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Feb. 2 -- Purification of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
Feb. 3 -- St. Blase, Bishop and Martyr
Feb. 4 -- St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop
and Confessor
Feb. 5 -- St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
Feb. 6 -- St. Titus, Bishop and
Confessor
Schedule
Septuagesima
Sunday
Dear Friends:
If this is your first time visiting Una Voce NH, welcome. The Mission of Una Voce NH is to promote the spread of the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass(TLM) in New Hampshire. As the official voice of Una Voce International in New Hampshire, our goal is to unite traditional Catholics throughout the state in a network to support and promote the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal of Blessed John XXIII. The TLM is now available in NH for the first time in almost 40 years.
In neighboring Northern Mass.,
the TLM is also growing. We need your help. Volunteer your efforts or donate to our cause!!!
Thank you...and may God Bless you!!!
Bill St. Laurent
President,
Una Voce New Hampshire
Telephone 603-436-1378
Billstl60@aol.com
A Monk of La Barroux on the Monastic Vocation
St Louis Catholic Church, Memphis, TN....Renovated, Restored
Alert reader Michael A. Beaureagard recently emailed me to point out a rather handsome renovation:
I wanted to share with you a renovation at St. Louis Church in Memphis [...] that was recently completed.
The church was built in the late 1950s in an austere style prevalent at that time. Little changed after Vatican II. Originally, there was a very plain marble altar attached to the back wall with a freestanding tabernacle on top. In the late 1990s, the original altar was removed and the tabernacle was placed upon a pedestal. A matching altar of sacrifice and ambo were made at this time as well.
The parish desired to have the church reflect a classical style of architecture. A baldacchino was added, and the entire sanctuary and appointments were redesigned. The new stained glass behind that altar (Sainte-Chapelle in Paris was the inspiration with the connection of King St. Louis) is artificially lit. [...]
The pastor, Msgr. John McArthur was very instrumental in the redesign. Victor Buchholz, of the firm of Looney Ricks Kiss in Memphis, was the principal architect.
Tebowing, We Did It Before It Was Mainstream!
Tim Tebow on the left, a priest of God, kneeling before Him in the Tabernacle, since 33 A.D.!
Let us pray to bring Tim Tebow to the Fullness of the Truth that is the Catholic Church (he’s got the kneeling genuflection down already).
“I have cried to Thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to Thee. Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.”
Psalm 140:1-2
Incense in Scripture: Exodus 30:34-37, Malachias 1:11, Matthew 2:11, Mark 15:22-23, John 19:39-40, Revelation 8:3-4
Christmas at St. Anthony's Church, Des Moines, Iowa. The celebrant was Msgr. Frank Chiodo.
We now turn our attention to France beginning with the FSSP parish in Bordeaux (the first two photos are from the Midnight Mass and the remainder from one of the Masses of Christmas Day):
Our first Christmas photos come from Shanghai, China. This particular Mass was celebrated according to the usus antiquior.
The website of Messainlatino.it have some interesting photos up of the usus antiquior celebrated in India. The first, coming from another blog, Te Igitur, shows the weekly Sunday Mass which takes place in the chapel of Saint Anthony School in Chennai, India. (Formerly Madras.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world!
Christ is born for us! Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to the men and women whom he loves. May all people hear an echo of the message of Bethlehem which the Catholic Church repeats in every continent, beyond the confines of every nation, language and culture.
The Son of the Virgin Mary is born for everyone; he is the Saviour of all. This is how Christ is invoked in an ancient liturgical antiphon: “O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope and salvation of the peoples: come to save us, O Lord our God”. Veni ad salvandum nos! Come to save us! This is the cry raised by men and women in every age, who sense that by themselves they cannot prevail over difficulties and dangers. They need to put their hands in a greater and stronger hand, a hand which reaches out to them from on high.
Dear brothers and sisters, this hand is Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. He is the hand that God extends to humanity, to draw us out of the mire of sin and to set us firmly on rock, the secure rock of his Truth and his Love (cf. Ps 40:2). This is the meaning of the Child’s name, the name which, by God’s will, Mary and Joseph gave him: he is named Jesus, which means “Saviour” (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31).
He was sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil deeply rooted in man and in history: the evil of separation from God, the prideful presumption of being self-sufficient, of trying to compete with God and to take his place, to decide what is good and evil, to be the master of life and death (cf. Gen 3:1-7). This is the great evil, the great sin, from which we human beings cannot save ourselves unless we rely on God’s help, unless we cry out to him: “Veni ad salvandum nos! – Come to save us!”
The very fact that we cry to heaven in this way already sets us aright; it makes us true to ourselves: we are in fact those who cried out to God and were saved (cf. Esth [LXX] 10:3ff.). God is the Saviour; we are those who are in peril. He is the physician; we are the infirm. To realize this is the first step towards salvation, towards emerging from the maze in which we have been locked by our pride.
To lift our eyes to heaven, to stretch out our hands and call for help is our means of escape, provided that there is Someone who hears us and can come to our assistance. Jesus Christ is the proof that God has heard our cry. And not only this! God’s love for us is so strong that he cannot remain aloof; he comes out of himself to enter into our midst and to share fully in our human condition (cf. Ex 3:7-12).
The answer to our cry which God gave in Jesus infinitely transcends our expectations, achieving a solidarity which cannot be human alone, but divine.
Only the God who is love, and the love which is God, could choose to save us in this way, which is certainly the lengthiest way, yet the way which respects the truth about him and about us: the way of reconciliation, dialogue and cooperation. Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, on this Christmas 2011, let us then turn to the Child of Bethlehem, to the Son of the Virgin Mary, and say: “Come to save us!”
Let us repeat these words in spiritual union with the many people who experience particularly difficult situations; let us speak out for those who have no voice.
Together let us ask God’s help for the peoples of the Horn of Africa, who suffer from hunger and food shortages, aggravated at times by a persistent state of insecurity.
May the international community not fail to offer assistance to the many displaced persons coming from that region and whose dignity has been sorely tried.
May the Lord grant comfort to the peoples of South-East Asia, particularly Thailand and the Philippines, who are still enduring grave hardships as a result of the recent floods.
May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood.
May the Prince of Peace grant peace and stability to that Land where he chose to come into the world, and encourage the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed. May he foster full reconciliation and stability in Iraq and Afghanistan.
May he grant renewed vigour to all elements of society in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East as they strive to advance the common good.
May the birth of the Saviour support the prospects of dialogue and cooperation in Myanmar, in the pursuit of shared solutions.
May the Nativity of the Redeemer ensure political stability to the countries of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and assist the people of South Sudan in their commitment to safeguarding the rights of all citizens.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace. Let us open our hearts to him; let us receive him into our lives. Once more let us say to him, with joy and confidence: “Veni ad salvandum nos!”
Pope Benedict XVI
Christmas Solemn High Midnight Mass
The 20th general assembly of the FIUV (Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce) was held this past November 5-6 in Rome, and on December 19th the same issued their written report coming out of that general assembly.
Within that context, there were a few presentations delivered which I hope to share with you here on NLM in the next few days as I am sure they will be of interest to many of our readers. But before I do so, I wanted to share with our readers the contents of a letter which was written by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith -- former secretary of the CDW -- to the participants of that assembly.
The letter is quite powerful and pulls no punches as you'll see. [NLM emphases]
I wish to express first of all, my gratitude to all of you for the zeal and enthusiasm with which you promote the cause of the restoration of the true liturgical traditions of the Church.
As you know, it is worship that enhances faith and its heroic realization in life. It is the means with which human beings are lifted up to the level of the transcendent and eternal: the place of a profound encounter between God and man.
Liturgy for this reason can never be what man creates. For if we worship the way we want and fix the rules ourselves, then we run the risk of recreating Aaron's golden calf. We ought to constantly insist on worship as participation in what God Himself does, else we run the risk of engaging in idolatry. Liturgical symbolism helps us to rise above what is human to what is divine. In this, it is my firm conviction that the Vetus Ordo(TLM) represents to a great extent and in the most fulfilling way that mystical and transcendent call to an encounter with God in the liturgy. Hence the time has come for us to not only renew through radical changes the content of the new Liturgy, but also to encourage more and more a return of the Vetus Ordo, as a way for a true renewal of the Church, which was what the Fathers of the Church seated in the Second Vatican Council so desired.
The careful reading of the Conciliar Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilum shows that the rash changes introduced to the Liturgy later on, were never in the minds of the Fathers of the Council.
Hence the time has come for us to be courageous in working for a true reform of the reform and also a return to the true liturgy of the Church, which had developed over its bi-millenial history in a continuous flow. I wish and pray that, that would happen.
May God bless your efforts with success.
+Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith
Archbishop of Colombo
24/8/2011
A friend and I have been talking about the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and the need to press press press them forward again. We need to keep pressing and working.
On that note, I was delighted to read at NLM that Card. Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo (former secretary of the CDW) sent a letter to a meeting of Una Voce in Rome, voicing much the same sentiment. Here is the body of the text of the letter from Card. Ranjith. My emphases and comments.
I wish to express first of all, my gratitude to all of you for the zeal and enthusiasm with which you promote the cause of the restoration of the true liturgical traditions of the Church.
As you know, it is worship that enhances faith and its heroic realization in life. It is the means with which human beings are lifted up to the level of the transcendent and eternal: the place of a profound encounter between God and man. [It's nice to see him use that word "encounter". I am forever harping about encountering mystery, experiencing the transcendent in our liturgical worship. If our worship doesn't bring us to an encounter with mystery, it has failed in an important way.]
Liturgy for this reason can never be what man creates. For if we worship the way we want and fix the rules ourselves, then we run the risk of recreating Aaron’s golden calf. [Classic Ratzinger, by the way. He wroe with that same image in one of his books. When we make it up, and what we turn out reflects ourselves, we are engaged in idolatry. The problem is that the Jews KNEW their golden calf wasn't a "god". They KNEW it was less than the Most High. They made it because they didn't want the challenge of what the TRUE God asked. That is what happens when we stray from our true liturgical worship or distort it into something easy, comfortable, familiar. Liturgy should also involve the extremely difficult, the apophatic, something frightening which remains nevertheless alluring.]
We ought to constantly insist on worship as participation in what God Himself does, else we run the risk of engaging in idolatry. Liturgical symbolism helps us to rise above what is human to what is divine. [WATCH THIS!] In this, it is my firm conviction that the Vetus Ordo represents to a great extent and in the most fulfilling way that mystical and transcendent call to an encounter with God in the liturgy.Hence the time has come for us to not only renew through radical changes the content of the new Liturgy, but also to encourage more and more a return of the Vetus Ordo, as a way for a true renewal of the Church, which was what the Fathers of the Church seated in the Second Vatican Council so desired. [Did you see that? A renewal not just of our worship but of the Church! This is EXACTLY what I have been talking about for years! The Holy Father's "Marshall Plan" must begin with a revitalization of our worship. Not initiative of renewal can be successful without a revitalization of our worship. I think, and apparently Card. Ranjith thinks, that the Extraordinary Form, the Vetus Ordo, is a key o that renewal.]
The careful reading of the Conciliar Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilum shows that the rash changes introduced to the Liturgy later on, were never in the minds of the Fathers of the Council.
Hence the time has come for us to be courageous in working for a true reform of the reform and also a return to the true liturgy of the Church, which had developed over its bi-millenial history in a continuous flow. I wish and pray that, that would happen.
May God bless your efforts with success.
+Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith
Archbishop of Colombo
24/8/2011
WDTPRS kudos to Cardinal Ranjith!
mas Eve and Day "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
After this, a great many more angels appeared praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Bishop Peter Elliott offers Pontifical Low Mass
Readers may recall that, since August 10th, the Feast of St. Lawrence, the usus antiquior has been celebrated in the Sacred Heart Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.
This past Ember Wednesday, Bishop Peter Elliott celebrated a Pontifical Low Mass in the same cathedral, for the faithful attached to this form of the Roman liturgy. Fr. Glen Tattersall and Fr. Colin Marshall acted as chaplains.
The Bishop of Aberdeen, Scotland, has issued in interesting pastoral letter about the need to reclaim, indeed, “create” silence and, through silence, prayer. The bishop, Most Rev. Hugh Gilbert, OSB, was once a monk and abbot of Pluscarden Abbey. He really gets silence.
He does not shy from the “third rail”: babies.
He makes a few great points along the way. Here are a few:
… There can be no real relationship with God, there can be no real meeting with God, without silence. Silence prepares for that meeting and silence follows it. … ‘Two people talking stop forty people praying.’ … ‘If deep silence has a hold on what is inside us, then into us too the all-powerful Word will slip quietly from the Father’s throne.’ …
Here, however, is a point that could use more thought:
Now often there is talking up to the very beginning of Mass, and it starts again immediately afterwards.
“Hmmm”, thought I (silently, of course) as I read this.
Not only does the noise/talking precede Mass and follow Mass but in many cases noise/talking continues through the whole of the Mass as well. Certainly talking does, in the Novus Ordo. It’s talk talk talk talk talk talk talk straight through. No?
I think the Bishop is right about this undoubtedly golden subject.
I suggest that, to help recover and create silence, we have far more celebrations of the Extraordinary Form.
I suggest that we diligently petition Rome to provide an Ordinary Form option for a silent Canon.
Even if the option might be for just a silent Roman Canon/1st Eucharistic Prayer, that would be helpful. We have options here, there, and everywhere for so many things in the Ordinary Form. Why not that also?
The rest is – as you know – silence.
Wyoming Catholic College: An inspiring story...new Catholic hope for the future
Advent Ember Days
It
is the Wednesday following Gaudete Sunday and, traditionally at least,
that means one thing: the beginning of the Ember Days of Advent. I say
traditionally because of course, since the post-conciliar liturgical
reforms, these have essentially disappeared for all intents and purposes
(at least in their universal, traditional sense) having now been left
to the discretion of the respective national conferences of bishops.
In his work, The Restoration and Organic Development of the Roman Rite, the late Professor Laszlo Dobszay had this to say about the Ember Days and about this effective loss:
The abolition of the Ember Days was the destruction of a very early tradition. We learn from the sermons of Leo the Great how devotedly the Roman Church kept this observance in the fifth century. 'Et traditio decrevit, et consuetudo formavit' - 'inasmuch as tradition has decreed, so custom shaped it' - said this most liturgical pope. And the same sermon proceeds so: 'ideo ipsa continentiae observantia quattuor est assignata temporibus, ut in idipsum totius anni redeunte decursu, cognosceremus nos indesinenter purifactionibus indigere...' - 'therefore four times are assigned for the observance of temperance, so that when the course of the year brings it back, we should understand, that we are in need of ceaseless purification'.
The roots of the Ember Days stretch back to the Old Testament.
In another post I wrote about an option for a silent Canon/Eucharistic Prayer in the Ordinary Form.
This comes from a priest:
I have had an interesting experience with the new translation of the Roman Missal. Since it arrived, I decided that I will use the Roman Canon solely. However, because of it’s beauty, I am being drawn into it unlike the older translation. That may be because it is so new and I’m being a bit more intent on it. And, it is difficult not to add all of the signs of the cross that I have become accustomed to in the Extraordinary Form. On about three occasions I have begun to to recite the Roman Canon in silence as I would in the EF and then realize what I was doing and start again. I wonder if any other priests have had this experience?
Good question.
I sure do resonate with the tendency to insert many of the TLM gestures into the Novus Ordo (genuflections, signs of the Cross). We become creatures of habit. I really have to concentrate. The same applies with the new translation, doesn’t it?
For many years I said Mass daily at St. Peter’s Basilica, often privately or with only one or a few people. To the consternation of the censorious sacristans I said the TLM most of the time, but I would also use the Novus Ordo entirely in Latin. I would say the Roman Canon silently, not only because it is best not to disturb other priests saying Mass, but because it seems the most natural thing in the world to do so.
Fathers?
From Brazil on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The following photos were sent in from a celebration of Mass in the usus antiquior
on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass took place at the
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen de la Catedral Vieja in Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil.
During an ordination, someone must stand up in front of the ordaining bishop and attest that seminarians are properly formed and educated and suitable for ordination.
However, seminarians of the Latin Church are not being trained in the whole of the Roman Rite. According to the Church’s law, the Roman Rite has two forms. How many seminaries are training men also in the Extraordinary Form with adequate training, real training… not just an occasional Mass they get to watch. Furthermore, the Code of Canon Law requires that all seminarians be very well-trained in Latin (can. 249). Is that happening? Universae Ecclesiae reiterated this point. I also know of a document from the Congregation for Catholic Education which requires that there be a Patristic Theology component in the curriculum, not just the occasional reference in history or theology courses.
I think it is great, therefore, when – just as some of us did back in the day – seminarians are learning to row the boat all on their own.
From a seminarian:
I am wondering if you could recommend some sources for anyone
interested in learning how to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. I
am a year and a half away from ordination to the priesthood and would like to be able to offer both forms down the road. Thanks and God Bless.
I would contact the Fraternity of St. Peter. They have a very good instructional DVD.
Also, the Canons of St. John Cantius in Chicago have a great page, online tutorials.
I know that both groups host workshops. Also, in England there are occasional workshops for seminarians and priests.
Una Voce NH - Fr. Michael Kerper, Pastor of St. Patrick's, Nashua, has announced that the Christmas Midnight Mass, which has remained a tradition at St. Patrick's, will be offered this year as a Traditional Latin Mass in the Extraordinary Form and will be a Sung High Missa Cantata. There will be a Christmas Carol concert before Midnight Mass starting at 11:30PM.
This Mass will be historic. It will be the first Christmas Mass at Midnight offered in NH in the Extraordinary Form in more than a generation.... since the introduction of the Novus Ordo Mass. Deo Gratias !!!!
This follows ground breaking TLMs offered previously by the late Fr. Martin Kelly, and ongoing by Frs. John Healy and Fr. Adrien Longchamps on Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and for Weddings and Requiem funerals. Confirmation in the Traditional Liturgy was first offered in New England last spring in Boston by the Archbishop.
Here is a little poll for your 3rd Sunday of Advent.
Please choose an answer and add a comment in the combox.
For "Gaudete" Sunday the vestments I saw were
Total Voters: 950
Architecture for a New Liturgical Movement: Our Lady of the Rosary, Greenville, SC
For some while now, we have been meaning to
tell readers of an exciting new architectural project that is taking
place in connection with Fr. Dwight Longenecker. It is the church of Our Lady of the Rosary
in Greenville, South Carolina -- and if the drawings tell the story, it
certainly promises to be yet another fine, contemporary example of
church architecture, characterized by a continuity with our tradition
and also picking up where some of the most successful churches of the
20th century Liturgical Movement left off.
The overall designer of the church is Andrew Gould of
New World Byzantine and Christian LeBlanc will be the architect of record. NLM's own Matthew Alderman
is contributing furnishing designs and a number of conceptual and color
elements to the interior. (The watercolor renderings shown below are
painted by him as well.)
From the architect:
"The form of the church follows the example of
early Roman basilicas, with a broad nave and a transept containing a
baldachin over the altar. The structure will be built from solid masonry
with extensive use of local salvaged brick for exterior trim. The
timeless detailing derives from churches built in Western Europe in the
first millennium – a universal style well suited to a modern Catholic
church."
The church, both on the interior and exterior, looks to be quite
beautiful, but what I am particularly pleased about is the high altar
and the sanctuary. How so?
First, the possibility of
ad orientem has clearly been envisioned
since room has been left on both the liturgically Eastern and Western
sides of the altar (I do not know what the actual geographic orientation
will be, though it would be marvellous if it were able to be oriented
to the geographical East as well).
Second, a good solution seems to have been put in place with regard to
the altar being freestanding on the one hand, while still allowing for a
central position for the tabernacle on the other.
Finally, I am extraordinarily pleased to see a ciborium placed over the
high altar, thereby emphasizing the liturgical importance of the high
altar as the place where the sacrifice is re-presented, offered to the
Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit; further bringing that
important aspect of verticality we have spoken of here many times
before. I will dwell on this yet a little more since, of the three
aspects I mention, this is no doubt the least likely to be intuitively
understood. Of the ciborium St. Germanus of Constantinople comments that
"it... corresponds to the ark of the covenant of the Lord in which, it is written, is His Holy of Holies and His holy place." Geoffrey Webb, in his excellent work, The Liturgical Altar, says of it that "there is nothing which can replace it as the most expressive manifestation of the altar's true dignity and majesty." Finally, Blessed Ildefonso Schuster says that "in
the minds of the early Christians, the altar could never be without the
halo of its sacred nature -- that is, the ciborium or baldacchino in
marble or in silver. The altar in its entirety constituted the true
tabernacle of the most High, who assuredly could not dwell sub divo without a special roof of his own under the lofty vaulting of the naos."
Here then, after much ado, is the church in question:
Pontifical High Mass for the Immaculate Conception-Video
A video of that historic event has emerged, and was brought to my attention a few months ago. It seemed fitting to wait until its anniversary to share it here on the NLM.
Readers may recall, as reported here, that last year the Bishop of Nottingham pontificated at High Mass in the Dominican Priory church of the Holy Cross in Leicester.From a reader:
Saw your most recent quaeriter ["quaeritur" is a verb, btw.] and noted the use of “stable group.” We are struggling with our diocese over the definition of that term, as they ["they"? Diocesan officials?] want to say a stable group is thirty Catholics [NO!] who will pledge themselves to attend the EF. Naturally, we had numbers approaching thirty when our TLM was pushed out of the parishes three years ago. Now we total about fifteen or so, and even though the same people have attended the TLM more or less faithfully (we even found ourselves in a chapel of a secular retirement home for about two years) for four years, the diocese still tells us we are not a stable group. By the way, we had a priest in the area willing to offer this Mass for us. But the bishop banished him to the hinterlands. Now he travels about 300 miles once a month to offer this Mass for our group. Just what IS a “stable group”?
Don’t forget that the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” issued a clarificatory document Universae Ecclesiae, in which we read:
15. A coetus fidelium (“group of the faithful”) can be said to be stabiliter existens (“existing in a stable manner”), according to the sense of art. 5 § 1 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, when it is constituted by some people of an individual parish who, even after the publication of the Motu Proprio, come together by reason of their veneration for the Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, and who ask that it might be celebrated in the parish church or in an oratory or chapel; such a coetus (“group”) can also be composed of persons coming from different parishes or dioceses, who gather together in a specific parish church or in an oratory or chapel for this purpose.
The law on this says “some people”. There is no minimum number identified by the Holy See. Some have mentioned that a coetus in other contexts can be as few a three. And the priest himself can be a part of the coetus.
It is wrong to try to impose a minimum number.
At the same time, it is common sense that – in most parishes – it is very hard to implement a major change to the parish schedule for very few people. But if the priest is willing and able to add a Mass to the schedule and keep it covered through thick and thin without crashing and burning, great! Support him? If he wants to do it, he doesn’t need permission.
The BIG problem remains, however. The parish priest, the pastor, implements Summorum Pontificum in the parish. The diocesan bishop does not make the decisions about this in the way that he did under the old, now “extinct” provisions of Ecclesia Dei adflicta.
And don’t forget the Bux Protocol.
Una Voce NH - Fr. Adrien Longchamps has announced that he will offer the Traditional Latin Mass on Christmas Day at 11:30AM. This will be a Sung High Missa Cantata.
In addition, in January, the TLM in Suncook will be at
11:30 AM Sunday, January 8th in St John the Baptist Church.
Deo Gratias!!!
Videos for your amusement and edification
A couple videos:
How many times have I dealt with this?
And this…
Cardinal Burke's thoughts on Mutual Enrichment
Yesterday, the National Catholic Register ran an article on Raymond Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Burke Talks About Rome, the Mass, Canon Law and U.S. Culture.
Here are the excerpts on matters liturgical:
The tribunal prefect also exercises care for the Church’s liturgy as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship.
He is grateful to Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for giving the Church “a font of solid direction” regarding worship, based on the Second Vatican Council’s vision of a “God-centered liturgy and not a man-centered liturgy.”
That intention was not always realized, he said, since the Council’s call for liturgical reform coincided with a “cultural revolution.”
Many congregations lost their “fundamental sense that the liturgy is Jesus Christ himself acting, God himself acting in our midst to sanctify us.”
Cardinal Burke said greater access to the traditional Latin Mass, now known as the “extraordinary form” of the Roman rite, has helped to correct the problem.
“The celebration of the Mass in the extraordinary form is now less and less contested,” he noted, “and people are seeing the great beauty of the rite as it was celebrated practically since the time of Pope Gregory the Great” in the sixth century.
Many Catholics now see that the Church’s “ordinary form” of Mass, celebrated in modern languages, “could be enriched by elements of that long tradition.”
In time, Cardinal Burke expects the Western Church’s ancient and modern forms of Mass to be combined in one normative rite, a move he suggests the Pope also favors.
“It seems, to me, that what he has in mind is that this mutual enrichment would seem to naturally produce a new form of the Roman rite — the ‘reform of the reform,’ if we may — all of which I would welcome and look forward to its advent.”
Atlantis Rises: US Seminaries are changing
It isn’t rocket science.
The theological and moral bizzaro-world into which US seminaries sank Atlantis-like over the decades of the 60s to the 80s is over. They didn’t sink in a day, and they won’t be raised in a day either.
But they are rising.
The reason has been, in part, bishops who made changes, and in larger part students who would no long put up with the weirdness. Men wanted Catholic formation and virile liturgy and they didn’t want to be… how to say it… hit on. Seminarians themselves began to revolt against the faculty and tell their bishops what was going on and changes were implemented. Once the shift in the episcopate Pope John Paul II worked patiently to achieve began to re-leaven the country, reform started gain momentum.
A reader sent a link to the following with the subject line: “Could it be…. Orrrthodoxy?”
From CNS with my cuts [...], emphases and comments.
Growing Traditional Order of Carmelite Sisters takes over abandoned/failing Convent
By Nancy Frazier O’Brien
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — In his first months as rector of Theological College in Washington, Father Phillip J. Brown has been confronting a problem that the national diocesan seminary for the U.S. Catholic Church “has not had for a long time” — it is bursting at the seams.
Enrollment is maxed out for the 2011-12 academic year at 90 seminarians. Five of those seminarians are back in their dioceses this year gaining pastoral experience, but a Sulpician seminarian and five priests from other countries also live there, bringing the total number of residents to 91 plus faculty members.
“If I had to start with a problem, that’s the problem I’d like to have,” Father Brown told Catholic News Service. “It’s a very healthy sign, a positive sign for Theological College and for the U.S. priesthood.”
The trend of rising seminary enrollment is being duplicated around the country:
– At the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, 40 new seminarians arrived this year, bringing total enrollment to 186, the highest level since the 1970s.
– St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity [SPS... the den-of-horrors I went to in the 80s.] at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., welcomed 30 new graduate-level seminarians, making its class of 100 seminarians the largest since 1980. The influx forced 24 seminarians and two priests off campus into leased space at a former convent. [Anecdote: A couple years ago when I was visiting John H at Leaflet Missal (church goods) in St. Paul, he said he was super busy getting the clerical clothing in a sorted for the orders from all the seminarians at SPS. I didn't, at first, grasp what he was saying. Then he told me that the decision had been made that all the major seminarians were to wear clerical dress. I, incredulous, nearly passed-out.]
[...]But Theological College’s Father Brown said a rise in enrollment is only part of the story.
“It’s not just the numbers but the quality and spirit of the men who are coming,” he told CNS.
“I’m tremendously impressed with the quality of the candidates, their zeal,” he added. “We’re seeing a real renewal of the priesthood.”
Summorum Pontificum Conference in Rio de Janeiro
This past November 15-18th, the Second
Summorum Pontificum Priestly Meeting (II Encontro Sacerdotal Summorum
Pontificum) took place at the Centro de Estudos e Formação do Sumaré in
Rio de Janeiro. The first such meeting took place on June 17-19th, 2010
in another part of Brazil.
At the meeting, there were various conferences including:
- "Theological Aspects of the Liturgy" by Bishop Fernando Rifan of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Marie Vianney
- "Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae in the light of Ius
Canonicus" by Fr. José Edilson of the Apostolic Administration of St.
John Marie Vianney
- "Summorum Pontificum and the Pope's desired Reform of the Reform" by
Bishop Fernando Guimarães, the bishop of Garanhuns and member of the
Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
- "Mystagogy of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form" by Fr. Claudiomar
Souza, Master of Ceremonies of the Apostolic Administration of St. John
Marie Vianney
Liturgically, a Solemn Pontifical Mass was offered in the
usus antiquior by Bishop Rifan. Here are a few photos.
CNN’s bumbling attack on a priest who has opted for male-only altar servers
I have noted an interesting trend. When a parish priest opts for male only service at the altar (i.e., no altar girls) he is attacked in the press. I don’t mean the local shopper insert, either. The priest is now attacked by the main stream media.
This week’s example is that of Fr. Michael Taylor of Corpus Christi Church in South Riding, VA. He is being attacked on the site of CNN.
Obviously what is happening here is that, as the kulturkampf heats up, the MSM is abetting a liberal campaign of bullying and intimidation against exponents of a clear and faithful Catholic identity.
Let’s have a look at the CNN piece with my emphases and comments. The writer is deeply confused and half-informed. But the real point is not to get facts right. The real motive is bullying.
It’s wrong to bar altar girls
By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor
November 23, 2011Editor’s note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House.” He is a commentator for TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, “Washington Watch with Roland Martin.”
(CNN) — If there is one institution that has made a point of desperately trying to keep women in their place, it’s organized religion. [Organized religion is an "institution"?]
Whether it’s Christianity, Islam or Judaism, women are often relegated to secondary roles, their contributions seen as insignificant. [Is the writer drawing a moral equivalence between these three in their treatment of women? Really?]
In the Catholic Church, that is taken a step further by refusing to even allow women to become priests. Now, some Catholic churches are alienating women by refusing to allow girls to serve as altar servants. [I love this. The writer cannot even get the FACTS right. FACTS begin with terms. They are "servers", not servants. Perhaps this could stem from a lack of familiarity with, say, parish life. But I digress.]
In South Riding, Virginia, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, the Rev. Michael Taylor announced that the church will no longer train girls to be altar servants. [So, getting terms wrong was not a single and excusable slip.] That angered one woman at the church, who spoke to the Washington Post about the decision. [Read that again: "angered one woman".... Ponder that.]
According to the Post: “Taylor, who did not return phone calls for comment, wrote in the parish bulletin that he hoped the church would ‘create opportunities, and perhaps clubs’ for girls as a way to help them find ways to serve the church, rather than serving at the altar.”
The Roman Catholic Church of Phoenix has also ceased allowing girls to serve as altar servants, angering some there by taking such a hard-line stance. [Another fact check failure. The Diocese didn't ban altar girls. The Rector of the Cathedral made this decision. And it wasn't a ban. It was a choice in favor of male service.]
It would behoove [for pity's sake] these priests and archbishops to actually open up their Bibles [and stop splitting infinitives] and realize that were it not for women, there might never have been Christianity. [I think we all realize that if there were no women, there would never have been... pretty much anyone. There isn't, however, room here to discuss Eve's decision.]
The Catholic Church regards Peter as its first pope, [Sure Peter was a "Pope", though the term Pope developed long after Peter. But we are clearly dealing with a less-than-rigorous writer.] teaching that it was Jesus who gave Peter and the other disciples the direction to create the church. [Jesus created the Church. A Catholic should know that.]
According to Matthew 16:17-20, Jesus said to Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” [The writer perhaps does not realize that he hasn't exactly supplied here an argument against defying the authority of those to whom the power of the keys was entrusted.]
Yet the Bible also records that when Jesus was crucified, his disciples were scared to death of being killed themselves, so it was left to the female followers of Jesus to stand guard to pray and weep as he hung on the cross. [Who was standing guard? I think the Roman soldiers, including the Centurion, would have had a different view.]
John 19:25 says Jesus’ mother, Mary, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene all were standing vigil. No men. No disciples. No apostles. [f I remember my Bible 101, St. John the Apostle, the disciple whom Jesus loved (cf. John 20:2), was at the Cross.]
When Jesus was thirsty, the women, not a male disciple, [I thought there were no men there.] gave him something to drink, before he died. [A woman helped carry the Cross too, right? Some more fact checking: when the Lord said that he was thirsty, in Mark 15:36 a man help the sponge up for the Lord and in Luke 23:26 soldiers offered it to him.]
When Jesus wasn’t found in the tomb, who made that discovery? A woman, Mary Magdalene, not one of his disciples. [Mary did not go into the tomb. Peter first entered the tomb. Mary had spoken to the Lord without going into the tomb.]
When Mary went to get Peter and another disciple to show them that Jesus was gone, they saw for themselves, and went back into hiding “with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders” (John 20:19). [No, "fear of the Jews". I think only the NIV has "leaders". Doesn't this writer, this journalist, double check his quotes? No, wait... he is making a verbal connection perhaps with the baaaad "Catholic leaders" who make decisions to oppress altar girls.]
Who was left to be visited by two angels and Jesus? No, not one of his male believers, but a crying Mary Magdalene! [Just like the poor little gilrs who the meanie Catholic "leaders" are oppressing.]
According to the account in John 20, Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me, [And that is an argument in favor of female service at the altar?!? The Lord says to the woman, "Don't touch me! Noli me tangere!" You would think that CNN would gloss this as "I have been through VIRTUS training. I have enough problems."] for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” [And that second part of the Lord's words to Mary pertains.... how, exactly?]
When Mary Magdalene did as ordered, [It was good that Mary was obedient and stayed away from the Lord, at his direction.] the disciples, the fervent male followers of Jesus, [Note the sarcasm.] didn’t even believe her. [And a lot of people didn't believe the Lord or the Apostles. So, what's his point?] The Gospel of John records that Jesus had to show up for them to even believe that he had died and risen to heaven. [Ummmm.... Is that so hard to understand?]
Now just imagine the Christian faith if women had not been standing guard. [The "standing guard" thing again. Silly.] If women weren’t as vigilant in believing in Jesus Christ, [Ummm... they arrived in the morning with burial spices because they thought He was dead.] there might not even be a Christian church today. That means no popes, no cardinals, no archbishops, no priests and no altar boys. [And?]
When I was an altar boy for years at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Houston, the role was simple: to serve as a helper to the priest. Folks, there is nothing I did as an altar boy that a young woman couldn’t do. Nothing. [Except consider a vocation to the priesthood. We dodged a bullet there. And there is more to this issue than the mere an shallow question of who can do X better than or as well as someone else.]
This decision by Catholic Church leaders in Arizona and Virginia [Great! I bet it would come as a surprise to the Rector of the Cathedral in Phoenix and Fr. Taylor in VA that they are now "Church leaders". The writer is living in La La Land. But remember his other use of "leaders", above? There, he cherry picked a single version (I believe) of Scripture - a non-Catholic translation - that had "Jewish leaders" instead of "the Jews". I think he was trying to make a point.] is nonsensical and unnecessary. [As is this attack on the Church's disciplines and on Fr. Taylor.] All it does is drive a wedge through believers in the body of Christ, instead of expanding ways in which people can serve the church.
Such ignorance [?!?] is one of the reasons why nondenominational Christian churches are growing at a faster rate than those associated with a denomination. [Ignorance is the reason why Catholics choose to attend communities without any systematic doctrine?]
As long as churches erect barriers to serving for believers, they will not be seen as welcoming places to worship. Allowing women to serve as altar servants is the right thing to do; it’s biblical. [As the writer's stunning knowledge of Scripture has demonstrated in his air-tight case.]
If women were good enough to stand guard [There is is again. Where does he get this "stand guard" thing?] and care for Jesus Christ, I’m sure their female descendants are good enough to care for the church he commissioned.
This Sunday 11/13/2011 :Continuing on with our "liturgical news from American colleges" theme -- which seems to be gaining momentum this week -- our current entry comes within the context of All Saints Day at Georgetown University.
There, on that feast, Fr. Stephen Fields, S.J., celebrated a Mass for the students in the usus antiquior (a Missa Cantata). In point of fact, there were two Masses celebrated for the students on All Saints, one according to the ancient liturgical books, and one according to the modern Roman liturgical books. Very "Benedictine" indeed of the university chaplaincy, and certainly to be lauded.
Here are a few photos.
CMR has this:
Excommunicated Nun Accepts Award for Abortion Decision
Excommunicated Sister of Mercy Margaret McBride received the 2011 Call To Action Leadership Award at their annual conference precisely for her role in a decision at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix to abort an 11 week old unborn baby.
She gives a short speech accepting the award where she talks of mercy and forgiveness and bashes the Church in the same breath.
Watching this is a surreal experience.
Now, meet the Traditional Order: Sisters of Life: Deo Gratias!
by Una Voce NH
College of St. Mary Magdalen:
New England College to offer TLM and Novus Ordo Ad Orientum only
The College of Saint Mary Magdalen, a Catholic liberal arts college which is situated in New England (not to be confused with another New England Catholic college, Thomas More College), recently appointed a new chaplain who will be no stranger to many of our readership, Fr. Neil J. Roy, former editor of the Society of Catholic Liturgy's journal, Antiphon.
Recently the College sent us a press release which shares two additional bits of good news.
The first is that the college has announced that it will begin celebrating both forms of the Roman liturgy at the College with the arrival of Fr. Roy.
The second, all Masses at the college, of whichever form, will be celebrated ad orientem henceforth.
On the Feast of All Souls, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass Finds a Home at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen
Bishop Alexander on Liturgical Orientation- Facing Christ
Another step in the restoration of traditional Roman Catholic spirituality in Russia was taken on October 15: Mgr. Athanasius Schneider, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Maria Sanctissima in Astana (Kazakhstan), celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the historic church of St. Louis in Moscow. Serving was an international team of clergy representing three different religious institutes: Canon Gwenaël Cristofoli ICRSS was the assistant priest, Fr. Vitaly Leontiev FSSP served as deacon, and Fr. Michał Jermaszkiewicz OP acted as subdeacon. Abbé Louis Valadier was the primary master of ceremonies. Fr. Igor Kowalewski, the parish priest of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul parish (which shares the church with the parish of St. Louis) assisted in choro. The choir under the direction of Mr. Timur Dosayev sang beautiful pieces of sacred polyphony.
This Holy Mass began the three-day conference of scholars, entitled "Catholic Church in the USSR in the 1920s and 30s" and held by Una Voce Russia with the support of the Archdiocese of Mother of God of Moscow.
First TLM offered at Thomas More
College, Merrimack, NH
by Shawn Tribe
Late in August we made mention here of the fact that Thomas More College in New Hampshire was introducing the usus antiquior into the campus liturgical life. This was to be inaugurated on October 7th, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
In follow-up to that announcement, we are pleased to present some photos from that Mass.The Priest offerring Holy Mass is Father John Healy of St.Patrick's Parish, Nashua.
Prior to the TLM's suspension at St. Patrick's last spring, Fr. Healy regularly offered the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Patrick's.
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Our friends at Rorate have the news:
For the second time this year, and for the third time since Summorum Pontificum came into effect, Pontifical Mass according to the 1962 Missal will be publicly offered in St. Peter’s Basilica.
His Eminence Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will offer the opening Mass — a Messa Prelatizia — for the General Assembly of the Fœderatio Internationalis Una Voce on the morning of Saturday, November 5, 2011. The Mass will be held in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Basilica.
Good news, I think.
I am ready for a Mass to be celebrated in the presence of the Roman Pontiff.
Contrast: A look at a Liberal and a Traditional Order of Sisters
Una Voce NH - In this contrast, we look at the liberal order of Mercy nuns who no longer
require the habit or life in community and who appear secular and and feminist.
We contrast them with the traditionalist order of Dominicans who seem to be more focused on piety and the religious life.
Changing Habits: Part 1 - The Mercy Sisters
The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
Silence and solitude reveal the presence of God
VATICAN CITY, 9 OCT 2011 (VIS) - Having addressed the local people of Serra San Bruno, the Holy Father entered the Carthusian monastery of Sts. Stephen and Bruno where he was greeted by the prior, Fr. Jacques Dupont. At 6 p.m. the Pope presided at Vespers with the monastic community in the monastery church.
In his homily the Pope explained that the aim of his visit was to confirm the Carthusian Order in its mission, "more vital and important today than ever before", he said. The spiritual core of the Carthusians, founded by St. Bruno, lies in the desire "to enter into union of life with God, abandoning everything which impedes such communion, allowing oneself to be seized by the immense love of God and living from that love alone", through solitude and silence.
Technological progress, the Holy Father noted, has made man's life more comfortable but also "more agitated, even convulsive". The growth of the communications media means that today we run the risk of virtual reality dominating reality itself. "People are increasingly, even unwittingly, immersed in a virtual dimension, thanks to the audiovisual images that accompany their lives from morning to evening. The youngest, having been born in this state, seem to fill each vacant moment with music and images, almost as if afraid to contemplate the void. ... Some people are no longer capable of remaining silent and alone".
This situation of modern society and culture "throws light on the specific charism of the Carthusian monastery as a precious gift for the Church and for the world, a gift which contains a profound message for our lives and for all humanity. I would summarise it in these terms: by withdrawing in silence and solitude man, so to speak, 'exposes' himself to the truth of his nakedness, he exposes himself to that apparent 'void' I mentioned earlier. But in doing so he experiences fullness, the presence of God, of the most real Reality that exists. ... Monks, by leaving everything, ... expose themselves to solitude and silence so as to live only from what is essential; and precisely in living from the essential they discover a profound communion with their brothers and sisters, with all mankind".
This vocation, the Pope went on, "finds its response in a journey, a lifelong search. ... Becoming a monk requires time, exercise, patience. ... The beauty of each vocation in the Church lies in giving time to God to work with His Spirit, and in giving time to one's own humanity to form, to grow in a particular state of life according to the measure of maturity in Christ. In Christ there is everything, fullness. However we need time to possess one of the dimensions of His mystery. ... At times, in the eyes of the world, it seems impossible that someone should spend his entire life in a monastery, but in reality a lifetime is hardly sufficient to enter into this union with God, into the essential and profound Reality which is Jesus Christ".
"The Church needs you and you need the Church", the Holy Father told the monks at the end of his homily. "You, who live in voluntary isolation, are in fact at the heart of the Church; you ensure that the pure blood of contemplation and of God's love flows in her veins".
Following the celebration, the Holy Father met with the monastic community in the refectory, he signed the visitors book then visited a cell and the infirmary of the monastery. He then returned by helicopter to Lamezia Terme whence he departed by plane for Rome at 8 p.m.
(Una Voce NH) - Last Sunday, St. Patrick's Church in Nashua resumed offering the Traditional Latin Mass. However, instead of the TLM being offered at 1:30PM, as it had been for the last couple years, the TLM was scheduled as a Sunday morning Mass replacing the regular Novus Ordo at that time. Fr. Kerper, Pastor at St. Patrick's, had pre-announced this to the Parish well in advance...so regular attendees of that Mass could choose to go to a different Mass.
There had never been a Sunday morning TLM offered at St. Patrick's. The results were impressive. The TLM last Sunday out drew the regular Novus Ordo with estimates from parishioners of 20-30 percent (or more) higher Mass attendence than at the regular Novus Ordo Mass at that time!
While the Sunday Traditional Latin Mass remains suspended at St. Patrick's, the turnout last Sunday certainly demonstrates a strong and growing devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass in St. Patrick's Parish and Southern NH/Northern Mass.
Deo Gratias!!
TLM's to be offered at Harvard University at St. Paul's, Cambridge, MA.
Below: The Traditional Latin Mass offered at St. Paul's for Harvard University students earlier this year by Fr. Patrick Armano of St. Monica's Parish, Methuen, MA
(Una Voce NH) - Please save the date for the two Extraordinary Form Masses of this semester from the Harvard Latin Mass Society in conjunction with the Harvard Knights of Columbus Council 14188. We would appreciate your help passing this along to anyone who may be interested.
1) Friday, October 21st 7:00pm
2) Wednesday, November 30th 6:00pm
The Masses will be held at the high altar of Saint Paul Parish in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.
Contact harvardlatinmass [at] gmail.com with any questions.
harvardknights.blogspot.com
harvarddaughters.blogspot.com
There is an interesting video on YouTube about the pipe organ project going on at St. John Cantius in Chicago.
If you don’t know much about pipe organs, you could learn a few things from this 12 minute video.
Remember: the pipe organ is mentioned by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council as the instrument which has pride of place for sacred music.
The last of our "All Souls Day" reprints covers the matter of the use of the liturgical colour of black, normative for the usus antiquior and still perfectly permissible within the context of the modern Roman liturgy.
I made the effort to reprint these now for the simple reason that it is my hope to encourage the use and revival of these elements. Tomorrow: a poll on these things.
All Souls Day is fast coming upon us, and so I wish to continue our annual NLM tradition of using this occasion to appeal to our priests to use black vestments both for All Souls and for Requiems generally according to the modern Roman rite -- I specify the modern liturgy because in the usus antiquior, black is what is specified for these and so no appeal is needed, whereas in the rubrics for the modern liturgy, black, violet or white are permitted as valid options. [Note: I am speaking generally and excluding the specific consideration requiems for young, baptized children, where the tradition is for white to be used.]
But why do so? At times in the past few decades, some individuals have attempted to make the argument that the use of black is contrary to Christian hope in the resurrection of the dead. Accordingly, some of these same individuals have agitated against the use of black -- even violet -- for these occasions, despite the Church's continued use of that liturgical colour. In response, I would point out that this is not a case of either-or, but rather one of both-and. While Christians are indeed a people of hope rooted in the resurrection, this does not invalidate the natural emotional response of sorrow or mourning, nor that fact that we are likewise to be aware of the reality of sin, death and judgement. Such awareness and reserve is simply that, an awareness and reserve which springs from a recognition of a genuine spiritual reality, and the mere fact of this cannot be equated with hopelessness or an insufficient hope in the resurrection of the dead. In point of fact, not giving adequate recognition to these realities is itself a problem.
If we look at the Church's liturgical year, we see how it brings with it times of feasting as well as times of fasting; it brings times of exuberance and joy and times of more sombre reserve, penance and mourning. The liturgies of Holy Week alone give a particularly condensed example of this. Each of these parts bring to bear and teach of particular aspects within their appointed times and on their appointed occasions, also necessarily understood in relation to and as part of the greater whole. The loss of any of these parts results in an incomplete picture.
The use of black, which corresponds to the recognition of sorrow and mourning, sin, death and judgement, is one manifestation or part of this fuller picture. (And at this point, I would note this is being considered primarily within the liturgical and cultural context of the West.)
On a symbolic and theological level, the sombre and reserved tone of black vestments can be understood as a reminder of the sorrowful reality of sin (personal and original) and the reality of death which entered the world with the Fall. It manifests a kind of holy and prudent reserve. It can emphasize the reality of purgatory and the need for prayers which we should offer for the dead -- one of the seven spiritual works of mercy. By the same token, we, the living, are accordingly reminded of the four last things and the need to care for the state of of our own souls, working out our salvation. On a cultural and pastoral level, in the Western world black has a particularly strong association as symbolic of sorrow and mourning. Accordingly, black pastorally acknowledges and unites itself to the natural and perfectly normal emotional response to the loss of a loved one; of the sorrow which entered the world through sin and death.
As a symbol then, the use of black speaks strongly and poignantly on a variety of levels and its use is therefore both meritorious and to be encouraged.
From the Daily Telegraph:
Burglar overpowered by three Catholic priests
The burglar was no match for the three – all in their 60s – and led by a former rugby playing clergyman who launched a flying tackle to bring the intruder to the floor.
Two of the priests, Father Jimmy Shiel, 67, and Father Kieran Magovern, 66, had both undergone triple heart bypass operations in the past.
But along with Indian born Father Chacko Panathara, 61, they didn’t think twice about tackling the burglar who was in his 20s.
Not only that, but just hours later the three parish priests were going about their church duties with early morning mass, baptisms and meetings with parents of children preparing for their first communions.
“He was no match for the three of us,” said Father Magovern. He added “The chap was trying to break free and escape but with the three of us on top of him he was going no where”.
It was around 2am in the early hours of Sunday morning when the burglar climbed up a drain pipe to a first floor window at the presbytery in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in West Street, Dunstable, Beds.
He’d spotted a window open and after gaining access to St Mary’s Parish House began creeping along the upstairs corridor.
Father Magovern said “He entered Jimmy’s bedroom and Jimmy woke to see this guy in his room. The burglar ran and Jimmy jumped out of bed and ran after him. As he did he hammered on Father Panathara door.
“Jimmy has played a lot of rugby when he was younger and it was in the corridor that he floored him. It was a rugby tackle and the chap was taken to the floor.”
As the burglar struggled to break free Father Shiel got him in a vice like grip and held on as best he could to stop him escaping.
By now Father Panathara had arrived on the scene to help the other priest.
Seconds later Father Magovern joined in to prevent him making off.
[...]
Read the rest there.
He is lucky he didn’t break into my place. Very very lucky.
The people had gathered because three young shepherd children had predicted that at high noon the Blessed Virgin Mary would appear in a field in an area of Fatima called Cova da Iria. According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky.[1] It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds.[1] The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern,[1] frightening those who thought it a sign of the end of the world.[2] Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry, as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling".[3] Estimates of number present range from 30,000 to 40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século,[4] to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra,[5] both of whom were present that day.[6] The event was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, a reported apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the children who had made predictions of the event on 13 July 1917,[7] 19 August,[8] and 13 September.[9] The children stated that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them[10] and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."[11] According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes.[12] The three children also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.[13]
The Miracle of the Sun (Portuguese: O Milagre do Sol) was an event on 13 October 1917 in which 30,000 to 100,000 people, who were gathered near Fátima, Portugal, claimed to have witnessed extraordinary solar activity.
Excerpt Scene from the Movie "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" -
The Miracle of the Sun-Length 5:47 minutes
Una Voce NH - For those of you not particulary interested in Msgr.'s comments on SPXX, you may want to fast forward to 3:40 in the video where the discussion of the Liturgy begins. Posture when the Tabernacle Door is Open From a reader: I have searched everywhere and I cannot find norms for what are the appropriate postures of the faithful when the tabernacle door is opened in Church, outside of Mass, for a communion call, etc… in a Church. On one hand I have seen places where everyone goes about their business, no matter what proximity you are to the tabernacle. Only the minister offers revererence. I have seen other places (rare) where the opening of the tabernacle door for a communion call was like exposition of the Eucharist, everyone in the Church was expected to stop and kneel until the Minister closed the door. A third interpretation indicated special reverence was due only those in the Sanctuary at the time knelt, but all others continued moving in the Church, following the normal reverences designated for when the crossed in front of the tabernacle. Where might I find the correct norms for this? I guess the last interp. seems most balanced since the mere attendance to sick is not a public act of worship, and are we to presume everytime the tabernacle doors are opened we in effect are engaged in an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament? I don’t know if this has ever been described in the Church’s liturgical law. However, I am pretty sure that the perennial practice is that when the door of the tabernacle is opened, people should stop what they are doing and kneel. Consider the reverential awe Moses had for the God in the burning bush and glimpse through the cleft in the rock. Consider the reverence shown the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple. Consider Peter kneeling before the Lord and saying that he was just a sinner. Consider Whom we have reserved in our tabernacles. Yah… when the door is opened, get down on your knees, people! With All Souls Day being now a little less than a month away, it seemed to me that it was time for a few article reprints which have typically keyed into this particular time of year, particularly in view of the fact that it may yet not be too late to source out some of these items for liturgical use this November 2nd. Here then is the first of our All Souls reprints, on the tradition of using unbleached beeswax candles for Masses for the Dead. St. Patrick's Church, Nashua announces new Saturday 8:00 AM TLM for month of October
Sung High Missa Cantata
Sunday, October 9, 2011
St. Patrick's Church
29 Spring Street
Nashua, NH
12:00 NOON
Music by St. Patrick's Latin Mass Choir
http://stpatricksnashua.org/mass-info/
Interview with:
PCED Secretary on SPXX, and on the Traditional Latin Mass vs. the Novus Ordo
Gloria.tv kindly sent us notice of the following video yesterday morning which shows Msgr. Guido Pozzo, the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, interviewed about the negotations with the Society of St. Pius X. I'm sure many of you have seen it elsewhere by now, but I will republish it again here for the sake of those who may not.
Those who would prefer to read the English language translation may do so here, otherwise, you may watch the following video which includes English subtitles.
On the Use of Unbleached Beeswax Candles for Masses for the Dead
Following from a post on where to find unbleached beeswax candles for All Souls Day and Masses for the Dead generally, one of our priests asked the question of where one might find explicit explanations of the symbolic meaning of this usage for use in teaching the faithful.
The matter is, to some degree, one of symbolic and liturgical common sense, but indeed, taking a very quick look about, other than the mention and recommendation of their use, commentary on the symbolism itself seems rather sparse -- no doubt it was deemed unnecessary.
Quickly peering through ceremonialists like Fortescue and O'Connell, or church arts commentators like Anson and Webb, brought forward no explicit mention of this point on their part, however, a rather obscure little tome, Candles in the Roman Rite by Fr. Edwin Ryan, saw fit to comment on the matter accordingly:
The employment on occasions of sorrow (the Tenebrae, funerals, etc.) of unbleached rather than bleached candles is evidently fitting, since the sombre tones of unbleached wax harmonize with the mournful ceremony, while bleached wax, being far higher in the tone scale, would intrude a note of joy.
This idea is the "common sense" to which I referred. I say it is that because it is consonant with other similarly sombre elements that are mentioned in relation to these liturgical occasions. In other words, there is a consistency with regard to the signs.
The use of unbleached beeswax is mentioned within the context of liturgies for the Dead, inclusive of All Souls Day of course, as well as on the liturgies of Good Friday in the usus antiquior. In other words, the times that, traditionally, black vestments were worn -- also a more sombre sign it goes without saying.
Fr. Ryan further suggests that "[t]he candles at the funeral of a baptized infant are bleached, because that ceremony is clearly intended by the Church to be taken as one of gladness". While I have been unable to find an explicit reference to using bleached candles in this instance, it is noteworthy that, unlike all of the other instances where using unbleached candles is specifically mentioned, here it is absent. Certainly this would make sense, particularly as the vestments worn in these instances are white rather than black in the usus antiquior, as well as the fact that there is a special rite for their funeral where no prayers for the dead are said, and as Fortescue generally comments, "there are no signs of mourning."
We should recall as well that in these same instances a similar sombreness is spoken of even as regards the very candlesticks themselves. Normally the candlesticks we see used in our churches are gold or silver in colour. However, during these times, the mention of these being of some more sombre tone arises as well. Hence we see mention of black or some other darkened colour and the use of iron, dark wood, or bronze.
(Detail of photo by Br. Lawrence Lew)
This is mentioned both in relation to the candlesticks on the altar as well as those which surround the coffin/catafalque -- although, one can certainly see many examples of where this is not done, probably for lack of possessing them.
One will also note that, while it appears to only be specifically mentioned within the context of pre-Pius XII Good Friday liturgy, some also make use of a dark wood altar cross for Masses of the Dead instead of one of gold or silver. (See above and right) This, or some other non-gilt altar cross, would certainly seem to me to be a laudable custom, consonant with this same spirit of sobriety.
Finally, it cannot pass mention that relics and other ornaments are not to be used at the altar during these sombre liturgical occasions.
All of these things consistently point to the same theme of a sombre reserve and thus also speak to the symbolic purpose of using unbleached rather than bleached candles.
Now evidently we have been looking at this through the lens of the usus antiquior specifically, but how these would apply to Masses for the Dead in the modern Roman liturgy seems fairly straightforward: unbleached beeswax candles and more sombre candlesticks (and cross) could easily be used at the altar and around the coffin in that context, and of course black vestments used as well.
I would conclude by noting that there are many other sources that could be referenced in looking at this particular question, and so I would invite our readers to feel free to supplement these considerations with their own within the comments.
Premier of “The Great Miracle,” film in 3D about angels
On October 14, “The Great Miracle” opens in the U.S. and Mexico. It's a cartoon in 3D that follows three guardian angels who come to the aid of a young widow, a desperate bus driver and an elderly person living without hope.
The arrival of the angels allows them to see the terrible struggle between good and evil that occurs around them.
The film was directed by Bruce Morris, who also served as the visual writer for Pocahontas, Hercules and Finding Nemo.
The soundtrack was composed by Mark McKenzie, who worked on Mr. & Ms. Smith and Spiderman.
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(Una Voce NH) - Fr. Michael Kerper has announced that in honor of Mary, the Mother of God, there will be an 8:00AM TLM on Saturdays at St. Patrick's Chuch, Nashua for the month odf October. The church opens at 7:30AM for prayer.
The first Saturday TLM was offered this past Saturday at 8:00AM and drew a large crowd even though it had only been announced the previous day at the daily Noon Mass on Friday.
St. Adelaides, Peabody, Mass., announces Special TLM's for October/November
(Latin Mass North) - The following Traditional Latin Masses will be celebrated at St. Adelaide Church, 708 Lowell Street, Peabody, in the coming weeks:
+ Tuesday, October 11 - 7:30 PM - Sung High Mass - Anniversary of the Dedication of the Parish, and Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
+ Saturday, October 15, 9:00 AM - Sung High Mass - Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin and Our Mother, according to the 1961 Discalced Carmelite Missal
+ Tuesday, November 1, 7:30 PM - Low Mass - All Saints' Day (Holy Day of Obligation)
I Sense a Trend
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Over at Orwell’s Picnic there is a post entitled “Face it, Hippies”, which this graph.
I sense a trend.
The growth is slow, some will say. But there is growth. There is growth in several important spheres of the Church’s life, including a growth in vocations to the priesthood answered by men who are faithful to the Church’s teachings, many of whom desire traditional liturgy.. In the meantime, the acceleration of the “biological solution” is sweeping a certain vision out of positions of influence. As the Church in the wealthy West seems to in some ways growing in numbers, it doesn’t seem to be growing in numbers of people who know their faith well and practice it diligently. We seem to be moving toward what Pope Benedict referred to as a “creative minority”. Now look at the graph again.
We need a Marshall Plan for the renewal of our Catholic identity, and the New Evangelization. The key to any renewal of any aspect of our Catholic lives must be our liturgical worship.
From one of our readers:
Francis Cardinal Arinze celebrated a Pontifical Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form today, Sept. 28, 2011, at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Providence, RI. The administrator of this church is Fr. Joseph Santos whom you know from his celebrations of the Rite of Braga.
Council and Continuity: The Interim Missals, the Immediate Post-Conciliar Liturgical Reform and the 1965 Missal by Shawn Tribe An international liturgical Symposium, “Council and Continuity: The Interim Missals and the Immediate Post-Conciliar Liturgical Reform,” to be held October 3-4, 2011 at the Pastoral Center of the Diocese of Phoenix, will delve into the question of the little known “Interim Missals,” that is, those editions of the Roman Missals issued between the time of Sancrosanctum Concilium and the definitive edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970. In short, we have a conference that is going to look at the subject of the so-called "1965 Missal", or in other words, the 1965 revision of the Ordo Missae -- something long overdue for more serious study and consideration in my estimation. Australian Cathedral offers Main Sunday mass according to 1962 Missal for it's dedication by Shawn Tribe
UnaVoce Note: The "lost" or "Interim 1965 Missal" will be studied at this seminar. Many scholars have proposed that the intent of the reform of the liturgy at the Council was embodied in the 1965 Missal. Some advocates of a "Reform of the Reform" of the Novus Ordo suggest the 1965 Missal as a starting point. Of course, here at Una Voce, we advocate exclusively for the 1962 Missal.Here is a very interesting conference which one of our readers told us about some while ago, and which I was only recently reminded of again.
In brief:
Given their immediate proximity to the Second Vatican Council, these Missals can provide a valuable means to gaining insights into the mindset of the Council Fathers and what they had envisioned in setting the course for liturgical reform. The goal of the Symposium is to arrive at a deeper and clearer understanding of this vision through an examination of these Interim Missals.
The symposium will be of interest to scholars, priests, deacons and lay liturgical ministers, to those who teach, plan or coordinate liturgies whether professionally or as volunteers, and to anyone who has a particular love for the Church’s Liturgy and desire to learn more about it.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted will be present at the conference, as will Bishop Peter Elliott and Bishop Salvatore Cordileone -- who will also offer Vespers.
Papers will include:
From the Community of Blessed John Henry Newman in Melbourne come the following photos of a solemn Mass offered in St, Mary's Cathedral, Sale, on the occasion of its dedication anniversary, offered in the presence of His Lordship, Most Rev. Christopher Prowse, Bishop of Sale on September 18th, 2011.
The celebrant is Fr. Andrew Wise (Dean of the Cathedral), the deacon Fr. Glen Tattersall and the subdeacon Fr. Terence Mary Naughtin, OFM Conv.
Incidentally, one of the most interesting things about this Mass was not the mere fact of it happening but also the fact that this Mass, offered in the usus antiquior, was offered as the main 11:00am Sunday Mass for this dedication Sunday.
Today, September 28, 1978 Pope John Paul I died.
Please say a prayer for Papa Luciani today.
33 days. Not the shortest reign as Bishop of Rome, but pretty short.
.- Catholics in New Hampshire received a new bishop from Pope Benedict XVI on Sept. 19. Auxiliary Bishop Peter A. Libasci of Rockville Centre, N.Y. will serve as the 10th bishop of Manchester, N.H.
“I am grateful to Almighty God who has brought me into being, to my parents who gave me life and to my family, friends and my Holy Catholic Church – all of who have sustained me to this very hour,” said Bishop Libasci.
“These include Bishop William Murphy, my diocesan bishop in Rockville Centre, my brother priests and deacons and all the lay faithful I was privileged to serve as priest and bishop in that Diocese since my priestly ordination in 1978.”
Bishop Murphy also had words of praise for Bishop Libasci.
“As priest, as pastor and as bishop, Bishop Libasci brought a deep sense of the holy to all the many pastoral efforts that have marked his tenure in this Diocese which will always be his home,” he stated.
“His brother bishops here as well as his brother priests of this Diocese are one in sending him our prayers and our congratulations, asking God, through the intercession of our Lady, to watch over him, bless and guide him in his new pastoral role as Bishop of Manchester and assuring him of our fraternal support in the years to come.”
At the same time that he named Bishop Libasci as the new bishop, the Pope also accepted the resignation of the current bishop of the Diocese of Manchester, Bishop John B. McCormack, who reached the age of retirement.
The appointment and resignation were announced on Sept. 19.
Bishop McCormack has been the bishop of Manchester since 1998. He was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Boston in 1960 and was named auxiliary bishop of Boston in 1995.
Peter Anthony Libasci was born November 9, 1951, in Queens, N.Y. He attended seminary at Saint Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1978.
He worked as parochial vicar, administrator and pastor in several parishes before being ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the diocese in 2007. Since then, he has served as the Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Vicariate of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Bishop Libasci is bi-ritual, celebrating the Liturgy in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church.
Bishop Libasci will be entering a diocese with a population of 1.3 million. The Diocese of Manchester includes the entire state of New Hampshire and is home to approximately 300,000 Catholics, including 269 priests.
He will be installed as Bishop of Manchester at Saint Joseph Cathedral on Dec. 8, 2011.
NH gets new Roman Catholic bishop
The Rev. Peter Anthony Libasci wasted no time in embarking on what he said would be his first goal — listening carefully to his parishioners and getting a feel for the state's culture. On the same day the Vatican named him to succeed Bishop John McCormack as bishop of the Diocese of Manchester, Libasci held an introductory news conference, followed by visits to a Catholic high school, a food bank and a convent.
During the news conference, Libasci described how his motto — drawn from a scriptural passage about what the apostle Peter is said to have told a lame beggar — has helped him to forge ahead when confronted with obstacles. He recounted volunteering to become pastor at St. Therese of Lisieux parish in Montauk, N.Y., in 1999, when the parish was deeply divided over what to do about its crumbling church. Under his leadership, the parish came together and decided to build a new church, he said.
"When you're paralyzed by fear, in the name of Jesus Christ, let's try this, we can do this. When we don't know what to do, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazerene, arise and walk. We can do this," he said. "And so I am eager to ask God, can we do this again, wherever it might be."
Libasci will be officially installed as bishop Dec. 8. McCormack, who announced his retirement in August when he reached the Vatican's mandatory retirement age of 75 in August, called his successor a "true servant of the church," who will serve the state well as the diocese's 10th bishop.
Before being named bishop of Manchester in 1998, McCormack served as a top aide to Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston. When the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted there in 2002, victims and grass roots Catholic groups called on McCormack to resign in New Hampshire, citing his role in investigation misconduct charges in Boston.
Also in 2002, the Diocese of Manchester averted unprecedented criminal charges by agreeing that it had harmed children by moving abusive priests from parish to parish. It promised to enact strict child protection policies and opened the diocese to audits by the state attorney general's office.
Libasci said addressing any lingering harm from the scandal will be an important part of his new position.
"The most important thing right off the bat is the compassion, and the desire to heal. To help restore and heal and rebuild individual lives, family lives, life of the church, life of the community," he said.
Michele Dillon, a scholar of Catholicism and professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, said while McCormack's legacy has been somewhat tainted by the scandal, in many respects, most Catholics seem to have moved beyond it. She said Libasci's challenges include revitalizing the participation of Catholics in the church, finding resources to help the poor across the diocese and knitting together new parish communities formed during the closing or consolidation of churches.
But before he can do any of that, he needs to learn about the state, she said.
"I think the first thing that Bishop Libasci will need to do is really get out there and get to know the people of New Hampshire," she said. "The best way he can really establish credibility for himself and inspire confidence in his leadership and trust in his leadership is to really visit as many of these parishes as possible and see for himself what the issues are, rather than staying within the confines of the diocesan offices."
BiographyThe Most Reverend Peter A. Libasci |
Titular Bishop of Satafis in Mauretania & Auxiliary to the fourth Bishop of Rockville CentrePeter Anthony Libasci was born November 9, 1951, to the late William and Florence Libasci in Queens, N.Y. He attended St. Margaret School, Middle Village, N.Y., followed by Cathedral Preparatory Seminary, Elmhurst, N.Y. Throughout middle school, he helped clean the church on Friday afternoons. He says this is where he began learning about the Liturgy. He also sang for the parish choir. Throughout high school, he was active in the parish leadership program. Libasci earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y., and a Master of Divinity degree from St. Meinrad Seminary, St. Meinrad, Ind. Father Libasci was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on April 1, 1978 by Bishop John R. McGann. He was first assigned to St. Raymond parish, East Rockaway, N.Y., and then to SS Cyril and Methodius parish, Deer Park, N.Y. In 1988, he was assigned to Our Lady of Good Counsel parish, Inwood, N.Y., where he served for 11 years as administrator and then pastor. Since 1999, Father Libasci has served as pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux parish in Montauk, N.Y. He presided over the construction process of the new church, which was dedicated by Bishop William Murphy on March 31, 2007. On December 10, 2004, Father Libasci was named Honorary Prelate to His Holiness Pope John Paul II with the title of monsignor. On April 3, 2007, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed Msgr. Libasci auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He was installed on June 1, 2007 at St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre, N.Y. Bishop Libasci will assist Bishop Murphy in leadership of the 1.4 million Catholics on Long Island and will serve as Episcopal Vicar, or the Bishop’s representative, for the Eastern Vicariate (Suffolk County). Bishop Libasci is the ninth auxiliary bishop named in the 50-year history of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He will join two active auxiliary bishops, Bishop John C. Dunne, 69, and Bishop Paul H. Walsh, 69. Auxiliary Bishop Emil Wcela retired in April 2007 and Auxiliary Bishop James Daly retired in 1996. Bishop Libasci will move next month to Southampton, N.Y., where he will reside at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary parish. Bishop Libasci is bi-ritual and celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church. He has a close relationship with his brother, two sisters, nieces and nephews. Bishop Libasci celebrated his first Mass as bishop on Saturday, June 2,2007 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Therese of Lisieux parish, Montauk, N.Y. |
Brick by Brick in Duluth- 1 Sept TLM- (Great story behind this!)
For your “Brick by Brick” file, from the site of the Diocese of Duluth where the His Excellent Most, and I do mean Most Reverend Paul Sirba is Bishop, comes this. I have written about Bp. Sirba before, here.
The Northern Cross – Local News
Deacon gets first taste of solemn high Mass
By Kyle Eller
The Northern Cross
When Deacon Scott Peters of St. Benedict in Duluth was in deacon formation, he was told repeatedly that you never know just what ministry you will find yourself in. But perhaps the last thing he expected was to be preparing for a solemn high Mass as it would have been celebrated in 1962.
Yet that Mass, with a polyphony choir, a chant schola, servers and another permanent deacon who is coming up from a Twin Cities parish famous for its traditional liturgies to fill the subdeacon role, will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, at St. Benedict. The liturgical celebration is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and it is the anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum,” which liberalized access to the traditional Mass.
“I never thought that I would be working in liturgy, especially the Traditional Latin Mass,” Deacon Peters said. When he was in formation, he was doing social work and thought his ministry might involve that. He says he didn’t even know what the old rite was.
He said the whole thing began with the Duluth Men’s Schola. (Full disclosure: This writer is the founder and director of the schola, which will be singing Sept. 14.) Then Father Eric Hastings, who will celebrate the Sept. 14 Mass, began to offer the simplest version of the Traditional Latin Mass, a “low Mass,” and there were no servers, so Deacon Peters learned how to serve.
From there, [Brick...] things began to develop slowly. The next step was doing the more complicated sung version of the Traditional Latin Mass, a “missa cantata,” culminating in a heavily attended missa cantata last year featuring a polyphony choir. (This year the choir will be singing William Byrd’s “Mass for Four Voices.”)
From there, [... by Brick] the next step was a solemn high Mass, which is vastly more complex — and a vastly more demanding liturgy for a deacon.
Deacon Peters said all along it was something meant to be guided by the Holy Spirit and carried out peacefully.
“There are no agendas, there were no expectations, it was just people who loved liturgy and wanted to be faithful to what the Holy Father was asking of us,” he said.
[...]
Deacon Peters freely admits that his work with the traditional liturgy has changed him as a deacon. “I’m a different deacon than I was before,” he said. He said he is more prayerful and reverent in how he approaches the sacrifice of the Mass, in whichever form it’s celebrated, a sentiment he has also heard from altar servers. [I have often written this about the effect the older Mass on priests who learn it. Why should it be different for deacons?... for lay people?]
He said the approach for this Mass and all the work associated with it is not confrontational or controversial but simply motivated by a desire to hand a “precious treasure” on, as a gift.
“We want it to be an act of love,” he said. [Do I hear an "Amen!"?]
He said the parish is inviting all the faithful from the region to attend. Priests and deacons from the diocese are invited to attend the Mass and sit in choir, as there is no concelebration in this form of the Mass. For details, contact the parish at (218) 724-4828.
WDTPRS kudos to Dcn. Peters and Fr. Hastings.
Below is the text of that announcement:
We are writing you on behalf of Una Voce with some potentially wonderful news.
A New Sunday morning TLM is coming. Deo Gratias!!
Our community in Northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire could certainly use it.
Decline of the TLM Community
This summer has not been so good for the TLM in our area. New Hampshire lost it's strongest advocate for the TLM in Fr. Kelly at St. Patrick's in Nashua and the TLM was suspended there. The Latin Mass in Fitchburg was permanently closed down, and the weekly Mass at St. Monica's in Methuen was suspended for August. Thankfully, Fr. Longchamps has continued the Sung High Mass in Suncook, NH once a month, and Fr. Kerper continued the Friday Noon TLM at Immaculate Conception in Portsmouth until his recent departure.
While things remain somewhat uncertain at St. Patrick's, Nashua, we are hearing some very encouraging news that the Latin Mass will return sometime this fall.
We hope to coordinate any new schedule of TLMs from St. Patrick's with the new Sunday Mass in Methuen, MA.
New TLM Community/ New Sunday Mass
So, we are looking to organize a new Latin Mass community around a new Sunday Latin Mass that will be offered on Sundays in Methuen, Mass at 11:00AM to serve Northern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Our strategy is as follows:
1. We now have 3 Priests available immediately to offer Sunday TLM's in Methuen
2. Draw on the current/former Latin Mass communities of Methuen/Lawrence, Fitchburg, Nashua and NH seacoast areas.
3. Coordinate schedules and resources so that the TLM schedules in all 4 communities are coordinated as well as with the TLM Community in Peabody.
4. Offer a new TLM Sunday Mass once a month in the morning (hopefully expanding to twice a month) in Methuen, MA.
What we need:
1. Your support and help-volunteer to help
2. TLM musicians: organists and choir members
3. TLM Servers: We can train those willing and able
Most of you have networks of folks on your mailing lists...please forward this note to them.
Next steps:
Our next step is to identify levels of support from you and to arrange an organizational meeting. Please respond back to us with how you would like to help.
Contact us at:
info@unavocenh.com
Left: Father John Healey offers the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin and Ad Orientum at Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH. Vespers, Citeaux
by Shawn Tribe
The video quality is perhaps not particulksarly spectacular, but listening to the chant of the Monks of Citeaux certainly is.
Why are Seminaries afraid of the Extraordinary Form?
by Rev. Fr. Christopher Smith
Personal Reflections
Cathedral in Phoenix to have male only altar service
I was alerted to this article from The Arizona Republic with a note from a reader saying: “The coverage is predictably bad, but the facts are good.”
You may remember that I posted about Fr. Lankeit last January when he promoted Communion on the tongue. This guy gets it!
For your Brick by Brick file with my emphases and comments.
Phoenix diocese cathedral won’t allow girl altar servers [It could have said, "Cathedral gives affirmation to young men who serve" ]
Reverend: Altar duties part of priesthood prep
by Michael Clancy – Aug. 21, 2011 08:51 PM
The Arizona Republic
Girls no longer will be allowed as altar servers during Mass at the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, SS. Simon and Jude.
The Rev. John Lankeit, rector of the cathedral, said he made the decision in hopes of promoting the priesthood for males and other religious vocations, such as becoming a nun, for females.
Made up primarily of fifth- through eighth-graders the altar-server corps in American churches has included girls since 1983 in many places. [I suspect that the writer just took the date of the Code of Canon Law. But there were females serving, contrary to the law, before that.] Girls and boys regularly serve together at churches throughout the Phoenix Catholic Diocese.
Bishops and pastors always have had the option of restricting the role to boys, but only one diocese, Lincoln, Neb., and scattered parishes have done so. [Didn't Arlington also do that?] Before 1983, when church law was revised, girls were not allowed to serve. [Even after, until there was an interpretation... a bizarre interpretation I might add... from the Holy See on the point.]
At SS. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix, the girls will be offered the role of sacristan, the person who prepares the church and the altar area before Mass.
Lankeit said 80 to 95 percent of priests served as altar boys, but he could not state the percentage of altar servers who go on to be priests. [How could he? Does the writer think this is Psychic Network?]
He made the decision on his own, he said, even though the cathedral is recognized as the home church of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and is used for some important church events.
“He leaves these decisions to me,” Lankeit said.
SS. Simon and Jude is believed to be the first church in the diocese of Phoenix to ban girls from serving Mass, according to the diocese. [Note the language. It could have said "first to support and affirm service by boys".]
Altar servers have a direct role in the Catholic Eucharistic ceremony, [For pity's sake. Non-Catholics know what "Mass" is.] assisting the priest, and are the only lay people directly involved throughout the entire service. [?] Other lay people may serve as lectors or Eucharistic ministers, helping the priest distribute communion. [Perhaps the writer didn't have his coffee before he wrote this. Altar servers are the only lay people involved, except for the other lay people who are involved.]
“The connection between serving at the altar and priesthood is historic,” Lankeit said. “It is part of the differentiation between boys and girls, as Christ established the priesthood by choosing men. Serving at the altar is a specifically priestly act.”
There appears to be little if any research connecting altar service to a later decision to enter the priesthood [And, seemingly, the reporter didn't do any either!] – or connecting other types of service for girls to religious life as a nun. Anecdotally, the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., is one of the stronger dioceses in developing new priests. [Hmmmm....]
The Rev. Kieran Kleczewski, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas in Avondale and director of the diocese Office of Worship, does not expect other parishes following the cathedral’s policy just because it is the cathedral. [That's right! Pit one priest against another now.]
“That’s not the way things work in our diocese,” he said. “The pastor has the authority over the parish’s liturgical practices.” [And the bishop? The pastor as a lot of authority.]
Kleczewski allows girls to serve Mass and has no plans to change.
Lankeit said there had been little reaction to his decision so far, but it was unlikely to sit well with many Catholics, especially those who have daughters who wish to serve. ["Fair" describes the weather, not life.]
“It is a shame on how the church continues to abuse the females,” [PUHLEEZE] said Bob Lutz of Phoenix, a Catholic with three grown daughters. “Church attendance is shrinking now, and this adds more fuel to the fire on how females are treated as second-class citizens.” [he said, as he ordered his caramel-flavored chai whipped cream mocha frothie with sprinkles]
Carole Bartholomeuax of Phoenix, who attended St. Joan of Arc parish, said girls outnumbered boys as altar servers there.
“I believe Mary Magdalene set the example for women to be altar servers. [So! That's what Carole thinks. There it is, then.] I am so sorry to hear of this going backwards,” she said, adding that she still loves her church, “warts and all.” [She still finds reasons to love the Church even after this. Jesus is so lucky!]
But Michael Clancy, who heads the diocesan men’s group, said girls never were supposed to be allowed to serve, based on his understanding of the rules of the Mass. [Well... that statement could have been refined a little more too. Or did the reporter just run out of column inches?]
WDTPRS kudos to the rector of the Cathedral of Phoenix, Very Rev. John Lankeit.
My diocese has a priest shortage, [you are not alone] and the priests we do have, many are well-passed retirement age in their 80′s and getting close to their 90′s. There’s a major concern that in the near future our diocese will experience an even greater shortage of priests because the amount of priesthood vocations are significantly less than the current rate that we are losing priests. [That is the situation in many places.]
The bishop in trying to handle the numbers is inviting two priests from the FSSP to our diocese. I’m assuming he believes people will choose the EF Mass rather than a communion service when no diocesan priest is available, and we already have a significant Latin Mass society in our diocese, which would free up a diocesan priest.
Also, I was reading a statement released by our bishop regarding lay-led funeral liturgies outside of Mass for when there’s no priest available to offer a funeral Mass (a common occurrence in the rural parishes), which made me sad because I think Catholics deserve to have a Funeral Mass unless it would cause scandal.
This made me wonder if, given the priest shortage that’s only going to get worse, would (or even could) a priest from the FSSP offer an OF Mass in such or other special circumstances if an EF Mass would not be best suited?
I cannot speak for any FSSP priest and whether or not he would say Mass in the Ordinary Form, but he certainly could do so.
As priests of the Latin Church with faculties to say Mass FSSP priests can use either form of the Roman Rite. However, as priests of the FSSP they have a particular apostolate which involves the use of the Extraordinary Form.
It could be unfair to pressure a priest of the FSSP to use the Ordinary Form, because of the identity of the group to which he belongs and their particular apostolate. It seems to me that this is one reason why some bishops might hesitate to bring them into the diocese.
However, it may be in the future, and not so distant, that having Mass in any form will overcome any resistance to limit Mass as much as possible to the Ordinary Form.
Communion services aren’t Mass. Nothing is comparable. Philip Johnson is a young traditionalist Seminarian in Philadelphia. Follow his inspiring story and wonderful blog on all things traditional and Catholic from his perspective as a young traditionalist seminarian. The cassock is the proper garb of the Roman priest. It is true that conferences to bishops can determine other forms of garb for priests, such as the black suit and Roman or military collar (or in Italy also dark blue and gray), but the cassock remains the proper garb of the priest. Since the Councils of Baltimore, in the USA, as in England, it was not the custom of Catholic priests to go about the world in the cassock. They used the cassock at home and while engaged in their ministry, but at other times they were to wear, back in the day, the frock coat and some sort of clerical collar or neckcloth. So, in the USA priests of a certain age have it pretty much drilled into them that the cassock is not proper “street attire”. That seems to be changing. The strictures of the Council of Baltimore don’t seem to apply anymore. There aren’t a lot of frock coats around nowadays anyway, though I knew a priest who had one…. and wore it. Younger priests today seem quite willing to use the cassock as street attire. Times are a changin’ On that note, I read an interesting by our friends at Rorate, which I share with added emphases. From what used to be, until 1991, the official daily of the Italian Communist Party, L’Unità, founded by Antonio Gramsci in 1924: August 15, 2011 [Vincenzo Cerami] Perhaps the Council for the New Evangelization could issue a statement about the cassock.
Catholic Seminarians having fun...
Check out the sign...
The above photo is from the website:
In Caritate Non Ficta
http://philipgerardjohnson.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html
About Phil:
"In October of 2008, after serving three years as a Naval Officer, I was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. This blog chronicles my pilgrimage through life and towards the Roman Catholic priesthood."
In praise of the Cassock from an unlikely source
The Cassock
The Church has been for quite some time strenuously defending herself from a media-driven movement that has turned on the lights on the phenomenon of the erotic activities and aberrations of the clergy. And it is not only about the horrors of pedophilia, but also red-light feasts, orgies, and clandestine sorties of every kind. Abandoning the cassock and wearing civilian clothes, many priests have gone from the sacred onto the secular in no time. I ask a friend who writes for this paper, Father Filippo Di Giacomo, if it would not be more appropriate, for him and for his jolly colleagues, to renounce walking around in civilian clothes and go back to wearing the long habit of the priest. It would not be embarrassing to wear it, on the contrary, it would be a sign of respect for the Catholic community and would even have the power of eliminating any ambiguity. It is hard to recognize a priest from a fellow in a shirt: we are in the presence of a deception, at least at the semiotic level. My friend Di Giacomo should throw his “lay” habits out of the window and launch an appeal to all priests in the world that it be forbidden to wear anything except for two cassocks: one of wool for winter, and one of cotton for summer. This will certainly not deter the truly possessed from eros, but will keep at bay the profusion of numerous, small daily corruptions. It is said, in general that “l’abito non fa il monaco” ["the habit does not a monk make"], but it is not thus for the Church: the habit must make the monk. Catholicism, as other religions, lives off of symbols, of rites, of chastity, of foundational and unrenounceable values, of faithfulness to doctrine, of rigorous obedience to priestly rules. The cassock, at the simple sight, conveys to us all this: much spirit and little flesh. A priest who replaces his cassock with plains clothes gives up the spirit, as it were.
With a biretta tip to Sancte Pater we turn to Life Site News for interesting remarks from H.E. Most Rev. Samuel Aquila (he places the emphases on the second syllable, by the way) about pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Article by Christine Dhanagom
FARGO, North Dakota, August 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Church should seek the conversion of pro-abortion politicians, but if they remain obstinate they should be expelled from the Church, says Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo. [I wonder how many bishops in the US, or elsewhere for that matter, will distance themselves from this.]
The Bishop proposed in an interview with Catholic World Report this week that Bishops should take their cue from the Gospel of Matthew in handling pro-abortion politicians.
“Our Lord tells us to speak to the person, and then take two or three others with us if he does not change,” he said. “If he still does not change, the Church can speak to him, which is done through the bishop. [The bishop] exercises the authority of Christ. Christ then says that if that person is still obstinate and will not change, treat them as a tax collector or Gentile. Expel him.’” [The Lord wasn't very nuanced, was He. Not very sensitive to the complexities, seen by, say former-Speaker Pelosi or present VP Biden.]
The Bishop continued: “Catholics are called to defend human life, particularly that of the unborn. The Church’s teaching is clear. If we don’t challenge public officials who reject this teaching, we leave them in their sins and confuse the faithful.” [The first way to challenge them is forcefully to bring the abortion issue back into the sphere of social justice.]
Aquila, who has been the spiritual head of the diocese of Fargo in North Dakota for ten years, is well known for his support for the pro-life cause.
[...]
Aquila also told the news service that clergy should be outspoken in defending the Church’s teaching in other areas, as well, particularly regarding the sanctity of marriage.
“The Church has been clear that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and we need to continue to speak clearly to society on the truth, dignity, and meaning of marriage,” he said.
WDTPRS kudos to Bp. Aquila.
Priest offers 1st TLM in Diocese of Lansing, MI
Area’s first public Traditional Latin Mass since the 1960s
by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
From a reader comes this for your Brick By Brick file.
I have some news for your brick by brick file. I am happy to report that this morning, August 9th, Fr. Tom Wasilewski, Diocese of Lansing Ordinand, 2010, celebrated his first ever Extraordinary Form Mass at the historic St. Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn, Michigan. This was also the area’s first public Traditional Latin Mass since the 1960s. Despite this fact, or perhaps because of it, the tiny church was packed for the occasion, with an estimated 100 souls in attendance.
Offering his first of hopefully many EF Masses, Fr. Wasilewski demonstrated impressive mastery of the Latin and competency in the rubrics. He delivered an inspiring sermon, relating how time put into studying the older form opens the gateway to experiencing its richness. In the future, Father hopes to incorporate the TLM into the regular Mass schedule of the Shrine.
One year ago, the Diocese of Lansing had only two Extraordinary Form Mass sites. The recent debuts of the TLM at St. Mary Cathedral Crypt in Lansing, Old St. Patrick in Ann Arbor, and now St. Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn have, by the grace of God and support of His Excellency Most Rev. Earl Boyea, increased this number to five!
WDTPRS kudos to Fr. Wasilewski and Bp. Boyea.
Solemn Mass offered in Šiauliai Cathedral, Lithuania
A reader sent in news and pictures about the the first Pontifical Mass offered at the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Elysburg, PA since its founding in 2009. We have mentioned this monastery before (cf here and here). Here is what he writes:
Bishop William Waltersheid, the celebrant of the Mass, was at that time the Vicar for Clergy and Religious in the Diocese of Harrisburg and played an instrumental role in bringing the sisters to Elysburg, where a Carmelite monastery stood empty after it was closed a few years earlier due to lack of vocations. Recently appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburg, he returned to celebrate his first Pontifical Mass for their patronal feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Living the traditional Carmelite rule and praying the traditional Mass and Office, the sisters have continued to flourish in their new house, attracting many young vocations from around the country. His Excellency Bishop Joseph McFadden, Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in which the Carmel is located, assisted at the Mass from the Throne. Many Diocesan Priests and seminarians came to fulfill the roles of Sacred Ministers and servers for the Mass.
Word for Word [Parents] from Life Teen on Vimeo.
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
DAILY OFFERING TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and suffering of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians; I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month.
AMEN.
The sin of our first parents, at the prompting of the Enemy, was to think that we could be “as gods”. That sin brought suffering and death into the world. It required a Savior, both God and man, to repair the breach we opened between the human race and God. We are redeemed by Christ’s Sacrifice and raised in hope at the victory over death in Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. We are given mighty gifts through Christ’s merits by means of the Church He found and by the sacraments He instituted and by the teaching He extends down through His Apostles and their successors to our own time and places.
As a consequence, when we meet with Him in the context of our sacred worship, while we stand at times as adopted children emboldened by Christ’s proximity to us in our human nature, we also abase ourselves before Him, before the MYSTERY we encounter, as we remember that we are so very small and so very dependent and so very much not gods.
From CNA with my emphases and comments.
Spanish cardinal recommends that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue kneeling
Lima, Peru, Jul 28, 2011 / 01:56 pm (CNA).- Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera recently recommended that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue, while kneeling.
“It is to simply know that we are before God himself and that He came to us and that we are undeserving,” the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said in an interview with CNA during his visit to Lima, Peru.
The cardinal’s remarks came in response to a question on whether Catholics should receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue. [OOH-RAH!]
He recommended that Catholics “receive Communion on the tongue and while kneeling.” [Do I hear an "Amen!"?]
Receiving Communion in this way, the cardinal continued, “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered. I think the entire Church needs to receive Communion while kneeling.” [Get that? "entire Church". And he means the Latin Church, of course.]
“In fact,” he added, “if one receives while standing, a genuflection or profound bow should be made, and this is not happening.” [Wounded human nature being what it is.]
“If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish.”
In response to a question about the liturgical abuses that often occur, Cardinal Canizares said they must be “corrected, especially through proper formation: formation for seminarians, for priests, for catechists, for all the Christian faithful.”
Such a formation should ensure that liturgical celebrations take place “in accord with the demands and dignity of the celebration, in accord with the norms of the Church, which is the only way we can authentically celebrate the Eucharist,” he added.
“Bishops have a unique responsibility” in the task of liturgical formation and the correction of abuses, the cardinal said, “and we must not fail to fulfill it, because everything we do to ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated properly will ensure proper participation in the Eucharist.”
No renewal of the Church can take place without a revitalization of our Catholic identity. No revitalization of our Catholic identity can take place without a renewal of our liturgical worship.
Without a renewal of our Church, our identity, our worship, we as Catholics cannot have an effective impact on the world around us. We cannot fulfill Christ’s great command before His Ascension.
In the presence of God we must adopt the posture of creatures, and for just a few seconds… just a few seconds of our oh so busy lives… make ourselves lowly.
