OH FOR THE GOOD OLE DAYS AND BISHOPS LIKE THIS

SAINT ANNE'S DAILY MASS FOR FRIDAY IN THE 5TH WEEK OF LENT

THIS LITURGY WOULD MAKE HIS EXCELLENCY, BISHOP PETE, APOPLECTIC. PRESS HERE TO SEE WHY.

CAN WE MAKE PREDICTIONS ON THE RAMIFICATIONS OF COVID-19 ON THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH: WILL WE BECOME A SMALLER BUT MORE FAITHFUL CHURCH BECAUSE OF IT?

The Church's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a catastrophe in fast motion which I believe 20/20 hindsight will show.

In effect, by denying the Sacraments to the laity, even in an emergency situation where a Catholic is dying, we are defaulting to the Protestant theology that the ordained priesthood isn't necessary when push comes to shove.

Thus the Protestant theology of simply praying for a person, close-up or far away, is sufficient. But also the fierce individualism of Protestants, that their personal relationship to Jesus, their decision to invite Him into their heart, does not need the Church whatsoever, except as a support to their personal faith. Thus evangelical Protestants will say, accept Jesus first and then go and find a Bible-believing church that will help you in your Christian walk.

We know that only 12% (in some places lower) to 30% of Catholics actually attend Mass regularly. And of that percentage, a relatively high percent have a flimsy, superficial understanding of Catholicism.

Thus when all Catholics are dispensed from the Sacraments, told to make an act of perfect contrition in lieu of an auricular Sacramental Confession and to receive our Lord in Holy Communion not in a psychical way, but a spiritual way, what will the Catholics of flimsy faith make of this going forward?

All the the post-Vatican II theology about the sacraments have collapsed like a house of cards. So too has Pope Francis' emphasis by use of metaphors of the Church being a "field hospital" where those who are marginalized by sin or poverty or sickness, or suffering or rejection are accompanied by the Church and her ministries.

This pope's emphasis on climate change and a conversion to ecology as well as dialogue with the world to include paganism seems irrelevant now considering the dire situation of a pandemic in which the Church has been made irrelevant not only by secular governments and celebrities, but by her leaders themselves.

What will the Church and her parochial experiences be like once we have enough distance from this pandemic, if that occurs?

PURE COMEDY GOLD FROM A COMMENTER ON A PREVIOUS POST

I got this comment and thought it just too good not to add my two cents worth. I hope this gives you a laugh on this “shelter in place” Lenten Friday:

Anonymous said...

I am new to this blog.
I think, in these difficult times, it is important to remember what the great Catholic theologian Hans Kung stated back in the 1970s that in emergencies laymen may bless the Eucharist at Mass. We should remember that Kung rightly suggested that in a pinch laymen can perform priestly functions.

April 3, 2020 at 6:33 AM

 Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Kung, that great theologian, was such a sexist. To use the term “laymen” especially in he 1970’s was anathema! Feminists would have been outraged by that term not to mention the emerging LGBTQ and no sex person.

April 3, 2020 at 6:58 AM

 Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

And what about toddlers, children and teenagers, male, female, ambiguous and no sex, why not them too!?

April 3, 2020 at 7:23 AM

Of course Bishop Pete of Boise would reprimand this laychild for confusing aging baby boomers for bringing back pre Vatican II practices to the Ordinary Form Mass!

I JUST KNEW IT! THE BISHOP OF BOISE, IDAHO IS MY AGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT EXPLAINS IT ALL!

I am really embarrassed by priests and bishops my age and older when they make themselves into a caricature of aging baby boomer spirit of Vatican II clergy who have the virus of fear that leads to pre-Vatican II everything-phobia.

Read this from CNA:

Neither universal canon nor liturgical law require the permission of a bishop before a priest celebrates the Mass ad orientem.

The ad orientem celebration of the Mass fell out of customary use in many parts of the world after 1969-1970 revisions to the Roman Missal, although those revisions did not explicitly call for a change in liturgical orientation. The possibility of the versus populum, or facing the people posture was mentioned in a 1964 Vatican instruction regarding the placement of altars. In recent years, some Vatican officials and U.S. bishops have promoted and encouraged a return to the ad orientem posture.

Christensen’s letter said that in his diocese, the ad orientem orientation would be prohibited. He explained that “it was clearly the mind of the Council that the priest should face the people.”

Deacon Gene Fadness, a spokesman for the Diocese of Boise did not explain what document of the Second Vatican Council conveys the “mind of the Council” on the matter, which is not mentioned in Sacrosanctum concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy.

Christensen, 67, has been Bishop (Pete) of Boise since 2014.

The letter was sent to priests in February, but published at the end of March, after the public celebration of Mass had been suspended across the U.S. because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked about the timing of the letter’s publication, Fadness explained that the diocesan newspaper “publishes only twice monthly.”

“The Bishop is merely asking that the Ordinary Form be followed during a Novus Ordo Mass and the Extraordinary Form be followed during the Traditional Latin Mass,” Fadness explained.

“Some of our priests were mixing Extraordinary Form practices with the Ordinary Form, which was causing confusion among the faithful, some fearing that we were introducing pre-Vatican II practices.”

My comment on the last paragraph: What survey did the good deacon use or cite that showed the ignorant laity were confused and suffer from a pathology of phobia concerning the reintroduction of pre-Vatican II practices?????

Is this deacon and diocese to be taken seriously???????????

IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO UNCLUTTERED A TRADITIONAL SANCTUARY: GET RID OF THE SILLY ALTAR PLACED IN FRONT OF THE REAL ONE!

DO YOU LIKE THE BEFORE AND AFTER?

Saint Catherine of Sienna in Turnbull, Connecticut :

THE BISHOP OF IDAHO CAUSES AN EARTHQUAKE WITH HIS ILL ADVISED LITURGICAL DIRECTIVES AND FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT VATICAN II

UPDATED! UPDATED! A PLEA TO BISHOP PETE TO BE MORE PASTORAL AND INCLUSIVE OF THOSE WHO WISH THE ORDINARY FORM AD ORIENTEM AND TO KNEEL FOR HOLY COMMUNION:

But bishop, it was not the Second Vatican Council that mandated the changes you speak of, but liturgists who did so after Vatican II and Pope Paul VI chose to support. Don’t blame Vatican II, but those who acted in an authoritarian pre-Vatican II way to implement what you are doing in a similar way with your flawed letter.  Vatican II simply did not say one thing about the Mass facing the people, not using altar railings or not kneeling for Holy Communion and when bells should or shouldn't be rung.

All of those things came from liturgists and were post-Vatican II developments.

One is puzzled too, at the lack of respect for the Pontiff Emeritus, Benedict XVI who mandated kneeling for Holy Communion at His Masses and recommended highly ad orientem for the Ordinary Form.

Bishop Pete, wouldn't it have been better to show kindness and hospitality, to be inclusive, of those who prefer to kneel by providing a kneeler, or, better yet allow people to stand or kneel before the altar railing according to their preference rather than dogmatizing what Vatican II DID NOT TEACH?

Bishop Pete, wouldn't it be better to recommend to pastors that they be pastoral in implementing ad orientem and make sure that Masses facing the people are provided as well?

And Bishop Pete, wouldn't it serve your diocese better to look at all the liturgical abuses that occur from those who say they are following Vatican II but nonetheless improvise, show little reverence for the Sacred Rites and "informalize" the Mass?

The Bishop of Idaho:

Dear Brothers in Christ,

It has come to my attention that matters addressed below may be causing confusion in our Diocese. I would like to provide clarification.

In order to reduce the confusion among the faithful and the increasing disinformation regarding liturgical matters in the Diocese, and to promote harmony and unity that is reflected and strengthened in our Eucharistic celebrations, I am promulgating this Instruction. As bishop, I request that clergy carefully reflect upon and adhere to the following.

1. Priests must take special care in forming the faithful: In general, priests are to refrain from providing the faithful with incorrect information in order to promote a particular approach to worship. Specifically, they must never imply a particular superiority or greater holiness of approach amongst the valid forms of worship in the Roman Catholic Church. In instructing the faithful regarding questions of posture, gensture, reception of Communion, etc., clergy are to refer always to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal,  the Order of Mass, and other officially promulgated ritual books for the form of liturgy they are celebrating, or to documents propagated by the Holy See or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and approved by the appropriate authorities. Sources such as independent websites and social media platforms that are unaffiliated with the Holy See or the USCCB are not to be considered trustworthy or appropriate for catechesis. Elements from the Missal used at the Extraordinary Form liturgy are not to be imported into Masses celebrated under the Ordinary Form.

Pastors, whose responsibility is to form the faithful, should undertake this task with utmost seriousness and care. Your authority as shepherds of your flocks – trusted fathers of your faith family – resides in your integrity and humble sincerity in providing the souls in your care with accurate theological, moral, and catechetical guidance to the best of your ability, and should not be undermined by a careless or deliberately misleading approach to formation.

2. Priests in the Diocese of Boise will face the people when presiding at the Ordinary Form of the Mass: Paragraph 299 in the General Instruction to the Roman Missal  makes it plain that the universal Church envisions the priest presiding at Mass facing the people. (#299: The altar should be built separate from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily and that Mass can be celebrated at it facing the people, which is desirable whenever possible.”)  This is unambivalent, and I am instructing priests in this diocese to preside facing the people at every celebration of the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

There are priests who prefer ad orientem.  I am convinced that they mean well and find it a devout way to pray. But the overwhelming experience worldwide after Vatican II is that the priest faces the people for the Mass, and this has contributed to the sanctification of the people.

There has been an attempt to justify the ad orientem  practice because the Order of Mass indicates places when the priest should face the people. (However, it never asks him to turn away, as the preconciliar Missal did.) There are some historical churches with fixed altars where the priest does not have the option of facing the people. I conclude from this that the indications to have his back to the people remain only for those circumstances where the priest presides at historical churches where the main altar or side altars are against a wall. The GIRM presumes that the priest is celebrating Mass at a freestanding altar. It was clearly the mind of the Council that the priest should face the people.

It is most affecting that, during the funeral rite, the Catholic Church maintains that the coffin of a deceased cleric is to be positioned in the way he was in life at Mass: facing the people.

3. Posture at Communion and the use of prie dieus (kneeling bench) or altar rails: I have directed that the posture for receiving Communion in this Diocese is standing, in accord with GIRM #160: “The norm is established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling.” While it is the right of the faithful to kneel to receive, nor may any communicant be denied Communion based on posture, given that the norm in this country is standing. I am instructing that priests do not use furniture or items such as prie dieus  or Communion rails, as these may seem to undermine this norm or to imply a preference for kneeling to receive.

4. Celebration of the Extraordinary Form: With the publication of Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum pontificum,  it became permissible for priests to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the eucharist without applying for permission to their local ordinary. I am requesting, however, that as a matter of courtesy, I am made aware of any such celebrations. As well, this information must be made available to the Holy See in a formal report during each  ad limina visit. So, for accurate record-keeping, I request that you report this practice to me, along with frequency and attendance. Remembering always that the Ordinary Form is just that, the ordinary accepted way in which we are to regularly celebrate Mass a faithful Catholics.

5.  Priests are not to add elements (words, gestures, actions, etc.) to the liturgy that are not found in the appropriate Missal: No priest should take it upon himself to adapt the liturgy to his particular preferences. Just as he should not insert words such as “God is good…all the time!” into the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer, neither should he insert actions – such as ringing the bells during his own Communion – that are not found in the rubrics of the Missal under which he is celebrating (the Missal of John XXIII for Extraordinary Form; the 3rd edition of the Missal of Paul VI for the Ordinary Form). Liturgy is not an expression of private devotion, as you are all aware.

My Brothers, it is a great trust that I and the Faithful of our Diocese place as you in order to promote the one body in Christ as reflected in our unity and harmony at worship.

 + Pete

Largest earthquake in decades strikes Idaho | TheHill.

7 hours ago - The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in central Idaho at approximately 5:52 pm on Tuesday. The quake struck approximately 72 miles northeast of Boise, originating at a depth of 6.2 miles. No injuries or damage have so far been reported.

CHICAGO BEE STRIKES AGAIN WITH KEEN OBSERVATIONS

Bee here:

As we watch this latest world crises unfold, and it is truly global, it is interesting to reflect on some aspects of the world we have created for ourselves that are false and delusional and fall apart when reality hits.

It seems when we get too big for our britches, God allows something to shock us into reality. And even though the event is often painful and horribly tragic to us, it is, at its heart, merciful for Him to do so, because by the experience our eyes are opened to some aspect of reality we had been ignoring or denying.  

I am seeing very many aspects of modern life being shaken to the core. Many parents are home with their kids, and acting for this time as educators, and primary authority. How healthy is that!! Our consumerist materialistic society is shaken and people are plunged into having to find value outside of buying and having things. And maybe most importantly, the illusion that death is remote has been blown to pieces. And when those who still believe it will not happen to them see someone they know die an untimely death, it will be too real to deny.

One can see the possibility of good coming out of all of this, for people to make decisions for the better. I pray the experience will allow people to see what is really important, and what is more true, and choose those things.  

With regards to the Church and the Mass, (I am thinking this is probably impossible, but) I pray our Church leaders, especially the Pope, will realize that the Church has has drifted away from her core doctrine and praxis in the last 60 years and needs to get back to those things, the things Fr. McD often cites as needing to be restored. I am thinking it is impossible because not even the clerical sex abuse scandals being exposed for all to see caused them to repent. Not even empty pews has caused them to repent. It seems they are, excuse the expression, "hell bent" to continue on the path they have been on the last 60 years or so (or maybe it's more) until they destroy the Church.

I know it is often cited that Our Lady has promised "In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph." I know eventually, perhaps after I have left this earthly plane, this will come to pass. But I can't help but think events such as the present day crises are allowed by God to prompt His people to turn away from their deadly pursuits and return to Him, or else there will be even bigger hell to pay in the future.

God bless.
Bee

WOW! THE CONGRGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP CREATED AND PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH A NEW VOTIVE MASS AND IT DID NOT TAKE DECADES

IN TIME OF PANDEMIC

This Mass can be celebrated, according to the rubrics given for Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, on any day except Solemnities, the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, days within the Octave of Easter, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), Ash Wednesday and the days of Holy Week.

Entrance Antiphon
Truly the Lord has borne our infirmities, and he has carried our sorrows.

Collect

Almighty and eternal God,
our refuge in every danger,
to whom we turn in our distress;
in faith we pray
look with compassion on the afflicted,
grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners,
healing to the sick, peace to the dying,
strength to healthcare workers, wisdom to our leaders
and the courage to reach out to all in love,
so that together we may give glory to your holy name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

Accept, O Lord, the gifts we offer
in this time of peril.
May they become for us, by your power, a source of healing and peace.
Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon

Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you, says the Lord.

Prayer after Communion

O God, from whose hand we have received
the medicine of eternal life,
grant that through this sacrament
we may glory in the fullness of heavenly healing. Through Christ our Lord.


Prayer over the People

O God, protector of all who hope in you, bless your people, keep them safe,
defend them, prepare them,
that, free from sin and safe from the enemy, they may persevere always in your love. Through Christ our Lord.

MASS IN TIME OF PANDEMIC Readings from the Lectionary for Mass
Any readings from the Mass “In Any Need” (Lectionary for Mass, vol. IV, nos. 938-942) may be used, or:
First Option
 FIRST READING
It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord.
A reading from the Book of Lamentations
My soul is deprived of peace,
I have forgotten what happiness is;
I tell myself my future is lost,
all that I hoped for from the LORD.
The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;
Remembering it over and over
leaves my soul downcast within me.
But I will call this to mind,
as my reason to have hope:
The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;
They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.
My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;
It is good to hope in silence
for the saving help of the LORD.
The word of the Lord.
3:17-26

RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. (4b) Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken.
From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. Rouse your power. R.
O LORD of hosts, how long will you burn with anger while your people pray?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in ample measure.
You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. R.
ALLELUIA VERSE
AND VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
[R. Alleluia, alleluia.]
Blessed be the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction. [R. Alleluia, alleluia.]
Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 5-7
2 Corinthians 1:3b-4a

GOSPEL
Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
One day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
The Gospel of the Lord.
4:35-41
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

MASS IN TIME OF PANDEMIC Readings from the Lectionary for Mass
Any readings from the Mass “In Any Need” (Lectionary for Mass, vol. IV, nos. 938-942) may be used, or:
Second Option
 FIRST READING
Neither death nor life will be able to separate us from the love of God.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us.
Who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written:
For your sake we are being slain all the day;
we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word of the Lord.
8:31b-39

RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. (3a) Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. Or:
R. (2ef) Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters. R.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God, till he have pity on us. R.
ALLELUIA VERSE
AND VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
[R. Alleluia, alleluia.]
Blessed be the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction. [R. Alleluia, alleluia.]
Psalm 123:1-2ab, 2cdef
2 Corinthians 1:3b-4a

GOSPEL
Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
One day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
The Gospel of the Lord.
4:35-41
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

HOUSE OF LITURGICAL CARDS BUILT BY PRIDEFUL LITURGISTS WITH A NEED TO CONTROL, HAS COLLASPED IN THREE WEEKS TIME--AN ACT OF GOD, I PREPOSE; YOU DECIDE!

One of the things modern liturgical theologians despise is a strong Ministerial Priesthood, (Holy Orders) where the exclusively male priest can "confect" the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a private way to the exclusion of the laity and the various ministries proposed for them to make sure they are involved in a communitarian way and are seen as necessary for the Holy Meal to be experienced properly.

That house of cards has collapsed over night and all God has left us with is priests celebrating Mass privately or non publicly and live streaming it to the laity and others.

And the liturgists and progressive theologians, are doing what the young man below does:

SOME FOOLISH PEOPLE THINK WE CAN’T GO BACK TO THE PAST AND PUBLIC MASSES, LIKE THREE WEEKS AGO, BUT INDISAGREE! WE CAN RECOVER FROM OUR PAST WHAT WAS LOST, BUT I SAY WE CAN!

We can recover, from the past, kneeling for Holy Communion, ad orientem for Ordinary Form Masses,  a reform of the reform, recovery of Latin, Gregorian Chant, Polyphony, the vertical in our liturgies.

I long for the way things were on Christmas Eve, 2019! Can we go back? No! But we can move forward by recovering and restoring what was lost!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR PALM SUNDAY

Please note that our Knights of Columbus will pass the palms through passenger door window employing social distancing, latex gloves and mask.

HAS THE PRETENTIOUS IDOLATRY OF CHURCH MEMBERS, HIGH AND LOW, BEEN BLOWN UP BY THE GOD OF SURPRISES WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE THE GREAT “I AM” THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW?

It is time to explore Catholic teachings found in the Old Testament and New Testament and thus in the Tradition of the Church that we are undergoing a chastisement from God with this Pandemic. And a Cardinal says it is so:

March 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — German cardinal Paul Josef Cordes has joined the growing number of Catholic leaders looking at the coronavirus pandemic as a chastisement. “God’s Word also clearly states that life contrary to God can lead to illness,” wrote the former president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

Read the rest there:

Cardinal: Coronavirus pandemic is a chastisement for the Church

German cardinal Paul Josef Cordes has joined the growing number of Catholic leaders looking at the coronavirus as punishment for the Church.

I think we are all still trying to wrap our heads around what has transpired in the Catholic Church in just two or three short weeks. It is so stunning, that one may attribute it to Satan, to Original Sin, to Mother Nature or to God.

The Catholic Church has been stripped of its man-oriented theologies of community, inclusivity, Church as a field hospital, accompaniment, ecological conversion. How odd that the Pope’s metaphor of the Church as a field hospital going out to the peripheries, to accompany those in irregular situations evaporates with a virus that only medical personnel, no matter their religious or lack of religious persuasion is can be present in actual field hospitals and the Church and her ministries locked out!!!!!!!! Is our God of Surprises also a Comedian with a dry, ironic sense of humor?

Pope Francis said this at a homily at the Chapel of His Holiness’ residence, the Vatican Motel 6 (not 666) though on March 26:

“The Pope said, ‘The Lord must not find us, at the end of our lives, and say to us, “You are corrupt. You have left the path I showed you. You have bowed down before idols.’”

What are some of the idols of the past 50 years, new and old:

1. Vatican II, a merely pastoral Council, made dogmatic and the center of Church life these past 50 years, preached and taught more often than Jesus Christ was (this seem to be changing after Pope Benedict assumed the papacy, but has found new life with Pope Francis papacy.

2. Sacrosanctum Concilium’s conservative call for a slight reform of the Mass and sacraments became exaggerated with Pope Paul’s Consilium and the major manufacturing of a new Latin Rite Mass and Sacraments formulas. And this was presented as an infallible reform, coming from God Himself.

3. That liturgical reform would bring about a new springtime for the Church as those reforms concocted by fallible human reformers is the locus of this springtime, and not God Himself who is replaced by reformers’ preferences.

4. Renovating perfectly good sanctuaries and churches to accommodate liturgists’ idea of what they felt the Council wanted and this would bring about a new springtime for the Church and not God’s vertical intervention which has taken place since Jesus founded the Church.

5. Dogmatizing pastoral theology, which Pope Francis’ seems to have placed on steroids. There is no precedence for this in the 2000 year history of the Church. Any pastoral theology, as found in most of Pope Francis teachings and encyclicals is purely opinion, speculative and less in value than the theology of Limbo for unbaptized babies.

6. Making decisions of synods a part the extraordinary magisterium of the Church, when in fact it is a politicization of Catholicism, opening it to the whims of those who are chosen to participate in such synods. Synods like Ecumenical Councils, should be rare and only called in a crisis to address heresy  and offer correction and Anathemas.

7. Investing too much authority in Bishops’ Conferences and their way too many committees and paid personnel as though these are God-given structures, which they aren’t of course.

8. Investing too much authority in local Bishop’s pastoral centers, the plethora of paid personnel there and the dogmatism coming from these pastoral centers and diocesan pastoral councils.

9. Investing too much authority in parish pastoral councils and consulting with the laity, as though God surely is at the heart of this consultation and prayer discernment

10: Elevating personal conscience above the sound and defined Deposit of Faith to include morals

11. Making novelties in the Church and her pastoral theologies a part of what the “God of Surprises”  because the pope or some bishop or priest or lay person says it is so.

12. Treating the papacy, the Sacrament of Holy Orders as though it is the domain of the person initiated into it and not the domain of God and His Church which is the sin of pride in twisting that which belongs to the Church into one’s personal image of what it should be

13. The papal magisterium leading the Church into areas that are not within the competency of the Church’s Magisterium such as climate change, building more humane cities, conversion to ecology, placing non Catholic Christian sects on par with Catholicism, and the same for non Christian religions, secular ideologies, and now pagan entities as a response to the Church to dialogue with the devil in these relationships. Pachamama, is a prime example of idolatry at the Vatican despite comments contrary to the truth from high sources.

14. Bishops and priests abdicating their responsibility before God and the Faithful to be good shepherds leading the laity in the spiritual battle against the flesh, the world and the devil

15. The sex abuse crisis as a part of the reimagining of the promise/vow of obedience and celibate chastity and the corruption that this has caused within bishops and lower clergy.

16. Religious orders, seminaries and other institutions of Church using the collective will of democratic processes accomplished under what is called prayerful discernment, to reimagine the Church, religious orders, etc and call it renewal even when all the evidence points out that what was accomplished by these processes has led to the death of a once strong Catholic Church and strong, thriving religious orders of men and women.

ITALIANS HAVE PENCHANT OF GETTING REALLY WORK UP, YELLING DURING ARGUMENTS, SLAMING POTS AND PANS AS WELL AS DOORS AND THEN THEY GET OVER IT

THESE ITALIAN THEOLOGIANS WILL GET OVER IT. PRAY FOR THEM, THEY’VE GONE CORONAVIRUS CRAZY BEING QUARANTINED SO LONG AND WITH SO MANY OTHER PRESSING ISSUES IN ITALY LIKE EMPTY ORDINARY FORM PARISHES IN OR OUTSIDE OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

BUT FIRST, AND THIS IS COMEDY GOLD, FATHER ANTHONY RUFF, OSB, A GERMAN, HAS ANOTHER HITLER MOMENT TO HIS BLOG POST ON THIS TRULY SILLY TYPICAL ITALIAN OUTBURST. HE GETS ONE COMMENT THAT POINTS OUT THE OBVIOUS AND LIKE A CHILD HE SHUTS DOWN FURTHER COMMENTS. POOR FR. ANTHONY, HIS IDOL, VATICAN II, AND FOOLISH FANTASY THAT THE ANCIENT LATIN MASS WAS OUTLAWED FOREVER, IS BEING HIT WITH THE VIRUS OF TRUTH, THAT GOD ALONE IS GOD, NOT VATICAN II, AND THE ANCIENT LATIN MASS IS UNDERGOING A RESURRECTION RESURGENCE! AND THE VATICAN, UNDER POPE FRANCIS, IS AIDING AND ABETTING IT:

????????

Theologians Call Upon Vatican to Revoke Recent Decrees on 1962 Missal (2 comments before comments shut down)

Lee Fratantuono says:

March 29, 2020 at 9:29 am

It really is astonishing the degree to which the use of the so-called extraordinary form of the Roman Rite drives some people absolutely bonkers. On the one hand we are told with calm assurance that this is a tiny, indeed insignificant issue…on the other, we are treated to expressions of dire outrage about things like the relatively minor issue of Rome doing exactly what Rome predicted would be done in 2011. 

Come on now, Andrea. Are seven prefaces and some optional feast days really worth all this anxiety?

1. Anthony Ruff, OSB says:

   March 29, 2020 at 9:39 am

   I think there’s a more accurate interpretation of what’s going on. I take it that the issue isn’t just prefaces and saints’ days. It is about whether the Second Vatican Council did away with the old rite or not. That’s a burning question, and opinions differ on it. And no – we’re not going to debate that any further at Pray Tell!
   awr

   COMMENTS CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!

Open letter on the “state of liturgical exception” (english version)

di Andrea Grillo

Pubblicato il 29 marzo 2020 nel blog: Come se non

Open letter on the “state of liturgical exception”

To all theologians,

scholars, and

students of theology

The great liturgical tradition, which has always accompanied and supported the Church in her history of grace and sin, hears the groaning of individuals and nations in this pandemic crisis, which brings suffering and affliction to those who are sick, and fear, isolation and loneliness to everyone else.  The ordinary rhythm of the Lenten and Paschal journey is altered and subverted, in solidarity with our common suffering. We would never have thought, however, that a small but not marginal suffering would also come at the same time throughthe exercise of ecclesial authority and through the decrees Quo magis e Cum sanctissima, which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published on 25 March 2020.

It is no surprise that This Congregation should devote its attention to the liturgy. But special and singular is the fact that it modifies the ordines, introduces prefaces and formularies for feasts, and modifies calendars and criteria of precedence. And it does this on a 1962 missal. How is this possible? The Congregation, as is known, in this case moves in the space of an exceptional authority, which dates back 13 years, in accordance with motu proprio Summorum pontificum. But since time is greater than space, what is possible on the regulatory level is not always appropriate. Therefore, it is crucial to engage in critical reflection on the logic of this development.

Time, in fact, has unveiled to us the paradox of a competence on the liturgy being taken away from the Bishops and the Congregation of Worship: this was arranged, in Summorum pontificum, with an intention of solemn pacification and generous reconciliation, but soon it changed into a serious division, a widespread conflict, and became the symbol of a “liturgical rejection” of the Second Vatican Council. The greatest distortion of the initial intentions of the motu proprio can be seen today in those diocesan seminaries where it is expected that the future ministers will be trained at the same time in two different rites: the conciliar rite and the one that denies it. All this reached its most surreal point the day before yesterday, when the two Decrees were released. They mark the culmination of a distortion which is no longer tolerable, and which can be summed up as follows:

- the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith acts as a substitute in exercising competences conferred by the Second Vatican Council on Bishops and the Congregation for Divine Worship;

- it undertakes to elaborate “liturgical variants” of the ordines without having the historical, textual, philological and pastoral competences;

- it seems to ignore, precisely on the dogmatic level, a grave conflict between the lex orandi and the lex credendi, since it is inevitable that a dual, conflictual ritual form will lead to a significant division in the faith;

- it seems to underestimate the disruptive effect this “exception” will have on the ecclesial level, by immunizing a part of the community from the “school of prayer” that the Second Vatican Council and the liturgical reform have providentially given to the common ecclesial journey.

A “state of exception” is also happening today on the civil level, in its harsh necessity, and this fact allows us greater ecclesial foresight. To return to an ecclesial normality, we must overcome the state of liturgical exception established 13 years ago in another world, with other conditions and with other hopes, by Summorum pontificum. It no longer makes sense to deprive diocesan bishops of their liturgical powers; neither does it make sense to have an Ecclesia Dei Commission (which has in fact already been suppressed), or a Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which take away authority from diocesan Bishops and the Congregation of Divine Worship; it no longer makes sense to enact decrees to “reform” a rite that is closed in the historical past, inert and crystallized, lifeless and without vigor. There can be no resuscitation for it. The double regime is over; the noble intention of SP has waned; the Lefebvrians have raised the barhigher and higher and then run away, insulting the Second Vatican Council and the present pope along with all three of his predecessors. Continuing to nourish a “state of liturgical exception” – one that was born to unite, but does nothing but divide – only leads to the shattering, privatization, and distortion of the worship of the Church. On the basis of these considerations, we resolve together to request that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith immediately withdraw the two decrees of 25/03/2020 and restore all powers concerning the liturgy to the diocesan Bishops and the Congregation for Divine Worship. Obviously, we ask this without prejudice to the powers that this Congregation retains in doctrinal matters.

So let us leave the “state of liturgical exception”. If not now, when?

With best wishes to all colleagues and students, besieged but not conquered in life, during these bitter yet still generous times.

Andrea Grillo

ON LINE MASS AND ON LINE DRIVE THROUGH BENEDICTION

YOU CAN WATCH OUR ON LINE MASS FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT HERE.

WATCH OUR DRIVE THROUGH BENEDICTION HERE.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A........

THE PROBLEM WITH POST VATICAN II UNDERSTANDING OF THE MASS: COLLECTIVE NARCISSISM

Below is a portion of a Praytell post by a priestess of the Anglican Communion. You can read the full article HERE. As I read the article, especially the portion I post below, it was as though I was back in the seminary of the 1970’s and liturgy courses there attended by female students from our seminary’s ecumenical institute. Many were studying for Anglican ministry.

I see three major problems with this theology.

Firstly, it is ecumenical and reduces, truncates and perverts the authentic Catholic understanding of the Mass as an act of God’s intervention into the Church, no matter how many or how few of the community are there. It is the lowest common denominator of  the ecumenical movement upon Catholicism.

Secondly, it is purely horizontal. There appears to be no faith element in the Divine Act or intervention, what is referred to as the vertical. An atheist or agnostic could well feel at home with the horizontal vision of community and personal growth and nourishment. It is a horizontalism that leads to a strong sense of belonging to a human community here and now regardless of what is to come. It is for and about those who gather.

Thirdly and this flows directly from the second, is that this is communal narcissism. It’s all about us and this time and this place. It truly is a perversion of Catholic worship and liturgy, to say the least, and please notice, which is to be expected in an ecumenical approach to worship, there is no hint or talk of the sacrificial act of Christ on our behalf for our eternal salvation.

Here is the excerpt:

The celebration of Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist, is an incarnational worship experience. The distinct features that nourish the soul and grow our faith lie in joining our voices in song and prayer, in our corporate confession and the words of absolution, in the sharing of insights from Scripture, each person hearing what s/he needs at that time, and the partaking in God’s holy meal of Christ’s body and blood. Or in the words of Paul to the church in Corinth: What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.(1 Cor. 14:26)

In other words worship, liturgy, is a corporate act, authenticated by the active engagement of the congregation, identified as the full, conscious and active participation of God’s holy people. The Greek word leitourgia originally means the public work of the people. If we lose sight of this, we risk cultivating a passive audience watching a spectator sport (with all due respect for the sincere efforts of clergy to sustain the spirit of the faithful as best they can). Recall Jesus’ words: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”(Matt. 18:20) God is present with us as we are present to one another in prayer and conversation, in joint confession and forgiveness, in song and praise, in sharing Christ’s Body and Blood.

To the Praytell clientele, the whole notion of on-line Mass presented live makes no sense and is not efficacious. Why, because from the Protestant perspective, which the ecumenical movement’s spirit must take its point of departure, you have to have a community of people, fulfilling various roles and feeling a sense of connectiveness to each other. It fits the narcissism meme I highlight in my third point. How could a private Mass with a priest alone or with one male server be communal, warm, welcoming, inclusive, nourishing, sustaining and growth producing? 

And that’s precisely the problem with what has happened to the Catholic Mass and how many authentic priests in the Sacrament of Holy Orders express their priesthood in a truncated, narcissistic way in the manner in which most Ordinary Form Masses are celebrated today and their priesthood expressed. It’s ethos is ecumenical and thus Protestant. Protestants feel at home in the horizontal experience of fellowship and “love.”

I am not saying that on-line Masses should be the norm in normal times, but it certainly should be the norm in abnormal times, in times of quarantine, for those homebound and those who for whatever reason cannot attend Mass in person with others. 

When I celebrate Mass alone or with one server, it is the Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary that is re-presented in a gloriously risen way, an unbloody, beautiful way, for the salvation of the world. IT IS AN ACT OF GOD AND OUR RESPONSE TO HIM ALONE IN PRAYER, PRAISE, SACRIFICE AND WORSHIP: INDIVIDUALLY, VERTICALLY, IN A THANKFUL WAY ALBEIT IN A COMMUNAL PAROCHIAL SETTING. AND TO THE WORLD WHOSE LIFE IS ENDING (THAT’S MOTHER EARTH AND ALL OF US EVENTUALLY) WE LOOK VERTICALLY TO THE ORIENT, THE EAST, TOWARD THE RISING SUN, TO OUR ETERNAL DWELLING IN HEAVEN WITH THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, OUR BLESSED MOTHER, THE ANGELS AND SAINTS.

PRAYWHINE HITS THEIR WHINNING OUT OF THE PARK WITH THIS ONE

During this Coronavirus shut down of the Catholic Church, we are seeing our Church stripped to its pre-Vatican II core. All the self-absorbed nonsense we have experienced in the last 50 years or so has evaporated overnight, except at the blog Praytell.

From trying to stop climate change to save the planet, the pope is now trying to save people from the coronavirus, fear in general and the fear of death and perhaps promote the fear of God and damnation. Hopefully we won’t hear from the Holy Father ever again, the word synodality and the self-absorbed upcoming synod on synodality. What the hell????????

First the nasty, unsanitary, pandemic promoting common chalice was removed from the laity, then the Sign of Peace and then public Masses. No one is talking about climate change, as though the Church and her Magisterium could change that. Rather what the Church’s mission is to save souls. That’s the priority. The world, Mother Earth and our lives are coming to a conclusion. Denial about this seems to be evaporating amongst the Church’s elite, except in some quarters. We and the earth we live on will die. There will be a final consummation of the world. Heard that in the recent past? Hearing it now?

In my daily Mass homily on Friday, I stated that this pandemic is highlighting for us that we have spewed nonsense for the past 50 years, such as the focus on Vatican II, the focus on the reform of the liturgy, the focus on getting the laity empowered to do this, that or the other churchy thing. What we have failed to do and perhaps it is because our faith has shifted to what we do and do so horizontally and self absorbedly, a fake faith if you will, is to preach about the essentials of our Catholic Faith, about the spiritual warfare that all of us must be engaged against the world, the flesh and the devil as we prepare for the four last things, death, judgement, heaven and hell.

It is more sterile and self absorbed to focus on liturgy, new music, inculturation, synodality, climate change and the other nonsense that has nothing to do with the spiritual battle with the world, the flesh and the devil or to do with the four last things, death, judgment, heaven and hell.

Read this incredible Praytell post, posted during this pandemic and see where their focus is. I can tell you it isn’t on the spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh and the devil and it isn’t about the four last things, death, judgement, heaven and hell:

Livestreamed Eucharist “Without the People” – Step Backward or Forward?

 Other Voices

In a time of internet and of the coronavirus pandemic, we must completely rethink community.

Read the comments too and the feeble attempt of the blog’s moderator to defend his blogs whining and ridiculous post in this pandemic. 

SAINT ANNE PARISHIONERS ARE BUILDING HOME ALTARS

I’ve asked our parishioners to see their homes/families as the Church in miniature. We are encouraging home altars. Here are some wonderful examples: