AAAAAH! ORIENTEM AND BECOMING DOMINCANIZED I N ASSISI!

As blessings would have it, my liturgy team was responsible for our morning Mass at Assisi's Cathedral Basilica. We celebrated Mass in the Cathedral's Blessed Sacrament Chapel which is a large Gothic church in its own right.

Our retreat master is a wonderful Dominican Irish priest from Dublin, Ireland as opposed to Dublin, Georgia. His name is Fr. John Harris.

I served as "subdeacon" and main concelebrant and another priest who I may be related to distantly was the "deacon" and other main concelebrant. Fr. Daniel MacLennan is from the Diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia and knows many people I know in Cape Breton and was pastor of a small village church in Glenco! My father's brother's wife, Jessie MacDonald was from this parish!

Fr. Dan and I are both related to retired Archbishop James MacDonald of St. John, New Foundland and now living in Ontario. The Archbishop visited me in Macon a couple of years back with his sister and brother-in-law.

But, I digress, the Mass was ad orientem at the ancient altar as no faux duplicated altar was placed in front of it! We celebrated Mass as we do at our 12:10 pm Sunday Mass in Macon. It was lovely and even Fr. John could foresee this manner of celebrating the OF Mass becoming the norm again in the future. He must be clairvoyant like me!

But back to the Dominicans, I went to the Dominican's week long institute for priests in July in Nashville. They are the New York province. And for the last 4 years, I have had Dominican priests from the Western Province give our parish missions. So that is why I say I am becoming Domicanized!

BISHOPS WHO WANT BIGGER AND RICHER DIOCESES ARE COMMITTING ADULTRY SO SAYS POPE FRANCIS

When I was transferred from my last parish to my current one ten years ago, I felt as though I was commuting adultery against my former parish! I was haunted by feelings of abandoning my former spouse for a new one!

Pope Francis says something similar to new bishops today who are in Rome for Bishops' school. Here is Vatican Radio's report on the Pope's words to them:


Church > 2013-09-19 13:17:11

Pope to new Bishops: Tend the flock of God


(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received new Bishops from around the world in audience today in Rome. The audience marked the end of the annual Conference for New Bishops, which provides formation and orientation for men who have been elevated to the episcopate each year.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and Cardinal Leonardi Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches were also in attendance at the Conference, along with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila.

In his address to the new Bishops, Pope Francis said the worldwide episcopate forms a “unique body” that gives direction to the Bishops in their daily work and presses them to ask themselves “how to live the spirit of collegiality and collaboration in the Episcopate? how to be builders of communion an unity in the Church the Lord has entrusted” to them. He reminded them that “the Bishop is a man of communion and unity, the ‘visible principle and foundation of unity’ (Lumen gentium, 27).”

The Holy Father offered some reflections on a passage from the first Letter of Saint Peter: “Tend the flock of God in your midst, [overseeing] not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock (1 Pt 5,2-3).” These words, he said, “are carved on the heart! They call you and establish you as Pastors not from yourselves, but from the Lord; and not to serve yourselves, but to serve the flock entrusted to you, to serve it even to the point of giving your life, like Christ, the Good Shepherd.”

But, he asked, what does it mean to tend the flock, to have “habitual and daily care of the flock” (Lumen gentium, 27)?” To tend the flock, Pope Francis said, means: to welcome with magnanimity, to journey with the flock, to remain with the flock.

1. To welcome with magnanimity: “When someone knocks at the door of your house,” the Pope asked, “what do they find?” If the door is open, he continued, “they will experience the paternity of God and understand how the Church is a good mother that always loves and welcomes them.”

2. To journey with the flock: Pope Francis explained that Bishops must be welcoming to everyone in order to journey with everyone. The Bishop, he said, journeys with and among his flock. He focused especially on three points with regard to this journey.

First, the Pope said, a bishop must have affection for their priests. Priests are the people closest to the Bishop. “Time spent with your priests is never lost!” he said. “Receive them when they call on you, do not let a phone call go unanswered, always be close to them, in continual contact with them.” In off-the-cuff remarks he insisted that if a priest calls his Bishop, the Bishop should respond the same day, or at most the next day, and that the Bishop should always find a way to make time for priests who want to see him.

The second point is presence in the diocese. Reminding the Bishops of his call that Pastors must have “the odour of the sheep,” the Pope told the Bishops their presence among their people “is not secondary, it is indispensable!” He called on them, to “go down into the midst of your faithful, even to the edges of your dioceses and into all those ‘existential peripheries’ where there is suffering, solitude, loss of human dignity.”

His third point referred to the “style” of service. He called for Bishops to serve with humility, which he described as a certain austerity and a focus on what is essential. We Pastors, he said, must not have "the psychology of Princes." He complained of "ambitious men, men that are married to this Church, but hoping for a more beautiful or a richer [Church]. This is a scandal!" he said, describing the desire for a bigger or better diocese as a kind of "spiritual adultery." He warned the Bishops not to fall into the "spirit of careerism," which he called "a cancer."

Pope Francis spoke finally about a third element of tending the flock: remaining with the flock. “I refer to stability,” he said, “which has two precise aspects – ‘to remain’ in the diocese, and ‘to remain’ in this diocese, without seeking change or promotion.” In an age when travelling has become very easy, the Holy Father said “the ancient law of residence hasn’t passed out of fashion.” Residence in the diocese is not only functional, he insisted, but has deep theological roots. “Avoid the scandal of being ‘airport bishops!’” he said.

"Be welcoming Pastors," he concluded, "journeying with your people, with affection, with mercy, with sweetness of expression and paternal firmness, with humility and discretion, being able to see your own limitations, and with a good sense of humor . . . and remain with your flock!”

As he concluded his address, Pope Francis asked the Bishops to greet their communities on his behalf, “especially the priests, men and women religious, the seminarians, all the faithful, and those most in need of the nearness of the Lord.” With two Syrian Bishops in attendance, the Holy Father once more prayed for the gift of peace: “Peace for Syria, peace for the Middle East, peace for the world!”

At the end of his talk, the Pope asked the assembled Bishops “Remember to pray for me, as I do for you.” He concluded by invoking the Apostolic Blessing “from the heart” upon each of the new Bishops and upon their communities.

THE CHURCH IS BETTER NOW THEN IN THE PAST

The Church has always had blemishes, warts and sin, always. But in the history of the Church times have be worse, especially in the time of St. Francis.

Our Faith tells us as does our Lord that the Church will not face extinction in the temporal spiritual battle. Satan tempts us to think he will win, but he, delusional as he is, doesn't realize he already lost the battle in eternity. Loser, past, present and to come. He simply is.

On September 18th, Wednesday, will be a year since my Italian Mom died. We remembered her this morning at Mass at Santa Chiara (Clare ) here in Assisi. My mother's full Italian name is Isolina Clara (Chiara) Sainati. She died last year one month shy of her 93rd birthday on October 18th.

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and may light perpetual shine upon her.

GOING THROUGH DT'S OVER SPORADIC WIFI IN ASSISI PENSION

I am in Assisi on retreat and my room with a spectacular view has no WIFI and the rest of the retreat center is limited. I will be slow in posting comments and new posts!

BREAKING THE 8TH COMMANDMENT WITH VIRTRIOLIC COMMENTS ON BLOG POSTS AND IN OTHER VENUES; THE HOLY FATHER SAY NO; IT IS A WORK OF SATAN

I found the following from a USCCB Blog on Pope Francis and his continuing preaching against breaking the 8th Commandment:

Six Months and an Eighth Commandment Pope

Six months ago today the Holy Spirit swooped down and showed us all what "doing your job" really looks like. Since that time, Pope Francis has taken the world by storm with gestures as big as a peace vigil in St. Peter's Square and as small as a compact car. He's preached to millions gathered on Copacabana Beach and to Vatican employees at daily Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican guesthouse where he lives.

The daily forum of the Domus Mass, recently restarted after a summer hiatus, has carried some especially vivid soundbites from Pope Francis. This morning he tackled gossip, calling it cowardice and saying it "kills the image of God" in other people.

This isn't the first time Pope Francis took on the damaging power of words. On June 13, he memorably noted, in reference to slander, that "the tongue can also kill." On April 15, he said calumny is more than mere sin and is, in fact, the work of Satan. And on March 27, a mere two weeks after his election, Pope Francis cautioned Christians against engaging in the "dark joy" of gossip.

It's probably safe to say that no one imagined the Eighth Commandment would get such a workout under the new pope. But here's Pope Francis, consistently sounding off throughout his short pontificate, warning of the dangers of a hierarchy of speech-driven sins:

1. Calumny -- deliberately lying about a person to destroy his or her reputation
2. Detraction -- saying something true about someone, but for the purpose of destroying his or her reputation
3. Gossip -- more petty trash talk about a person behind his or her back

Even the least of these, according to the pope, is at odds with the "Culture of Encounter" he seeks to promote, in which every person sees every other person they encounter as a human being, loved by God. If gossip "kills the image of God" in others, then we really are less inclined to encounter them as real human beings.

Stepping back against the backdrop of U.S. culture with voices on TV, radio, print and the Internet spouting endless accounts of the failures of other people, the vision and standard Pope Francis holds for society suddenly becomes jarring and daunting. Even more so the value that he suggests people use in place of trash talk: mercy.

With the election of Cardinal Bergoglio, someone predicted by almost none of the pundits and experts, the thought occurred: "Well, kudos to the Holy Spirit for pulling off the relatively mild trick of outsmarting cable news." With his call for an end to gossip, badmouthing and endless attacks on other people, it would seem the election of Pope Francis calls the cable news worldview into serious question in other ways too.

POSTED BY DON CLEMMER

MY COMMENTS: So often when we engage each other on blogs or in person we do so to one-up the person. We all know too that gossiping about people in order to denigrate them and offend their reputation is a mortal sin. We learned this of course in the Baltimore Catechism.

I think few of us today understand "detraction." It is telling others a truth about another person for the purpose of destroying that person's reputation.

On blogs, we do not treat the person with whom we disagree in a Christian way. We go after them and pulverize them publicly. Is this good? Certainly not, it is a part of the malaise of our current culture and its destruction.

So, please be aware of mortal sins you might be committing when you make comments towards others which are uncharitable. These uncharitable remarks are sins that should be included in one's confession.

POPE FRANCIS' REFORMED SEDIA GESTATORIA

Pope Francis will now be carried by eight Vatican security guards in his new sedia gestatoria. The Holy Father will sit in the drivers seat as he is carried aloft in the reformed sedia gestatoria and waves to the adoring crowds:

CATHOLIC FUNERALS AND LITURGICAL ABUSE

Follow the link below for a very good article on what Catholic funerals should be and what they are in some places, many places. Here are a few excerpts:

Funeral homilies that promise sainthood over the more likely need for purgatory may discourage the living from praying for the dead. They also force the poorly catechized and the uninitiated to choose between what little they know of heaven and what they fear most about hell. And often, as Sandy demonstrated, no matter how many times a loved one hears that the deceased is in heaven, it is understandable if they spend the rest of their lives secretly wondering otherwise.

Funeral liturgies should be what they are intended to be: powerful moments of transcendence that point us to questions that only faith in Jesus Christ can answer—questions about death and life, sin and salvation, humanity and God. The faithful, the lapsed, and the uninitiated should experience in ways proper to each the promises and mysteries of revelation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “[t]he death of a member of the community…is an event that should lead beyond the perspectives of this world and should draw the faithful into the true perspective of faith in the risen Christ” (par 1687).

This leading us beyond is a means of catechesis and evangelization. But when funerals become events of liturgical showmanship or poor (if not heretical) catechesis—or when they center on the sentiments of the survivors rather than the salvation of the deceased—the Church cannot teach as she ought. Nor can she evangelize as she must.

READ THE COMPLETE VERY GOOD ARTICLE BY PRESSING HERE.</a>

DID POPE FRANCIS' STRATEGY FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, MIDDLE EAST AND THE WORLD WORK?

Evidently, in part it has worked and may open the path to more substantial peace in Syria. What a difference a mere week makes. Last Saturday at this time, there was the 4 hour prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square. This week the New York Times is reporting the following:

GENEVA — The United States and Russia reached a sweeping agreement on Saturday that called for Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons to be removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014 and indefinitely stalled the prospect of American airstrikes.

Coupled with the prayer vigil, Pope Francis wrote a personal letter to Russian President Putin asking him to do all he could to avert a wider war in Syria. It seems that Putin took the pope's words to heart and has come off as a major player for peace in this region while President Obama looks like the despot ready to shoot from the hip to prove American superiority. Who is the dictator here and how could there have been such a reversal of roles over the last 25 years?

What Pope Francis has done is to place the Vatican back on the world stage of dipolmancy and working to ease world tensions. This is good news indeed. We will see more of this sort of thing with the new Secretary of State at the Vatican, Archbishop Parolin who is a seasoned diplomat.

On a lighter note, the scuttlebut in Rome is that Pope Francis isn't going to be making any new monsignors any time soon. My heart is broken. :) I'm sure it is all about triumphalism and overcoming it in the Church.

There are rumors too that those who head Vatican dicasteries don't have to be cardinals. I suspect they don't have to be bishops either. So this will open the door for laity, men and women to take on these roles.

One has to wonder too, if Pope Francis will name new cardinals or wait until his gang of 8 to help him decide on monsignors and cardinals. Maybe he will come up with another way to elect a pope without cardinals. Who knows. But my clarevoyance is starting to get suspiciouos of my next door neighbor!

Finally, my next door neighbor, His Holiness, Pope Francis told a Roman congregation this week that empty convents should be used for refugees and the like.

There are rumors too, that the former papal palace may be opened to such use too.

What a great time to be in Roma overlooking our Holy Father!

CARING FOR THE POOR AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S FIRST PRIORITY

Pope Francis is about to revolutionize the Church for centuries to come by his emphasis on the poor and becoming a Church of the poor. This means opening closed convents for refugees here in Rome and elsewhere. It means doing what Mother Teresa of Calcutta did in her religious order and continues to do so.

No longer can the Church take a back seat to the Salvation Army. We are to be the Church Militant in our own right caring for the needs of the poor and being the Church of the poor.

I am happy to say that through the ministries of leadership of the Daughters of Charity in Macon, Ga, we are doing what the Holy Father wants the Church to do. We are caring for poor indigent families with small children and we are caring for the homeless during the day with a day shelter and triage center. The Daughters of Charity are involving the parish and others in the community in an interfaith way to reach out to the needs of the poorest of the poor in Macon, GA.

Here the confluence of liturgy, EF or Of is meant to help us to go after Mass and be followers of Christ. We are a liturgical people, but we don't make liturgy or ecclesiology or Vatican II or any Council our God or any period of Church history our God. We make God our God in Jesus Christ.

And thus, we show fidelity to Holy Mother Church and her Magisterium, the pope and bishops in union with him.

We accept as authoritative all Ordinary and Extraordinary Magisterium of the Church.

We honor the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints.

We resist the devil and his temptations as the father of lies and prince of darkness.

This is traditional Catholicism that Pope Francis wants to put on steroids. Are you ready, EF and OF Mass communities? Or are you pleased just to debate the liturgy, the Council, the popes, ecclesiology and the like and make these gods instead of the true God?

MORE IDEAS ON TRIUMPHALISM AT MASS AND THE CAPPA MAGNAS OF THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS, OF WHICH THERE ARE MANY!

Now that I celebrate both forms of the one Roman Rite, I think I can tell what is triumphalism and what isn't in the modern context. Certainly there are some vestments that are a bit out there in the Extraordinary Form. Uusually these are derided as being pompous, such as the cappa magna which isn't a liturgical vestment at all, but when it is worn into Church eye-brows are raised. It looks out of place in today's t-shirt culture.

But most Catholics throughout the world are not made to suffer at the sight of a cappa magna prior to Mass. They don't see baroque Roman vestments. They don't see the things that princes wear. What they do so is a banal, secular sort of triumphalism. Let me explain.

We all know that the Oridnary Form of the Mass celebrated facing the congregation is a great temptation for priest to become "celebrities" as they celebrate. So they have to look appealing, either look pious or friendly or both. They have to smile and engage with the congregation. There is a sort of triumphalism of the cult of the personality, a sort of cappa mangna and some personalities of priests at Mass have longer trains than any cappa magna. Others have very short or non-exisitent trains.

Then we have the Mass with its completely upbeat music. We are Easter people after all, so let us be happy, joyful and roll out that symbolic cappa magna at Mass, that says to the world just how big and long and red our joy and Easter pleasure is. We are a happy-clappy Easter people enjoying our cappas very much and trying to make it as long as possible!

The instruments that exude a cappa magna style would be guitars and tambourines, bongos and drums. Also brass instruments surely are a long cappa magna and says look and listen to me and my triumphalistic song of joy that drags into the liturgy like a mile long cappa magna.

I watched a part of the rededication of the renovated cathedral in St. Petersburg, Florida. The liturgy is somewhat typical of today's Cathedral liturgies and while no cappa magnas were used, it was quite prevalent in the sounds coming from the very fine choirs. It was triumphalistic music. Surely it is meant for Christ, but given the nature of the Mass it surely pointed too to the triumph of a capital campaign and all those who contributed to its success and the high clergy who came in after the lower clergy with a long pause between both processions to make sure that the high clergy were given their due, their Ordinary Form Cappa Magnas to be sure, and very long ones at that.

On top of that at the homily time, the bishop introduced just about every guest there from the higher clergy to thunderous applause each time. I absolutely despise this kind of cappa magna placed on the roll call of popular celebrities at Mass, but it is so common today.

So, I would say, get rid of the Ordinary Form cappa magnas that have proliferated over the years and disfigure the liturgy making it triumphalistic not in a majestic sort of way, but a banal, secular way, truly a perversion of the Mass to its utter decay.

Use only organ or no instruments while singing Gregorian chant in Latin or vernacular according to its various styles.

Use other instrumentation for the Easter season, especially Easter season, such as tympani and brass. But sober liturgy with a short cappa magna is better than a raucous liturgy with a long cappa magna.

Don't introduce anyone at any time at any liturgy of the Church and don't encourage applause! Applause must be the worst kind of cappa magna that can be worn at any Ordinary Form Mass. It is obscenely narcissistic.

So, if I had a choice between a bishop who wears as long trained cappa magna to the Church and processes in before the Mass starts, to a cappa magna Mass with all the cappa magnas used at Mass from triumphalistic music and instrumentation to the overpowering personality of the priest to the applause meter going off the measuring device, give me an EF Mass with a cappa magna only at the beginning!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE RELIGIOUS SISTERS OF MERCY (LCWR BRAND) WAS ABOUT TO EXPIRE (AND I THINK THEY ARE) THERE IS ANOTHER RELIGIOUS SISTERS OF MERCY CARRYING ON THE WORK OF MOTHER CATHERINE MCAULLEY AND THEY ARE YOUNG AND VIBRANT! AND YOU GUESSED IT THEY WEAR A HABIT!

Back in the 1970's when the Sisters of Mercy were re-imagining religious life and ridding themselves of all things that we associate with sisters, there was a group that knew it was suicide and jumped ship. They kept the charism of the Sisters of Mercy, the modified habit, seim-clositered spirituality and life in community. They called themselves the Sisters of Mercy of Alma Michigan.

Like the Nashville Dominicans and the Dominicans of Mary Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Abor, MI, the Sisters of Mercy have many young recurits and are a young orders of sisters.

We had three of them speak to us today in Rome. They were young, energectic and joyful. A far cry from the group from which they seperated to keep the true Sisters of Mercy charism in place.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THEM BY PRESSING HERE!

What is so puzzling is that the only religious orders of women that are prospering today with young recruits are the traditional ones. The LCWR brand is like a dinosaur from the 1970's and so out of date. No one wants to join them and they will soon be extinct. Thank God. You would think they would wake up and smell the coffee, but they are so drunk on what they thought was renewal that they are in a stupor of psychological denial.

In Macon, the Sisters of Mercy once had over 30 sisters in my school, their own private hight school and in other work. Today there are 0 sisters of Mercy in Macon. They don't even have a sister in their very own High School or Middle School, Mt. de Sales. This isn't what most people would call renewal.

HOLY MOTHER CHURCH NEEDS YOU TO BRING MORE CHILDREN TO THE CHURCH TO BE MOTHERED

Pope Francis at his weekly General audience, which I did not attend as we are being kept very busy in the sabbatical program at the moment, said the following, which is a reiteration of what he has said before:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: today I wish to continue our catechesis on the Church by reflecting on an image used by the early Fathers and the Second Vatican Council: the Church as our Mother. By reflecting on the human experience of maternity, we understand that the Church is like our own Mothers. First, like our Mothers, the Church gives us the gift of life. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are reborn as children of God and receive his life. While faith is a personal act, we also recognize that faith comes to us through others – our families and communities who teach us how to believe. Second, like our Mothers, the Church nourishes us, helps us to grow, teaches us the path to follow, and accompanies us in life, especially in our illnesses and sufferings, through the Sacraments and the Word of God. Third, it is also our mission to go forth and share in the maternity of the Church by bringing others to a life of faith. And so we ask ourselves, do we love the Church as our Mother, who helps us to grow as Christians? And how do we go beyond ourselves in order to bring Christ to others? As faithful children, let us bring the light of Christ to the ends of the earth.

MY COMMENTS: Our new Holy Father is such an enigma. One really can't read him thoroughly, either through Benedict or anyone else and in some ways he seems like a throw back to the 1970's and in other ways he seems to be correcting the Church's course through the hermeneutic of continuity as it concerns the devotional life of the Church and the language of popular devotions.

TIme and time again, His Holiness refers to the Church as Mother. He wants nuns/sisters to act as mothers not ideologues praising Mother Earth and other goddess ideas. The Holy Father has criticized some of them for being old maids, spinsters.

He wants us to have a profound love for our Blessed Mother and a profound devotion to her.

He wants us to realize the devil is real and the sourse of all lies. This hasn't gotten him into trouble yet, but just wait.

Talk of the devil in imitation of Pope Francis has gotten His Excellency Most Reverend John Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis into hotwater with those who are promoting the homosexualist agenda.

He has some tough-love comments for proponents of same-sex “marriage”.

Today, many evil forces have set their sights on the dissolution of marriage and the debasing of family life. Sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography, the redefinition of marriage, and the denial of objective truth are just some of the forces threatening the stability of our civilization. The source of these machinations is none other than the Father of Lies. Satan knows all too well the value that the family contributes to the fabric of a good solid society, as well as the future of God’s work on earth.


If any priest were bold enough to preach these words today, either in imitation of His Holiness Pope Francis or His Excellency Archbishop Nienstedt, they would be crucified by their parishioners and if the press got a hold of it by the press itself.

So we have Pope Francis helping to rehabilitate "Liberation Theology" but not as a political movement, but as a movement of the Church to liberate us from the devil, to liberate us from same sex marriage, oppressive government regimes, from hatred of our brothers and sisters and toward helping the needy, the refugees, and those who live on the periphery of society.

This is Catholicism in its purist sense. God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother as Mother of God and of the Church, the Blessed Mother as the first Christian and praying to Her son on behalf of her children all the baptized.

The devil is here to thwart us from God, from the Church, from the Blessed Mother and from the truth. Make the connections. This is all about orthodoxy but said in a way, a coded way, that gets the truth across for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Pope Francis teaches as Jesus did and almost in a parable form.

THE CITY OF TWO POPES!

These are historic times for the Church and yes there are two popes living in Vatican City, one at the Vatican Motel 6 and the other at a former convent. The two couldn't be more different in personality and emphasis, yet both are orthodox popes but in different ways.

I think I can actually see both residences from my vantage point at my motel six place of residennce that overlooks St. Peter's and its Motel 6 and the other residence for the other pope living there.

But for our Roman Catholic idenity, the true pope, the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, the Universal Pastor and the Supreme Pontiff, is essential. Otherwise, we'd be no more than Eastern Orthodox Christians in schism with the true Church or glorified Episcopalians.

What makes us Roman Catholic is our love for the Bishop of Rome the Pope who helps to bring unity to the Church when we submit to his supreme authority.

Ultimately, the Holy Father unites us in his ministry to the Most Holy Trinity and the Church throughout the world. We are not congregationalists either on the parish level or the diocesan level.

The Holy Father today said at his homily at the chapel of his Vatican Motel 6 place of residence that the Church should not be triumphalistic especially in the liturgy.

By that, I think the Holy Father was referring to that horrible trend in the 1960's and 70's when the Cross of Christ was removed from altars and churches in favor of the resurrected Christ's image.

Many of us don't want the way of the Cross, we want only the joys of the resurrection. Often our Mass, with their happy-clappy music and horizontal relations gone bizerk show this dreadful triumphalism.

The EF Mass is far from that. There is an emphasis on suffering and embracing one's suffering as a share in the Cross of Christ. We are to offer up our sufferings in union with Christ. But all this is really pre-Vatican II humility lost in the rush for renewal and dumping of so much of our humble heritage in the 1960's. Pre-Vatican II liturgy and experience of being Church was far from triumphalistic. The Cross always figured greatly in the Church and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Today we had our first concelebrated Mass here in Rome. We simply prayed for Francis our pope and our Bishop of Rome. No second name for another bishop. COOL!

May it always be so. So be it.

LA BELLA ROMA

Don't ask me how I did it, but yes, these are two photos I took from my room's balcony at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education at the Pontifical College North American in Vatican City. As you can see my balcony overlooks Saint Peter's Square! How cool is that?


At about 7:30 AM Rome time, 1:30 AM Georgia time, I arrived in Rome and after having gone through customs and picked up my luggage, we were taken to the Pontifical College North American. We are staying in a newly renovated former convent on the grounds called "Casa O'Toole" quite Italian!

I am very excited and Roma is beautiful, busy and crazy, but fun because of it. And some of the best views of the city are to be had here at the North American atop the Ginculum Hill.

I am on the 4th floor of the building, have a balcony off my room and a wonderful view of St. Peter's Basilica and the window from which Pope Francis delivers the Angelus Address at Noon Sunday and where popes once lived until Pope Francis decided he wanted to stay at the Vatican Motel 6.

I am in a bit of a daze and will blog later perhaps, Pranzo, I mean, dinner is at 1 PM in the seminary dining hall. I am hungry!

Unfortunately, I don't know how to get my photos that I take and post them unlike with the Windows Computers that I have in the States, is easy to do, but not on the Ipad for some odd reason. Oh, well!

I DEPART FOR ROME AT 3:55 pm EDST

From Atlanta I fly direct to Rome and arrive on Tuesday at 7:30 am Rome time, 1:30 am Georgia time. My next blog will be from Bella Roma!

AT THE END OF THE VIGIL FOR PEACE, POPE FRANCIS AND HIS GOOD FRIEND AND COMPANION, MSGR. GUIDO MARINI HAVE A LIVELY CONVERSATION AS THEY WALK UP THE STEPS OF ST. PETER'S! IS POPE FRANCIS TELLING MSGR. MARINI TO PREPARE FOR A PAPAL EF MASS? YOU LOOK AND YOU REPORT WHAT YOU THINK THE CONVERSATION IS ABOUT!

It seems that there is genuine affection between these two diverse men whose tastes in liturgy differ. I suspect Msgr. Marini has had to struggle with Pope Francis' truck driver tastes in liturgy, compared to the refined tastes of Pope Benedict. Yet these two seem to have worked out their differences and like one another. These two pictures are from World Youth Day in Brazil when the Pope arrive for an event:


And Pope Francis praying Ad Orientem:

But at the end of Pope Francis' Vigil for Peace at St. Peter's Square on Saturday, as he departed to return to his place of residence at the Vatican Motel 6, he walked with Msgr. Marini toward St. Peter's Basilica and were having a lively conversation together. What do you think Pope Francis was saying to Msgr. Marini? Could it be, much to Msgr. Marini's immense pleasure, that Pope Francis ordered him to prepare a papal Extraordinary Form Mass so that he can get the smell of extraordinary sheep on him? You watch and you report what you think Pope Francis is telling Msgr. Marini:

This is the entire video of the Vigil which only last 4 hours and 7 minutes. But if you want to see the exchange between Pope Francis and Msgr. Marini after the Vigil, go to hour 4, minute, 5 and second 24. Tell me what you think this conversation is about:





4:05:24

ABOUT 300 IN ATTENDANCE

I am in Augusta already on my 3 month sabbatical. I depart Monday for Rome. But prior to leaving my parish last Sunday I planned for St. Joseph's parish participation in our Holy Father's Vigil of Fasting and Prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East and the World.

It was at 12 noon today and included Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the recitation of the Angelus and then the Holy Rosary concluding with. Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Almost 300 were there.

The Holy Father's (Notre Dame's, Our Lady's) Vigil in St. Peter's Square must have over 100,000! Notre Dame's (Our Lady's)Football game had 110,000!

COLLIDING FORMS OF CATHOLIC IDENTITY AND REVERENCE

In a previous post, I mentioned what a traditionalist Catholic told me just last Saturday. He goes to Atlanta for Mass at the FSSP parish there. He does not like the Ordinary Form of the Mass at all.

Of course, I love both the EF and OF Masses when celebrated by the books and with "flair."

But he made a good point that has stuck in my mind. He said, if a person passed a Catholic Church walking outside and its doors were wide open during Mass, that person would instantly tell that it was a Catholic Church by the sounds coming from the opened doors in terms of Gregorian Chant and the Latin words wafting toward the sidewalk.

But if that same person heard the sounds of the Ordinary Form, with its ecumenical hymns and English words, that person would not be able to tell the difference between those sounds and the sounds coming from the Baptist Church next door.

Some would say that this is a good ecumenical development and brings Christians closer to Christian unity desired by the Lord. Others would say that while there is superficial unity, that in reality the various Protestant communions have moved further away from Catholic truth in the post-Vatican II push for ecumenism and bland liturgies that seem similar to the Protestant ones.

But let's talk about reverence apart from ecumenism, although ecumenism might be at fault in the loss of Catholic identity as it regards reverence.

In the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, the spirituality of this Mass is clearly very Catholic in terms of sights and sounds, silence and Gregorian Chant, movements and words, rubrics and uniformity.

The reverence of the laity was a quiet passive sort of form. It is highly pietistic and filled with a sense of quiet awe and wonder devoid of eternal enthusiasm.

But compared this with the style of music at the liturgies, even with the pope, at World Youth Day in Rio where there was indeed a lot of lio and some it (lio) quite annoying as well as loud and boisterous.

The music was of the entertainment genre and the actors singing, clearly sang in an entertainment mode with fuax smiles good for the audience, live and on television.

I think also of the development of folk music for the Mass in the 1960's and its contemporary counterparts since that time. None of these have a truly Catholic sound or ethos.

I think of charismatic spirituality that engulfed the Church in the 1960's and of the Protestant movements of enthusiasm in the 1800's and 1900's. Pentecostalism prior to the Catholic Charismatic Movement was clearly Protestant in spirituality and ethos. It was about hype and enthusiasm and feel good religion. It was about liberation and doing your own thing in a public setting for all to see and hear. It is clearly more narcissistic than traditional Catholic piety.

But the main line piety of the Ordinary Form of the Mass today is rather bland and nondescript. It is blah and non inspiring.

The blah piety of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, leads people to dress in informal ways for Mass; to get up during the consecration to go outside and answer the cell phone or go to the bathroom and to be easily distracted by the antics of others during prayer.

The authentic piety of the EF Mass leads people to dress nicely for Mass in one's Sunday best. At our EF Mass last Sunday there were several young families with small children and all of them dressed in Sunday best as it was once common for the Catholic Mass.

No one would think to get up and go to the bathroom during Mass let alone the consecration. They know to do this before Mass! They realize they are not at a ball game or some other entertainment venue where they can take an intermission of this sort while the entertainment is going on!

Somehow, I think a recovery of Catholic reverence must occur. I don't think it will happen any time soon, but eventually it will. The EF Mass is laying the foundation for this, much to the chagrin of post-Vatican II gnostic progressives who had hoped that the complete suppression of the EF Mass would allow them to deconstruct traditional Catholic reverence for a Protestant version of it leading to faux Christain unity.

DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER FOR PEACE AND THE RECOVERY OF POPULAR DEVOTIONS

This past Sunday I celebrated our 7:45 AM Mass. Afterward, I went to my office and listened to Pope Francis Angelus Address at the Vatican YouTube site. I heard him proclaim that next Saturday (today) would be a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria and its surrounding area in the Middle East. He gave no specifics about his prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square, nor the time for it. But I thought, we have three more Masses and I should unilaterally decide how St. Joseph Church would join the Holy Father in praying and fasting for peace.

So, quickly before the 9:30 AM Mass, I consulted with Fr. Dawid Kwiatkowski to make sure there wasn't anything planned for today at 12 noon when we would have our prayer vigil. I then quickly wrote up an announcement to be read at all the remaining Masses and it went something like this:

Pope Francis is calling upon the world to join him in fasting and prayer for peace in Syria and the Middle East this coming Saturday. St. Joseph will join the Holy Father at 12 Noon with the recitation of the Angelus, Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament, recitation of the Holy Rosary and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Of course, I had no idea at the time what Pope Francis would do during the Vatican Vigil. His vigil is actually a true vigil and lasts much longer, but today I saw the content of this vigil:

5:45: Priests will hear confessions under the colonnade of Saint Peter’s Square.

6:30: Pope Francis’ appeal for peace will be read aloud.

7:00: The Pope begins the prayer service as Veni Creator Spiritus is sung. The icon Salus Populi Romani will then be processed into the Square, carried by four Swiss Guards.

Pope Francis will then lead the recitation of the Rosary, followed by a meditation.

After a period of silent meditation, the Holy Father will then preside over Eucharistic Adoration, during which there will be readings from Scripture and responsorial prayers.

Following the guided period of Adoration, there will be the recitation of the Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours.

10:15: A period of silent prayer will be held before the vigil concludes with Benediction.

MY COMMENTS: When I was in the seminary in the late 1970's we were being taught as was the rest of the rank and file Church that devotions were denigrated by the Second Vatican Council's spirit. Yes, we were taught that. We were told we should not pray the rosary, but have Bible Services instead. We were told that we need only go to Jesus in prayer not through the Blessed Virgin Mary or any of the other saints. The "cult" of the saints was mocked by those in the know about the spirit of Vatican II.

The Holy Eucharist was food and drink to be eaten and drunk, not something to be viewed and adored, so adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle was not encouraged, the tabernacle was moved out of sight and out of mind and there would not be Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament since this only developed with adoration in the Middle Ages.

Basically, the popular devotions of the Church were jettisoned by clericalists in the Church who told people who love popular devotions that they should only go to Mass, make sure to receive Holy Communion no matter what and pray the Liturgy of the Hours and attend Bible Services. This was pre-Vatican II clericalism in the most clerical post-Vatican II way possible--the complete denigration of popular devotions, many of which don't require a priest or deacon, but simply a lay leader and can be accomplished privately or in the home or with others.

Thanks be to God whose grace is stronger than silly clericalists' academics in the Church popular devotions are making a coming back and have been doing so since Pope John Paul II's Marian devotion and naming of more saints than all other popes combined.

The Holy Rosary is very popular. Many parishes have perpetual adoration or some time for it every day and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament are returning. Parish novenas are finding a place and, yes, the Liturgy of the Hours is still promoted and Bible Services are a part of Benediction.

Progressive gnostic Catholics would dismantle the spiritual and devotional life of the Church and they almost succeeded. Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis will have none of it. In fact Pope Francis' desire for the laity to recover popular devotions is on steroids. Thanks be to God!

POPE'S WORDS MUST HAVE BEEN MUSIC TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT'S EARS--SO SAYS CBS NEWS--IS THIS SOME KIND OF SNARKY BIAS IN REPORTING? I REPORT; YOU DECIDE!

This is just my opinion, but this CBS news report on CBS This Morning, seems a bit snarky and sarcastic. Am I misinterpreting the style of reporting on Pope Francis by this CBS Reporter? Also, why do progressive Catholics and the liberal news media pit Pope Francis against Pope Benedict? What's up with that?

CONCLAVE SECRETS REVEALED

Colbert, a practicing Catholic, on this show with Cardinal Dolan is humorously respectful. I think Cardinal Dolan knew this would be the case and did not fear being on such a show. Overall, this isn't a bad forum for a cardinal to promote Jesus Christ in 2013. But as I watched this with my avant-garde traditionalism, I wondered if this show, as it is would have been shown to a 1950's audience, what the reaction would be. Times have changed and Cardinal Dolan knows it. Perhaps 1950's formalism and dignity has its place and could return one day, but let's face it, we are a shorts and tee shirt generation, wearing flip flops to formal events :

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

Tied into this, we see where Pope Francis has in six short months, revived the world's interest in the papacy within and beyond Catholicism. Perhaps gold and ermine doesn't speak to the world and Pope Francis knows this? A pope wearing a tiara and carried high on a chair with surfs below him, doesn't speak to the jeans, tee shirt and flip flop crowd.

The mainstream media is listening to this pope and reporting on his involvement and the Church's involvement in the discussion concerning Syria and his call to a peaceful solution and fasting and prayer for this purpose.

A liturgy spoken in a language that no one else speaks, with the priest facing the wall rather than the jeans, tee shirt and flip flop crowd, doesn't cut it today.

And now Pope Francis, realizing that he's not just an obscure cardinal from Argentina anymore, is placing the papacy and the Vatican back on the world stage of respectability as it concerns pursuing world peace.

Maybe at this juncture in salvation history, the Church needs to be more pedestrian and less aloof; with the proletariat rather than above; kind rather than judgmental; merciful rather than condemning; encouraging rather than anathematizing? In other words, the Church needs to be Christ like as the pope does the following three things:

Celebrates the Liturgy as prescribed

calls for obedience to the Pope and bishops in union with him (Magisterium)

promotes Marian devotions and other devotions for the grassroots

warns of the influence of the very real devil

calls the world fast and pray

The Holy Father Francis is reviving the Vatican's role on the world stage of politics too, without being political!

POPE FRANCIS WRITES THE PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA ASKING FOR PROTECTION OF THE ELDERLY TO THE UNBORN AND FOR A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION TO THE CRISIS AND CONFLICT IN SYRIA

Two excerpts from Pope Francis' letter to President Putin:

However, the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places.

It is regrettable that, from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, one-sided interests have prevailed and in fact hindered the search for a solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding. The leaders of the G20 cannot remain indifferent to the dramatic situation of the beloved Syrian people which has lasted far too long, and even risks bringing greater suffering to a region bitterly tested by strife and needful of peace. To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution.

Pope Francis writes letter to President Putin of Russia ahead of G20 summit

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to President Vladimir Putin of Russia as he prepares to host this year's G20 summit in St. Petersburg.

Below is the full text of the Pope's letter to President Putin.

To His Excellency
Mr Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation

"In the course of this year, you have the honour and the responsibility of presiding over the Group of the twenty largest economies in the world. I am aware that the Russian Federation has participated in this group from the moment of its inception and has always had a positive role to play in the promotion of good governance of the world’s finances, which have been deeply affected by the crisis of 2008.

In today’s highly interdependent context, a global financial framework with its own just and clear rules is required in order to achieve a more equitable and fraternal world, in which it is possible to overcome hunger, ensure decent employment and housing for all, as well as essential healthcare. Your presidency of the G20 this year has committed itself to consolidating the reform of the international financial organizations and to achieving a consensus on financial standards suited to today’s circumstances. However, the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places.

From this standpoint, it is clear that, for the world’s peoples, armed conflicts are always a deliberate negation of international harmony, and create profound divisions and deep wounds which require many years to heal. Wars are a concrete refusal to pursue the great economic and social goals that the international community has set itself, as seen, for example, in the Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, the many armed conflicts which continue to afflict the world today present us daily with dramatic images of misery, hunger, illness and death. Without peace, there can be no form of economic development. Violence never begets peace, the necessary condition for development.

The meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the twenty most powerful economies, with two-thirds of the world’s population and ninety per cent of global GDP, does not have international security as its principal purpose. Nevertheless, the meeting will surely not forget the situation in the Middle East and particularly in Syria. It is regrettable that, from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, one-sided interests have prevailed and in fact hindered the search for a solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding. The leaders of the G20 cannot remain indifferent to the dramatic situation of the beloved Syrian people which has lasted far too long, and even risks bringing greater suffering to a region bitterly tested by strife and needful of peace. To the leaders present, to each and every one, I make a heartfelt appeal for them to help find ways to overcome the conflicting positions and to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution.

Rather, let there be a renewed commitment to seek, with courage and determination, a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiation of the parties, unanimously supported by the international community. Moreover, all governments have the moral duty to do everything possible to ensure humanitarian assistance to those suffering because of the conflict, both within and beyond the country’s borders.

Mr President, in the hope that these thoughts may be a valid spiritual contribution to your meeting, I pray for the successful outcome of the G20’s work on this occasion. I invoke an abundance of blessings upon the Summit in Saint Petersburg, upon the participants and the citizens of the member states, and upon the work and efforts of the 2013 Russian Presidency of the G20.

While requesting your prayers, I take this opportunity to assure you, Mr President, of my highest consideration."

From the Vatican, 4 September 2013

(Signed)
Francis

CATHOLIC POLITICIAN GIVING NEW MEANING TO DUPLICITY, HYPOCRISY AND BANKRUPT, INCONSISTENT MORALITY AS IT CONCERNS THE KILLING OF CHILDREN

These comments are incredible given the fact that Representative Nancy Pelosi favors the killing of children through abortion, millions and millions of them in this country alone, and even favors partial birth abortion if the women so chooses to do so. I won't criticize Pelosi for her moral outrage in the gassing of innocent children, at least she has a part of her morality correct, even if these children were inconvenient to Assad's rule in Syria! But Mrs. Pelosi, can't you see what is going on in your own womb, the wombs of other mothers and the millions of children killed by your pro-choice laws?

Keep in mind, the most pro-abortion president in the history of the USA also used similar words concerning those poor children killed by gas because President Assad chose, yes, chose, to do so. Mr. President, don't you see you duplicity too? Your hypocrisy? Your inconsistent morality with it comes to the killing of innocent children?

THE SENSE OF REVERENCE IS EVERYTHING

St. Joseph parochial vicar, Fr. Dawid Kwiatkowski received this email the other day. I share it with you as it concerns St. Joseph's 9:30 AM Pro Populum Solemn Sung Ordinary Form Mass:

...I attended your 9:30am Mass. I just wanted to send you this quick note to say how extraordinarily beautiful and enriching I've found your parish to be when I pass through Macon between Florida and Kentucky.

Yesterday's 9:30am Mass in particular was most edifying - the fine musicianship, the sweet dismissal of the children for their special liturgy, the deeply reverent Mass itself, the wonderful opportunity [as usual at St. Joseph] to actually kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue [with paten], to your own splendid homily.

I thank you with all my heart.

I have a deep devotion to St. Joseph himself. May he continue to cover you and all at your church with his own most powerful prayers before the throne of God.

P. B./Naples FL

MY COMMENTS: As everyone knows, I love the EF Mass and its reverence most of all, not necessarily the Latin, although I'm glad we are now preserving Latin by celebrating the EF Mass. As per my previous post, prior to the EF Mass, I would not have known a few phrases if a planted spy suspected that I was a faux priest. Therefore, prior to the EF Mass which Pope Benedict only released to the general public in 2007, I might have been strangled and my body thrown down a ravine with the planted spy saying as he threw my body down the ravine, "You don't even deserve a burial." But the sad thing would be that I was a priest but only celebrating the OF Mass in the vernacular and thus not knowing Latin unbeknownst to this SSPX Mass goer, planted spy. It would be a tragedy which Summorum Pontifcum would avert!

But I digress, the topic is reverence and Ordinary Form Masses in the vernacular can be and should be as reverent as any EF Mass. Now that we have the new glorious English translation of the Mass which is actually faithful to the Latin text for the Ordinary Form Mass, we have built in reverence. That is a big, big plus!

When the Propers are chanted, that is a plus toward reverence.

When altar servers know what they are doing, when the complete Mass is chanted, when incense it used, all these make for an edifying liturgy to give glory to God and to help those who worship during the Holy Sacrifice to do so with great care and REVERENCE.

The option of kneeling for Holy Communion for those who are called to do so also helps. But no one is forced. Standing remains the norm. We even have those who choose to kneel to receive Holy Communion receiving in the hand. They place the host in their mouth as they are kneeling, thus in front of the minister, and depart only afterward! Kneeling to receive on the hand is more reverent too!

SHOULD I FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT WEARING CLERICS?

My hip "selfie" after the colonoscopy!

This morning I went to the Augusta Endoscopy Center at 6:30 AM for a colonoscopy. Anyone who knows of this procedure, knows one must strip to an open back gown for it. So I went dressed in shoes with no socks, shorts and a shirt with no undershirt. I looked far from a priest, although most who worked there knew I was one. I was home by 8:00 AM and all went well and the colon looks marvelous, just marvelous. I was also told not to drive, drink alcohol or sign any contracts all day today. But they didn't tell me not to blog!

But I digress.

When I got home, I watched on Turner Classic Movies, The Bamboo Prison released in 1954. It was about the Korean War and an American prison camp in the north. It was about an American who feigned being a communist sympathizer so as to get privileges and be able to spy for the USA.

In the movie the communists had their own plant or spy amongst the prisoners. He took on the character of a Catholic priest and wore his cassock in the prison camp. But of course he wasn't even a Catholic let alone a priest, which interestingly enough, the script of the movie alerted the audience that not only wasn't he a priest, he wasn't Catholic. I guess the producers of this movie didn't want to offend Catholic sensibilities of the 1950's!

Eventually, this cassocked faux priest learned that the American who was feigning to be a communist sympathizer was actually a spy. The faux priest and the faux communist sympathizer were in a jeep together and the American spy knew something was up and didn't really think the priest was actually a priest. So, he said to the faux priest that he had had Latin in school and said some Latin phrase, but my anesthesia from my medical procedure has given me amnesia as I write this, so I don't recall what the phrase was. The spy was trying to see if the faux priest knew Latin. Then, and I do recall this, the spy said, "What is mea culpa mean?" And of course the faux priest didn't know, so the spy sped up the jeep, then slammed on the breaks making the faux priest go on top of the hood of the jeep with his gun and the spy was able to wrestle him and then strangle him to death and throw him down a ravine.

After he killed the faux priest he said, "You don't even deserve a burial" and departed.

But my point is that the priest who wasn't wore a cassock in a prison camp and I, the priest who is, wore shorts and a shirt to the endoscopy center. Should I feel guilty? He wasn't a priest and he wore a cassock. I am a priest and I wore shorts and shoes with no socks to boot, get it, to boot. But I digress.

And on top of that, it was presumed in this 1950's movie that all priests would certainly know Latin and any priest that didn't would be a communist sympathizer spy.

But if this faux spy priest lived today, that faux priest could not have been tripped up with not knowing the Latin, because most priests today don't know it, not even "mea culpa."

So the moral of this story is, real priests don't wear cassocks, but do celebrate the EF Mass and thus do know Latin and thus won't be strangled as a communist sympathizer and thrown down a ravine and the American spy won't say, "he doesn't even deserve to be buried."

MORE HYPOCRICY FROM THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA CONCERNING EPHOBOPHILIA

I just watched a segment on CBS News This Morning, on a documentary on J.D. Salinger, who wrote "Catcher in the Rye" and died at the age of 93.

Evidently he liked very young teenage girls. CBS interviewed a now elderly woman who when she was 14 in the 1940's he began a supposedly platonic relationship with her when he was in his 30's and when they had sex five years later when she was 18 or 19 he moved on.

She decided to talk about it after his death, but endearingly, not as some kind of victim. And of course CBS extolled the man and did not focus on the implications of ephebophilia (sexual attraction to teenagers, could be heterosexual or homosexual) of Salinger or that this teenager was manipulated by him for his own pleasures. In fact, after the story, one of the anchors said, "great story!"

A reporter asked the aging woman what her mother thought at the time when as a 14 year old Salinger was spending so much time with her. She indicated her mother wasn't very pleased! She smiled!

"... Along with [Salinger's] quest for total seclusion went a predilection for teenage girls -- not so much a Lolita syndrome as an urge to discover innocence and then mould it to the shape he wished." The New York Times (January 28, 2010) remarked on this matter only that "Mr. Salinger frequently dealt with the subject of precocious youth."

Today, Catholic priests are being removed from ministry, often 20 to 40 years after an alleged incident, for what Salinger gets a pass in the press and is nonetheless praised!
Priests are going to prison with the reputation of priests entirely broad stroked as evil predators by the main stream press, while Salinger is praised.

I wonder why there is so much hypocrisy by the main stream press, the Boston Globe's owner the New York Times, and the northeast's main stream press, such as CBS when it comes to sexual abuse of teenagers. Can anyone tell me?

SPEAKING OF MUSICAL TASTES AND LIKING CERTAIN SONGS AND THE DESIRE TO LEARN NEW ONES

The following comment was made by a parishioner, anonymously yesterday, but I think that the person posting it placed it under the wrong post and no one would have seen it as it was an older post that she posted it on and did not really go with that post, but rather one of the ones I posted on Labor Day about singing the propers versus hymns with chants for Christmas Day. So here it is:

"Sadly, the choice of music is one of the things I dislike about Mass at St Joseph. I don't know the songs we sing and most are difficult to follow. I miss knowing and enjoying music at Mass. It's become a chore, not a pleasure. Our children don't know any church songs unless I teach them because they don't hear songs they understand or can easily relate to Mass. What is wrong with singing I am the bread of Life during communion? I used to sing songs from church the rest of the day after leaving Mass and it was such a glorious thing. Now, many times I stop singing in the middle of the song because the changes in pitch, etc make the music difficult and my voice ugly. I don't think I'm alone with these thoughts because I see many people around me doing the same thing. It would be nice to lift our voices in music. It's amazing how many I see singing along when its a rare, familiar song. I'd love to go to Mass one day and enjoy the music again."

MY COMMENTS: We selected a very traditional hymnal that has very traditional hymns, the Saint Michael's Hymnal. For some very odd reason, this hymnal and the one it replaced, The People's Mass Book, do not have "I Am the Bread of Life" which I like and most of our parishioners like.

When I came to St.Joseph Church in 2004 there was no hymnal, only missalettes that had music and the previous pastor only allowed certain hymns from the missalette to be sung apart from one or two that he personally led each and every Sunday.

When we obtained The New People's Mass Book, we began to expand our knowledge of hymns from the few that were sung every Sunday to more. Of course, this meant that we had to learn these new "traditional" hymns that most parishes know but St. Joseph didn't know because these were never sung for 30 years under the previous pastor's tenure. So this was jarring for a minority but not for most.

Now we have the St. Michael hymnal that has a few more traditional hymns then the previous hardback hymnal we have.

Of course the traditional Marian hymns are well known by St.Joseph and quite singable, but these are not appropriate for the Mass generally, because these are Marian devotional hymns better suited to devotions not the Mass.

Which brings me to my final point. Hymns are not the music of the Mass. The Mass, the official words of the Mass, and most of them I might add, is the music of the Mass.

Let's start with certain parts of the Mass, which is the music of the Mass:

--The official Entrance Chant (which is prescribed in the Books but unfortunately after Vatican II the aberration of omitting this is an option for the use of a hymn).

Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Mystery of Faith, Great Amen, Lord's Prayer, Agnus Dei

As well the official Offertory and Communion Antiphons which in the OF Mass, like the official Introit, can be omitted or substituted with something else, but not in the EF sung or spoken Mass.

Then the priest's parts are meant to be chanted too, beginning with the Sign of the Cross through the "Go in Peace."

Hymns are filler music and not at all integral to the Mass. In fact hymns came in as an aberration for the Low EF Mass on Sunday, what was called the 4 hymn sandwich, Opening, Offertory, Communion and Recessional. Nothing else was sung of the Mass,the hymns were a "stepping out of the Mass" to make the Mass a bit more solemn sounding on a Sunday when the Low Mass was said.

Now there are far more kinds of hymns today compared to prior to Vatican II when devotional hymns for vernacular devotions were chosen, what would be called traditional Catholic hymns for devotions with melodies that are quite familiar and singable since these were dragged to the low Mass prior to Vatican II.

Today we have contemporary sounds, even more unsingable than traditional hymns, usually contemporary sounding as it concerns any young generation of Catholics and thus open to become outdated as soon as the tastes of the young change.

Of course, the only way to make new hymns singable is to sing them frequently until these are learned.

Now I will admit that our new hymnal has some hymns that are quite difficult for congregational singing and our Director of Music has on one or two occasions chosen these and I too have cringed because I know if I can't sing it, no one else except the most talented in sight reading hard hymns can.

I usually ask that these not be sung again except as a cantor or choir piece at the Offertory or at Communion.

But the comment above hits the nail on the head. Music in the Catholic Mass today is completely misunderstood, there are many aberrations, too many choices for hymns and what is actually the music of the Mass, the Mass itself, is not what most think of when they complain about music at Mass--its the stuff that isn't the Mass that is complained about or that people want, like the person who commented above.

LEST WE FORGET, THE MASS IS AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD WHICH GOD MAKES POSSIBLE, NOT US

Many of us are analytical with minds that tend toward critique. While this can be helpful in many of the sciences, it can become sacrileges when it comes to the Mass and its various forms of celebration.

We all have our tastes too. Some people prefer Mass without music and even when the EF Mass was the only Mass, these faithful Catholics preferred the Low Mass over what they thought was the highfaluting Solemn High Mass.

As since the Church has a diverse cache of liturgical music for the Mass, EF or OF, there are bound to be taste issues.

With the advent of the OF Mass, this phenomenon multiplied especially with all the different kinds of languages for the Mass and the cultural tastes of different language groups for liturgical music and hymns.

Now we have Catholics who either love or hate the use of lay readers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and females serving as altar servers, lectors or EMCs.

But of course all these things are allowed in the OF Mass as well as a variety of ways, many more varieties compared to the EF Mass which basically had three styles of Mass, Low, High, and Solemn High. Although if a parish had the resources, it could sing a concert Mass regularly, which even two centuries ago popes condemned the use of concert Masses at during an actual Mass, like Haydon, Schubert and their contemporaries wrote. These Mass settings were set to secular melodies like so much of contemporary music sung at Mass today, sacred words set to secular melodies or genres.

I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize true aberrations or abuses in the liturgy. But there are many things that are codified or allowed for the Mass today that may go against tastes and preferences, such as preferring a low Mass rather than a Mass with Gregorian chant.

THE WINDS OF WAR

Soon I will be departing for Rome and in October for a tour of the Holy Land. And it appears the perfect storm is developing for a world war. I requested this sabbatical I will be taking shortly after my 93 year old mother's death last September 18th.

My mother was in her 20's when World War II came to Italy and she knew the horrors of this war up close and personal. Her city of Livorno was heavily bombed, first by the Americans and later by the Nazi's. Her family's apartment building took a direct hit during an air raid and collapsed, killing everyone who had gone to its basement as an air raid shelter. Only by the grace of God was my mom's family elsewhere during that air raid or they would have been in the basement too. Finally the Italian government evacuated the civilians of Livorno to nearby Siena. My mom and her family lived in caves outside of Siena for a considerable period.

Now, I will be in Italy for the next three months. I am scheduled to visit the Holy Land in late October for 9 days and as fate would have it and perhaps the perfect storm the possibility of a world war looms if common sense does not prevail. Even our Holy Father Francis seems to understand and to sense what is at stake with Syria and military action there by the USA.

I print a comment by James Ignatius McAuley from another post because it captures what is at stake:

James Ignatius McAuley said...

Folks, you have all digressed from Father McDonald's column. We are to fast and prayer on September 7. This is not a platitude, and anyone who denies the power of prayer or fasting needs to reread the Book of Jonah. Our Melkite Catholc Patriarch of Antioch, Gregory the III has spoken out quite strongly against any attack on Syria. The Patriarch also urges all of us to listen to the Pope in this matter.

John Nolan, we are all aware of the situation in Pakistan, but unlike Pakistan, Syria has the ability to ignite a world war. Pakistan is simply immobilized presently by the inertia of its own problems.

Gene - I do not know if you are for a war against Syria or not (Use of any military force is an act of war, no matter how our media spins it) our last war in Iraq shattered the Chaldean Catholic Church. Our so called liberation destroyed the Christian community. Did you ever see the bombing of the churches there, an act which Hussein would never have allowed? The U.S. media ignored it, but you could find the pictures through www.byzcath.org Sure, Assad's not a saint, but as a secular muslim, Assad has protected the rights of Christians, and since the 1950s they have allowed Christians to serve in the government and military of Syria (it shocked Nasser!) And, the so called rebels (called protestors until last fall by our main stream propaganda media) are the ones destroying churches and kidnapping orthodox bishops (have you all forgotten that, or does ecumenism only extend to Protestants, and not those in apostolic succession?) In any event, less whining and more prayer! I am sorry to rant, but should the dogs of war be let loose, we will all suffer. Syria is not Iraq in 2003. or Afghanistan in 2002. They have modern weapons from the Russians and will not be caught napping. Nor will they act passively in response to a missal strike (as Sudan had to after Clinton blew up their pharmaceutical factory!), but Syria has the ability to defend themselves and attack our Mediterranean fleet. I do not have the confidence in America's military abilities as I once did, or in Israel's (they are not the army of 1967 or 1982). An attack on Syria will invite a Syrian response, which will invite an American counter response, which will invite in Russia, Iran and Israel, and voila! a world war!

September 2, 2013 at 11:43 AM

CELEBRATING THE ORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS WITH CHANTED PROPERS AND PARTS AND THUS ADDING DEPTH TO IT AND MAKING ITS SPIRITUALITY AND EXPERIENCE SIMILAR TO A CHANTED EF HIGH MASS--NOT REALLY REFORM OF THE REFORM BUT AS THE REFORM COULD HAVE, SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND STILL CAN BE!

This is a repost of the Ordinary Form Mass, with chanted Latin propers and celebrated ad orientem for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, featuring the Church Music Association of America's Chant Intensive choir:

Yesterday (Sunday, September 1) at 2:00 PM was my last Mass at St. Joseph Church, Macon until I return from my sabbatical in Rome on December 3rd! My last Mass was the EF High Mass and my first Mass on return will be our every Tuesday EF Low Mass at 5:00 PM! Lovely bookends, no?

But as I celebrated this splendid EF Mass yesterday with our men's schola chanting the Latin Propers and the rest of the Mass the Jubilatio Deo Mass parts except for the Sanctus which was Obis Factor (if I have that correct, spelling and otherwise) I was struck at the noble simplicity of this Mass and its chants. Yes, noble simplicity of the EF Mass and its chants. All was in Latin (Greek Kyrie of course) except what I believe is not illicit for a High Mass, which is technically a low Mass sung, as there was no deacon or subdeacon, and that is I chanted the Epistle and Gospel in English at the altar ad orientem, but with the chanted Latin introduction and the congregation "Deo Gracias." The schola chanted the Gradual in Latin splendidly.

I have to say, when I celebrate either the low or high EF Mass, I feel Catholic, very Catholic. I feel a bit more diluted as a Catholic with the normal way most Catholic Churches celebrate the OF Mass today, with or without music.

But I digress! As I was celebrating this Mass, I wondered how our typical Sunday Masses at Saint Joseph would be received by our rank and file laity, if we eliminated hymns at the procession to actually sing the proper entrance chant in English and at the offertory and Communion. Now at our EF Mass yesterday, our schola did sing an additional chanted motet in addition to the brief Offertory Antiphon. We did sing "Holy God, We Praise Thy name" as the recessional too.

Currently at our OF Mass, the cantor simply chants the entrance chant in the Roman Missal as the procession begins but then we go immediately into a hymn from our St. Michael's hymnal which means our hymns are traditional hymns and quite singable.

We also sing hymns at Communion and of course for the recessional.

But what if we eliminated a processional hymn and sang the official chant with additional verses in English. How would rank and file laity, who in our parish will sing hymns they know with gusto, if we sang the entrance chant in a "responsorial fashion" with refrain for the congregation and verses for choir and cantor and truly in an English chant mode?

For example, here is the official entrance chant in the Ordinary Form for Christmas Day, which could be done by a cantor alone, or a schola or choir and people encouraged to join:

How would Catholics feel if no traditional Christmas carol was sung?

Here is the offertory chant for the Christmas Day Mass in the Ordinary Form. Again, how would Catholics feel if this was chanted in place of a Christmas carol?

Same question about the official Communion chant for the Ordinary Form Christmas Day Mass:

Chant, English or Latin, Gregorian, simple, complex or polyphony brings to the Mass what most would think is truly "Catholic" in sound, spirituality and ethos.

There was no question yesterday at our EF High Mass, that this was anything but a Catholic Mass. Someone said to me on Saturday who prefers exclusively the EF Mass, that if someone passing on the street a Catholic Church with its doors wide open during a EF High Mass, they would know immediately that it was a Catholic Mass, no question about it.

But if they passed a Catholic Church celebrating Mass in the Ordinary Form in English as in most parishes today, with its door open and then passed a Protestant Church with its service and the doors opened, they wouldn't be able to distinguish very well the difference as the two sounds would be quite similar!

And there is one of the problems with the reform of the Catholic Mass and our liturgies in the Ordinary Form especially as it concerns the virtual elimination of Chant, Gregorian and otherwise, a concerted effort to make our Mass and liturgies more Protestant for ecumenical reasons and what was truly misguided in the 1960's from the Council forward, that making the Catholic Mass more Protestant would lead to Christian Unity. It hasn't and it won't.

POPE FRANCIS' POWERFUL WORDS CALLING FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD AND IN SYRIA--NEXT SATURDAY A DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER,MANDATED BY THE HOLY FATHER, FRANCIS; SAINT JOSEPH, MACON, GA, WILL HAVE SPECIAL PRAYERS AT 12 NOON IN THE CHURCH TO INCLUDE THE ANGELUS, ROSARY AND BENEDICTION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT

AT 12 NOON, SEPTEMBER 7 AT SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, IN COMPLIANCE WITH POPE FRANCIS' CALL FOR FASTING AND PRAYER FOR PEACE IN SYRIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST, WE WILL HAVE EXPOSITION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT, RECITATION OF THE ANGELUS, FOLLOWED BY THE HOLY ROSARY AND BENEDICTION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH IS THE VIGIL OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE!

THE HOLY FATHER APPEARS AT THE WINDOW AT MINUTE 4:35:

Pope Francis: Angelus appeal for peace (full text)BY PRESSING HERE!

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called for a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, in the entire Mideast region, and throughout the whole world to be held this coming Saturday, September 7th, 2013. The Pope made the announcement during the course of remarks ahead of the traditional Angelus prayer this Sunday. Below, please find the full text of the Holy Father's Angelus appeal.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Hello! [Good day!]

Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to make add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.

I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence.

With all my strength, I ask each party in this conflict to listen to the voice of their own conscience, not to close themselves in solely on their own interests, but rather to look at each other as brothers and decisively and courageously to follow the path of encounter and negotiation, and so overcome blind conflict. With similar vigour I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people.

May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries. May humanitarian workers, charged with the task of alleviating the sufferings of these people, be granted access so as to provide the necessary aid.
What can we do to make peace in the world? As Pope John said, it pertains to each individual to establish new relationships in human society under the mastery and guidance of justice and love (cf. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, [11 April 1963]: AAS 55, [1963], 301-302).

All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity!

I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace.
May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!