RORATE CÆLI: May 2011

The last day
of the merry month of May

Josquin Lebloitte (Josquin des Prés)
Benedicta es Caelorum Regina

Rogamus te, Domina nostra, Mater Dei inclita,

super choros angelorum exaltata, ut cordis nostri vas caelestis gratiae impleas, auro sapientiae effulgere facias, tuae virtutis potentia consolides, lapide virtutum pretioso adornes, oleum misericordiae tuae, tu oliva benedicta, super nos effundas, quo peccatorum nostrorum multitudinem operias, qua ad caelestis gloriae altitudinem sublevari et cum beatis beatificari mereamur, praestante Iesu Christo, Filio tuo, qui te hodierna die super choros angelorum exaltavit, diademate regni coronavit et in solio aeterni luminis collocavit, cui est honor et gloria per aeterna saecula.

Dicat omnis Ecclesia: Amen. Alleluia.

S. Antonius Patav.

Sermo in Assumptione B.M.V.

Islam: The Closing of the Muslim Mind

On Sunday evenings, June 5 and 12, at 7:30 PM at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, the Institute of Catholic Culture will host two lectures about the current disarray in the Muslim world and what has lead this society to the brink of all-out war. Most Westerners are shocked and frightened by the behavior coming out of the Islamic world—not only because it is violent, but also because it is seemingly inexplicable. What went wrong?

On the 100th anniversary of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

Letter of the Holy Father on the 100th anniversary of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. (Italian)

VIS partial translation.

Blessing of a church and consecration of an altar

Video excerpts of the Rite of Blessing of a Church and Consecration of a Portable Altar celebrated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, followed by a Solemn Mass and Te Deum in his presence, on December 21, 2010. This church is the Mater Misericordiae Mission of the FSSP in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona.

Traditional Benedictine Monastery regularized in the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama

It is the Monastery of Christ the King, in Cullman, Alabama, where two Benedictine brothers now have the company of Father James Isaacson and two brothers of the Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius.

Press release of the Diocese of Birmingham here.

[Tip: reader.]

From East and West, ardent voices proclaim:
Holy Queen, Sacred Empress,
Sovereign of Earth and Heaven, pray for us!

Pedro de Escobar (Pedro do Porto)

1. Virgen Bendita sin par

de quien toda virtud mana,/ vos sois digna de loar.
2. Vos, Sagrada Emperadora,/ desesisteis el engaño/ y remediasteis el daño/ de la gente pecadora.
3.De los ángeles Señora,/ vos querais tan gracia dar/ que no podamos pecar/ contra aquel que carne humana/ de vos le plugo tomar. (Cancionero de Palacio)

__________________________________________________________________

(1.Blessed Virgin without equal,/ from Whom all virtue comes,/ You are worthy of praise.)
(2.You, oh Sacred Empress,/ undid the error/ and remedied the harm/ of the sinful people.)
(3.Of the Angels You are the Lady,/ You so much grace wish to bestow/ that we may not sin/ against the One who human flesh/ deigned to take from You.)

___________________________________________________________________

Ardent voices from the East sing out: "O Mother of God, today thou art carried into heaven on the chariots of the cherubim, the seraphim wait upon thee and the ranks of the heavenly army bow before thee."

Further: "O just, O most blessed (Joseph), since thou art sprung from a royal line, thou hast been chosen from among all mankind to be spouse of the pure Queen who, in a way which defies description, will give birth to Jesus the king." In addition: "I shall sing a hymn to the mother, the Queen, whom I joyously approach in praise, gladly celebrating her wonders in song...

Martin Mosebach on Universae Ecclesiae and the Gregorian Rite

From the website of the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny:

The Church Must Endure this Anger

Freedom is restored to the Old Rite: Martin Mosebach on the recent papal letter on the Latin liturgy

By Paul Badde

(Die Welt, May 23, 2011)

Four years ago, Pope Benedict XVI, against the opposition of the great majority in the Catholic Church, restored the old Latin liturgy to equality with the new vernacular form of the celebration of the mass, which had been mandated since 1969. (The Latin liturgy substantially dates back to Gregory the Great (540-604) and was finally authoritatively fixed by the Council of Trent (1545-1563).) A week ago, the Vatican, in a papal letter, reaffirmed its determination of 2007 and clarified some disputed questions regarding its practical application. Martin Mosebach, the recipient of the Büchner prize, is one of the most fervent admirers and defenders of the old Liturgy.

More than two months ago Rorate reported on the negotiations between the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the Bishop of Shrewsbury over the "Dome of Home" in New Brighton, Wirral. Last week, Fr. Ray Blake posted the following press release from the Diocese of Shrewsbury on the conclusion of the negotiations:

The Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury and Monsignor Gilles Wach, General Prior of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, have agreed to work towards establishing a foundation of the Institute at the Church of Ss Peter and Paul in New Brighton, Wirral, during the course of this year. The principal aim of the new foundation will be to provide a centre in the Diocese of Shrewsbury for the celebration of Holy Mass and the other Sacraments in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The presence of the Institute – a society of Apostolic life of Pontifical right – will also enable the church to become a centre for Eucharistic devotion and adoration, allowing the faithful to come to pray for an increase in faith and love for the Most Holy Eucharist.

Cardinal O'Malley of Boston to confirm according to the traditional rite in his cathedral

From Latin Mass Community North:

It is our great joy to announce that His Eminence Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, OFM Cap, will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at Holy Cross Cathedral, 75 Union Park St., Boston, on Saturday, June 4, 2011, at 1:00 PM.

Fr. Raymond Van de Moortell, pastor of St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody, and professor of homiletics and philosophy at St. John's Seminary, will celebrate Solemn Mass in the Presence of a Greater Prelate.

The St. Adelaide Parish Latin Mass community will be sending candidates to be Confirmed.

Please join us for this historic event.

H/t Una Voce NH and Una Voce Malaga

Out of tune

Glorious Music. But the Choir Is Tone Deaf

One weak point of this pontificate concerns liturgical music. Benedict XVI's grand vision is not being backed up by actions, which are even moving in the opposite direction. The latest proof: the ostracism of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

by Sandro Magister

ROME, May 30, 2011 – A century ago, Pius X was quick as lightning. Just three months after his election as pope, he promulgated the motu proprio "Tra le sollecitudini": the manifesto that prohibited "tunes" in the churches and marked a rebirth of great liturgical music, Gregorian and polyphonic.

And shortly afterward, in 1911, he created in Rome the advanced school set up for this rebirth: what is today called the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and is celebrating its centenary with a grandiose international conference of musicologists and musicians.

Benedict XVI is also a pope of recognized musical competency, even more so than his holy predecessor. On music in general and on sacred music, he has said and written memorable and brilliant things.

But unlike with Pius X, the current pope's words have not been backed up with actions.

Whoever finds the Immaculata, finds Jesus

Mikołaj Zieleński
Magnificat (1611)
________________________

We cannot take rest as long as there is in the world one soul in danger, who does not yet know the Immaculata. Our human frailty, limited resources or any other worldly difficulty must not restrain us; let us confide in the Immaculata, let us place ourselves truly in Her hands and She will continue to win the battles of God, as at Lepanto, as at Vienna. We must place our Lady in every soul so that from every soul sin be expelled and Jesus introduced. Whoever finds the Immaculata, finds Jesus.

Our Lady of Sorrows (Żejtun)

Schleifung der Bastionen, indeed: the "prophets" have certainly been successful...

The Catholic who does not live sincerely according to the Faith
will not long be master of himself in these days

Dearly beloved, Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass: for he beheld himself and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work: this man shall be blessed in his deed. And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is in vain. Religion clean and undefiled before God and Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one's self unspotted from this world. (Epistle for the Fifth Sunday after Easter - Saint James, i, 22-27)

_______________________________

It may be said in all truth that the Church, like Christ, goes through the centuries doing good to all. There would be today neither Socialism nor Communism if the rulers of the nations had not scorned the teachings and maternal warnings of the Church. On the bases of liberalism and laicism they wished to build other social edifices which, powerful and imposing as they seemed at first, all too soon revealed the weakness of their foundations, and today are crumbling one after another before our eyes, as everything must crumble that is not grounded on the one corner stone which is Christ Jesus.

Summary: In the most liberal religious building in Italy (Bose), the most useless debate society in history keeps on as if nothing had changed.

From the Holy See Press Office:

The Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the first meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III) at the Monastery of Bose in northern Italy (May 17-27, 2011). The Commission, chaired by the Most Reverend David Moxon (Anglican Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses) and the Most Reverend Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises eighteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. [If you wish to waste your time, keep reading it here.]

The Anglican side included a delightful provocation: a "bishopess" (the "Right Reverend" Linda Nicholls, Area "Bishop" for Trent-Durham, "Diocese" of Toronto) and a "canoness" ("Canon" Alyson Barnett-Cowan, pictured above in Saint Peter's with another Anglican "canon"- image source). The ladies, of course, helped the number of ordained clerics on the Anglican side reach the total of zero.

So, "Whence Ecumenism," Michael Davies's repeated question regarding ARCIC? The Personal Ordinariates mandated by Anglicanorum Coetibus are the true ecumenism, not ARCIC. But it is hard, very hard, to give up a lifetime of soft theology, empty careerism, free travel, free lodging, and free food.

Sancta Dei Genetrix, Regina Angliae, ora pro nobis.
Sancte Augustine, ora pro nobis.

Auxiliatrix mea et Protectrix mea es

Tomás Luis de Victoria
Ave Regina Caelorum (8 v.)
___________________

Domina Laudabilissima, atque Optima,
Misericordia Fons,
Bonitatis Abyssus,
Aqua Viva,
Peccantium Patrona,
Fluctuantium Portus,
Vitis Vera,
Vas continens manna,
Cadentium Correctio,
Cunctorum Refugium,
Totiusque mundi Vita,
Immaculatissima,
Gloriosissima,
Beneficentissima mea,
Honorabilis magis quam Cherubim,
Apostolorum Exultatio,
Martyrum Praedicatio,
Sanctorum Gaudium,
Altare aureum,
Arca vera,
Rubus incombustus:
Salve, Mater Christi,
quem decet gloria et honor,
adoratio et hymnus,
nunc, et semper, et ubique.
Amen, in saecula saeculorum.

[Composite of different prayers
to the Most Holy Mother of God
by Saint Ephrem the Syrian]

Question for readers

Is any reader aware of a good and detailed account of the conversion to the Catholic faith of war criminal Hans Frank following his arrest and conviction by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg? Both links to online accounts and references to printed material are welcome. Thank you.

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (thirty-fourth posting of souls)

Below, please find the thirty-fourth posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. And please pray for a special intention of the administrator of this 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. PLEASE follow this format strictly, as any deviation creates a lot of extra work.

Please consider forwarding this Society to your family and friends, announcing from the pulpit during Holy Mass or listing in your church bulletin. We need to spread the word and relieve more suffering souls.

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

For us Christians, God himself is the source of charity; and charity is understood not merely as generic benevolence but as self-giving, even to the sacrifice of one’s life for others in imitation of the example of Jesus Christ. The Church prolongs Christ’s saving mission in time and space: she wishes to reach out to every human being, moved by a concern that every individual come to know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (cf. Rom 8:35).

...

It should be noted that Caritas Internationalis is basically made up of the various national Caritas agencies. In comparison with many Church institutions and associations devoted to charity, Caritas is distinctive; despite the variety of canonical forms taken by the national agencies, all of them offer an outstanding aid to Bishops in their pastoral exercise of charity. This entails a particular ecclesial responsibility: that of letting oneself be guided by the Church’s Pastors.

So, no reciprocity from Saudi Arabia, then? How appropriate that the Bishop's name is Crociata (Crusade)!

Italy: Muslims thank Italian bishops leader for backing Milan mosque

Milan, 25 May (AKI) - Italy's largest Muslim group has sent a message to Italy's highest ranking bishop to thank him for his organisation's support for a project to construct a mosque in Milan, the country's conservative business hub.

In the message to Angelo Bagnasco, who leads Italy's Bishops' Conference (CEI), the UCOII said: "We are relieved and immensely grateful for the position voiced by senior officials from the Italian Bishops' Conference in support of official places of worship for Muslims, an issue which nowadays has wrongly become a political hot potato."

"The brotherly solidarity of the great majority of Christians, which we have experienced at thousands of inter-faith gatherings and debates, has been strongly confirmed," the statement added.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday during the CEI's general assembly at the Vatican, CEI secretary-general Mariano Crociata said the Catholic Church backed "the right to freedom of worship and places of worship to exercise this fundamental right".

From Cardinal Lehmann, 75, Bishop of Mainz, to a question posed by a reader of the Allgemeine Zeitung, following the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae (reported by Kath.net):

Confirmation in the old rite? "I will not do it, they should go elsewhere."

Mainz (kath.net) - "The fact that people may want a confirmation according to the old rite is nonsense, I believe." So answered Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz, to a question in a reader forum of the "Allgemeine Zeitung".

However, he did not completely reject the Mass in the extraordinary form: "there are in our diocese, after all, five or six groups with the opportunity to celebrate them," the Cardinal told the newspaper. But a confirmation according to the old rite? "I will not do it, they should go elsewhere."

Pope offered tiara in today's General Audience

At today's weekly general audience the Holy Father received a new tiara made for him and presented by Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

The tiara was commissioned by Dieter Philippi, a German Catholic businessman who has a great devotion to the papacy as well as to the call to Christian unity.

The tiara was created in Sofia, Bulgaria by Orthodox Christians of the Liturgix studio.

Today a small delegation of Roman Catholics and Bulgarian Orthodox on pilgrimage in Rome had the honor to present the tiara to the Holy Father in the name of Christian unity.

[Source and images: J.P.Sonnen's Orbis Catholicus]

"Humanism without God": Silent apostasy major challenge of the Church
Charity not merely doing good, but theologically-based "works of faith"

From the remarkable address of Cardinal Robert Sarah (pdf), President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", to the General Assembly of Caritas International (the international federation that includes, among many others, American affiliate Catholic Charities, British affiliate CAFOD, and French affiliate Secours Catholique - see previous post), now taking place in Rome:

For Pope Benedict XVI, the imperative and practice of charity, love of one’s neighbour, are vitally important. The Church cannot renounce her proclamation, even though nowadays, at least in the Western world, a humanism without God seems to have become an integral and lasting part of the prevailing culture. ... This particularly concerns the nations of what is called the First World, where economic wellbeing and the rush to consume inspire and nourish a life lived “as if God didn't exist”. Currently, faced with the serious problems of life, religious indifference and the total lack of meaning that is attributed to God are no less worrying nor deleterious than overt atheism. Together with enormous material, scientific and technological progress, the West is now experiencing a serious moral regression and a gradual “silent apostasy” (cf. Christifideles Laici, no. 34). Undoubtedly, since the beginning of his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has considered this “religious indifference” and “silent apostasy” as the major challenge the Church has to take up today in her relations with the modern world. Therefore, he is more determined than ever to make our minds more aware and our faith more visible and more active, in order to show the world that the Church’s mission is deeply rooted in faith in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Image: Pope Pius XII and the founding members of Caritas International, 1951.]

The Pope speaks to the bishops of India

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI TO BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF INDIA ON THEIR "AD LIMINA" VISIT

Consistory Hall

Monday, 16 May 2011

Dear Brother Bishops,

It gives me great joy to welcome you as you make your visit ad Limina Apostolorum during this Easter season. Through you I extend my greetings to all the faithful in your care, and I thank Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo for the gracious sentiments of communion with the Successor of Peter which he has expressed on your behalf.

The Risen Christ’s presence among his disciples was a source of deep consolation for them, confirming them in their faith and deepening their love for him; and at his Ascension, he commissioned them, saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). This command impelled your own great patron Saint Thomas, the other Apostles and those who followed them, to preach the Gospel among the nations; and through the preaching of the word and the celebration of the sacraments, the divine life of the Blessed Trinity has been passed on to many Christian souls.

But we do have at least two other detailed motives for which to express to the Pope our gratitude: the first is related to the instruction Universae Ecclesiae, granted in order to give a correct interpretation of the «motu proprio» Summorum Pontificum, of July 7, 2007, and therefore, a more binding and harmonious recovery - within each diocese - of the entire liturgical patrimony of the universal Church. In effect, to avoid hurting anymore the concord of each particular Church with the universal Church, working particularly in order to unite every force and to give back to the liturgy its powerful wonder.

Cardinal Bagnasco (Genoa), President of the Italian Episcopal Conference

Opening Address to the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference

May 23, 2011

__________________________

Archbishop Giacinto Berloco, Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg, celebrates Pontifical Mass and confers confirmations - Convent of Saint Anne, Brussels Capital Region.

(Source: Blog of the Rector; tip: Father Finigan.)

The Church of the Council, 50 years on
Interview with Dutch Salesian Superior

Earlier post.

[Source: RTL, published on May 20, 2011 - Dutch]

[SALESIAN SUPERIOR IN THE NETHERLANDS: interview]

To the Church, to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), and to the newly-ordained Fathers M. McCarthy and C. Pelster.

(Image: priestly ordination at the Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, yesterday; source: Fr. Brown)

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (thirty-third posting of souls)

Below, please find the thirty-third posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. And please pray for a special intention of the administrator of this Society.

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

Guillaume Dufay

Nuper rosarum flores

... Igitur, alma parens/ Nati tui et filia/ Virgo decus virginum,/ Tuus te Florentiae/ Devotus erat populus,/ Ut qui mente et corpore/ Mundo quicquam exorarit.

Oratione tua/ Cruciatus et meritis/ Tui secundum carnem/ Nati Domini sui/ Grata beneficia/ Veniamque reatum/ Accipere mereatur./ Amen.

The Pope and the Astronauts

From NASA's Youtube channel

Fifteenth Annual Conference of the St. Benedict Center

RICHMOND, NH (May 4, 2011) - The Saint Benedict Center, administered by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, will hold its fifteenth annual conference on October 7-8, 2011. The conference will be held on the monastery grounds in Richmond, New Hampshire. Call 603-239-6485, email bam@catholicism.org, or visit cat.catholicism.org for registration information.

"I am personally pleased to restore Father Pfleger to his sacramental and pastoral ministry at St. Sabina and in the Archdiocese of Chicago"

From the website of the Archdiocese of Chicago:

Statement of Francis Cardinal George, OMI

May 20, 2011

After the remarks Father Pfleger made on National Public Radio, which seemed to place himself outside the Church and constitute a threat to leave the Catholic priesthood, I asked Father Pfleger to take time to pray about his personal faith and his commitment to the Catholic priesthood. In the past month, Father Pfleger and I have discussed how the Church has been wounded and how necessary it is to find a way to heal the hurt and confusion.

The upcoming liturgy of the Ordinariate

From the Ordinariate Portal, citing the Tablet:

The special Missal and prayer books to be used by the personal ordinariate of England and Wales have been completed and are now awaiting approval from Rome. Former Anglican worshippers in the ordinariate can expect “something quite different” from their new sacramentary, Mgr Keith Newton, the group’s leader told The Tablet. He had hoped the new liturgy would be in place in time for Pentecost on 11 June, when 54 former Anglican priests who have joined the ordinariate will be ordained Catholic priests, but that now seems unlikely and they will use the Roman rite in the meantime.

Salesian priest served on board of pro-pedophilia group up to 2010
Superior says man-child "relationships" are not necessarily damaging

[UPDATE: Text of interview with Salesian Superior.]

We feel we must disagree with those prophets of gloom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.

Pope John XXIII
Opening Address of the Second Vatican Council
October 11, 1962

______________________

As the shameful American Bishops would have us believe, blame "Woodstock"; or the "culture". As we know, in the pre-aggiornamento years, it was very common for priests to serve in boards of pro-pedophilia groups.

From the Associated Press:

The Dutch Catholic Church and the Salesian order are investigating revelations that a Salesian priest served on the board of a group that promotes pedophilia with the full knowledge of his boss.

The order's top official in the Netherlands, Delegate Herman Spronck, confirmed in a statement that the priest _ identified by RTL Nieuws as 73-year-old "Father Van B." _ served on the board of "Martijn," a group that campaigns to end the Dutch ban on adult-child sex.

The group is widely reviled but not outlawed.

The Cistercian abbey linked to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), the Sessorian Basilica, one of the seven most relevant basilicas in Rome, has been suppressed by a decree of the Congregation for Religious (Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), approved by the Holy Father, following the results of an Apostolic Visitation - which itself was a result of years of serious problems, including significant liturgical abuses. (Source: multiple reports - see G.Galeazzi; A.Tornielli.) The former abbot and other monks had already been removed two years ago (see M. Tosatti); the remaining Cistercians will be relocated to different abbeys.

We hope this is only the beginning of the resolution of the extremely relevant problems in religious houses around the world.

The Cistercians had been at Santa Croce for nearly five centuries.

Sometimes, one's got to lie

Thanks to the Pertinacious Papist for pointing this article of a seminary professor posted at First Things:

Janet E. Smith, "Fig Leaves and Falsehoods: Pace Thomas Aquinas, sometimes we need to deceive" (First Things, June/July, 2011).

We are stunned, and not just by "pace Thomas Aquinas": was not even the doctrine of strict mental reservation, first proposed by the admirable Fr. Martín de Azpilicueta and much less problematic than the direct falsehoods defended in this article, condemned by the Church - even after being defended by great minds, including Suárez? Has not this all been settled? Must even the most basic Catholic moral doctrines be under debate in this never-ending aggiornamento?

[Update: nice take at Ite ad Thomam.]

Official communiqués on Universae Ecclesiae
3: Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X

1. LMS

2. International Una Voce Federation.
3. Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X [UPDATED: English version]

[Note: a very well-balanced commentary published by DICI today. On n. 19 of the Instruction, the Fraternity is quite clear, focusing on the recognition of the "prerogatives" of Papal primacy: according to the commentary, the words of n. 19 should not be understood as meant as if the Fraternity had been intended as one of those "groups". The commentary ends with an interesting note: the divergence that exists is rather between the traditional Mass and the new one than between the Holy See and the Fraternity.]

Commentary
on the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae
19-05-2011 [English translation by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X - FSSPX/SSPX]

The Bollettino of the Holy See Press Office publishes today the names of the consultants named for the new Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization - the crème de la crème of the who's who of the upper crust of the Church of our days: they include the Vicar General of the Personal Prelature of the Opus Dei, Mons. Fernando Ocáriz, Kiko Argüello, the famous founder of the Neocatechumenate, Fr. Julián Carrión, President of Communion and Liberation, and stars of the Catholic sisterhood, such as Sister Sara Butler, Professor of Dogmatic Theology at Mundelein (known as a great defender of the Church's doctrine on female ordination, that should be recognized), and Sister Mary Lou Wirtz (right), President of the International Union of Superiors General.

Can't you just feel the new "New Springtime" arriving?

Fellay: "mixed feelings" about the Instruction

In an interview available at the website of the German District of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX /SSPX), its Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, expresses "mixed feelings" about the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae - particularly about n. 19 and n. 31.

From (double!) coronation to abdication, a terrible pontificate, with far-reaching dangerous consequences - from the biography of Pope Saint Celestine V (Peter Celestine - Pietro da Murrone), who died on May 19, 1296:

In reply to the request of the cardinals, that he should come to Perugia to be crowned, Pietro, at the instigation of Charles, summoned the Sacred College to meet him at Aquila, a frontier town of the Kingdom of Naples. Reluctantly they came, and one by one, Gaetani being the last to appear. Seated on an humble ass, the rope held by two monarchs, the new pontiff proceeded to Aquila, and, although only three of the cardinals had arrived, the king ordered him to be crowned, a ceremony which had to be repeated in traditional form some days later, the only instance of a double papal coronation. Cardinal Latino was so grief-stricken at the course which affairs were evidently taking that he fell sick and died. Pietro took the name of Celestine V. Urged by the cardinals to cross over into the States of the Church, Celestine, again at the behest of the king, ordered the entire Curia to repair to Naples. It is wonderful how many serious mistakes the simple old man crowded into five short months. We have no full register of them, because his official acts were annulled by his successor. On the 18th of September he created twelve new cardinals, seven of whom were French, and the rest, with one possible exception, Neapolitans, thus paving the road to Avignon and the Great Schism. Ten days later he embittered the cardinals by renewing the rigorous law of Gregory X, regulating the conclave, which Adrian V had suspended. He is said to have appointed a young son of Charles to the important See of Lyons, but no trace of such appointment appears in Gams or Eubel. At Monte Cassino on his way to Naples, he strove to force the Celestine hermit-rule on the monks; they humoured him while he was with them. At Benevento he created the bishop of the city a cardinal, without observing any of the traditional forms. Meanwhile he scattered privileges and offices with a lavish hand. Refusing no one, he was found to have granted the same place or benefice to three or four rival suitors; he also granted favours in blank. In consequence, the affairs of the Curia fell into extreme disorder. Arrived in Naples, he took up his abode in a single apartment of the Castel Nuovo, and on the approach of Advent had a little cell built on the model of his beloved hut in the Abruzzi. But he was ill at ease. Affairs of State took up time that ought to be devoted to exercises of piety. He feared that his soul was in danger. The thought of abdication seems to have occurred simultaneously to the pope and to his discontented cardinals, whom he rarely consulted.
...
Some years after his canonization by Clement V in 1313, his remains were transferred from Ferentino to the church of his order at Aquila, where they are still the object of great veneration. His feast is celebrated on 19 May. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Wait a second: he was canonized just 17 years after his death? Now, there is a process ripe for reexamination.

Official communiqués on Universae Ecclesiae
2: International Una Voce Federation and a history of the struggle

1. LMS

2. International Una Voce Federation:

FIUV Statement in Response to the Publication of Universae Ecclesiae.

The publication of the document Universae Ecclesiae on 13th May 2011 has generated much comment and been the subject of detailed analysis in the media. The International Federation Una Voce would like to present a different perspective on this document which it welcomes enthusiastically.

The Una Voce movement started in late 1964, before the end of the Second Vatican Council, to ensure the retention of the age-old Latin language for the celebration of the Holy Mass. National societies were formed and the International Federation Una Voce (FIUV) came into being formally in 1967.

From Wednesday's General Audience:

During the Easter season, the liturgy sings to Christ risen from the dead, conqueror of death and sin, living and present in the life of the Church and in the affairs of the world. The Good news of God’s Love made manifest in Christ, the Lamb that was slain, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, is constantly spreading until it reaches the ends of the earth, and at the same time it encounters rejection and obstacles in every part of the world. Now, as then, the Cross leads to the Resurrection.

Tuesday, 24 May, is dedicated to the liturgical memorial of Our Lady, Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai:

For the Record

The Archbishop of Cali, Colombia, 72, had his resignation (CIC, can. 401 § 2) accepted today by the Holy Father. You may remember him from the cover-up accusation made by Father Germán Robledo, which we first reported in 2009 ("The 'homosexualization' of the Church in Latin America"), and which was covered widely in 2010.

Just blame Woodstock...

Missing anything?

From The New York Times:

Church Report Cites Social Tumult in Priest Scandals
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: May 17, 2011

A five-year study commissioned by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops to provide a definitive answer to what caused the church's sexual abuse crisis has concluded that neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality were to blame.

Instead, the report says, the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and '70s.

Known occurrences of sexual abuse of minors by priests rose sharply during those decades, the report found, and the problem grew worse when the church's hierarchy responded by showing more care for the perpetrators than the victims.

The "blame Woodstock" explanation has been floated by bishops since the church was engulfed by scandal in the United States in 2002 and by Pope Benedict XVI after it erupted in Europe in 2010.

"Woodstock"? We seem to remember that another event, of great "ecclesial" significance, took place at that same time period. Any guesses?

A Vatican II Moment:
The "reform of the reform", 6 years on

We were sent a link to Argentinian blog Catapulta, which had some really curious images of Eucharistic Adoration as practiced by Consolata Missionaries in Brazil - the images were from 2009 and 2010 (link).

We then figured that, considering the great strides of the new "liturgical movement" making waves through the Church and of the "reform of the reform", the images of this year would be certainly better. Just a quick look through the latest images of their 2011 Lent retreat confirmed our greatest hopes:

Note the deep concentration and great excitement of those present. We cannot wait for the moments of mutual enrichment and the beneficial influence of a greater "fluidity of motion".

Official communiqués on Universae Ecclesiae
The Latin Mass Society

We will update this post as more communiqués become available. You may also add other sources and links to our comments.

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1. The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales:

LATIN MASS SOCIETY WELCOMES THE ‘INSTRUCTION’ FROM THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ‘ECCLESIA DEI’ ON THE APPLICATION OF THE MOTU PROPRIO ‘SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM’

Circular Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
to Episcopal Conferences on guidelines for abuse cases

All documents in English translations:

Blueprint for recourse to the PCED under Universae Ecclesiae

A wonderful tool provided by Saint Louis Catholic. We encourage our readers in non-English speaking nations to provide us with translations (they may also send them to us so that we may make them all available at one place).

BLUEPRINT

FOR HAVING RECOURSE TO THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ECCLESIA DEI

(Art. 10, §§ 1-2 Instr. Universae Ecclesiae)

The long-awaited instruction Universae Ecclesiae of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, approved by the Holy Father in forma communis on April 8, 2011, issued on April 30, 2011 by authority of the Commission’s President, William Cardinal Levada, and released by the Vatican this May 13, 2011, may be said, without shadow of a doubt, to be an incremental improvement in the Church’s discipline safeguarding the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Cf. Pontificia Commissio Ecclesia Dei, Instr. Universae Ecclesiae (30 Aprilis 2011): diurnarium «L’Osservatore Romano», 14 Maii 2011, pp. 4-5.

Despite its many imperfections, the officials of the Pontifical Commission deserve great credit for their securing of the final text against powerful enemies of Tradition continuing to work against the Roman Pontiff in his efforts to protect that “precious treasure to be preserved” which is the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite (cf.Universae Ecclesiae, 8[a]).

Virtually untreated by all commenting on the new Instruction is the most important feature of the text, the juridical mechanism by which Catholics encountering stiff resistance to the application of Summorum Pontificum can receive help from the Holy See in overturning adverse decisions of an Ordinary forbidding celebration of the Extraordinary Form: the procedure known ashierarchical recourse (cf. cann. 1732-1739 of the Code of Canon Law).

The following “blueprint” attempts to fill in this lacuna, and present in layman’s terms essential elements of the canonical procedure enshrined in Art. 10, §§ 1-2 of the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae, in his attempt to compel an Ordinary to open the gates of the Sanctuary to the celebration of the Extraordinary Form.

So many people were present at the Pontifical Mass celebrated by Cardinal Brandmüller!

The Altar. Just a few short years ago, its more traditional predecessor was the victim of a heinous liturgical crime (remember our 2006 post "Saint Peter's: How does an altar disappear?"), somewhat corrected in 2008.

Heartfelt congratulations to the organizers of the Convegno and the Mass - many in Rome must know how numerous we are and that we are not going away. Ever.

"Et recordaberis cuncti itineris, per quod adduxit te Dominus Deus tuus quadraginta annis per desertum, ut affligeret te, atque tentaret, et nota fierent quæ in tuo animo versabantur, utrum custodires mandata illius, an non. ... Vestimentum tuum, quo operiebaris, nequaquam vetustate defecit, et pes tuus non est subtritus, en quadragesimus annus est: ut recogites in corde tuo, quia sicut erudit filium suum homo, sic Dominus Deus tuus erudivit te, ut custodias mandata Domini Dei tui, et ambules in viis ejus, et timeas eum." (Deut. viii, 2, 4-6) We are out of Sinai: God willing, we are not going back.

(Source and several other pictures and videos: J.P.Sonnen's Orbis Catholicus)

May 15: The Church meditates on "the new things"

On May 15, we celebrate the anniversary of what can be called the most influential encyclical ever written, Rerum Novarum, and several of the relevant commemorative encyclicals of subsequent Popes.

Rerum Novarum, 120 years:

The bittersweet Instruction
Roman Conference on Summorum Pontificum

(UPDATE: Various blogs are reporting that Cardinal Brandmüller will be offering the closing Pontifical Mass, substituting for Cardinal Canizares Llovera. -- Pascal)

Our friend Enrico, of Messa in Latino, provided a remarkable summary (in Italian) of each of the relevant interventions in today's Conference on Summorum Pontificum, which took place at the Angelicum (the Convegno will be officially closed tomorrow with a Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter, in the Vatican Basilica). The Conference was, naturally, marked by the [bittersweet taste of the] Instruction Universae Ecclesiae.

Devotion to Mary: the sure way to Christ

Orlando di Lasso
Alma Redemptoris Mater

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Jesus, our Savior, true God and true man, must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions; otherwise they would be false and misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything. "We labor," says St. Paul, "only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ."

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (thirty-second posting of souls)

Below, please find the thirty-second posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. And please pray for a special intention of the administrator of this Society.

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and

The bittersweet Instruction
Point by point

Universae Ecclesiae - paragraph by paragraph commentary by Christopher Gillibrand (quite balanced).

Comentarios en español - Página Católica.

Restoration of mandatory meatless Fridays in England and Wales

Since 1985, in England and Wales abstinence from meat has been mandatory only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; on all other Fridays of the year, including Lenten Fridays, the faithful are allowed to choose between abstaining from meat or doing some other penance -- see this document. The bishops there have now chosen to restore the requirement of meatless Fridays.

The bittersweet Instruction
Rorate's suggestion
Application of Paragraph 19 of the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae

Yes! Now they'll find them!

INSTRUCTION
UNIVERSAE ECCLESIAE
OF THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION ECCLESIA DEI
On the application of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum,
of HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI, given motu proprio
(Latin typical text)
(Deutsch, Español,Français, Italiano, Português)
(Note: Italiano; Holy See Press Office note: English, Español, Français, Italiano)
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I.
Introduction

1. The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XVI givenMotu Proprio on 7 July 2007, which came into effect on 14 September 2007, has made the richness of the Roman Liturgy more accessible to the Universal Church.

2. With this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a universal law for the Church, intended to establish new regulations for the use of the Roman Liturgy in effect in 1962.

3. The Holy Father, having recalled the concern of the Sovereign Pontiffs in caring for the Sacred Liturgy and in their recognition of liturgical books, reaffirms the traditional principle, recognised from time immemorial and necessary to be maintained into the future, that "each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition. These are to be maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church's rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi)."¹

Commentary on the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae

19-05-2011 [English translation by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X - FSSPX/SSPX]

Commentary
on the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae