RORATE CÆLI

Event: Archbishop Chaput to visit FSSP parish in Conshohocken, Pa.

Sermon for St. Ann’s Day 2019

In July of 1931, the New York World-Telegram reported about the miraculous cure of the young son of Hugh F. Gaffney. The boy, who lived at 348 East 18th Street, was stricken with paralysis. A relic of St. Ann, namely the bone of a finger, was brought to his hospital bed, where, according to the newspaper, after being touched by the bone, the invalid was cured. The thought that a New York newspaper today would print such a story boggles the mind. Militant secularism under the guise of liberalism, a liberalism that barely tolerates the Catholic Church, would see this as fake news and perhaps harmful to its world picture.

St. Ann’s church was located just a couple of blocks from this church, on East 12th Street, here in Manhattan. The building had an interesting history: Baptist church, Episcopal Church, Jewish Synagogue, and then Catholic church. When the church became too small for the size of the parish, the decision was made to rebuild the entire church in the French gothic style but to keep the original façade. The new church was dedicated in 1871, and the New York Times called it “among the most beautiful and costly churches in this City”. They compared it to the elegant and fashionable Grace Episcopal church in the same area of the City, which, by the way is still standing as we speak. Alas, St. Ann’s fell victim to a decision of the Archdiocese of New York to close the parish and to sell the property. The property was bought by a developer in 2005. The church was demolished, despite outcries from preservationist and local residents, and on that site New York University built a 26 story dormitory. As a sop to the preservationists, NYU kept part of the façade of St. Ann’s, and it stands there today, as someone in a guide to New York City said, like a “majestic elk, shot and stuffed”.

The second Traditional Liturgy Congress 'Vayamos Jubilosos' for families took place in Avila, Spain, from the 11th of July until the 14th of July.

The Jesuits officially embrace Communism

When your once-great religious order is dying, and the face of your magazine is James Martin, LGBTSJ, you may as well jump off the cliff.

America magazine, the journal of the U.S. Jesuits, has just published an essay by its Toronto correspondent entitled "The Catholic Case for Communism."

Its Jesuit editor has an accompanying piece attempting to say America magazine does not necessarily endorse communism just because it has published a lengthy essay in favor of communism. This is a laughable argument, considering the magazine or website does not publish pieces favoring, for instance, the traditional Latin Mass. In fact, even when it publishes an article favoring something traditional, such as the Latin language, it must contain socially leftist remarks in the piece. This is the only way an essay gets published in America magazine.

Finding one’s predominant fault

By Fr Konrad Loewenstein, FSSP

Dowry, FSSP Periodical

N. 41, Spring 2019

1. Its Nature

Each of us has a particular temperament which encompasses our whole manner of feeling, judging, sympathizing, willing, and acting. This temperament is to be perfected in each one of us by the practice of the Christian virtues. What can impede this work of perfection, and even bring each of us to our eternal ruin, is what is known as "the Predominant Fault".

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange OP describes it as "our domestic enemy dwelling in our interior... at times it is like a crack in a wall that seems to be solid but is not so: like a crevice, imperceptible at times but deep, in the beautiful facade of a building, which a vigorous jolt may shake to the foundations." Like a crack, we may notice our predominant fault, but think that it is just on the surface, and does not go deep; or we may have seen it in the past but just painted it over and now we do not see it any more. Prudence dictates that, if we see a crack in a wall, we examine it and see whether it does in fact go deeper: perhaps there is a structural problem which threatens the whole edifice.

Some examples of the predominant fault are moral weakness, sloth, gluttony, sensuality, irascibility, and pride. Our predominant fault can inform and colour our entire temperament, and compromise our predominant virtue which is, to quote Fr Garrigou-Lagrange again, "a happy inclination of our nature" which should develop and increase by Grace. This predominant virtue should itself determine our temperament.

You Report: New chapter of Una Voce in the Washington, D.C. region

We are pleased to pass along this note from the new Northern Virginia chapter of Una Voce:

We would be delighted if Rorate could let its readership know about the newly-formed Chapter of Una Voce of NoVA. One of our Chapter’s objectives is to build a strong membership base in the Virginia-DC-Maryland-WV region, with the formation of local subchapters throughout the area.

Saint Joseph Una Voce has been gathering with other like-minded Catholics at St. Peter Catholic Church in Washington, VA, on First Saturday mornings after hearing the 8:30 am Tridentine Mass, generously offered by the pastor, Fr. Kevin Beres. With Father's kind permission, a Meet and Greet pot-luck brunch follows, where old, new, and prospective members can meet and socialize. During brunch, an informal conversation ensues in which new goals and advancements are discussed.

Also, we are launching our speaker program, in which well-respected Catholic speakers are being invited to speak on topics of interest to our membership and friends. At present, we are finalizing plans for a popular speaker and hope to have the details published soon. Please check back to our website, under the News and Events tab, for the most current information.

https://www.unavocevirginia.com

Do visit our website. We invite you to see the endorsements of some of the faithful prelates, clergy, and laity who have enthusiastically encouraged our efforts.

MISSION STATEMENT

Video: What happens when Radical Leftists meet Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament? They flee

This scene is quite remarkable:

Campus Marxists vs Catholic Procession💪✝️ pic.twitter.com/UHhCphNfgh
— Wojciech Pawelczyk 🇵🇱🇺🇸 (@PolishPatriotTM) July 21, 2019

"Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble."
(James 2:19)

FIUV Position Papers now a book: 'The Case for Liturgical Restoration'

Long-standing readers of Rorate Caeli will remember the series of 'Position Papers' published by me on this blog on behalf of the FIUV: Una Voce International (Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce). These were short but well-referenced discussions of rather specific issues connected with the Traditional Mass: why the priest celebrates ad orientem, what the Mass can do for the evangelisation of Africa, or why we should reconsider the Eucharistic Fast. The series concluded with number 33, on the 1955 Holy Week reform, in two parts.

With the help of Angelico Press and its editors, these have now been thoroughly revised, corrected, and made more consistent and readable, and published as a book:

The Case for Liturgical Restoration: Una Voce Studies on the Traditional Latin Mass; with a Preface by Cardinal Burke.

Buy the book here (in the UK), or at Amazon (in the USA); here is the publisher's page.

See a review by Charles Coulombe on NLM.

Has the largest Catholic television network in the United States, EWTN, "gone rogue"?

You would think so, judging from the increasingly vocal attacks of the extreme liberals, the Modernists and heretics who support every Francis move, against this great work of evangelization created almost ex nihilo by Mother Angelica. We know so many Traditional Catholics who began their journey to, or back to, the Church with EWTN. Unfortunately, it has very rarely featured the Traditional Mass (probably due to pressures and circumstances beyond its control), but the work it promotes is mostly solid.

In its news programs, EWTN has retained an informed and measured view of the insanity promoted by and under the current Pontiff. Many good people have been pushed over the edge by the bizarre behavior, words, and documents produced by Francis or under his name. It is good that EWTN retains enough independence to portray things as they are: after all, the Catholic Church is not a cult under a capricious figure, but a bulwark of Truth, reason, and reasonableness.

Last year I made the double pilgrimage for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: first to the parish dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newark, New Jersey, once a strong Italian parish with roots that extended to the Old Country and the devotion to Nostra Signora di Monte Carmelo, and then over the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan to the Midnight Mass for her feast at her parish on East 115th Street in Manhattan. This year I was not able to make this pilgrimage, and I regretted it. For making this pilgrimage resonated with where I grew up, in an Italian ghetto in Providence, Rhode Island, a section called (ironically) Federal Hill, a Wasp name for a place where everyone spoke some dialect from southern Italy, where there were four Catholic churches in a row in less than a mile, three of which no longer exist. I remember walking on Atwells Avenue on a hot summer night when it was impossible to sleep in a small bedroom on the third floor of our tenement house. I remember passing each church, each church with its doors wide open, and peering in and seeing the flickering of the hundreds of votive lights. I was at that time an Italian-American boy of ten years old, with the distinction of being Protestant in a local world that was so very Catholic that surrounded me. How my family became Protestant is still a mystery, whether in Italy after the Risorgimento or when my grandfathers came to this country. We were deeply Italian, despite our virulent anti-Catholic Protestantism. Our ministers were all ex-Catholic priests, who would give half hour sermons, half of which would be rants against the Catholic Church. We never ate meat on Friday. The fish truck would come to our neighborhood, the pescivendolo would get out of his truck and blow his horn, and all the housewives in their housedresses would come down the stairs and buy fish, usually cod, for seventy-nine cents a pound. We had home-made zeppole on St. Joseph’s Day. We had a feast of seven fishes on Christmas Eve. But after the meal we did not go to Midnight Mass.

But I remember the devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel in our neighborhood, with the procession with the statue, Mary holding her Child. I remember the fireworks when her statue came out of the church to begin the procession. So how could I not be moved when as a Catholic priest (mirabile dictu!) in Newark last year when the image of our Lady of Mount Carmel was carried outside of the church and was greeted with a riotous (albeit smaller than in the old days) display of fireworks, honoring her with light and sound. And how wonderful to see the procession stop at people’s houses and have the family come out and give an offering in her honor—yes, pinning money onto her statue, something so un-American, so un-American because so un-Protestant. And the Solemn Mass in the church, with a number of young priests who were discovering the Tradition of the Catholic Church. And then over the bridge to the Midnight Mass on 115th street in Harlem, to a parish so intimately involved with the Italian immigration of the early twentieth century and that played such an important role in the survival of the Italian immigrants in New York City, the home of the Papal Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There were not many Italians in the congregation at the Solemn Mass (of course Traditional Mass) in Harlem. There were mostly Haitians. But they sang the Missa de Angelis with a fervor and resonance that I will never forget. Again there were young priests and seminarians from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who were discovering for themselves the stuff of Catholicism, the smell of Catholicism, the uniqueness of Catholicism, the real ethnicity of Catholicism that transcends language and culture and time and space.

Mother Marie: Sister Blanche...

First Commissary: I forbid you to continue...

Mother Marie: You have the power to force me to silence, but none to command me to it. I represent here the Reverend Mother Prioress and I shall take no orders from you.

A Commissary: Confounded old hag! She cannot be made to hold her tongue, fellow Citizen, but remind her that the Republic has a machine at its disposal that will leave her somewhat short of breath!

First Commissary: Enough! I repeat that you must behave as a true representative of the people! [He turns to Sister Blanche:] Young citizen, you have nothing to fear from us, who are your liberators! Say but one word, and you will find yourself beyond the sway of those who, to better put you in their power, have not feared to offend nature in usurping even the sacred name of "mother". Henceforth, you are under the protection of the Law.

Mother Marie: But she is first under my protection. Do you think I shall permit you to take any further advantage of the terror of a child? I shall take great care to avoid a language that you cannot understand. You know nothing of that which holds us here and keeps us united unto death - or, if once you knew it, it is now certainly forgotten. But there are still perhaps words which are common to us, and which can touch your conscience. Well, sir, you must know that to the poorest daughter of Carmel, honor speaks louder than fear.

Georges Bernanos
Dialogues des Carmélites

On the day following her feast, the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel would receive her dear French daughters, martyred for their faith in her Son and for their loyalty to His Church.

O glorious Martyrs of Compiègne, pray for us!

[Our regular July 17 homage.]
[Personal recess for several days]

Raising the Cross on the Summit of Grand Garde

The following is the translation of the original article by the FSSPX by a dear reader. Click here to read the full article in French and to see more pictures.

Just over 10 years ago, on February 11, 2009, God called three seminarians of Ecône back to Him. In memory of these three young men, a cross was raised on the summit of Grand Garde in the Swiss Alps, which is directly across the valley from the seminary. The cross was blessed on June 18, 2019, in presence of the whole seminary, the families of the deceased and friends from the canton of Valais.

Preparation

The idea was first proposed in 2013, but remained in the planning stage until spring of 2018. It took a whole year to bring the project to fruition. The cross was made by a carpenter in Valais, another craftsman applied copper plating, a solid foundation had to be designed and prepared… this took a month.

The 70 kg metal base was flown up to the summit by helicopter, together with an air compressor and a drill. The base was sunk 1.6 metres deep into the rock. Another 105 kg had to be carried up by the seminarians.

The Mother of God and her Divine Son appear to Saint Simon Stock in Cambridge -- 768 years ago today, in 1251: has there been any other moment in English history whose consequences have aided so many souls throughout the world achieve and keep holiness, reaching final perseverance? Men and women, made of flesh, need material reminders of the presence of God in their lives -- and what could be more profitable than the blessed physical sign that Our Lady's Mantle covers us at all times, that Her Divine Son keeps watch over us day and night?

Armatura
fortis pugnantium
furunt bella
tende praesidium
Scapularis.

Saint Elias, pray for us!
Saint Simon Stock, pray for us!
Queen of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Et fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace. Amen.

(Our regular feature for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel)

The Jesuit Pimpernel: A book review by Fr Konrad Loewenstein, FSSP

Dowry

FSSP Quarterly

Summer 2019, Issue N˚42

Fr John Gerard: The Jesuit Pimpernel Fr Gerard S.J. (1564 –1637) could have been the inspiration for Baroness Orczy’s celebrated novel The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) where in 1793 a chivalrous baronet masquerades as a fop to better delude French revolutionaries and save aristocrats from the guillotine. It was English Catholics though, whom Fr Gerard rescued from Elizabethan gaols, and many Anglicans whom he saved from the spiritual dungeon of schism and heresy, reconciling them with the Church of Christ at his life’s peril. Fr Konrad Loewenstein, FSSP reviews a too little-known classic autobiography of this heroic and humorous Englishman.

The book is a memorandum of the exploits of the Jesuit priest, Fr. John Gerard, on the English Mission in 1588, translated from the Latin by Fr. Caraman and first published by him with the title ‘John Gerard, portrait of an Elizabethan’ (perhaps a more felicitous title).

He arrives at night by boat, accompanied by three other priests, all destined for martyrdom. Posing as a falconer in search of a lost falcon, he is soon directed by Divine Providence into the arms of the most outspoken opponent of Anglicanism and the Elizabethan Reform in the county. The latter, an influential member of the local gentry, welcomes him into his home and helps him initiate an apostolate amongst friends and their servants in the other great houses in the area.

The “Ars Celebrandi” liturgical workshops have started at the Marian shrine in Licheń, Poland

The “Ars Celebrandi” liturgical workshops started yesterday, on 11 July, at the Marian shrine in Licheń, Poland, with a solemn votive Mass and a procession with the litany of the saints for the intention of the workshops. This is the sixth edition of the world’s largest workshops of the traditional Roman Catholic liturgy.

VIDEO: Largest ever SSPX church to be built and the history of St. Mary's, Kansas

This video isn't short, but it's well worth your time. See a beautiful computer rendering of what will be the largest church the Society has ever built, as well as a wonderful history of St. Mary's, Kansas. If you're inspired, you may CLICK HERE to donate to the church fund.

“Hyperpapalism and Liturgical Mutation: The Case Against the Novus Ordo” — Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Lepanto Lecture

Rorate is pleased to present the full text of the lecture given by Dr. Kwasniewski at the Lepanto Conference held in New York City on February 16, 2019. A video of this lecture may be found at this link. The text has been edited for publication.

Hyperpapalism and Liturgical Mutation: The Case Against the Novus Ordo

De Mattei: Is the principle of legality being extinguished in the Church?

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

July 10, 201

If Pope Francis should be accused of a crime by any judge, in any part of the world, he should divest himself of his office as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church and submit himself to the judgment of a court. This is the logical and necessary conclusion to the stunning decision by which the Holy See denied diplomatic immunity to the French Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Luigi Ventura, accused of sexual molestations.

The Holy See could have discharged the Nuncio from his office, and, pending the outcome of the French justice system, initiate a canonical investigation on him, also for his own guaranty. The decision to dispatch the papal representative into the hands of a secular court, violates the institution of diplomatic immunity, the expression par excellence of the sovereignty, freedom and independence of the Church. That same diplomatic immunity, by the way, was invoked to protect the crimes committed in Italy by Pope Francis’s Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski.

All which notwithstanding the jury found him guilty, and incontinent upon the verdict the Lord Chancellor [for that matter chief commissioner] beginning in judgment against him, Sir Thomas More said to him,

"My Lord, when I was towards the law, the manner in such case was to ask the prisoner before judgment, why judgment should not be given against him."

Whereupon the Lord Chancellor staying his judgment, wherein he had partly proceeded, demanded of him what he was able to say to the contrary. Who then in this sort mildly made answer:

"Forasmuch as, my Lord, this indictment is grounded upon an Act of Parliament, directly oppugnant to the laws of God and his holy Church, the supreme government of which, or of any part thereof, may no temporal prince presume by any law to take upon him as rightfully belonging to the See of Rome, a spiritual preeminence by the mouth of our Saviour himself, personally present upon the earth, to St. Peter and his successors, bishops of the same see, by special prerogative, granted, it is therefore in law amongst Christian men insufficient to charge any Christian."...

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost: "Do not be afraid."

Fr. Richard Cipolla

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke5:8)

This gospel seems straightforward. Jesus wants to teach the crowd from a boat, sees that Simon’s boat is empty, asks him to pull out a little from the shore and starts speaking to the crowd. When he is done, he tells Simon Peter to bring the boat into deeper water to get a good catch. Simon explains that they have been trying all night long with no success. They are tired and discouraged. But Simon does as Jesus tells him and they not only catch a lot of fish, but there are so many fish the boats almost capsize. The allegorical level so far would also seem obvious. Peter’s boat is the Church, and to increase the number of followers of Jesus Christ, the Church cannot stay in the shallows but has to go out into the deep and trust in the Lord and there will be a huge increase in the members of Christ’s body that is the Church.

On the 12th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum: Benedict XVI once again placed the Church on the path of eternity and immortality.

For several decades now, we have lived in the "Tyranny of the Present". Tradition is forgotten and, precisely because it is forgotten, our responsibilities for the future are also dismissed. The liturgical experimentation that led to the Novus Ordo was the epitome of Vatican II: it has given the Catholic hierarchy the liturgical-theological basis for their current promotion of the "here and now" as the supreme aim of the Church.

With Summorum Pontificum, the most consequential pontifical legislative act since 1969, Benedict XVI upended this new materialistic logic: by opening the gates of the past, he once again placed the Church on the path of eternity and immortality.

There was a Church before the present reality, there will be a Church forever: and the Sacred Liturgy she celebrates here, with true Traditional and Apostolic imprint, has always been and should always be, not a reflection of the banality of the moment, but a prefiguration of her immortality as Bride of Christ and her Paschal Feast with the Lord for all Eternity, outside the limitations of our present existence.

Twelve years ago, we published the following text: we do not have reason to alter one iota of it. Priests, enjoy your freedom.

***

Summorum Pontificum: Axes of Interpretation

Peronism in the Church: "To the friend, everything. To the enemy, not even justice!" (Video)

In 2014, we said the following on the Francis Pontificate:

The current situation of ecclesiastical politics might perhaps be better understood by those who have a grasp of three important concepts in Hispanic (Spanish and Spanish-American) political tradition: Caudillismo, an ancient and powerful political concept, system, and idea that is deeply ingrained in the Hispanic mind and experience, regardless of the theoretical political system in place; Caciquismo, a very peculiar and mostly Latin American version of Caudillismo; and the Argentine hazy political sub-concept of Caudillismo and Caciquismo known as Peronismo, which transformed the highly successful Argentine Republic of the early 20th century into what it is today.

This week, we were sent a link to a video of Argentine tyrant Juan Domingo Perón in an interview conducted in July 1973, 46 years ago. This is what Perón says in the video:

While the whole nation was celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of American Independence, on the 4th of July, 1826, "the year of Jubilee," there remained but three surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence — Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. These three names were mingled with the songs of national joy, and saluted with peals of artillery. But two of the illustrious trio saw not another sun. Adams and Jefferson passed from the scenes of the earth that same day. Charles Carroll alone remained— the sole survivor of the fifty-six patriots of 1776!

The undivided homage of the United States was now reserved for the last of that glorious band. In the words of Lossing, "the good and the great made pilgrimages to his dwelling, to behold with their own eyes the venerable political patriarch of America; and from the rich storehouse of his intellect he freely contributed to the deficiencies of others." Six years more rolled by, and the great and good Charles Carroll of Carrollton went to receive the reward of the faithful servant. "Death softly touched him and he passed away," on the 14th of November, 1832.

The following letter is written by a young priest who is a curate at a Novus Ordo parish in Fairfield, Connecticut. Father Tim Iannacone, ordained in 2017, was a parishioner at Saint Mary's Church in Norwalk, CT, where he served at the altar at the Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It was there that he discovered the Traditional Roman Mass, a discovery, as his letter explains, that changed his life. His pastor asked him to write this letter to the parishioners not only as an explanation of the Extraordinary Form but also as a personal witness to the power and beauty of the Traditional Roman Mass and its effect on his life and priesthood. Fr. Tim is but one example of young priests who are discovering the Traditional Roman Mass, who have learned how to celebrate that Mass, and are brining the Mass to the people in their parishes. The Second Spring is real and alive within the Church. Thanks be to God.

Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Fr. Sam is away with our youth group this week for the annual mission trip, and he’s asked me to take on the weekly bulletin column. I’d like to share with you a bit about the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Traditional Latin Mass. Typically, the Latin Mass is offered here on Holy Days of Obligation and certain feast days throughout the year. As this form of the Mass is not commonly celebrated, I want to explain some of the reasons behind its use in our parish.

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. We added two new priests to the ranks in the last 30 days -- five total in the last two months -- and the Society now stands at 95 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls. Come on Fathers, let's get this to 100!

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card in English to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll. It's free for anyone to use. CLICK HERE to download in Latin and CLICK HERE to download in Spanish.

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the repose of the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society." And we will always keep you completely anonymous unless you request otherwise.

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@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.

Fontgombault Sermon for St Peter & St Paul: "The times in which we live are not worse than the first years in the life of the Church. It is faith that we are lacking."

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, June 29, 2019

Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam

Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church.

Mt 16:18

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

The readings of today’s Mass place us before a great mystery: in order to come towards men, God wishes to make use of mediations. He comes to us through Christ’s humanity, through the sacraments, and especially the sacrament of the Eucharist. He comes to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her divine motherhood, and in this unique motherhood she exercises on each of us, and which she has received at the foot of the Cross: “Woman, behold thy son… Behold thy mother.”(Jn 19:26-27) God also comes to us through the Church, pure and without blemish.

Beneath these perfect mediations, God wishes to make use of other mediations. We should be for one another mediators of the grace of God. God builds up our spiritual being by taking our neighbors on as associates. It is an honor for them. We should do the same. How could we refuse such a “service”? Amidst these imperfect mediations, a special place is assigned to the mediation of Peter, the chief of the Apostles, who is still at work today through his successors: “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church.”

A 1933 Sermon on the Missal: "Having perfectly worshiped God in this life, the faithful will be prepared to take part in the heavenly praises."

A SERMON ON THE MISSAL

Fr. Joseph Kreuter OSB

Orate Fratres

October 7, 1933

We may divide the faithful who flock to our churches each Sunday morning into three general classes. To the first group belong those who attend holy Mass merely as a duty, because the command of the Church binds them thereto under pain of mortal sin. These usually have their own way of occupying themselves during the time of the Sacrifice—a way perhaps not altogether beyond reproach before the all-seeing Majesty of God. But these frequently lose sight of their duty to attend holy Mass devoutly.

The second class comprises the larger number of worshipers. For them holy Mass is a means to keep holy the Sunday; they therefore employ their time more profitably than the others, either by reciting special prayers from their prayerbooks or by saying the rosary. They incidentally stop in their private devotions at the principal parts of the Mass and pay brief attention to the priest at the altar. We may assume that they fulfill the obligation of hearing holy Mass on Sundays.

VIDEO: Ordination day at SSPX seminary in Virginia

Congratulations to the five new priests of the Society of St. Pius X! May God help you save many souls.

Francis in his own words: There was no 'multiplication' of loaves: it was just 'sharing'.

In his own words:

Surprisingly, the account of the multiplication of the loaves does not mention the multiplication itself. On the contrary, the words that stand out are: “break”, “give” and “distribute” (cf. Lk 9:16). In effect, the emphasis is not on the multiplication but the act of sharing. This is important. Jesus does not perform a magic trick; he does not change five loaves into five thousand and then to announce: “There! Distribute them!” No. Jesus first prays, then blesses the five loaves and begins to break them, trusting in the Father. And those five loaves never run out. This is no magic trick; it is an act of trust in God and his providence.

Francis

Homily on Corpus Christi

Rome, June 23, 2019

On the other hand:

Fr. Cipolla's Sermon for Corpus Christi

SERMON FOR CORPUS CHRISTI

And the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6)

What indeed is the feast of Corpus Christi about? The Body of Christ. In so many ways this feast is the summation of all the feasts of the year: Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity. For this is the feast of the abiding reality, the abiding presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Church. Corpus Christi. It makes all things real. For Christ is not some mythical figure who came down from Mount Olympus to do his magic and then went away never to be seen again. This Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father with his humanity, his humanity and your humanity and my humanity, whose glorified Body is in heaven, this Jesus Christ dwells among us truly and bodily as Corpus Christi, the Holy Eucharist, in which and by which he gives himself to us more deeply and more really than any of us can give ourselves to each other, no matter how much we love the other person.

EXCLUSIVE FOR RORATE - Full Text of the Amazon Synod "Instrumentum Laboris" in English

So far, the Vatican has not made public the English translation of the most shocking document ever produced in Rome, the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod for the Amazon.

Below, the full Vatican translation exclusively obtained by Rorate:

Jesuit school no longer allowed to be called Catholic

Finally, an archbishop has used the tools in his toolbox to address opposition to Catholic teachings at a Jesuit school.

Archbishop Charles Thompson, of Indianapolis, Indiana, is expected to issue a formal statement tomorrow to prohibit Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School from calling itself Catholic. This follows open defiance by the Jesuits on the issue of traditional marriage.

CNN has a report (guess who is quoted first...) here.

Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School has a statement from Father William Verbryke, S.J. and two other school officials complaining about the decision, here.

The provincial for the Midwest Province of the Jesuits, Father Brian Paulson, S.J., has a statement complaining about the decision here.

The Amazonian Church of Pope Francis

Roberto de Mattei

Aldo Maria Valli blogspot

June 20, 2019

"Will the bishops, successors of the Apostles be silent? Will the cardinals, the Pope’s advisors in the governing of the Church be silent, in the face of this political-religious manifesto which perverts the doctrine and praxis of the Mystical Body of Christ ? "

The first reactions in response to the Instrumentum Laboris for the Amazon Synod were focused on its opening to married priests and the insertion of women into the sacramental orders of the Church. But the Instrumentum Laboris is something more: it’s a manifesto for liberation eco-theology which proposes a pantheist, egalitarian “cosmo-vision” , unacceptable for a Catholic. The gates of the Magisterim, as José Antonio Ureta, rightly highlighted, are being thrown wide open “to Indian Theology and Ecotheology, two Latin American derivatives of Liberation Theology. After the collapse of the USSR and the failure of “real socialism”, the advocates of Liberation Theology (LT), on the Marxist style, attributed the historic role of revolutionary force to indigenous peoples and to nature”.*

In the document, published by the Holy See on June 17, the Amazon “bursts” into the life of the Church like a “new entity” (n.2). But what is the Amazon? It is not only a physical place and a “complex biosphere” (n.10) but also “a reality full of life and wisdom” (n.5), which ascends to a conceptual paradigm and calls us to a “pastoral, ecological and synodal” conversion (n.5). In order to carry out its prophetic role, the Church must heed “the Amazon peoples” (n.7). These people are able to live in “intercommunication” with the entire cosmos (n.12), but their rights are threatened by the economic interests of the multinationals, which, as the natives of Guaviare (Colombia) say “have slashed the veins of our Mother Earth” (n.17).

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, June 20, 2019

Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti.

He fed them with the finest of wheat.

Ps 80:17

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

It may not come amiss to begin the homily of this day, consecrated to the adoration of God present in the sacrament of the Eucharist, by recalling the wonderful text “to the glory of God most holy and of our Lord Jesus Christ”, commonly called the Credo of Paul VI, and solemnly pronounced on June 30th, 1968.

We shall limit ourselves to the passage concerning today’s feast (the emphasis is ours):

We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real, and substantial presence. […] Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body. The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glorious in heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word Whom they cannot see, and Who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.

The words used by that Pope are fraught with sense: a true, real, and substantial presence of Christ in His glory, so as to give Himself to us as a food, and associate us to the unity of His mystical Body; a presence which it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore. Yet, can God give Himself as a food? Can He debase Himself by giving Himself as a food to human beings?

Public latrines in Ancient Rome (Ostia)

Yes, we all know what the "Amazon Synod" (officially, the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, to take place in Rome in October 2019) was made for: to achieve the ordination of married men in the Latin Church as the new normal.

Naturally, it will be clothed as exceptional and extraordinary, but, since the only thing in the Church that remains extraordinary in both name and practice is the Traditional Mass, it will soon become the norm. Because, honestly, can't upstate New York or Utah, or Patagonia, or the Congo, all be considered "remote"? Stretch a little, and the spiritual deserts of secularized metropolises throughout the West can be as "remote", spiritually, as the vast expanses of the Amazon River basin.

And yet...in order to achieve that, Francis made up his Synod. Just as in the "Family Synods" they had one objective, and pursued it -- that is, communion for the "remarried divorcees" -- in this Synod the goal is the ordination of married men. However, just as in the "Family Synods" they took the time to include all kinds of unrelated scandalous matters (particularly related to homosexuality), in this one they plan to introduce paganism and pantheism as acceptable forms of Christianity.

Which leads us to the Instrumentum Laboris, the guiding document for discussions of the Synod, released Monday in Rome in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. We choose to call it the "Church Report on Amazon Problems", or CRAP. Still no English version available -- and we refuse to waste our resources to translate it. We know from other sources that this delay in the English translation is purposeful: they know where the greatest opposition would come from, so they wish to limit their criticism.

These are some of the theological pearls of the text:

"Life in the Amazon communities not reached by Western Civilization is reflected in belief on work of spirits, of divinity - named in different ways - with territory, with and in relation to nature. This cosmoview is summarized in Francis' 'mantra': "All is interconnected." (n. 25)

"There is a need for a process of discernment in relation to the rituals, symbols and celebratory styles of indigenous cultures in contact with nature, which must be assumed in the liturgical and sacramental ritual. It is suggested that the liturgical celebrations be festive, with their own songs and dances, in tongues and with original costumes, in communion with nature and with the community.A liturgy that corresponds to their own culture, to be the source and summit of their Christian life (SC, 10), and linked to their struggles, sufferings and joys. The sacraments should be a source of life and medicine accessible to all (EG 47), especially to the poor (EG 200). ... In view of a salutary 'decentralization' of the Church (EG, 16), the communities ask Episcopal Conferences to adapt the Eucharistic rituals to their own cultures." (n. 126)

What we can say, after careful reading of the text, is that never in the history of Rome has such a pathetic document been published, and this since Romulus founded the City... It actually saddens us, in an environmentally-conscious sort of way, that this detritus in the shape of words will be printed, in many copies, for the members of the assembly: toilet paper is destined to a much higher and dignified use than the cellulose which will be wasted with this document.

“What Good is a Changing Catechism? Revisiting the Purpose and Limits of a Book” — Dr. Kwasniewski’s Chicago Lecture

Note: Below is the lecture I gave at the Union League Club in Chicago on Friday, June 14, 2019, as part of the lecture series of the Catholic Citizens of Illinois. My lecture could have been given the alternative title: “The Death Penalty for the Catechism? A How-To Guide for Excluding a Text from the Catholic Tradition.” Fortuitously, the lecture came at the end of an eventful week in Illinois and in Baltimore. On Wednesday, June 12, the state of Illinois disgraced itself by the passage of the most extreme pro-abortion legislation yet seen in the United States. Ironically, those who celebrate the indiscriminate murder of innocent children are usually opposed to capital punishment for guilty criminals, and the reasoning is consistent: the unborn, not having consciousness of their own personal dignity, cannot defend themselves, so the strong may do away with them at pleasure; but adults, no matter how wicked, are recognized as autonomous individuals with inviolable dignity who must be given free room and board by the state for the remainder of their lives. Then, on Thursday, June 13, the United States bishops voted, by a huge majority (194 in favor, 8 against, 3 abstentions), to alter the text of the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults to bring it in line with Pope Francis’s novel teaching on the death penalty. The revolution in moral teaching thus continues unabated.

What Good is a Changing Catechism? Revisiting the Purpose and Limits of a Book[1]

Peter Kwasniewski

What is a catechism? How would you answer that question?

A standard dictionary definition runs like this: “a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.” Wikipedia, which as we all know is hit or miss, does a decent job: “A catechism (from Ancient Greek κατηχέω, to teach orally) is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as an introduction to the Sacraments” and for the “Christian religious teaching of children and of adult converts. Catechisms are doctrinal manuals—often in the form of questions followed by answers to be memorized.”[2]

It seems to me that this is the answer of history, of Church practice, and of what we might call “supernatural common sense.” A catechism is a convenient guide to what the Church teaches; more than that, a guide to what she has always taught and will always teach. A good catechism is like a clean, smooth, untainted mirror that reflects the content of the Catholic Faith and nothing else.

A poor catechism—like the infamous 1966 Dutch Catechism that caused so much trouble after the Council—is, on the contrary, a cloudy, scratched, bent, or chipped mirror that does not lucidly reflect the Faith. Good catechisms preserve and pass on the teaching of Christ and His Church, while bad catechisms distort it, or one-sidedly exaggerate it, or muffle or silence it.

By Melanie McDonagh, for The Spectator:

Is the Pope a Catholic? You have to wonder. In the old days, a pope’s remit was modest: infallible, but only in the vanishingly rare cases when he pronounced on matters of faith and morals concerning the whole Church. But even at their most bombastic and badly behaved, earlier popes would have hesitated to do what nice Pope Francis has done, which is to approve changes in the liturgy which amount to rewriting the Lord’s Prayer.

That bit that says ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ is, for Pope Francis, a bad translation. ‘It speaks of a God who induces temptation,’ he told Italian TV. ‘I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen. A father doesn’t do that; A father helps you to get up immediately.’

De Mattei: An Exceptional Document - Monsignor Vigano’s Interview to The Washington Post

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

June 12, 2019

"The bottom line is this: Pope Francis is deliberately concealing the McCarrick evidence."

The extensive interview that Archbishop Maria Viganò gave to Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli in the Washington Post of June 10^th is of exceptional importance for several reasons.

The first and most important reason is that this interview indicates the utter failure of the Vatican’s strategy of ‘silence’, faced with the detailed accusations of the former Nuncio to the United States. Those in charge of the Vatican media were convinced that Monsignor Viganò’s revelations would have been confined to a ‘niche audience’, ready to be forgotten after some moments of emotional excitement. This did not happen..

The Washington Post is one of the most widely read newspapers in the planet, with millions of readers and the Archbishop’s interview was, for almost three days, the second most popular article on its site. Monsignor Viganò’s voice has had an impact world-wide, shattering the wall of silence and imposing evidence that cannot be ignored or minimized.

The second reason, connected to the first, is that with his interview, The Washington Post recognizes Monsignor Viganò as a historical witness, whose credibility cannot be placed in doubt by anyone. The Archbishop does not enter into the theological problems arising from documents like Amoris Laetitia, but limits himself to addressing the facts that he knows: the existence of a “corrupt mafia” which “has taken control of many institutions of the Church, from the top down, and is exploiting the Church and the faithful for its own immoral purposes”. This mafia “is bound together not by shared sexual intimacy but by a shared interest in protecting and advancing one another professionally and in sabotaging every effort to reform the sexual corruption”.

Regarding the clumsy efforts of the Vatican media to discredit him, by accusing him of having ambitions of power: “In any case, my motivation is not the point, and questions about it are a distraction. The truly important question is whether my testimony is true. I stand by it, and I urge investigations so that the facts may appear. Unfortunately, those who impugn my motives have been unwilling to conduct open and thorough investigations”.