BABY BOMBER PRIESTS, BISHOPS AND NOW POPE—WHAT FORMED US?

First Things has a very good commentary on various signs that point to the type of pope Pope Leo will be. As I have said, from the beginning, Pope Leo will be his own pope! He will take what is good from every papacy, to include Pope Francis’ papacy, and make it his own and what is lacking in some of the good things of various papacies, to include Pope Francis’ papacy, he will refine, not cancel. 

What that means for Sumorum Pontificum and Traditionis Custodes remains to be seen. I don’t think Pope Leo will enact any reforms on either of these by being pressured or through knee-jerk reactions.

The First Things commentary got me thinking about my baby boomer Catholicism which has to be some what similar to Pope Leo’s baby boomer Catholicism in the USA. Pope Leo is less than two years younger than I am and thus we must have had similar experiences of the pre-Vatican II Church which we still remember and what happened immediately following Vatican II beginning around 1965/66 through the present time. 

Since I am not quite two years older than Robert Prevost of Chicago, I might remember things slightly better than he. But I suspect we are similar in terms of an “idiot savant” memory of the 1960’s pre and post Vatican II period. 

In the pre-Vatican II Mass, I was completely fascinated by what I was seeing but also confused by some of it. I wanted to know what the heck the priest was doing at the altar and even asked my father why he doesn’t face us. My father found that amusing as he wanted to see what the priest was doing too and suggested putting a mirror above the altar angled toward the congregation so we could see!

My experience of the immediate post-Vatican II period in the 1960’s was in a small but very diverse and internationally cosmopolitan parish in Augusta, GA. Robert Prevost’s was in Chicago with a huge Catholic population and a somewhat progressive approach to implement Vatican II and the revised Mass. 

I loved the initial changes that gradually unfolded between 1965 to 1970. It was drip by drip until the 1970 Missal was implemented on the First Sunday of Advent 1969. I liked the Mass facing the congregation and it was better than the mirror idea of my father’s. I liked the vernacular although Latin was still in force for the Roman Canon that we could hear in Latin as it was spoken in a low voice but using a microphone.

By 1966 I was 13 thus a teenager. By 1970, I was 17. It was in the late 60’s to the early 70’s that I became concerned and uncomfortable with the changes in the Mass. The revised Mass was celebrated casually and reverence was dissipating. That was horrible in my eyes. What contributed to this malaise was standing to receive Holy Communion, lay people in sloppy lay clothing distributing Holy Communion and people receiving in the hand and casually so. The tabernacle was demoted and the altar was stripped too, to two rinky dink candles on the altar compared to the six tall ones.

The majesty of the Mass prior to the changes was stripped down and reverence, wonder and awe removed and intentionally so. Casualness was promoted as the new and improved “reverence”! I kid you not!

The new music was horrible especially with the placement of folk groups next to the altar and all the distractions that they along with their varied instruments created in the sanctuary during the Mass. The new music was secular sounding and simply horrible and often irreverent, but called the new reverence which was in fact no reverence!

Vatican II was preached more than Jesus Christ. Controversies in the Church were discussed more than Jesus Christ. And who did what in the Church and during Mass was discussed more than Jesus Christ. 

Catholicism lost her identity and so did Catholics. Everyone was confused and didn’t know what would change next. There were those promoting changing dogmas to bring about Christian unity and changing the name of the Catholic Church to the Christian Church to achieve that unity. 

Sex, sexuality and what women should be allowed to do, even to become bishops, priests and deacons were hot, hot, hot topics but in order to change the Church, not experience pleasure. 

Everything was in flux. The Church which had been a rock of faith and certainty became of marshmallow of sticky confusion and ambiguity and uncertainty. 

I loved the papacy of Pope John Paul II because he restored a sense of Catholic identity and discipline to the Church and what could not be changed and things that should be recovered. 

I loved more Pope Benedict’s papacy especially the proper interpretation of Vatican II in continuity with what preceded not in breach of it. I like reform in continuity as the means to go forward.

I did not like the papacy of Pope Francis. I really felt he brought the Church backwards in many ways to recover the Church of the 1970’s prior to the election of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Read the First Things commentary about Pope Leo, baby boomer. I wonder if he was saddened by some of the losses in Catholic identity and practice that the foolish way to implement Vatican II created? What impact will that have as his papacy unfolds and he continues to show us his “cards”?

SEMINARIANS ARE CRAZY FOR POPE LEO AND POPE LEO OFFERS THEM KIND WORDS WITH NO SNARKY OR DEMEANING REMARKS MASKED AS HUMOR

 Papal joy and joy for the papacy are back! Deo Gratias! Pope Leo even signs autographs for seminarians! (Not so sure about the pope doing that though!)

Vatican News: Pope Leo to seminarians: Be passionate about priestly life

Pope Leo XIV welcomes some 4000 seminarians and formators to the Vatican for their Jubilee, offering them a meditation on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the priestly life. 

By Christopher Wells

Seminarians who have come to Rome for the Jubilee are not only pilgrims, but witnesses of hope, who “fuel the flame of hope in the life of the Church”, Pope Leo said on Tuesday morning.

In a meditation delivered in St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo told seminarians they are called to bear witness “to Christ’s gratitude and gratuitousness, to the exultation and joy, the tenderness and mercy of His Heart, to practice a style of welcome and closeness, of generous and selfless service, allowing the Holy Spirit to ‘anoint’ their humanity even before ordination.”

Learning to love as Jesus loves

The Holy Father emphasized, too, the importance of formation “centred on the heart”, of learning “to love as Jesus loved”.

This must be done through the development of the interior life, the first work of discernment, and involves returning to the heart, where we find “traces of God” and where God speaks to us.

Pope Leo said that formation of the interior life involves recognizing the deepest sentiments of the heart, “which help you discover the direction of your life.” He noted that the “privileged path” that leads to interiority is prayer, because without an encounter with God, “we cannot truly know ourselves”.

And he invited them to invoke the Holy Spirit frequently, “so that He may shape in you a docile heart, capable of perceiving God’s presence” in nature, art, literature, music, and science.

“Above all”, Pope Leo said, “learn how to listen, as Jesus did, to the often silent cry of the little ones, of the poor and the oppressed, and of the very many people, especially young people, who are searching for meaning in their lives.”

The Holy Father called on seminarians to learn to preserve and meditate on the events of their lives, as Mary did, in order to learn “the art of discernment”.

'Be passionate about the priestly life

Finally, Pope Leo invited seminarians to be meek and humble of heart, as Jesus was; and like Paul, to adopt the sentiments of Christ in order to grow in human maturity, and to reject all pretence and hypocrisy.

The task of seminarians, the Pope said in conclusion, is to “never settle for less, never be satisfied, not be passive recipients, but to be passionate about the priestly life, living in the present and looking to the future with a prophetic heart”.

Before leading them in the proclamation of the Nicene Creed, Pope Leo expressed his hope that seminarians might deepen their relationship with Christ, asking Him to make their hearts like His Sacred Heart, “which beats with love for each of you and for all humanity.”

IT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO SEE THE FACE OF CHRIST THAN THE FACE OF THE ORDAINED PRIEST…

 

MY BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH, BISHOP STEPHEN PARKES, CELEBRATES CORPUS CHRISTI AND THE CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION AT MY FORMER PARISH OF THE CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

 I was pastor at Most Holy Trinity from 1991 to 2004. In that time we completely restored the interior of the church and its Jardine pipe organ. The Church was consecrated in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War and the second bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Bishop John Barry is buried under the church with about 12 priests all from the 1800’s. He was pastor of Most Holy Trinity from 1845 to 1857 before being named Savannah’s second bishop. Unfortunately he died in 1859 in Paris, France. He laid the cornerstone for the new church building, the original going back to 1810. His body was brought back to Savannah and buried there, but later exhumed when Most Holy Trinity was completed and buried in the crypt of the church in an above ground tomb. 

The Jardine organ could not be sent from New York due to the blockade of the south by the north. It arrived in 1866 after the war and funding for it came from the Priest-poet of the Confederacy who was stationed at Most Holy Trinity at that time, Father Abram Ryan.

THE TLM EXTERNAL FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI AT SACRED HEART CHURCH, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, YOURS TRULY CELEBRANT…

 Here are a few photos from the External Feast of Corpus Christi on Sunday, June 22. We also had a Corpus Christi Procession following the Mass outside, returning for Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the Church. (As I post this, I do not have any outdoor pics of the procession, although there are a few of the Benediction part at the end of the procession):

SOLEMN HIGH LOW MASS MONDAY MORNING, JUNE 23 AT HOLY FAMILY CHURCH, HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

 I normally celebrate Monday and Thursday’s 8 AM Mass at Hilton Head Island’s Holy Family Church. Daily Mass has a large attendance there with many tourists taking advantage of daily Mass here. Holy Family caters to swarms of tourists each Sunday, especially during the tourist season which is in full throttle now. 

Many tourists also avail themselves to Confession which follows the 8 AM Mass Monday through Friday. 

We had two visiting priests this morning, one from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the other from the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois. 

In the last couple of years, I have come truly to appreciate a modest lectern stand to hold the Roman Missal at the celebrant’s chair. 

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TODAS, TODAS, TODAS ALONG WITH ACCOMPANIMENT????

 

Press title for Crux article:

Archbisho demands suspension of Marilyn Manson’s concert in Mexico

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Jun 23, 2025

|Contributor

JESUS MULTIPLIES THE LOAVES, DID POPE LEO XIV SAY JESUS MULTIPLIES THE LOAVES, YES HE DID, AND IN DOING SO HE SHARES WHAT HE MULTIPLIES AND THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGHT FROM THE MEAGER FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH THAT WERE. AND THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO FILL 12 WICKER BASKETS FULL! SOUNDS LIKE A MIRACLE TO ME AND POPE LEO EMPHASIZES IT!

MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST 

HOLY MASS, PROCESSION AND EUCHARISTIC BLESSING

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV

Saint John Lateran Square
Sunday, 22 June 2025

[Multimedia]

________________________________________

Dear brothers and sisters, it is wonderful to be in the presence of Jesus. The Gospel passage we just heard attests to this; it recounts how the crowds spent long hours listening to him speak about the Kingdom of God and seeing him heal the sick (cf. Lk 9:11). Jesus’ compassion for the suffering shows us the loving closeness of God, who comes into our world to save us. Where God reigns, we are set free from all evil. Yet even for those who accept the good news brought by Jesus, the hour of trial comes. In that deserted place, where the crowds were listening to the Master, evening fell and there was nothing to eat (cf. v. 12). The hunger of the people and the setting of the sun speak to us of a limit that looms over the world and every creature: the day ends, as does the life of every human being. At that hour of need and of gathering shadows, Jesus remains present in our midst.

Precisely when the day is ending and hunger sets in, as the Apostles themselves ask him to dismiss the crowds, Christ surprises us with his mercy. He feels compassion for those who are hungry and he invites his disciples to provide for them. Hunger is not foreign to the preaching of the Kingdom and the message of salvation. On the contrary, it speaks to us of our relationship with God. At the same time, five loaves and two fish seem completely inadequate to feed the people. The disciples’ calculations, apparently so reasonable, reveal their lack of faith. For where the Lord is present, we find all that we need to give strength and meaning to our lives.

Jesus responds to the appeal of hunger with the sign of sharing: he raises his eyes, recites the blessing, breaks the bread, and feeds all present (cf. v. 16). The Lord’s actions are not some complicated magical rite; they simply show his gratitude to the Father, his filial prayer and the fraternal communion sustained by the Holy Spirit. Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish by sharing what is available. As a result, there is enough for everyone. In fact, more than enough. After all had eaten their fill, twelve baskets-full were gathered up (cf. v. 17).

That is how Jesus satisfies the hunger of the crowd: he does what God does, and he teaches us to do the same. Today, in place of the crowds mentioned in the Gospel, entire peoples are suffering more as a result of the greed of others than from their own hunger. In stark contrast to the dire poverty of many, the amassing of wealth by a few is the sign of an arrogant indifference that produces pain and injustice. Rather than sharing, it squanders the fruits of the earth and human labour. Especially in this Jubilee Year, the Lord’s example is a yardstick that should guide our actions and our service: we are called to share our bread, to multiply hope and to proclaim the coming of God’s Kingdom.

In saving the crowds from hunger, Jesus proclaims that he will save everyone from death. That is the mystery of faith, which we celebrate in the sacrament of the Eucharist. For just as hunger is a sign of our radical needs in this life, so breaking bread is a sign of God’s gift of salvation.

Dear friends, Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his Body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you! Jesus’ invitation reflects our daily experience: in order to remain alive, we need to nourish ourselves with life, drawing it from plants and animals. Yet eating something dead reminds us that we too, no matter how much we eat, will one day die. On the other hand, when we partake of Jesus, the living and true Bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God. Our hungry nature bears the mark of a need that is satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist. As Saint Augustine writes, Christ is truly “panis qui reficit, et non deficit; panis qui sumi potest, consumi non potest” (Serm. 130, 2): he is bread that restores and does not run short; bread that can be eaten but not exhausted. The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real, and substantial presence of the Saviour (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), who transforms bread into himself in order to transform us into himself. Living and life-giving, the Corpus Domini makes us, the Church herself, the Body of the Lord.

For this reason, echoing the Apostle Paul (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), the Second Vatican Council teaches that “in the sacrament of the Eucharistic bread, the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both expressed and achieved. All are called to this union with Christ, who is the light of the world, from whom we come, through whom we live, and towards whom we direct our lives” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 3). The procession that we are about to undertake is a sign of that journey. Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him and carry him through the streets. In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences and the hearts of the people. To the hearts of those who believe, so that they may believe more firmly; to the hearts of those who do not believe, so that they may reflect on the hunger present within them and the bread that alone can satisfy it.

Strengthened by the food that God gives us, let us bring Jesus to the hearts of all, because Jesus involves everyone in his work of salvation by calling each of us to sit at his table. Blessed are those who are called, for they become witnesses of this love!

HMM! 🤔 BLACK SHORTS UNDER A WHITE CASSOCK??? 🧐

 Bishop Marino hosted a spectacular youth rally in his Diocese of Tortono, Italy. Amazing pics and black shorts!

POPE LEO’S ANGELUS MESSAGE FOR CORPUS CHRISTI IS BRILLIANT!

 

Pope Leo makes clear, that the Church’s mission, as exemplified in the Holy Mass, not only with the sanctification of the bread and wine on the altar to become the Body and Blood of Christ, also entails our sanctification to become the Body of Christ in the world. Why? For our salvation! For the salvation of the world! Brilliantly stated, Pope Leo!

I can’t wait for Pope Leo’s Corpus Christi Mass homily at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran this Sunday evening followed by the Corpus Christi procession to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major!

From Vatican News:

Pope at Angelus: Christ's Body and Blood, the ultimate sacrifice of love

At the Angelus on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Pope Leo XIV calls Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist "a sacrifice of love for the salvation of the world."

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"The Lord receives, sanctifies, and blesses the bread and wine that we place on the Altar, together with the offering of our lives, and transforms them into the Body and Blood of Christ, a sacrifice of love for the salvation of the world."

Pope Leo XIV offered this reminder during his Angelus address on Sunday.

In his remarks, the Pope recalled that today, in many places, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, with the Gospel reading according to St. Luke, which recounts the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

The passage describes how Jesus, in order to feed the thousands of people who had come to listen to Him and seek healing, invites the Apostles to offer Him the little they have and then blesses the loaves and the fish and commands them to distribute them to all.

The Pope recalled that the result is astonishing, for not only does everyone receive enough to eat, but there is even an abundance left over.

"This miracle, beyond being a prodigy, is a 'sign,'" Pope Leo observed, marveling how "it reminds us that God’s gifts—even the smallest—grow all the more when they are shared."

The Holy Father underscored that as the faithful read this passage on the feast of Corpus Christi, they are invited to reflect on an even deeper reality, namely, "a greater sharing" that precedes all human sharing, namely, "God's sharing with us."

How meaningful it is to receive a gift

"He, the Creator, who gave us life in order to save us," the Pope said, "asked one of His creatures to become His mother, to give Him a body—fragile, limited, mortal like ours—entrusting Himself to her like a child."

With this gesture, he said, the Lord "fully shared our poverty, choosing to use, for our redemption, precisely the little that we were able to offer Him."

Pope Leo called on Christians to consider "how beautiful it is when we give a gift—even a small one, according to our means—and see that it is appreciated by the one who receives it."

"How happy we are when we sense that, despite its simplicity," he said, "that gift draws us closer to those we love."

A sacrifice of love for the world's salvation

In the Eucharist, the Pope said, something similar happens between us and God, with the sanctification of the bread and wine on the altar, together with the offering of our lives, to transform them into Christ's Body and Blood to work toward the world's salvation.

"God," he reaffirmed, "unites Himself to us by joyfully accepting what we bring to Him," and "invites us to unite ourselves to Him by receiving and sharing with just as much joy His gift of love."

In this way, Pope Leo noted, citing St. Augustine, "Just as from many grains of wheat, gathered together, one bread is made, so in the concord of charity one body of Christ is formed.”

Corpus Christi celebration in Rome

Prior to concluding, the Holy Father noted that late Sunday afternoon he would lead the traditional Eucharistic Procession for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in Rome, beginning with Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and leading to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

"We will celebrate Holy Mass together, and then we will set out, carrying the Most Blessed Sacrament through the streets of our city," Pope Leo said. "We will sing, we will pray, and then we will gather in front of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, to implore the Lord’s blessing upon our homes, our families, and all humanity."

Finally, Pope Leo XIV concluded by praying that the celebration would be "a radiant sign of our commitment to be, each day—starting from the Altar and the Tabernacle—bearers of communion and peace to one another, in sharing and charity."

SOME BISHOPS, BUT NOT THE CURRENT BISHOP OF ROME OR BISHOP GUIDO MARINI, WANT TO BAN THIS LOOK AT THE MODERN MASS! WHAT HUBRIS!

 Bishop Guido Marini at Sunday’s Corpus Christi Mass at his cathedral Church in Tortona, Italy:

Beautiful Roman Vestments with grandma’s lace!

The glorious so-called “Benedictine” altar arrangement with a large central crucifix on the altar. This look could be banned in a diocese very close to me! UGH!

ON JUNE 29, 2022, I POSTED A COMMENTARY ON POPE FRANCIS’ LITURGICAL DOCUMENT DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI…

Traditionis Custodes has been implemented and continues to be implemented with an iron fist. Yet, Pope Francis Apostolic Letter DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI has been ignored altogether, first by the Vatican’s Dicastery of Divine Worship and secondly by bishops themselves, worldwide!

Why is that? Why the double standard?

I highlighted back then, June 29, 2022, the positive aspects of DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI as it concerns the Modern Mass and that Pope Francis demanded that “every rubric must be observed! 

Has any parish or priest been mandated by any bishop to follow Pope Francis’ demand in this regard. I haven’t heard of any!

Here’s my post from June 29, 2022:

PRESS HERE FOR THE POPE FRANCIS’ 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 fromthe 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 Traditioniscustodes, 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.