LiveMass.net has asked us to make sure our readers know that, on June 1, 2013, at 10a.m. CDT [1500 GMT/UTC], they will broadcast the ordination of five Deacons of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) to the Holy Priesthood live on LiveMass.net and on their mobile apps. A Fraternity priest will be doing the "play-by-play" so viewers know exactly what is happening and the spirituality behind the actions taking place. Below is a well-done promotional video for the holy event you should watch:
Freemason defrocked
From AFP and France 24:
A Catholic priest at the posh French ski station of Megeve has been stripped of his functions at the request of the Vatican for being a member of a Masonic lodge, his parish said Friday.
Father Pascal Vesin of the Sainte-Anne d'Arly-Montjoie parish was ordered by the bishop of Annecy, Yves Boivineau, to halt his functions due to his "active membership" of the Grand Orient de France, a large Masonic organisation.
A statement from the parish said the move had been "made at Rome's request."
It said the bishop had asked Vesin earlier to forsake Freemasonry, which he had refused to do.
In March, the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked for priest's departure. Three members of the diocese of Annecy then met him but Vesin said he would not quit his membership of the Lodge...
A communique on the home page of the Diocese of Annecy simply states that "a priest of the diocese" (whose name is not mentioned) has been a member of the Grand Orient of France since 2001, and confirms that he has been dismissed at Rome's request.
Hey, Father, could you just give me the blessing, please?...
I remember once, coming out of the city of Salta [Salta Province, Argentina], on the patronal feast, there was a humble lady who asked for a priest's blessing. The priest said, 'All right, but you were at the Mass' and explained the whole theology of blessing in the church. You did well: 'Ah, thank you father, yes father,' said the woman. When the priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: 'Give me your blessing!'. All these words did not register with her, because she had another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith that we always look for , this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow.
...
Think about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says: 'I want my child baptized'. And then this Christian, this Christian says: 'No, you cannot because you're not married!'. But look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the sender, what is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors! And so when we are on this street, have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the people, the People of God, but Jesus instituted the seven sacraments with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of pastoral customs!
Franciscus
May 25, 2013
New Catholic Boy Scouts -- against the homoheresy
At Rorate, we have been reporting on the homoheresy for some time. This plague as infiltrated every important institution, even the Church. So, of course it would eventually destroy even the good ones, like the Boy Scouts.
From Taylor Marshall:
Relevant: Benedict XVI finishing the encyclical on Faith to be signed by Pope Francis
New encyclical on the poor: "Beati Pauperes"?
Following his recent visit ad limina with the bishops of his region, the Bishop of Molfetta (Apulia, Italy), Luigi Martella, spoke of the conversation they had with the new Pope, including the following:
Then, he spoke to us about Benedict XVI with such tenderness: "When I met him for the first time in Castelgandolfo, I noticed that he had a very lucid memory - he said -, even though physically challenged. Now he is clearly better." In the end, he wished to exchange a confidence, almost a revelation: Benedict XVI is finishing writing the encyclical on faith that will be signed by Pope Francis. Then, he will himself prepare his first encyclical on the poor: Beati pauperes! [Rorate note: 'Blessed are the poor,' he seems to be implying that could be the name of this second encyclical letter.] Poverty - he made clear - understood not in an ideological and political sense, but in an evangelical sense.
Source: Official website of the Diocese of Molfetta; tip: Secretum meum mihi (in Spanish, cf. our sidebar).
Come to Walsingham with the Latin Mass Society!
Congratulations to those who have completed the Chartres Pilgrimage this year, who will be nursing their blisters as they try to return to the world of work.
Inspired by the Chartres Pilgrime and the Australian Christus Rex pilgrimage, the Latin Mass Society now organises a walking pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham, about 55 miles. The dates this year are 23 to 25 August 2013, and you can sign up here.
Walsingham has a special importance for England; it is the English National Shrine to Our Lady, and in the Middle Ages was one of the great pilgrimage shrines of Europe. The shrine centred around a reproduction of the Holy House, revealed by Our Lady and built with the assistance of angels. It is a shrine, in a sense, to the Holy Family, and the sacredness of family life. We shall see if, by the time of the pilgrimage, the bill to establish same-sex 'marriage' in England has been successful or not...
For American readers, I'd like to mention the annual
'Pilgrimage of Restoration'
to Our Lady's Shrine of Martyrs Auriesville, New York, USA, Friday-Sunday September 20-22
Register, or PRE-register at DEEP discounts until June 1. Register gratis for Sunday's events. Or, participate from home or parish: sponsor a pilgrim, request prayers, obtain a plenary indulgence.
Check the pilgrimage blog for updates.
Discovering Cardinal Dechamps, Tradition made fresh and clear
The wealth of free material one finds on the web is truly astounding. I managed in my little free time in the past few days to find and read a work I can only characterize as magnificent.
While some may criticize one or other point in the work of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger, it cannot be denied that his writing style captivated many faithful Catholic readers. It is a free style, unencumbered by rhetorical exaggerations that often darken more than clarify. A style also familiar to readers of Romano Guardini and - let us be honest - one that may have been responsible for the popularization of the Nouvelle Théologie. How to present the truths of the faith in a fresh new way? The problem of some (many?...) Nouveaux Théologiens was, of course, that they presented many half-truths, or worse (those who dealt with liturgical matters frequently did so with the past, for instance); but how can one deny that they succeeded in implementing their agenda, both immediately before, during, and after the Council in great measure due to a writing style that is attractive, still today, in its freshness and (apparent) clarity?
Anyway, long before any of this, in 1857, a Redemptorist priest published a remarkable tome, Le libre examen de la vérité de la foi: Entretiens sur la démonstration catholique de la révélation chrétienne (The Free Examination of the Truth of Faith) (Google Books, in French). The setting is as classical as it gets, a fictitious dialogue, on the footsteps of the greatest in Greco-Roman Antiquity. But what is new is the writing style, that presents the truth of the Catholic Faith in a fresh manner very unusual for its age. Fr. Victor-Auguste Dechamps would soon be named Bishop of Namur and then Archbishop of Mechlin and Primate of Belgium by Blessed Pius IX, and would remain throughout his life a stern defender of both the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception and, during and after the First Vatican Council, a strong advocate and defender of the dogma of the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff.
We hope to translate some excerpts of this great work in the near future - we have not been able to find a translation of it in English. But, if one is really not available, we earnestly recommend Catholic publishers make it available to English-speaking readers of our age.
While we were searching for a translation of the work to recommend it to our readers, we were in for another surprise: a book by the same author, Cardinal Dechamps, C.Ss.R., on another matter dear to all Catholics, our Most Blessed Lady the Ever-Virgin Mother of God. This one is indeed available in English, and we could not recommend it more highly: The Second Eve, or the Mother of Life (Internet Archive, in English), particularly recommended for the month of Our Lady, but quite useful throughout the year.
How could a Redemptorist, whose order was founded by none other than the author of The Glories of Mary, even attempt to write a new book on the Immaculate Virgin? He explains it:
It may, perhaps, be matter of surprise that one of his disciples and children should have thought of writing another book in honour of Mary, when S. Alphonsus himself has written a work on the glories of his Mother, so full of life and unction, that truly pious souls cannot read a single page of it without being deeply moved and enlightened thereby. We can enter into this feeling; but we believe, nevertheless, that S. Alphonsus loves to see us follow his steps, and that he desires to hear us speak of Mary after our poor fashion to the Christians of our own day, in their own language; so as to draw to their Mother souls which, in order to love her better, need chiefly to know her better, and who require to be led to the Glories of Mary.But the motive which induced us to write will be better understood by the relation of a fact which suggested it.One day, when we were visiting a learned and pious friend, we found the Glories of Mary among the books which covered his table. He saw that we had observed it, and took it up, saying: "This is my spiritual thermometer; when I am in some degree faithful to grace, a few words from this book enlighten and encourage me; when I am careless and lukewarm, it no longer suits me; it becomes, as it were, too strong for me. When I feel this, I look into myself, and I soon find that it is not the light which has grown dim, but the interior eye which is no longer able to bear its brightness. I then labour to restore this eye of the soul to its strength and purity; and the thermometer soon rises, or rather the soul rises, and soon finds itself in union with this precious book."We have been careful not to draw from this isolated fact a general conclusion which would be incorrect, for experience proves daily that the Glories of Mary touches sinners and brings them back to God, as it consoles the just and encourages them to perseverance; but it is no less true that there is a certain spiritual state unhappily too often experienced, a state of languor and darkness, in which we find the necessity of varying our reading, and of being brought back gently to books which seem at those times to be beyond us.We therefore offer this book to the world in the hope that it will be of service to those who have yet to learn to enjoy the Glories of Mary.
Thank God Almighty for the writings of Cardinal Dechamps. There is so much evil that is done online - but so much good can also come from online sources, and the discovery of this great author by new generations and in other languages could certainly be one of them. If you do not know his works, we hope you enjoy them!
Common sense ruled the day: better done than said
Notre Dame de Paris purified immediately after desecration yesterday
Following a suicide by the main altar of the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Our Lady of Paris (Notre Dame de Paris) yesterday afternoon, a mass of reparation was immediately celebrated for the purification of the sacred space before the building was reopened for visitors. There was no need for legalistic discussion, what had to be done was done.
COMMUNIQUÉ [original in French]
May 21, 2013
On Tuesday, May 21, at around 1600 [4PM], a man committed suicide with a firearm inside the Cathedral.The Cathedral staff tried to reanimate the person before the speedy intervention of the rescue team.The Cathedral, visited by a great number at that time of day, was evacuated to assist the action of firemen and police officers.As is the use in such cases, a Mass of Reparation was celebrated by Bp. Jérôme Beau, Auxiliary Bishop of Paris, in the presence of Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, Rector-Archpriest, of priests of the Cathedral and of some faithful, including members of the staff.
Speak of the Devil ...
There's been a lot of talk about the Devil, demons, possession, etc. under the young pontificate of Pope Francis. All very, very good developments that should give all serious Catholics hope, and all lukewarm prelates shivers. But it should also be a warning that everyone is vulnerable to the wickedness and snares of the Devil, and all must pray to be protected, and pray for the exorcists that are fighting this battle daily.
There is a wonderful, daily set of prayers, approved with an imprimatur, to help you and the exorcists. And Rorate has gained permission from the priest authors to publicize it.
Click here to see the prayers, the rules surrounding them and the requirements to be a member of the Auxilium Christianorum.
As someone who works to help the Poor Souls in Purgatory, I can attest to the real attacks that come from that work (especially after creating the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society), and the incredible relief these prayers bring. I can also tell you I know people who simply had a type of "fog" around them that these prayers fixed quickly as well.
One caveat: as the fathers say on the site, please try to consult a traditional spiritual director before starting the prayers, if you have one available. If not, seek out a traditional priest in the confessional, and speak to him. These prayers are serious, and must be taken seriously.
BREAKING UPDATE: Francis versus Lucifer?
Update from the AP:
We have been covering (here) the remarkable words of Pope Francis -- remarkable only because the post-Conciliar Church has all but buried Satan for dead, but remarkable nonetheless -- and the Devil, and our need to recognize his power and reject his temptations.
The Rev. Gabriele Amorth, a leading exorcist for the diocese of Rome, said he performed a lengthy exorcism of his own on the man Tuesday morning and ascertained he was possessed by four separate demons. The case was related to the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, he said.
Amorth told RAI state radio that even a short prayer, without the full rite of exorcism being performed, is in itself a type of exorcism.
"That was a true exorcism," he said of Francis' prayer. "Exorcisms aren't just done according to the rules of the ritual."
Original Rorate story:
We have been covering (here) the remarkable words of Pope Francis -- remarkable only because the post-Conciliar Church has all but buried Satan for dead, but remarkable nonetheless -- and the Devil, and our need to recognize his power and reject his temptations.
His words, however, may have just be taken to a whole other, public level.
A caution: the Vatican, through Fr. Lombardi, has already, somewhat, dismissed this. The denial, as usual, leaves a lot to interpretation -- the "had no intention to" line is always the "out" of a spokesman. Read it for yourself here and decide.
Now, from The Sun (go here for additional photos):
POPE Francis has been embroiled in a scandal after footage emerged today appearing to show him giving a man an exorcism in St Peter's Square.
The astonishing incident between the Pontiff and the person in a wheelchair, took place immediately after Pentecostal mass on Sunday May 19.
The video shows how a priest leans across the boy or young man to tell Francis something, at which point the Pope’s expression becomes more serious.
The Pontiff then grips the top of the subject’s head firmly and is seen pushing him down into his wheelchair.
As this is happening Francis recites an intense prayer, and the boy’s mouth drops wide open and he exhales sharply.
Francis’s usual smile then returns and he continues with the traditional and more gentle Sunday greetings for sick or disabled visitors to St Peter’s.
La Repubblica newspaper this morning quoted an exorcism expert has saying: “It was a prayer of liberation from evil or even a real exorcism.”
The leading Roman exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, said: “Francis is also the Bishop of Rome and like all bishops he’s an exorcist.”
The new Pope has made it quite clear since his election that he believes the Devil, whom refers to as “the Enemy” and “The Prince of this World” is a real force that needs to be fought constantly.
The Vatican has downplayed the incident, filmed by the religious satellite channel TV2000, saying it was simple prayer.
The former Pope, Benedict XVI, never performed an exorcism, Francis is on record as having performed them, however, as was Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II.
Celebrate the Red Octave
Guillaume Dufay
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Traditional Catholics should in particular remember those calendar features that the 1968-1969 liturgist brigade tried to eradicate based on an antihistorical and false antiquarianism: Septuagesimatide, Ember Days, the Pentecost Octave... That is, the committeemen kept the octave day itself (the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity), but eliminated the days of the Octave - though the former is much less ancient than the latter. This great and ancient Octave even has its own Ember Days: if you have the chance, celebrate the Holy Ghost by attending weekday Masses during this Octave. And, if you do not have weekday TLMs available near you, there is always the great FSSP apostolate at LiveMass.org.
Thank you, Shawn Tribe
For all your great work at The New Liturgical Movement! We are sure CMAA and Jeffrey Tucker, as well as Gregory DiPippo, will do wonderful things at NLM. And we ask our Blessed Lord and His Immaculate Mother to bless you, yours, and all your future projects following your retirement from NLM.
Love never says "Enough"
Josquin des Prez
Veni Sancte Spiritus
__________________________
God ordained in the old law that fire should be kept continually burning upon his altar: "The fire on the altar shall always burn." (Lev. vi, 12). St. Gregory says that the altars of God are our hearts, in which he desires that the fire of his love should always burn. And hence the Eternal Father, not satisfied with having given us his Son Jesus Christ, to save us by his death, would also give us the Holy Ghost, to dwell in our hearts, and keep them continually inflamed with his love. And Jesus himself declared, that it was in order to influence our hearts with this holy love that he came into the world, and that he desired nothing more than to see it kindled: "I am come to send fire upon the earth: and what will I but that it be kindled?" (St. Luke, xii. 49). Hence, forgetting the injuries and ingratitude he received from men in this world, when he had ascended into heaven, he sent down upon us the Holy Ghost.O most loving Redemer, dost thou then love us not only in thy sufferings and ignominies but also in thy heavenly glory? Hence it was that the Holy Ghost chose to appear in the form of fiery tongues: And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire (Cf. Acts, ii. 3). And hence the Church instructs us to pray: "May the Holy Ghost, we beseech thee, O Lord, inflame us with that fire which our Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth, and which he ardently desired should be enkindled." This was the holy fire which has inspired the saints to do such great things for God, to love their enemies, to desire contempt, to renounce all worldly goods, and to embrace with cheerfulness, even torments and death.Love cannot remain idle, and never says: "It is enough." The soul that loves God, the more she does for her beloved, desires the more to do for him, in order to please him the more, and to draw down his love all the more. This holy love is enkindled in mental prayer: "In my meditation a fire shall flame out." (Ps. xxxviii, 4). If therefore we desire to be on fire with the love of God, we must delight in prayer; this is the blessed furnace in which this divine ardor is enkindled.
Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage 2013
One of the best ways to follow the events of the Pentecost Pilgrimages (particularly the Paris-Chartres "Notre-Dame de Chrétienté" pilgrimage) in France this weekend is the NDChrétienté official Twitter account, already filled with links to photo albums and videos.
And, of course, also follow us @RorateCaeli.
On the ongoing revision of the penal law of the Church
Bishop Arrieta, February 11, 2012, at Wigratzbad. Source.
All emphases are Rorate's - Augustinus.
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta has a special briefcase he uses exclusively to carry documentation for a project that would completely revise an entire section of the Catholic Church's basic law.
The black case contains a 40-page draft text for a new "Book VI: Sanctions in the Church" section of the Code of Canon Law, as well as the 800-page synthesis of recommended amendments and objections to the proposed changes.
Bishop Arrieta, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, delves into the briefcase at work in his office overlooking St. Peter's Square and at home in the evening.
Like any society, the Catholic Church has laws, Bishop Arrieta said, and while the tenets of its faith do not change, its laws do need to be adapted to the changing situations in which its members try to live out their faith.
While the pontifical council is looking at small adjustments to several sections of the Code of Canon Law, promulgated in 1983, and ways to speed up the process for evaluating the validity of marriages, the section concerning offenses and penalties was judged to be in need of more than a touch up.
The current code was drafted in the 1970s, Bishop Arrieta said, "a period that was a bit naive" in regard to the need for a detailed description of offenses, procedures for investigating them and penalties to impose on the guilty. It reflected a feeling that "we are all good," he said, and that "penalties should be applied rarely."
"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when Pope Benedict was prefect, was obliged to act as a consequence of the fact that the (church's) penal law was not working," he said.
The naivete of the law became clear with the sexual abuse crisis, Bishop Arrieta said. In addition, the sanctions section of the 1983 code was written with such an emphasis on the role of the individual bishop in his local diocese that each bishop bore the full weight of deciding when and how to intervene and what sort of sanction or punishment to impose on the guilty.
The law ended up being too vague, and church sanctions were being applied so haphazardly, that the church appeared to be divided, he said.
The project to revise the section began in 2008. The draft was completed in 2011 and sent to bishops' conferences and pontifical faculties of canon law, which had a year to respond. The suggestions were organized and synthesized, and now council officials and consultants -- mostly professors of canon law -- meet for an afternoon every two weeks to go through them, line by line.
Bishop Arrieta said it will be at least two years before a new draft is ready to present to Pope Francis. As the church's chief legislator, it is the pope who decides whether or not to promulgate it and order that it replace the current law.
The proposed draft incorporates the Vatican's 2010 updated definition of "delicta graviora" -- Latin for "graver offenses," including clerical sexual abuse of minors, the "attempted ordination of women" and acts committed by priests against the sanctity of the Eucharist and against the sacrament of penance.
The two chief concerns in the new section, as in all church law, he said, are "to safeguard the truth and protect the dignity of persons."
At the same time, the rules are more stringent -- "if someone does this, he must be punished," the bishop said. While it withdraws the discretionary power of the bishop in certain cases, he said, "it is for the good of the bishop."
Another set of modifications to the Code of Canon Law are already on Pope Francis' desk, awaiting his judgment. They deal with areas in which the code for the Latin-rite Catholic majority differs from the Code of Canons of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Bishop Arrieta said that in most cases they are rules for situations that the Latin-rite code never envisioned, but that the Eastern code, published in 1990, did. With the large number of Eastern Christians -- Catholic and Orthodox -- who have migrated to predominantly Latin territories in the last 25 years, Latin-rite pastors need guidance, he said.
For example, Eastern Catholics who do not have access to a priest or parish of their rite are free to receive the sacraments in a Latin-rite parish, including baptism and matrimony. The proposed revisions for the code specify that in such situations the parish's sacramental register must include a notation that the people involved belonged to an Eastern Catholic church, he said. In addition, Latin-rite pastors must know that while a Latin-rite marriage is valid in the presence of a deacon, in the Eastern-rite churches a priest must preside.
Many Catholics think canon law is something they need to be concerned about only if their marriage breaks down and they want an annulment.
The annulment process is another area currently under study and scrutiny by the pontifical council, the bishop said. The church's law must uphold church teaching, but do so responding to the concrete situations of the faithful.
"Church law follows the theological reality of things," he said. "It isn't canon law that forbids divorce, the faith does. Canon law then transforms that into juridical language."
So while the council is not trying to find ways to facilitate annulments, "we are trying to identify the bottlenecks that delay" judgments in the annulment process and identify improved procedures, he said.
END
The Springtime of the Church: a statistical reckoning
Following on from my earlier post on Rorate Caeli about the strange, and optimistic, statistical comparisons being made on the internet about the number of ordinations to the priesthood in England and Wales, I and a number of Latin Mass Society volunteers have spent a lot of time among dusty tomes extracting statistics on a whole range of things which have appeared in the Catholic Directory over the years. Various articles have appeared on statistical measures of Catholic life in England and Wales over the years and it is clear that the researchers didn't have these numbers. They have lain uncollected in successive volumes of the Catholic Directory, and very few places have a complete set of old Directories.
Readers in England will see a good-sized article on our research in the print edition of the Catholic Herald out today, on p3.
So we now have numbers for Catholic baptisms, marriages, and conversions, as well as ordinations, numbers of priests, and numbers of places of worship. Some of the series go back to 1912 or 1913; others go back into the 19th century. Here I am going to talk about marriages; I've written on conversions on my own blog; you can download the raw data here, and see the press release here.
We all know the numbers of pretty well everything good in the Catholic world went south in the 1960s and 1970s. Here's a typical graph, recording the number of marriages in the Church in England and Wales, 1913 to 2010 (the latest date for which numbers are available).
Yes, you read that right: fewer Catholic weddings took place in 2011, in England and Wales, than in 1912. Since the population of the whole country has increased hugely in the meantime, the numbers per 1,000 Catholic makes for an even more dramatic graph.
For the record: the full text of the prayer consecrating the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima
Cardinal Policarpio, Patriarch of Lisbon, consecrating the pontificate of Pope Francis to Our Lady of Fatima. May 13, 2013. Source.
The bishops of Portugal and this multitude of pilgrims are at your feet, on the 96th anniversary of your apparition to the little shepherds in Cova de Iria, to fulfill Pope Francis’ clearly expressed wish, that we consecrate to you, Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and universal shepherd.
Thus we consecrate to you, Lady, who are Mother of the Church, the ministry of the new Pope. Fill his heart with the tenderness of God, which you felt like no one else, so that he will be able to embrace all the men and women of this time with the love of your Son Jesus Christ. Contemporary humanity needs to feel that it is loved by God and by the Church. Only by feeling loved will it overcome the temptation to violence, materialism, forgetfulness of God, the loss of its way. And it will be led by you to a new world where love will reign.
Give him the gift of discernment, to be able to identify the paths for the renewal of the Church. Give him the courage not to hesitate in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit. Shelter him in the harsh hours of suffering, to overcome in charity the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring. Be always by his side, saying with him those words you know well: “I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy word.”
The paths of the renewal of the Church lead us to discover the timeliness of the message that you gave the little shepherds: the exigency of conversion to God who has been offended, because He is so forgotten. Conversion is always a return to the love of God. God forgives because He loves us. This is why His love is called mercy. The Church, protected by your maternal solicitude and guided by this shepherd, must assert herself increasingly as the place of conversion and forgiveness, because in her, truth is always expressed in charity.
You indicated prayer as the decisive path of conversion. Teach the Church of which you are a member and model, so that we will be increasingly a people at prayer, in communion with the Holy Father, the first of this people who prays, and also in silent communion with the previous Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who chose the path of the silent man of prayer, taking the Church more profoundly into the paths of prayer.
In your message to the little shepherds, here in Cova de Iria, you highlighted the Pope’s ministry, “the man dressed in white.” Three of the last Popes were pilgrims to your shrine. Only you, Lady, in your maternal love for the whole Church, can put in Pope Francis’ heart the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine. It is not something we can ask him for other reasons. Only the silent collaboration between you and him will attract him to this pilgrimage, in the certainty that he will be supported by millions of believers, willing to hear your message again.
Here at this altar of the world, he will be able to bless humanity, to make today’s world feel that God loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the paths of salvation.
+JOSE, cardinal patriarch
Source: ZENIT
Prince, or politician?
If the cardinal wasn't located in New York, this would be a case of classic Washington, D.C. politics: say something vague that seems strong at first blush, then send your spokesman to correct the record with the reporter, creating confusion among the voters. Only here, it's the Faithful that are rightly confused (and scandalized), and not just voters:
From the New York Daily News:
ALBANY — New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan warned Gov. Cuomo to be ready for a holy battle if he tries to strengthen state abortion-rights laws.
In an interview on an Albany radio station Tuesday, Dolan said Catholic bishops would be “as vociferous and rigorous as possible in our opposition” to the governor’s efforts.
Although Cuomo has yet to release an abortion bill, he’s announced plans to write into New York law protections now provided by federal court decisions like Roe vs. Wade.
The governor’s efforts are aimed at keeping abortion safe and legal in New York even if Roe vs. Wade is overturned or weakened.
Archbishop Dolan said the conviction Monday of Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell on murder charges calls for laws that go the other way instead.
“I am in a bit of consternation as to why in a time when there seems to be kind of a sobering up about these horrors of the unfettered access to abortion, why in New York we are talking about even expanding it further,” Dolan said.
When asked how Cuomo could still consider himself a Catholic in good standing while also promoting abortion legislation, Dolan responded: “That’s something that I talk turkey with him about.”
Dolan spokesman Joseph Zwilling later said the cardinal did not mean to suggest that Cuomo would not be a Catholic in good standing if he went forward with the bill.
For the record - Cardinal O'Brien to leave Scotland
PRESS RELEASE REGARDING CARDINAL O'BRIEN
Vatican City, 15 May 2013 (VIS) – This afternoon, the Holy See Press Office issued the following press release:
“His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, for the same reasons he decided not to participate in the last Conclave, and in agreement with the Holy Father, will be leaving Scotland for several months for the purpose of spiritual renewal, prayer, and penance. Any decision regarding future arrangements for His Eminence shall be agreed with the Holy See."
Religious "tolerance" in Germany ... and the United States
Update: The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. Read the latest here. And if you are homeschooling, become members of HSLDA. Don't think our government won't coming knocking on your door one day.
Previous post:
From the Home School Legal Defense Association:
Yesterday, surrounded by friends and supporters, the Romeike family sat silent in the courtroom before the three-judge panel that will decide whether or not the family can remain in the United States to homeschool their children. The six wooden benches in the small courtroom quickly filled up with homeschooling families—some with children finishing their schoolwork for the day—and several more stood in the back during the 38-minute hearing.
HSLDA Chairman Mike Farris opened the hearing and was quickly peppered by questions by the panel. The judges seemed skeptical as to whether Germany specifically targets homeschoolers. At one point, a judge asked whether Germany persecutes homeschoolers if it permits parents to teach their children at the end of the day, after the child has attended a government school.
In reply, Farris quoted published decisions from German courts, which explained that the ban on homeschooling exists to prevent the development and spread of religious or philosophically-motivated “parallel societies,” and which concluded that it was dangerous for a child to be taught by their mother.
When asked about parallel societies, Justice Department attorney Walter Buchinni admitted he did not know what the term meant, but claimed HSLDA was taking the point out of context. Buchinni also admitted that, even if the Justice Department wins the case, he did not know whether the family would be forcibly deported or whether they would be allowed to remain in the United States.
During the final rebuttal, Farris was told that there is no clear anti-Christian bias and that one reason for Germany’s strict public education laws is to teach tolerance. “If that’s tolerance,” Farris replied, “it’s a tolerance unknown in a free society.”
After the case ended, the Romeikes and their supporters filed out of the courtroom and gathered outside the building. Farris cautioned the supporters that there was no accurate way to predict the judges’ decisions solely based on the questions they asked. “I remember arguing a case before a California court in 2008 and being convinced that we had lost,” he said. “We ended up winning unanimously. So I know God can intervene.” ...
He also said that HSLDA will continue to intervene for the Romeikes if the panel returns an unfavorable decision, including a potential appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
For more information and how you can help, click here.
TLM for Souls in a home chapel
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Below, please find the seventy-first posting of enrolled Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society.
The photo above is of a Traditional Latin Mass being said for the Poor Souls enrolled in the Society by one of the 29 priests saying regular Masses for the souls -- Fr. Kevin Cusick, who writes often here and here. This Mass is being said in a home chapel recently constructed from scratch by family friends of Fr. Cusick.
Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society."
How to enroll souls: please email me at
athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email:
"The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be
greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as
well. And please try to follow this formatting strictly.
"Go home now," Cardinal Roger
Patrick Brennan reports some troubling news, as if it could get any more bizarre:
The Los Angeles Times expresses confusion, as we all should, about what the heck is going on in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Three months ago, Archbishop Gomez relieved his predecessor, Roger Cardinal Mahony, of "public duties" in the Archdiocese, including, according to a spokesman for the Archdiocese at the time of Archbishop Gomez's announcement, celebrating the sacrament of confirmation. At the moment, however, the Cardinal is traveling around the Archdiocese celebrating that sacrament "every week" (his own words) and telling those who question him about it to "go home now" (his words). Meanwhile, Archbishop Gomez refuses to comment.
Cardinal Mahony's mishandling of his clergy's abuse of children boggles the mind and saddens the heart. A decade after Cardinal Law was pressured into resigning for his own mishandling of such abuse, Mahony continued the mishandling right up until he submitted his resignation as required at the age of 75, and his successor, who surely knew much or all of what Mahony had done to hide the abuse, distanced himself and the Archdiocese from Mahony only when files Mahony had endlessly litigated to keep secret became public. Two years Archbishop Gomez waited, and when at last he relieved Mahony of his "public duties," he did so only for purposes of a phony publicity stunt, it would now seem.
Only the Pope can discipline a Cardinal, but Archbishop Gomez has jurisdiction over the confirmation schedule in his own Archdiocese. We can hope that Pope Francis will ground Cardinal Mahony and turn off his self-serving blog. We can also hope that Archbishop Gomez will do right by the faithful of his Archdiocese and *in fact* relieve Cardinal Mahony of his public duties in the Archdiocese. Members of the hierarchy need to stop scandalizing the faithful. Enough already. It is Cardinal Mahony who should "go home now." If Pope Francis seeks to "rebuild" the Church, Cardinal Mahony's public presence is only impeding that all-important work. Public penance for the Cardinal would be a help to that work on which turns, after all, the salvation of souls. Archbishop Gomez's integrity is on the line here as well, and the jury -- including in the form of the LA Times -- is observing the evidence as it pours in.
Francis' pontificate consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima
Via Catholic News Service:
FATIMA, Portugal (CNS) — Entrusting Pope Francis’ pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon, Portugal, asked Mary to give the pope courage and strength, particularly as he moves to renew and reform the Catholic Church.
“Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the church; give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in the hard hours of suffering to overcome with the charity the trials that the renewal of the church will bring,” the cardinal prayed May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
“We consecrate to you, Our Lady, mother of the church, the ministry of the new pope,” he prayed. “Fill his heart with the tenderness of God that you experienced so that he can embrace all the men and women of our age with the love of your son Jesus Christ.”
Cardinal Policarpo recited the prayer, which he wrote himself, at the end of a Mass concluding a major international pilgrimage to Fatima for the feast day marking the 96th anniversary of the apparition of Mary to three children.
The Portuguese cardinal, who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, said the new pope had asked him twice to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. He also asked Mary to give Pope Francis “the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine.”
But Pope Francis was not the only object of a special consecration during the mid-May pilgrimage; at a Mass May 12 at the Fatima shrine, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro entrusted to Mary all the young people who are preparing to attend World Youth Day in Rio with Pope Francis in July.
“Reparation”: the Great Forgotten
Translation via Rorate's Italian contributor Francesca Romana:
May editorial from “Radicati nella Fede”There has been a great deal of talk about Fatima over the past years since Pope John Paul II revealed [as he desired] what was presented as the Third Secret. There was a great deal of talk about Fatima in the polemics that followed the revelation of the Third Secret, which many believe is [still] incomplete. We all remember the Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone on national television, presenting the notes written by Lucia and the envelopes which contained them, so as to disprove those who sustained that the Third Secret had been only partly revealed. We all remember the well-documented book by Antonio Socci “The Fourth Secret of Fatima”, and the lively debate that followed.
Well then, there has been a great deal of talk about Fatima, but what has become of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?
Certainly it is very much alive in some restricted circles, but is it still preached and practiced in the actual fabric of our parishes? To us it would appear not.
The practice of the first 5 Saturdays has practically disappeared, almost as if it were for ‘little souls’ which no longer corresponds to the way the Church nowadays intends devotion to Our Lady. Of course, nobody will publically deny that one can be devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but they will present this devotion as a question of personal piety and more effort than it is worth. But this is not the case!Faced with the disaster of the world becoming more and more atheistic, God Himself intervened at Fatima, indicating the way out of the destruction of humanity: devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.On the 13th July 1917 Our Lady spoke thus:
“The war [World War I] is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.
If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Two years before, in 1915, the Angel of the apparitions invited the children to pray prostrated with him in reparation for the offenses to God by sinners, with especially these words: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the sacrileges, outrages and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners."
Pope Francis: Unborn are "uno di noi" ...
From the Vatican, original translation via Rorate's Italian contributor, Francesca Romana:
I greet all the participants on “The March for Life” which took place this morning in Rome and invite everyone to maintain keen attention on this theme of such importance with respect to human life from the moment of conception. With regard to this, I would mention also the gathering of signatures that today took place in many Italian parishes with the aim of sustaining the European initiative “Uno di noi” (One of Us) to guarantee juridical protection of the embryo, safeguarding every human being from the first instant of existence. A special moment for those who hold in their hearts the defense of the sacredness of human life will be “Giornata dell’Evangelium Vitae” (Day of E.V.) which will take place here in the Vatican, in the context of The Year of Faith, on the 15th and 16th of June of this year.
With affection I greet all the parish groups.
Franciscus
Regina Caeli
May 12, 2013
May 12, 2013
Holy Martyrs of Otranto, pray for us!
Regina Martyrum, ora pro nobis!
On the day of the canonization of Antonio Primaldo and companions, the 813 Holy Martyrs of Otranto (1480).
Today the Church proposes for our worship a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred people, [who], having survived the siege and invasion of Otranto, were beheaded near that city. They refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate “the heavens opened” – as St. Stephen said – and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father. Dear friends, let us conserve the faith [that] we have received and that is our true treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will never allow us to want [for] strength and serenity. As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.
Franciscus
Mass following Canonization - Homily
May 12, 2013
Buenos Aires Winter,
or
Sorry, but that is absolutely not true
Astor Piazzolla
Invierno Porteño [Buenos Aires Winter]
It seems unwise to go back, two months after the papal election, to what used to happen liturgically in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires up to early March 2013. But, for some reason, ACI Prensa director and EWTN Spanish news editor Alejandro Bermúdez, wanted to revisit the matter which, in our opinion, should just have been left alone. It seems that the then-Archbishop was a kind of liturgical hardliner, going to the extreme of forbidding priests who apparently wanted to consecrate sweet potato from doing so.
Anyway, moving on from the novus ordo to our concern, the Traditional Mass, this is what Mr. Bermúdez had to say:
"Following Summorum Pontificum, he made the traditional Mass readily available. In fact, Buenos Aires is probably the Latin-American city with the largest number of Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form."
This assertion is absolutely unbelievable. Not only does he insist on a matter we already showed to be mistaken, repeatedly, but he ups the ante by affirming that, "Buenos Aires is probably the Latin-American city with the largest number of Masses celebrated in the extraordinary form". (!!!!)
Assuming the situation at this moment is still as it was on March 13, 2013, and considering only diocesan ("Summorum Pontificum") Masses, the truth is exactly the opposite of what is affirmed by Bermúdez: Buenos Aires, that is, the city of Buenos Aires (the Federal Capital of Argentina, or Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, whose area exactly coincides with that of the Archdiocese, and that should not be confused with the surrounding Province of Buenos Aires, and corresponding surrounding dioceses) has NO diocesan Traditional Mass. None. Zilch. Nada. There are Traditional Masses in the city, but they are celebrated by the Society of Saint Pius X...
That makes the city of Buenos Aires certainly the most relevant city in the region with no current diocesan TLM. It also probably is the largest city proper with no diocesan TLM in the region: the largest cities proper in the region are Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago de Chile, and every single one of them has at least one diocesan TLM. (We are using "city proper" as a reference here because, as we explained in that same post, there are indeed two diocesan TLMs in the huge urban sprawl of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, the third largest in the region, but both are in neighboring municipalities in the surrounding Province -- partidos --, in dioceses outside the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.)
As for the city with the largest number of Traditional Masses in Latin America? Almost certainly that distinction goes to Campos dos Goytacazes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, seat of the Apostolic Administration St. John Mary Vianney, dedicated exclusively to the Traditional Roman Rite - several TLMs daily. Excluding this unique situation, the position is probably held by Sao Paulo, also in Brazil (apparently, and as also seems to be confirmed by those contributing information to WikiMissa).
We sincerely hope we do not have to repeat this in the future.
The Abortion-friendly Taoiseach comes, the Super-Cardinal leaves
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| "Hmmm... Should I trust this smile?..." |
Cardinal SeanMay 10, 2013
Because the Gospel of Life is the centerpiece of the Church’s social doctrine and because we consider abortion a crime against humanity, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have asked that Catholic institutions not honor government officials or politicians who promote abortion with their laws and policies.
Recently I learned that the Prime Minister of Ireland, the Hon. Mr. Enda Kenny was slated to receive an honorary degree at Boston College’s graduation this year. I am sure that the invitation was made in good faith, long before it came to the attention of the leadership of Boston College that Mr. Kenny is aggressively promoting abortion legislation. The Irish Bishops have responded to that development by affirming the Church’s teaching that “the deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of life is always morally wrong” and expressed serious concern that the proposed legislation “represents a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.”
Since the university has not withdrawn the invitation and because the Taoiseach has not seen fit to decline, I shall not attend the graduation. It is my ardent hope that Boston College will work to redress the confusion, disappointment and harm caused by not adhering to the Bishops’ directives. Although I shall not be present to impart the final benediction, I assure the graduates that they are in my prayers on this important day in their lives, and I pray that their studies will prepare them to be heralds of the Church’s Social Gospel and “men and women for others,” especially for the most vulnerable in our midst.
Abortion-happy Enda is a stain on the whole history of Ireland. After being advised by the Church, this is what he said:
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion here but as explained to the Cardinal and members of the church my book is the constitution and the constitution is determined by the people. That’s the people’s book. We live in a Republic and I have a duty and responsibility as head of Government to legislate in respect of what the people’s wishes are.”
But Ireland is not just any Republic; it is founded upon this, a constitution determined by a people recognizing the superior position of Almighty God: "In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, we, the people of Éire, humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial ... ." (Constitution, Preamble). If the Republic is not to be a Commonwealth founded on Catholic mores, what on earth did the Irish fight for? The euro?
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