New Front in the Liturgy Wars: Rome Requires Dominicans of the Holy Spirit to Hybridize Novus Ordo and TLM
FOR THE RECORD: Superior of FSSP discusses Synopsis of French Bishops' TLM Survey
Fr. Paul-Joseph, interviewed below, is on the left side |
Refuting the Exaggerated and Belligerent Claims of the French Bishops’ Survey: Paix Liturgique
Pope Francis with leadership of the French Bishops' Conference, December 2022 |
EDITOR'S NOTE
Another blog, known for its extreme adulation of Pope Francis, is currently discussing the synthesis the French Bishops' Conference put out in 2021 in response to the Summorum Pontificum Survey. They exaggerate its significance and its pertinence as a document that reflects the true opinion of the bishops. Aside from the forceful misinterpretations, sophisms, and plain exaggeration, the article also shows a desperate attempt to control the narrative on Traditionis Custodes.
Argentine Blog: The Prohibition Document Arrived in Francis Hands -- but he decided against signing it | The petitions and letters had an influence as well
From our friends at Argentine blog Caminante Wanderer:
July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the third anniversary of Traditionis custodes, was the date set for the release of a new document from the Holy See putting an end to the traditional Mass, which, it was said, would be reserved exclusively for the so-called “Ecclesia Dei institutes.” It was, as we called it in this blog, the final solution.
From Pius XII to Paul VI to Cardinal Roche: The Difference One Word Can Make - Article by Paolo Pasqualucci
The Wages of Vatican II in Italy: Without priests or faithful, the Diocese left behind by the enemy of the Latin Mass, Abp. Viola, is crumbling
[Glorious, but empty, churches]
From Tortona to Milan, dioceses are grappling with contemporary challenges. Between inventiveness and realism, Ratzinger's prophecy is halfway through
Tortona also yields. Reorganization is the buzzword that from the hallways of the chancery crossed the threshold and quickly spread among the parishes: 313, most in Oltrepo, the others in the Tortona, Piacenza and Genoa areas, four different regions involved. Reorganization, they say, which means getting rid of the superfluous, of everything that is not essential, because the numbers do not add up and you trudge on. People are giving up, starting with the management of residences for the elderly and daycare centers, and sacrificing smaller and less attended churches. There is a shortage of priests and a shortage of worshippers. “This is certainly nothing new, and in the valleys then it is a disaster, and Covid has only accelerated a process that was already under way,” explains the pro vicar general of the Diocese of Tortona, Fr. Francesco Larocca. And so here is the reality: so many churches, chapels, parishes, oratories scattered over a vast territory and only one priest forced to go from one village to another. How can it be done?
Tradition and Traditionalism: Let us not be "men of little faith" - by Father Richard Cipolla
Father Richard Cipolla
In that by now well -read article posted at Messa in Latino just a few weeks ago in which a representative of that web site engaged in a conversation with Andrea Grillo, the famous (or infamous) professor of Sacramental Theology at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, I was of course, struck by Professor Grillo’s un-Catholic statement that “Tradition is the future”. The image that sprang to my mind is the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps Professor Grillo has watched the film Back to the Future too many times. That statement is not only a contradiction of the Catholic Church’s understanding of Tradition but also makes nonsense of the very word in Latin traditio, which comes from the Latin verb tradere meaning “to pass on”. (Lest a super-Latin scholar object that this verb can also mean to surrender, I do know that, but in Catholic thought the meaning of handing down or passing on is clear).
Benedictines of Norcia in today's New York Times
A lovely news article appears on page A4 of today's New York Times, online here, featuring the Benedictines of Norcia and their resilience following a magnitude-6.5 earthquake in 2016.
Elizabeth Povoledo, based in the Times' Rome bureau, wrote the feature article, with photos by Alessandro Penso. Abbot Benedict Nivakoff, OSB, discussed the delicious beer brewed there and how a percentage of the restoration effort has been aided by sales of Birra Nursia.
Fortescue’s Classic Work on Eastern Orthodoxy Republished in a New Edition
Update: The TLM Suppression Document Remains Unsigned
Our sources assure us that the draft of the document of almost total suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass is ready, and has been for some time - but it that it "remains unsigned."
Reflections on Pia Fraus in the Church: We must always be disciples of Truth and not of Lies!
Reflections on Pia Fraus in the Church
by Gustave Thibon
(Translated by Gerhard Eger)
[Rorate Note: Gustave Thibon was a French Traditional Catholic writer (1903–2001), and a prolific author, and wrote many essays for Itinéraires. He was known as a "peasant" philosopher. This essay appeared in the June 1970 issue of Itinéraires (Catholic periodical founded by Jean Madiran.]
Louis Salleron has recently put forward valuable insights into the issue of lying within the Church. Without any pretence of exhausting or resolving the debate, I should like to highlight some new points for discussion. I shall do this within the framework of what is nowadays called “interrogative philosophy.” [Note 1]
First question: to what degree can an institution that affirms it is divine in origin and end as well as necessary for the salvation of men fulfil its mission, insofar as it is a human and sociological phenomenon, without resorting to lying?
A pattern on TLM indults being denied and approved
There is an interesting pattern beginning to develop.
Two U.S. dioceses (Baltimore and Richmond) that have the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in them, with personal parishes, will no longer have any diocesan parish traditional Latin Masses offered, despite the noble attempt by the local bishops for renewals of existing two-year parish indults. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Diocese of Richmond, no diocesan clergy at diocesan parishes may licitly offer TLMs.
On the other hand, two U.S. dioceses (San Antonio and Arlington, Virginia) that do NOT have the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, or any other TLM personal parishes, have been granted two-year indult renewals, this week, for their existing diocesan parish TLMs offered by diocesan priests.
The Fifth Annual Festival of St. Louis (Missouri), August 23-25, 2024 -- All Dates, Times, Events
The Fifth Annual Festival of St. Louis (Missouri) has announced its schedule. All information in the posters below. It's going to be a fantastic time so if you are anywhere near St. Louis, or even if you're not but can get there for it, it will be well worth your while. I am not aware of any other American city that celebrates its patron with comparable liturgical, processional, cultural, devotional splendor.
Cardinal Sandoval Sends Letter to Pope in defense of Traditional Latin Mass
Letter from Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez to Pope Francis, advocating for the Mass of Saint Pius V, and International Endorsement by Personalities.
On July 6, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Guadalajara, penned a letter to Pope Francis, which he dispatched on Monday, July 8. In the letter, he urged that, amidst persistent rumors of an impending global restriction on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, the Tridentine Mass which has been celebrated for four centuries according to the rite of Saint Pius V, not be suppressed or suspended.
Diverse Catholic associations and news/internet platforms, among them Una Voce México, have called on personalities from around the world to endorse this petition launched by Cardinal Sandoval.
Below is a free translation of the letter sent by Cardinal Sandoval:
"To God Who Giveth Joy To My Youth": Thoughts on the Growing Revolutionary Threat to the Traditional Latin Mass
by Leo Darroch
John XXIII celebrating Low Mass in his private chapel |
Sign the Petition "Stop the Ban on the Traditional Latin Mass"
You are now able to join the names who wrote the newest "Agatha Christie Letter" petitioning for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Composer Sir James MacMillan has started the Petition here: join it now.
Father John Berg Elected as Fraternity of Saint Peter Superior General
For a new term of six years, bringing with him his past accomplished experience as Superior General.
FSSP communiqué:
Election of the Superior General of the Fraternity
Published 11 July 2024
Communiqué of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
Wednesday, July 10, 2024, Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Denton, Nebraska, USA
Guest Article: “The Great Loss: Or, the Pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio”
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The "Abrahamic Family House" promoted by Pope Francis |
Thousands of Spanish Pilgrims to Be Denied Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Covadonga
Spiritual Bouquet Participants Share Why They Love the TLM
An “Agatha Christie” Petition for Our Age: Great Names of Public Life and Culture sign Open Letter in Defense of the Latin Mass
The great news is brought by Damian Thompson, who reports on Twitter/X on the open letter to be published tomorrow at The Times (London):
Thread: Famous names including Bianca Jagger, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Princess Michael of Kent, Sir Andras Schiff, Tom Holland, Lady Antonia Fraser and many others appeal to the Vatican to save the Traditional Latin Mass in a letter to the Times tomorrow.
Letter implores the Holy See not to impose further 'unnecessary and insensitive' restrictions on the TLM. Other signatories: Sir Nicholas Coleridge, Sir Stephen Hough, Sir Paul Smith, Dame Mitsuko Uchida and one of the letter's organisers, Sir James MacMillan.
Full list of signatories asking Rome to save the Traditional Latin Mass:
New Collection of Insightful Interviews with Bishop Schneider
Why is the Traditional Latin Mass So Hated? - Op-Ed
Vision of Tuy |
Amongst all women one alone was chosen to be His Mother, who is The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mediatrix of All Graces. No other. Chosen from amongst all other holy Virgins.
The Game: What Now For the Traditional Mass Under Francis? - Op-Ed
Guest Op-Ed by Kevin Tierney
During the pontificate of Pope Francis, we have seen a careful game being played by the Vatican and their allies when it comes to dealing with Catholics drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass. When they attempt to downplay traditionalists, they are an irrelevant sect, with numbers so insignificant none should take them seriously. After this approach, they then flip, treating traditionalists as a threat to the unity of the Church, a threat so severe the ordinary rights of clerics and the faithful must be curtailed.
Accept or Reject the New Mass?
By James Baresel
Just days after Pope Benedict XVI issued Summorum Pontificum, Italy’s Bishop Luca Brandolini—who had been a close collaborator of Archbishop Annibale Bugnini—stated, “This day is for me a day of grief. I have a lump in my throat and I do not manage to hold back my tears…Today, a reform for which so many labored, at the cost of great sacrifices…has been canceled.”
Frontline report: New rounds in the war against tradition
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Otto van Veen, Valentinus Taken Prisoner |
George Galloway comes out in favour of the Traditional Mass
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George Galloway: Official photo from the UK Parliament |
Institute of Christ the King’s Superior received by Pope in Audience today (Updated with communiqué: no news is good news)
[June 24 original post:] Details to be released by the Institute (ICKSP) soon. (This will be updated then.)
[June 25, 2024: UPDATE - Communiqué below:]
On the 24th June 2024, the 45th anniversary of his Priestly Ordination by Saint John Paul II, Monsignor Gilles Wach, Prior General of our Institute, was received in private audience by His Holiness Pope Francis, accompanied by Monsignor Rudolf Michael Schmitz, vicar general of the Institute, and by Canon Louis Valadier, provincial of France.
Fontgombault Sermon for the Feast of Saint John the Baptist: Saint John, "the first Monk of the New Testament."
St. John the Baptist
(and Simple Profession of Monk)
Quis... puer iste erit?
What then will this child be?
(Lk 1:66)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My dearly beloved Sons,
and most especially you, who are going
to take your vows of religion,
This question sounds trite, commonplace, as the still virgin leaf of a new life has just received its first lines. Yet, if the people from the nearby country ask themselves this question, it is because the events surrounding the Precursor’s birth are a token of God’s special benevolence towards this child: “For the hand of the Lord was with him.” (Lk 1:66.)
If the Traditional Latin Mass is Banned, Many Attendees Will Simply Leave the Church
In discussions of the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass, it is typically assumed that those who lose the TLM will simply move elsewhere-- to the Novus Ordo first and foremost, but perhaps also to the SSPX or the Eastern Churches.
“Before the Egghead Fell Off the High Wall and Shattered into a Thousand Pieces”: Charlier on Grillo
Sermon for the “Final” Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne – 19th June, 2024 - The Prophetic Words of Cardinal Pell in 1992
Feast of Sts. Gervase & Protase
If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory, and power of God, and that which is His Spirit, rests upon you.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
May it please Your Grace. Very Rev’d Monsignor, the Dean, Dear Fathers, dear brethren,
Tonight my mind goes back to Saturday, 13th June, 1992, when I was present in this Cathedral. On that day, at the request of a group of lay people, then Bishop George Pell, as an auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, celebrated the traditional Roman Rite (the Mass we are celebrating tonight). It was the first traditional Mass celebrated by a Bishop in an Australian Cathedral since 1970. From 1970 to 1985, the old Mass had been under a putative ban, until the more enlightened and tolerant approach of John Paul II began to reverse this.
First Public Acknowledgement of the Consecration of New Bishops for the SSPX - Letter by SSPX France Superior: Get Ready
Last September, Rorate Caeli first published the rumors of a Consecration of new bishops for the traditional Catholic Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The SSPX last consecrated bishops in June 1988, and currently has three of those then consecrated still performing duties for the Society. As is to be expected, those three bishops are now much older, and considerably overstretched.
As is well remembered, those 1988 consecrations were deeply controversial, unleashing forces throughout the Church -- including the regularization and foundation of several religious institutes (including the FSSP and Le Barroux), and leading to the second major document on the "liberalization" of the Traditional Mass, the motu proprio "Ecclesia Dei".
Now, the Superior of the Society for France (the second largest, after the US, and still most influential District of the SSPX), Father Benoît de Jorna, is the first leader of the SSPX to publicly acknowledge the reality that consecrations will be needed soon, if only for realistic reasons of human affairs. [Our translation.]
***
Letter to friends and benefactors n. 95: let us be strong!
Father Benoît de Jorna
June 19, 2024
The virtue of strength will be sorely needed on a crucial occasion: the announcement of new consecrations to continue the "operation-survival" of Catholic Tradition.
Dear friends and benefactors,
Thirty-six years ago, on June 30, 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre performed "operation-survival" on Catholic Tradition by consecrating four auxiliary bishops for the Society of St. Pius X.
EXCLUSIVE: Dom Alcuin Reid’s Response to Prof. Grillo’s Interview
2nd Worldwide Campaign for the Preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass
- Request Masses to be said (e.g., through a parish, religious order, or another group) for the preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass (or if you're a priest, celebrate Masses for this intention)
- Offer your own hearings of Mass for this intention
- Pray rosaries for this intention
- Share the Missae pro Missa initiative with others
Pope’s Anti-TLM Theologian Shows His Pro-Contraception Cards
Andrea Grillo: An astonishing interview of the main lay ideologue behind Traditionis Custodes and the desire to ban the Traditional Mass
(Chartres Pilgrimage) |
While Archbishop Viola, Secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, is the main clerical ideologue interested in the ultimate ban of the Traditional Latin Mass, the main lay ideologue is Italian lay theologian Andrea Grillo, whose ideas and words are the very essence of the first partial ban instituted as "Traditionis custodes".
Italian blog Messa in latino has just released an interview with him, from which it can be gleaned how exactly the Francis pontificate sees faithful attached to Tradition and the traditional rites of the Latin Church. It is nothing short of an astonishing interview: the hatred and disgust for his fellow Catholics expressed in his words (for instance, calling the multitudes of young people attending the Chartres Pilgrimage in France, "little more than a sect that experiences infidelity as salvation") are not reserved even for the worst enemies of the Church.
From Messainlatino, English translation by Diane Montagna:
1. Messainlatino: Why, as it appears at least to us, does it seem that at all costs there is no desire to give free space in the Catholic Church to traditionalists who are faithful to Rome (like so many other lay movements), and that they are only regarded as faithful to be re-educated?
Archbishop Viola, the violator of Tradition -- the dangerous secretary of Divine Worship and the man behind the attempts to ban the Traditional Mass. His letter to the Melbourne Archbishop
Who is Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, OFM? The Secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship is said to be proud to wear the episcopal ring of none other than the devious creator of the Novus Ordo, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini (cf. here, in Italian).
(Archbishop Viola, celebrating something - image: Silere non possum) |
We can affirm today that he is the main dangerous ideologically motivated cleric whose final intent is to completely ban the Traditional Latin Mass. We could add much more, in much more detail, but instead will present the translation of the post just published by the Italian religious blog Silere non possum (a centrist, non-traditionalist blog) on the appalling ban Viola imposed on the continuation of the celebration of the Traditional Mass in the Cathedral of Melbourne, Australia -- as if the Metropolitan Archbishop of Melbourne were some kind of naughty altar boy who is not in charge even of the liturgy in his OWN cathedral! The absolute opposite of the deceitful allegations contained in Traditionis custodes.