OBSERVATIONS ON THE TIME CAPSULE NEWS REAL FROM NBC IN THE MID 1960’S SHOWING WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE CHURCH IN THE USA AT THAT TIME

 1960’s baby boomers in 2022 and completely engaged in today’s synodal church process:

First of all, all things are connected. There is no way that people in the Church today can rewrite this history (in the video), out in plain sight, and say it had no influence on the decline of the Church at that time that continued in the subsequent decades. These people easily gave up one style of the Catholic Faith and embraced an “upside down” version of it, a la the 2010’s Netflix drama, "Stranger Things.” 

What the video in my post below this one doesn’t show are Catholics, both clergy and laity, who were fighting the kind of nonsense we see in the video. I don't mean to imply that were not some good things discussed and intentions weren’t evil, but rather good intentions run amuck. 

MT offers an obituary of one of the radical priests in the video who died recently, in schism with the Church and his schismatic community now gone. But in the news real he’s held up and a model of virtue for the future of the Church:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tribnet/name/william-nerin-obituary?id=12850838 In 1975 A.D., Father Nerin had abandoned the Church...then he married. His experimental parish, the Community of John XXIII, had separated from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Here is the Catholic Advocate news article: https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=ca19750306-01.2.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- OKLAHOMA CITY INC) "The first experimental, nonterritorial parish established in the U.S , the Community of John XXIII, has withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese. "The withdrawal followed several months of impasse between the community and Archbishop John Quinn of Oklahoma City over liturgical practices in the community, ending in the archbishop's withdrawal of the assignment of the community's pastor." 

The other thing that is evident in the video is the role of then baby boomers in this upside down Church they were fashioning. These are people now my age and much older, like Pope Francis and his bishops that he has appointed. The 1960’s was a time of engagement and exhilaration in the Church with an eye of creating this upside down Church in rupture with all that had preceded it and for centuries. Like the pot they were smoking the the LSD they were taking, it was quite a trip for these 1960’s youth. BUT THEY WERE ENGAGED IN THE THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH AT THAT POINT.

But these baby boomers, like the priest in the obituary above, eventually abandoned the Church and quite quickly, by the mid 70’s. And they did not raise their children in the faith but something else. There was no discipline and true commitment to the Catholic Church and local parishes from many of these youthful revolutionaries. 

Compare that with the Synodal Process today, trying in vain to capture the religious imagination of today’s youth, so they will be like the aging baby boomers trying to recapture their youth of the 1960’s. 

THE YOUNG ARE COMPLETELY DISENGAGED FROM THIS SYNODAL PROCESS, COMPLETELY. ITS ALL OLD AGING BABY BOOMERS STILL CARRYING THEIR REVOLUTIONARY TORCH FOR THE CHURCH OF POST cATHOLICISM. THEY ARE ALL FATHER NERINS!

I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS! IT IS A TIME CAPSULE OF THE 1960’S CHURCH AND THE FEVER THAT EVELOPED SO MANY CATHOLICS WHO WERE PRE-VATICAN II CATHOLICS AND DROPPED ALL OF THAT FOR THE NEW AND IMPROVED, SO THEY PRIDEFULLY AND ARROGANTLY THOUGHT

 THIS IS ADAM AND EVE ALL OVER AGAIN. AND AS POPE FRANCIS RECOVERS THE 1960’S BY GOING BACKWARDS, WHEN WILL BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO THE FUTURE;

THIS IS ABOUT AN HOUR LONG, BUT IT IS HISTORIC! THANK YOU DJR FOR BRINGING THIS TO MY ATTENTION. KEEP IN MIND, ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE FORMED IN THE PRE-VATICAN II CHURCH, MASS AND SACRAMENTS AND THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM. WHY DID THEY ABANDON ALL OF THAT SO EASILY?

A BLAST FROM THE PAST: A BOOMING VATICAN II SAINT TERESA’S IN ALBANY GEORGIA IN THE EARLY 1980’S

 

Please note how modern my vestments are, my youth, which of course hasn’t changed, and the throngs of people. St. Teresa’s as well as Albany, GA were booming in the mid to late 70’s and well into the 80’s, but things, for some inexplicable reason, took a turn in the wrong direction as many major industries closed, people moved away and, well, scandal in the Church took its toll. 

At its peak by the early 80’s when I was a newly ordained priest from 1980 to 85, St. Teresa’s had about 1,500 families and an elementary school with almost 500 kids in K through 8th. I would say that 70% of Catholics at that time and in that parish attended Sunday Mass. The 9:30 and 12 noon Masses were packed and the 12 noon was a folk Mass with a very good folk group and that Mass was standing room only. 

We had three priests plus a large lay staff. 

The pastor I had from 81 to 85 was a progressive priest and did an excellent job there, although I, even though very liberal at that time, wanted a more solemn liturgy then what he wanted. I’m not talking pre-Vatican II here, but simply attention to detail and beauty. 

Today, though, the parish is about 500 families and aging and the school while through high school now, has about 150 kids. No nuns. We had six in the 80’s. 

The choir here was a visiting choir from Saint Anthony in Atlanta, a parish which became predominantly African American and at the time had an absolutely superb Gospel Choir. Let me tell you, they rocked, but there was a traditional Catholic element in their style of Gospel Music. Can’t describe it, but our congregation invited them back they were so impressed with their abilities to bridge Gospel music to white Catholics. By the way, I went to St. Anthony School in Atlanta for the first grade, the 1959-60 school year and at that time the parish was completely Lilly white and Atlanta was completely segregated. 

Thus this photo is about 15 years after desegregation. 

FAST GROWING AND THE LARGEST CATHOLIC PARISH IN THE USA: SAINT MATTHEW CHURCH, CHARLOTTE, NC….

 

Traditionalists, suffering from the mortal sin of pride, often tout that their parishes or TLM Masses are the ones that are booming and with young people to boot. Never mind that while there are TLM Masses and parishes that are booming, these are not booming as much as more contemporary parishes with all kinds of post-Vatican II liturgical eccentricities.

One such parish, in the south by the way, is Saint Matthew’s Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2015, according the a local television news expose, this parish had more than 10,000 registered households thus making it the largest parish in the USA.

The pastor then, who isn’t the pastor now, as he retired, describes himself as a product of the 1960’s and somewhat stuck there. But he has or had a larger than life personality, able to create around himself the cult of the personality. 

But his parish and the various ministries, and many, many of them, have brought the people into this parish and there is active/actual participation not only with the Mass but the good works that parishes and individuals should be accomplishing. 

I have no idea if the new pastor was and is able to continue to pull people in by shear force of his personality. I suspect he had a hard road to trod in that regard. 

Does anyone know what the parish is like today compared to 2015 when a local station in Charlotte did this nicely done report. Press the link for the video:

SAINT MATTHEW CHURCH, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA IN 2015

ME THINKS THOU PROTESTS TOO MUCH ARCHBISHOP, I MEAN, BISHOP GEORG BAETZING…AND YES, ME THINKS BAETZING IS CORRECT ABOUT THE “CLEVER JESUIT” PLAYING THE REST OF US FOR FOOLS….

 VATICAN CITY (AP) — Germany’s Catholic bishops insisted Saturday that their reform process won’t lead to a schism and vowed to continue it after tense meetings with Vatican officials who want a moratorium on proposals to ordain women, bless same-sex unions and rethink church teaching on sexuality.

The head of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Baetzing, said the German church would not make decisions that were the Vatican’s to make. He said outsiders who fuel fears of the reform process leading to a separation from Rome were ignorant of what actually was getting debated. 

“We are Catholic,” Baetzing said at a news conference after a week of meetings with Vatican officials. “But we want to be Catholic in a different way.”

…Francis met individually with the 62 German bishops on Thursday and was expected to join a summit meeting Friday between the bishops and heads of top Vatican offices, including the secretary of state and the prefects of the Vatican’s bishops and doctrine office. Francis failed to show up at the Friday meeting, leaving it to the Vatican hierarchs to speak.

Baetzing suggested the pope’s absence might have been the work of a “clever Jesuit.” Francis had made clear a day earlier that he was comfortable living with a certain “tension” as the German reform process plays out, even if members of the Vatican bureaucracy were not. 

Francis has initiated a global reform discussion that is taking place out alongside the German one but is a few steps behind.

MY COMMENT: YES, HE WANTS TO BE CATHOLIC IN A SCHISMATIC WAY, A HERETICAL WAY, A HETERODOX WAY AND DON’T MESS WITH HIM, HE’S A GERMAN AND GERMANS KNOW THE WAY THE BEST! JUST ASK MARTIN LUTHER AND GERMANS IN THE 1930’S! AND YES, THEY ARE VERY CLEVER AND PLAYING US AS FOOLS….

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

German bishops assure Vatican but vow to proceed with reform

By NICOLE WINFIELD

THE THEOLOGY THAT THE MASS IS PRIMARILY A MEAL NOT A SACRIFICE (NOT SUPPORTED, BTW, BY CHURCH TEACHING…

 

I had a brief meltdown about Holy Communion from the tabernacle during Mass, and for the laity, as being anathema to progressive liturgists who simply can’t tell us in any ontological way the difference between Christ and His one Sacrifice in the Hosts in the tabernacle, verses the Hosts consecrated at a particular Mass. I can’t really make a distinction. Is Christ and His sacrifice less efficacious  in differing Hosts? Would this be true, by receiving only a “speck” of a Host compared to a really large one like the priest consumes? 

Do they receive Christ more from a fragment torn off from a large loaf compared to already made mini hosts for the laity?

But when it comes to the exclusive emphasis on the Mass as Meal and not Sacrifice, the single most corrupt practice that has evolved as a part of the “spirit of Vatican II” is the ubiquitous “Communion Service.”

Communion Services were not held in the pre-Vatican II Church. A priest not only had to celebrate Mass so that people could receive Holy Communion at Mass (sometimes before or after given the role of person at the Mass) and only a priest or bishop could distribute Holy Communion—no one else.

Thus a limit was placed on who received Holy Communion outside of Mass. Normally only the hospitalized, homebound and dying could and only from a priest or bishop. 

Thus the laity did not expect that a service of some kind would be offered, when a priest was not available for Mass, that would allow them to receive Holy Communion outside of Mass.

But progressive liturgists and other left-leaning Catholics, want Communion Services, because anyone can lead it, meaning any lay person or a deacon. A lay person is preferable to them as this gives a more priestly function to a lay person and the Meal aspect of Holy Communion becomes the end all and be all of this kind of “Eucharistic” Liturgy. 

Thus, Communion from the tabernacle during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass isn’t the real enemy here. It is Communion Services!  

Just as an aside, which will make progressive liturgists really go crazy, at two papal Masses in St. Peter’s Square, I distributed Holy Communion. Pope Francis was the pope at both of these. Priests selected to bring Holy Communion to the throngs of people gathered, sat in a unique place near the right side door of St. Peter’s. As the Pater Noster began, we entered the Basilica to receive our ciborium of already consecrated Hosts placed on tables with altar clothes, and then together and in procession we left the Basilica and processed to our stations in the badlands of the square, the peripheries. And we began distributing Holy Communion even before the pope had received his! We did so during the Sign of Peace and the chanting of the Agnus Dei.

Progressive Pope Francis knows about this at his Masses!

LORD HAVE MERCY! WHAT A MESS! WHAT A DISTRACTION! WHAT A SCANDAL! THE SYNODAL WAY IS A JOKE AT THIS POINT AND MAKING THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH A SELF-REFERENTIAL, NARCISSISTIC CHURCH LOOKING INWARD, WHAT MY NOW DECEASED BISHOP, RAYMOND LESSARD, CALLED NAVEL GAZING OR IS IT NAVAL GAZING? EITHER WAY, IT IS SAD!

Thank God the Vatican is trying to reign in the Germans. Note that the head of the Bishops’ Conference of Germany uses as his rational to justify the outrages coming from Germany that they are simply listening to their disgruntled people, much of the anger due to the clergy sex abuse scandal, to remake the Church into something that isn’t remotely Roman Catholic. There is no mention of listening to God, Scripture, Tradition, the perennial Magisterium of the Church or the Deposit of Faith. In fact, these things are seen as an enemy of the synodal Church and redesigning a Church that is purely sociological, changeable and of no Divine use whatsoever.

I hope this Vatican correction isn’t just a smoke screen to placate common sense clergy and laity who think the who process is not the work of the Holy Spirit. I suspect the Holy Spirit can be credited for trying to clean it up and prevent the fires of hell from consuming the Church through this inane and unwieldy process!

Vatican urges ‘moratorium’ on German church reform process

By Elise Ann Allen

Money byte:

According to the Vatican’s statement, Parolin in his opening remarks pointed to “the bond of communion and love that unites the bishops among themselves and with the Successor of Peter,” and he also stressed the importance of the meeting as “a moment of sharing and grace, of unity in differences.”

He also voiced concern over certain elements of the German church’s Synodal Path, cautioning against the risk of carrying out “reforms of the Church and not in the Church.”

In his own remarks, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, outlined the work of the Synodal Path thus far, and stressed its guiding spirit (my comment:not the Holy Spirit!!!!)as being rooted in “listening to the people of God and on the pain of the abuses committed by members of the clergy.”

He highlighted the topics discussed in the Synodal Path assemblies thus far, listing them as: Power and division of powers in the church – common participation and missionary planning; Priestly life today; Women in Church ministries and offices; and, Living in relationships that work – living love in sexuality and in the couple relationship.

SAD, SO SAD! PROGRESSIVE LITURGIST STILL OBSESS ON ANCILLARY ISSUES OF THE LITURGY BUT NOT ENOUGH ON JESUS CHRIST, THE RISEN LORD AND HIS CALL TO US TO BE PERFECT AS HIS HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT…

 I think it is important for the Church to listen to drivel in order to wipe it up and put it in the trash or flush it down the toilet. 

The biggest problem with progressive liturgists is their obsessions with norms that in fact are flexible. For example, the congregation should receive Holy Communion consecrated at the Mass they attend. 

Okay. But is Christ different in the Hosts received from the tabernacle, verses the Host consecrated at the Mass they attend. Isn’t every Mass from Calvary to the Second Coming ONE MASS? The Risen Christ, the One Sacrifice just are, never were or will be. God is I AM, not I was or I will be! We’re speaking about eternity here and progressive liturgists simply can’t figure that out and don’t want mysticism to be a part of liturgical theology. 

Below I link a post from Praytell that simply ignores the eternity of Christ and His Sacrifice in the Mass. They just don’t get it and prefer to focus on things that don’t really resonate with most lay and ordained Catholics, like Jesus in the Tabernacle verses Jesus consecrated on the altar. Communion from one Loaf rather than multiple Hosts. Bread that looks, tastes and chews like bread, verses the sterile host most parishes use. 

Nary a word about Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, sacrificed for our eternity of salvation and Who is in a personal relationship with His Church which He founded and in a personal relationship with each Catholic in the world. He calls us into a personal relationship with His Church and Him. 

And then one notorious contrary poster there complains that the priest should receive from the tabernacle if the laity are made to do so. This betrays a grotesque misunderstanding of the unique role of the ordained priest who must, I repeat must, for the validity of the sacrificial aspect of the Mass, complete the sacrifice by consuming the Holocaust. This unique doctrine, also a dogma, only applies to the ordained priest, not the priesthood of the laity by virtue of Holy Baptism. I guess this is just another example of coloring book Catholicism. 

Archbishop Broglio knows the Catholic dogma and doctrines of the Mass and in a timely way this week, offered a fraternal correction to the article I link below when he said this many years ago:

To those diminishing Eucharistic adoration and devotion, Broglio says: “The Church tells us that this Eucharistic Presence in the tabernacle is a prolonging of the Sacrifice of the Altar.”

Read the article at Praytell and of course the comments:

Fed from the Table

DISCERNING LIKE A JESUIT AND THE GRINCH WHO STOLE THE TLM

 Watch it!

WELL, I’VE GOTTEN HOOKED ON NETFLIX’S STRANGER THINGS!

The blog post below seems to make connections between the series and Catholic sensibilities. I had not made that connection but I do see it. You can read their take by pressing their title:

Overlaps Between Stranger Things and the Catholic Thing

But what I like about the series is that it brings me back to my early 1960’s love of Walt Disney’s Sunday night show, “The Wonderful World of Color”. We didn’t have a color TV but Walt Disney, who hosted the show each Sunday night, brought us a variety of entertainment. Sometimes there might be a series that focused on kids getting involved with danger, crime and solving problems. I loved those shows in particular and the child actors Disney made famous who went on to become famous adult actors, Kurt Russell. 

Stranger Things is like these Walt Disney shows. They have casted children in various parts who aren’t plastic, like the current crop of child actors Disney now produces along with their horrible shows on their cable network. 

The kids are normal, kind of like kids from my generation. They are also independent and free to be “cage free” kids as was my generation. 

And yes, they take risks, relate well to each other and adults, and are interesting. They show each other friendship and love as well as the conflict that happens.

Stranger Things is set in the 1980’s. That was a wise move, as kids today, completely made into zombies by all their connected gadgets and video games, and made to live in fear of the outside world where they cannot go where they want to go as they please, would not make a science fiction/horror show like Stranger Things seem plausible. 

It remind me too of the “Goonies” which I think was a 1980’s movie and also of ET, from the 80’s too.

It has created a cult following, especially among the young, like Dark Shadows did for my generation of kids, who rushed home from school in time to watch that soap opera which came on at 4 pm each day. It had a couple of child actors too in it. 

The language is somewhat decent, no horrible, sacrilegious profanity like “Ozark”. There is mild sexuality but nothing truly offensive even for young people watching today. I do think parents should watch this with younger children and teenagers to offer guidance. 

It isn’t blood and gore either, although some might be expected. 

I love the show, children acting like children, but cage free like my generation of kids, and adults involved, not made to look stupid, but working with their kids in a strange land of things!

AND BEST OF ALL, STRANGER THINGS, LIKE THE WALKING DEAD AND OZARK, IS FILMED IN GEORGIA AND IN PLACES WHERE I GREW UP, LIKE EAST POIINT, GEORGIA. COOL, NO?

WHEREIN I AGREE AND DISAGREE WITH SOME OF THE CONCLUSIONS THE NARRATOR MAKES CONCERNING THE TLM AND THE MVM (MODERN VERNACULAR MASS)

 I think overall the video above is a nice presentation and tries to be somewhat pastoral and not shrill. I think he is unrealistic about the exclusive return of the TLM to the Universal Church, even if the Universal Church's MVD continues to bleed members and only a half percent of Catholics actually attend it on any given Sunday. As Walter Conkrite would say, "That's the way it is!"

I agree that the TLM is stable and needs no correction concerning liturgical abuses in how it is being celebrated in the 21st Century. I don't believe there are any liturgical abuses with it that so many "know nothings" about this Mass think there are and the only back-up for assertions is what might have happened in the 1950's or at the time of Trent. 

The MVM is a disaster in many locations, but not in all and I hope in the the many, this is a small percentage of the overall picture of the MVM throughout the world. 

The MVM is what it is and the multitude of options, often made in the most clericalist way, are here to stay. With an MVM built upon options, I hope one day, the traditional elements of the TLM return to the MVM as an option as is the case with the Missal Pope Francis promulgated in 2013, the Ordinariate's Missal, Divine Worship.

The 21st Century's New Liturgical Movement must be a grassroots movement to work toward an exclusively new Roman Missal at a future date. There is no doubt that the MVM is in crisis and is so poorly celebrated with true liturgical abuses, and that it needs to be reformed.

The reformed MVM must be a reform in continuity with the TLM. The 1965 transitional Roman Missal could well be a template for that, albeit the reform in continuity must take on some of the novelties that traditionalists whine about, such as new collects, feasts, prefaces and noble simplicity.  

As it concerns the lectionary, I think having three readings (not counting the Psalm) is too much to digest and is devised simply for the sake of having more Scriptures hurled at us during Mass, although most of us can't digest that much at one time.

The TLM lectionary as well as the daily Mass lectionary of the MVM is the template for the future. In this regard, we could keep the TLM's lectionary as Year A (obviously some modifications might be needed) and then have a Year B and C modeled after Year A but using Old Testament, Epistles and Gospels not used in the TLM one year cycle. 

Thus ends my brilliant take on this!

EVEN A BARN OF A CHURCH BUILDING HAS AN ELEGANCE WITH THE TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC ALTAR SET-UP AND AN AD ORIENTEM MASS WITH SOME PIZAZZ

 This Mass is a TLM Solemn Sung Pontifical Mass for the TLM’s Feast of Christ the King, with Cardinal Burke in my bishop’s brother’s diocese. My bishop’s brother is a bishop too. Their last name is “Parkes”. 

Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church 2510 E. Hanna Avenue Tampa, Florida

READ THIS SOMEWHERE: HUMOROUS QUOTE…

 BROGLIO-BERGOLIO-IMBROGLIO!

WOW! EVEN THE MORMONS….

 

Ready or not, this is a sign of the times and something we as Catholics must make peace. Is the Mormon solution a Catholic solution. Sounds like Pope Francis’ approach to me. What say you?

Mormon church backs same-sex marriage law, maintains relationships still sinful

Nation Nov 16, 2022 10:53 AM EST

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it would back proposed federal legislation to safeguard same-sex marriages, marking the latest show of support for the measure from conservative-leaning groups.

The nearly 17-million member, Utah-based faith said in a statement that church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships to be against God’s commandments. Yet it said it would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn’t infringe upon religious groups’ right to believe as they choose.

READ THE REST HERE…

ARCHBISHOP BROGLIO GETS IT ABOUT SACRAMENT OF THE MOST HOLY EUCHARIST, THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS AND ADORATION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT AND HE IS ALSO FRIENDLY TOWARD TRADITION AND THE TRADITIONAL SACRMAMENTS

 YES, HIS EXCELLENCY GETS IT: WE EAT WITH OUR EYES FIRST!

My comment first: This bodes well for the so-called Eucharistic Revival the USCCB has initiated. Unless the USCCB has the courage to name what has caused the sad state of affairs with what has happened to the Mass and Catholic understanding of the Mass, the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity, and confusion about the unique “Real and Transubstantial Presence” of Christ in the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, we will never experience a real Eucharistic Revival that approaches anything like what Catholics believe about the Mass and Real Presence of those who attend the TLM.

Ad orientem and kneeling for Holy Communion would go a long, long way in recovering Eucharistic sanity in Modern Roman Missal Masses.

And while they are at it, may I recommend that when speaking about the Sacraments, we don’t say that the “Eucharist” makes us one. No! Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist, in whatever form it is validly celebrated, unites us. 

Don’t say the Sacrament of Penance forgives us. No! The Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of Penance forgives us through the ministry of the ordained priest who act “in persona Christi” during absolution. Jesus forgives us not the Sacrament of Penance. 

From Catholic World Report:

Archbishop Broglio, ecclesial unity, and Eucharistic revival

November 15, 2022 MIchael R. Heinlein The Dispatch 0Print

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services celebrates the annual Sea Services Pilgrimage Mass at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md., Oct. 2, 2022. (CNS photo/Jason Minick, courtesy Devine Partners)

Tuesday’s election of Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has brought about the usual comments from the usual places. Immediate commentary has ranged from nitpicking his response to the COVID vaccine to unevidenced accusations of his handling of claims of clergy sexual misconduct.

No one need look any further than coverage of this USCCB election to understand the divisions in the Church run deep.

As president, then, Archbishop Broglio inherits a pivotal leadership role at a time when the Church in the U.S. desperately needs unity.

What can bring this about? Holiness, as outgoing USCCB president Archbishop Jose H. Gomez simply reminded the U.S. bishops in his final presidential address just ahead of the elections. As the late Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I. of Chicago, himself a past president of the conference — once said: “The major task of the bishop is to look for the saints and encourage them.”

One of the bishops’ recent top priorities — the National Eucharistic Revival — is aimed at directly that: fostering sanctity among the faithful. None else can be the fruit of a greater Eucharistic faith, devotion and piety. No other can bring about the unity needed by the Church.

Even an event centered upon the source and summit of the Faith, however, has seemingly become fodder for the promotion of partisan agendas.

Oddly, there has been debate among the bishops as to the worthiness of personal and communal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It is the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass, some say, which is the source and summit of ecclesial life. It’s this kind of sacramental hairsplitting that has no basis in theological thought or practice.

To those diminishing Eucharistic adoration and devotion, Broglio says: “The Church tells us that this Eucharistic Presence in the tabernacle is a prolonging of the Sacrifice of the Altar.”

To those who seek to divide through broken, divisive Eucharistic theology, Broglio says: “[Jesus] is present in the midst of every parish and every community to make palpable His mission to unify what is divided, to heal what is sinful, sweeten the bitter, and give eternity to our joys and sorrows. The tabernacle must be the center of the community and the priest is there to make present in the same community Jesus in sacrament.”

To those who misunderstand Eucharistic adoration and its esteemed position in the Church’s life of worship and prayer, Broglio says: “[N]ever far from our minds is the basic doctrine of the Church regarding Eucharistic adoration: it is born of the Mass and guides us to the Mass. Obviously, it is impossible to have adoration without first having had a celebration of the Mass. Adoration offers us the opportunity to adore the very special and unique presence of the Lord. We celebrate His presence in our midst.”

To those who erroneously want to separate Christ by putting the Mass at odds with Eucharistic adoration, Broglio says: “Adoration … leads us to the celebration [of the Mass]. We must cultivate this desire for union and presence in the culminating moment of our salvation. The accent is also on the community. The celebration knows no limits of time and space, because it transports us to the liturgy of heaven.”

As plans for the Revival continue to unfold, and its fruit continues to be borne out in the life of the Church through teaching and practice, Archbishop Broglio’s leadership will be crucial. Let’s pray for him as he begins his formidable new role.

WOW, THIS ARTICLE FROM HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW IS QUITE THOROUGH, AND YES, IS COMMON SENSE, SOMETHING LACKING IN TODAY’S TROUBLED SYNODAL CHURCH…

The Traditional Latin Mass's "ritualized, both verbally and phsyically, so-called "Introductory Rite":

 Press the title of this Homiletic and Pastoral Review article/commentary to read the full article below my most cogent comments below the photo. The article, though, is very long, but well worth the read. I hope bishops and vocation directors have read it as well as Pope Francis. 

Below the article, I post a money byte from it. This is a long section of liturgical reflections. Symonds tells an anecdotal story about a priest who started celebrating the TLM for the first time. “It really brought out to me what it means to be a priest.”

That was my experience in 2007 when I first started celebrating the TLM for the first time as a priest. I felt like a priest, meaning, what the word priest means in terms of offering sacrifice, praying and doing so on behalf of those behind him, to which I am configured also, and representing them  to almighty God  as a priestly “go-between” or better said, “intermediary.” This is the role of Crucified and Risen Lord, our Eternal High Priest, who is that representative before the Father but configured to the laity and clergy through His humanity, but our “go-between” or “intermediary” or “One Intercession” before our Heavenly Father. The ordained Priest is simply a sacrament of Jesus’ High Priesthood in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is especially evident in the TLM but not so much in the Modern Mass.

As lay Catholics who attend exclusively the Modern Mass, if they understand the priest’s role at Mass as I have described it above. I doubt they would see it that way. 

I might add, that when I celebrated the Modern Missal ad orientem, the same gut reaction occurs. Thus it isn’t the form of the Mass, but the manner in which the Mass in either form is celebrated and has everything to do with ad orientem. 

Ad orientem reduces or completely eliminates the temptation for the priest to see himself as a stage actor who must display his talents, meager or great, to entertain those in front of him and act as though he is truly prayerful, engaging, welcoming, inclusive and in touch with those in front of him. Eye contact, not eyes cast down, is the symbol of this celebrity and connection with his audience he is entertaining and coordinating. 

Read the full article. It’s long but well worth the read and the last part on the liturgy is great too!

The Wheat and the Tares

A Reflection upon Contemporary Priestly Formation

MAY 27, 2022 BY KEVIN SYMONDS

Money byte:

A Major Solution: Some Liturgical Reflections

Some people intuitively sense that something is wrong in the Church, even if they can’t precisely articulate what they are sensing. Such persons are in a next to impossible situation with very limited choices. There are those who walk away completely. Others may go to Protestant communities. Still others turn to communities where they can believe a more authentic expression of the Faith exists. In this last instance, many present-day debates over the Extraordinary Form as a viable alternative have much to do with priestly formation.

A younger diocesan priest once told me about when he had started to celebrate the Extraordinary Form. “It just made so much more sense,” he said to me with much passion and relief. “It really brought out to me what it means to be a priest.” A Roman liturgy that is more representative of the collective wisdom of Western Catholic life and thought is attractive to people seeking refuge in an age that has rebelled against God and His Law.

WHERE-IN I AGREE WITH DR. MASSIMO FAGGIOLI, KIND OF…

I think Dr. Faggioli makes some good points. I do think the problem with this scandal which continues to give is a misplaced mercy on the victimizer and ignoring the victims. This mercy run amuck, if one studies the history of this crisis in the USA, was to forgive, heal and return to ministry abusive priests and all done under a code of silence and professional confidentiality. But mercy run amuck is what is at the root of this, a liberal 1970’s bleeding heart kind of mercy for victimizers.

Pope Francis seems to embrace this radical kind of enabling mercy. When he speaks about encounter with people in the LGBTQ+++ community, and being inclusive of them, I don’t hear a call for repentance and conversion based upon the teaching so the Risen Lord, His moral teaching and His example. Thus, one is left to believe that sin, even mortal sin, should be accepted and blessed. 

And when it comes to spiritual abuse, Pope Francis’ in a cruel way completely reversing another pope’s allowance of the older forms of the Mass and sacraments and without dialogue with bishops and faithful involved in this liberal permission from Pope Emeritus I is spiritual abuse. The name calling, the psychological diagnosis, the obsession with “rigidity” are examples of this spiritual abuse. Massimo needs to name that and who is responsible for it. 

That’s the way forward. 

Press title for his commentary from the NCR:

The abuse crisis should be the center of the pope's ongoing synodal process