GUN CONTROL AND PRESS CONTROL AND CATHOLIC LITE REQUIEMS

Why in the name of God and all that is holy, was the following removed from the Post Vatican II Requiem Mass? Does it not capture the sentiments of the horror of death when we are separated from God and loved ones?

Libera Me

íbera me, Dómine, de morte ætérna, in die illa treménda:
Quando cœli movéndi sunt et terra.
Dum véneris iudicáre sǽculum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego, et tímeo, dum discússio vénerit, atque ventúra ira.
Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra.
Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitátis et misériæ, dies magna et amára valde.
Dum véneris iudicáre sǽculum per ignem.
Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat eis.

English Translation:

Deliver me, (Wouldn't Liberate Me, be a better translation?) O Lord, from death eternal on that fearful day,
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved,
When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
I am made to tremble, and I fear, till the judgment be upon us, and the coming wrath,
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved.
That day, day of wrath, calamity, and misery, day of great and exceeding bitterness,
When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let light perpetual shine upon them.

There has been a lot of talk lately and once again about gun control and who and who can't purchase them. It does appear to this American priest that we Americans are gun-crazy and our gun culture leads to home violence and the type of demonic violence we have just experienced.

But we also have a problem with mental health and a reluctance to institutionalize on a permanent or long term basis those who are a threat to themselves and to others. We emptied our institutions in the 1980's and the reluctance to revisit common sense solutions concerning the mentally ill has led to a proliferation of street people and crime.

But I do think that those who are criminally insane either temporarily or permanently and are inclined to copy-cat killings are egged on by our out of control news media that has turned news into entertainment.

Is it necessary to have round the clock news and news specials on the very day that a tragedy hits and all the facts are muddled and people are in a state of shock?

And today many national reporters think that the best television interview is one where the one being interviewed breaks down and cries. They believe too that the best film footage is the horror on people's faces when they find out that their child is the one who was killed. These newscasters think showing the initial reaction makes for good reporting and good news skills.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be reporting of a big news story. It just shouldn't be taking place as the news is in progress and it shouldn't be turned into a reality show for the country's sick entertainment.

The next mass murder will take place because the one who is now plotting it sees how much attention it will bring to him and that he can go out in a blaze of national and international news coverage. The notoriety may be just too much for him not to want to avoid.

Finally from the perspective of faith, I realize that many people are brought closer to their faith when these things happen but many others are pushed away. Perhaps our sanitized Catholicism and Christianity in general today has not prepared people for the harsh realities of sin and death. Nor have we prepared our people to deal with the demonic. If our theology of Church and Jesus is all about hand-holding Christianity and singing kumbaya songs to comfort us and all we hear is Pollyanna, Charlie Brown theology, how can we cope with why Jesus came and was crucified?

Perhaps the Spanish Church in pre-Vatican II times with its emphasis on the sufferings of Christ needs some sort of resurrection in our Catholic psyche.

As well, in the post below, I have excerpts of Faure's Requiem based on the Extraordinary Form's Requiem Mass. I also include the Gregorian Chanted Dies Irae, Day of Wrath.

How much better do the words, if not the melody capture the sentiments of true Catholic theology at the time of death, especially tragic, senseless death.

The Ordinary Form's Funeral Mass might see the following replacing the actual liturgical words of the Requiem:

1. In place of the Introit "Requiem Eterna" why not just sing "Be Not Afraid."

2. Let's remove the Kyrie altogether from the Requiem Mass

3. Let's remove the Day of Wrath altogether from the Requiem Mass and sing Alleluia for the Gospel Acclamation

4. Let's sing "On Eagle Wings" in place of Pie Jesus

5. Let's get rid of Libera Me altogether and sing in its place "For All the Saints"

6. Let's get rid of In Paradisum and sing in its place "Going Home"

When we do this sort of thing to the Liturgy, whether it is the Requiem, the Nuptial Mass or the typical Sunday Mass, can't we see and experience how we have substituted banal tripe for authentic liturgical spirituality? Can't we see how we have lost a sense of the sacred and made the Liturgy into horizontal confab?

The traditional Requiem sung in plain chant or more solemn versions of Gregorian Chant captures the sentiments of our heart and pierces it. Our culture that wants a quick fix in time of pain and grief does not want the soul piercing depth of spiritual reality that the authentic Requiem brings to the grieving soul and purges it with its haunting, sobering reality.

ETERNAL REST GRANT UNTO THEM O LORD AND GRANT COMFORT TO THOSE IN DARKNESS

A MARKED GRAVE, A PLACE ANTICIPATING THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY

I've been waiting patiently for my mom's foot marker to be placed at her grave. It came yesterday and my sister sent me this by way of her phone. For almost three months my mom's grave has been an "unmarked grave" and created a sense of distress for both my sister and me. That's over now!

Just this week I've ministered to three people who have died and their families. The funeral I have today is for one of our 99 year old parishioners, a faithful, devout Catholic all her life. She'll be buried after her Requiem Mass at the nearby Riverside Cemetery.

Sadly, though, the two others that died were non-practicing Catholics. I was able to anoint one and give the apostolic absolution to her prior to her death to which her husband said to me "I guess that's her ticket to heaven." She died shortly thereafter. Sad and fortunate for her to have received the final rites of the Church!

The other one who died, non-practicing, was dead by the time I got to the emergency room. His son had the good sense to know that at least a priest should be called. I said the prayers for the dead over him with his son and daughter-in-law there. I then asked the son what plans he wanted to make for the funeral. He told me his dad didn't want a funeral, simply to be buried at sea. I presume this means cremation and the tossing the ashes in the ocean at some future date. No Catholic anything for this poor soul except the prayers after death which certainly count for something.

The two non-practicing Catholics are baby boomers, the confused Catholic generation. I think we are going to see a lot more of this sort of thing in the future. Sad!

THE PERFECT AD ORIENTEM MASS, FOLLOWING IN THE MOST EXPLICIT WAY SAYING THE BLACKING AND DOING THE RED WITH ADAPTATIONS FOR LOCAL CUSTOMS

Yes, Viginia, this is an Ordinary Form Mass celebrated completely by the books in an Extraordinary Form Mass sort of way and by Bishop Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin! And please notice that the young seem to be attracted to Catholicism of this kind!

But first, a rant and kudos. Cardinal Dolan is ranting that the drive-by media isn't reporting on the success of some law suits the Catholic Church has against the HHS mandate. What else is new? If the news isn't about celebrity, who cares?

But I must ask the Holy Catholic Church leaders in this country and other Catholic bloggers who have yet to comment on the bombshell news from the NCCB that we Catholics are "encouraged" to support the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty by: 1. fast and abstinence every Friday of the year; 2. A holy hour the last Sunday of each month; 3. Pray the Rosary every day; 4. add a prayer to the Universal prayer for life, liberty and marriage; 5. participate in 2013's fortnight of freedom.

Has anyone seen nary a mention of any of this anywhere else? Is there a news blackout? Just ranting and wondering!

Now two kudos:

1. British weekly notices growing popularity of traditional Catholicism: (And this has to be the quote of the year!): The Economist notices the rising popularity of the Latin Mass among the faithful in England, and remarks that the congregations seem disproportionately young. A magazine rarely sympathetic toward the Catholic Church, The Economist sees this trend toward traditionalism as a sign that something has gone wrong.

HERE'S THE BOMBSHELL QUOTE OF THE YEAR:

The return of the old rite causes quiet consternation among more modernist Catholics. Timothy Radcliffe, once head of Britain’s Dominicans, sees in it “a sort of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ nostalgia”. The traditionalist revival, he thinks, is a reaction against the “trendy liberalism” of his generation. Some swings of pendulums may be inevitable. But for a church hierarchy in Western countries beset by scandal and decline, the rise of a traditionalist avant-garde is unsettling. Is it merely an outcrop of eccentricity, or a sign that the church took a wrong turn 50 years ago? READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE!

2. Bishop Morlino of Madison gave a homily on Ad Orientem worship. I wonder if he read my little old blog and the interest here about it? This is what he has to say:

Bishop Morlino gave another killer catechetical homily this last Sunday on the need for ad orientem in worship.

[The first reading] says, “look to the east and see your children gathered” meaning the children, the saints, of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. [...] The essence of waiting is waiting with your whole heart and soul. You’re turned in the direction that is that which you’re waiting for. And that gives your waiting a sure and certain hope, a beautiful hope. The prophet says “Look to the east.” Look toward heaven. Look toward the heavenly Jerusalem. And John the Baptist repeats the prophet in another place, saying: “Every valley will be made lifted up, every mountain will be leveled, and a straight way will be made to heaven so that all flesh will see the salvation of God.

Our advent waiting is a full intent directed waiting. Just as I look for dad up the street to make that turn around the [corner after work], so too we are looking to the east.

We have to be people who concretely, physically, look to the east. Now clearly, that doesn’t mean nobody can go to work or school tomorrow, because we’re going go spend the day looking toward the east. Our great opportunity to look east is here at the liturgy.

Pope Benedict says over and over again that to look toward the east means to turn toward the Lord. And that’s why it’s so important to have the crucifix front and center, both for the priest and for the people.

Because during Mass, I’m supposed to be looking toward the east, toward heaven. I’m not supposed to be trying to entertain you, or hold your attention in some way. I’m supposed to be looking toward the east. So it’s good that the crucifix is right there, so that I can’t see the people clearly, nor can they see me clearly. They’re not looking at me, the priest. They’re looking at Jesus Christ, the high priest, toward the east.

The crucifix on the altar, a big one, is not an obstruction. It’s there to help us live the very basics of our faith, including advent, which means looking toward the east, which is turning toward the Lord. And when we look at the crucifix, you from your side, I from my side, we’re all turned toward the Lord.

And I’m sure that the day will come when we will turn toward the Lord together, in even a more full way when we all face east, when we all turn toward the Lord in the same direction. And when we do that, that’s not the priest turning his back on the people, it’s the priest directing the people to look toward the east, to obey the prophetic word, to believe how concrete, real, physical and visible Jesus Christ was and is. How concrete, real, physical and visible is the last coming, from the east.

The east matters. It matters a lot. That’s why the creator gave us the sunrise from the east to remind us that from there, comes the light, who is Christ.

As we behold the flesh and blood of Christ, in the sacramental sign of the Eucharist, we are turned toward the east, as Jesus comes to use here in mystery, to remind ourselves that our whole life is an eager, prayerful waiting for him to come in majesty, waiting for him to come from the east, turning toward the Lord.


And now let's stop talking in academic, theoritical ways about the Ordinary Form of the Mass and ad orientem. This is Saint Joseph's perfect solution each Sunday at our 12:10 PM Mass and it is by the 2012 Roman Missal Book, with local adaptations of course!

And of course, I know there are those who insist on some Latin in the Ordinary Form done by the book as we did for the first time at our 12:10 PM Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. This was an experimental Mass for this normally scheduled Mass at our 12:10 PM Sunday Mass time slot that then enabled me to sprint forward with this Mass being ad orientem regularly at 12:10 PM:

MORE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE HIGH SCHOOL CATHOLIC CHAPEL

A reader of my blog sent me a very nice email concerning my blog and also sent a link to Jesuit High School in New Orleans which has quite a stunning chapel for their school. Parishes should be so fortunate. You can look at the complete link HERE.

Here are a couple of photos of Jesuit High's chapel:
The big chapel:

And their small chapel:

And another from The New Liturgical Movement blog:
Chapel of Saint Joseph, and is located at the center of Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana:

OKAY, LET'S JUST GO BACK TO BASICS AND DESIGN THE MASS OF THE ORDINARY FORM COMPLETELY AD ORIENTEM

Ordinary Form Mass celebrated in an Extraordinary Form sort of way:

As the official Introit is sung, the Procession makes its way to the altar, the priest kisses it, and if incense is used, incenses it.

Then he goes to the foot of the altar and after the Introit is sung, he begins with the Sign of the Cross, Greeting and introduction to the Penitential Act at the Foot of the Altar.

He chooses the options that are available in the current OF.

After the absolution, He ascends the altar. If the Confiteor has been the chosen option, the Kyrie is begun once at the altar, otherwise the Gloria is intoned and sung with the priest at the middle of the altar.

After the Gloria, the priest turns to the faithful and sings or says, "Let us pray" then he goes to the Epistle side of the Altar to chant or say the Collect.

All are seated and the Liturgy of the Word takes place as usual in the Ordinary Form.

During the singing of the Gospel Acclamation, the Roman Missal is transferred as in the EF Mass, from the Epistle side to the Gospel side, the deacon or priest takes the book of the Gospel and processes to the ambo.

After the homily, the Credo is chanted or said at the center of the altar as well as the Universal prayer.

Then all are seated, the altar is prepared, the gifts brought forward and prepared and the Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Rite of Holy Communion are all ad orientem.

As Holy Communion is distributed, the vessels are cleansed at the altar, the Roman Missal is transferred to the Epistle side, the priest turns to the congregation, says, Let us Pray, goes to the Epistle side to chant or read the Post Communion Prayer, then goes to the center of the altar, facing the congregation and offers the final blessing in simple or solemn form and the deacon or priest chants or says the dismissal. They turn and kiss the altar and then join the procession for the recessional.

What about this? Is my Penitential Act at the Foot of the altar kosher and is it kosher even today to have the missal on the altar throughout Mass and using the Epistle and Gospel sides as I have described.

Keep in mind, nothing else is changed in the current English Roman Missal whatsoever.

THREE RATS, I MEAN, RANTS AND ONE KUDOS

My kudos is at the end of my first three rants, but this is a teaser. Compare this high school chapel (Cathedral High School on the left coast in San Diego, CA) which actually has a quite beautiful shell of a building with post-Vatican II blah liturgical sensibilities, completely utilitarian, mechanical and devoid of any real external call to piety and mystery. It looks as though it was designed by John Calvin to be a Presbyterian Church! In addition to its utilitarian and minimalistic design, where is the tabernacle? Compare this photo to the new Blessed John Paul II High School chapel in Huntsville, Alabama at the end of my three rants. The south rises again, but this time the Catholic south!

I'm really bummed out! My birthday is December 21st and I don't know if I should plan for it or not! The Vatican astronomer seems to think that the world won't end on that date. I'm inclined to believe him. However, the only reason I do believe him is that I'm suppose to turn 59 years old on the 21st. However, if I had been turning 60 years old on that date this year, truly the world would be ending.

You remember the "rats in the rectory" saga of just a couple of years ago. Well, we had a mouse in the house recently and our custodian set a couple of conventional mouse traps in the kitchen to get him. Well, it didn't do quite the job that the trap was suppose to do. The mouse was not killed but critically injured, unbeknownst to me. The poor little thing dragged himself under the refrigerator only to die an agonizing death. Then he began to rot! Keep in mind this rot was in our kitchen where our food is cooked and most of the time I eat my meals. Not very appetizing.

For my final rant, as I ate my supper in the kitchen on Tuesday night (my parochial vicar tells me he had to go to Buffalo, NY to visit an aunt until Saturday, but if he has a tan when he returns I'll be rather suspicious)from behind me I heard something rather large moving and gnawing. Of course, I still suffer from current and post traumatic stress syndrome as it concerns the rats in the rectory sagas, so I jumped out of my seat to try to listen more carefully. The movement and gnawing continued. It sounded like to me that it was in the wall behind the dishwasher. But it was hard to tell and it sounded bigger than a tiny mouse! I almost lost my appetite and had to move my plate from me with my back to the wall sitting at the table to the other side of the table so I could see the wall!

Keep in mind about three years ago we had a super-rat in the house who liked eating plastic. He was able to get behind the dishwasher and ate all the plastic piping behind it rendering the dishwasher unusable and I on the verge of institutionalization. This particular rat, (not to be confused with the one that was stalking me in the kitchen sometime later as well as in my office, not to mention my bedroom where in fact I think he stared at me as I slept!), knew his way through the walls of the house from the ground level of the house to the attic which would be four floors! In the attic there was a nest of them, called tree rats, and very large I might add, the size of sewer rats!, who gnawed their way into the attic. This particular rat liked plastic very much because in addition to eating the plastic piping of the dishwasher, he had dragged upstairs to the attic either from outside or from our kitchen (I suspect he found it outside) a plastic lid covering, very large, on the top of a deli tray you might buy at the deli for a party!

Now for the kudos. Have you seen some Catholic High School chapels like the first I post above. Usually these are very modern and do not have a sense of the sacred at all. Usually these chapels are very ugly. The New Liturgical Movement Blog is reporting on the new chapel at Huntsville, Alabama's Blessed John Paul II High School and the blog says:

Design and Furnishing of New High School Chapel, including all artwork, lighting, flooring, liturgical appointments, furniture, etc. The Franz Mayer Crucifix is from the former Visitation Academy in Wheeling, West Virginia and dates from the early 1860s. It was installed in the chapel at the height of the Civil War and hung there until 2011 when it was restored and transferred to the chapel here. The statues are also Franz Mayer and date from the same period. The custom altar, ambo, etc. are all of solid cherry. The altar features a Gothic-revival brass image of the Agnus Dei that was once part of an 1860s English reredos. The porcelain tile floors feature a parquet design in the nave and gray and white harlequin pattern in the sanctuary.

Now if this isn't the influence of the "reform of the reform of the ordinary form but within continuity" than I don't know what is! Kudos to Blessed John Paul II! I think this chapel is very inviting to high schoolers not only for Mass but private prayer, meditation, contemplation and public and private devotions. I don't think the extreme minimalistic and utilitarian example at the top invites any of that, so I suspect the chapel above is not used at all except for Mass. I think the Calvinists and the Presbyterians and some Baptists would like the first picture above and in fact I suspect they designed that chapel!

I'VE UPDATED MY HOPED-FOR REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS

YOU CAN READ MY 12/12 UPDATE OF "THE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS IN CONTINUITY" BY PRESSING THIS SENTENCE. IT NOW INCLUDES A PENITENTIAL PRELUDE AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR, WHICH HAS TWO OPTIONS, EITHER THE ASPERGES OR THE PRAYERS AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR. THE ACTUAL MASS BEGINS FOLLOWING THE PENITENTIAL PRELUDE AT THE FOOT OF THE ALTAR, WITH THE SINGING OR SAYING OF THE INTROIT. I'VE ALSO REVERTED TO THE ORDINARY FORM'S CONFITEOR, PLACED THE KISS OF PEACE AFTER THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER AND COMBINED THE COMMUNION RITE OF THE PRIEST AND LAITY IN A MARVELOUSLY WONDERFUL REFORM OF THE REFORM BUT WITHIN CONTINUITY OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS..

This EF in Sweden! The EF Mass will remain as the Ordinary Extraordinary Form of the Mass and will be the primary way that Latin is maintained and will be required in every parish that has more than two Sunday Masses or can be the Ordinary Form of the Mass for parishes who choose it with the local bishop's approval! HOWEVER, VATICAN II SENSIBILITIES IN TERMS OF THE UNITY OF THE PRIEST AND THE CONGREGATION ARE TO BE APPLIED TO IT AND ACTUAL PARTICIPATION AS UNDERSTOOD IN THE ORDINARY FORM, MEANING THE CONGREGATION TAKES ITS PARTS WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN NORMALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ALTAR SERVERS AND/OR CHOIR.

I DON'T KNOW HOW I MISSED THIS IN 1996, THE OXFORD DECLARATION ON THE LITURGY--BOMBSHELL? MAKES GOOD READING TODAY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE REFORM OF THE REFORM OF THE MASS IN CONTINUITY WITH OUR HERITAGE

THE OXFORD DECLARATION
(1996)
(The appearance of the Oxford Declaration and the immediate response to it is one indication of the fact that a revived liturgical movement is now gaining strength and confidence in England as well as the United States. The Declaration was published in the name of the Liturgy Forum of the Centre for Faith and Culture, constituted under the chairmanship of Mgr Peter J. Elliott, a Vatican official and author of Ceremonies of the Roman Rite, at the conclusion of the Centre's summer conference).

1. Reflecting on the history of liturgical renewal and reform since the Second Vatican Council, the Liturgy Forum agreed that there have been many positive results. Among these might be mentioned the introduction of the vernacular, the opening up of the treasury of the Sacred Scriptures, increased participation in the liturgy and the enrichment of the process of Christian initiation. However, the Forum concluded that the preconciliar liturgical movement as well as the manifest intentions of Sacrosanctum Concilium have in large part been frustrated by powerful contrary forces, which could be described as bureaucratic, philistine and secularist.

2. The effect has been to deprive the Catholic people of much of their liturgical heritage. Certainly, many ancient traditions of sacred music, art and architecture have been all but destroyed, Sacrosanctum Concilium gave pride of place to Gregorian chant, yet in many places this "sung theology" of the Roman liturgy has disappeared without trace. Our liturgical heritage is not a superficial embellishment of worship but should properly be regarded as intrinsic to it, as it is also to the process of transmitting the Catholic faith in education and evangelization. Liturgy cannot be separated from culture; it is the living font of a Christian civilization and hence has profound ecumenical significance.

3. The impoverishment of our liturgy after the Council is a fact not yet sufficiently admitted or understood, to which the necessary response must be a revival of the liturgical movement and the initiation of a new cycle of reflection and reform. The liturgical movement which we represent is concerned with the enrichment, correction and resacralization of Catholic liturgical practice. It is concerned with a renewal of liturgical eschatology, cosmology and aesthetics, and with a recovery of the sense of the sacred--mindful that the law of worship is the law of belief. This renewal will be aided by a closer and deeper acquaintance with the liturgical, theological and iconographic traditions of the Christian East.

4. The revived liturgical movement calls for the promotion of the Liturgy of the Hours, celebrated in song as an action of the Church in cathedrals, parishes, monasteries and families, and of Eucharistic Adoration, already spreading in many parishes. In this way, the Divine Word and the Presence of Christ's reality in the Mass may resonate throughout the day, making human culture into a dwelling place for God. At the heart of the Church in the world we must be able to find that loving contemplation, that adoring silence,which is the essential complement to the spoken word of Revelation, and the key to active participation in the holy mysteries of faith.

5. We call for a greater pluralism of Catholic rites and uses, so that all these elements of our tradition may flourish and be more widely known during the period of reflection and 'ressourcement' (going back to the sources) that lies ahead. If the liturgical movement is to prosper, it must seek to rise above differences of opinion and taste to that unity,which is the Holy Spirit's gift to the Body of Christ. Those who love the Catholic tradition in its fullness should strive to work together in charity, bearing each other's burdens in the light of the Holy Spirit, and persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus.

6. We hope that any future liturgical reform would not be imposed on the faithful but would proceed, with the utmost caution and sensitivity to the sensus fidelium, from a thorough understanding of the organic nature of the liturgical traditions of the Church. Our work should be sustained by prayer, education and study. This cannot be undertaken in haste, or in anything other than a serene spirit. No matter what difficulties lie ahead, the glory of the Paschal Mystery - Christ's love, his cosmic sacrifice and his childlike trust in the Father - shines through every Catholic liturgy for those who have eyes to see, and in this undeserved grace we await the return of spring.

THERE ARE FREE STANDING ALTARS AND THEN THERE ARE FREE STANDING ALTARS

This is the free standing altar that was placed in front of the perfectly good old altar at St. Joseph Church from about 1968 to 2006"

This is the new altar installed in 2006 and "appears" to be the table part of the reredos that is behind it:

A bird's eye view:

I wonder how these gates would look in St. Joseph Church, Macon?

EVIDENTLY THE REFORM OF THE REFORM IS WORLD WIDE AND CERTAINLY LIKE A NEW PENTECOST SWEEPING THE HOLY SPIRIT'S WIND THROUGHOUT THE LITURGY

It appears that parishes, monasteries, religious houses and chapels which were renovated to accommodate the Vatican II Mass or at least add a table or another altar in front of a perfectly good altar was all unnecessary. What a waste of time, faith, energy and money! The reform of the reform within continuity continues to gain momentum and you never know where it will strike next!

A Chapel in Poland:

The unnecessary new altar that was placed in front of the perfectly good old altar

The old altar restored to new and the new altar, deposed

The new Mass on the same old altar, the way it should have been all along!

I wonder how this altar railing would look in Saint Joseph Church, Macon?

CAN THE POPE ACTING ALONE DO MORE THAN AN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL RECOMMENDED?

Yes, Pope Paul VI in issuing his revised Roman Missal had the authority to go above and beyond what Vatican II envisioned for the Roman Missal.

By the same token, Pope Benedict had/has the authority to revised the Roman Missal, allow for the 1962 version or any other version for that matter and could on his own authority actually revised the Pauline Missal to make it more like what Vatican II actually sought.

Or Pope Benedict could do what Pope Paul VI did and do something else altogether different.

What the pope cannot do is the change the faith and morals of the Church that are either defined dogma or doctrine. The pope cannot do something new if that new thing isn't within the Tradition of the Church, for example ordain women priests or bishops. He doesn't have the authority to do that.

Limitations on authority is good but having authority is good too when exercised under the parameters of Tradition.

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR THE REFORM OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS IN AN EXTRAORDINARY FORM SORT OF WAY BUT STILL RESPECTING VATICAN II AND SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM

UPDATED 12/12, I'VE TWEAKED THE INTRODUCTORY RITE AND COMMUNION RITE AND PLACED THE KISS OF PEACE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE UNIVERSAL PRAYERS AND PRIOR TO THE OFFERTORY COLLECTION!

I firmly believe that we cannot and will not undo the last 50 years of the post-Vatican II experience. God will use it as He wills.

So, SC stated that we should keep Latin but have some vernacular, that there should be noble simplicity and that there should be actual participation which in part means that the laity take their vocal parts in some sections of the Mass once the domain of choirs, scholas and altar servers.

One to the things that I like about the Ordinary Form of the Mass and Vatican II is that we see all the baptized as a priestly people, meaning that we all worship God, although the Sacramental Priesthood has a function that is not accorded to the general priesthood of all the baptized. That distinction must be kept separate and dignified. But with that said, we should see the laity joining with the ordained priest who is a sacramental sign of Jesus Christ the Bridegroom of the Church and the High Priest. So the laity should take their parts and role as seriously and pro-actively as the ordained priest does. They should not be just passive spectators of what goes on beyond the altar railing if there is one in your church.

So, this is my revision of the Mass in the Ordinary Form.

I'm keeping the 2012 English version of the Roman Missal and only modifying the calendar as the Anglican Ordinariate has already done. So everything that is in the 2012 Roman Missal remains. The only change I would make is that the Introit be developed as in the Extraordinary Form with refrain, verse and Glory be (no Gloria be for Requiems). The Offertory Antiphon is reinserted in the Missal.

The major change is to the Order of the Mass. It reverts to the 1965 Order of Mass which is a slight modification of the 1962 missal.

I keep all the Eucharistic prayers and the only modification I make for any of them which are still to be spoken or chanted aloud is that there is a double genuflection after the consecration of both the Sacred Host and the Precious Blood. Also, I call for the profound bow on the altar for the consecrations.

I keep the Ordinary Form's Offertory prayers over the bread and wine, but reinsert some of the 1965 prayers at this point including the prayer to the Holy Trinity.

Of course the Mass is celebrated Ad Orientem. This version remains in English:

I. The procession either simple or solemn to the altar may be accompanied by instrumental music or a hymn. Both the Asperges or the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar are to be described as the "Penitential Prelude to the Mass."

II. THE ASPERGES

(The "Asperges" or sprinkling of holy water takes place before the principal Mass on Sundays and replaces the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.)

Antiphon: Sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 50, 3) Have mercy upon me, O God, in Your goodness. V. Glory be, etc. - Sprinkle me, etc.

(During Passion Time, the "Glory Be" is omitted. During Paschaltime, substitute the following antiphon:)

Antiphon: I saw water coming forth from the temple, from the right side, alleluia: and all those were saved to whom that water came, and they shall say: alleluia, alleluia. (Ps. 117, 1) Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. V. Glory be, etc. - I saw, etc.

P: Show us, O Lord, Your mercy. (P.T. Alleluia.)

C: And grant us Your salvation. (P.T. Alleluia.)

P: O Lord, hear my prayer.

C: And let my cry come to You.

P: The Lord be with you.

S: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

Hear us, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God; and graciously send Your Holy Angel from heaven to watch over, to cherish, to protect, to abide with, and to defend all who dwell in this house. Through Christ our Lord.

S: Amen.

(Following the Asperges, the priest changes to chasuble, the introit is sung and the priest approaches the altar as he would after the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, although omitted when the Asperges is sung)

II. If the Asperges is omitted, the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar spoken aloud in either a sung or spoken Masses after the procession and any music that accompanies the procession.

P: In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I will go to the altar of God.

Congregation: To God Who gives joy to my youth.

P: Our help is in the Name of the Lord.

C: Who made heaven and earth.

(My comment: I have both the priest and congregation saying the confiteor together rather than separately, but I have a double "absolution" as I think it is important for the congregation to offer the priest an absolution which the EF Mass has and is truly cool!)

Priest and Congregation together:

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do, (and striking their breast, they say:) though my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

P: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life everlasting.

C: Amen

C: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring you to life every lasting.

P: Amen.

P: May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, + absolution, and remission of our sins.

C: Amen.

P: O God, You will give us life again.

C: And Your people will rejoice in You.

P: Show us, O Lord, Your kindness.

C: And grant us Your salvation.

P: O Lord, hear my prayer.

C: And let my cry come to You.

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

(Going up to the altar, he prays silently:)

Take away from us our sins, O Lord, we beseech You, that we may enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Kissing the altar, he prays silently:)

We beseech You, O Lord, by the merits of Your Saints whose relics lie here, and of all the Saints: deign in your mercy to pardon me all my sins. Amen.

The Mass begins after the Penitential Prelude in either or its forms:

INTROIT

(In the sung Mass, the Introit begins as soon as the priest approaches the altar during his silent prayers, reverences it and incenses it. In spoken Masses, the Introit is spoken by all as soon as the priest kisses the altar and then goes to the Epistle side for it. The entire Mass is prayed at the altar as in the EF Mass, with the Epistle and Gospel side designations. After the Introit, either sung or spoken the priest goes to the center of the altar for the Kyrie, either sung or spoken.)

KYRIE (nine-fold)

GLORIA

COLLECT

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Through Christ our Lord.

C: Amen

LITURGY OF THE WORD AS IS IN THE ORDINARY FORM

(Prior to the Gospel the Priest says for himself or to the deacon quietly:)

Cleanse my heart and my lips, O Almighty God, Who cleansed the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with a burning coal. In Your gracious mercy deign so to purify me that I may worthily proclaim Your holy Gospel. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Lord, grant Your blessing. The Lord be in my heart and on my lips, that I may worthily and fittingly proclaim His holy Gospel. Amen.

CREDO

UNIVERSAL PRAYER

THE KISS OF PEACE

P: The peace of the Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Deacon or Priest: In a holy and dignified way, let us offer each other the kiss of peace.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST:

Offertory Procession of offerings

Preparation Prayers

P: (Over the Bread: Blessed are you...(as currently in the OF Mass)

C: Blessed be God forever. (If prayer is said aloud, otherwise the priest prays his parts quietly).

Blessing and pouring of water said quietly by priest:

O God, Who established the nature of man in wondrous dignity, and still more admirably restored it, grant that through the mystery of this water and wine, we may be partakers of His Divinity, Who has condescended to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

P: (Over the wine: Bless are you...)

C: Blessed be God forever.

Washing of Hands, said quietly by the priest:

I wash my hands in innocence, and I go around Your altar, O Lord, giving voice to my thanks, and recounting all Your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the house in which You dwell, the tenting-place of Your glory. Gather not my soul with those of sinners, nor with men of blood my life. On their hands are crimes, and their right hands are full of bribes. But I walk in integrity; redeem me, and have pity on me. My foot stands on level ground; in the assemblies I will bless You, O Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Trinity, prayed quietly by priest:

Accept, Most Holy Trinity, this offering which we are making to You in remembrance of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Lord; and in honor of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, Blessed John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of these, and of all the Saints; that it may add to their honor and aid our salvation; and may they deign to intercede in heaven for us who honor their memory here on earth. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

ORATE FRATRES

Prayer over the Offerings

Preface Dialogue and Preface

Sanctus

Eucharist Prayer (any contained currently in the Ordinary Form Missal. The only rubrical change is that there are double genuflections at both consecrations and that the priest genuflects each time the pall is removed from the consecrated Precious Blood, with specific rubrics for the pall).

Mystery of Faith

Great Amen

RITE OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Lord's Prayer (all)

Our Father, Who art in heaven, * hallowed be Thy name; * Thy kingdom come; * Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. * Give us this day our daily bread; * and forgive us our trespasses * as we forgive those who trespass against us; * and lead us not into temptation, * but deliver us from evil.

P: Deliver us, we beg You, O Lord, from every evil, past, present, and to come; and by the intercession of the Blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, of Andrew, and all the Saints, in Your mercy grant peace in our days, that by Your compassionate aid we may be ever free from sin and sheltered from all turmoil. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.

C: Amen.

P: May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

C: And with your spirit.

(The priest puts a small particle into the chalice, saying:)

May this mingling and consecration of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ help us who receive it to life everlasting. Amen.

Agnus Dei (all)

PRIEST'S PRAYERS BEFORE HOLY COMMUNION RECITED DURING THE AGNUS DEI WHEN SUNG

KNEEL

(Then inclining toward the altar, priest says silently:)

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who said to Your Apostles: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you,” regard not my sins but the faith of Your Church, and deign to give her peace and unity according to Your Will: Who live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Who, by the will of the Father, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, have by Your death given life to the world, deliver me by this Your Most Sacred Body and Blood from all my sins and from every evil. Make me always cling to Your commandments, and never permit me to be separated from You. Who with the same God the Father and the Holy Spirit, live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Let not the partaking of Your Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but through Your goodness, may it become a safeguard and an effective remedy, both of soul and body. You Who live and reign with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

THE COMMUNION RITE MORE CLOSELY ALIGNED TO THE CURRENT ORDINARY FORM'S

(Holding up a Sacred Host OVER THE CHALICE AND FACING THE CONGREGATION, the priest says:)

P: Behold the Lamb of God, * behold Him Who takes away the sins of the world, Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.

P&C: (three times): Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. * Speak but the word and my soul will be healed.

(The priest turns back to the altar to receive Holy Communion himself first:)

Priest: I will take the Bread of heaven, and call upon the name of the Lord.

May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen.

(The priest reverently consumes the Sacred Host.)

What return shall I make to the Lord for all He has given me? I will take the Chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. Praising I will call upon the Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies.

May the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to life everlasting. Amen.

(The priest reverently consumes the Precious Blood.)

Communion antiphon and Hymns begin as soon as the priest turns back to the altar to receive.

(The Communicants receive at the altar railing kneeling and by way of intinction:)

P/EMC: The Body of Christ and Blood of Christ.

Communicant: Amen.

(The priest purifies chalice with wine, saying:)

What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what is given to us in time, be our healing for eternity.

(He purifies his fingers with wine and water, saying:)

May Your Body, O Lord, which I have eaten, and Your Blood which I have drunk, cleave to my very soul, and grant that no trace of sin be found in me, whom these pure and holy mysteries have renewed. You who live and reign, forever and ever. Amen.

THE PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

STAND

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

P: Let us pray.

…forever and ever.

C: Amen.

THE BLESSING

KNEEL

(The priest remaining at the Epistle side of the altar, following the Post-Communion Prayer, turns to the congregation for the blessing, either solemn or simple.)

P: May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen.

The priest turns back to the altar, goes to its center and prays silently the placeat:

May the tribute of my worship be pleasing to You, Most Holy Trinity, and grant that the sacrifice which I, all unworthy, have offered in the presence of Your Majesty, may be acceptable to You, and through Your mercy obtain forgiveness for me and all for whom I have offered it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(After the Placeat, the priest kisses the altar, turns to the congregation at the center of the altar:)

THE DISMISSAL

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with your spirit.

Deacon (or Priest): Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.

C: Thanks be to God.

Recessional Hymn

HAVE YOU EVER HAD GRAVE ENVY?

I visited my parents graves today. My mom's is about to get its foot marker with her name, date of birth and date of death. My dad died 25 years ago this coming Christmas Day:

And now for grave envy. This grave is always decorated according to season and in the most meticulous way. My parents grave is in the background and I find my parent's grave by looking for this grave that is always stunningly cared for. It makes me have grave envy!

REENACTMENT OF THE ONE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST IN AN UNBLOODY WAY: IS IT REALLY A SIGN OF WHO WE CATHOLICS ARE AS A PRIESTLY PEOPLE ON A MISSION OR IS IT A SIGN OF OUR ETERNAL REDEMPTION WHEN WE WORTHILY PARTICIPATE IN IT? I REPORT, YOU DECIDE!

The reenactment of the One Sacrifice of Christ in an unbloody was in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica a couple of months ago and the reenactment of a Civil War battle in an unbloody way in Aiken, South Carolina in February of 2012. Which image is play acting and which one isn't and which one is deleterious to the Catholic Faith of the participant?

Actually this article in what WDTPRS description of it as Fishwrap or also known as the NATIONAL cATHOLIC REPORTER, and soon to be challenged to drop the word Catholic, or make it a little "c" cATHOLIC rEPORTER, is actually kind of good and tries to make some valid points, at least on the pastoral theology level. But that is where it also derails and veers off the true meaning of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in any form that it is celebrated validly in the world. It is written by a Father Ron Schmit who is a pastor in California. Now I know a Father Ron Schmit who was my parishioner at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, who was a widower with children, who sang in our very traditional choir and who became a Jesuit priest in the 1990's in the California province. I wonder if this is the one and the same Father Ron Schmit who was my parishioner in Augusta in the 1990's????????? You can read his article by pressing this paragraph.

Here are some excerpts from his article. This first paragraph makes me think that he did live in Augusta, because 16 miles away in Aiken, South Carolina, they do what he says about Civil War (I mean War Between the States) reenactments and it makes me wonder if he reads "southern orders?":

"Some people like to spend weekends reenacting the Civil War. They dress in period costume. They stage mock battles of Union and Confederate soldiers. It's a harmless hobby. I just figured that the people attached to this "extraordinary form" were the liturgical version of societies for anachronistic re-enactment."

Then Father Ron makes this incredible statement with a broad brush of paint:

"But, I have come to change my opinion. Those attached to the extraordinary form are not like Civil War re-enactment societies. At least those people know they are play-acting about a time that can never return. The people attached to the extraordinary form are seriously trying to enact a particular worldview and understanding of church. And it is an understanding that we left behind at the Second Vatican Council. It is a worldview that is incompatible with the council."

The above is rather incredible! All I can write is "REALLY?"

Now this is where a pastoral truth elevated to a dogma hijacks the Liturgy, which is precisely what has happened to the post Vatican II Mass or at least progressive Catholics perception of the post Vatican II Mass:

"The definition of who we are as church comes alive in the liturgy. Vatican II described the church as a priestly people called on a mission...The council's vision of a priestly people on mission necessitated a liturgy that could prepare disciples ready to take up their responsibilities. The council looked to the church's distant past to recover ritual elements that were instrumental in preparing the baptized to take active responsibility for Christ's priestly, prophetic and royal mission."

I would have thought, and this is in continuity with more than 1900 years of Scripture and Tradition, that the Mass is first and foremost the reenactment of the One Sacrifice of Christ in an "unbloody" way for us and our eternal salvation. And that our Communion in the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, is a share in that redemption wrought by the One Sacrifice of Christ when we receive Him worthily and in a state of grace! And this is true in the EF and OF forms of the one Roman Rite!

To say that the liturgy is first and foremost makes alive the horizontal aspect of the Church as a priestly people on a mission, really makes me want to puke. Let me join the Knights of Columbus for that! I would say that placing this emphasis and imposing it on the Mass is the single worst corruption of the theology of the Mass by post Vatican II Catholics!

PROGRESSIVE CATHOLICS, I.E. SPIRIT OF VATICAN II TYPE OF FOLKS, ARE FREAKING OUT ABOUT THE REFORM OF THE REFORM WITHIN CONTINUITY WITH OUR PAST, WITHOUT RUPTURE FROM PRE-VATICAN II TIMES

Images like this drive progressive Catholics crazy, all the more reason to see a proliferation in this style of Mass, celebrating the Ordinary Form Mass in an Extraordinary Form sort of way!

This too seems to be a grand caricature of progressive Catholics today who see the hand writing on the wall and in the Roman Missal!

As you know, I was trained in a liberal major seminary from 1976 to 1980, not exactly the heyday of renewal for the Church, although we thought it certainly was and that we could create a Church Utopia by our methods of renewal that would be well entrenched by the 21st century. Talk about pride and God humbling the prideful! It is to laugh! Hindsight is 20/20!

But what I learned as I became a flaming progressive that being flexible is good and healthy although today I will have shrunken the parameters of that flexibility since I have recovered my right mind in my aging process.

But we know that under the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI he has encourage post-Vatican II renewal by actually implementing the Second Vatican Council documents as written and not reading and interpreting them through the lens of discontinuity or rupture.

All of this impacts Liturgy, ecclesiology, the interpretation of the Word of God and how the Magisterium is received by academics and clergy and laity alike and finally how Catholicism impacts lay Catholics as they bring their pristine Catholic faith and morals to their home, work and play, especially how they care for the poorest of the poor (the unborn, but also the born disenfranchised) and others in need.

The biggest area in which progressive Catholics are freaking out in truly an irrational way is in liturgical reform of the reform. They absolutely despise the term "reform of the reform" because it implies that the first reform got it completely wrong and the spirit of Vatican II reform is even wronger (if I can use that progressive term).

They hate the term "Say the black and do the red!" They think right thinking Catholics who are taking the ball of reform in continuity and running with it are a bunch of idiots and hypocrites too. But what is really odd, they have now become policemen of the reform of the reform group when this group appears to be less rigid about certain liturgical actions whether in the Extraordinary Form or the Ordinary Form.

For example, true to my seminary days, I am a flexible sort of person and do not like rigidity whether it is liberal or conservative rigidity.

So, I celebrate the EF Mass without a biretta, since the rubrics and GIRM of this form of the Mass really doesn't mandate it, only mentions it. I celebrate a sung Mass without a deacon and sub deacon and don't use incense. I'm not robotic in my movements during the EF Mass and simply try to be human in what I do.

You would think the progressives would applaud this. No it freaks them out because they can't box-in certain progressive traditionalists and make a caricaturization of them. And anything that makes the EF Mass more appealing to a broad coalition of Catholics freak them out!

But what really drives them crazy is celebrating the Ordinary Form of the Mass in an extraordinary form sort of way!

By this, I mean, that the official Introit, Offertory and Communion antiphons are chanted in addition to a processional hymn, offertory and communion hymns and a recessional.

By this, I mean that the Liturgy of the Eucharist is celebrated Ad Orientem.

By this, I mean that we wholeheartedly embrace the new English translation and the chants of the Roman Missal with gladness and joy, in a mature sort of way.

By this, I mean that we allow for more options at communion time, such as the option of kneeling to receive our Lord first and foremost through the means of eating and drinking.

By this, I mean eating and drinking should be seen as a symbol in the, well, symbolic sense, since after all we are receiving our Lord first and foremost. So one of the options to make Holy Communion more sanitary and at the same time offer the Precious Blood to be "drunk" is by way of intinction, which is a form of drinking too, although some would say minimalistic, but are not all symbols minimalistic? And isn't our Lord, after all, present in the tiniest speck of the Sacred Host and the smallest portion of the Precious Blood, completely, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity? Do we receive less of our Lord when we receive a smaller portion of bread and wine to eat and drink? Talk about obsessing on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin!

Other than that above, by this, I mean "read the black and do the red" but with style, grace and flexibility! And when you do so, know that you are driving academic progressives wild to the point of freaking out! God is good!

YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR FROM GOD

Like many of you I've been praying that the Church would recover a stricter discipline for fasting and abstinence. Be careful of what you ask in prayer!

In particular I was praying that Friday abstinence from meat and fowl (flesh of warm blooded animals) would become a national norm once again, a communal act of penance that we Catholics would take seriously, not so much under the threat of mortal sin but more so as an act of Catholic solidarity in observing Friday as the day of our Lord's great passion and death.

Well, our American bishops have allowed God to move them to establish this form of penance every Friday and not just in observance of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ but to seek God's protection of the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and religious liberty in our country, meaning no government interference in the life of the Church.

But they took it one step further. They are asking us to FAST as well each Friday of the year for the same intentions. The Catholic fast is usually for people 18 years old to 60 (one more year for me!). It means one main meal and two smaller snacks that combined do not equal a full meal and no eating between the full meal and the two snacks. That is reasonable and is what weight watchers recommends but in a different way for every day of the year! It is healthy for the body too, not just spiritually.

So, how do we tell our brides and grooms who live it up on the day of their wedding rehearsal that they have to fast? Maybe they will be dispensed? And how do we tell brides and grooms that their rehearsal meal can't include meal or poultry products, that they have to eat grill cheese sandwiches?

Now while the bishops are at it, how about recovering Ember days? What are ember days you ask. Good question, as I don't remember ever observing them. So here it is taken from the Fisheaters blog:

Four times a year, the Church sets aside three days to focus on God through His marvelous creation. These quarterly periods take place around the beginnings of the four natural seasons that "like some virgins dancing in a circle, succeed one another with the happiest harmony," as St. John Chrysostom wrote.

These four times are each kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and are known as "Ember Days," or Quatuor Tempora, in Latin. The first of these four times comes in Winter, after the the Feast of St. Lucy; the second comes in Spring, the week after Ash Wednesday; the third comes in Summer, after Pentecost Sunday; and the last comes in Autumn, after Holy Cross Day. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.

Which means:

Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.

For non-Latinists, it might be easier to just remember "Lucy, Ashes, Dove, and Cross."

These times are spent fasting and partially abstaining (voluntary since the new Code of Canon Law) in penance and with the intentions of thanking God for the gifts He gives us in nature and beseeching Him for the discipline to use them in moderation. The fasts, known as "Jejunia quatuor temporum," or "the fast of the four seasons," are rooted in Old Testament practices of fasting four times a year.

LITURGY AS UGLY AS SIN!

Pope Benedict when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote the following:

In the history of the post-Conciliar period, the Constitution on the Liturgy was certainly no longer understood from the viewpoint of the basic primacy of adoration, but rather as a recipe book of what we can do with the Liturgy. In the meantime, the fact that the Liturgy is actually "made" for God and not for ourselves, seems to have escaped the minds of those who are busy pondering how to give the Liturgy an ever more attractive and communicable shape, actively involving an ever greater number of people. However the more we make it for ourselves, the less attractive it is, because everyone perceives clearly that the essential focus on God has increasingly been lost.

DISCIPLES OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY OF RATZINGER WILL DELIGHT IN THIS!

The Holy Father telling it like it is, so refreshing to the common senses of the faith!

From Catholic World News, December 7, 2012, Vigil of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception:

Pope Benedict XVI provided direct answers to critics of Catholic teaching, both inside and outside the Church, in a December 7 address to members of the International Theological Commission.

After praising the group for its efforts to “present, so to speak, the genetic code of Catholic theology,” the Pope tackled two popular errors: the belief that the “sense of the faithful” can be used in defense of theological dissent; and the belief that organized religion is a source of international conflicts.

Regarding the sensus fidelium, which is frequently invoked to justify calls for change in controversial Church teachings, the Pope reminded his audience that the term refers to “a kind of supernatural instinct” among the faithful. He underlined the importance of this sense, quoting the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium: “The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief.”

However, the Pope said, the sensus fidelium presumes a deep attachment to the faith, and cannot be reduced to a matter of prevailing public opinion. He continued:

And it is unthinkable to mention it in order to challenge the teachings of the magisterium, this because the sensus fidei can not grow authentically in the believer except to the extent in which he or she fully participates in the life of the Church, and this requires a responsible adherence to her magisterium.

Pope Benedict then addressed the charge that “religions, especially the monotheistic religions, would inherently be bearers of violence, mainly because of the claim that they advance the existence of a universal truth.” By that logic, he observed, peace can be assured only by shutting off discussion of absolute truth. But in fact, he argued, such a move itself leads to open conflict and violence:

When you deny the opportunity for people to refer to an objective truth, dialogue is rendered impossible and violence, whether declared or hidden, becomes the rule of law of human relationships. Without openness to the transcendent, which allows us to find answers to questions on the meaning of life and how to live a moral life, mankind becomes unable to act in accordance with justice and work for peace.

AND THE 11TH AND 12TH GRADE BOYS SAID IN UNISON: "AWESOME!"

Have "spirit of Vatican II" Catholics made ecclesiology into a false god to further their agenda to make the Church a sociological institution only and thus a victim of changing political and secular thought on how institutions should run and make decisions? In this model, do these neo-progressives subjugate God to ecclesiology to satisfy their political agenda for the Church?

Before you read my comments you must read this bombshell article by pressing this sentence: The Ecclesiology Of The Constitution On The Church, Vatican II, 'Lumen Gentium'

By Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

MY COMMENTS AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE ABOVE ARTICLE: We celebrated the Extraordinary Form High Mass last night for the Vigil of the Immaculate conception. About 300 were there. There were many many young people there and high schoolers too.

I asked several of the 11th and 12th grade boys after Mass if they had attended one of these "types" of Masses before. They all said no. Then I asked, what did you think about it? And in unison they responded, "awesome!" And so it is! The focus of the Extraordinary Form Mass is entirely on God and salvation and not on the particular community that happens to be celebrating the eternal events of God's love and salvation at that particular time. It is not about the horizontal aspect of the Church, but the vertical aspect of the ordained priest bringing to God our prayers and the ordained priest bringing to us God's love and salvation. The horizontal is in that great vertical exchange which is a two way street.

Pope Benedict somewhere along his long career has said that the Catholic Church in modern society may become smaller (in number, prestige and institutions)but in becoming smaller, she will be more faithful! That goes against the American mentality that bigger is better, but when it comes to the Church, if bigger means embracing each and every thought of each and every Catholic as valid and okay (like, I'm okay; you're okay) then no, bigger is far from better, bigger is a corruption in this case.

We all know the power of secular politics and the mass media to derail many Catholics and seduce them into worldly thinking about moral issues. That is why we have so many Catholics who are pro-choice, pro-same sex marriage and pro-government interference in the life of the Church in the areas of morals. Being "pro" anything sounds like a good thing when in reality it can be a very powerful evil thing, leading to the killing of innocents, the corruption of youth and the manipulation of the Church by the state.

I use to wonder how Catholics in Italy and Germany could become fascists and Nazis, how they could allow politics, corrupt politics, manipulate them and take on faith-like status. Now I know, seeing it first hand in our country as political secularism is becoming like a religion replacing the true religion for even many Catholics.

Ecclesiology is a theological word that describes the nature of the Church. Its pitfall is that it can become a false God and in fact one could discuss the Church and place its organization and human decision making processes above God and dogmatic truths.

But when Pope Benedict was the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he wrote an article that I just discovered (linked at the beginning of this post) that really sets the so-called emphasis of Vatican II on ecclesiology on its head! He says that the Council, first and foremost is God-centered and that those who cherry pick the Second Vatican Council have corrupted its true meaning.

I'd say this corruption is in Catholic academic circles primarily. The concern of academics and neo-progressives is radically to change the nature of the Church to reflect a democracy with open discussion that leads to majority rule and a parallel magisterium of academics who are not bishops. God is left out of the picture altogether and the liturgy they desire also pushes God and His great sacrifice to a side show where a happy meal of hand-holding Catholics gather to be nourished as a community to celebrate who they are. A caricature? Possibly, but with a great deal of truth!