WILL WE EMBRACE OUR FAITH OR RUN WITH THE GOVERNMENT?

Dallas, Texas, Nov 8, 2011 / 06:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
Increasing hostility to religion and growing restrictions on religious expression are “the biggest challenge the pro-life movement faces,” Bishop James D. Conley told a benefit for a Dallas pro-life group.

“If we think it’s been hard over these past four decades, I think the biggest challenges we face lie ahead of us,” the apostolic administrator of the Denver archdiocese said Nov. 5.

“America today is becoming what I would call an atheocracy — a society that is actively hostile to religious faith and religious believers. And I might add — the faith that our society is most hostile toward is Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular.”

The bishop’s comments came in his address to the annual benefit dinner for St. Joseph’s Helpers and the White Rose Women’s Center in Dallas, Texas.

Secularism, Bishop Conley said, is not simple neutrality towards religious beliefs. American elites are not neutral towards religion, but are “deliberately engaged in a process that aims to remove all traces of religious faith from our public life!”

This creates “publicly enforced religious indifferentism” in which Americans participating in civic life must first agree to think and act as if they have no religious convictions or motivations at all.

This “atheocracy” has no ultimate truths or inviolable ethical principles for its guidance.

“Hence, it has no foundation upon which to establish justice, secure true freedom, or to constrain tyrants,” Bishop Conley said, citing John Paul II’s warning that a democracy without values easily turns into “open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.”

“God, not government, is the only sure guarantee of human rights and the blessings of our liberty. We need to live as if we believe that,” the bishop said. “Only a people who believes these truths to be sacred and self-evident can build a society worthy of men and women created by God.”

And read this chilling article:

New York governor: opponents of same-sex ‘marriage’ just ‘want to discriminate,’ are ‘anti-American’
BY PATRICK B. CRAINE
Wed Oct 26, 2011

NEW YORK, October 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An employee with the New York Archdiocese warned of an “impending persecution” after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called same-sex “marriage” opponents discriminatory and “anti-American” last week.

The governor, who was instrumental in the state’s passage of same-sex “marriage” in June, was asked at a New York Times forum which arguments against same-sex “marriage” he found compelling.

“None,” he said. “There is no answer from the opposition. There really isn’t. Ultimately, it’s, ‘I want to discriminate.’ And that’s anti-New York. It’s anti-American.”

Ed Mechmann of the Archdiocese of New York’s Family Life Office said it is “chilling” that the state’s top official would declare such a large segment of the population as “political pariahs.” He warned Catholics of an “impending persecution,” saying that Cuomo has effectively “declared us to be enemies of the state and nation.”

THE BEAUTY OF THE MASS IN BOTH FORMS

Thanks to Pope Benedict, I am privileged to celebrate on a regular basis the two forms of the one Roman Rite, the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form.

I was ordained in 1980 and experimented wildly the more progressive ways of celebrating the Mass, although I tried to do it well. When I was assigned to our Cathedral in Savannah in 1985 not only as Associate Pastor, but more importantly as Diocesan Master of Ceremonies and Director of Liturgy, I realized that the Cathedral should be the "template" of how the Liturgies of the Church should be celebrated and that the Cathedral in particular should have "cathedral" liturgies!

It also helped that Bishop Emeritus Raymond W. Lessard knew a thing or two about Liturgy and Vatican II and decidedly put his thumb down on my free-lancing ways as it regards ad libbing at Mass. But that's another story, although I do tend to be a bit progressive to this day. It is no secret that St. Joseph Cathedral, I mean Church, in Macon has already implemented the Corrected Translation of the Mass and months before it is mandated. Of course I've done this with permission of another bishop emeritus although I don't think that he would have interpreted his permission as broadly as I did! Sometimes you just can't exorcised the 1970's out of a priest who went to the seminary in the 1970's; it wouldn't be natural!

I must admit though that celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has truly and in a most positive way made me look at how I celebrate the Ordinary Form and to be more careful in observing the Ordinary Form's rubrics and signs of reverence.

As far as the Extraordinary Form, I do try to bring the less "robotic" implementation of the rubrics that I have learned from the Ordinary Form to its celebration, but not wildly so.

I don't foresee the Ordinary Form changing in the way it is celebrated for the distant future. I do see a renewed emphasis on "saying the black (words of the Mass) and doing the "red" the rubrics of the Mass and in a factitious way.

The corrected English translation brings the English Mass to what the reformed Latin Mass of Post Vatican II actually is in language, devotion, spirituality and reverence. Those who revised the Mass after Vatican II and did so in Latin first, did understand the "hermeneutic of continuity" as it regards the 1970 Roman Missal and the 1962 Roman Missal.

It was those who translated the Reformed Latin Mass into the various languages in particular into English that implemented the "hermeneutic of rupture" as it regards the theology, devotion and reverence of the Mass reformed in Latin.

But if that wasn't bad enough, it was liturgical theologians and liturgical musicians schooled in the hermeneutic of discontinuity who leaped frogged the Mass into the abysmal state of irregularity that most parishes experience today.

More progressive blogs whose editors have serious authority issues especially with the bishops of the Church misplace their fear of authoritarianism as it regards the Liturgy. They should fear themselves and rebel against themselves.

Those we should fear are progressive liturgical theologians and musicians who influence ordinary parish priests and so-called liturgy committees and have brought about the worst kind of iconoclasm as it concerns our churches, liturgy and music. These characters steal authority and exercise it in the most insidious way possible. It is their authority that should be questioned, mocked and overturned. The old saying that the difference between a terrorist and a liturgist (musician) is that you can negotiate with a terrorist rings true with these progressive ones!

Fortunately there is a new breed of liturgical theologian and musician. You can read about them and see their leadership at the Chant Cafe and The New Liturgical Movement. The spirit of the "reform of the reform" is alive and well there and is the hope of the liturgy for the future.

So if the Ordinary Form of the Mass is what we will have for sometime into the distant future, what could be changed or mandated or made "rubrical" about it that would bring it into closer conformity with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass?

I'm not clairvoyant, but maybe I am, so these are what I see in my crystal ball:

1. The official chants of the Mass, the Introit, Offertory and Communion antiphons must be chanted and never substituted by a hymn of some other kind. (That doesn't mean hymns can't be sung, these simply can't replace the official chants). This is the case already with the Extraordinary Form.

2. The Benedictine Altar arrangement will be mandated. Then the option of ad orientem will be made more explicit and with specific requirements as to whose authority this option belongs, but ad populum will not be outlawed. (Keep in mind the Extraordinary Form of the Mass can be celebrated toward the people too, there is no rubric saying it can't!) But one would have to have the so-called "Benedictine altar arrangement" if ad populum is chosen for the Extraordinary Form.

3. Kneeling for Holy Communion will be the mandated norm although standing won't be outlawed.

4. Holy Communion in the hand will be banned and Holy Communion on the tongue will be the norm. If Holy Communion in the hand is continued, it will be modified according to the ancient tradition that the Episcopalians follow today: The Sacred Host is place on the palm of the right hand with the left hand under the right hand. Then one does not take the host with his/her fingers, but rather brings both hands in the throne position to the mouth for the Host and any fragments to be taken into the mouth with the lick of the tongue!

5. The common chalice will be eliminated but intinction will be allowed on the most liberal basis according to local choices.

MY TOP FIVE FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR ALL SOULS' REQUIEM IN THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM

Thanks again to Dr. Buck Melton and his artistic flair in capturing these images. These are my top five favorites. Firstly because they capture the beauty of our church which is truly stunning and secondly I like the ethereal quality of the black and white shots. One would think we are back in the 1950's (and many say that I am with this EF Mass, but I digress)but we're really with it and with what Holy Mother Church allows today and rich it is!

Click on photograph to enlarge, then click on "original" and then at the original photo click again to super enlarge:


What did the good deacon forget to do in this candid camera shot? Of course I was oblivious to anything going on behind me!


The choir and congregation kneeling for the "Ecce Agnus Dei"

ALL SOULS REVEALED!

These photos taken by Dr. Buck Melton, Writer in Residence at Mercer University, are in no particular order, but you can figure it out. This is our Solemn Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form for All Souls' Day. Father Dawid Kwiatkowski is the Deacon and Deacon Donald Coates is the Sub-deacon. Please note our scroll of the dead which our parishioner Cathy Shiftlet does for us each year. It contains the names of those who died in our parish since November 1st of last year. There is an additional book for people to write other names of the faithful departed they wish to remember. These remain in the church through Christ the King Sunday. I'm always startled to see how many funerals we have each year here! Fortunately our baptisms outnumber the funerals!

CLICK A COUPLE OF TIMES ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT:

IT REALLY IS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!

Archbishop James H. MacDonald, CSC, Archbishop Emeritus of St. John's, Newfoundland. He's on the far left, his sister Marie and brother-in-law Richard Renaud

About two months ago my secretary told me I had a call from a "relative" who had called twice before but I was out. So I picked up the phone and this man said, "Hello, I'm Archbishop MacDonald." At first I thought it was a relative of mine being silly and I almost said to him, "Ya, sure!"

Fortunately I didn't for the man was Archbishop James MacDonald, the retired Archbishop of Saint John, Newfoundland. Prior to that he was the Bishop of Prince Edward Island, right next to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and prior to that he had been an auxiliary bishop in Hamilton,Ontario. He started off as a Canadian Holy Cross Priest. He's now 86 years old and enjoying retirement.

He called to tell me he would be in Macon on November 2 and wanted to visit with me. I had a very nice visit with him yesterday here at St. Joseph.

He is very familiar with the little hamlet of Judique, Cape Breton where my father was born and reared. His mother was from there and she is related to my father's mother "Eliza McDougal." So we're distant cousins.

But the really odd thing is that about two weeks ago, he was celebrating Mass in Windsor, Ontario where he now lives and after Mass, an older couple introduced themselves to him. He asked where they were from and they said from Macon, Georgia. Astonished, he said that he was going to Macon in two weeks to see a relative of his. They asked what is his name?
Father Allan MacDonald he said. They answered astonished, "that's our pastor!"

In fact Marie and Harold Kelly told me about a month ago they were going to Canada. Marie is from there, in fact, an oddly enough again, from Prince Edward Island. They just happened to pick the Church where Archbishop MacDonald was celebrating Mass in Windsor!

WHICH FORM OF THE MASS DO YOU THINK THIS IS?

Press the link below for more sumptuous pictures and guess which form of the Mass it is. Talk about the hermeneutic of continuity!

MYSTERY MASS--WHICH FORM? PRESS HERE FOR MORE PICTURES AND SCROLL DOWN--FROM THE NEW LITURGICAL MOVEMENT WEBSITE

IT'S NO WONDER WHY ACTORS DON'T LIKE WORKING WITH CHILDREN!

If you think it is easy to pull off a Solemn Sung High Mass for the Commemoration of All Souls with the choir singing Faure's Requiem, you just don't know! And then when all is said and done, a child steals the show! The Requiem was splendid and gives meaning to the saying that the EF Mass produces an abundance of sumptuous spiritual fruits born of interior participation and contemplation. It helps kindle the fire of faith, love and connectedness with our faithful departed who with us (although in a sacramental way) see the Face of God. More pictures as these become available!

EXTRAORDINARY FORM SOLEMN SUNG REQUIEM FOR ALL SOULS, TONIGHT AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, GEORGIA

Not our choir, but this will be sung tonight, but in a simpler fashion by our combined choirs under the direction of Nelda Chapman:

The images below are from our first All Souls' Requiem as an EF Mass in 2008. Not to worry though, now we have a black dalmatic for the deacon and a black tunic for the sub-deacon for tonight's All Souls' Requiem at 7:00 PM. It will be Solemn Sung with Father Dawid Kwiatkowski as the deacon, Deacon Don Coates as the sub deacon and me as the celebrant.

Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral–orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu. Camille Saint-Saëns said of it, "just as Mozart's is the only Ave verum Corpus, this is the only Pie Jesu."

Fauré's Requiem consists of seven movements which will be sung tonight as a part of the actual EF Requiem Mass with catafalque:

I. Introït et Kyrie (D minor)
II. Offertoire (B minor)
III. Sanctus (E flat major)
IV. Pie Jesu (B flat major)
V. Agnus Dei et Lux Aeterna (F major)
VI. Libera me (D minor)
VII. In Paradisum (D major)

SUFFERING SOULS IN PURGATORY, INDULGENCES

When I was a child, I could not figure out how purgatory would be a good thing. After all the Baltimore Catechism used images of people who were naked and burning in flames. I thought to myself, "this isn't much different than hell!" I had burned myself a couple of times playing with matches, so I knew how much fire hurt! I couldn't imagine it all over my naked body!

But the image was meant to convey purification, like gold purified in fire. It is metaphor or symbol of what happens after death and during our personal judgment.

I suspect when I go to meet my maker, that His light of love will illuminate my sinful self and I will see for the first time just what a miserable sinner I have been, just how selfish I have been and just how faithless and loveless I've been. Of course I pray that the light of love will also show forth my good qualities which I will leave to others to list since I don't want conceitedness to be illuminated also at judgement day.

I suspect too that the moment of purifying judgement will seem like an eternity especially as the dark elements are burned away. Maybe fire is a good metaphor for purgatory.

Since there is supposedly no time in the after life, we don't know how long this will take, I suspect the more darkness that needs purification the more of the "is" that purgatory is, will be needed.

A plenary indulgence may be gained for the faithful departed by visiting a cemetery today or going to Mass. You will also need to go to confession within seven days, receive Holy Communion worthily, recite one Our Father and the Creed and pray one additional Our Father and one Hail Mary for the intentions of the Holy father, Pope Benedict. Doing this is an example of faith and good works in action.

Here is a summary of what the Baltimore Catechism has to say about these things:

I. Venial sin is a less serious offense against the law of God, which does not deprive the soul of sanctifying grace and can be pardoned even without the sacrament of Confession or Penance. It can be venial in two ways:

a. When the evil done is not seriously wrong
b. When the evil done is seriously wrong, but the sinner sincerely believes it is only slightly wrong or does not give full consent to it.

II. Venial Sin harms us by making us less fervent in the service of God, by weakening our power to resist mortal sin and by making us deserving of God’s punishment in this life or in purgatory (this type of punishment is an act of love to purify us either way).

III. The communion of saints: the faithful on earth, the blessed in heaven and the souls in purgatory with Christ as our Head.

IV. Through the communion of saints, the blessed in heaven can help the souls in purgatory and the faithful on earth by praying for them.

V. The faithful on earth through the communion of saints should honor the blessed in heaven and pray to them because they are worthy of honor and as friends of God will help the faithful on earth.

VI. The faithful on earth through the communion of saints can relieve the sufferings of the souls in purgatory by prayer, fasting, and other good works, by indulgences and by having Masses offered for them.

VII. At the end of our life, we will have our particular judgment by God and there will be either rewards or punishments: heaven, purgatory or hell.

VIII. Those punished for a time in purgatory that die in the state of grace but are guilty of venial sin, or have not fully satisfied for the temporal punishment due their sins.

a. Purgatory is like God’s hospital for souls, where the souls there are purified by God’s burning love. They do not yet love God perfectly nor are they perfect

b. Souls in purgatory are totally dependent upon God and the prayers of the faithful on earth and the blessed in heaven. They cannot help themselves

IX. Those who go to hell are those who know God, yet choose deliberately to live their lives as though God does not exist or that they do not need to love God or obey him. They choose their own way independent of God and do so consciously, knowing better and with full consent of the will.

X. Indulgences: These are gifts granted by the Church for the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. After sin has been healed or forgiven by the medicine of Confession, the wounds left by sin must be healed by further medication—penance either here on earth or in purgatory. Sometimes medicine or surgery can be bitter or painful, just like penance or purgatory, but necessary for complete healing or forgiveness. Indulgence remits punishment or removes the need for the bitter medicine or surgery of more penance in purgatory and substitutes an easier but more effective one to assist and even complete the healing process.

XI. There are two types of indulgences:

a. Plenary: remits all the temporal punishment due to our sins.

b. Partial: remits a part of the temporal punishment due to our sins

XII. To gain an indulgence, we must be in a state of grace, have at least a general intention of gaining the indulgence and perform the works required by the Church. Normally it means going to Confession, receiving Holy Communion worthily and doing various types of prayers and praying for the intentions of the pope. We must be free of all sin to gain an indulgence

XIII. We can gain indulgences either for ourselves or the holy souls in purgatory, but we cannot gain them for the faithful living on earth

TO KNOW AND TO LOVE: THAT'S WHAT MAKES US LIKE GOD! HOLY AND SAINTLY

We need basics today when it comes to our Catholic Faith. Not many Catholics for a couple of generations where taught the basics in a way that stuck to their mind and souls.

The Baltimore Catechism for Primary School age children teaches that human beings are creatures composed of body and soul and made to the image and likeness of God.

In other words, God made us like Himself. God's greatest powers are to know and to love. He has these powers without limit. He gave us a share in these great powers.

We don't make ourselves like God, nor do we make ourselves saints. The work of both belongs to God.

He makes us saints, first by choosing us (accepting us as His own people/child) through Holy Baptism by which Jesus Christ washes away Original Sin and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus incorporates us into His adopted family which is the Catholic Church into which Jesus initiates us. In Confirmation, Jesus continues to initiate us into His Catholic Church and confirms and strengthens His life of the Holy Spirit within us. In Confession, he renews the gift of forgiveness first given in Baptism and now of actual sins and in Holy Communion, He continues to allow us to share in His sacrificial offering to the Father on the Cross and to nourish us with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, He does not become a part of us, but rather He makes us a part of Himself by renewing our membership in His Body the Catholic Church when we receive Him worthily.

Giving the gifts of sanctifying and actual grace, God equips us to know and love Him with all our being and to know and love our neighbor as ourselves. He equips us for discipleship, holiness and sainthood.

When we are dismissed from Mass, we are to live as His holy followers, as His saints. The Communion of saints is composed of three groups of people, the Faithful on earth, the Blessed in heaven and the Holy Souls in purgatory (Church Militant, Church Triumphant and the Church Suffering).

Becoming a saint is as act of God made visible through the Sacraments of the Church and our ability to freely use the gifts of God to know and to love. What is required of us is PARTICIPATION in the works of God. But even here, God's grace makes that possible. But we can choose to ignore God's gifts and not use them at all. We can choose to disobey God, not know Him or love Him or our neighbor as our self. This brings a negative judgment and could jeopardize the soul to final damnation.

MACON, GEORGIA FROM GEORGIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

PRESS THIS TO SEE THE FIVE MINUTE VIDEO OF MACON WHICH INCLUDES A VERY NICE LOOK AT SAINT JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH