Cleaning the stables

A regular bishop (that is, an "extremist conservative" and "hateful fundamentalist" for the "Progressives") is named as Auxiliary in a Dutch diocese; one year later, he is named by the titular bishop to help run a problematic parish, whose governing board is dominated by those same Progressives.

The Auxiliary Bishop is Robertus Mutsaerts, of 's Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch, in the Netherlands); the Parish Church is that of San Salvator, in the city itself; the date for the beginning of the bishop's administration of the Parish is November 1, All Saints' Day; and the open revolt by the Liberal board began as soon as the measure was announced, about one month ago. The board, in order to force the Bishop to back down, threatened to have the community leave the church buildings and create a lay-run independent foundation. The diocesan spokesman's answer to the threat? "All are free to profess their faith". Ouch!

Help the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter! Appeal from FSSP Australia Ezechiel House Novitiate

His Eminence Cardinal George Pell of Sydney Australia is speaking at a fundraising dinner for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Cardinal Pell is helping the FSSP to raise funds to build the Fraternity's Ezechiel House Novitiate in Sydney. Ezechiel House has trained the FSSP first year seminarians from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and sometimes Nigeria so far. However, they won't be able to accept any more candidates until the house is complete, due to safety reasons.

The FSSP priest in charge of the building is Fr Laurence Gresser who was horribly injured in a fire last year. During his recovery he has been able to oversee the building, but was unable to do much fundraising. So Cardinal Pell has generously offered to promote the cause.

Fr Phil Wolfe (American) has just visited Ezechiel House and seen the wonderful quality of the work. He asks for your prayers for the success of the fundraising dinner. They need another $250,000 to complete the seminary.

For more information about the dinner or to help financially, please click here. If you run a Catholic blog, and want to help this great cause, please link to this as well.

Ezechiel House is producing a DVD for the dinner which will show the Novitiate and featuring many of the FSSP priests stationed in Australia including Fr Duncan Wong, Fr John Rizzo and Fr Define, who are remembered very fondly from their time in US apostolates. Fr Wong is the Director of Ezechiel House and has done a magnificent job in forming men in a half built house. He will try to make the DVD available after the dinner.

The Royal Word of God sits in judgment of the world

I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and with justice doth he judge and fight. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he had a name written, which no man knoweth but himself. And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, THE WORD OF GOD.

And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he hath on his garment, and on his thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that did fly through the midst of heaven: "Come, gather yourselves together to the great supper of God: That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all freemen and bondmen, and of little and of great."

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone. And the rest were slain by the sword of him that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of his mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Apocalypse of Saint John, xix

____________________________________

Bishop Slattery: "They shouldn't have viewed the old liturgy...as something that needed to be fixed."

From Bishop Edward Slattery's interview with the National Catholic Register, published on October 28, 2011: Bishop Slattery on Prayer, the Mass and New Vocations.

You’ve made public statements about problems with the liturgy. What changes would you like to see?

I would like to see the liturgy become what Vatican II intended it to be. That’s not something that can happen overnight. The bishops who were the fathers of the council from the United States came home and made changes too quickly. They shouldn’t have viewed the old liturgy, what we call the Tridentine Mass or Missal of Pope John XXIII, as something that needed to be fixed. Nothing was broken. There was an attitude that we had to implement Vatican II in a way that radically affects the liturgy.

What we lost in a short period of time was continuity. The new liturgy should be clearly identifiable as the liturgy of the pre-Vatican II Church. Changes, like turning the altar around, were too sudden and too radical. There is nothing in the Vatican II documents that justifies such changes. We’ve always had Mass facing the people as well as Mass ad orientem [“to the east,” with priest and people facing the same direction]. However, Mass ad orientem was the norm. These changes did not come from Vatican II.

Also, it was not a wise decision to do away with Latin in the Mass. How that happened, I don’t know; but the fathers of the Council never intended us to drop Latin. They wanted us to hold on to it and, at the same time, to make room for the vernacular, primarily so that the people could understand the Scriptures.

You yourself have begun celebrating Mass ad orientem.

Yes, in our cathedral and a few parishes where the priests ask me to. Most of the time, I say Mass facing the people when I travel around the diocese or when I have a large number of priests concelebrating, because it works better that way.

A few priests have followed my example and celebrate ad orientem as well. I have not requested they change. I prefer to lead by example and let the priests think about it, pray about it, study it, and then look at their churches and see if it’s feasible to do.

And it’s positive when people are thinking about and talking about the liturgy.

When people make the liturgy part of their conversation, it is a good thing. As priests and laypeople discuss the liturgy, they’ll see how important it is and how it is a work of God and not our own.

But we must approach the liturgy on bended knee with tremendous humility, recognizing that it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God. It is a gift. We worship God not by creating our own liturgies, but by receiving the liturgy as it comes to us from the Church. The liturgy should be formed and shaped by the Church itself to help people pray better. And we all pray better when we are disposed to receive what God has offered, rather than creating something of our own.

Photo source: LINK

Fr. Uwe-Michael Lang in the U.S.

Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, native of Germany and priest of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London who is currently working with the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome, will offer the 12:30 High Mass at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago for the Feast of Christ the King. After Mass, Father Lang will speak about the liturgical reforms of Pope Benedict XVI. Fr. Lang’s book on ad orientem celebration of the Mass, Turning Toward the Lord, was prefaced by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

Assisi III: Peter greets his Master

From Getty images:

1. Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi.

2. Omnes de Saba venient ...

Tip: XA- Le Forum Catholique.

Divino Afflatu centennial - II: comparing the Psalter orders before and after St.Pius X

In this second commemorative post on the first centennial of Divino Afflatu, of Pope Saint Pius X, on the reform of liturgical rubrics and the alteration of the order of the Psalter in the Roman Breviary, we take a closer look at the latter.

The changes in the order of the psalter were, by far, the most noticeable consequence of Divino Afflatu. For the first time in centuries, the order of psalms of most hours was changed - and the holy Pope explained why:

Even at present the psalter should be recited in its entirety within the week were it not that owing to the changed condition of things such recitation is frequently hindered. ... More than once serious complaints have been made by prudent and pious men about this omission, on the ground that owing to it those in sacred orders have been deprived of so many admirable aids for praising the Lord and expressing the inmost feelings of the soul, and that it has left them without that desirable variety in praying so highly necessary for our weakness in supplicating worthily, attentively, and devoutly.

...

Messire Dieu, premier servi!

All honor to the good Catholic men and women of Paris! They have been the first to protest, every day with stronger numbers, against an odious play that had been blaspheming, unopposed and in several countries and cities, the Name, the image, and the honor of the Lord King of the Universe, whose feast we will celebrate this Sunday.

The Roman Rite: Old and New - V The theology of the New Mass: Latin, Orientation, Altar as Table, Participation

In the fifth part of of Don Pietro Leone's "The Roman Rite: Old and New", the author continues his thorough presentation of the several problematic aspects of the theology of the New Mass, as compared with the Traditional Rite, now dealing with the language, the grave novelty of liturgical disorientation, the abomination of the sacrificial Altar seen primarily as a supper table, and the distortion of the meaning of active participation.

________________________________

[We now proceed to compare (other) general features of the Mass in the Old and the New Rites.]

6.  Latin

The Latin language in its sacred, immutable, traditional, and universal character is perfectly adapted to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to the doctrine it expresses, as to the Catholic Church, and more generally to catholicity itself^[1].

 In being immutable, traditional, and universal, it constitutes a principle of unity for all Catholics of the Roman rite, not only of all nations but also of all times: a principle both of visible unity and of unity in the Faith.

Editorial note: Assisi Ignored

It is apparently true: as one commentator noticed in his own country, other than in some Italian dailies (and RAI, the Italian State network, that helped film it), the Assisi meeting generated only generic notes by news agencies reproduced by national or local papers. In most mainstream sources, it was ignored.

Should this be viewed:

(1) as something good, and perhaps the result of a successful effort to downplay the event?

or (2) as something not particularly good, in the way it feeds the ongoing notion that the Papacy (and all it represents) is becoming increasingly irrelevant (as in the repeated meme that the Vatican now feels as inconsequential as the Republic of Venice right before its fall to Napoleonic troops)?

Regardless of anything said or done in Assisi yesterday, events such as the one that took place there tend to be portrayed or seen in the secularized world as confirming what they see as the irrelevance and empty self-importance of faith in general - for many adult men and women, an assembly of religious leaders may look more purposelessly pathetic or pity-inducing than inspiring or scandalous. Perhaps the time has come for the ecclesiastical hierarchy to leave behind some frivolous notions of the second half of the 20th century, including the promotion of an amorphous "peace movement".

[Image: Ludovico Manin, last Doge of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.]

Military Chaplain TLM Update & Purgatorial Society Posting

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society (forty-seventh posting of souls)

Continuing with the Military Chaplain theme started last week with Fr. David Smith's war zone photo saying a TLM for the suffering souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society, many questions arose about other Military Chaplains saying the TLM for their soldiers, sailors and airmen. In that vein, I point you to the photo, above.

This shows the very "unreformed" chapel altar of Fr. Charles Johnson of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps. Fr. Johnson is based at the Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois. He is also one of the first of the 16 priests to sign up for weekly TLMs for the Society. Fr. Johnson also reports that he said the TLM regularly when he was in Iraq. We owe Father a big debt of gratitude for his dedication to our Society and our suffering loved ones in Purgatory.

UPDATE: After posting about Fr. Smith in Afghanistan, many faithful offered to send him altar linens and other wonderful items, for him and his troops in the Royal Army. He deeply appreciates the offers but cannot accept them. What he would like is for our readers to send him Mass intentions. He tells Rorate that while he gladly says Mass for the dead, he loves saying Mass for the living, and doesn't get many intentions while in the desert. If you have intentions, email them to me, and I'll forward them along to Father (athanasiuscatholic AT yahoo DOT com).

Please pray for the enrolled souls and the 16 holy priests saying Traditional Masses for the Society:

Events: Christ the King in PA; All Souls in WI

1. October 30, 2011: High Mass in Patton, Pennsylvania (Diocese of Altoona-Johnston)

Assisi III: Papal address

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Distinguished Heads and Representatives of Churches, Ecclesial Communities and World Religions,

Dear Friends,

Twenty-five years have passed since Blessed Pope John Paul II first invited representatives of the world’s religions to Assisi to pray for peace. What has happened in the meantime? What is the state of play with regard to peace today? At that time the great threat to world peace came from the division of the earth into two mutually opposed blocs. A conspicuous symbol of this division was the Berlin Wall which traced the border between two worlds right through the heart of the city. In 1989, three years after Assisi, the wall came down, without bloodshed. Suddenly the vast arsenals that stood behind the wall were no longer significant. They had lost their terror. The peoples’ will to freedom was stronger than the arsenals of violence. The question as to the causes of this dramatic change is complex and cannot be answered with simple formulae. But in addition to economic and political factors, the deepest reason for the event is a spiritual one: behind material might there were no longer any spiritual convictions. The will to freedom was ultimately stronger than the fear of violence, which now lacked any spiritual veneer. For this victory of freedom, which was also, above all, a victory of peace, we give thanks. What is more, this was not merely, nor even primarily, about the freedom to believe, although it did include this. To that extent we may in some way link all this to our prayer for peace.

But what happened next? Unfortunately, we cannot say that freedom and peace have characterized the situation ever since.

Report: Catholic bishop in Nigeria approved the request of one of his priests to join the SSPX

This year's 3rd edition of the SSPX newsletter Catholic Tradition in Africa has the story in its 3rd page (emphasis mine):

Before the arrival of Fr. Duverger we had already visited the faithful in Asaba (109 Kilometers from Enugu). On Wednesday, 18th May we were in Owerri where Fr. Duverger offered mass in the home of Mr. Mike Iheboro. About 35 faithful were present. Owerri is 174 Kilometers from Enugu. On Thursday, we were in the parish of Fr. Samuel Abah, a priest of Otukpo diocese who had decided to join us in the battle for Catholic tradition. This was 150 Kilometers from Enugu. The district superior offered mass for over 200 faithful in Nwedoga, an outstation of Fr. Samuel Abah's parish. On the evening of Friday, 20th we met with his bishop who gave his verbal approval for Fr. Abah to join the Society. This was in addition to welcoming us warmly and having us lodged in his cathedral. Sunday the 22nd was the turn of the Enugu faithful to have the district superior offer a sung mass at 10.00am followed by a conference, and a question and answer session.

The second and current bishop of Otukpo is Michael Ekwoy Apochi, 51 years old, born on August 6, 1960 and consecrated bishop on Feb. 23, 2003 at the age of 42.

You report: Bishop Schneider's Pontifical Mass in Russia

From Mr. Oleg-Michael Martynov of Una Voce Russia comes this report. (See also Rorate's earlier post on this Pontifical Mass.)

Another step in the restoration of traditional Roman Catholic spirituality in Russia was taken on October 15: Mgr. Athanasius Schneider, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Maria Sanctissima in Astana (Kazakhstan), celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the historic church of St. Louis in Moscow. Serving was an international team of clergy representing three different religious institutes: Canon Gwenaël Cristofoli ICRSS was the assistant priest, Fr. Vitaly Leontiev FSSP served as deacon, and Fr. Michał Jermaszkiewicz OP acted as subdeacon. Abbé Louis Valadier was the primary master of ceremonies. Fr. Igor Kowalewski, the parish priest of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul parish (which shares the church with the parish of St. Louis) assisted in choro. The choir under the direction of Mr. Timur Dosayev sang beautiful pieces of sacred polyphony.

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Thank you.

The great Catholic horror story: the pseudo-historical deception of Communion in the hand

If you do not believe in the Real Presence, how hyperbolic it must sound... For those who know that He is there, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, "horror" does not begin to describe the problems surrounding the handling of the Most Holy Sacrament in post-Conciliar settings, based on pseudo-historical "sources" and outright deception.

The Great Deception about Holy Communion in the hand

St. Cyril of Jerusalem and Communion in the hand

Regarding the matter of so-called “Communion in the hand,” [Una Fides] presents an article by the Rev. Father. Giuseppe Pace, S.D.B., published in the magazine Chiesa Viva of January 1990 (Civiltà, Brescia.) [Translation by Rorate contributor Francesca Romana.]

________________________________

The acorn is a potential oak tree;  the oak tree is an acorn that has come to perfection. For the oak to return to being an acorn, presuming that it could do so without dying, would be a regression.  It is for this reason the Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII condemned liturgical antiquarianism as anti-liturgical with these words: “Just as obviously unwise and mistaken is the zeal of one who in matters liturgical would go back to the rites and usage of antiquity, discarding the new patterns introduced by disposition of divine Providence to meet the changes of circumstances and situation. (no.63) (…) This way of acting bids fair to revive the exaggerated and senseless antiquarianism to which the illegal Council of Pistoia gave rise. It likewise attempts to reinstate a series of errors which were responsible for the calling of that meeting as well as for those resulting from it, with grievous harm to souls, and which the Church, the ever watchful guardian of the "deposit of faith" committed to her charge by her divine Founder, had every right and reason to condemn. (no.64)

The pseudo – liturgists who are desolating the Church in the name of the Second Vatican Council are prey to such morbid antiquarian obsessions; pseudo-liturgists, who, at times reach the point of obligating their subjects with exhortations and instances that violate the few remaining wholesome laws that still survive, and which, they, themselves, have formally promulgated or confirmed.

Symptomatic of all this is the issue of the Rite of Holy Communion. One bishop, in fact, after declaring that the Sacred Species be placed on the tongue of the communicant is still in force at the Traditional Rite, at the same time, also permits Holy Communion to be distributed in little baskets which the faithful pass along to each other; or he, himself, deposits the Sacred Species into the hands (are they always clean?) of the communicant. If you want to convince the faithful that the Most Holy Eucharist is nothing other than (a piece of) ordinary bread, perhaps even blessed as a symbolic meal, one could not imagine a better way to do it than that of sacrilege.

The promoters of Communion in the hand call upon that pseudo-liturgical antiquarianism condemned by Pius XII in apertis verbis.  In fact, they say that it is in this way that you must receive It, because it had been carried out in that manner by the entire Church, both in the East and West from Her beginnings and for a thousand years afterwards.

It is most certainly true from the beginnings of the Church, and then for almost two thousand years, that, in preparation for Communion, communicants had to abstain from all food and drink from the night before until the moment of reception. Why don’t those antiquarians restore that Eucharistic fast? This would certainly contribute quite a bit in maintaining awareness in the mind of the communicant the thought of imminent reception of Holy Communion, so that they would  dispose themselves better.

Instead, it is most certainly false that, from the Church’s beginnings and  for a thousand years afterwards, the entire Church, both East and West, had the practice of placing the Sacred Species in the hands of the faithful.

Reminder for our readers - EVENTS

Dear readers,

Some event notices that were sent to us recently have gone ... unnoticed by us, unfortunately. Please, when you send us (any of the blog contributors) news of future events, anywhere in the world, please include "[EVENT]" in the subject of your message. Thank you!

For the record: Assisi III preparatory prayers

The paraliturgical prayer ceremony that is to be held in St.Peter's Square tomorrow, in preparation of Assisi III, which will take place on Thursday, begins with the Tu es Petrus and ends with the Salve Regina (there are readings, a papal homily, and new-rite-style "Intercessory Prayers" in between).

(PDF booklet file available in several languages, including English, with Italian translations, in the Vatican website).

Filled with hot air

Is there a more visible sign of the Pharisaism of the liturgical revolutionaries (before and, stronger than ever, after the Council) than their criticisms of the supposed "unseemliness" of the "wealth" of traditional ecclesiastical architecture and art and the millions and millions they are ready to spend on their empty secular-like structures?

12 million euros have been spent in a convent for 7 Poor Clares in Ronchamp, in the Franche-Comté (France) - a project by well-known architect Renzo Piano, built near the infamous church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, by Le Corbusier - financed by the Association Oeuvre Notre-Dame-du-Haut, a lay association that owns the site, but has the full support of the Diocese of Besançon.

Honestly, as Francesco Colafemmina, who reports this for Fides et Forma, comments, doesn't it sound presumptuous and ridiculous for a Vatican dicastery to lecture anyone (concerning a matter that is completely "negotiable" and eminently "debatable") on the need for a unified "system not only of governance, but of government of international economy and finance" and for a "World Central Bank" when scandalous waste like this takes place, for all intents and purposes, in the name of the Catholic Church? 

Lorber, FSSPX, prefaced by Cañizares, S.R.E. Card.

Magnificat Dominum is a new work produced by the wonderful Association Sacra Musica (France - page in English), not officially affiliated with any particular order or society, for the popularization of the basic pieces of Gregorian chant and of traditional vernacular hymnody among the faithful. The book's organizer? Father Bernard Lorber, FSSPX (SSPX), the priest behind Sacra Musica's greatest projects. 

Who penned its preface? Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. (Source: UnaVoce.fr; tip: Le Forum Catholique)

The Roman Rite: Old and New - IV The theology of the New Mass: crisis in faith in the Real Presence, Sacramental Priesthood, and the Ends of the Mass

In the fourth part of our presentation of Don Pietro Leone's "The Roman Rite: Old and New", the author continues his analysis of the several problematic aspects of the theology of the New Mass, as compared with the Traditional Rite. Are there deficiencies in the way the New Mass presents the Real Presence, the Ministerial Priesthood, and the very ends of the sacramental sacrifice?

________________________________

We now proceed to compare certain general features of the Mass in the Old and the New Rites.

3. The Real Presence

We have already quoted the Council of Trent to the effect that Christ Himself is offered in the Mass. In the 4^th canon of the 13^th Session, the doctrine of the Real Presence is expressed in the clearest terms: “If any-one were to deny that in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is contained truly, really, and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the whole Christ; but were to say that he is present in it only as a sign, a figure, or a power: Anathema sit ^[1]”.

In the Old Rite this dogma is expressed clearly in the text of the Mass by phrases such as that which follows the consecration: “… the pure Victim, the holy Victim, the immaculate Victim, the Holy Bread of eternal life and Chalice of everlasting salvation^[2].”

Respect for the Real Presence is expressed by the many genuflections, the purification of the celebrant’s fingers in the chalice, the avoidance of contact with any profane object before they are purified, the purification of the sacred vessels on the corporal immediately after their use, the use of a pall to protect the chalice, the internal gilding of the vessels, the consecration of the immobile altar, the use of the pietra sacra and relics in the mobile altar and on the mensa when the Mass is said in a sacred place, of three altar-cloths, the reception of Holy Communion and the thanksgiving while kneeling (as opposed to the former standing and the latter sitting),  the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, the prescriptions in the case of a consecrated host falling to the ground, the prohibition that faithful and mass-servers touch the sacred vessels (see Critical Study IV 2).

The Reformer Martin Bucer, mentor of Thomas Cranmer, expressed the Protestant consensus as to the Real Presence (to which only Luther did not subscribe in virtue of his doctrine of consubstantiation) in his Censura when he said: “It becomes our duty to abolish from the churches… with all purity of doctrine whatever forms of bread-worship they wish to have employed by the anti-Christs and preserved in the hearts of the simpler kind of people” (MD p. 463).

Liberation: like the Allies in Rome

OK, not exactly:

Libya's transitional leader has declared liberation of the country ... . Mustafa Abdul-Jalil also told thousands of supporters at a ceremony on Sunday that Islamic Sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation in the country, and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified. [CBS News and several sources.]

[The Telegraph adds:] Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

Rome, by the way, is slightly closer to Tripoli, the capital of Italy's former colony in North Africa, than it is to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, or Athens. Let us pray for Christians in nations with Muslim majorities!

Well, at least, "we'll always have Paris" - and Assisi!

["Meeting of the religions for peace", promoted by the Catholic Church in Paris on the same day as the Assisi pilgrimage. Image source: Sant'Egidio]

You Report: Votive TLM for Blessed Karl of Austria

From our friends at the Knights Of Columbus Woodlawn Council 2161 Traditional Latin Mass Guild comes this report (photos via the talented 17-year-old Katherine Wilson of Pittsburgh, Pa.):

On Friday, October 21st, 2011, a Solemn High Mass was offered by Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP (pictured above), at St. Mary Mother of God Church in Washington, D.C., for the Feast of Blessed Emperor Karl of the House of Austria.

A Vatican II Moment Hostages: Put your hands up: this is a liturgy!

From the Mass for Families celebrated by the Bishop of Belfort (France):

Therefore all should hold in great esteem the liturgical life of the diocese centered around the bishop, especially in his cathedral church; they must be convinced that the pre-eminent manifestation of the Church consists in the full active participation of all God's holy people in these liturgical celebrations, especially in the same eucharist, in a single prayer, at one altar, at which there presides the bishop surrounded by his college of priests and by his ministers.

Sacrosanctum Concilium, 41

[Tip: Perepiscopus and Le Forum Catholique]

The Roman Rite: Old and New - III The theology of the Traditional and New Rites: Offertory, Canon, and the 'Eucharistic Prayers'

In the third part of of our presentation of Don Pietro Leone's "The Roman Rite: Old and New", the author continues his analysis of the problematic theological aspects of the New Mass, in particular how the ancient Protestant criticisms of the Offertory and of the Canon were somehow internalized by the agents of the post-Conciliar liturgical revolution.

___________________________________

 [I  

Catholicism and Protestantism]

B. In the Rites Themselves

We proceed to examine the theology of the Old and New Rites as contained in the rites themselves. Since our aim thereby is to manifest the Protestant character of the New Rite, we shall present the relevant material first in the Old Rite, then in the Protestant reformed rite(s), and then in the New Rite.

 We shall start by considering two parts of the Mass, we shall then consider various of its general features. In regard to the Protestant reformed rite(s) and the New Rite, we may say with Michael Davies (p. 285, quoting Dr. Francis Clark’s comment on Cranmer’s rite) “It was not what was expressed but what was suppressed that gave significance to the whole.”

In fact what was suppressed was almost everything pertaining to the very essence of the Mass, that is its sacrificial nature. It is in this light, then, that we shall compare the theology of the two rites. §1 on the Offertory concerns the anticipation of this Sacrifice; §2 on the Canon concerns the making present of the Sacrifice; §3 on the Real Presence concerns its object, namely Jesus Christ Himself; §4 on the Sacrificial Priesthood concerns the minister empowered to make the Sacrifice; §5 on the Ends of the Mass concerns the finalities of the Sacrifice; §6 on the Latin concerns the language which befits it; §7 on the Orientation of the Celebrant concerns the orientation appropriate to it; §8 on the Altar and Table concerns the altar of sacrifice; and §9 on Intelligibility and Participation concerns their principal object, namely the Sacrifice itself.

The two parts of the Mass that we shall examine are “the two particular Protestant bêtes noires” (MD p. 9): namely the Offertory and the Roman Canon.

Upcoming event: Messa Prelatizia in St. Peter's Basilica

For the second time this year, and for the third time since Summorum Pontificum came into effect (not counting private Masses), Mass according to the 1962 Missal will be offered by a bishop in St. Peter's Basilica.

His Eminence Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos will offer the opening Mass -- a Messa Prelatizia -- for the General Assembly of the Fœderatio Internationalis Una Voce on the morning of Saturday, November 5, 2011. The Mass will be held in the Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Vatican Basilica.

The first publicly-offered TLM of a bishop in St. Peter's after the liturgical reform of Paul VI was held in the same chapel on October 18, 2009, with then-Archbishop Raymond Burke as celebrant. This was followed by the TLM of Walter Cardinal Brandmuller at the Altar of the Chair on May 15, 2011.

In praise of Low Mass

Sacrifice. Silence. Like the simple seven words on Golgotha. The essence, before our very eyes: the epitome of unplanned and truly organic development - Roman order and terseness displayed forever and everywhere. 

Strengthened with all might,
according to the power of his glory,
in all patience and longsuffering with joy,
giving thanks to God the Father,
who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light:
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins;
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
for in him were all things created in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him and in him.
And he is before all, and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body, the Church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he may hold the primacy:
because in him, it hath well pleased the Father,
that all fullness should dwell.

And through him to reconcile all things unto himself,
making peace through the blood of his cross,
both as to the things that are on earth,
and the things that are in heaven.

Colossians I

Reform of the Reform beginning with the Ordinariates?...

From The Tablet:

Priests to face east at ordinariate Masses

21 October 2011

Masses celebrated by priests in the ordinariate are likely to be ad orientem, according to one of its leaders. While the liturgy for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has yet to be approved by the Holy See, Mgr Andrew Burnham said the Congregation for Divine Worship "is likely to commend eastward celebration, when the dynamic of the building suggests it". Mgr Burnham also said that it may also recommend kneeling at mention of the Incarnation during the Creed.

(The full text of the talk of Msgr. Burnham can be found at the Ordinariate Portal.)

As if Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae didn't exist

William J. Wright was the parish priest of Liverpool, Australia when he was appointed bishop of the Australian diocese of Maitland-Newcastle by Pope Benedict XVI on April 4, 2011. He was subsequently consecrated on June 15, 2011. He was appointed to succeed the very liberal Bishop Michael Malone, who was only 71 when his 'resignation' was accepted by the Pope.

Around the time of his appointment, he was embroiled in controversy over his refusal to honor the request of 37 of his parishioners for the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated in their parish. Unfortunately, it seems that Bishop Wright has now extended his refusal to obey Summorum Pontificum to his entire diocese. See the letter below.

In summary: it 'forbids' the regular celebration of the TLM on a Sunday, and 'permits' only a weekly weekday TLM at most. This, in a diocese that currently has no regular TLM; for 4 years, there was a monthly weekday Mass, and for 18 months or so until recently, there was an irregularly-scheduled Sunday Mass (perhaps 6-8 times a year). Rorate has been informed that the priests who offered these Masses were from outside the diocese, and that their circumstances no longer allow them to assist.

Maitland-Newcastle is, of course, far from being the only diocese where the bishop has actively blocked the application of Summorum Pontificum. Paix Liturgique's latest English newsletter tells the story of another such diocese: Viviers in France, where even the monthly Saturday hybrid TLM (with readings according to the Paul VI lectionary and done in French) promised a year ago by the bishop of the diocese has not yet materialized.

Yes, Autumn is here...

...with its "moving barricades" of polar air...

François Couperin

Second Livre [clavecin] - 6e ordre - "Les baricades mystérieuses"

And warm and gentle vernal wishes to our friends in the Southern Hemisphere!

Helping diocesan priests pray the Roman Breviary

Summorum Pontificum made clear that those bound to pray the Divine Office in the Latin Church may do so by using the traditional book, that is, the Breviarium Romanum (Roman Breviary). The German District of the  Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX) announced today an admirable initiative: it is inviting all diocesan priests in Germany for a meeting in its seminary in Zaitzkofen, Bavaria, on November 28, which will include both a spiritual introduction to the use of the Breviary and practical instructions for praying the hours of the Traditional Office. (Source.)
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The Divinum Officium Project sends us the following note:

"The Divinum Officium Project warmly supports this initiative to assist diocesan priests in praying the Traditional Breviary. If anyone has access to a copyright-free German version of the Psalter, please contact us at canon DOT missae AT gmail DOT com. We would like to make the German psalter available for this important event."

"Dear Hindu friends," we will be "spiritually united with" those in Assisi III

From the Daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office:

Christians and Hindus: together in promoting religious freedom

Dear Hindu Friends,

1. The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue is pleased to send you its cordial greetings as you celebrate Deepavali on 26 October of this year. May God, the source of all light, illumine your hearts, homes and communities for a life of peace and prosperity,

2. Maintaining our tradition of sharing a reflection on this occasion, we propose this year the theme of Religious Freedom. This subject is currently taking centre stage in many places, calling our attention to those members of our human family exposed to bias, prejudice, hate propaganda, discrimination and persecution on the basis of religious affiliation. Religious freedom is the answer to religiously motivated conflicts in many parts of the world. Amid the violence triggered by these conflicts, many desperately yearn for peaceful coexistence and integral human development.

3. Religious freedom is numbered among the fundamental human rights rooted in the dignity of the human person. When it is jeopardized or denied, all other human rights are endangered. Religious freedom necessarily includes immunity from coercion by any individual, group, community or institution. Though the exercise of this right entails the freedom of every person to profess, practise and propagate his or her religion or belief, in public or in private, alone or in a community, it also involves a serious obligation on the part of civil authorities, individuals and groups to respect the freedom of others. Moreover, it includes the freedom to change one's own religion.

4. When respected and promoted, religious freedom allows believers to be more enthusiastic about cooperating with their fellow citizens in the building of a just and humane social order. But wherever and whenever it is denied, suppressed or violated, "the growth of the authentic and lasting peace of the whole human family" is stifled and frustrated (cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of Peace, 2011). There are many fields in which a specific contribution can be made to the common good, such as the defence of life and the dignity of the family, the sound education of children, honesty in daily conduct, and the preservation of natural resources, to name a few. Let us strive, then, to join hands in promoting religious freedom as our shared responsibility, by asking the leaders of nations never to disregard the religious dimension of the human person.

5. The very day after you celebrate Deepavali this year, many religious leaders from across the globe will join Pope Benedict XVI in a Pilgrimage to Assisi to renew the pledge made twenty-five years ago, under the leadership of Blessed John Paul II, to make religions channels of peace and harmony. We will be spiritually united with them, confident that believers will always be a blessing for the whole world.

We cordially wish you a joyful celebration of Deepavali.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran

President

Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata

Secretary

The Roman Rite: Old and New - II Catholicism, Protestantism, and the theology of the New Roman Rite

In the second portion of our presentation of Don Pietro Leone's "The Roman Rite: Old and New", the author goes to the heart of the matter: if the Traditional Rites have always represented and transmitted (in the very sense of the word Tradition) what Catholics believe and are both the source and the summit of Eucharistic Dogma, as defined forever in Trent, what are exactly the source and character of a New Rite transformed in almost all its characteristics?

___________________________________

 I

Catholicism and Protestantism

We proceed to set forth and compare the theology of the Mass of the Old and the New Roman Rite, first as contained in official Church documents, then as contained in the rites themselves.

A. In Official Church Documents

1. The Old Rite

Catholic Dogma on the Blessed Eucharist is set forth definitively in the Council of Trent. The Council declares: “And so this Council teaches the true and genuine doctrine about this venerable and divine sacrament of the Eucharist… The Council forbids all the faithful of Christ henceforth to believe, teach, or preach anything about the most Holy Eucharist that is different from what is explained and defined in the present decree.” (Session 21, Introduction).

If we ask ourselves how this theology corresponds to the theology of the Old Rite, we must reply that it is identical, since the principal reason for the definition of Eucharistic dogma as for the reform of the Roman rite was to provide “a bastion of the true Faith against Protestant heresies”: a bastion at once dogmatic and liturgical (MD p. 8). In the same vein the Critical Study of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci (September 1969) speaks of “the Catholic theology of the Holy Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the Council of Trent, which, by fixing definitively the “Canons” of the rite, erected an insurmountable barrier against any heresy which might attack the integrity of the mystery.” The identity of the theology of the Old Rite with the dogmas of the Council of Trent is, in fact, a particularly eminent instance of the principle “Lex orandi, lex credendi”[1].

The Traditional Latin Mass -- in Afghanistan

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

The photo above usually would be very newsworthy: a priest, one of the 15 that say a weekly or monthly Traditional Latin Mass for the souls of our Purgatorial Society, saying a Requiem Mass for the souls enrolled in the Society.

What makes this not only newsworthy, but extraordinary, is that this Traditional Latin Mass is being said in Afghanistan.

The following is from the priest in the photo, Rev. Father David Smith RAChD [Royal Army Chaplains' Department]:

"Here are a couple of pictures that were taken of me offering the Forma-Extraordinaria in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. As you can see, it's a very homely little chapel that we share with all denominations.


"When I go out to visit the troops on the ground, I usually have to set up a temporary altar, often outdoors. But wherever the Mass is offered, it brings countless blessings and graces to the whole Church, including the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

"I offer the EF almost every day, always with a memento for the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society Holy Souls. On Fridays, where permitted, I offer the daily Requiem Mass for the intentions of the Rorate Purgatorial Society.

"Please ask your readers to remember all our troops serving in Afghanistan in their prayers. I've also attached a picture of me with some of my soldiers, taken during a pastoral visit to their remote location.


"They are busy opening some welfare parcels sent in by well-wishers back home in the UK. It makes such a difference to morale when this happens."

God bless you Father, and the work you do for the troops on the ground, and the Suffering in Purgatory. And God bless all of the Society's priests saying TLMs for the enrolled souls.

Please pray for the enrolled souls and the 16 holy priests saying Traditional Masses for the Society:

De Mattei explains the post-Conciliar crisis

Prof. Roberto de Mattei, author of the award-winning Il Concilio Vaticano II: una storia mai scritta (The Second Vatican II: A story never written), published this stirring review of a recently published book in Il Foglio last week (we owe the translation to our contributor Francesca Romana). He reviews Alessandro Gnocchi's and Mario Palmaro's La Bella Addormentata (Sleeping Beauty), on why the Church entered a deep crisis following the Council, and why she should rise again.


We must use this opportunity to, as a matter of justice, deeply thank Edizioni Lindau s.r.l. for their extreme kindness and gentleness in authorizing our publication of short excerpts of de Mattei's masterpiece. In dealing with clerical authorities recently on a similar matter, the unbelievable ensuing aggravation made us appreciate even more Lindau's wonderfully smooth approach. We can honestly say that de Mattei's book is the ideal historical companion to the more philosophical Iota Unum (whose most recent Italian edition was, by the way, also published by Lindau). Lindau also published the most recent books by Msgr. Brunero Gherardini, including one we particularly wish to recommend, and that should indeed be translated in many languages: Quaecumque dixero vobis, a work on Sacred Tradition that is deeper and wider than its size would indicate.

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A rude awakening  for  “The Sleeping Beauty” of the Church after the Council

In less than a year we will celebrate the half a century that separates us from the Second Vatican Council, but the controversies that have accompanied  the recognition of the Acqui Storia Award for my book “The Second Vatican Council: a story never written” (Lindau 2010), confirm just how much that event represents a historical node that has still to be dissolved,  above all in the Catholic world.