MY NEW NORMAL, AT LEAST FOR A WHILE….

 I’m trying to work out my routine living on Hilton Head rather than just spending my day off or vacation here. Soon, I am sure, once word gets out, I will be called on to help with daily and Sunday Masses in the vicinity. Thus far, though, I need to say Mass in my makeshift chapel in the second bedroom so I can say Mass daily. So this is what I have done this morning: I got up at 5 AM (late for me, normally in the parish at 4 AM). Got to Planet Fitness after a light breakfast at 6 AM, left at 7:30 AM went to Publix to grocery to shop (btw, I say the Rosary as I use the elliptical machine). God back to the condo, prayed morning prayer on the balcony. Came in, got vested for Mass and celebrated Mass. All this by 10:45 AM. Now I am making a light lunch to take to the beach for mid day prayer and a ”riposo”after lunch, as we Italians live life. Who knows what I will do tonight. I do have to cook you know!

CONVERSION TO THE LOVE OF LIFE AND ALL CREATION

 One more senseless act of gun violence or any kind of violence that leads to the deaths of innocent men, women and children. What to do?

In most of these cases of mass murder, the murderer is compromised in one way or the other. He is psychopath, a sociopath or under the influence of drugs or Satan himself. He is open and easily manipulated to all that our culture of death promotes, especially the media with its pro-choice ideology, the choice between killing or letting live another life, innocent or guilty.

Commentators on all of this point to the ready ability of a person to buy a weapon of war to kill people. But they fail to identify the 24 hour news media and the mania about non stop reporting of these kinds of crimes that play into the hands of the compromised seeking world wide attention.

And there is no talk about limiting the first amendment right to free speech and expression when it comes to the violence of the movie industry, video games and the pro-choice agenda of half the country. All of these need to be limited too and laws in place to guide the movie industry through censorship as it was done prior to the 1960’s. It worked very well then and was even applied to make sure offensive situations on television would be curtailed. If resurrected it could be applied to all social media platforms and could lead to the elimination of pornography and graphic sex and violence.

These mass murderers are compromised and from a moral point of view their sin is “venial” if it was committed without full consent of the will, the rational will. 

But what about all those who procure abortions and all who assist in this genocide. Are they compromised? No, doctors want to make a buck and mask their murderous results by calling it doctor/patient relationships. Never mind that one of the patients is always killed in the abortion. 

And then you have Catholic politicians no longer saying they are personally opposed to abortion, but they are pro-choice by not shoving their Faith onto others. No they advocate for abortion on demand and to the final moments of a full term pregnancy. It is repugnant to say the least. And if it is politically helpful to them, they would promote killing an infant after birth and would be open to negotiating how many days, months or years this could take place.

These are sane people and do this with full consent of the will and then gladly receive Holy Communion declaring they are good and faithful Catholics accompanied by a grateful hierarchy who doesn’t want to get political with them. How mortally sinful is this mentality?

Yes, I accept the Church’s teaching about the sanctity of human life and I will not condemn, though, those politicians and jurists who believe that justice demands the death penalty for those who are guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. 

I also believe we must respect creation and love all creation. But the apex of God’s creation, supported by creation itself is human life and its dignity is the highest dignity. We can use creation for our benefit, for food, clothing and shelter, but we can’t use humans in a like fashion. There is a difference. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY, AKA, THE FOURTH OF JULY, AT THE BEACH

 

BOMBSHELL! VATICAN SECRETARY OF STATE WEARS HIS GRANDMOTHER’S LACE IN THE CONGO!

 

MY 4TH OF JULY EVE (INDEPENDENCE EVE) DINNER…

 My Independence Eve dinner, shrimp scampi. Shrimp Scampi in Italian is redundant as scampi alone signifies that it is a shrimp of some kind. Gamberetti is the Italian word for this kind of shrimp. I bought the shrimp with head on down the street from a truck farmer. Jumbo, fresh Georgia-Carolina shrimp with the head on for only $10 a pound. I bought two pounds. Cooking the shrimp with the head on gives the shrimp a wonderful flavor.

WHY CAN'T WE EMBRACE A FULLER EXPRESSION OF LITURGICAL DIVERSITY? ARE WE RIGID DOCTORS OF THE LAW OR A FLEXIBLE SLINKY?

I know it isn't polite to correct the Holy Father, but there is quite a bit of liturgical diversity in the Catholic Church which His Holiness is the visible head. Ecclesial unity is not based upon a single rite and a single rite, as we can see below, can be quite diverse so as not to appear to be even the rite that is being celebrated. 

That all these rites are permitted within the context of ecclesiology and ecclesial unity under the papacy makes one scratch one's head as to why the pre-Vatican II rite of the Church cannot be included in this diversity of unity. 

Maybe the Holy Father would consider making the 1962 Roman Missal more in line with what Vatican II asked? Allow the Liturgy of the Word to have a official vernacular lectionary and that the Liturgy of the Word be celebrated as in the Reformed Mass. What's the problem with that?

Allow Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion by way of deacons and officially installed acolytes and as it concerns acolytes allow females. What's the problem with this?

Thus the Roman Missal of 1962 remains as is except for the manner of the Liturgy of the Word and who distributes Holy Communion.

Oh, and yes, allow for some vernacular, only for the changing parts of the Mass. What's the problem with that? 

Here is a very diverse Congolese Rite Mass with Pope Francis for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time at Saint Peter's:

 

List of churches sui iuris:

Name	Est.
	Coptic Catholic Church	1741
	Eritrean Catholic Church[3]	2015
	Ethiopian Catholic Church	1846
	Armenian Catholic Church	1742
	Albanian Greek Catholic Church	1628
	Belarusian Greek Catholic Church	1596
	Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church	1861
	Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia	1611
	Greek Byzantine Catholic Church	1911
	Hungarian Greek Catholic Church	1912
	Italo-Albanian Catholic Church	1784
	Macedonian Greek Catholic Church	2001
	Melkite Greek Catholic Church	1726
	Romanian Greek Catholic Church	1697
	Russian Greek Catholic Church	1905
	Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church	1646
	Slovak Greek Catholic Church	1646
	Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church	1595
	Chaldean Catholic Church	1552
	Syro-Malabar Catholic Church	50s AD
	Maronite Church	4th c.
	Syriac Catholic Church	1781
	Syro-Malankara Catholic Church	1930
	Latin Church	1st c.
	Other	Ordinariates

 

 

WHAT WILL BE THE MARCHING ORDERS FOR THE NEXT POPE GIVEN TO HIM FROM THE CONCLAVE?

 

In a recent interview, Pope Francis stated that he had no original ideas for his papacy but rather he has carried out what the conclave and pre-conclave meetings asked the new pope to do. That’s interesting. 

What marching orders will the upcoming conclave and pre-conclave meetings give to the new pope of the near future?

1. Clarify Church teaching and clean up the confusion sown since 2013. In other words reassert the coherency of Catholic teaching

2. Strengthen Catholic identity and stop screwing around the with the orthodox faith of Catholics especially young Catholics. 

3. Bring inner healing to the Church after reigniting the war of the post-Vatican II Church with the Pre-Vatican II Church. Has that been and is it a just war or an unjust war?

4. Stop courting favor with secular politics and seeking the praise of the world, the devil and the flesh.

5. Stop insulting Catholics, be they clergy, religious or laity and stop using pop psychology to manipulate an outcome.

Anything else that might be the marching orders for the next pope?

THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE: JULY 1, 2022 MAKES IT OFFICIAL! I AM RETIRED! OH MY!

 

At the end of my last Mass at St. Anne Church, Richmond Hill, Georgia, Sunday, June 26, Bishop Stephen Parkes surprised me at the end of the Mass by showing up to say a few words. I did not expect our bishop to be there and I did not see him enter the church. It was after Holy Communion and I had sat down for some silence when he approached me from my right side, from the side of the ambo, and actually startled me. 

Here are the words he said with my concluding remarks:

And this is my final weekend homily. This was given at our 5 PM Vigil Mass, June 25th. For some reason, I can't post the video directly. But if you press, watch on Facebook, it will take you to the entire Mass. Or you can open the link HERE:

 

HAS POPE FRANCIS WITH HIS NEW LITURGICAL DOCUMENT OPENED THE PATH TO A NEW ROMAN MISSAL THAT BRINGS TRADITION AND NOVELTY TOGETHER?

 

As I have said too many time before, the liturgical way forward is for the normal reformed Roman Missal to follow the order and pre-Vatican II options of the Ordinariate’s Roman Missal, Divine Worship. 

The current modern Roman Missal needs only minor adjustments. The current lectionary need not be touched except in a few minor places. 

What is the way forward which the Ordinariate’s Missal also allows?

MORE OPTIONS TO PLEASE TRADITIONALIST:

1. The Introductory Rites reformatted to include the option of the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar; the option of the older form of the offertory prayers, the triple “Lord I am not worthy”; The Last Gospel as an option.

2. Mandating the saying or chanting the the proper antiphons, Introit, Offertory and Communion (not to exclude of course, metrical hymns if so desired, but in addition not instead).

3. Follow the 1965 Roman Missal Format which has the Latin in the margin as an option and the vernacular in the main section. And the vernacular should follow in the Roman Missal the format of the 1962 Missal.

4. Reinstate the Season of Septuagesima (with its proper liturgical readings) as well as rogation days.

5. While maintaining all the Eucharistic Prayers currently allowed, allow as an option an exclusively Latin Roman Canon with all the rubrics and form of the 1962 Roman Missal. This would keep the current vernacular Roman Canon with its rubrics, but clearly allow it to be prayed in Latin, quietly and with the rubrics of the 1962 Missal. 

I think this is a way to liturgical peace with the Traditionalists. I would also suggest that the other Sacraments be allowed in the older form. What would be the big deal with that?

THE HOLY FATHER AND HIS CANCEL THEOLOGY HAS SAWED OFF THE BRANCH THEY ARE SITTING UPON

 

As I stated in a post below, the Holy Father’s recent document on the Liturgy isn’t bad but it isn’t entirely good either. Like so much of this Pontiff’s pontificate, he spoils the good with the sour he always includes. Take for example his off-the-cuff statements to reporters after successful major pilgrimages. These are so controversial that the off-the-cuff statements completely overshadow a somewhat triumphal visit to various places. 

The same is true with His Holiness’ liturgical leadership. It isn’t entirely bad but not entirely good. The major problem with this pontificate and his interpretation of Vatican II is that he and his theology cancels what came before. And what this pontificate cancels gives example to another pontificate to cancel, the very pontificate of this pope. He has confirmed an ideological interpretation of Vatican II which cancels what came before.

Pope Benedict understood this. He understood well that the only way forward is not to cancel the road behind. His Christmas elocution to the cardinals of the Curia is the only way forward. To go the way of Pope Francis and his cancelation of two pontificates, one of a saint and one of a still living emeritus pope is not only poor taste but a major scandal. It is embarrassingly so. But also the scandal that is even greater is the “spirit of Vatican II” which cancels all other councils including the reforming Council of Trent. 

This article posted at Rorate Caeli is quite balanced and quite accurate:

“The Motu Proprio cut off the head of Benedict's line, and Desiderio buries its corpse” — Article by Luisella Scrosati

LORD HAVE MERCY

Pelosi receives Communion at Mass presided over by Pope Francis

By Inés San Martín

Jun 29, 2022

|Rome Bureau Chief

POPE FRANCIS EXHORTATION ON THE LITURGY AND HIS DESIRE FOR THE LATIN RITE TO RETURN EXCLUSIVELY TO UNITY OF THE REFORMED ROMAN MISSAL OF POPES/SAINTS PAUL VI AND JOHN PAUL II

 

MY COMMENTS FIRST: This is not a horrible document and it certainly gives some good pointers towards improving the celebration of the Modern Roman Missal. But not enough words are said about that and how simply following what is prescribed for this Roman Missal and options that can be chosen, while others eliminated or ignored, could enhance this form of the Mass which would lead to the astonishment we all should have for what God has accomplished for us through His Most Beloved Son, Jesus Christ and the Paschal Mystery. 

I do believe that not only priests need to be reoriented on how to celebrate the Mass as an art, not a toy, but so too the assembly/congregation. We must make it possible for them to actively participate both interiorly and exteriorly. 

One of the things that has distressed me about the recovery of the older Missal is that no one has taken seriously the need for the congregation to take the parts of the servers and the schola. Often the laity are quite content to zone out at the older form of the Mass and simply be swept up by what others are doing. 

Many carry no missal for the vernacular translations of the changing parts of the Mass as they don’t care to know what is being prayed on their behalf in Latin by the priest or schola. 

In this, I recognize it is not either/or but both/and. Sometimes we listen, something we join and speak together or sing together. But how many actually try to chant the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Pater Noster, Agnus Dei? Sometimes some of the different forms of Gregorian Chant are impossible to join and only a trained schola can do it. What is wrong with simply using versions most people can sing?

Finally, this document makes abundantly clear the the older form of the Mass is to disappear over time. 

For those who will grieve this fact, the only hope is that bishops will allow the Modern Missal to be celebrated with the same dignity and consistency  that the older Missal is celebrated.

These communities need a modern Mass that is consistent and beautiful and reverent. Latin must be allowed. The Proper Chants must be chanted Ad orientem must be encouraged and kneeling for Holy Communion must be the unified method of receiving Holy Communion with standing seen as a pastoral exception. 

Is that too much to ask? It does not seem to me that this exhortation forbids this. 

PRESS HERE FOR THE POPE’S EXHORTATION

Here are important paragraphs of this exhortation:

 

 

23. Let us be clear here: every aspect of the celebration must be carefully tended to (space, time, gestures, words, objects, vestments, song, music…) and every rubric must be observed. Such attention would be enough to prevent robbing from the assembly what is owed to it; namely, the paschal mystery celebrated according to the ritual that the Church sets down. But even if the quality and the proper action of the celebration were guaranteed, that would not be enough to make our participation full. 

31. In this letter I cannot dwell with you on the richness of this passage’s various expressions, which I recommend to your own meditation. If the liturgy is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed, and at the same time the font from which all her power flows,” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 10), well then, we can understand what is at stake in the liturgical question. It would be trivial to read the tensions, unfortunately present around the celebration, as a simple divergence between different tastes concerning a particular ritual form. The problematic is primarily ecclesiological. I do not see how it is possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the Council — though it amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so — and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform born out of Sacrosanctum Concilium, a document that expresses the reality of the Liturgy intimately joined to the vision of Church so admirably described in Lumen gentium. For this reason, as I already expressed in my letter to all the bishops, I have felt it my duty to affirm that “The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” (Motu Proprio Traditionis custodes, art 1) 

The non-acceptance of the liturgical reform, as also a superficial understanding of it, distracts us from the obligation of finding responses to the question that I come back to repeating: how can we grow in our capacity to live in full the liturgical action? How do we continue to let ourselves be amazed at what happens in the celebration under our very eyes? We are in need of a serious and dynamic liturgical formation. 

54. If it is true that the ars celebrandi is required of the entire assembly that celebrates, it is likewise true that ordained ministers must have a very particular concern for it. In visiting Christian communities, I have noticed that their way of living the liturgical celebration is conditioned — for better or, unfortunately, for worse — by the way in which their pastor presides in the assembly. We could say that there are different “models” of presiding. Here is a possible list of approaches, which even though opposed to each other, characterize a way of presiding that is certainly inadequate: rigid austerity or an exasperating creativity, a spiritualizing mysticism or a practical functionalism, a rushed briskness or an overemphasized slowness, a sloppy carelessness or an excessive finickiness, a superabundant friendliness or priestly impassibility. Granted the wide range of these examples, I think that the inadequacy of these models of presiding have a common root: a heightened personalism of the celebrating style which at times expresses a poorly concealed mania to be the centre of attention. Often this becomes more evident when our celebrations are transmitted over the air or online, something not always opportune and that needs further reflection. Be sure you understand me: these are not the most widespread behaviours, but still, not infrequently assemblies suffer from being thus abused. 

61. In this letter I have wanted simply to share some reflections which most certainly do not exhaust the immense treasure of the celebration of the holy mysteries. I ask all the bishops, priests, and deacons, the formators in seminaries, the instructors in theological faculties and schools of theology, and all catechists to help the holy people of God to draw from what is the first wellspring of Christian spirituality. We are called continually to rediscover the richness of the general principles exposed in the first numbers of Sacrosanctum Concilium,grasping the intimate bond between this first of the Council’s constitutions and all the others. For this reason we cannot go back to that ritual form which the Council fathers, cum Petro et sub Petro, felt the need to reform, approving, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and following their conscience as pastors, the principles from which was born the reform. The holy pontiffs St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II, approving the reformed liturgical books ex decreto Sacrosancti Œcumenici Concilii Vaticani II, have guaranteed the fidelity of the reform of the Council. For this reason I wrote Traditionis custodes, so that the Church may lift up, in the variety of so many languages, one and the same prayer capable of expressing her unity.[23] 

As I have already written, I intend that this unity be re-established in the whole Church of the Roman Rite.

LORD HAVE MERCY! CHRIST HAVE MERCY! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE MODERN ROMAN MISSAL AND THE OPTIONS TO AD LIB HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

 One of the reasons Catholics like the 1962 Roman Missal is because it does not allow for this kind of ad libbing nonsense. 

Creativity during the Mass can be active or passive aggression. It become a political meme. It becomes an opinion piece. It becomes, how shall I say this, RIDICULOUS!

I copy this from the Deacon’s Bench. Listen to the video if you dare:

AND THE PRIZE FOR BEST PENITENTIAL RITE GOES TO …

June 27th, 2022|Categories: Humor, Liturgy, Prayer

... whoever came up with THIS. A friend sent this to me. It's obviously not new — the rose vestments

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AD ORIENTEM ENHANCES THE BEAUTY OF THE MASS AND ELIMINATES THE DISTRACTIONS OF FACIAL CONTORTIONS AND QUESTIONABLE LOOKS…

This first photo could greatly be enhanced by beauty, mystery and awe if the orientation of the priests were such as we couldn’t see their faces, difficulty reading words and grimaces.  A little attention to the details of choreography would help too!

Let’s pretend this photo is of the exact same Mass with the exact same facial expressions and other antics as the one above. How much more beautiful this makes that Mass look, no?

THOSE HORRIBLE MALE DOMINATED CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS, WILL GOD EVER DELIVER US FROM THEM AND THEIR PATRIARCHY?

 My last photo with my staff at St. Anne’s. Going from me to right, Jody DeLiguori, Music Director, Kathy Zdunich, youth director, Fr. Robert Philips, Parochial Vicar, also being transferred, Renee Singleton, Coordinator of Relgious Education, Tanja Ortiz, Office Manager and Michelle Bryant, Administrative Assistant. Not pictured, Shannon GaNunn, our bulletin editor and Patricia Byler our keeper of the master calendar and wedding coordinator. 

I HAVE ENTERED A NEW PHASE OF MY PRIESTHOOD: RETIREMENT….

 A priest is never retired, but he does retire from administration and begging for time, talent and treasure. And yes a retired priest might find a vocation within a vocation as a beach 🏖 bum. I have retired to the south end of Hilton Head Island, what I call paradise…