Too much of 2014 has been talk of very public Black Masses: first, a failed attempt at Harvard, now one scheduled for a civic arena in Oklahoma.
We received today a note concerning this matter released to the media by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) American District:
Following upon the May events in Boston, another Satanic Black Mass has been scheduled to be held in the Civic Center of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on September 21st.
Despite the pleas of Catholics and even non-Catholics to have this event cancelled, nonetheless, Oklahoma City officials continue to state they are unable to do this.
In a supernatural attempt to prevent this blasphemous act, Tulsa's local ordinary, Bishop Edward Slattery published a letter on July 31st, exhorting all to make a novena of prayer and penance from August 6-14. [NB: Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City also published a letter on August 4, but the acts of reparation he proposes applies mostly to the local parishes and not the individual].
The novena consists of three items:
-- Abstain from all meat and meat products.
-- Pray the rosary daily for the intention of the event's cancellation.
-- Say every day the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel.
Bishop Slattery also stated that on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15th), all the churches of the Tulsa diocese would be reciting Pope Leo XIII's prayer to St. Michael for the defense of the Church.
Lastly, if these efforts are not sufficient to cause the event to be cancelled, His Excellency will be directing all of his priests to offer a Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament, and where possible, even outdoor Eucharistic Processions, as an act of reparation [NB: see Archbishop Coakley's "Call to Prayer" for what he similarly directs in his archdiocese].
The Society of St. Pius X certainly supports these traditional means that Bishop Slattery has advocated to oppose the public mockery of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Sacrifice that is being planned in Oklahoma City, and likewise encourages its readers to join in the novena of prayer and fasting. ...
The SSPX, often incorrectly maligned as simply "outside the Church," is right to support a wonderful bishop asking for supernatural help in combating evil. And they were right to rally prayers for the repose of the soul of Fr. Kenneth Walker, FSSP, and for the consolation of his family (see here).
Our question is: when will this desire for unity the SSPX has so clearly been showing become a two-way, and not one-way, street? When will Rome, "conservative" Catholics and the mainstream Catholic media finally accept this plainly Catholic society of priests, currently in irregular canonical situation, as just that -- Catholic?
Let us hope the SSPX can keep driving that one-way street for as long as it takes, as our Lord Jesus Christ would expect. Clearly, they're the only ones not constantly looking in the rear-view mirror.
