GOODNESS GRACIOUS! DID THE HOLY SEE AND CARDINAL CUPICH NEED TO MAKE TRADITIONALISTS THE GRAVEST THREAT TO ECCLESIASTICAL HARMONY IN THE CHURCH?

 

And yet, the National Catholic Reporter and the Jesuit priest who works there as well as the pastor of Saint Sabina in Chicago are completely ignored and allowed their work of division. You can’t make this stuff up!

Push the title from the Pillar for its excellent coverage. 

Updated: Parish responses to Chicago liturgy regs face different directions

News: 'Traditionis custodes'

Oh my, Are the Church Universal and the Archdiocese of Chicago going out of its way to make more nones? Is that considered success in today’s progressive ecclesiastical circles? 

ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE CORDILIONE CELEBRATE THE MODERN MISSAL IN AN EXTRAORDINARY WAY

 Pontifical Mass of the Americas with Ancient Mass sensibilities. EF Mass promoters need to change their focus and focus on what Archbishop Cordilione offered on Sunday evening. It’s beyond time to seek a legitimate reform in continuity with what preceded: 

LET’S CONNECT THE DOTS…

 

There’s a blaze in the sanctuary! 🔥 

 

Blase Cardinal Cupich is a trusted advisor to Pope Francis and Pope Francis seems to share an affinity with His Eminence. 

As Cardinal Cupich is a 1970’s trained liturgist, I thought he might be named the successor to Cardinal Sarah as Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship. 

But make no mistake, as a 1970’s mentality liturgist, Cardinal Cupich would be of the school of liturgical rupture and not renewal in continuity allowing a progressive graciousness to both the pre-Vatican II and Post Vatican II Masses to live side by side. There is a narrow or closed-mindedness to all things pre-Vatican II.

In fact, his generation which include Pope Francis insists the only way to deal with those who prefer the older ways is to ridicule them, marginalize them and diagnose them as rigid with other psychological problems. It truly is a stunning sort of thing coming from churchmen. This is what happened to faithful Catholics of the 60’s who began rather quickly to sour on much that was touted as the new springtime for the Church especially liturgical renewal. It is sad to say the least; it is a scandal.

Make no mistake that one can connect the dots and see Cardinal Cupich’s hand in the repression of the Tridentine Mass ordered by Pope Francis. But also make no mistake that the free standing altar that found its way back to the Sistine Chapel for the Baptisms on the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord must have been at Cardinal Cupich’s behest as he tries to crack down on this style of celebrating the normal revised post-Vatican II Mass in his archdiocese. It would not help him in his plan to do so if the pope himself continued to model ad orientem for the modern Mass. 

And Pope Francis acquiesced. Press headline for Chicago’s silly drama:

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Two Heartfelt Letters from a Dedicated Chicago Pastor

PETER KWASNIEWSI

MY FAVORITE HYMN SET TO WONDERFUL LYRICS!

WONDERFUL, COMMITTED, ORTHODOX, HOLY, ORDINARY FORM CATHOLICS!

 This is our first stewardship video for 2009! I was so young. Still young at heart though!

LIFT HIGHER THE CROSS AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CHURCH SIGNS!

 

WOW! I WILL DEFEND ORDINARY FORM PARISHES TO MY DEATH!

 O my! This is Macon’s St. Joseph Church’s 2010 Annual Stewardship Renewal video. We produced it with the time and talent of our parishioners and showed it at all our Sunday Masses. We did not pay to have someone produce this. It was “homemade!” A few depicted in the video have passed on to their eternal reward. Others have simply passed on! In one shot of our RCIA class there is a current seminarian approaching diaconate who was a candidate for full communion with the true Church. I haven’t viewed this in years. I would also say this period of time was the peak of my priestly abilities and creativity and stamina/energy. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh way. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. The final Vignette of the video is a tear jerker for me…. 

St Joseph Catholic Church Stewardship Video 2010 from stjosephmacon on Vimeo.

SAINT ANNE'S MARTHA AND MARY CHAPEL'S NEW CRUCIFIX AND ALTAR FRONTAL

 We installed a new "San Damiano Cross" in our chapel and I blessed it this morning at our 9 AM Daily Mass and chose the Votive Mass of the Holy Cross of Christ to do so. That OF Mass in the vernacular with the chanted Greek Kyrie, Latin Sanctus and Agnus Dei and with EF sensibilities was just gorgeous.

Eventually, it will be placed higher on the window as its current location is temporary. 

We also purchased a new altar frontal for Christmas which we will keep in place on the altar until Candlemas, February 2, aka, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, aka, The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple and 40 days after Christmas. 

I love both new cross and altar frontal. 

LET’S PRAY THE HOLY FATHER DOESN’T ALLOW A DIIFERENT POINT OF VIEW TOMORROW BY THANKING THE GERMAN SYNODAL PROCESS

 

Pope: Synodality about listening to the Spirit, not a ‘majority consensus’

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Jan 13, 2022

|Catholic News Service

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Pope Francis gives his blessing during an audience with leaders of the French Catholic Action movement at the Vatican Jan. 13, 2022. The pope told the group that the synodal process is a path of engagement that makes room for the Holy Spirit, and not a “majority consensus like a parliament.” (Credit: CNS photo/Vatican Media.)

ROME — The synodal process is a path of engagement that makes room for the Holy Spirit, and not a “majority consensus like a parliament” to guide the universal church, Pope Francis said.

Speaking with leaders of the French Catholic Action movement Jan. 13, the pope said that synodality is “not a plan or a program to be implemented” but “a style to be adopted” that listens to the spirit through the word of God, prayer and adoration.

HOLY FATHER RANK AND FILES CATHOLICS DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT SYNODALITY AND LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND A CHURCH THAT IS POOR AND FOR THE POOR—JUST GO TO SOUTH AMERICA AND YOU WILL LEARN THAT!

The Wall Street Journal has a lengthy article on how Brazil, once the most Catholic Country in the world with a huge, I mean, huge, Catholic majority, will very soon see Catholicism second to Evangelical Protestantism. 

One of my parishioners who alerted me to this article wrote me the following:

No mystery. No focus on salvation. NGO. 

You get this. 

I left Pentecostalism, but I get this. We must regain the simplicity of the saints. The liturgy must be a mystical encounter with God. Otherwise, this is on offer elsewhere. A sex working mother of 5 could care less about synodality. She needs salvation. 

You can read the Wall Street article by pressing the title:

Why the Catholic Church Is Losing Latin America

Conservative Pentecostals make huge inroads despite region’s first pope; Brazil is poised to become minority Catholic as soon as this year

Pentecostals make huge inroads despite region’s first pope; Brazil is poised to become minority Catholic as soon as this year!

HERETIC HUNTER, CARDINAL TOBIN OF NEWARK, SAYS THAT IF A CATHOLIC CAN’T DEAL WITH THE COMPLEXITIES IN THE CHURCH AND CAN’T DEAL WITH THE DESIRE OF THOSE IN LEADERSHIP, WHO LOVE CHAOS IN THE CHURCH AND THRIVE BY IT, THEN THOSE RIGID CATHOLICS ARE NOT JUST PSYCHOLOGICALLY COMPROMISED BUT HERETICS—FROM THE CHURCH FILE: YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

This is an excerpt from an America Magazine article on a talk that Cardinal Tobin gave in reaction to the USCCB’S meme on synodality that I shredded in a post below this one. Evidently this criticism has shaken the good Cardinal’s mental peace of mind and caused him to lash out against those who criticized it by calling them heretics. Yes, mental distress is now a heresy. 

Wow! Let’s marginalize or better yet burn at the stake all those rigid Catholics who want peace in the Church and not the constant “lio” that we’ve had since Vatican II and now on steroids with the current papacy. 

 Cardinal Tobin: Refusing to deal with complexity in the church is a form of heresy.

In recent days, some critics of the upcoming synod, which has received relatively little attention in the United States, complained on social media that some keywords associated with the synod planning process shared in a tweet from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops seemed too corporate or jargony. At least one bishop weighed in, posting on his Twitter account, “If the synod process is to bear fruit, it has to focus on the person of Jesus Christ, Gospel values and a spiritual vision; and eliminate complex structures, mind-boggling instructions, and secular, corporate language.”

SINCE THIS BLOG THINKS OUTSIDE THE BOX IN TERMS OF THE “REFORM OF THE REFORM IN CONTINUITY” LET’S THINK EVEN MORE OUTSIDE THE BOX WITH THIS POST!

 That Praytell post I like by the good Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt informed me of something I thought was just me and a few other liberals like me. Many progressive liturgists, like Paul Inwood, think the Eucharistic Prayer is boring as the priest drones on praying it in a kind of proclamation to the congregation or maybe in a monotone. 

Deacon Fritz reminded those reading that a conservative bishop at Vatican II thought that the Eucharistic prayer should be reduced to simply the words of consecration and be done with it. WOW! I would not go that far as liberal as I am.

At least have the Epiclesis and anamesis and the per ipsum, please God! (Oh, I forgot, we have that, Eucharistic Prayer II!). 

Inwood thinks that more refrains or acclamations need to be inserted into the EPs. Yes, like singing a 12 verse hymn with 12 refrains. That will go over very well.

Since I am liberal enough to celebrate both forms of the Mass and if I had permission, I would also celebrate the Ordinariate Mass, I think we need to recover an option possible in the Tridentine’s Roman Canon. 

What is that you ask?

The Silent Canon, but the Sanctus chanted as an overlay to the Canon, with the Sanctus part chanted prior to the Hanc Igitur, then silence at that point through the two consecrations, and then the Benedictus chanted after the consecration. The per ipsum would be chanted aloud with the Great Amen as currently practiced in the OF Mass.

Can’t we dream and is this better than the bishop’s opinion which the deacon articulates and certainly eons ahead of the silliness of Inwood’s suggestion!

BOMBSHELL! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! AND IT WILL BE ON EWTN, JANUARY 15TH!

 I have believed since 2007 and Summorum Pontificum that the number of priests and laity celebrating the antecedent Mass will have a gravitational pull on the post-antecedent Mass and make its celebration more like the ethos of the antecedent Mass.

Unfortunately, antecedent Mass goers turned away from the work that the Antecedent Mass should have had on the post-antecedent Mass and all but neglected it or looked at it in disdain! What a scandal and lost cause all these years!

BUT NOT ARCHBISHOP SALVATORE CORDILIONE OF SAN FRANCISCO! HE GETS IT! And this is what he writes at the National Catholic Register, the full version you can read HERE:

In an effort to demonstrate what the revised Order of Mass really looks like when celebrated with fidelity to the principles laid down in Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium and in continuity with the received tradition, the Mass of the Americas at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Jan. 15 will be in Latin (with the readings and General Intercessions in English), give pride of place to Gregorian chant (alongside sacred polyphony), and will be offered at the altar facing east, with all of us worshiping God together.  Those not physically present may watch the Mass on EWTN, which will broadcast the Mass of the Americas live.

I pray that other bishops get on board, watch this Mass on ETWN and imitate it in their own dioceses! How loud would that bombshell be? 

WHAT THE NORMATIVE, POST-ANTECEDENT MASS CAN BE LIKE AS MODELED BY THE BROMPTON ORATORY

 This is an excerpt from a longer article from “Adoremus” in December of 2007 at it concerns their celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in what was then a few months into the liberation of the Tridentine Mass and the new Mass then called the “Ordinary Form.” 

What is so difficult about how the normal, post antecedent Mass can be celebrated if clergy and laity put their minds to it?

…what is currently important about the Oratory is that it offers today’s Catholics a lesson in how the liturgy can and should be celebrated. The Novus Ordo Latin sung Mass every Sunday is packed with regular worshippers of all ages, visitors, inquiring Anglicans, and wistful we-come-when-we-can-and-wish-it-could-be-more-often refugees from parishes across London and the South of England.

The Mass is celebrated facing God. The clergy wear beautiful Roman vestments and birettas. The liturgy follows fully and exactly the rubrics of the Church, complete with incense, genuflections, bowing, and the correct and exact wording of every prayer and Scripture reading. Nothing is altered into feminist language. No substitutes are made for the ritual and gestures prescribed by the Church. There is no "Good morning, everyone and wasn’t that a wonderful result at the football last night?" There is no sudden decision to omit an important prayer or substitute something more chatty and informal. At the Consecration the reverence that sweeps the church is tangible. At the Elevation the bell of the church is tolled to tell London of the mystery enacted in its presence, while the bell at the altar sings out the simultaneous message to the congregation. At Communion, when priests bring the Hosts down to the second Communion rail (there are huge crowds) halfway down the Church, a cascade of genuflections precede them as everyone sinks to their knees in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Mass has an unhurried pace. There is a sense that it is worth spending time with God.

IS THE USCCB GOING TO RELY ON CLICHES OR CHURCH TEACHING AS IT CONCERNS THE SYNODAL WAY?

I worked for a department store in Georgia owned by New York’s Macy’s but named Davision’s so as not to insult confederate sensitivities about carpet baggers from the north profiting off of poor southerners.  Thus, it seems to me when it comes to consumerism, businesses and being an entrepreneur this meme would be excellent. But not so much for the Roman Catholic Church. Yet someone in the National Conference of Catholic Bishops thought this was just “peachy” to use a Georgian phrase:

As I scratch the peach fuzz on my head (to borrow a Georgia phrase) I have to wonder why there is no mention of the Most Holy Trinity, the Word of God, Sacred Tradition and the Deposit of Faith. 

Why is there no mention of Jesus Christ? His call to repentance? His call to go and sin no more? 

Why is there no mention of death, judgement, heaven hell, euphemistically called, “the last four things?”

Why is there no mention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Communion of Saints and all the angels in the eternity of heaven where the “elect” live forever perfectly recreated in the image and likeness of God?

Why is there no mention of the obligation to attend Mass each and every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation and to make one’s “Easter Duty” each year and this is inclusive of each and every Catholic in the world, no Catholic is excluded. 

Why is there no mention of apologetics as a means to dialogue? 

Why is there no mention of listening to both each other and most importantly to God? 

And when it comes to “innovation” can we temper that by saying that Catholicism can’t be built or lived upon cliches, sound bytes, fads, trends and the world. What about being counter cultural and swimming against the tide. Why are those cliches not used?

Down here in Dixie, with Georgia on my mind, I would like to be a rebel on this rainy night in Georgia while I’m sitting on the dock of the bay wondering why the devil went down to Georgia and became a master in Augusta. 

FROM THE FILE: “YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP”

 From one pope canceled by another pope:

I have written it before and I write it again, you can’t make this stuff up in terms of the inconsistencies of Pope Francis. Is it His Holiness? Or is it His Holiness advisors and speech writers who think illogically and confusedly? Do they not see the implications in terms of logic and consistency when they make statements like this on the heals of something that they have commanded which is exactly what they are condemning in another venue?

Pope Francis tells Vatican diplomats to resist 'cancel culture'

BY CHRISTOPHER WHITE

JAN 10, 2022

Pope Francis on Jan. 10 used his annual address to the Vatican's diplomatic corps to warn against a "cancel culture" mentality, which he said has been "invading many circles and public institutions."

My commentary: The Pope cancels the papacies of Saint Pope John Paul II and the saintly Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. As it concerns Benedict, the center piece of his papacy was the proper interpretation of Vatican II with the hermeneutic of continuity and his liberalizing access to the older liturgical books of the Catholic Church stating that what previous generations considered holy could not now be held in contempt. 

Benedict also promoted liturgical renewal or reform in continuity with what preceded. 

All of that has been canceled by Pope Francis. If the Holy Father does not understand how he is the one who has called into question his credibility on so many moral issues, then the pope needs someone like Saint Paul to tell his Holiness. 

But, if we take Pope Francis’ speech to diplomats to its logical extension and apply it to what his Holiness said they should do also to the bishops, priests and laity who must resist His Holiness participation in “cancel culture” by ignoring His Holiness and the head of the Congregation for Divine Worship who have initiated a horrible cancel culture concerning Pope Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum! Thank you Pope Francis for your encouragement in this. It is consistent with other inconsistencies in your papacy!

RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR REPORTERS OFFER EITHER TRUE OF FAKE NEWS ABOOUT WHY THE SECOND IN COMMAND AT THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH IS BEING REMOVED OR NAMED A BISHOP

 

Top official leaves Vatican doctrine office

Crux says this:

Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, until now secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), is leaving his Vatican post and will take over as the new leader of the Italian Diocese of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla.

No reasons were cited for Morandi’s exit from the Vatican; however, some observers believe it could be related to disagreement with Pope Francis’s decision to issue a decree last year restricting access to the Latin Mass.

The Associated Press, though, opines that Archbishop Morandi’s departure is because he was behind the letter that stated the Church can’t bless same sex marriages, because the Church can’t bless sin. This document, as you recall, had Pope Francis’ imprimatur. 

The Associated Press also opined that the diocese to which the Archbishop who had no diocese is not an archdiocese but just a lowly diocese, will retain the archbishop title although he’s a bishop of a diocese. 

But the Associated Press goes on to say that Pope Francis, shocked and swayed by negative push back by the secular, non-believing world, was angered by the letter he gave his imprimatur. That letter thus angered the pope who now has gotten even. 

Which is the truth? 

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE POST ANTECEDENT MASS IS TOO WORDY AND LONG PRAYERS PRAYED OUT LOUD AS THOUGH READ TO THE CONGREGATION ARE BORING?

 

At Praytell on a very good post by Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt with many good comments not eliminated or derided by any moderator, Paul Innwood declares that the Eucharistic Prayer is too long and boring and needs more acclamations inserted into it to keep the congregation engaged. 

He points to one of the children’s Eucharistic Prayers that has multiple acclamations to keep the kiddies engaged. Oh my!   Please God, No!

For the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, our parish used “Year C” readings (optional) and I used the Blessing and Sprinking of Holy Water to include the blessing of salt added to it.

Let me speak about the Rite of Sprinkling. I think having a long prayer to bless the Holy Water prior to Sprinkling it is boring and needlessly time consuming. Use water already blessed, and after the Greeting, do the older Asperges (in Latin or English). That would shorten it and make it more engaging. 

The Responsorial Psalm for “Year C” has way, way, way, way, too many verses. And thus, way, way, way, way, too many refrains. Talk about being wordy! The Gradual is so much more succinct and engaging because of its brevity. 

But all the refrains to the way, way, way too many verses of the Psalm reminded me of Innwood’s suggestion that more acclamations be inserted into the Eucharistic Prayer. Why? To make it even longer and more boring? To make it seem even more interminable? 

Let’s look at the style of the Roman Canon in the Antecedent Mass. That’s the key, a low voice canon prayed very quietly (low voice) with all the extra blessings and bodily gestures stripped from it in the late 1960’s. These gestures where a kind of “sign or body” language and sadly removed. 

Facing the congregation while the priest prays this, but in a very low voice but with all the hand and bodily gestures would make it more engaging and emphasize the contemplative aspect of the Canon which is lost with the proclamation form of it today. We need to teach people once again about “contemplative” Prayer during Mass especially during “active” silences when there is actually quiet formal prayer taking place not just dead silence for the sake of dead silence, what is really just a “pregnant” pause!

With the very low voice Canon, it could be prayed in Latin and thus follow what Vatican II actually said we must do, maintain Latin! 

But modern liturgists and musicians like Paul Innwood simply don’t get the transcendent aspect of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Eucharist in particular. It is all horizontal and performance oriented and far from prayer and contemplation, far from transcendence, mystery, wonder and awe! Far from giving God beautiful worship, which is pleasing to Him, like incense rising to Him like a pleasing fragrance. 

HOW TO DISCOVER THE “LOOK” OF REVERENCE, AWE AND WONDER IN THE ORDINARY FORM MASS—WHY DOESN’T THE POPE AND THE MAJORITY OF BISHOPS IN UNION WITH HIM GET IT?

 Please compare these two photos of the Normative, Post-Antecedent Mass celebrated in the Sistine Chapel two years apart and for the very same feast—what is your innate, non theological, non doctrinal reaction to each Mass, both the very same form?

First, we must make it clear, that the Holy Father in celebrating this Mass in two different directions in two years, reads the black, does the read and has long adoration for both very high elevations of the Host and Chalice. 

Second, both Masses are valid beyond valid, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is present as well as the Real Presence of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Risen and Glorified Lord in the most sacramental way possible. 

But which one “looks” more beautiful? Obviously this is a subjective evaluation to determine this, or is it? 

Which one inspires awe and wonder in the most uncathecized Catholic, or from a well formed or poorly formed Protestant or from an Eastern Orthodox Christian, or from an agnostic and atheist? 

Which one seems ordinary (in the true sense of the word) or extraordinary (in the true sense of the word)? 

Which one would create in the person participating a sense that this direction of the Mass is directed more to God than those in the pews and is more beautiful and pleasing to God, a Gift to God and then God who returns the Greatest Gift to us? 

Which one of these two is more “vertical” from the horizontally but vertically oriented congregation and priest, the pope in this case?

Why doesn’t the pope and most of the bishops in union with him get it as well as priests my age and older and a bit younger? 

And let’s compare this collage  with the same questions above:

Let’s be clear. The pope and the bishops in union with him know that there is a crisis in Mass attendance in the Ordinary Form throughout the world. Some 5% to 25% of Catholics actually attend Mass.

And those who attend Mass, only a small minority of those attending Catholics actually believe what the Church’s dogmatic teaching is on the Mass both as Sacrifice and a Sacrificial Banquet where Jesus Christ, under the sacramental form of either the Bread and Wine is fully and transubstantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and in the Form of Food which makes receiving our sacramental Real Presence of the Glorified Christ in a palatable way.

Of the photos shown of the distribution of Holy Communion and the direction of the celebration of the very same Mass by the very same Pope, which one promotes authentic belief, devotion and awe and wonder in the Greatest Gift God gives to us, His Son’s Sacrifice and His Son’s Glorified Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?

Holy Father and Bishops in union with you, we don’t need more words about the true meaning of the Mass and Holy Communion, we need better gestures and common sense from you. 

Go ahead, suppress what was considered holy by almost 1,500 years of Tradition, but don’t suppress ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion, in fact, make those two gestures the norm and you will see an increase of faith, hope and love in the Church and a powerful tool for evangelization of both non Catholics and Catholics will take off!

I DO NOT AGREE THAT THE ORDINARY FORM CANNOT BUILD UP ORTHODOX LITURGICAL FAITH IN THE REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE ASSEMBLY, THE WORD OF GOD, THE PRIEST-CELEBRANT AND IN JESUS REAL AND SUBSTANTIAL PRESENCE, BODY, BLOOD, SOUL AND DIVINITY IN THE SACRAMENTAL SIGNS OF BREAD AND WINE

 I love our Ordinary Form Masses in my parish at Saint Anne Church in Richmond Hill. If we were a rich parish with money to spare, the major liturgical change I would make would be adding an altar railing and distributing Holy Communion there to communicants who choose to either stand or kneel.

Otherwise, I see nothing that is opposed to the Catholic Faith or degrading to the Orthodox Sacramental teachings of the Church especially as it concerns the Mass as both a Sacrifice and Sacrificial Banquet. 

Of course the most important part of the Mass is the "Dismissal." Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life!"

CAN’T WE JUST BE AND NOT BE CATEGORIZED?

What I liked about the pre-Vatican II Church and Mass was how inclusive it was without making distinctions among the laity who were present for Mass. We we all considered sinners in need of Jesus Christ and the salvation He alone merits for us.

Sinners galore attended Mass and few received Holy Communion. Count me among those who attended Mass each and every Sunday and Holy Day of obligation but did not receive Holy Communion as frequently.

I was taught by my parents, the good sisters and others that we were never to judge why someone knelt in the pew and did not go the the altar railing to receive Holy Communion. Just presume they were unable to maintain the three hour fast. 

Today, though, for ideological reasons and a desire to change the Church’s moral teaching; there are special interest groups who want to be recognized and applauded for their sins and not made to feel less than included. Think about the selfish. Think about those who have a disdain for illegal immigrants. Think about those who steal. Think abut those who live unchaste lives no matter their choice of sexual orientation or gender. They want to be included as they are, as bigots, racists, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, unjust employers, exploiters of people. Shall I gone on?

In the past, we didn’t highlight the various peccadilloes of the sinners present at Mass and codify them as a special interest group that demanded inclusivity and acceptance as they are in their sins. 

Isn’t just being labeled a sinner enough and including all those who are sinners at Mass?

What parish requires for entry in their church and attendance at Mass an i.d. Card that says they are not a sinner? 

THE BENEDICTINE OPTION CANCELED

 The Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord and the Baptism of Vatican Babies. No central crucifix to face the “presider”:

WHAT THE ORDINARY FORM AND BISHOP CAN BE LIKE!

 Stunningly beautiful vestments for Christmas and Epiphany. Bishop Guido Marini’s Epiphany Mass on January 6, 2022! If only he could have convinced Pope Francis into this liturgical look and ethos…

CAN THE CURRENT POPE REPENT OF HIS LATEST MAJOR MISTAKE AND CAN THE POST-VATICAN II MASS BE SAVED? YES TO BOTH!

 Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt has a great commentary at Praytell and so far has allowed a variety of comments to be posted. Both the article and a goodly number of the comments (from many who have said the same progressive thing over and over again, thinking repeating it over and over again will make it true and worthy of future reforms of the reformed Mass) are good or status quo or want more silly reforms of the reformed, reformed Mass. 

But let me briefly state what I feel needs to be admitted as mistakes. But read the good Deacon’s commentary at the end of my post by pressing the title. And read the comments too. 

First of all, there is a very recent liturgical mistake that needs to be admitted and reversed asap and that is Custodius Traditionis. All that the Holy Father needed to do was to mandate bishops to implement Summorum Pontificum and to supervise its implementation and be pastorally solicitous of those parishes that have this form of the Mass. That’s all that was needed. And if priests were imposing Summorum Pontificum on people who did not want it, meaning only EF Masses in a normally OF parish, then discipline them! And if newly ordained priests were imposing this Mass on people who attended their first Mass, then stop them from doing it. First Masses, in my most humble opinion, should be celebrated in the priest’s home parish and in the normative way as celebrated there but certainly without liturgical abuses. I think first Masses should be the normative Mass. 

Secondly, there need not be an apology for Sacramentum Concilium, but for the way in which Pope Paul VI’s committee went way beyond it and did not follow it or its spirit. 

However, the most recent reform of the reformed 1970 Roman Missal is the normal lex orandi of the Church. The mistake that has to be admitted is that most priests and bishops who celebrate this Mass don’t follow its simplified rubrics; they ad lib; they make their personality the center of it as well as their particular spirituality. It becomes a sort of acting job performance. 

Without changing anything in the order or current words of the English edition of the Roman Missal, simply change two postures and say the previous ones were a mistake. The liturgy of the Eucharist’s norm should be ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion the norm. A third addition would be to mandate celebrants to read the black and do the red and stop giving commentaries and welcomes at  the introductory rite and after Holy Communion.

What Pope Francis needs to admit is that he is wrong and made a scandalous mistake about EF Catholics just as he admitted at the beginning of his papacy that as an archbishop in South America, he was wrong about the charismatics. This pope has been and is wrong about many things. It takes humility to admit that. 

In 2014, the Jesuit magazine America reported that Cardinal Bergoglio had admitted he was wrong about charismatic Catholics and then began to minister to them and celebrate Masses for them. He can do it again as it concerns EF Catholics. Here is the quote from a longer article:

Pope Francis is the first pope who has had first-hand experience with the Charismatic Renewal. His predecessors were open and supportive to the movement, but Pope Francis was actively involved with Catholic charismatics in Argentina by celebrating Mass for them and serving as the representative of the bishops of his country to the movement. He admits that his first impressions were not very positive; he thought they were like a “Samba school.” 

But he changed his mind and stated, “I think that this movement does much good for the church overall.”

Is it Possible to Admit Liturgical Mistakes?

January 6, 2022 Fritz Bauerschmidt

TO UNDERSTAND THOSE IN THE CHURCH MY AGE AND OLDER AND THEIR NOSTALGIA THAT IMPELS THEM TO RECOVER THE WAY THE CHURCH WAS BETWEEN 1966 AND 1978 AND A FEW YEARS AFTER THAT

 

Pope Francis continually states that we must “walk” forward. But in fact, most of his actions are based on nostalgia for the Church in a brief moment of her 2000 year history, the time between 1966 and 1978, although a bit into the 80’s as well, maybe around 1987 or so. 

This walking in fact has been in a backwards trajectory not in a forward trajectory and it is from the “me generation” of the 1960’s and the radicals of that era who were culture warriors seeking love-ins, sit-ins and they were concerned about social justice, eliminating poverty and other utopian ideologies that were not bad in and of themselves until these turned to a more communistic or socialistic ideology. 

I know what I am writing, as I am a child of the 60’s and went to a very ultra progressive seminary in the late 70’s which taught us then what Pope Francis teaches us now. And it was all in reaction to and contradiction of the bad, old pre-Vatican II Church. It was about the new and improved, the inclusive and the non-clerical Church we can become. 

Unfortunately for these innovative warriors of the 60’s and 70’s, Pope Saint John Paul II was elected pope. And even more unfortunate for them, Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger rose high in the Vatican power structure influencing a many generations of post-radical young Catholics. Then he too became pope. And then, the dead of the 60’s were raised up again and some nine years later, they are jack rabbiting to their ultimate goals before their time clock truly ends it all. 

The 1980’s saw the children of the “me” generation become more conservative, more capitalistic and even many of the 1960’s generation grew up and joined their children but not all. Many still hang on and long for the days of their youth.

Here are two people included in the article I link below from the online National Catholic Reporter, also know as the Chismatic Reporter. If you want to know what is going on in the Church today from the very top, this article will help you to understand and those who are with the top echelon of the Church trying to impose it on people who might be clueless of their nostalgia for the past.

You will note their age. They are my age. They are giddy that the highest level of the Church is helping them to return to their past and its heady days. But I and others my age are on life support and there’s noting we can do about it except to experience the “me generation’s” delusion that we can control what will happen after we die which is seldom effective.

Make no mistake, these children of the 1960’s wanted to and continue to want to impose their will in the most authoritarian and dictatorial way, what many would say in the most pre-Vatican II way possible. Custodies Traditionis is an example of a progressive pope who rails against pre-Vatican II rigidity trying to crush a movement in the most pre-Vatican II, rigid way. 

People who rail against what they don’t like are usually battling that very demon in themselves. Thinks the words “rigidity, fundamentalism, pickled peppered faces” and the other words we have heard the highest human authority in the church use over and over again. 

The article I link below is about Dr. Gabriel Moran who died this past October:

Sister Pat Crowley is the author of the article I link below this photo, press title for her NCR article:

Author contemplates Catholic Church's future by examining its recent past

Money byte:

The heart of this book for me was in Chapter 10 where Moran explores "Presence" and follows with two chapters on community. In Chapter 10, he intricately weaves the notion of Real Presence into the phenomenon of presence in our human relationships.

Moran featured the writings of Richard Rohr, Ilia Delio, Diarmuid O'Murchu and others I have not yet read, and distinguishes between the historical Jesus and the Christ of the Book of Revelation. His work challenges us to understand that unless we recognize that the Resurrection really did make a difference in how God is present to us and in our very lives, we may be simply recollecting what happened some 2,000 years ago.