THE RITE OF ACCEPTANCE AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

One of the more wonderful recoveries of the early Church that Vatican II sought is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults or the Ancient Catechumenate. Today's Memorial of Saint Ambrose shows us how even a catechumen can be known for holiness of faith and plucked from the catechumens to be the Bishop of Milan. He was baptized, confirmed, made his First Communion, was ordained a deacon, priest and bishop all at the same celebration presumably.

We had about 20 baptized candidates welcomed and about 10 unbaptized who became catechumens.

Here are some pictures:

Some of the candidates with their sponsor for the Signing of the Senses receiving the Gospel of Our Lord and receiving a crucifix from their sponsor:

And don't dismiss the dismissal!

LOTS A BOMBSHELLS LATELY, HERE'S ANOTHER, ABSTAIN EVERY FRIDAY AND PRAY THE ROSARY EVERYDAY!

(CNSNews.com) - In a statement featuring newly installed Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone--who leads the San Francisco Archdiocese where House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi lives--the U.S. Catholic bishops announced on Thursday that they are calling on Catholics to pray the rosary every day and to fast and to abstain from eating meat on Fridays as part of a pastoral campaign aimed at preserving religious liberty, the right to life and the institution of marriage in the United States of America.
READ THE ENTIRE STORY HERE!

The bishops are calling on Catholics to do five specific things to advance this campaign for liberty, life and marriage. These include

1. Saying the rosary daily

2. Attending a special Holy Hour on the last Sunday of each month

3. Participating in a Fortnight of Freedom in the summer of 2013

4. Including in every Mass prayers of the faithful for the causes of life, marriage and liberty

5. Fasting and abstaining from meat on Fridays.

I WOULD RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING BOMBSHELL AS THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH SPECIFIC THINGS TO ADVANCE NOT ONLY THIS CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY, LIFE AND MARRIAGE, BUT TO STRENGTHEN CATHOLIC FAMILIES AND CATHOLIC YOUTH AND STRENGTHEN CATHOLIC IDENTITY IN GENERAL:

6. In all parishes, one Sunday Mass must be in the Extraordinary Form, not by adding a Mass unless there is only one Mass in that parish, but making one of the regularly scheduled Masses an EF Mass.

7. Celebrate all Ordinary Form Masses with more dignity and in an Extraordinary Form sort of way

THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM SUNG MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, GEORGIA

Saint Joseph Church, Macon, Georgia will celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass as a Sung Mass, aka, High Mass on Friday, December 7, at 7:00 PM for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Please join us for this highly participative Mass, where actual participation includes God's initiative to make us sharers of the Divine Mysteries.

The Order of Mass

Processional Hymn (Stand) Immaculate Mary Hymnal #577

Introit (Chanted in Latin by Schola. Please kneel.) The priest and server say the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar quietly.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bride adorned with her jewels. Ps. 29:2: I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me. Glory to the Father…

Kyrie

Gloria (Stand. Please join the schola in chanting: Hymnal #106 )

Collect: O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare a fitting habitation for thy son: grant, we beseech thee, that as thou preserved her from all stain through the death foreseen of the same thy Son, so we too may through her intercession be purified and come to thee. Through Christ our Lord.

First Lesson: (Sit) Wisdom 8:22-35

A lesson from the Book of Wisdom.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made. The depth were not as yet, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out; the mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established, before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present; when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths; when he estab-lished the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters; when he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits; when he balanced the foundations of the earth; I was with him, forming all things, and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times, playing in the world, and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed art they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

Gradual: Judith 13:2: Blessed art thou, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people.

Alleluia: Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in thee.

Gospel: (Stand) Luke 1:26-28

Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St Luke.

At that time: The Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the Angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.

Homily

Credo: (Stand. Please join the Schola chanting.) Hymnal #213 (Kneel for the words: Et incarnates est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: et Homo Factus Est…)

Offertory Antiphon: Hail, Mary, full of grace : the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women, alleluia.

Priest: Orate Fratres:

All: Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium minibus tuis ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, adutilitatem quoque nostrum totiusque Ecclesiae suae sanctae. (May the Lord accept the sacrifice eat your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.)

Secret: Receive, O Lord, the saving victim which we offer to thee in the festival of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary : and grant that, even as we proclaim her to have been preserved by thy grace from every stain, so may we be delivered, by her intercession, from all our sins. Through our Lord.

Preface Dialogue: Page 34, hymnal (Stand)

Preface: It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always, and in all places, give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God; and for the immaculate conception of the blessed Mary, ever a Virgin, should praise and bless and proclaim thee. For she conceived thine only-begotten Son by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost; and, losing not the glory of her virginity, gave to the world the everlasting light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise thy majesty, the Dominions adore, the Powers tremble. The Heavens, and the Virtues of the heavens, and the blessed Seraphim, do celebrate with united joy. In union with whom we beseech thee, that thou wouldst command our voices also to be admitted, with suppliant confession, saying:

Sanctus: (Kneel.. Please join the Schola inchanting.) Hymnal #101

Roman Canon: The priest prays this in a low voice, translation found on page 39 of hymnal

Pater Noster: (Stand. Please join the Schola in chanting.) Hymnal p. 86

Agnus Dei: (Stand. Please join the Schola in chanting.) Hymnal #104

Priest’s Communion

Laity’s Communion: After the Ecce Agnus Dei, said three times: Domine, non sum dignus, ut inters sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbor, et sanabitur anima mea. (Lord, I am not worthy…)

Please kneel for Holy Communion, receiving on the tongue only.

Communion Antiphon: Glorious things are told of thee, O Mary, for he who is mighty hath done great things unto thee.

Post Communion Prayer: (Stand) May the sacraments which we have received, O Lord our God, heal in us the wounds of that sin from which thou didst by a singular privilege preserve the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Mary. Through our Lord.

The Dismissal: Deo Gratias

The Blessing (Kneel)

The Last Gospel: John 1:1-5, 9-14, page 46 Missalette, short form. Genuflect at “Et Verbum Caro Factum Est”

Recessional Hymn:
Hail Holy Queen Hymnal #548

WHERE HAVE ALL THE SILENTLY PRIESTLY PRAYERS GONE AND WHY DID THESE GO?

As you know, I am a great advocate of maintaining the revised Roman Missal but reverting to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass's Order of the Mass, except for the Liturgy of the Word, although I would be extremely happy to see the Word of God proclaimed from the Epistle Side and the Gospel from the Gospel side with the symbolism of facing the Liturgical North--but using the revised Lectionary, although I would like to see a Year D that is the Tridentine Missal's lectionary.

I would also like to see the 1965 Roman Missal's Order of the Mass rather than the 1962 Missal. The reason for this is that I am convinced as a priest and thus a leader of the laity that even with a Pastoral Council, we must respect the spirit and law of the bishops of that particular Council, although we should never make a pastoral Ecumenical Council into a "superdogma" that cannot be changed or modified, but of course by the only ones who can do that, the Holy Father alone, or the Holy Father with the bishops together in an Ecumenical Council.

So, apart from the Mass being Ad Orientem, I would add the following to the Order of the Mass "renewed" after Vatican II, aka, the Ordinary Form, which were removed most of which are priestly quiet prayers of a devotional quality that are important for a priestly liturgical spirituality.

In its revision, euphemistically called "renewal" the Tridentine Mass, aka, the Extraordinary Form Mass or the Traditional Latin Mass, had many private priestly prayers of a devotional spirituality. Why in the name of God and all that is holy, these were removed is beyond comprehension. But we must acknowledge that there was hysteria amongst many bishops and theologians about the priests or the congregation reciting private prayers at Mass because the Mass is communal prayer not a private devotion. What rubbish! It is both, not either or!

The First of these was the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar. At a low Mass these were said aloud and the congregation could also speak them in the Dialog Mass. These were totally eliminated in the 1970 Missal, although a "Penitential Act" was maintained for both priest and congregation together, with a form of the Confiteor as optional.

The next quiet devotional priestly prayer that was totally eliminated were the two prayers the priest made as he approached the altar:

Take away from us our iniquities, we entreat Thee, O Lord, that with pure minds we may worthily enter into the Holy of Holies. Through our Lord. Amen.

(Then kissing the altar) We beseech Thee, O Lord, by the merits of Thy Saints, whose relics are here, and of all the Saints, that Thou wilt deign to pardon me all my sins. Amen.

Then the prayer before the Gospel was terribly truncated, eliminating a beautiful Scriptural reference altogether:

Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God, Who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet Isaias with a burning coal; through Thy gracious mercy so purify me that I may worthily proclaim Thy holy gospel. through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I will not go into why the 1970 missal revised the Offertory Prayers altogether, suffice it to say that it did seem to be a mini-eucharistic prayer. But notice the quality and beauty of the traditional Offertory Prayers. What if they had simply omitted the one that sounded like a canon but kept the rest, for example eliminated what I italicize?

For the bread: Accept, O holy Father, almighty and eternal God, this unspotted host, which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offenses, and negligences, and for all here present: as also for all faithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may avail both me and them for salvation unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pouring of water: O God, who, in creating human nature, didst wonderfully dignify it, and still more wonderfully restore it, grant that, by the Mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His divine nature, who vouchsafed to be made partaker of our human nature, even Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son, who with Thee, liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God: world without end. Amen.

For the wine: We offer unto Thee, O Lord, the chalice of salvation, beseeching Thy clemency, that it may ascend before Thy divine Majesty, as a sweet savor, for our salvation, and for that of the whole world. Amen.

Come, O almighty and eternal God, the Sanctifier, and bless ☩ this Sacrifice, prepared for the glory of Thy holy Name

Washing of hands: I will wash my hands among the innocent: and I will compass Thine altar, O Lord That I may hear the voice of praise: and tell of all Thy wonderous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with blood-thirsty men. In whose hands are iniquities, their right hand is filled with gifts. But I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in the direct way, in the churches I will bless Thee, O Lord.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Prayer after washing of hands, prior to the Orate Fratres: Receive, O holy Trinity, this oblation which we make to Thee, in memory of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the Saints, that it may avail unto their honor and our salvation, and may they vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven, whose memory we celebrate on earth. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prior to the priest's communion: I will take the Bread of heaven, and will call upon the Name of the Lord.

After receiving the Sacred Host but prior to the chalice: What return shall I make to the Lord for all He has given to me? I will take the chalice of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. Praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies.

Prior to the Final Blessing: May the performance of my homage be pleasing to Thee, O holy Trinity: and grant that the Sacrifice which I, though unworthy, have offered up in the sight of Thy Majesty, may be acceptable to Thee, and through Thy mercy, be a propitiation for me, and for all those for whom I have offered it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

All these beautiful, devotional prayers of the priest were esponged from the "renewed" Mass. What a pity! What in the name of God and all that is holy was the back alley committee formed by the Pope under the direction of Bishop Anabil Bugninni thinking? Oh, they weren't thinking, so they get an "F" grade in this "renewed" Liturgy and a "TU" for totally unsatisfactory!

It wouldn't take much to restore all of these to the current Roman Missal following the Order and rubrics of the 1965 Roman Missal, which by the way, allowed for Universal Prayers after the Credo and an Offertory Procession of Gifts.

As well, the 1965 Order of the Mass could accommodate RCIA liturgies easily enough as well as the current way of celebrating Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.

So, I'm not against Vatican II's essential and mild proposal for the true "renewal" of the Mass, I am all in favor of actually following it explicitly!

FROM CLOWN MASSES TO LITURGICAL ICONOCLASM THAT MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE

The 1970's saw liturgical iconoclasm shift into high gear as liturgical theologians and liturgical consultants saw a goldmine available to them and the arts and crafts economy as splendid old and not so old churches went under major renovation to accommodate the new liturgy and its "dogmatic" needs.

To say that the iconoclasm of these churches caused needless heartache and the loss of once staunch, practicing Catholics is an understatement. There is absolutely no reason why the revised liturgy could not be celebrated in older churches without any renovation or even a free standing altar employed. Just imagine the money saved and the liturgical continuity maintained if liturgical theologians were shunned and told to butt out in the aftermath of Vatican II.

Yes, in this period, as hard as it is to believe, liturgical theologians were elevated to the stature of an infallible pontiff as they foisted a new liturgical theology upon the various communities they visited. Liturgical theology was dogmatized and all in the name of the "spirit of Vatican II" and the liturgy designed by post-conciliar bishops and theologians. Yet, not even this liturgical commmittee backed by the pope suggested that older churches should be gutted to accommodate new wine made in a back alley.

But not so the liturgical theologians who became a parallel magisterium with more infallibility and authoritarianism than the most clerical bishop, they thought you couldn't put the new wine of the manufactured liturgy in a vintage wine bottle, for they knew that would show continuity rather than rupture, so they put their back ally cheap wine into a square box with a plastic lining in it for easy access and storage.

I saw a bit of the installation Mass for the new Archbishop of Indianapolis at their historic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. What struck me was the iconoclasm of this Cathedral and the horrible "new and improved" free standing altar and ambo. Who thinks of these things and then has the gall to shove this sort of liturgical art down the throats of parishioners who worship in an historic Cathedral and then keep the older altar to remind them of just how dumbed down the new liturgy and its accouterments are?

There is absolutely no comparison in artistic value or majesty between the two altars you will note below.

Also note how the faux altar is placed on a stage like platform jutting out into the congregation causing the cathedral to lose seating. Please note how everything is on the same level also and compare it to the black and white vintage photo of what the Cathedral looked like prior to the iconoclasm and waste of money in doing what they did. I suspect it was millions of dollars.

Before:

After:

SPEAKING OF CHILDREN'S MASSES AND CLOWN MASSES, WELL THEY ARE INDEED ALIVE BUT CERTAINLY NOT WELL

When the topic of clown Masses is brought up on other blogs, there are some who insist that these no longer take place. Well, wishful thinking, I'm afraid.

This sort of thing really calls into question the seriousness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass when celebrated in such an inane way.

These pictures were first posted on Rorate Caeli. The following are pictures from a Mass celebrated a few days ago by Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini of the Archdiocese of Campobasso-Boiano, Italia.

Is the Mass suppose to be cute? Is this Archbishop cute? Heaven spare us!

Could you imagine anyone trying to do this in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass--most of us would say, no, that Mass is too serious!

WHICH MASS, EF OR OF, CAPTURES THE ATTENTION AND IMAGINATION OF CHILDREN MORE?

Parents who bring their children to Mass to both forms of the one Roman Rite, which Mass, EF or OF seems to capture their imagination more and keeps them more engaged during the Mass.

This is just anecdotal evidence, but at our EF High Mass, there are families with many children and there doesn't seem to me to be as much restlessness amongst them as we might have at the typical OF Mass on Sunday.

Of course, I can't see what is happening in the congregation and so don't become preoccupied by how well or how poorly the congregation is actually participating, but I suspect that fewer people get up during the Mass, as though they are in a theater, to go to the bathroom, answer the cell phone outside, and the like.

Of course, when I face the congregation, I become like a teacher in the classroom evaluating what the congregation is doing and experience rises in my blood pressure when I see children or adults getting up during Mass to go to the bathroom or outside or whatever, even during the words of consecration! Should the priest be a detective or policeman concerning how well or poorly the congregation is "actually" participating?

Isn't the priest's preoccupation with what the congregation is doing or not doing a form of clericalism and in the policeman mode?

TO SANCTIFY, TEACH AND RULE--THAT'S THE HIERARCHICAL AND MAGISTERIAL NATURE OF THE CHURCH AND GOD GIVEN TO THE POPE AND THE BISHOPS IN UNION WITH HIM--THE CHURCH WON'T BECOME A DEMOCRACY, EVER

Anglican Use Roman Catholic Mass:

There are those in the Church who think collegiality means democracy and popular rule by vote, similar to what Protestant denominations have, the liberal ones anyway. And of course liberal Protestantism has been dying now for about 100 years. It leaped frogged in its dying when the Anglican Communion negated natural law in the 1930's and now the Anglican Communion through democratic processes has become heretical in many areas, including natural law, where at one time they were united with Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This is an extremely sad development for Christian unity.

The following article from Religious News Service tells of yet another Anglican/Episcopal clergyman who sees the deleterious effect of democracy in the Church, which are code words for women priests, gay marriage and the blessing of fornication and adultery and in terms of dogmas, the lowering of the bar of the truths of Jesus Christ and that through Him and Him alone is their salvation. The democratic Protestant denominations have become slaves to the secular culture and its minions and gladly so. They have elevated psychology and pastoral theology to a dogma.

The Catholic Church might have some similarities to a monarchy, in that Jesus Christ is King, we look forward to His kingdom on earth and His will on earth and yes, some of the liturgical symbols of the Church and authority symbols in the Church hearken to the Monarchy of Christ and the Kingdom of heaven. That should not and will not change and thank God for that!

Thank God for former Anglicans like Larry Gipson, read on:


Former rector of nation’s largest Episcopal church becomes a Catholic

By By Greg Garrison| Religion News Service, Published: November 30

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The former rector of the nation’s largest Episcopal church has become a Roman Catholic.

The Rev. Larry Gipson was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, from 1994-2008.

Last month, Gipson was accepted as a Catholic into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to accept former Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

“The nature of authority in the Catholic Church is what attracted me to it,” Gipson said. “After I retired, I was concerned and had been for many years about the Episcopal Church’s authority structure.”

Gipson will be among 69 candidates for Catholic priesthood attending a formation retreat this weekend in Houston at the ordinariate’s headquarters.

Among those leading seminars at the Formation Retreat in Houston will be the Rev. Jon Chalmers, who was ordained a Catholic priest in June, the second former Episcopal cleric to be accepted as a priest under the ordinariate.

His wife, Margaret Chalmers, former canon lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham and now chancellor of the ordinariate, will also be a presenter at the weekend retreat that runs Friday night through Sunday, Dec. 2.

“It’s a really big deal,” she said. “Larry Gipson, who was the priest of the largest Episcopal church in America, is now a Catholic.”

Although married Episcopal priests have been accepted as Catholic priests since 1983 under Pope John Paul II, only just over 100 came in during that process, Margaret Chalmers said.

This year, the ordinariate has already ordained 24 priests, with 69 in preparation. Her husband was accepted as a Catholic in January and ordained as a Catholic priest in June.

The Rev. Matthew Venuti of Mobile was the first ex-Episcopal priest ordained a Catholic priest in the ordinariate, which covers the United States and Canada.

Venuti and Chalmers both have young children, as do many of the new Catholic priests, Margaret Chalmers said.

The ordinariate allows the new Catholics to keep their Anglican form of worship, including the Book of Common Prayer.

Gipson and his wife of 48 years, Mary Frances, attend the headquarters church of the ordinariate, Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston.

“All their services are Prayer Book services,” Gipson said. “The music is from the 1940 (Episcopal) hymnal. It is the Anglican Rite prayer book. It’s the opportunity to come into the Catholic Church while maintaining Anglican tradition.”

Although many Episcopalians have left the denomination over issues such as consecrating openly gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions, Gipson said he didn’t leave in anger.

“I don’t have the right to ask the Anglican Church to change its traditions for me,” he said. “I’m the one who has got to make the changes. Anglicanism has always been hesitant to define doctrine because it has opposing factions. It has left doctrine blurry. People can believe almost mutually opposing beliefs.”

Gipson, who turned 70 on Oct. 23, started attending an Episcopal church with his future wife when he was 14 in Memphis. “I’m thankful to the Episcopal Church,” he said. “I spent my life there. All my friends and people I love are in it. I do not in any way wish to denigrate it. I’m not angry. I was seeking something that I’ve been longing for, for a long time.”

Now, he’s looking forward to the possibility of being ordained as a Catholic priest. Earlier this year he earned a master’s degree in Catholic theology from St. Thomas University, although he already had a master of divinity degree from Yale University.

“I was an Episcopal priest for 42 years,” he said. “I can’t imagine not being a priest. I’m anxious to get back to priestly work.”

Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.

ONE YEAR LATER, HAS MUCH CHANGED IN THE MASS IN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS? AND DO ANY OF YOU FEEL LIKE JIMMY FALLON?

Does your parish Mass in the Ordinary Form look anything like this Ordinary Form Mass? If not, why not? Is there anything wrong with this? Of course you can't tell who the celebrant is and that might disappoint those who have their favorite priest or bishop to look at, because in this image, you really can't tell who the celebrant is, it could be anyone in the world, maybe even the pope, but who knows? Of course those who appreciate the anonymity of the human priest in this awesome style of the Mass get it!

I know I live in a vacuum and that what we do at St. Joseph Church in Macon may well be extraordinary when compared to most Catholic parishes in the USA. And what we do I think is very main-line, nothing really radical. We are reform of the reform but not to the extreme. We sing traditional hymns from the traditional St. Michael Hymnal, with thee and thous in the traditional hymns no less, but I wouldn't say that we are on the cutting edge of having an all chanted Mass in English, although our Extraordinary Form High Mass once a month is all chanted and marvelously so.

We've been making the Mass at St. Joseph as solemn as possible, all are sung and two are completely sung. There is no Low Sunday Mass here. But we have active participation both internally and externally, we have boys and girls serving, men and women reading and men and women Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.

Apart from implementing the new English translation smoothly and with absolutely no fuss and I mean absolutely no fuss, and this in a parish that is very eclectic with multinationals, people for whom English is a second language and from all over the country too, we have done only five things that are what some would consider radical, but nonetheless permitted by the Church and both which the Holy Father has observed and modeled.

The first is that we offer Holy Communion at four of our five weekend Masses by way of intinction. This means that the Ordinary or Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion "dip" the Host into the Precious Blood and say to the communicant, "The Body and Blood of Christ." The Holy Father has done this on a number of high solemnities. However, we have written instructions which indicate that if one wishes to receive in the hand, one must make that clear to the minister prior to the Host being intincted.

The second is that we have provided kneelers for those who wish to take the exception to the norm of standing in the USA to receive Holy Communion. No one is forced to either stand or kneel, it is the choice of the communicant to observe the USA norm or to take the exception and to do the exception comfortably. Of course the Holy Father mandates that communicants in his line kneel at the kneeler, nothing unusual here.

The third is that our Ordinary Form 12:10 PM Sung Mass is now being celebrated "ad orientem" for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The parts of the Mass from the priest's chair remain at the chair. I asked for constructive criticism or advice from the congregation. Everyone who offered me their opinion except one were all very positive about it. The one who was negative normally does not attend that Mass but wanted to see it to offer an opinion to me.

The fourth is that we have for the past three years had the cantor chant the official Introit prior to the processional hymn as well as the Offertory and Communion antiphons. I would like to see us move in the direction of a more solemn way of singing this with a schola or choir at least at two of our Masses.

The fifth is that we celebrate the EF High Mass monthly and on other occasions and have it as a low Mass each Tuesday at 5:00 PM.

Of course we have an extraordinarily beautiful church which is very ornate and a beatiful free-standing altar that compliments the older altars in the church. We hope to restore the altar railing within the next year or so.

Now, compare this to the following written at the Shazamaholic Blog yesterday. I wonder too, now that we only have about 25% of Catholics attending Mass regularly, if a good percentage of them who don't feel like Jimmy Fallon:

Well, its been a whole year since the new English translation of the Roman Missal has been promulgated. I can neither say it has been a success nor a failure. The rebellion against the translation the critics on the left were hoping for never happened. The vast majority accepted the new English words with nary a kick or a scream. Yet, there hasn't been a fundamental change in the way Mass is celebrated in the typical parish, either. Despite the new words, there are still the stripped down sanctuaries, with tiny wood altars that look like dining room tables. There is still the hand holding, the banal Broadway show tune Mass Settings and adult contemporary hymns that celebrate people while ignoring all things mystical and spiritual. In the typical parish, mine included, Mass is still a liturgical Woodstock wannabe. I don't listen to Broadway show tunes. Why in the world would I want to go to Church and hear Mass settings in a Broadway style? What I have come to realize is that the problem is in the rubrics, or more accurately the lack of rubrics, in the Ordinary Form (rubrics are the actions that go along with the words, such as kneeling, facing ad orientum, how often the priest makes the sign of the cross, etc... think of it as choreography). The Ordinary Form, aka Novus Ordo, was fabricated by Annibale Bugnini, and was to be a simplified form. It has so few rubrics, it allows priests to celebrate, or rather "preside" (as the Novus Ordo rubrics call it) Mass in their own individual styles, and sadly, many adopted a hippie social worker style that seems to be eternally stuck in the early 1970s.

I find myself agreeing with comedian Jimmy Fallon, who expressed his thoughts on the Catholic Mass in this interview with NPR. On the traditional Mass, he said,
"I just, I loved the church. I loved the idea of it. I loved the smell of the incense. I loved the feeling you get when you left church. I loved like how this priest can make people feel this good. I just thought it was, I loved the whole idea of it. My grandfather was very religious, so I used to go to mass with him at like 6:45 in the morning serve mass and then you made money too if you did weddings and funerals. They'd give you, you'd get like five bucks. And so I go okay, I can make money too. I go this could be a good deal for me. I thought I had the calling. "

But on the way Mass has gone since the Novus Ordo was implemented, he said,
"I don't go to - I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was like kind of struggling for a bit I went to church for a while, but it's kind of, it's gotten gigantic now for me. It's like too, there's a band. There's a band there now and you got to, you have to hold hands with people through the whole mass now, and I don't like doing that. You know, I mean it used to be the shaking hands piece was the only time you touched each other. Now I'm holding, now I'm lifting people. Like Simba. I'm holding them, ha nah hey nah ho. I'm doing too much. I don't want - there's Frisbees being thrown, there's beach balls going around, people waving lighters, and I go this is too much for me. I want the old way. I want to hang out with the, you know, with the nuns, you know, that was my favorite type of mass, and the Grotto and just like straight up, just mass-mass."

I find myself having similar thoughts. My own parish has the casual, Broadway-Woodstock style Mass, that I find increasing difficult to sit through. I want tradition. I want to hear chant. I want some Latin. I want to hear bells and smell incense. I want the priest to be a spiritual leader, leading us in prayer and sermonizing about faith and miracles, not a performer who tries to entertain us, while making social justice his only message. There is another parish in my neighborhood that has a more traditional Mass, with bells, incense, chant, and even some Latin. They even have the Extraordinary Form (aka Tridentine Latin Mass) every week. Can I bring myself to quit my parish and join this other one? In time, I may not have a choice, if going to Mass at my parish continues to be like a chore or a penance to suffer through.

If I had the Pope's ear, I would humbly suggest to him that the Order of the Mass for the Ordinary Form needs to be reformed. The 1965 Order should be restored to the Ordinary Form Roman Missal, replacing the Annibale Bugnini fabricated Order. The 1965 Order of the Mass was, essentially, a vernacular translation of the Tridentine Latin Order, slightly simplified in rubrics, with some repetition removed, thus making it fulfill Vatican II's requirements- - in fact, the 1965 Missal was heralded "The Mass Of Vatican II".
Posted by Shazamaholic at 2:32 PM

TAKE THE UNITED KINGDOM'S SURVEY ON THE NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MASS

You can find the survey that the Tablet, the United Kingdom's version of the now heretical National Catholic Reporter, has for those to respond to how well the new English Translation has been received. SIMPLY PUSH THIS SENTENCE TO GO TO THEIR SURVEY!

This is only a picture of the survey, so don't try to use it, go to the link I have hyper-linked.

IS THIS YET ANOTHER BOMBSHELL FROM THE HOLY FATHER? I THINK SO BECAUSE IT IS ALL ABOUT CATHOLIC IDENTITY AND MISSIONARY ZEAL!

Given Pope Benedict's bombshell motu proprio yesterday on Catholic Charities, I suspect he is leaning toward the Salvation Army's Mission Statement for those in the Catholic Church who serve the poor and now expects Catholic Charities to use clean money and not dirty or laundered money:

Yesterday, Whispers in the Loggia released another bombshell, I think, when it reported, "Released by surprise at Roman Noon this Saturday, the following is the Vatican's official English translation of a motu proprio letter of Benedict XVI on the Catholic identity and ecclesial oversight of the church's charitable efforts. Initially published in Latin by the Holy See, the text is entitled Intima Ecclesiae natura – in English, "The Church's Deepest Nature," with a subhead "De Caritate Ministranda"; that is, "On the Service of Charity". You can read the full document HERE.

I wasn't sure what it all meant until that wonderful reporter, John Allen who writes for that not so wonderful little "c" catholic Reporter, made it all clear to me.

I've wondered about our Catholic Charities, even locally, that do a very good job of being charitable, but seem to want to diminish the Catholic Character of our generosity and seem even less inclined to want to evangelize those who come to them with the Catholic Faith. I sometimes wonder if what they are doing any non Christian or secular or even agnostic or atheistic charitable group could do--that is simply help the poor without any evangelical thrust?

For example, in Macon, our Catholic Charities or equivalency has a name that no one knows is Catholic--Family Advancement Ministries! I have hated it from the beginning when it was renamed about 7 years ago from a combination of "Nazareth Home" and "Mother and Child Ministries." I pushed for a Catholic name in it and well, frankly I like "Catholic Charities!"

And, here is the kicker--the funding we receive to assist people has to be monitored and we can't take money from "groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to the church’s teaching.” THAT'S A BOMBSHELL, BECAUSE IT IMPLIES GOVERNMENT GRANTS OR THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT MONIES!

But the bigger issue is Catholic identity and evangelical mission and even how much we pay our workers and the workers' own Catholic identity and motivation.

Should we give the Catechism of the Catholic Church to everyone we help and invite them to the Catholic Church? Should Catholic Charities and any off=shoot of them that is an official ministry of the Church be praying for and with those who are helped and in a specifically Catholic way?

READ JOHN ALLEN'S REPORT THAT HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND THIS TRUE BOMBSHELL:


New rules aim to beef up Catholic identity of church charities
John L. Allen Jr. | Dec. 1, 2012 NCR Today

Rome

A mounting campaign by church authorities to foster a stronger sense of traditional Catholic identity reached deeper into the realm of Catholic charitable activity today, with new papal rules directing bishops to exercise greater vigilance and control.

Among other things, the new rules appear to tighten the scope for Catholic charities to collaborate with groups with whom they may share specific interests, but which also take positions that conflict with Catholic teaching. In effect, the rules appear to be a response to perceptions voiced over the years that some church-run charities are more similar to secular NGOs and humanitarian groups than to distinctly Catholic operations.

Specifically, Pope Benedict XVI’s legal document, technically known as a motu proprio, stipulates that:

A charitable group may call itself “Catholic” only with the written consent of church authorities. If a particular outfit is deemed to be no longer “in conformity with the church’s teaching,” the bishop should make that known and take steps to prevent it from using the title “Catholic.”

Personnel must “share, or at least respect” the Catholic identity of church-affiliated charitable organizations, and must also “give an example of Christian life” beyond their professional competence.

A Catholic charity may not take money “from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to the church’s teaching.”

To avoid leading people “into error or misunderstanding,” bishops are to ensure that parishes and dioceses don’t publicize initiatives “which, while presenting themselves as charitable, propose choices or methods at odds with the church’s teaching.”

The title of the new papal edict is De Caritate ministranda, “On the service of charity,” and it was published today on the Vatican web site. Benedict wrote that he issued the document upon the recommendation of Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, who heads the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Vatican’s main oversight agency for charitable activities.

Benedict's document also calls on Catholic charities to be transparent in the administration of funds, to make regular financial reports, and to ensure that expenses and salaries are "proportionate" to the budgets of other church offices.

The new regulations come roughly a year after the Vatican moved to tighten its control over the leading global federation for Catholic charities, the Rome-based Caritas Internationalis. The organization’s secretary general at the time, Zimbabwe-born laywoman Lesley-Anne Knight, was denied Vatican permission to stand for a second term, and the organization’s statutes were revised to provide greater oversight by Vatican authorities, especially Cor Unum.

Among other things, the Vatican appeared to want Caritas, and Catholic charities generally, to have a more specifically “missionary” orientation, meaning promoting the faith alongside meeting basic humanitarian needs.

One veteran of the Catholic charities scene summed things up this way at the time in a background comment to NCR: “When it comes to charity work, there’s a continuum from secular humanism on one end to aggressive proselytism breeding ‘rice Christians’ on the other. Nobody’s saying Caritas ought to be at either extreme, but it’s clear the Vatican is pushing us further in the direction of promoting the church while we provide humanitarian and emergency assistance.”

In today’s document, Benedict XVI insisted that “The service of charity is a constitutive element of the church’s mission and an indispensable expression of her very being.”

FINALLY AND ASTONISHINGLY, COMMON SENSE AND ORTHODOXY AT PRAYTELL!

FATHER ANTHONY RUFF OF PRAYTELL, AKA, PRAYWHINE, LAMENTS DISRESPECT SHOWN TO THE HOLY FATHER AND HIS TEACHING AUTHORITY--SURELY THE WORLD WILL END ON MY BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR, DECEMBER 21ST!

This is a follow-up to Fr. Anthony's negative appraisal of how well the new translation of the Mass into English has been received, implemented exactly a year ago today and gloriously so! More than 70% in the Church give it high ratings, but I digress:

This is what Father Anthony has to say on his own blog, Praytell:

...It’s astonishing ... to claim that the Pope erred in declaring that the 1969 missal is according to the decrees of the Second Vatican Council! This is amazing disrespect toward Pope Paul VI and his teaching authority!..."

And continuing his response to a commenter who calls into question, kind of, Pope Paul VI's authority in promulgating the Vatican II Missal of 1970, Fr. Anthony writes,

"...Here’s what my sacramentary says:

“Revised by decree of the Second Vatican Council and published by authority of Pope Paul VI.”
That sure sounds like the “Vatican II Mass” to me. The Pope thought (and I gather that you disagree with him) that all the successive missals after 1963 were successive implementations of Vatican II. The pope thought (and I gather that you disagree with him) that the missals between 1963 and 1969 were partial implementation in need of more revision, and that 1969 completed the decrees of the Second Vatican Council.

I will continue to call the 1969 missal the “Vatican II” missal. These, then, are my reasons – I believe I’m following the Pope on this.
You acknowledge it’s “valid and licit,” but that’s not quite the issue here. The Pope did more than claim it’s valid and licit – he claimed it was according to the decrees of the Second Vatican Council."

My comment to this wonderful development made explicit by Fr. Anthony Ruff, OSB is the following:

"I’m glad to see here [AT PRAYTELL] that some are trying to following the Supreme Pontiff on things liturgical, whether it regards the Vatican II Missal recently revised as well as the post-Vatican II permission for the 1962 missal revised by Blessed John XXIII. We should all be respectful of the Supreme Pontiff’s authority to regulate the liturgical life of the Church including Summorum Pontificum and the excerpts I cite below:

“…In more recent times, Vatican Council II expressed a desire that the respectful reverence due to divine worship should be renewed and adapted to the needs of our time. Moved by this desire our predecessor, the Supreme Pontiff Paul VI, approved, in 1970, reformed and partly renewed liturgical books for the Latin Church. These, translated into the various languages of the world, were willingly accepted by bishops, priests and faithful. John Paul II amended the third typical edition of the Roman Missal. Thus Roman pontiffs have operated to ensure that ‘this kind of liturgical edifice … should again appear resplendent for its dignity and harmony.’ (4)

…Art 1. The Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the ‘Lex orandi’ (Law of prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite. Nonetheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of that same ‘Lex orandi,’ and must be given due honour for its venerable and ancient usage. These two expressions of the Church’s Lex orandi will in no any way lead to a division in the Church’s ‘Lex credendi’ (Law of belief). They are, in fact two usages of the one Roman rite…

It is, therefore, permissible to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church…”

As the old saying goes, “‘Roma locuta est, causa finita est’ –,” “Rome has spoken, case closed.”"

DESPITE REPORTS TO THE CONTRARY, THE NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION WHOSE FIRST BIRTHDAY BEGINS ON THE VIGIL OF THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT IS A GLORIOUS SUCESS AS WILL BE THE REFORM OF THE REFORM AND RENEWAL OF THE CHURCH WITHIN CONTINUITY AND NOT RUPTURE, AS RUPTURE IS NOW OFFICIALLY A HERESY! THANK GOD FOR THAT!

The following is an analysis on the one year old English Translation of the Mass found in the National Catholic Reporter and written by Father Anthony Ruff. I will italicize his comments and then have my comments on these below the article posted.

Bar is set low in acceptance of year-old English missal


Father Anthony Ruff, OSB | Dec. 1, 2012

Analysis

The first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 2, marks one year since the new translation of the Roman Missal was implemented in parishes in the United States and much of the rest of the English-speaking church. Here's the good news: The transition to the new English missal has gone better than many of us expected. After a month or two of awkward and hesitant liturgical exchanges, the people in the pews seem to have gotten used to the new texts. By now the responses mostly come automatically, as ritual texts should. New musical settings are starting to become familiar. Despite the misgivings many of us had about the missal, we labored mightily to make it work, and we pulled it off.

I suppose a bishop who had wondered how much flak he'd get can heave a sigh of relief a year later and say to himself, "It worked." I suppose a curial official intent on "reforming the reform" can say to himself, "We got away with it." The people are putting up with it, the clergy didn't rise up in revolt. Call it a success.

But do we really want to set the bar that low?

What about building up the church in love and peace? What about a buzz of excitement around a widely welcomed liturgical improvement? What about strengthening the bonds of mutual respect between the hierarchy and liturgical scholars? What about having church leaders we're proud of?

I don't see much evidence of that.

Anecdotal reports suggest that many people in the pews don't embrace the new missal very warmly and still don't see the reason for the change. "Why?" is the question I hear most often. "Why did they do this?" When the dental assistant at my last appointment learned I'm a priest, she told me that some things don't make sense to her now, "like 'consequential,' or whatever it is, in the creed."

The reaction to the new missal mostly seems to be mild bemusement or irritation or confusion, but not protest or outrage. When it comes to liturgy, Catholics are quite patient. Most Catholics have no reason to track the dirty politics behind the scenes of how the Vatican centralized and micromanaged the translation process beginning in 2001, threw away 17 years of transparent and collegial work on a very fine revised English translation, and botched the new missal by making some 10,000 mostly ill-advised changes at the last moment.

And when they're attending liturgy, most Catholics are probably also not tracking the convoluted and inelegant language of the new missal. I haven't heard anyone report they've detected more scriptural allusions in the revised priests' prayers. It's rather easy to tune out what lacks appeal, and people's reduced attention to liturgical texts is a significant piece of why "it worked."

There is some heartfelt and enthusiastic support for the new missal. It is limited to a small band of the church, as anyone who spends much time in the Catholic blogosphere can attest. These are the traditionalist conservatives most upset with the direction of liturgical renewal since the Second Vatican Council and most anxious to "reform the reform." From this quarter, and only from there, comes the claim that the new texts are beautiful and poetic. One wonders whether this small group isn't increasingly the bishops' base of support, whether it's the missal or any other church controversy.

In the discussion of liturgical translation at the November meeting of the U.S. bishops' conference, Bishop Robert H. Brom of San Diego and Bishop Salvatore R. Matano of Burlington, Vt., offered contrasting visions of leadership, church unity, collaboration, and the relationship between bishops and priests. This is significant, for the new missal isn't just about texts -- it's also about power.

Brom expressed opposition to retranslation of the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical books because of negative reactions to the new missal on the part of priests. "I have listened to priests," he said. They have difficulty with "complicated and awkward phrasing" and "strange vocabulary" that make the new prayers "aggravating." The priests expressed "in something of a unison" that the new missal "is more of a burden than a blessing." Priests are anxious that they will not be heard by bishops. "We should be asking, how is the new translation being received?" Brom advised not rushing headlong into further translations until work is done on improving the missal.

Matano was of a different mind. He thinks it would be "counterproductive" to critique the new missal, when "so many of us are doing everything possible … to create unity in our dioceses." Critique "only opens the door for further criticism and disunity." We should simply accept the missal, support and encourage it, and use it to "communicate again the awesome and transcendent nature of the liturgy." With proper preparation for the Mass, the new texts "can be prayed in a very beautiful manner."

In this second view, bishops promote unity by stifling criticism, with the expectation that everyone accept their decisions in obedience. The new missal is but one among an increasing number of instances in which church leaders are pushing this second view of authority more strongly.

The problem that keeps coming up and won't go away is the credible exercise of authority. It is a structural issue that has to do with power and accountability. The new missal has shown us how a secretive central authority, absent mechanisms of accountability, can impose its will. Of course, top-down absolute monarchy need not malfunction in this way. In the Catholic model of governance at its best, the ruling class is accountable to the Gospel and exercises authority humbly and lovingly, with a listening ear and a view to consensus, though the institutional structures do not require this.

The proper response to the new missal is not to storm the Bastille and topple the monarchy (though it is interesting that the small group inclined to this view seems to be growing). Most Catholics are merely disappointed and irritated, which is hardly the basis for a revolution. Most of us who see the deeper problems represented by the missal are committed to working collaboratively with our leaders to make a constructive contribution to the renewal and reform of our church. It is not unreasonable to hope that voices like Brom's will grow louder, with a revision of not just the missal but also the misguided translation principles that made it possible. And let it be said, there are certainly some good things in the new translation worth retaining.

To frame the question accurately is one of the most important services we can offer. There are issues of collegiality and the violation of Vatican II's explicit stipulation that approving translations belongs to bishops (not the Holy See); ecumenism and the abandonment of liturgical texts formerly held in common with our Protestant brothers and sisters; inculturation and the imposition of a liturgical aesthetic from above onto widely diverse cultures; and collaborative leadership and the rejection of input from experts in liturgical translation. There is much to face up to.

Short term, we must all work together to make our current church structures work as well as possible. Longer term, we must be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit when the time is right to change structures. Let us hope and pray that our response to the new Roman Missal, and so many troubling issues like it, truly contributes to the renewal of our church.

[Benedictine Fr. Anthony Ruff, a monk of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., teaches theology, liturgical music and Gregorian chant at St. John's University]
This story appeared in the Dec 7-20, 2012 print issue under the headline: Bar is set low in acceptance of year-old English missal .

MY COMMENTS: Where to begin? In the blogoshpere, which includes both traditionalists who are extreme and progressives who are extreme and those of us in the middle, we all constitute a radical minority of Catholics. The nearly 60 million Catholics, a little less than half of whom actually practice the faith, could care less about the politics of theologians who feel as though they are not appreciated by the Pope and the Bishops in union with him. This is really an in-house, hot-house issue that I think even the majority of priests could care less about. And most could care less about what is written on blogs, even my wildly popular and common sense one!

In those parishes, like mine, where I began three years prior to this change explaining the need for it and highlighting how abysmal the older translation was, people got it and were excited about it. In fact, at daily Mass shortly after the revised English came into being, during my brief homily I would read the revised collect for a particular Mass and then read the older version and point out how unfaithful the older was not only to a literal translation but to our Catholic doctrines and spirituality, not to mention piety. People who were informed got it and applaud the new translation.

The not so hidden message of Fr. Anthony is that he was a democratic Church similar to what the Protestants have long had which has failed them miserably. He wants what the Episcopal Church has in terms of democratic, open discussion that then is voted upon and implemented which has led the Anglican Communion not only into complete disarray and further away from Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy but has also made them heretical in many areas of their adjusted beliefs.

Some of the most cruel, crude, disrespectful and contrary comments to be found in the Catholic blogosphere belong to the far left progressive side and in particular to Praytell and the National Catholic Reporter, bar none! That doesn't mean that traditionalists in the extreme aren't cruel and unloving too, but the progressive blogs do far more damage to the principle of faith, hope and charity than do the conservative ones. All you need to do is read the comments on these blogs which at times are scandalous!

The only way toward Catholic unity is respect in the Church for the office of Saint Peter and the Bishops in union with him. Power plays and popular uprisings based on 1960's politics and anarchy do nothing to promote either Christian Unity or Catholic Unity let alone love and peace. Only siding with the Holy Father and the bishops in union with him in the areas of faith, morals and canon law will there be true unity in the Church. Everything else that is supposed to bring unity, including collegiality and respecting the work of theologians even when having done so has veered the Church way off course into the hermeneutic of rupture, is purely a smoke screen for the desconstruction of the Catholic Church and in order to make her more Protestant and even further adrift from Eastern Orthodoxy.

The Reform of the Reform and the renewal within continuity are from the Pope, not from conservative bloggers.

In fact, and I realize Fr. Anthony wrote this prior to Archbishop Mueller's shock statement, that the interpretation of the Council as a rupture from Scripture and Tradition is heretical. The Holy Father's interpretation is the one that is being promoted to the clergy and laity alike and in the most authoritative way!

Am I opposed to a refinement of our revised English translation. No. I hope to see more thee and thous in the future which we already have in the Lord's Prayer. Sure, refine the 10,000 flies in the ointment but keep it literal, please!

THE CRISIS OF FAITH AND STANDING FOR HOLY COMMUNION

This video is most important and a bombshell I suspect to many priests and unfortunately to many bishops, the laity have a right to kneel to receive Holy Communion if they so choose and the pastoral response of the clergy is to provide them the means by which they can do this comfortable, like providing either an altar railing or a kneeler! Please note the still frame prior to activating the video has the old instruction of 2002, which is now abrogated and no longer are communicants who choose to kneel made to feel uncomfortable or berated pastorally "with proper catehcesis as to why they should observe the norm" of standing because kneeling is now allowed for those who choose it!

Anyone who has been a priest for more than 10 years, are we shocked by this news:

A sociologist at the University of Nebraska has found a “tremendous decline” in the strength of American Catholics’ commitment to their faith.

Philip Schwadel found that only 35% of Catholics describe themselves as “strongly affiliated” with the Church. Among Evangelical Protestants, the number reporting that they were “strongly affiliated” was much higher, at 56%. Even among the members of mainline Protestant groups, which have experienced severe decline in recent years, the level of “strong” affiliation was higher than that for Catholics, at 39%.

I want to make clear that this is my most humble opinion, but I think there is a correlation between the casual Masses we've had in the last 40 years in general and "dogmatization" of a mere "norm" that the laity stand to receive Holy Communion and the indult to do so on the hand. These two things have led to the sad statistics found by Philip Schwadel.

Certainly there is more, such as the sex abuse scandal. However, I believe that if the traditional reverence that Catholics had at Mass and during Holy Communion had been present in the Church all theses 40 years, that not even the outcry against Humanae Vitae and the social forces in the culture in general against authority and toward anarchy would have affected the Faith of Catholics as Catholics brought up in the Pre-Vatican II Church knew that Jesus Christ was central and that the Blessed Virgin Mary was closest to Him and to us simultaneously.

Recently From the Diocese of Trenton's newspaper, The Monitor, a reporter reported the following: The beauty, reverence, splendor and awe of a traditional Latin Mass was reflected in its highest form in the Diocese of Trenton Nov. 27 as Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrated a Solemn Pontifical High Mass in St. Hedwig Church, Trenton.

Watch a video of the distribution of Holy Communion at a Mass where there is an altar railing and people kneel to receive and watch a video of the distribution of Holy Communion at a Mass where people stand to receive and in the hand.

I have watched our school children stand to receive Holy Communion at our school Masses and this year, I have watched them kneel to receive. There is a big difference and what is being conveyed to these children when they kneel is that something out of the ordinary is happening when they receive our Lord in Holy Communion and that they should fall to their knees in adoration! Isn't this what Pope Benedict is saying by insisting that people kneel when he distributes Holy Communion?

Our bishop, Bishop Gregory Hartmayer of Savannah is very concerned about what our Confirmation candidates know and don't know about the faith, especially about what they don't know and what they don't know is abysmal!

But I'd be as concerned about their piety which in many cases is abysmal too. Do they have awe and wonder in the presence of Christ in the tabernacle and recognizing Him there fall to their knees in adoration? How many youth have this kind of piety and Catholic spirituality today?

How many of our youth would feel uncomfortable kneeling to receive Holy Communion? Would they even understand its significance? Do they even know the meaning of kneeling?

I am convinced that if the Catholic Mass returned simply to mandating that Holy Communion be distributed to the Laity as they kneel in adoration, we would see a major shift toward humility in our worship and more Catholics in the future "strongly affiliated with the Church." We don't need to look to Evangelical Protestantism to keep our young in the Church, we need to look toward our traditional reverence which includes beauty, reverence, splendor and awe and in part produced by kneeling to receive Holy Communion!

TRADITIONALISTS SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT AND BECOME HERETICS

Is Pope Benedict preparing the Church for his encyclical on Faith that will be given to the Church during this "Year of Faith." Of course I'm not the "Mentalist" or clairvoyant, but am I?

One of the most important speeches our Holy Father gave occurred in on December 22, 2005, shortly after his election. He gave the Curia and the Catholic world a road map of his papacy that will lead, in my most humble opinion, to the declaration of anathemas of various heresies that have developed since the Second Vatican Council, all revolving around just who has the right to interpret this Council. Guess what folks, it is the Pope and the bishops in union with him, but more importantly, it is the Supreme Pontiff! Traditionalists, as odd as this sounds, don't seem to get it. It is not odd though, for Progressives not to get it! You can read the Holy Father's Speech HERE!


Again, this is my most humble opinion, the Holy Father will simply say what his new Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as made explicit, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, that "Traditionalist and progressive camps that see the Second Vatican Council as a “rupture” both espouse a “heretical interpretation” of the Council and its aims."


Traditionalists don't like the new Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at least, extreme traditionalists who now could be classified as heretics! Even on my blog, there are comments made against His Excellency, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, he himself appointed by our Holy Father to be the Holy Father's mouth piece. In fact Archbishop Muller seems to be acting as the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger did when he headed the very same office. This is exciting news!

At any rate, this really does illustrate how Traditionalists in the extreme become like leftist progressives, but with one difference. The extreme traditionalists think themselves above the Magisterium of the Church and the direction of the Holy See and the traditionalists see themselves as a parallel Church preserving tradition.

But in fact, they dispise the Holy See and the Holy Father like the leftist progressives do, but in a different way, but the mentality is the same.

Father Z has some interesting insights on this and I have a few quotes, but you can read it at his blog, HERE.

Father Z's money quotes:

“You can go into the ditch on either side of the road, left or right. Either way, you are still in a ditch.”

This has been my concern about some members and followers of the SSPX. Can they wind up stuck in the ditch, but on the opposite side of the road from where the LCWR and NCR and Tablistas are mired? I think that is possible, yes.

I don’t think it is all that easy to get yourself into the ditch, since Holy Church is pretty flexible when it comes to some things. Not so much in others, of course. And it is easier by far to go off the road to the left. The shoulder tilts over there and the Enemy of the Soul, it seems to me, is generally ignored on that side, to the peril of all who stray thither.

[I can see now what some on the left are going to do with this. They will say that Muller says that if you don't agree with the Pope on Vatican II, then you are a heretic. They won't make any distinctions about the actual texts in question. Thinking they have scored a point against traddies, they will lose sight of the fact that they themselves are pretty far from the Pope's view of Vatican II. Moreover, the Holy Father's interpretation of Vatican II texts isn't right merely because it is the interpretation of the Holy Father. That helps, of course, when it comes to revealed truth. But there are sound ways to interpret the Church's documents and bad ways. This Pope is right because he grasps the correct way of interpretation apart from the fact that he is also given the graces of the Petrine Office.]

[Sadly, heresy and other problems creep in through stressing points that are true. In a sense, we have to get on with things, a liberals want. But in truth that is because Vatican II, over now for close to 50 years, wasn't nearly as important in the list of Councils as they think it was. On the other side, since the Vatican II wasn't nearly as important as many think, those on the traditionalist side must absorb it, stop insisting that it either isn't a Council or that it must be interpreted in the most negative light possible, and move along with the rest.]