOY OF MY YOUTH--WAXING NOSTALGIA ABOUT 8 TRACK TAPES!

As I went to the emergency room at a mid town Savannah hospital to anoint one of my parishioners (hospital about 20 miles north), Gus Lloyd of XM Catholic Radio's "Seize the Day" had as his topic of conversation Alzheimer's Disease since it was disclosed yesterday that the great singer Glenn Campbell had died of the disease at 81 years old.

The call-ins from listeners sharing their story of caring for parents and others with this horrible disease was quite moving and emotional to hear.

Then Gus played a portion of Glenn Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" and I had a wave of nostalgia to come over me longing for the good old days of my prime youth as a young teenager.

I absolutely loved his songs and style of singing. However he was the brunt of jokes from comedians from the late 1960's and early 70's because of his perfect looks, perfect clothes but especially his perfect hair, so perfect, it looked like a helmet! He made sure everything was perfect and in place and it was easy to make a caricature of him.

But back to my nostalgia. My father gave me his 1965 Chevy Chevelle when I turned 16 which had only the Chevelle name as it was a stripped down model of the Chevelle Malibu. The Malibu name was the perked up version of the stripped down Chevelle alone name with special options like more chrome, better vinyl seats, power steering, power brakes, automatic powerglide transmission, push button radio, heater, air conditioner and did I say more chrome and white wall tires and large hubcaps instead of small ones?

You haven't lived until you have driven a heavy car with no power steering, no power brakes and no automatic transmission in the south's 100 degree weather with no air conditioning. Oh the Glory!

I decided to soup up my Chevelle by adding an eight track player with beefed up speakers located behind the back seat in front of the back window where as a young child I like to lay down as my father drove us somewhere. Forget baby seats, seatbelts or doors locked or closed all the way!

And most of my 8 track tapes, which I kept in a hot locked car at all times, were Glenn Campbell's songs.

Oh the nostalgia and the memories.

IS IT A HERESY TO THINK THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING MUST UNDERSTAND THE WORDS AND MEANING OF THE OFFICAL, FORMAL PRAYERS OF THE MASS IN THE SACRAMENTS, ESPECIALLY THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND THE MYSTERY OF THE ETERNAL GODHEAD?

A certain priest opining about how important for the congregation to understand the formal words of the Church's universal and public prayer stated that he would contravene the documents of Vatican II and later papal teaching, especially that of Blessed Pope Paul VI, and change the words of the Mass to make them intelligible to his hearers. In other words, he would disobey Vatican II, subsequent papal magisteriums and the wise counsel of others who know better.

But if there is a heresy in believing that the prayers of the Mass must be completely intelligible to the congregation where in the name of God and all that is holy did this come from?????? Doesn't this then lead a priest to disobey Holy Mother Church and an ecumenical council and change the words of the Universal Prayer to suit his own personal understanding of language?

By heresy, I would expand that to mean that the Prayers of the Mass, rather than directed to the Majesty of God alone by the entire Church, Triumphant, Militant and Suffering, and never to the congregation even in part, is the heresy. But of course not being a pope or bishop I cannot officially declare it to be a heresy, but others may have in fact already done so in the glorious 2000 year history of Holy Mother Church. I am sure someone knows.

But what is this law of corrupt prayer that leads to the law of corrupt Catholicism?

Rather, should I not declare it is the law of direction that leads to the law of a corrupt understanding of Catholic prayer.

When the Mass is ad orientem, in Latin/Greek/Hebrew and has a quiet canon as well as other quiet prayers, there is no doubt whatsoever even in the most uninformed lay person as to whom prayer is directed, that be the Supreme Being, not human beings even the person hearing and not understanding. And the prayer is not the personal prayer of any one believer alone to include the priest offering the Sacrifice, but rather that person's participating in the Great Act of Worship and Sacrifice (I know that is redundant) of the entire Church in heaven, on earth and in purgatory.

So many liturgical abuses and heresies about prayer could be avoided if only the direction of prayer were not only spiritual but also physical as in ad orientem.

WHY DO SOME BISHOPS FEAR THE MARTYRDOM OF ORTHODOXY? AND OTHER ABSURDITIES COMING FROM BISHOPS OF ALL RANKS

Press the title for the full CRUX article:

Bishop calls homosexuality ‘gift from God,’ seeks to end ‘prejudices that kill’

My comments on the article linked above: There are many elements of what this South American bishop says that I agree because he is teaching what the Church teaches. What he doesn't say is the problem.

One's sexual orientation is not a personal choice, although we cannot be 100% certain about choice verses fallen nature. When one cultivates a disordered orientation and then acts on it in an immoral way, meaning with full consent of the will, knowing that doing so is a sin and if it is serious matter it is a mortal sin that affects one's salvation in a wholly negative way. This may lead to one's possible damnation at their personal judgment, a judgment that will surely come as certainly as the sun will rise and set and a jury will find someone guilty or innocent. But God makes no mistakes in HIS CHOICE to damn or save an immortal soul. And God will not cry crocodile tears when in HIS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE AND JUSTICE, NEVER EXCLUDING MERCY, HE SENDS A SOUL PACKING TO HELL.

And while people may have a variety of sexual orientations (it is not always clearly heterosexual or homosexual, one might be a pedophile, ephebophile or bi-sexual, in other words human sexuality can be quite fluid as is one's culpability for behavior that is criminal or sinful) not all sex is natural. While people of all orientations can commit unnatural sexual acts, some sexual orientations always lead to some form of unnatural sex, meaning that there is a violation of God's Law made clear in Scripture, Tradition and natural law. Natural law is available even to the non-believer.

Loving the sinner does not equate with making one's sin integral to the person's identity. And if ACTING ON a disordered sexual orientation can land you in jail or in hell, then the good bishop should warn the sinning priest not confirm him as so many bishops did by coddling and confirming perverted priests. These bishops then become culpable with their priests who victimized minors over and over again. In fact, not only does the bishop stand in God's judgement, he might well stand in judgment of civil law and years in prison.

One can appreciate one's humanity as a gift from God and sanctifying and actual graces that transforms any and all forms of disordered affections into Godly chaste love. Perfection in the moral law is the end to God's plan for us in heaven and the Church and her sacramental system is the means by which Jesus Christ accompanies us from disordered lives to ordered lives, from imperfection to perfection in heaven.

The good bishop simply does not state what perfection is in this life and the life to come. He does not speak about the four last things, death, judgement, heaven and hell. If he were a medical doctor, he would have his license to practice medicine stripped from him.

Monday, August 7, 2017

DO I HEAR AN AMEN? AMEN COORNER THAT IS, TO BE NEW AND IMPROVED!

My mother and father's final resting place overlooks the Augusta Country Club which is adjacent to the Augusta National, home of the Masters and also adjacent to my parents and eventually my final resting pace. The land at the cemetery is identical in beauty to the Augusta National home of the Masters!

So here is the scoop for you Golf enthusiasts:

Posted August 7, 2017 12:55 pm
By

Scott Michaux

Staff Writer

Augusta National purchases land from neighboring Augusta Country Club

Augusta Country Club #9 and Augusta National #12 hole and #13 tee box shown in aerial photo of Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, March 11, 2016, in Augusta, Georgia. TODD BENNETT/STAFF

Amen Corner is getting a little bigger.

Augusta National Golf Club has finally secured the last piece of its course’s border and made room for the possible expansion of its iconic 13th hole by acquiring land from its neighbor Augusta Country Club.

In a letter to the Augusta Country Club membership dated Aug. 4, club president Jay B. Forrester said “the Board of Governors is pleased to confirm that we have reached an agreement with our friends and neighbors at Augusta National Golf Club for its purchase of property at our northwest boundary.”

Masters Tournament and club chairman Billy Payne has not commented on the reported transaction – which has not yet been submitted in the public records. Officials at Augusta Country Club also declined to comment.

WHEN THE NEW AND GLORIOUS ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MASS FAILS AND HOW FACING THE PEOPLE IS A GREAT TEMPTATION FOR MANY PRIESTS TO THINK THEY ARE ACTORS ON A STAGE, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF US/THEM, WHO WOULD HAVE LIKED TO BE AN ACTOR ON SCREEN OR STAGE!

As everyone knows, I love the new and glorious English translation of the Mass. It is a far cry better than the older version which simply was corrupt, theologically, doctrinally, and devotionally.

However, the Preface for the Feast of the Transfiguration was simply an abomination. Here it is:

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord.

For he revealed his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses and filled with the great splendor that bodily form which he shares with all humanity, that the scandal of the Cross might be removed from the hearts of his disciples and that he might show how in the Body of the whole Church is to be fulfilled what so wonderfully shone forth first in its head......

WELL! I always chant the preface at all our Sunday Masses. I have done it so long now that I don't need to rehearse prior to Mass. I forgot that the Preface was different for the Transfiguration and thus did not read it over or rehearse to chant it before Saturday night's Mass--a huge mistake!

As soon as I got into it, I thought I was really botching the words on my own and wondering what the hell I was chanting and praying. While no one complained after Mass, I am sure that some must have thought that I had forgotten how to read while on vacation and continuing education!

Apart from how horrible the English is in this newly but ingloriously translated Preface, what annoys me to no end isn't so much that the Roman Missal capitalizes words such as Priest and Cross and Body but that it doesn't capitalize pronouns referring to the Deity such as His, Him and He!

But read the Transfiguration Preface above and honestly tell me what you think! Keep in mind I have capitalized and not exactly what is written in the Missal.

Oddly enough a priest friend of my complained yesterday about the Transfiguration Preface too and said he wished he had used the Second Sunday of Lent's Preface in Year A when the Transfiguration Gospel is read. I had forgotten that there was a Lenten Transfiguration Preface and that it is to be found on the pages that have the Propers and Collects not in the normal Lenten Prefaces section of the Roman Missal.

Here it is and it is certainly a glorious English translation:

It is truly right and just....

For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death, (please note death is capitalized but not His and the other caps are as is in the Roman Missal!) on the holy mountain he manifested to them his glory, to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets, that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurretion....

And finally--priests fulfilling their thwarted vocation to be an actor on stage or screen:

Having celebrated both forms of the Mass for the Feast of the Transfiguration, and having celebrated the EF Mass now for over 10 years, I realize how Mass facing the congregation can fulfill for some priest's their closeted or out in the open desire to be an actor on stage and that the Mass does it for them. Of course, this turns a priestly function of prayer, spirituality and the act of priesthood into an acting job and NOT sacrifice, prayer, adoration, devotion and spirituality.

The culprit is facing the people and the ability in the vernacular to be very affective with the written language that is spoken aloud. Plus the vernacular makes possible the acting technique called improvising which many priests do with the vernacular Mass. Improvisation is perhaps the greatest corruption of the vernacular Mass and is related to this desire to be an actor or to flamboyantly show the intellectual ability of the acting priest in his ability, (in his mind) to be smarter with the vernacular than the Magisterium which gave us the Missal.

It is simply impossible in the EF Mass for a priest to think of himself as an actor and to do the things that actors, good or bad, do on stage. This is the genius of the EF Mass lacking completely in the OF Mass.

THIS ISN'T YOUR FATHER'S 1950'S AND THE TWO FORMS OF THE ONE ROMAN RITE AS WELL AS BEING PREOCCUPIED BY ACTUAL VERBAL PARTICIPATION WHILE NEGLECTING ACTUAL CONTEMPLATION AS CATHOLICS UNDERSTAND THAT WORD

This weekend I straddled two different forms of being Catholic with its foundation built upon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I celebrated three Ordinary Form Sunday Masses (one its vigil) for the Feast of the Transfiguration and one Extraordinary Form Mass at our Cathedral for the same Feast.

What to say?

I have always loved the Ordinary Form of the Mass when celebrated by the book saying the "black" and doing the "red." Yet as a priest celebrating this form of the Mass when facing the congregation in a confrontational format, I become annoyed by what I sometimes see. People are getting up and going to the bathroom even at the consecration. Some aren't participating as is expected by post- Vatican II liturgists. People are coming in late. And since our new church doesn't have stained glass windows I can see everything going on outside, from cars coming and going to exotic birds flying about not to mention the sun reflecting off of cars and blinding me.

Then I entered the world of our Cathedral to celebrate the EF Mass and the discipline of the congregation was palpable not to mention their reverence and piety.

If anyone went to the bathroom during the Consecration, I would not have noticed it. (I doubt that anyone did, though). I was facing the same direction as the congregation except for the times I turned to them (after kissing the altar) for the "Dominus Vobiscum", "Orate Fratres" and the Ecce Agnus Dei, not to mention the homily and distribution of Holy Communion at the altar railing.

More importantly, praying the Mass ad orientem and the Roman Canon in a very low voice has shown me that this is the ultimate act of my ordained priesthood which is an image of the exclusive High Priesthood of Jesus Christ. In other words, the ordained priestly aspect of Extraordinary Form of the Mass is on steroids compared to the Ordinary Form which has diluted it. Keep in mind, there is absolutely no priestly people without the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ which the ordained priesthood is a sacramental sign during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

I think even in the Ordinary Form the ordained priesthood on steroids as it is meant to be can be recovered in a vernacular Mass with chant and entirely ad orientem and with a low voice praying of the Roman Canon with all its sign language strict rubrics.

Oh, and the Cathedral's mixed voice schola of young people in their late teens and early 20's who chant without organ accompaniment is absolutely exquisite, stunning. And yes, this form of chant captures Catholic liturgical spirituality in a sung Mass which contemporary music or hymnody absolutely obliterates, sad to say as this obliterates our Catholic identity as well, as we have seen for the past 50 years.

What amazes me is that popes and bishops don't get it!

Sunday, August 6, 2017

I ALMOST FORGOT: BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

At 1 PM at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in downtown Savannah:

August 6 – Transfiguration of the Lord

The Transfiguration of the Lord

INTROIT
PS. 76. 19

ILLUXERUNT coruscatióne tuæ orbi terræ: commóta est et contrémuit terra. Ps. 83. 2-3. Quam dilécta tabernácula tua, Dómine virútum! concupíscit et déficit ánima mea in átria Dómini. ℣. Glória Patri…

THY lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled. Ps. How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. ℣. Glory be to the Father…

Collect
Deus, qui fídei sacraménta in Unigéniti tui gloriósa Transfiguratióne patrum testimónio roborásti, et adoptiónem filiórum perféctam voce delápsa in nube lúcida mirabíliter præsignásti: concéde propítius; ut ipsíus Regis glóriæ nos coherédes effícias, et ejúsdem glóriæ tríbuas esse consórtes. Per eúmdem Dóminum nostrum…

O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine only-begotten Son didst confirm the mysteries of the faith by the witness of the fathers, and in the voice which came down from the shining cloud, didst wondrously foreshow the perfect adoption of sons: vouchsafe in Thy loving kindness, to make us coheirs with this King of glory, and to grant that we may be made partakers of that same glory. Through the same our Lord…

EPISTLE
2 PETER 1. 16-19

Caríssimi: Non doctas fábulas secúti notam fécimus vobis Dómini nostri Jesu Christi virtútem et præséntiam sed speculatóres facti illíus magnitúdinis. Accípiens enim a Deo Patre honórem et glóriam, voce delápsa ad eum hujuscémodi a magnífica glória: Hic est Fílius meus diléctus, in quo mihi complácui, ipsum aúdite. Et hanc vocem nos audívimus de cælo allátam, cum essémus cum ipso in monte sancto. Et habémus firmiórem prophéticum sermónem: cui bene fácitis attendéntes, quasi lucérnæ lucénti in caliginóso loco, donec dies elucéscat, et lúcifer oriátur in córdibus vestris.

Dearly beloved: We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but having been made eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory; this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with Him in the holy mount. And we have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.

GRADUAL
Psalm 44. 3, 2
S
peciósus forma præ fíliis hóminum: diffúsa est grátia in lábiis tuis. ℣. Eructávit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego ópera mea Regi.

Thou art beautiful above the Sons of men: Grace is poured abroad in Thy lips. ℣. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King.

ALLELUIA
Wisdon 7. 26

Allelúia, allelúia. ℣. Candor est lucis ætérnæ, spéculum sine mácula, et imágo bonitátis illíus. Allelúia.

Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. He is the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror, and the image of His goodness. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
Matthew 17. 1-9

In illo témpore: Assúmpsit Jesus Petrum, et Jacóbum, et Joánnem fratrem ejus, et duxit illos in montem excélsum seórsum: et transfiguratus est ante eos. Et resplénduit fácies ejus sicut sol: vestiménta autem ejus facta sunt alba sicut nix. Et ecce apparuérunt illis Móyses et Elías cum eo loquéntes. Respóndens autem Petrus, dixit ad Jesum: Dómine, bonum est nos hic esse: si vis, faciámus hic tria tabernácula, tibi unum, Móysi unum, et Elíæ unum. Adhuc eo loquénte, ecce nubes lúcida obumbrávit eos. Et ecce vox de nube, dicens: Hic est Fílius meus diléctus, in quo mihi bene complácui: ipsum audíte. Et audiéntes discípuli, cecidérunt in fáciem suam, et timuérunt valde. Et accéssit Jesus, et tétigit eos, dixítque eis: Súrgite, et nolíte timére. Levántes autem óculos suos, néminem vidérunt nisi solum Jesum. Et descendéntibus illis de monte, præcépit eis Jesus, dicens: Némini dixéritis visiónem, donec Fílius hóminis a mórtuis resúrgat.

At that time Jesus taketh Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and He was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him. And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: Arise, and fear not. And they lifting up their eyes saw no one, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.

OFFERTORY
Psalm 111. 3

Glória et divítiæ in domo ejus: et justítia ejus manet in sǽ-culum sǽculi, allelúia.

Glory and wealth are in his house: and his justice remaineth for ever and ever, alleluia.

Secret

Obláta, quǽsumus, Dómine, múnera, gloriósa Unigéniti tui Transfiguratiónes sanctífica: nosque a peccatórum máculis, splendóribus ipsíus illustratiónis emúnda. Per eúmdem Dóminum…

Mindful of the glorious Transfiguration of Thine only begotten Son, hallow, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gifts we offer: and by the brightness of His glory, cleanse us from the stains of sin. Through the same our Lord…

Preface

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper, et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem majestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt Potestates. Coeli coelorumque Virtutes ac beata Seraphim socia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas, deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes:

It it truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: through Whom Angels praise Thy Majesty, Dominations worship, Powers stand in awe: the Heavens and the host of heaven with blessed Seraphim unite, exult and celebrate and we entreat that Thou wouldst bid our voices also to be heard with theirs, singing with lowly praise:

COMMUNION
Matthew 17. 9

Visiónem quam vidístis némini dixéritis, donec a mórtuis resúrgat Fílius hóminis..

Tell the vision you have seen to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead. .

Postcommunion

Præsta, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut sacrosáncta Fílii tui Transfiguratiónis mystéria, quæ solémni celebrámus offício, purificátæ mentis intelligéntia consequámur. Per eúmdem Dóminum…

Vouchsafe unto us, we beseech Thee, almighty God, by the intelligence of a pure mind to attain to the understanding of the most sacred mystery of the Transfiguration of Thy Son, which with solemn worship we venerate. Through the same our Lord…

THE AVERAGE FAMILY AND MOST CORPORATIONS WERE MORE INTO THE ECOLOGY MOVEMENT IN THE 1940'S THOURGH THE MID 1960'S THAN THE ECOLOGISTS OF TODAY

Sad to say that I am old enough to remember when rank and file people were much more ecological in the past than we are today. We did it as though it was second nature!

I listen to XM's old radio program station. Some of these programs, especially during the World War II period reminded people not to wast precious resources, to save their "drippings" and use it again in place of butter or lard. People were given ration cards to make sure enough resources could go into the war effort and steel and iron were used for military purposes, automobile factories stopped production of new cars.

When I was a child, we did not throw away our glass soft-drink bottles. We brought them back to the store and received our deposit back and these were thoroughly washed and reused by bottling factories.

In fact, I can remember walking to a small grocery story about a mile from where I lived as a second grader, with my friends and collecting bottles thrown out of cars and discarded by others, not as ecologically minded as my family, and getting enough of a deposit back to buy candy bars and other healthy food items like real coke in its original green 6 ounce bottle that had been used over and over again and showed the wear and tear on its outside! You knew when you got an actual new bottle so shinny and smooth! Oh the joy of just remembering!

And my parents insisted that we not waste the food that was placed on our plate as kids in China were starving. To this day I lick my plate after I have spooned the last morsel into my mouth!

And in the early 1960's in Augusta, my father had a friend who would sell us spring water from the springs in his back yard. The water came in a huge glass jar on a contraption that made it easy to pivot without lifting it to pour into pitchers and glasses.

When we didn't drink the spring water, we drank the tap water and didn't complain! There were no plastic bottles, plastic bags or anything plastic that we would throw away!

We didn't need the pope pontificating of ecological concerns, we did it ourselves!

Saturday, August 5, 2017

FROM CRUX--ALL I CAN SAY IS YIKES!

I think we all know that the ideological left tends toward Fascism in order to implement their ideology. The following story from Crux shows the left's Fascism brought to its logical murderous conclusion as it concerns its gender ideology.

In the USA faithful Catholics, as it concerns all aspects of human sexuality, procreation and the like, are humiliated by the leftist Fascists, who try to silence the authentic Voice of the Church, which is the Risen Lord. They haven't gone so far as to resort to murder, but they will make laws and threaten you with prison!

Sad story and quite shocking from Cameron:

Cleric alleges Cameroon bishop killed for resisting gay priests

Ngala Killian Chimtom
August 5, 2017
SPECIAL TO CRUX

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon - Ever since the body of Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala of Bafia, Cameroon, was discovered in a local river about four miles from where his car had been abandoned, questions have abounded about his death - was it suicide, as the police allege, or a “brutal assassination,” as the country’s bishops insist?

If it was indeed murder, who killed the 58-year-old prelate?

In response, the current apostolic administrator of Bala’s diocese, Monsignor Joseph Akonga Essomba, delivered a blunt answer on Thursday during a homily at a memorial Mass: The bishop was killed, he said, because he stood up against homosexuals in the Church and the priesthood.

Pointing to the front rows of the Church where most government ministers and other important personalities sat, and casting a sweeping look at fellow priests and bishops, Essomba charged:

“Shame to all those people in black suits and black spectacles always sitting in the front rows of the Church,” he said.

“Shame to all those priests who have come here, pretending to sympathize. These are the people who killed our bishop, because he said ‘no’ to the homosexuality perpetrated by those priests,” Akonga said.

He said those who actually killed the bishop were people in positions of power, but it was homosexual priests who betrayed him.

Akonga doubled down on what Cameroon’s bishops have been saying all along - that, contrary to forensic reports purporting that the bishop died by drowning, he was “brutally murdered.” He said Bala was a very good swimmer, and couldn’t have died by drowning. Akonga said the “Catholic Church has come under attack.”

He recalled the line of Cameroon prelates murdered in the past, at least 14 of them, with no one ever giving satisfying accounts of the murders.

Catholics seem to agree

“They [the Bishop’s killers] are right there in church, and know that this message is for them,” said Jean Pierre Fouman, a Catholic layman based in Bafia, in response to Akonga’s homily.

“They are assassins lurking in the dark,” he added.

While Bishop Andrew Nkea of the Mamfe diocese, in Cameroon’s southwest region, said the real reasons for the murder can only be explained by the assassins, his colleague from Kumbo in the northwest region, Bishop George Nkuo, offered a more spiritual explanation.

“The same reasons for which Christ was crucified apply to the killing of the bishop,” he told Crux. “He was killed because he stood for the truth. Any pastor, any bishop, any priest who stands for the truth should be ready to face the sword. It’s a beautiful way to die.”

The Bishop of Obala, Sosthéne Léopold Bayemi, said Bala’s death has strengthened his own faith in Christ, and gives him the “certitude that the rock on which Christ founded his Church will always resist the forces of evil,” he told Crux.

Bala’s nephew, Alexis Bala, told Crux that his uncle was the “pillar” of the family, and his parting has completely “shattered” their dream.

“We pray that God should give us the strength to live through the pain,” he said, before insisting that Bala’s “killers need to be brought to justice.”

The Archbishop of Douala and President of the National Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Samuel Kleda, added a fervent appeal for public authorities to “tell the truth about His Lordship’s death. That’s all we ask for. We need to know who assassinated him.”

Kleda raised concerns that the course of justice was being obstructed, without elaborating on who was doing so.

“We denounce all those dark forces obstructing the investigation,” he said, claiming that judges, medical experts and lawyers are under “enormous pressure.”

Outpouring of Grief

Around the country and across denominational lines, there has been an outpouring of grief for the late bishop.

“We have lost a great pastor, who gave himself to the service of others,” said Jean Paul Ahanda, a resident of Bafia.

The Imam of the Bafia Central Mosque, El Hadj Dang Amadou, told Crux that the “the religious community has lost a great prelate, and the Muslim community in Bafia has lost a great friend.”

He recalled several instances when Bala united all denominations to drive home the message that society’s ills can best be resolved if all religions understand there’s more that unites than divides them.

Bala disappeared from his residence on the night of May 31. His car later was found parked on the Sanaga Bridge, a few miles from his residence. A note purportedly written by the bishop saying, “I am in the water,” was found inside the car along with his personal documents.

His corpse was found floating in the river by a Malian fisherman near Monatele on June 2, twelve and a half miles from the bridge.

The Cameroon government ordered investigations to determine the cause of the death. Two autopsies were carried out by Cameroonian doctors, but the results were never made public.

Instead, recourse was made to foreign experts. A forensic diagnosis commissioned by INTERPOL and carried out by Professor Michael Tsokos, Director of the Berlin Institute of Forensic Medicine in Germany, and Doctor Mark Mulder, Coordinator of the Disaster Victim Identification Unit of INTERPOL, who arrived in Cameroon on June 29, 2017, came up with the conclusion that the bishop drowned.

The bishops, however, have since rejected the report, insisting that they have evidence Bala was “brutally assassinated.”

FIRST SUNDAY MASS AT BEACHSIDE PARISH--PACKED, SECOND SUNDAY AT NORTHEAST CATHEDRAL MASS, EMPTY--THIS SUNDAY'S MASS AT HOME SWEET HOME! BUT THIS EPISCOPAL PRIESTESS MISSES A MONTH OF SUNDAYS

I can't help compare this sad essay from an Episcopal priestess writing for the Augusta Chronicle's Saturday morning religion page this morning, with my beachside Mass two weeks ago with 1,500 vacationing families from all over the USA and world. In fact a young Croatian man took a selfie with me after Mass to prove to his parents in Croatia he had gone to Mass!

But here is Father, no Mother, maybe not, the Reverend Cynthia:

Lessons from month without Sundays

C›››››› T›››››
Faith Columnist

Christians are supposed to go to church, especially if the Christian in question is a priest. I haven’t been to church in a month of Sundays. I didn’t plan this, it just kind of happened.

I was on the front end of a three-month sabbatical from my parish. The first Sunday away, I decided to experience worship in one of the most popular churches on the planet – St. Mattress-by-the-Springs. I slept late. When I got up, I read the Sunday morning paper with several cups of freshly brewed coffee as company and even did the crossword puzzle.

I watched Meet the Press and Super Soul Sunday, which are other, popular places of Sunday worship. Then I treated myself to a late Sunday brunch. I was so exhausted by all of this that I took a long nap in the afternoon. If I had been at the beach, all of this would have been considered normal behavior. This was only one Sunday away, surely that was OK, wasn’t it?

The next Sunday, I resolved to go to church, preferably one in which I wasn’t known and one that I wanted to experience. I chose a nearby parish and got ready to go. Except that I didn’t. I felt overcome by the same kind of fear that all newcomers experience. What if they didn’t like me? What if I didn’t know what to do and did the wrong thing?

Because I wanted to go an African-American church and I am Caucasian, I also worried about standing out. Strange, I didn’t feel that way when African-Americans worship in my predominately white church. Stranger still that I had never let that truly permeate my consciousness before. Strange and shameful. I was beginning to realize that Jesus was teaching me some new things on this month without Sundays.

I didn’t go to church the next two Sundays either. I found myself engaging with people for whom Sunday is a work day. My cable and AC went out on Sundays and the only time available for repairs was during worship. You can understand the need for AC during the misery we call summer here in Augusta. You may even understand the necessity of having cable to watch the season premier of Game of Thrones. In each instance, I needed to be home for the repairs.

More unexpected learnings. People don’t schedule around worship anymore. Christians may rail against the intrusion of soccer practice on Sunday mornings, but what about things that aren’t so optional? If you’re the one who works on the Sabbath, does that mean you’re not a Christian or not even spiritual?

When you enjoy a Sunday brunch, do you look upon the servers who couldn’t attend church, even if they wanted, because they are working for you?

Just asking.

I’ve come away from this month without Sundays with a new insight. I understand the allure of St. Mattress-by-the Springs, but it doesn’t work for me. The Sabbath sets my week and without it, one day is hardly indistinguishable from another.

Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy says God in the Ten Commandments. And in remembering that, I am remembering that I too am meant to be holy, made in God’s image. At a bare minimum, I need a day to reflect on that gift and give thanks to the Giver.

I rediscovered that worship is what grounds me. That I need the faith community that surrounds and upholds me, loves me and challenges me. It’s the community that enables me to go out and do the same for others in the name of Jesus. I need the sacraments on a regular basis; to be fed the body of Christ, the bread of heaven. It’s spiritual food for my soul.

And I rediscovered just how scary it can be to go to church. To walk into a new place, especially by yourself, is an act of courage not to be taken lightly. I will continue to work on the hospitality of welcome, not just in church, but in all the sacred encounters of life.

I’m still on my sabbatical but I will be in church this Sunday. I’ll be sitting in a pew with my family – something that is as rare for me as the upcoming solar eclipse.

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Taylor is pastor of Church of the Holy Comforter.

Friday, August 4, 2017

IT'S NOT THE TRIBALISM BETWEEN THE OF MASS AND THE EF MASS, BUT TRIBALISM BETWEEN OF FACTIONS AS IT PERTAINS TO SOLEMNITY OR CASUALNESS, LATIN OR THE VERNACULAR, CHANT OR HYMNS, CONTEMPORARY OR TRADITIONAL

At Crux, Fr. Dwight Longenecker has his own ideas about the new order and old order tribalism. But the true tribalism doesn't lie there as the EF group is quite united and homogenous.

The tribalism is in the fractious new order group that wants all vernacular Masses, or some Latin with the other vernaculars of a particular parish also included.

They want contemporary hymns instead of singing the Mass, often with an amalgamation of various modern idioms from glory and praise, folk and worship and praise.

This is Fr. Longenecker' sway of reconciling the non existent OF/EF tribalism after which I will give the way to the actual factionalism in the OF tribes:

Fr. Longenecker's:

So here are some further suggestions about the liturgy wars from a priest in the trenches.

To aid participation and understanding, the Scripture readings should all be in the vernacular.
Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony can be properly augmented with hymns in the vernacular which illuminate the readings of the day.
New Order Catholics could choose and learn the older hymns that are more rooted in sound theology and Scripture.
On a regular basis, the Novus Ordo in Latin could be celebrated by Old Order Catholics as a way to help congregations understand and accept the Novus Ordo.
Likewise, the Novus Ordo in Latin could be celebrated by New Order Catholics as a way to re-vitalize the great tradition and make the Extraordinary Form intelligible and acceptable.
New Order Catholics could make more effort to understand and integrate historical forms of architecture and art.
New Order priests can incorporate more time for silence and adoration into their celebration. While they may not celebrate ad orientem – they might face East in silent prayer with their people at appropriate points in the liturgy. (After the Kiss of Peace, during the Agnus Dei and fraction, and after communion.)
Old Order priests could face the people and interact with them at appropriate points. (At the “Lift up Your Hearts” the invitation to prayer, to confession and prayers at the altar.)
Both Old Order Catholics and New Order Catholics could focus more on Scripture and invest time and training in improving the quality of preaching.

In these ways and many more, the celebration of Mass could be a real point of convergence and unity rather than division and tribalism. The Old Order Catholics emphasize the sacred sacrifice of the Mass, while the New Order Catholics celebrate the shared memorial meal.

My solution for the New Order Catholic Trbes and tribalism:

Mandate that the propers be chanted in Latin, not to exclude hymns from a national hymnal to act as fillers for processions and the like and as a recessional.

The Gloria, Sanctus, Pater Noster and Agnus Dei always in Latin.

The Canon in Latin offered in low voice.

Ad Orientem

Kneeling for Holy Communion

Thursday, August 3, 2017

THIS IS FROM THE LITURGY GUY!

This should lay to rest the idea that the 1962 Roman Missal is only as old as the conclusion of the Council of Trent and the Traditional Latin Mass, TLM, can include the revised New Order of Mass when celebrated in Latin.

Busting the Myth of the Tridentine Mass

JUL 23

Far too often these days liturgical discussions pertaining to the Roman Rite start with the popular myth that the Traditional Latin Mass only dates back to the sixteenth century and the Council of Trent (1545-1563). While some make this claim simply due to a lack of catechesis, there are unfortunately others who perpetuate the myth to diminish the very antiquity of the ancient rite. Let us remedy this by busting the myth of the “Tridentine” Mass.

First a note on terminology. The Tridentine Mass is simply another name for the Traditional Latin Mass, also called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite since Summorum Pontificum was issued by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

Now for the history. Following the Council of Trent, Pope St. Pius V issued the papal Bull Quo Primum regarding the Mass. It is important to note that Pius V did not promulgate a new Mass (as Paul VI did in 1970), but rather consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in existence. He also extended its use throughout the Latin Church, granting exception only to those rites demonstrating continuous usage of more than 200 years, such as the Ambrosian Rite found in Milan.

Since the 1570 Missal of Pius V was issued in the wake of the Council of Trent, the ancient rite has often been referred to as the Tridentine Mass. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this term, it can (and has) been used by some seeking to diminish the ancient rite by implying that it only dates back to 1570.

This, of course, is a myth.

Writing 50 years before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the promulgation of the new Mass of Paul VI (1970), Father Adrian Fortescue discussed the very antiquity of the Roman Rite in his classic, The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy (1912):

Essentially the Missal of St. Pius V is the Gregorian Sacramentary; that again is formed from the Gelasian book which depends on the Leonine collection. We find the prayers of our Canon in the treatise de Sacramentisand allusions to it in the IV century. So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Caesar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours.

And this of course is the point. Not that the Mass didn’t develop organically, because it had. Nor that there were no further revisions to it, since the Missal of 1962 used in the Extraordinary Form today incorporates (as one example) the Holy Week revisions of 1955. But rather, that the Traditional Mass dates back to the oldest liturgy of all “without essential change”, to use Fr. Fortescue’s phrase. When referencing this Mass, we are speaking in terms of millennia, not centuries.

Indeed, some have referred to the traditional liturgy as the Gregorian Rite, or the Gregorian Mass, in deference to the ancient sacramentary bearing the name of that sixth century saint; a pope and liturgy which preceded Trent by one thousand years.

As liturgical discussions move forward within the Church, and both forms of the Roman Rite are studied and considered, let us hope that (at a minimum) we can finally bust the myth that the Traditional Mass is a product of the 16th century. If we are truly to restore all that has been lost for so many, we must first begin with correct information and intellectual honesty.

Above Image: Mass of Saint Gregory the Great by Master of Portillo (1520-1525).

AT A CONFERENCE FOR PRIESTS' ON THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION-- "AKA ANOINTING OF THE SICK" AND OTHER STUFF

Been gone from parish on vacation and continuing ed for past three weeks. Return to the real world on Saturday morning for Sunday's Feast of the Transfiguration.

I also have Sunday's 1 pm Cathedral's EF High Mass for this Feast. Can't post Propers yet. Be there or be square, Lafayette Square, that is.

southern orders