WHAT'S BETTER? TALIBAN CATHOLICS OR CATHOLIC LITE? IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY TALIBAN CATHOLIC!

John Allen is credited with inventing the term "Taliban Catholics" in regards to Catholics who desire the Church to return to orthodoxy and who promote the "hermeneutic of the reform of the reform with continuity" as Pope Benedict himself has set out as an agenda of his papacy.

William Oddie of the Catholic Herald in the United Kingdom writes:

John Allen, to be fair, isn’t himself entirely happy about having invented the term. This is how he explains himself. At a university meeting in Dallas, he spoke of the existence of two polarities in Catholic opinion: “On the one extreme lies what my friend and colleague George Weigel correctly terms ‘Catholicism Lite,’ meaning a watered-down, sold-out form of secularised religiosity, Catholic in name only. On the other is what I call ‘Taliban Catholicism’, meaning a distorted, angry form of the faith that knows only how to excoriate, condemn, and smash the TV sets of the modern world.’

“Some in the audience chuckled, but others weren’t so amused. One younger faculty member rose during the Q&A period to offer a thoughtful, and heartfelt, challenge:

” ‘To say things with clarity is not to be the Catholic Taliban,’ she said, adding that she found the phrase ‘profoundly offensive.’

” ‘There are no suicide bombers in the Catholic church,’ she said, ‘but we have had an epidemic of Catholicism Lite for the last 30 years.’ Younger Catholics, she insisted, should not be dismissed as fanatics simply because they seek ‘fidelity and clarity’.”

Read the full article in the Catholic Herald of the United Kingdom by William Oddie by Pressing this full sentence!

CARDINAL PELL OF AUSTRALIA HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD

Cardinal George C. Pell speaks about the unexpected aftermath of the Church following Vatican II:

Pope Paul VI appointed no bishops who were opposed to the ethos of Vatican II, and for various reasons the good bishops appointed in Holland were overwhelmed, tossed aside by the liberal gales. This brings me to another contemporary fact, which I never anticipated as a young seminarian in Rome during the Council or as a young priest. The now aged liberal wing of the Church, which dominated discussion after the Council and often the bishops and the emerging Church bureaucracies, has no following among young practicing Catholics, priests or religious. This is not only true in Australia, but everywhere in the Western world. In these different countries dominated by a secular media and intelligentsia, liberalism has no young Catholic progeny.

On reflection we should not find this surprising, as growth is tied to Gospel fidelity, to faith, love and sacrifice. After Vatican II many of us overestimated our cultural strengths and underestimated the virulence of anti-Christian forces. You need strong Christian foundations to participate productively in “open dialogue”. Without these roots the end of the road is agnosticism.


Haven't I been blogging about this too?

ARE YOU A CATHOLIC FUNDAMENTALIST AND PRE-VATICAN II? FOR SOME THESE TWO LABELS ARE THE WORST INSULT THAT CAN BE HURLED YOUR WAY!

In many quarters of the Church today and certainly in the mainline liberal, drive by media, to be labeled a fundamentalist Catholic, traditional and conservative is as bad as it once was to be called a "pre-Vatican II Catholic" by "post "spirit" of Vatican II" Catholics. It was a terrible insult!

An excerpt by Bill Donahue: What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church? Let’s face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago.

The British atheist Richard Dawkins is no fan of Catholicism. But he is honest enough to say that the Catholic Church “has been unfairly demonized over the issue, especially in Ireland and America.” Now if Dawkins gets it, why can’t others?

I saw this movie in 1971 with a girl friend. I was a senior in high school and 17 years old. What memories this trailer brings! Read on to see connections between this and the mentality of that age: Should the actress, Jennifer O'Neil be brought up on charges of sexual abuse today, some 40 years after making this movie and doing in this trailer alone what would get a priest today defrocked for having done 40 years ago?

Bill Donahue of the Catholic League has a way to instigate the adrenalin of social liberals who hate the Catholic Church, not so much because of the misguided management of priests who abused children and teenagers, although that might be laudable to some, but mostly because of the Church's teaching on sex: chastity before marriage for everyone even those not called to marriage, no same sex marriage, no artificial contraception,no abortion, no sex change operations, no divorce, so on and so forth. In the area of sex, the Catholic Church stands alone, except for Islam and the liberals are afraid to compare the Church to Islam, in upholding traditional sexual morality.

But let's face it, the pope, the Vatican, the bishops, the psychiatrists managed miscreant priests but they managed in a misguided way. The Church is not infallible when it comes to management or administration and makes no claims for such infallibility! Let us also face the fact that in the not to distant past, most families would not air their dirty laundry. They kept family secrets, well, secret. The Church which is an extended family did the same. This is a recipe for disaster, especially when airing dirty secrets becomes an obsession with the media hell bent on changing the Catholic Church's teachings on sex in every way possible or at least diminishing the authority of the Church in this area in the social arena.

But has the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. Is there an "Oprahfication" or "Jerry Springerization" of openness about one's scandals for entertainment purposes. Have you ever read the lurid details in newspaper article about the abuse heaped upon a victim by a priest, details that are seldom if ever mentioned in any other type of sex crime newspaper article?

There is an editorial in yesterday's Boston Glob, I mean, Globe, by a Catholic who simply wrings his hands over poor old, nasty Bill Donahue of the Catholic League and Donahue's insistence that the Catholic abuse scandal is not about pedophilia (abuse of small-prepubescent children), but about homosexual priests who preyed on adolescent boys, boys who have bodies that look like adults, but the mentality of a "dumb blond." In other words, in Donahue's book it's about homosexual lust, the lack of impulse control by these homosexual priests and the abuse of a "God-like" authority these priests had over their victims (which in fact is the darkest aspect of sexual abuse by clergy).

Yet, when a teacher in a public school happens to be a female teacher, who is quite beautiful and gets impregnated by her 6th grade student who happens to have already gone through puberty, she is treated as a celebrity by the media. Other female perpetrators who abuse their authority as teachers are treated the same.

Does anyone remember the movie "Summer of '42"? I saw it as a teenager and I thought it portrayed teenage boys experiencing every teenage boy who is a heterosexual, fantasy about having sex with an older, beautiful woman. It was portrayed as a "rite of passage" and delightful entertainment on the big screen: a woman who we would classify today but not in the 1970's as a predator of teenage boys for sex. If you saw the movie back in the 1970's, did you think she was a predator and the boys victims?

Shall we put the Hollywood producers on trial for glamorizing sexual abuse of teenage boys by an older woman? Keep in mind that movie was released in the early 1970's when evidently homosexual priests where wreaking havoc upon teenage boys in unprecedented numbers and only given a "wink and a nod" by those who might have suspected it. Today, no one wants to put a movie producer on trial for promoting the glamorization of an older woman having sex with teenage boys, but they sure do want to put the Church on trial as well as bishops and priests of this very same period for not thinking that this type of sexual abuse was worthy of a great deal of attention apart from a slap on the wrist.

I agree that sexual abuse is abuse, but the problem in the Catholic Church is about homosexual priests abusing their position as priests and taking advantage in a sexual way, either through inappropriate touch or more invasively of teenage boys. If these priests had been good looking female priestesses, they might have been treated as celebrities by today's media and the boys like the lucky "ducks" of the movie "Summer of '42".

But the bottom line is that the Boston Blob article thinks that Catholics who are fundamentalists and pre-Vatican II when it comes to sex are Neanderthals.

YOU CAN READ THE BOSTON GLOBE'S ARTICLE BY PRESSING THIS.

READ THE NEW YORK TIMES AD BY BILL DONAHUE HERE!

150 YEARS AGO TODAY THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES BEGAN IN ERNEST: IT DIVIDED THE NATION AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES BUT NOT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The War Between the States aka the Civil War (nothing civil about it) divided the nation and Protestant churches. For example the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists all became separated from their northern brothers and sisters.

But not so for Roman Catholics. Why is that?

THE DEARLY DEPARTED

When a Catholic consciously leaves the practice of the faith to join another Christian sect, does that choice have these consequences?

I learned the other day that one of my former parishioners in another town had left the Catholic Church and joined a "non-denominational" church, the kind that has worship that is kind of like a rock concert, where the church looks like an auditorium and there is a high emphasis on comfort during worship, like bringing food and drink into the "worship center" relaxed atmosphere, strong preaching on how to live your life within the power of positive thinking, and no personal challenge to one's personal morality.

The question is: do we as Catholics try to emulate what our non-denominational brothers and sisters are doing, change our music, our message and our reverence and allow a more comfortable atmosphere that is like going to a concert or do we just allow a more traditional but small and faithful Catholic Church to emerge? Just wondering.

THE NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MASS: MY PARISH LOVES IT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO BE IMPLEMENTED THIS ADVENT!

Prior to Ash Wednesday, I mailed to each one of our households, Liturgical Training Publications' booklet entitled, "Understanding the Revised Mass Texts." In addition this booklet was the text for our Lenten groups that meet each week of Lent. These are small groups with a leader and each leader was provided the leader's guide for this text.

On Wednesday April 27th I'll host all of the small groups and anyone else with a parish dinner and a wrap up session on the new translation and try to answer any questions people have.

As far as I can tell, it has been a great hit and people are really eager now to implement the new text this coming Advent. They especially like the fact that the Church has enough confidence in their religious intellect to once again allow them to pray in the Creed "consubtantial" and "incarnate," not to mention "gibbet!"

As well they really appreciated the explanation for the return to "and with your spirit."

For many, this booklet opened their eyes to how poorly translated the current English translation is of the the original Latin. They appreciate that the new English translation will recover the reverence used in the Latin when referring to the Jesus, the saints and the Church. Many feel that Catholics have lost a sense of the sacred not only in their Churches and at Mass but also in their lives at home and elsewhere.

This new translation of the English Mass is a wonderful opportunity for overall liturgical renewal in the Church.

DON'T TELL AUGUSTA THAT JESUS IS THE TRUE MASTER! IT WILL BE AS HOT AS HELL THERE AND IN MACON TODAY! 90 DEGREES. WINTER TO SUMMER INSTANTLY!

This is how hot it's going to be today in good old Macon and in my home town of Augusta! Sorry, I have no tickets for you or for me!


The Master's has a great website during the Masters. LOOK AT IT HERE!

A BRIGHT IDEA IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF!

Occasionally I get brainstorms and bright ideas that impressed even me. It happened again this morning as I was writing the General Intercessions for this Sunday's Mass. Why not conclude them with the Beijing Duck Collect for this Sunday. This would then expose the congregation to this delectable prayer and this would be licit to conclude the intercessions rather than illicit if prayed at the Collect. And since both translations of the very same Latin prayer have no resemblance to one another and the lame duck one truly impoverished, the congregation would not even feel that this is redundant.

So that's what we're doing this weekend with the General Intercessions until the First Sunday of Advent when the new English translation of the prayers will be in the right position and truly delicious!

LEFTOVER LAME DUCK; DELECTABLE BEIJING DUCK: THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT, THE BEGINNING OF PASSIONTIDE

PASSIONTIDE IS THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF LENT. DID YOU COVER YOUR CROSSES AND STATUES? AND BEFORE YOU SAY THAT VATICAN II DID AWAY WITH "PASSIONTIDE" THINK AGAIN, THE PREFACES FOR PASSIONTIDE BEGINNING MONDAY FOR DAILY MASS IS THE PREFACE FOR THE PASSION! I REST MY CASE.

Click on pictures twice to enlarge:





COLLECT

Current Lame Duck:

Father, help us to be like Christ your son,
who love the world and died for our salvation.
Inspire us by his love,
guide us by his example.

Forthcoming Beijing Duck:

By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God,
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
your Son handed himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,


AFTER COMMUNION

Current Lame Duck:

Almighty Father, by this sacrifice
may we always remain one with your Son, Jesus Christ,
whose body and blood we share,
for he is Lord for ever and ever.

Forthcoming Beijing Duck:

We pray, almighty God,
that we may always be counted among the members of Christ,
in whose Body and Blood we have communion.

NOW THIS IS SAD AND A SAD PRODUCT OF THE 1960'S AND 70'S; DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SPELL SCHISM & HERESY? READ ON!

While Roy Bourgeois, M.M. lives in our Diocese of Savannah in Columbus, GA, he has nothing to do with our diocese or any of our priests in that city and never has, except when he was in jail for his protests at Ft. Benning.

But more importantly, his letter covers all of the rationale I learned in the 1970's about why women have a "right" to be priests. It makes my stomach turn reading a rehash of all of this rubbish.

But at least he's honest and his honesty will get him ousted from Maryknoll.

No one has a right to the Sacrament of Holy Orders or the Sacrament of Marriage if there is any kind of impediment. No one has a right to Holy Communion either. And if there is an impediment, no one has a right to Baptism or Confirmation, the sacrament of Penance or the Anointing of the Sick. Homosexuals are excluded from the sacrament of marriage.

I don't care how much a person may feel God is calling them to a sacrament as though we are now reverting to the old hersey of Gnosticism, something only known to a small group of people, but not the Church's leadership, they are not called.

When I was vocation director, I told men that I recruited that I didn't care how much they felt God was calling them (and if they felt a direct line, I was even more suspicious) if the bishop didn't actually call them then they weren't called, pure and simple!

From the pen of Roy Bourgeois, M.M.

Rev. Edward Dougherty, M.M., Superior General
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers
P.O. Box 303 Maryknoll, NY 10545

April 8, 2011

Dear Father Dougherty and General Council,

Maryknoll has been my community, my family, for 44 years, so it is with great sadness that I received your letter of March 18, 2011 stating I must recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women, or I will be dismissed from Maryknoll.

When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to be a priest. I later entered Maryknoll and was ordained. I am grateful for finding the happiness, meaning and hope I was seeking in life.

For the past 20 years I have been speaking out and organizing against the injustice of the School of the Americas and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Over these years I discovered an injustice much closer to home – an injustice in my Church.

Devout women in our Church believe God is calling them to be priests, but they are rejected because the Church teaches that only baptized men can become priests. As a Catholic priest for 38 years, I believe our Church’s teaching that excludes women from the priesthood defies both faith and reason and cannot stand up to scrutiny for the following reasons:

(1) As Catholics, we believe that we were created in the image and likeness of God and that men and women are equal before God. Excluding women from the priesthood implies that men are superior to women.

(2) Catholic priests say that the call to be a priest is a gift and comes fromGod. How can we, as men, say: “Our call from God is authentic, but your call, as women, is not”? Who are we to reject God’s call of women to the priesthood? I believe our Creator who is the Source of life and called forth the sun and stars is certainly capable of calling women to be priests.

(3) We are told that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as apostles. As we know, Jesus did not ordain anyone. Jesus also chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, to be the first witness to His resurrection, which is at the core of our faith. Mary Magdalene became known as “the apostle to the apostles.”

(4) A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the Vatican’s top Scripture scholars, concluded that there is no valid case to be made against the ordination of women from the Scriptures. In the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian and other Christian churches, God’s call of women to the priesthood is affirmed and women are ordained. Why not in the Catholic church?

(5) The Holy Scriptures remind us in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither male nor female. In Christ Jesus you are one.” Furthermore, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World states: “Every type of discrimination … based on sex. .. is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”

After much reflection and many conversations with fellow priests and women, I believe sexism is at the root of excluding women from the priesthood. Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard we may try to justify discrimination against women, in the end, it is not the way of God. Sexism is about power. In the culture of clericalism many Catholic priests see the ordination of women as a threat to their power.

Our Church is in a crisis today because of the sexual abuse scandal and the closing of hundreds of churches because of a shortage of priests. When I entered Maryknoll we had over 300 seminarians. Today we have ten. For years we have been praying for more vocations to the priesthood. Our prayers have been answered. God is sending us women priests. Half the population are women. If we are to have a vibrant and healthy Church, we need the wisdom, experience and voices of women in the priesthood.

As Catholics, we believe in the primacy and sacredness of conscience. Our conscience is sacred because it gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their call from God to the priesthood. And it is my conscience that compels me to say publicly that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, against our Church and against our God who calls both men and women to the priesthood.

In his 1968 commentary on the Second Vatican Council’s document, Gaudium et Spes, Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, said: “Over the pope … there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, if necessary, even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”

What you are requiring of me is not possible without betraying my conscience. In essence, you are telling me to lie and say I do not believe that God calls both men and women to the priesthood. This I cannot do, therefore I will not recant.

Like the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement and the right of women to vote, the ordination of women is inevitable because it is rooted in justice. Wherever there is an injustice, silence is the voice of consent. I respectfully ask that my fellow priests, bishops, Church leaders in the Vatican and Catholics in the pews speak out and affirm God’s call of women to the priesthood.

Your Brother in Christ,

Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
P.O. Box 3330
Columbus, GA 31903

PHIL LAWLER HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD--ONE MORE SIGN OF THE NEED FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT IN THE CHURCH

Phil Lawler of Catholic Culture makes sense and hits the nail on the head. The credibility of the hierarchy has been breached and strong penalties whether from the Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Metropolitan of the dioceses of this area or from the Vatican itself should have dealt with it swiftly and several years ago. Squandering credibility in the Church should be considered a mortal sin.

READ PHIL LAWLER'S ARTICLE HERE!

THE RENEWAL OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND OF RELIGIOUS LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF THE YOUNG AND I THINK THEY WILL DO IT IF ONLY THE OLD GUARD GETS OUT OF THE WAY

Everything old is renewed again!

Fr. Justin in the center, 40 years from now!

Sister Elizabeth and all the Daughters of Charity in five years!

The young who would consider the priesthood or religious life are looking for dioceses and religious orders that are traditional, faithful to the Magisterium and profoundly spiritual but also community oriented. These are all the things that the "supposed" "renewal" of the priesthood and religious life dumped in favor of individualism, narcissism and secularism. Of course this first phase of "renewal" is really decay but it is bringing forth newer forms of religious life and candidates who don't want what was sold to the Church in the 1960's as "renewal". They want authentic renewal.

READ ALL ABOUT IT IN "THE REPUBLIC ARTICLE" BY PRESSING THIS SENTENCE.

OPPOSING THE POPE, BE YE TRADITIONALIST OR FLAMING LIBERAL, YE MISS THE MARK!

I've always said that traditionalists posed the greatest threat to Catholic unity because they are more focused, single-minded and united in their schism. Liberals are precisely that, liberal. They are all over the place, not given to unity and very narcissistic. That is not a good recipe for a unified schism. Liberals hate leadership that is focused, preferring the committee approach to leading--not good for a good schism.

At any rate read what Sandro Magister writes on his blog "High Up, Let Down By Pope Benedict". Press all of this to go to the article.

COMING THIS SUNDAY TO SAINT JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH, MACON--NOT!

UPDATE! UPDATE! I DIDN'T HAVE THE STOMACH TO WATCH MUCH OF THIS, BUT TOWARD THE 27TH MINUTE THE PRIEST HAS THE GENERAL INTERCESSIONS WHICH IS IN THE STYLE OF THE EASTERN, UKRAINIAN RITE OF THE CHURCH. TALK ABOUT BEING ECLECTIC! YIKES!
I think I'll take the 1960's Folk Mass over this any day!

This is a televised 2009 Mass for shut-ins. I think it qualifies for abuse of these poor people. It also indicates that "incultration" of musical styles dumped on the Mass is silly and counter-productive. It gives new meaning to the desire for "sacral" music for our liturgy, which includes melodies and instruments, not just words.

AND NOW FOR SOME ACADEMIC PONDERINGS ON THE CHURCH AND HER LITURGY

Fr.Christopher Smith has a very good academic article on the Chant Cafe.

Here are two paragraphs to tantalize you to read it:

The chief problem with this mindset is not the often sincere intentions for ecclesiastical renewal which accompanied it. This problem is expressed in two postulates. The first, is that there existed in the past some point of reference in which the liturgy, theology and Church life was pure, was what should be. This is incorrect, because the Church is never pure and what should be will only be in Heaven. The second, is that placing such a vision in dialogue with contemporary trends will renew the Church. This is also incorrect, because it assumes that such a dialogue and a renewal is always and everywhere possible.

After the Second Vatican Council, these two errors accompanied critiques of liturgy, theology, and Church life from left, right and center. Catholicism in the latter half of the twentieth century had imbibed the myth that there was out there a perfect way to do theology, make liturgy, and be the Church. If we read the memoirs of Annibale Bugnini and Cardinal Antonelli, both deeply involved in the Liturgical Reform and also divided by it, we can see that these two men in different ways took these postulates to be true, differing only in the details.

YOU CAN READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BY PRESSING THIS SENTENCE AND GOING TO THE CHANT CAFE AND READING,"CHALLENGING THE LITURGICAL STATUS QUO!

DISARRAY AT THE VATICAN: A POSSIBLE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT POPE?

The National Catholic Register, now owned by EWTN, but always a rather loyal, respected and orthodox newspaper and not to be confused with the National Catholic Reporter, which is its polar opposite, has an interview concerning some of the PR problems of the Vatican under Pope Benedict and the disarray in the Vatican due to "politics."

It's a fascinating inside look at what many people already perceive. Pope Benedict is a brilliant intellectual, down-to-earth teacher and wonderful liturgist. However, he is also 84 years old. He is a part of that "greatest generation" which is now passing.

Evidently his strong suit is not administration. Given the nature of communications today and the drive-by press, administration has to be very organized, unified and coherent. Bureaucracies need to be streamlined and everyone needs to be on the same page as the CEO, not that Pope Benedict is that, but he is partially that.

So the next pope has his work cut out for him:
--continuing the liturgical reform of this pope (save the liturgy, save the world)
--continuing strengthening the priestly identity of Catholic priests based upon sound doctrine
--continuing strenghtening the Catholic identity of Catholics moving them away from cafeteria Catholicism
--reorganizing the curia
--setting a new and coherent agenda for dealing with errant Catholic priests especially sins and crimes against the vow/promise of celibacy and in particular against children and minors. Bishops must be held accountable for their management of clergy.
--renewing the Vatican's international influence
--becoming more savvy with technology, communication and PR
--unifying Catholics under a strong Catholic ethic and orthodoxy

You can read the National Catholic Reporter's interview by pressing this entire sentence!

What suggestions do you have for the next pope?

My personal opinion, in terms of liturgy, is that when the Holy Father models liturgical renewal, but does not mandate them, this is perhaps an administrative gaff as it sends mixed messages to the Church. To whom is the Holy Father modeling his liturgical style? Obviously the world sees it, but only bishops can implement it on a diocesan level. But then you have priests doing what the pope is doing and bishops opposing their priests who are doing it because they rightly say it's not in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal with a particular country's adaptations which the Vatican itself has endorsed. This sort of confusion is not good.
The other peculiar situation is that the Holy Father did "mandate" the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but he himself has not modeled it. I find that peculiar. He models what is not mandated but does not model what is. Just my two cents worth.

WHO OF YOU IS A HERETIC? GET THEE TO THE STAKE!

Well, if you have to be burned at the stake, no better time than during Holy Mass, Extraordinary Form!


Sometimes good, conservative, orthodox (Catholics who liberally accept all the teachings of the Church, thus they are really "liberal") do have a tendency to call others heretics. So just what qualifies one to be a heretic?

I think this definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia is pretty good. What do you think?

Both matter and form of heresy admit of degrees which find expression in the following technical formula of theology and canon law. Pertinacious adhesion to a doctrine contradictory to a point of faith clearly defined by the Church is heresy pure and simple, heresy in the first degree. But if the doctrine in question has not been expressly "defined" or is not clearly proposed as an article of faith in the ordinary, authorized teaching of the Church, an opinion opposed to it is styled sententia haeresi proxima, that is, an opinion approaching heresy. Next, a doctrinal proposition, without directly contradicting a received dogma, may yet involve logical consequences at variance with revealed truth. Such a proposition is not heretical, it is a propositio theologice erronea, that is, erroneous in theology. Further, the opposition to an article of faith may not be strictly demonstrable, but only reach a certain degree of probability. In that case the doctrine is termed sententia de haeresi suspecta, haeresim sapiens; that is, an opinion suspected, or savouring, of heresy.

According to the definition above, what qualifies a person to be labeled a heretic and who can make the accusation? And if accused what should then happen?

EVEN THE TERMS PROGRESSIVE OR CONSERVATIVE HAVE NEW MEANINGS WITHIN THE HERMENEUTIC OF REFORM WITHIN CONTINUITY!

A STUDY IN TRUE CONTRASTS:

Today's truly liberal and progressive Catholics, the wave of the future, the hope of the Church:


Yesterday's neo-liberal, progressive Catholics, today's dinosaurs, waiting in the wings of total irrelevancy, a dying breed, angry and sour about their state in life and in the Church, unable to change and keep up with modern Catholicism:


Once upon a time a liberal was considered someone who lived by the "spirit of Vatican II." That meant going well beyond the documents of Vatican II and living as though one had already experienced a more liberating council such as Vatican III.

Liberals rejected hierarchy, Latin liturgy, habits, consistent ritual, and preferred to make it up as you go, not just with liturgy, but even with decision making in the church both on the parish level, diocesan level and even universal level. In other words, liberals were anarchists doing their own thing, very similar to the political anarchists of the 1960's and 70's. These groups have much in common and sometimes are the same people.

Today, these children of the 70's live in the world of not wanting to change much like those these very same people accused of doing the same thing back in the good old 1960's. Older people just don't like a lot of change especially if they have worked a life time bringing about a scenario with which they are very comfortable.

These old liberals from the 1970's fear that the new English translation of the Mass, the return of the Tridentine Mass and the consolidation of Catholic identity under the banner of the pope and bishops is like returning tO the past they overturned. They simply can't take it. This change is too much for them. They become angry, depressed old fuddy duddies! Sometimes they aren't even in their 60's yet, but fast approaching.

Today a progressive in the Church is one who embraces the hermeneutic of reform within continuity. Parishes that are liberal have two forms of the one Latin Rite, both the Ordinary and Extraordinary.

Liberal and progressive parishes today are embracing the new English translation of the Mass with great excitment and zeal. They see it as a long needed reform that will lead to a broader liturgical renweal as the Second Vatican Council envisioned.

Liberals today are not into doom and gloom. They don't lament this new changed toward a fortified Catholic identity. They embrace the present and future with a great deal of hope. They don't whine and complain about the Church, the hierarchy or how decisions came to be. They are obedient to the Church in the areas of faith, morals, canon law and discipline.

Those who want to live as though we are still in the 1970's, who want to keep things as they were way back then and try to re-accelerate the deconstruction of the Church they fought so long and hard to bring about are dinosaurs of the past. They are the living dead, walking in a daze, wondering what happened and how much more time they have left before it's all over and they are truly irrelevant for they have returned to the dust from which they came and will then meet their maker for their personal judgment, a judgment that will be rather authoritative and without an appeals process or a committee determining it.

Let us embrace our new liberals. They are the hope for the future. Let us care for the old outdated ones. Christian charity demands it.

THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY IN THE LITURGY

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

The following interview with Msgr. Guido Marini, papal master of ceremonies, appeared the Polish Sunday Catholic Weekly online.

Wlodzimierz Redzioch: – What does the collaboration between Benedict XVI and his Master of Ceremonies look like? Does the Pope decide about everything?

Msgr. Guido Marini: – At first, I would like to stress that the celebrations the Holy Father presides over are to be the points of reference for the whole Church. The Pope is the highest priest, the one who offers the sacrifice of the Church, the one who shows the liturgical teaching through celebrations – the point of reference for all. Considering this explanation it is easier to understand what the style of collaboration between the Papal Master of Ceremonies and the Holy Father should be. One should act in the way to make the papal liturgies the expressions of his authentic liturgical orientation. Therefore, the Papal Master of Ceremonies must be a humble and faithful servant of the liturgy of the Church. I have understood my work in the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations in this way since the very beginning.

– We all can see the changes introduced to the liturgical celebrations by Benedict XVI. How can we synthesize these changes?

– I think that these changes can be synthesized in the following way: first of all, these are changes made in accordance with the logic of development of continuity with the past. So we do not deal with breaking with the past and juxtaposing with the former pontificates. Secondly, the introduced changes serve to evoke the true spirit of liturgy like the Second Vatican Council wanted, ‘The "subject" of the liturgy's intrinsic beauty is Christ himself, risen and glorified in the Holy Spirit, who includes the Church in his work.’

– Celebrations directed towards the cross, Holy Communion received directly by mouth and while keeling, longer moments of silence and meditation – these are the most visible liturgical changes introduced by Benedict XVI. Unfortunately, many people do not understand the theological and historical meanings of these changes and what is worse, they can see them as ‘return to the past.’ Can you briefly explain the meanings of these changes?

– To tell you the truth our office has received many testimonies of the faithful who have favourably received the changes introduced by the Pope because they see them as the authentic renewal of the liturgy. As for the significance of some changes I will say a few synthetic reflections. Celebrating towards the cross stresses the correct direction of liturgical prayer, i.e. towards God; during prayers the faithful are not to look at themselves but should direct their eyes towards the Saviour. Giving hosts to people kneeling aims to giving value to the aspect of adoration both as the fundamental element of celebration and the necessary attitude while facing the mystery of God’s real presence in the Eucharist. During the liturgical celebration prayer assumes various forms: words, songs, music, gestures and silence. Furthermore, moments of silence let us participate truly in the act of worship, and what’s more, from the inside evoke every other form of prayer.

– The Pope attaches importance to the liturgical vestments. Is it a matter of pure aestheticism?

– In order to understand better the Pope’s ideas concerning the meaning of the beauty as an important element of liturgical celebrations I would like to quote the apostolic exhortation ‘Sacramentum caritatis, ’This relationship between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor. […] This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed himself to us in the paschal mystery. […] The beauty of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime expression of God's glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of heaven on earth. Beauty, then, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation.’

– Benedict XVI has changed his pastoral staff – currently he is using the cross-shaped staff. Why?

– I would like to remind you that till the pontificate of Pope Paul VI popes did not use crosiers at all; on special occasions they carried a ferula (cross-shaped staff). Pope Montini, Paul VI, introduced a cross-shaped crosier. And so did Benedict XVI till the Pentecost Sunday of 2008. Since then he has been using ferula because he thinks that it is more suitable for the papal liturgy.

– Why is it so important that the Church preserves using Latin in the liturgy?

– Although the Second Vatican Council introduced national languages it recommended using Latin in the liturgy. I think it is for two reasons that we should not give up Latin. Above all, we have a great liturgical legacy of Latin: from the Gregorian chant to polyphony as well as ‘testi venerandi’ (sacred texts) that Christians have used for ages. Besides, Latin allows us to show catholicity and universality of the Church. We can experience this universality in a unique way in St Peter’s Basilica and during other international gatherings when men and women from all continents, nationalities, languages, sing and pray in the same language. Who will not feel at home when being at church abroad can join his/her brothers in the faith at least in some parts by using Latin?

– Do you agree that the faith of priest is expressed in the liturgy in a special way?

– I have no doubts about it. Since the liturgy is the celebration of Christ’s mystery here and now the priest is called to express his faith in a twofold way. Firstly, he should celebrate with eyes of the one that looks beyond the visible reality to ‘touch’ what is invisible, i.e. God’s presence and work. It is ‘ars celebrandi’ (art of celebration) that lets the faithful check whether the liturgy is only a performance, spectacle for the priest or whether it is a vivid and attractive relation with Christ’s mystery. Secondly, after the celebration the priest is renewed and ready to follow what he has experienced, i.e. make his life a celebration of Christ’s mystery.

"Niedziela" 14/2011

AS THOUGH A COLONY OF RATS ISN'T ENOUGH, NOW WE HAVE A SWARM OF BEES IN A HUGE BEEHIVE BY THE RECTORY DOOR. WHAT'S NEXT LOCUST????

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE: THE SWARM OF BEES WAS NOT A BEEHIVE AT ALL, BUT A SWARM OF BEES RESTING!!!! I WAS OFF YESTERDAY, BUT I WAS TOLD BY OUR PAROCHIAL VICAR, FR. JUSTIN THAT SOMEONE TOLD HIM AFTER SUNDAY'S 5:00 PM MASS THAT THE QUEEN BEE (THESE WERE HONEY BEES) DECIDES WHERE TO REST AND THEY ALL SWARMED AROUND HER. THEY DEPARTED YESTERDAY! THIS MASS OF BEES WAS PRECISELY THAT A MASS OF BEES, NO BEEHIVE WHATSOEVER. NATURE! YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE IT, EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO RATS WHO TAKE UP RESIDENCE IN YOUR HOME. MORE ON THAT LATER.

This beehive is about three basketballs big, swarming with bees and we didn't see it until this afternoon! Tiger, lions and bears, forget it! Rats, bees and maybe locusts! That's our pestilence! Exorcisms to the rescue!

CLICK TWICE TO ENLARGE!

CURRENT TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME RETURNS TO MY RECTORY LIFE!!!

GOOD MORNING CHURCH!

Fr. Justin, our parochial vicar, just informed me in the sacristy as he was vesting for the 7:45 AM Mass, that a little tray of "Decon" rat poison which we had left outside his bedroom next to our linen closet since the last round of five huge rats invaded the rectory in May of last year, one sticking around until October, had been tampered with.

We had seen minor evidence of the return of one of these rectory rats on April Fools Day and I thought Fr. Justin was the prankster! No such luck.

Almost as a divining rod within the Psyche of my post-traumatic stress syndrome that I still have about rats in the rectory, I was guided to our upstairs living room. I just stood there and looked about and by the side of the couch I noticed in the dim light a dark object. I went closer and sure enough it was a rat in a trap that we've had up there since last summer and which I didn't know was still there! And sure enough, unlike the genius rat we killed in October, not too far from this trap, a rat, although a bit smaller than the the genius one, had fell for the trap and placed his head in it for a morsel of food. He must have been delirious from eating the decon a few moments earlier!

Now the question for my current traumatic stress syndrome on top of my post traumatic rat stress syndrome is, how the hell did this critter get into the house and are there more??????? What kind of cross is this? You have no idea what this does to me at night when I am in bed!
Click to enlarge!

NEW AND IMPROVED; OLD AND ANTIQUATED: GUESS WHICH ONE IS WHICH!

I wonder if there is any hermeneutic of continuity between these two celebrations of Mass?

YOUR NOT SUPPOSE TO SING THE GLORIA DURING LENT UNLESS IT'S A SOLEMNITY!

I love this Latin Gloria, but I'm not sure I would like it for the EF or the OF Mass. What do you think?

LAME DUCK AND BEIJING DUCK TIME AS WELL AS THE REAL EF MASS FOR LAETARE SUNDAY, PINK THAT IS, WILD ROSE! CATHOLIC TEA!

After my editorial below, I have the Lame Duck and Beijing Duck translations for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Laetarae Sunday. Then below that I have the 4th Sunday in Lent for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which we are celebrating this Sunday at 2:00 PM as a High or Sung Mass. Our men's schola who are not our men's folk schola will sing the propers in Gregorian Chant and that's no April Fools'! And yes at both the EF and OF Masses, the priest will wear rose! Sadly though, I ordered a rose dalmatic for our deacons to wear after being convinced by one of them that they have a right to one, but it hasn't arrived yet. But in Beijing Advent, 3rd Sunday, he'll have it!

In a previous post I acknowledged that some of the Beijing Duck translations while very accurate theologically and doctrinally, compared to the Lame Duck ones we are currently praying, were nonetheless a bit clunky, but that I'd take clunkiness over lame duckness. But really, the newly translated prayers, ever faithful to the Latin, its syntax, theology, doctrine and piety are really marvelous. I hope we have them for a very long time, at least until I die!

At a certain unnamed blog that is filled with doom and gloom about the new translation, its all about how people will accept it as though Catholics are contrary, irrational, narrow-minded pygmies when it comes to the good of the Church and obedience to legitimate authority in the areas of faith, morals, and church discipline. They promote that closed circle, horizontal view of Church so typified in modern, circular church architecture that leaves little room for the vertical transcendent acknowledgment of God and openness to Him and His will, as well as humble obedience to that which we may not always want for ourselves. Seldom on that blog do we read anything approximating what would please God, only what will please "man."

Catholic identity at one time was based upon humility and awe in the presence of God especially in our experience of the Mass, even when celebrated poorly and relying totally on "ex opere operato." Today there is a haughtiness and narcissism that seems to have corrupted our more pristine Catholic identity. I think the new translation of the Mass will return us to our true Catholic identity. The "law of prayer is the law of belief." The lame duck translation lends itself to haughtiness of heart, the new Beijing Duck lends itself to acknowledging we are creatures of God, not His equal! That should humble us once again!
Pretend these are pink or rose vestments:

COLLECT

Current Lame Duck:

Father of peace,
we are joyful in your Word,
your Son Jesus Christ,
who reconciles us to you.
Let us hasten toward Easter
with the eagerness of faith and love.

Forthcoming Beijing Duck:

O God, who through your Word
reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way,
grant, we pray,
that with prompt devotion and eager faith
the Christian people may hasten
toward the solemn celebrations to come.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Current Lame Duck:

Father, you enlighten all who come into the world.
Fill our hearts with the light of your gospel,
that our thoughts may please you,
and our love be sincere.

Forthcoming Beijing Duck:

O God, who enlighten everyone who comes into this world,
illuminate our hearts, we pray,
with the splendor of your grace,
that we may always ponder
what is worthy and pleasing to your majesty
and love you in all sincerity.

Pretend this is a rose vestment:

The Extraordinary Form of the Mass for the 4th Sunday in Lent. Keep in mind that this English translation is unofficial, properly translated by one person who was hired by the company that produced the English translation of the missal for their hand missal. While the post Vatican II Liturgy Committee for reforming the Mass revised many prayers even in Latin, you'll note that these English translated prayers look a lot like the Beijing ones we'll get for the OF Mass in Advent. The reason for that is that this translation is faithful to the Latin original which is not too much to ask.

INTROIT
Isaias 66: 10,11
Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. -- (Ps. 121. 1). I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- Rejoice, O Jerusalem . . .

COLLECT - Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who are justly afflicted for our deeds, may be relieved by the consolation of Thy grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost . . .

EPISTLE
Galatians 4: 22-31
Brethren, It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise; which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from Mount Sinai, engendering unto bondage: which is Agar; for Sinai is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born according to the flesh persecuted him that was after the spirit: so also it is now. But what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman but of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.

GRADUAL
Psalm 121: 1, 7
I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V.: Let peace be in Thy strength: and abundance in Thy towers

TRACT
Psalm 124: 1 - 2
They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. V.: Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth now and for ever.

GOSPEL
John 6: 1-15

At that time Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias: and a great multitude followed Him, because they saw the miracles which He did on them that were diseased. Jesus therefore went up into a mountain: and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus therefore had lifted up His eyes, and seen that a very great multitude cometh to Him, He said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this He said to try him: for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him: Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. One of His disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to Him: There is a boy that hath five barley loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. The men therefore say down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to them that were set down: in like manner also of the fishes, as much as they would. And when they were filled, He said to His disciples: Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. They gathered up therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above to them that had eaten. Now those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This is of a truth the Prophet that is to come into the world. Jesus therefore, when He knew that they would come to take Him by force and make Him king, fled again into the mountain, Himself alone.

OFFERTORY
Psalm 134: 3,6
Praise ye the Lord, for He is good: sing ye to His Name, for He is sweet: whatsoever He pleased, He hath done in heaven and in earth.

SECRET - Look favorably upon these present Sacrifices, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that they may profit us both unto devotion and salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . .

PREFACE (Preface for Lent) - It it truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who by this bodily fast, dost curb our vices, dost lift up our minds and bestow on us strength and rewards; through Christ our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominations worship it, the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with these we entreat Thee that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted while we say with lowly praise:

COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Psalm 83: 4, 5
The sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest, where she may lay her young ones: Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God: blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, they shall praise Thee for ever and ever

POST COMMUNION - Look favorably upon these present Sacrifices, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that they may profit us both unto devotion and salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . .

A BLAST FROM THE PAST, EF MASS WITH ELVIS SINGING AT IT!

This is a time capsule to say the least. Elvis is singing at a EF Mass in the movie "A Change of Habit" starring him and Mary Tyler Moore! It is about five minutes long, but if you are impatient go to minute 2:21 or so and you'll see the EF Mass and Elvis singing away! I'm so nostalgic!

THE HERMENEUTIC OF CONTINUITY AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, THIS SUNDAY, GRAVITATIONAL PULL ON THE EF MASS FROM THE OF MASS!

The 4th Sunday of Lent is Pink Sunday, Rose by another name! See what our Liturgy Committee has planned for our monthly EF High Pink Mass!

As it our custom, the First Sunday of each month we celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass as a High Mass at 2:00 PM. Since it is Laetarae Sunday, a joyfilled Sunday to rejoice and be glad that we are mid way through Lent, what better Sunday than to showcase the hermeneutic of continuity between the two forms of the one Roman Rite; to show the gravitational pull of the OF Mass on the EF Mass. Please note our EF Liturgy for Sunday planned by our Liturgy Committee. It should be precious and meaningful!:

At the Procession: All: "And the Father will Dance, as on the Day of Joy!" The Liturgical Procession will be preceded by Liturgy Dancers!

INTROIT
Isaias 66: 10,11
Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. -- (Ps. 121. 1). I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- Rejoice, O Jerusalem . . .

COLLECT - Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who are justly afflicted for our deeds, may be relieved by the consolation of Thy grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost . . .

EPISTLE
Galatians 4: 22-31

GRADUAL (The Liturgy Committee felt that it would be more meaningful if the Gradual and Tract would be replaced this Sunday by "Leaping the Mountains" sung by the men's folk schola. Please check the lyrics after the tract:
Psalm 121: 1, 7
I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. V.: Let peace be in Thy strength: and abundance in Thy towers

TRACT
Psalm 124: 1 - 2
They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. V.: Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about His people, from henceforth now and for ever.

Instead:
Leaping The Mountains Lyrics
Chorus:
Leaping the mountains
Bounding the hills
See how our God has come to meet us
His voice is lifted
His face is joy
Now is the season to sing our song on high

Come, then, O Lord of glory, show us Your face
Speak, for we know Your words are life

Chorus

He pastures His flock among the wildflowers
And leads them to the mountain of His love

Chorus

All through the day, all through the night
Sing to the Lord and know His love

Chorus

GOSPEL
John 6: 1-15


OFFERTORY
Psalm 134: 3,6
Praise ye the Lord, for He is good: sing ye to His Name, for He is sweet: whatsoever He pleased, He hath done in heaven and in earth.

After the Offertory Antiphon, the congregation will sing, "Dance Then, Wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance said He!" The Lady's Dance ensemble will act out the words in dance!


SECRET - Look favorably upon these present Sacrifices, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that they may profit us both unto devotion and salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . .

PREFACE (Preface for Lent) - :

COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Psalm 83: 4, 5
The sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest, where she may lay her young ones: Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God: blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, they shall praise Thee for ever and ever

After the Communion Antiphon is chanted, The Communion Procession will commence in a dance style as the congregation and choir sing, "All Are Welcome!"
POST COMMUNION - Look favorably upon these present Sacrifices, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that they may profit us both unto devotion and salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . .

After the Last Gospel, the celebrant will pass out Holy Cards featuring Pink Floyd:



The Recessional Hymn:
"Lo How Er Rose Er Blooming" accompanied by Bagpipe, guitar, banjo, snare drum and flute.


CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!