Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (twenty-sixth posting of souls)

Below, please find the twenty-sixth posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. It's a long list this week with over 400 individuals enrolled.

Please make every effort, during Lent, to pray these souls to Heaven and to keep the 14 holy priests and the numerous laity saying Traditional Latin Masses and prayers for the souls in your own personal prayers. And if you're a priest, and can spare a TLM once a week or once a month for the souls, please contact me so we can add you to our prayer list for priests. You will be kept completely anonymous.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 -- and there's been a great deal of deviation lately.

Please also 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.

Video of the priestly ordination of Joseph Ratzinger,

Georg Ratzinger, and 38 other deacons (Freising, 1951).



Source: Gloria TV

You report: Day of tradition in the Washington, D.C. area

Rorate already announced traditional Latin vespers and Benediction with two Diocese of Arlington priests and an all-male choir this coming Laetare Sunday here. Earlier that day, 15 minutes north, there will be a traditional Latin Missa Cantata offered by Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth (the outstanding English priest designated by Pope Benedict XVI as executive director of ICEL). Monsignor Wadsworth's old choir -- the Byron Consort of Harrow School -- will sing. The Mass will be at the regular Sunday time of 9 a.m. at Saint Mary, Mother of God church at 5th and H streets, NW, in Washington, D.C., with coffee/doughnuts to follow in the parish hall. Rarely do Americans get to hear boys choirs anymore, and even more rarely do we get to hear a boys choir singing polyphony at a traditional Latin Mass -- something to certainly please Pope Saint Pius X.

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

Reminder: send in names of souls

What a fitting act of charity it would be during Lent to remember all of your family and loved ones that have passed and by enrolling them in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. By doing this for them, you ensure that they will have 14 holy priests and numerous laymen saying Traditional Latin Masses, and countless prayers for the repose of their souls.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 great deal of extra work.

The Bells of Chevetogne

From the Youtube channel of the biritual Benedictine monastery of Chevetogne:

Ringing the New Church Bells of Chevetogne

Report - TLM at York Minster

From our friends at The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales:

Huge Success for the Latin Mass Society at York Minster

Over 700 Catholics committed to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) converged on York Minster on Saturday 26 March to attend the first celebration of a Catholic Mass in the Minster since the Reformation. Sung Mass in the ancient Latin Rite, complete with beautiful vestments, ceremonial and incense, was celebrated at the High Altar by Fr Stephen Maughan of the Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough. (The Mass was a Votive Mass of a Holy Woman Martyr Not a Virgin).

Scenes from the enthronement of the new Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch

This past Friday, the Maronite Catholic Church enthroned its new head, the 71-year-old Bechara al Rai, as the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. The enthronement was carried out in a modern-style Maronite church on the grounds of the Maronite Patriarchate's headquarters in Bkerki, Lebanon.

A video with scenes from the enthronement:

The Instruction Pope may have ordered review of the last draft in order to remove more restrictions

And this comes from the latest edition of the "ultra-Progressive" French weekly Golias (tip to our friends at Messa in Latino), among other information we and MiL had already reported regarding the instruction on the implementation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum:

We have learned, from a direct Roman source, that this decree of application has indeed undergone a double correction. At the beginning, it has ben prepared by Mgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Pontifical Commission « Ecclesia Dei », in charge of the matter. Subsequently, Cardinal Levada and his faithful adviser, Mgr. Charles J. Scicluna, a Maltese, had strongly amended the text in a restrictive sense. With the agreement of Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship! Our recent information had thus been precise. [Rorate adds: so had ours.]

Once it had been modified by Levada, the document arrived at the Pope's office. And the latter would not have been pleased with the about-turn that had taken place. It [the draft] was thus replaced, more or less, by the document as it had originally been written by Guido Pozzo. [That is,] In a sense that is more favorable to Traditionalists.

So many things make sense in Golias's account - and dovetail perfectly with what we know - that we give it great credence, though it is still a collection of internal rumors almost impossible to verify with certainty. Our thanks to all who have prayed for this and signed the Petition. 

Missionary Sisters of the SSPX

On March 11, 2011, the decree of Bishop Bernard Fellay erecting the Missionary Sisters of Jesus and Mary was read by His Excellency’s first assistant, Fr. Niklaus Pflüger, at the Sister’s Our Lady of Angels House in Nairobi, Kenya.

Rorate Exclusive: Excommunication of Norma Jean Coon Lifted

Rorate Caeli first broke the news that Mrs. Norma Jean Coon, who once pretended to be ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church, had returned to the Faith and publicly repented. We then reported that she was not only attending daily Mass -- without receiving the sacraments, of course -- but a Traditional Latin Mass.

We can now report, praise God, that Mrs. Coon's excommunication has been lifted by Rome. We can also tell you that she now attends daily adoration of the Blessed Sacrament along with Holy Mass.

Mrs. Coon: "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has lifted any canonical sanctions that I incurred by attempting ordination as a deacon. A letter from Bishop Robert Brom states that I may now return to the full practice of our Catholic faith. I have been very touched at the remarkable support of my actions and the prayers offered in my behalf during this trying time. I wish to thank all those who have prayed for me and for my family. The prayers and masses have been deeply appreciated. May Lent and Easter hold many blessings for you and your family."

Welcome back to the Church, good and humble servant!

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

"Let your deepest feelings rise towards the Unknown God" -- Benedict XVI on the "Court of the Gentiles"

...Nowadays many people acknowledge that they are not part of any religion, yet they long for a new world, a world that is freer, more just and united, more peaceful and happy. In speaking to you tonight, I think of all the things you have to say to each other. Those of you who are non-believers challenge believers in a particular way to live in a way consistent with the faith they profess and by your rejection of any distortion of religion which would make it unworthy of man. Those of you who are believers long to tell your friends that the treasure dwelling within you is meant to be shared, it raises questions, it calls for reflection. The question of God is not a menace to society, it does not threaten a truly human life! The question of God must not be absent from the other great questions of our time.

Moscow to Rome: Yes to cooperation, no to communion, and neither of us should compromise

From a statement of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk published in Russia Today (h/t Ad Orientem):

***

Bishop Hilarion commented on his statement to RG as follows.

“The idea of a strategic alliance with the Catholics– is an old idea of mine. It came to me when the Catholics were electing the new Pope. Although I would like to point out that what I am suggesting is, in essence, the direct opposite of Uniatism, which is a way toward a rapprochement based on doctrinal compromises. In our point of view, the policy of Uniatism had suffered complete failure. Not only did it not bring the Orthodox Christians and Catholics closer together, it actually distanced them. And Uniatism, as is currently recognized by both Orthodox believers and Catholics, is not the path toward unity.

‘‘I, on the other hand, am asking to – without any doctrinal compromises and without attempts to artificially level our dogmatic differences, the teachings about the Church and about the superiority of the Universal Church, without the claims to resolve all of the existing problems between us – act as allies, at the same time, without being a single Church, without having a single administrative system or common liturgy, and while maintaining the differences on the points in which we differ.

A man worthy of remembrance

+

Exactly 20  years ago, Archbishop Marcel-François Lefebvre died in Martigny, Switzerland. Regardless of one's opinion of some events of his life, or of some of his decisions, or of some of his stronger words, it would be unjust not to acknowledge that without him the struggle for the preservation of much of what we cherish would probably have been lost. The fact that 20 years after his death "the question of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre" is still discussed in the highest halls of the Church, that his name is still mentioned among the words included in some of the gravest decisions of the Supreme Authority of the Church (cf. Letter to Bishops regarding the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum), and that the universal Church experiences in our age the great impact of the publication and implementation, not without hurdles, of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum show that the global movement for the advancement of the Traditional Roman Rite is inseparably linked to the life of this passionate man.

+

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (twenty-fifth posting of souls)

Below, please find the twenty-fifth posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. Please make every effort, during Lent, to pray these souls to Heaven and to keep the 14 holy priests and the numerous laity saying Traditional Latin Masses and prayers for the souls in your own personal prayers.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 -- and there's been a great deal of deviation lately.

Please also 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.

Aidan Nichols OP on the future liturgy of the Ordinariate

From a recent interview with Fr. Aidan Nichols OP, published in the English Catholic:

The Church of England Anglo-Catholics, from what I understand, do the ordinary form of the Roman liturgy. In the TAC (Traditional Anglican Communion -- Pascal) elsewhere in the world, there is a love for distinctly Anglican liturgies with Book of Common Prayer language, though corrected where necessary. What liturgical dimensions do you see as “gifts to be shared” with the wider Church as the AC suggested?

“English Anglo-Catholics (I gather) tend to retain some elements of the Prayer Book tradition, notably for weddings and funerals. Their parishes may also have Evensong and Benediction. But they will be asked to consider using the distinctive liturgical book which has been prepared for the English Ordinariate once it has received recognition from the Holy See (hopefully by Pentecost) – otherwise they cannot claim to have much distinctive patrimony, liturgically speaking. One reason why there is to be a distinct English book for those with an Anglican Communion background is because the TAC congregations who predominate elsewhere have a different liturgical history which will need to be taken into account. Relevant gifts could include: a high sacral register of liturgical language; the Catholicism-compatible elements in the historic Prayer Books; the Use of Sarum; the better aspects of modern Anglican revision.”

Glimpses of a Greek Catholic Hierarchical Divine Liturgy

The following video contains glimpses of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated on March 20, 2011 in preparation for the Electoral Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which will elect a new Head of the UGCC (the Major Archbishop of Kyiv, or, as some would say, the Greek Catholic Patriarch of Kyiv).

Participating in the Divine Liturgy, headed by UGCC Administrator Most Rev. Igor (Voznyak), were all the bishops of the UGCC from Ukraine and abroad. They will collectively take part in the Electoral Synod. (H/t Byzantine Texas)

The Conciliar "Springtime" reaches its logical end:No more seminarian formation in Ireland

Following the apostolic visitation to the only seminary in Ireland, Maynooth will cease to exist in its current form (tip: reader; source: The Irish Catholic):

Maynooth College may soon cease to function as a Catholic seminary marking the end of a 200-year-tradition, The Irish Catholic has learned.

The national seminary, which has educated Irishmen for the priesthood since 1795, may be set for closure after the recent Apostolic Visitation by New York's Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. It is expected the report will recommend that Pope Benedict XVI move all Irish seminarians to a reformed and restructured Pontifical Irish College in Rome.

The historic shift would bring an end to concerns about falling academic standards at Maynooth and claims by some that the college is no longer 'fit for mission'. One senior academic told The Irish Catholic that the Apostolic Visitors were ''appalled'' by some of the standards in Maynooth. Rome would give access to heavyweight universities under direct scrutiny from the Vatican.

Summer Latin Session for Clergy

Place: Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Denton, Nebraska (Airport access: Lincoln NE).

Dates: Noon on Monday 6 June-Noon Friday 10 June

Cost: $400 for instruction, room and board

Instructor: Prof. John M. Pepino, PhD

Entrance requirement: to have done seminary-level Latin and to be a priest or seminarian in good standing (testimonial letters required; sample available upon request).

Purpose: to help clergy whose Latin has become rusty to understand liturgical texts better.

Means: review of the core grammar and vocabulary of liturgical Latin. Afternoons are spent on lessons; mornings on homework.

Texts: Roman Missal and Breviary, 1962 edition; work is done on photocopies. Bring a grammar and Latin dictionary.

For an application packet or questions, please email or write to John Pepino:

patres@fsspolgs.org

c/o Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary

7880 West Denton Rd

Denton, NE 68339.

Vatican orders reforms in the philosophical formation of seminarians

NB: The decree has not yet been published on the Vatican website. However, it is now available (in Italian) from Pax Books: DECRETO DI RIFORMA DEGLI STUDI ECCLESIASTICI DI FILOSOFIA

From the blog of the Vatican Information Service:

REFORM OF ECCLESIASTICAL STUDIES OF PHILOSOPHY

VATICAN CITY, 22 MAR 2011 (VIS) - At 11.30 a.m. today in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present the newly-published Decree on the Reform of Ecclesiastical Studies of Philosophy. Participating in the event were Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education; Bishop Jean-Louis Brugues O.P., secretary of the same dicastery, and Fr. Charles Morerod O.P., rector of Rome's Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

Cardinal Grocholewski explained how the normative documents concerning ecclesiastical studies - and hence also philosophy - currently comprehend John Paul II's 1979 Apostolic Constitution "Sapientia christiana" and its norms of application issued in the same year by the Congregation for Catholic Education. "Nonetheless", he said, "'Ecclesia semper est reformanda' in order to respond to the new demands of ecclesial life in changing historical-cultural circumstances and this also (perhaps especially) involves the academic world".

You Report: Traditional Latin Mass at Harvard

The Harvard Knights of Columbus and the Harvard Latin Mass Society invite you to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at St. Paul Catholic Church, Bow and Arrow Streets, Cambridge, MA -- Harvard Square. All are welcome. This is, we are told, the first Traditional Latin Mass at Harvard since the Council.

5:15pm Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite
Reception to Follow

For more information, email HarvardLatinMass@gmail.com

Victoria 400 - Victoria Requiem in Chicago

A dear reader sends us the news that Victoria's Requiem will be sung by the Chicago Chorale at a Requiem Mass at the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago. It will be this coming Saturday (March 26) at 1:00 PM.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Father Tomás Luis de Victoria.

What will the New Evangelization be like? - Part I

A former Dominican church in the Netherlands, now a bookstore.

The following passages are from the Introduction to the Lineamenta of the 13th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will meet next year to discuss the "New Evangelization".

***

The transmission of the faith is never an individual, isolated undertaking, but a communal, ecclesial event. It must not consider responses as a matter of researching an effective plan of communication and even less analytically concentrating on the hearers, for example, the young. Instead, these responses must be done as something which concerns the one called to perform this spiritual work. It must become what the Church is by her nature. In this way, the matter is placed in context and treated correctly and not extrinsically, namely, by placing at the centre of discussion the entire Church in all she is and all she does. Perhaps in this way the problem of unfruitfulness in evangelization and catechesis today can be seen as an ecclesiological problem which concerns the Church's capacity, more or less, of becoming a real community, a true fraternity and a living body, and not a mechanical thing or enterprise.

"The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature." This statement from the Second Vatican Council summarizes the Church's Tradition in a simple and complete way. The Church is missionary, because she finds her origin in the mission of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Holy Spirit, according to the plan of God the Father. Furthermore, the Church is missionary, because she returns and relives her beginnings by proclaiming and witnessing to this revelation of God and by gathering together the scattered People of God, so that in this way she might fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah which the Church Fathers applied to her: "Spread your tent, extend the curtain of your dwelling without saving, lengthen the cord, strengthen your poles, so that you might be widened to the right and to the left and your descendants will possess nations, will populate once deserted cities" (Is 54:2, 3).

***

We are living in a particularly significant, historic moment of change, of tension and of a loss of equilibrium and points of reference. These times are increasingly forcing us to live immersed in the present and in passing things which make it increasingly difficult for us to listen, to transmit an appreciation for the past and to share values on which to build the future for new generations. In this context, the Christian presence and the work of the Church's institutions are not easily perceived and, at times, are even looked upon with great reservation. In the last decades, repeated criticism has been levelled at the Church, Christians and the God we proclaim. Consequently, evangelization is facing new challenges which are putting accepted practices in question and are weakening customary, well-established ways of doing things. In a word, the situation is requiring the Church to consider, in an entirely new way, how she proclaims and transmits the faith. The Church, nevertheless, is not approaching these challenges totally unprepared. She has at her disposal the fruits of former assemblies of the Synod of Bishops which were specifically dedicated to the topic of the proclamation and transmission of the faith, in particular, the Apostolic Exhortations Evangelii nuntiandi and Catechesi tradendae. In the two related synodal assemblies, the Church lived a significant moment of self-evaluation and revitalization of her mandate to evangelize.

Celebrating the Muslim invasions

1300 years ago, the great Muslim invasion of Europe began as Arab armies led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed what was then still known as the Pillars of Hercules and would thenceforth be known as the Straits of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq).

As darkness rapidly engulfed the Catholic Visigothic territories of the Iberian Peninsula, Christians would begin a journey of between a few decades and 750 years (depending on the region in which they lived in Hispania) of bloodshed, continuous humiliation, and repression.

Not for the Virginia Military Institute (thanks to Spanish daily ABC for alerting us to this), which celebrates with a conference the mostly horrendous years of Arab domination in the Iberian peninsula, and describes it thus:

Join academic, political, and cultural leaders to address topics vital to our future: how to transform education, promote tolerance, inspire political reform, and advance human development so that we can build on the spirit and historical successes at those times when Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived side by side in Western Europe, forging a society that lit the Dark Ages.

Right... "Lit" the Dark Ages in a bonfire of blood, sharia, and dhimmitude, right? Living as a dhimmi can be quite peaceful and spiritually inspirational - though it is not exactly living side by side with one's Muslim superiors... In our modest opinion,  as an institution dedicated to military matters, they should get ready to study the underlying inner strength which ignited a relentless crusade of seven centuries, from the revolt of Pelagius of Asturias in Covadonga (the Cave of Our Lady), in 718, and the great victory of Charles Martel in Tours-Poitiers, in 732, to the final extinction of Arab domination in the peninsula in Granada, in the significant year of 1492. 

What else do Muslims need to do in our own days so that scholars can stop romanticizing an inexistent peaceful and joyful Al-Andalus? 

Ite ad Ioseph

____________________________

In festo Sancti Ioseph,
Eum deprecemur pro Beatissimo Papa Nostro Benedicto

Ad te beate Ioseph,

in tribulatione nostra confugimus, atque, implorato Sponsæ tuæ sanctissimæ auxilio, patrocinium quoque tuum fidenter exposcimus. Per eam, quæsumus, quæ te cum immaculata Virgine Dei Genitrice coniunxit, caritatem, perque paternum, quo Puerum Iesum amplexus es, amorem, supplices deprecamur, ut ad hereditatem, quam Iesus Christus acquisivit Sanguine suo, benignus respicias, ac necessitatibus nostris tua virtute et ope succurras.

Tuere, o Custos providentissime divinæ Familiæ, Iesu Christi sobolem electam; prohibe a nobis, amantissime Pater, omnem errorum ac corruptelarum luem; propitius nobis, sospitator noster fortissime, in hoc cum potestate tenebrarum certamine e cælo adesto; et sicut olim Puerum Iesum e summo eripuisti vitæ discrimine, ita nunc Ecclesiam sanctam Dei ab hostilibus insidiis atque ab omni adversitate defende: nosque singulos perpetuo tege patrocinio, ut ad tui exemplar et ope tua suffulti, sancte vivere, pie emori, sempiternamque in cælis beatitudinem assequi possimus.

Amen.

A Leone XIII scripta (Source: Fides)

English

What all Catholics should know on organ donation

Last month, our Holy Father made headlines when it was announced he no longer is listed as a organ donor. While the Church has never said organ donation is intrinsically evil, what happens in many if not most hospitals surely is, and many times amounts to murder.

For those interested in this topic, and possibly wondering if they should be be listed as an organ donor, there are two fine works to read and listen to before making a decision (or to reverse a decision already made):

The first, here, is from the SSPX.

The second, a podcast here, is from a FSSP priest.

And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.

European Court of Human Rights:Crucifixes in State schools do not violate human rights

For background, see earlier post.

Crucifixes in Italian State-school classrooms: the Court finds

no violation

In today’s Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Lautsi and Others v. Italy (application no. 30814/06), which is final, the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority (15 votes to two), that there had been:

No violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned the presence of crucifixes in State-school classrooms in Italy, which, according to the applicants, was incompatible with the obligation on the State, in the exercise of the functions which it assumed in relation to education and to teaching, to respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in accordance with their own religious and philosophical convictions.

FULL PRESS RELEASE (PDF) 

FULL JUDGMENT (PDF)

A question for our readers on "Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidelium"

I'm reading an English-language prayerbook published c. 1939 in Belgium by the excellent Henri Proost & Co. Publishers, and it notes that after every stanza of Adoro Te Devote, the following is usually sung: "Ave, Jesu, Pastor fidelium / Adauge fidem omnium in te credentium." (This is translated in the prayerbook as: "Jesu, eternal Shepherd! hear our cry / Increase the faith of all whose souls on Thee rely.")

Are there places where this couplet is still included during the singing of the Adoro Te Devote? Or has it completely disappeared?

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

Below, please find the twenty-fourth posting of enrolled souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. It's another long list, with over 400 individuals and many entire families enrolled this week, from nations spanning the globe.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 -- and there's been a great deal of deviation lately.

Please also 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.

Cardinal Burke on the Fall of the Christian West

Download a scanned copy of his speech at this link

Patriarchate of Constantinople denounces Vassula Ryden

Yesterday, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople issued a strongly-worded decree denouncing Vassula Ryden and her works, excluding her supporters from (Orthodox) communion, and warning people from spreading her teachings her lest they incur canonical censures. An initial English translation of the new decree can be found here; the original decree is on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. The relevant portion is as follows:

In this spirit, and for the beneficial protection of our pious Orthodox plenitude from dangerous spiritual confusion, who do not know well matters underlying the risk of delusion, rejects from the Mother Church Vasiliki Paraskevis Pentaki - Ryden, widely known as a "Vassula", and her organization founded under the title "True Life In God" which rashly and frivolously proposes teachings based on the supposed "direct dialogue between her and the Founder of the Church Jesus Christ our Lord", and those conquered by her and the supporters of "True Life In God", which deviate arbitrarily from the God-given teaching of the Church, but also scandalize the Orthodox phronema of pious believers.

Hence, we call upon the proponents of these unacceptable innovations and the supporters who maintain them, who henceforth are not admitted to ecclesiastical communion, not only to not be involved in the pastoral work of the local Holy Metropolis, but also to not preach their novel teachings, to prevent the appropriate sanctions under the Holy Canons.

This comes a few months after the Romanian Orthodox Church defrocked one of its priests for concelebrating with a Roman Catholic priest, in an event that came about under the influence of Vassula Ryden. (See this and this for Rorate Caeli's posts on that incident, and this post on another website reporting on the rejection of the priest's appeal of his punishment.)

Vassula continues to enjoy support from some Roman Catholic priests and bishops despite repeated Vatican warnings against her teachings. Hopefully this support will soon disappear...

ICRSS at New Brighton, NW England

From The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales:

Latin Mass Society's Response to the Announcement of Negotiations

Between Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury and the Institute of Christ the

King Sovereign Priest

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury has announced that he is negotiating with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an international order of priests who solely celebrated the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, for them to take control of the landmark Church of SS Peter and Paul, New Brighton, on the Wirral. The church is commonly known as ‘the Dome of Home’ for its prominence and visibility, even from sea.

In response, the Latin Mass Society has announced that it warmly welcomes the news that Bishop Mark Davies is negotiating with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) to enable the ICKSP to assume responsibility for the much-loved Church of SS Peter and Paul on the Wirral and for it to become a centre for Eucharistic devotion. The local membership of the LMS has been campaigning for the church to be reopened and for the Traditional Latin Mass to be regularly celebrated there.

Pope stresses "need for a radical change in priestly formation" - Jesuit General

From UCAN:

"Think globally", says top Jesuit.

The superior general of the Society of Jesus has urged Jesuits in South Asia to undertake new works at the international level.

Transcend the narrow understanding of the Jesuit province and share the resources at regional and global levels, Father Adolfo Nicolas told 18 provincials and two regional superiors in South Asia during their meeting March 1-6 in Bangalore.

Father Nicolas is in India from February 26 to March 12 mainly to participate in the assembly of The Jesuit Conference of South Asia held in Bangalore. He will also visit Jesuits and their works in Bangalore, Mangalore, Calicut and Kolkata.

Father Nicholas told the provincials that the Vatican has also entrusted to the Jesuits several formation institutes to teach theology. The Jesuit superior general said Pope Benedict XVI sought the help of the Society of Jesus for the integrated formation of priests and stressed the need for a radical change in priestly formation, during a “one-on-one” meeting he had with the Pope.

Paix Liturgique presents a case to Cardinal Bertone

This text was presented to Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State at the Roman Curia, on 10 March 2011. It is intended to draw his attention to the fact that the Ecclesia Dei Pontifical Commission lacks the power to bring about the implementation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

Your Eminence,

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007 seems to lack any binding force.

Immigration must "take into accountthe principles of law, cultural, and religious tradition"of welcoming nation

Citizenship must be considered today within the context of globalization, which is characterized, among other things, by large migration flows. Faced with this reality, as I mentioned above, it is necessary to combine solidarity and respect for the law, lest they upset social life, and the principles of law and cultural and even religious tradition which formed the Italian nation must be taken into account. This need is felt especially by you, as local administrators, closer to people's daily lives. A special dedication to the public service of citizens is always required of you, [in order] to be promoters of cooperation, solidarity, and humanity. History has left us an example of Mayors whose prestige and commitment marked the life of the community: you rightly mentioned the figure of [the Servant of God] Giorgio La Pira, an exemplary Christian and an esteemed public administrator. May this tradition continue to bear fruit for the good of the country and its citizens! For this I assure you of my prayers, and I urge you, distinguished friends, to trust the Lord, because - as the Psalm says - "unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman guards in vain" (127.1).

Benedict XVI

Address - National Association of Italian Municipalities

March 12, 2011

While the Spirit of Vatican II reigns supreme in the Archdiocese of Washington, Arlington continues to flourish

You Report: Traditional Solemn Laetare Sunday Vespers & Benediction

"The Institute of Catholic Culture is pleased to announce the presentation of solemn vespers on Sunday, April 3, Laetare Sunday, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Alexandria. Presiding at the service will be Fr. Franklyn McAfee and Fr. Paul Scalia from St. John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia.

Third-rate Catholics

We had posted about this event last December.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 9, 2011 

WASHINGTON, DC--The Paulus Institute for the Propagation of the Sacred Liturgy regrets to announce that the Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form scheduled to be offered at the high altar of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on April 9th is cancelled.

The Paulus Institute had organized the Lenten Mass in honor of the Holy Father on the sixth anniversary of his election to the papacy. It was to have been the second such Mass, the first having been offered at the National Shrine last year before a capacity congregation of over 4,000. Unfortunately, this year's scheduled celebrant, Archbishop Augustine DiNoia of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome, withdrew his acceptance of our invitation as a result of changed circumstances.

Although the Paulus Institute has worked for the past several weeks to proceed with the Mass in the end we were unable to obtain the necessary permission.

"We deeply regret this turn of events,” said Paul King, president of The Paulus Institute. “We are very disappointed, well aware that thousands of Catholics throughout the United States have made plans to attend. Countless others around the world would have watched and prayed with the EWTN broadcast and wanted the DVD.

Pray for Japan ...

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

We mentioned yesterday that a great Lenten act of charity would be to enroll as many souls in the Rorate Caeli Purgatory Society as you could remember. We were reminded today, by one of the 14 traditional priests saying Masses for the enrolled souls, that there are other acts our readers can make toward the relief of these poor souls.

First, traditionally on (ferial) Fridays of Lent, the seven penitential psalms were read along with the Litany of Saints, after Matins and Lauds. Second, reading the Office of the Dead would be a good, traditional way for the laity to complement the traditional Masses being offered for the same intention.

Also, for some Lenten reading, I personally recommend a newer book titled "Hungry Souls-Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory." If you, or anyone you know, have any doubts on the existence of Purgatory, they'll quickly vanish after reading this book.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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.

The Philadelphia 21

As provided by the local CBS station.

This massive and overdue cleanup operation was forced upon by Caesar - once again, hierarchy authorities shamefully did what was right only after the State acted.

And what makes this even sadder is that hundreds of dioceses around the world (maybe thousands, perhaps almost all) are in need of such a cleanup, but most of these pitiful and loathsome careerist hierarchs are so deeply involved in this that nothing will be done. If only they had been so diligent removing perverts, or those who protected them, as they were, and still are, when eliminating all signs of the past traditions of the Church.

Domine, ne memineris iniquitatum nostrarum antiquarum, 

cito anticipent nos misericordiae tuae: 

quia pauperes facti sumus nimis!

Reminder: send in names of souls

Quia pulvis es ...

As we begin Lent today on this Ash Wednesday, the ashes we receive remind us of our mortality. Let the ashes also remind us of those who passed before us.

What a fitting act of charity it would be to kick off Lent by remembering all of your family and loved ones that have passed and to enroll them in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. By doing this for them, you ensure that they will have 14 holy priests and numerous laymen saying Traditional Latin Masses and countless prayers for the repose of their souls.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 great deal of extra work.

Lent begins:Venite filiæ

Passio D. N. I. C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum

J.S.Bach

[BWV 244 - Kommt ich Töchter]

Fr. Pagliarani on the Hermeneutic of Continuity

The website of the the SSPX's St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary has published a translation of Fr. David Pagliarani's "Hermeneutic of the Hermeneutic of Continuity" (originally published in Tradizione Cattolica no. 3, 2010). A section of the article is a direct response to Msgr. Guido Pozzo's July 2, 2010 speech to the FSSP on the ecclesiology of Vatican II.

RelevantThe Instruction - IIISome good news

We can report the following with Messa in Latino.

First, we can confirm that the manoeuvers to make the negative points of the Instruction on the application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum known have had the effect of blocking any further deterioration of the text. Was it because of the International Appeal? Or because of those working behind the scenes, in the third floor of the Palazzo Apostolico? Or both? Or they had no effect whatsoever? We will most likely never know, but the final draft would include the following measures:

(1) On the non-Roman Latin Rites, there will be, as reported here earlier, an explicit explanation that Summorum does not apply to them (however, see 3, below).

(2) The Instruction would maintain the prohibition, mentioned in its earlier draft, of the ordination, according to the Pontificale Romanum, of seminarians who are not part of societies dedicated to the Extraordinary Form - though the local ordinary can refer the matter to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, as reported by us.

(3) The Traditional rites and uses of the religious orders could be celebrated freely by their respective priests, in the cases of Art. 2 and Art. 4 of Summorum Pontificum; the authorization of a superior would be necessary only in "public" (i.e. announced, Art.5) Masses.

(4) The celebration of the Triduum Sacrum according to the extraordinary form would be possible, which an erroneous reading of Art. 2 of Summorum Pontificum had made some reticent to admit.

(5) No specific definition of "stable group" would be given: a minimum number is not established; it is only detailed that it is not necessary that the group had existed before the advent of the motu proprio. Rorate can confirm this from different sources.

(6) The powers of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei in cases of episcopal denial of the application of Summorum are to be enhanced - though the exact text of the Instruction on the matter is still unknown to us. In a less detailed account of the Instruction also published today, Andrea Tornielli mentions that the Instruction would make it clear that "bishops cannot and must not publish [parallel] rules which limit the faculties granted by the motu proprio, or change its conditions", but "are rather called to apply it". That is, the Instruction would make clear that all such diocesan 'instructions and regulations' regarding Summorum are null and void.

(7) As reported since the first rumors of the Instruction appeared in 2007 (we mentioned it in Nov. 2007...), it is expressly foreseen that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite be taught in seminaries of the Latin Church - as well as the Latin language. The exact wording of the Instruction on this matter is also still unclear.

All signs seem to point to the publication of the Instruction, which seems to have been already signed, before Easter.

A breather before Lent

           

               Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren
               J.S.Bach [BWV 137]

First half:     

Second half: 

You report: First TLM in Jogjakarta (Yogyakarta), Indonesia

The following report was submitted by Shevyn Andreas from the fledgling TLM community in Indonesia.

The first Mass in usus antiquior was celebrated at Jogjakarta in the Archdiocese of Semarang, Indonesia, on the Commemoration of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Saturday, February 12th 2011).

It was Low Mass (Missa Lecta) celebrated by Fr. BA. Rukiyanto SJ at Hospital Chapel, in Panti Rapih Hospital in downtown Jogjakarta...

The Mass was attended by approximately 60 people, including several nuns.

Ecce ascendimus Ierosolymam
Lent is coming... - III

Quinquagesima Sunday should serve as a reminder that we must prepare ourselves for Lent. In the midst of the great crisis in the Church, many go into Lent with little to no understanding of what it means, or how to properly prepare.

We'd like to share with our readers a free treasure to help prepare ourselves for the season. This audio Lenten mission, recorded by an FSSP priest, can help Catholics take full advantage of Lent and is appropriate for Catholics of all levels.

You may listen to it here:

Papal reminders:In politics, as in everything else,follow the words "which will never pass away"

Poor Ireland! After all the struggles, the Republic became just a German province... From the Irish Independent:

The Fine Gael/Labour coalition Government is to implement in detail the outgoing Government's four-year austerity plan as approved by the EU-IMF, the Sunday Independent can reveal.

In what will amount to the most barefaced breach of election promises ever perpetrated by an incoming Government, the coalition partners' programme for government will cause uproar when it is published today.

While an attempt will be made to dress up the programme as a new plan by a new Government, when it is analysed it will be seen for what it is -- the continuation of the economic policies of Fianna Fail and the Greens, virtually in minute detail, as laid down by the EU-IMF.

It seems quite a dangerous setting: a representative commonwealth in which voting does not change a single thing. Voters always seem to fail to understand how compromised politicians are by the system that brought them materialistic bubbles and ruins in the first place. Which brings to mind a papal reminder:

The root and font of this defection in economic and social life from the Christian law, and of the consequent apostasy of great numbers of workers from the Catholic faith,

Ecce ascendimus IerosolymamLent is coming... - II

I was offered high positions in government and I was asked to give up my battle, but I always refused, even at the risk of my life. My answer was always the same: "No, I want to serve Jesus as a common man." 

This devotion makes me happy. I do not look for popularity, I do not want positions of power. I just want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak for myself and to say that I am following Jesus Christ. This desire is so strong in me that I consider myself privileged if - in my effort and my struggle to help the needy, the poor, the persecuted Christians of Pakistan - Jesus would accept the sacrifice of my life. I want to live for Christ and for Him I wish to die. I feel no fear in this country.


Many times, the extremists tried to kill me and imprison me, I have been threatened, persecuted and my family has been terrorized. The extremists, a few years ago, even asked my parents, my mother and my father, to dissuade me from continuing my mission to help Christians and those in need, otherwise I would be lost. But my father always encouraged me. I say that, as long as I live, until my last breath, I will continue to serve Jesus and this poor, suffering, mankind, Christians, the needy, and the poor.


I want to tell you that I find much inspiration in the Holy Bible and the life of Jesus Christ.The more I read the New and the Old Testament, Bible verses, and the word of the Lord, the stronger are my strength and my will. When I reflect on the fact that Jesus Christ sacrificed everything, that God sent His own Son for our redemption and our salvation, I wonder how I can follow the way of Calvary. Our Lord said, "Come with me, take up your cross and follow me." The words I love most of the Bible state: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, ill and you visited me, in prison and you came to me." So when I see the poor and needy, I think that, under their appearance, Jesus is the one to meet me.


So I always try to be helpful, along with my colleagues, to give assistance to the needy, the hungry, the thirsty.

[Shahbaz Bhatti, Cristiani in Pakistan. Nelle prove la speranza (Christians in Pakistan: hope in tribulation), Marcianum Press, Venice, 2008 (p. 39-43)]

[Tip: Papa Ratzinger blog; text: Fondazione Oasis]

A request for our Asian readers ...

On March 26, a well respected American traditional priest will lead a ceremony in his church followed by a Traditional Latin Mass, which will be widely attended by Chinese and Korean Catholics. This is a real opportunity to show these Catholics the Mass of All Ages and expose them to the traditional movement.

Father would like to be able to produce a little missalette for them so that they can follow the Mass, but he doesn't have any resources in either language, and doesn't know anyone who can help.

If you have access to either a PDF of a Chinese to Latin missal, or a Korean to Latin missal, or a link to one that Father can print out, please email either the document or the link to me at cpaulitz@yahoo.com and I will pass it along.

Just in time for March 7: BAC's classic Summa back in print

In the 1940s-1960s, Spanish publishing house Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC) published one of the most celebrated annotated editions of the Summa Theologica, in 16 bilingual volumes (Latin/Spanish), with comments by Dominican friars under the direction of Bishop Francisco Barbado Viejo, O.P., who helped found BAC following the Civil War. It is considered by many to provide the very best and the most profound and didactic introductions and notes on the Summa in any modern language.

It has come to our attention that, after a few decades publishing only its post-Conciliar very inferior 5-volume version (also available online here), BAC has since last year begun the republication of a facsimile version (3rd. edition) of the 16-volume classic - first providing the 1st (I, q.1-26) and 2nd (I, q.27-74) volumes of the series.

Congratulations to BAC for this magnificent Thomist gift to the world.

Don Nicola Bux on the Instruction and the Reform of the Reform

Relevant excerpt of an interview granted by Monsignor Nicola Bux, consultant to the Office of Liturgical celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, to Italian daily Avanti, and published today:

At what point is the "reform of the reform" desired by Benedict XVI?

With this expression, which Ratzinger used when he still was the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he meant that the reform that took place after the Council had to be resumed, and in some ways corrected there where, always using his words, the restoration of the painting had been too much, that is, by trying to clean, it had taken the risk of removing too many layers of color. He started this restoration through his own style. The Pope celebrates the liturgy in a subdued, not loud, way. He also wants the prayers, songs, and anything else not to be in exhibitionist tones. And two special actions in his liturgies that are obvious should be noticed: he places the Cross between himself and the assembly, indicating that the liturgical rite is not addressed to the priestly minister, but to Christ; and kneeling in the reception of Communion, indicating that this is not a supper, in the worldly sense of the word, but a communion with the body of Jesus Christ, that is worshiped first, in the words of St. Augustine, and only then eaten.

How many obstacles is the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum on the pre-Conciliar Mass facing?

I believe that, currently, the obstacles are becoming feebler than at the time in which the Motu proprio was issued, in 2007. Through the internet, one can see how there is a discreet movement of young people who look for and, as much as it is possible, go to the Traditional Mass, also called the Latin Mass or Mass of All Time. And this, I believe, is a very important sign to gather.

It is clear that the pastors of the Church, first the bishops and then the parish priests, although often saying that we must be able to grasp the signs of the times, an expression very much in use after Vatican II, often fail to understand that the signs of the times are not defined by them, but they happen and are regulated mainly by young people. I think this is the most interesting symptom, because, if [only] the elderly, the adults, went to the Traditional Mass, one might harbor a suspicion that it is nostalgia. The fact that it is mostly young people who seek and participate in the Latin Mass is completely unexpected and therefore deserves to be read, understood, and particularly accompanied by the bishops.

I think the Pope acknowledges this and that is why he intends to make a further contribution through an instruction on the application of the motu proprio, to help everyone understand that, in addition to the new form of the Roman Rite, there is the ancient or extraordinary form.

[Tip and text: Papa Ratzinger Blog]

Ecce ascendimus IerosolymamLent is coming... - I

    My foundations are deep in the hills,

and these hills, the peoples carry them on their backs,

    and memory burns at their summit

in burning bush.

Odysseas Elytis         

To Axion Esti            

...Recess continues for a few days...

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

Continued Prayers for Summorum Pontificum
Turn to the Church Suffering and Triumphant

By now you most likely have read our numerous reports on the current state of Summorum Pontificum and the pending "Instruction" possibly coming soon. If you have not yet signed the petition to defend our Holy Father and the Traditional Latin Mass, please do so by clicking here. Please also urge your friends and family to do the same, and soon.

Let us also turn to the newly Church Triumphant that this Society has prayed to Heaven to intercede for us to strengthen the Holy Father and protect him from the wolves that are circling -- some very close to him. And let us also turn to the Church Suffering, especially those still enrolled in the Society, to pray that the Instruction strengthens Summorum Pontificum and doesn't lessen it. And, if it is to lessen it, that it never sees the light of day.

We have many souls grateful to us for our prayers and Masses. They want to help -- we just need to ask.

A reminder on how to enroll souls: please email me at cpaulitz@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 also 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.

Please pray for the enrolled souls and the 14 holy priests saying Traditional Masses for the Society:

Religion of peace update

From The Globe and Mail and several news sources, including Asia News:

Assailants purportedly sent by al-Qaeda and the Taliban killed the only Christian member of Pakistan's federal cabinet Wednesday, spraying his car with bullets outside his parents' driveway. It was the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.

The killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic in his 40s, further undermines Pakistan's shaky image as a moderate Islamic state and could deepen the political turmoil in this nuclear-armed, U.S.-allied state where militants frequently stage suicide attacks.

In pamphlets found at the scene of the shooting, al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban said they targeted Mr. Bhatti because of his faith and because he allegedly belonged to a committee that was reviewing the blasphemy laws.

Let us pray for Catholics in Pakistan.

Collapse?

OK, this must be said because it seems some people have read a different kind of interview than the one granted by the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), Bishop Bernard Fellay, to the Fraternity's own news agency (DICI) and to the website of the Fraternity's United States District: there has been no "collapse" of "the doctrinal discussions between the Vatican and the SSPX", as this Catholic Herald columnist (and others) seem to imply. Fellay simply stated that the round of doctrinal discussions that had been agreed by both parties is "coming to a conclusion". That is it. No "collapse", but a simple matter already foreseen in the calendar of discussions. 

If and when there is a "collapse", we will surely know it...