Rorate Caeli

We Report: Surprise Pontifical Mass in Washington, D.C.


We at Old St. Mary's were pleasantly surprised this morning as what was supposed to be a typical summer Low Mass turned into a Pontifical Low Mass -- celebrated by Joseph Cardinal Zen.

In town for an event at the National Basilica, he was long scheduled to say the 11:30a.m. Novus Ordo in Chinese but, upon request, accepted the invitation to say the 9a.m. Traditional Latin Low Mass at Old St. Mary's in Chinatown.

His sermon, of course, focused on the dire situation in China. He called the national church bishops "illegitimate" and said the entire national church "has no courage" and do not understand how great martyrdom is. He said they are selling out to the government now that it is flush with cash. As refreshingly hard he was on the above-ground church in China, he was equally praising of Pope Benedict XVI, and his efforts to stop the persecution of Catholics in China.

After the Mass, Card. Zen spent over an hour in the basement of Old St. Mary's with all the trads for our Sunday coffee and donuts, spending time with each and every person who approached him.

Now if only we could get our own Cardinal Wuerl to Old St. Mary's. It shouldn't be too hard for him, since this is still the only Sunday TLM in the city, even four years after Summorum Pontificum. At least there was one Pontifical Mass he couldn't cancel this year.

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