An Article by Brendan Dougherty in The Week, which has this to say about the benefit’s of Benedict’s motu proprio: ” He also did a great service for culture and the arts, for the whole world — even for nonbelievers.”
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Summorum Pontificum turns 7 today – that is, the motu proprio was released world-wide on this day. SP didn’t go into effect until September 14th of 2007, but Fr. Roberts will be celebrating High Mass for that Sunday at our regular time, so please be sure to join us!
In the meantime, here is a video from Juventutem DC saying “Thank You” to all those faithful clergy and laity who have made this possible. All of us in the St. John Bosco Latin Mass Community would like to extend our thanks to YOU as well.
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According to the Catholic News Agency, the Satanic “black mass” organized through the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club has been cancelled.
God will not be mocked.
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From the Catholic Heritage Association:
The Second Vatican Council was a Pastoral Council that also provided dogmatic explanations. Had there ever been anything like it previously in the history of the Church?[Brandmüller:] It does in fact seem as though Vatican II marked the beginning of a new type of Council. The language that was used during it and the completeness of the texts show that the Council fathers was not as much motivated by the need to pass judgement on controversial new ecclesiastical and theological issues, but rather by the wish to turn their attention to public opinion within the Church and the entire world, in the spirit of the annunciation.Shouldn’t a Council be declared a failure if fifty years on it has not been warmly received by the faithful? Benedict XVI warned against a misleading interpretation of the Council, particularly in terms of the hermeneutics of [rupture]…[B:]This is one of those cliché questions that stem from a new existential sentiment; that feeling of confusion that is typical of our times. But what is fifty years after all?! Cast your mind back to the Council of Nicaea in 325. The disputes surrounding the dogma of this Council – about the nature of the Son, that is, whether he was made of the same substance as the Father or not – continued for more than a hundred years. St. Ambrose was ordained Bishop of Milan on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and had to fight hard against the Arians who refused to accept the Nicene provisions. Briefly afterwards came a new Council: the First Council of Constantinople of 381 which was deemed necessary in order to complete the profession of the faith at Nicaea. During this Council, St. Augustine was given the task of dealing with requests and fighting back heretics until his death in 430. Frankly, even the Council of Trent was not very fruitful until the Golden Jubilee of 1596. It took a new generation of Bishops and prelates to mature in the “spirit of the Council” before its effect could really be felt. We need to allow ourselves a little more breathing space.Let us talk now about the fruits which the Vatican II produced. Can you comment on this?[B:] First of all of course the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” in comparison with the Tridentine Catechism: after the Council of Trent, the Catechismus Romanus was launched in order to provide parish priests, preachers etcetera with guidelines on how to preach and announce the Gospel or evangelize.Even the 1983 Code of Canon Law can be considered a consequence of the Council. I must emphasise that the form of the post-conciliar liturgy with all its distortions, is not attributable to the Council or to the Liturgy Constitution established during Vatican II which by the way has not really been implemented even to this day. The indiscriminate removal of Latin and Gregorian Chants from liturgical celebrations and the erection of numerous altars were absolutely not acts prescribed by the Council.With the benefit of hindsight, let us cast our minds back in particular to the lack of sensitivity shown in terms of care for the faithful and in the pastoral carelessness shown in the liturgical form. One need only think of the Church’s excesses, reminiscent of the Beeldenstorm (the statue/image storm) which occurred in the 18th century. Excesses which catapulted numerous faithful into total chaos, leaving many fumbling around in the dark.Just about anything and everything has been said on this subject. Meanwhile, the liturgy has come to be seen as a mirror image of Church life, subject to an organic historical evolution which cannot – as did indeed happen – suddenly be changed by decree par ordre de mufti. And we are still paying the price today. [Source, adapted]
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| Divine Jesus, Faithful Friend |
Regarding the arrest and release on bail of Archbishop-elect of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, for DUI after having dinner with friends and his mother and while driving the latter to her home in San Diego, and his sincere apology, we have this to say: have you prayed for your bishop today?
Cardinal O’Malley was expected ahead of time. He was a longtime friend of Miss Gray’s, recalling how together they planned the first March in 1974.
Cardinal Wuerl was a major surprise. As far as I am aware (please correct me if I am wrong, Pittsburgh TLM’ers), this was quite possibly the first public traditional Latin Mass he has attended since his seminary days in the 1960s. Thank you, Nellie!
– that among the activities of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith must also be included the republication in the November 30, 2011 issue of “L’Osservatore Romano” of the text by then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger published in 1998 in a volume “On the pastoral care of the divorced and remarried.” This republication – it is explained – was intended to “draw the attention of pastors” to that volume, “unfortunately little known,” which reiterates the traditional Catholic position on the argument and in which, among other things, it is confirmed that the practice of the Orthodox Churches of admitting under certain conditions a second and third marriage after the failure of the first remains “unacceptable for doctrinal reasons.”
– that last year, the disciplinary office of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith opened 599 new procedures, 440 of them concerning “delicta graviora,” and that the most numerous of these, 404 to be exact, are cases of abuse perpetrated by clergy against minors. With regard to this, the volume points out that “in the year 2011, with respect to the year 2010, the disciplinary office received fewer notifications,” but that nonetheless “with respect to previous years (for example, the period of 2005–2009) the number of cases has risen considerably.” Also in this area, moreover, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith submitted to the pope a request for the removal “ex officio” from the clerical state of 125 subjects, and for another 135 a request for dispensation from priestly obligations.
– that during the same period, the congregation for the clergy – for reasons other than “delicta graviora” – issued 540 certifications of dispensation from priestly obligations for 49 diocesan deacons, 26 religious deacons, 280 secular priests, and 185 religious.
– that the congregation for divine worship, in addition to its ordinary administration, declares that “it is closely following the proposal of ‘thematic homilies’ in conjunction with the congregation for the doctrine of the faith and the congregation for the clergy,” evidently with the intention of improving the content of preaching at Masses.
– that the work of the pontifical council for legislative texts continues for the revision of some portions of the code of canon law, concerning questions of penal law, procedural law, matrimonial law, and patrimonial law, and relations between the code of the Latin Church and that of the Eastern Churches. The process for the reform of penal law turns out to be particularly advanced.
– that while the examination is underway by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith into the Marian apparitions of Medjugorje, through an international commission of inquiry that met four times in 2011, the pontifical academy of the Immaculate, for which “the problem of the lack of academics is becoming even more acute,” received many requests from prayer groups that “born from Medjugorje, have no point of reference in order to channel the grace of conversion obtained in that blessed place.”
The Societas Ecclesia Dei Sancti Joseph, a Filipino Catholic society dedicated to the Traditional Latin Mass and a member of Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, has announced that the TLM has returned to the Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
Founded in 1611, it is the Philippines’ sole Pontifical University and the world’s largest Catholic university located in one campus in terms of student numbers (around 45,000 students in the Manila campus). From their official blog:
As previously announced, the evening of August 24, 2012 saw the Traditional Latin Mass being celebrated in public in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for the first time since the liturgical reforms of Paul VI took effect. UST is the Philippines’ oldest existing university and sole Pontifical University. It is also the world’s largest Catholic university located in one campus in terms of the number of students (around 45,000 students in the Manila campus).
This surely ranks among the greatest achievements of the canonically-regular branch of the Traditional Latin Mass movement in the Philippines since it began in 1987. It was organized by students and faculty of this university, with training and other forms of assistance provided by Societas Ecclesia Dei Sancti Joseph (SEDSI).
The Mass was offered in the St. Dominic Chapel in the 3rd floor of the Tan Yan Kee Student Center. The chapel could hold about 60-70 people maximum (including choir and altar servers) but the crowd in attendance — far more than a hundred-strong — greatly exceeded expectations, and spilled out into the surrounding corridors. Screens and projectors had to be used to allow the faithful who were in the corridors to follow what was happening inside the chapel. The vast majority of the attendees were students of the University. Most of the servers and the whole choir were also drawn from UST students — all in their late teens and early twenties — who had practiced for this occasion for the past several weeks.
The Mass was offered by Fr. Michell Joe “Jojo” Zerrudo, priest of the Diocese of Cubao, Chaplain of SEDSI and celebrant of the daily TLM in Holy Family Parish, Roxas District, QC. He is an alumnus of the Central Seminary, one of the Philippines’ two national seminaries, located in UST and run by the Dominican Fathers. In choir was Fr. Winston Fernandez Cabading OP, who was vital to the whole project of returning the TLM to UST.
It is hoped that the Traditional Latin Mass will be offered monthly in UST. Plans are already being made for another Traditional Latin Mass in September, this time in a larger venue within the University. Should this push through, the City and Archdiocese of Manila (where UST is located) will once again have a regular Traditional Latin Mass for the first time since the First Friday Mass in the tiny chapel of the now-defunct Marian Center in Quiapo, Manila ceased sometime in 2010. UST will also become the second Filipino Catholic university (after the Ateneo De Manila University in Quezon City) and, not counting seminaries, the third Catholic institute of higher education in the Philippines (the first being La Consolacion College in Bacolod City) to have a regular TLM in its premises.
Leghorn. Liturgical service is assured by the ‘Institute Christ the King Sovereign Priest’.
[I]t remains each man’s duty to retain an understanding of the whole human person in which the values of intellect, will, conscience and fraternity are preeminent
Saint Louis, King of France, went on a pilgrimage to visit the sanctuaries in the world. And having heard of the fame of the sanctity of Brother Giles, who was one of the first companions of Saint Francis, he determined in his heart to go and visit him in person; for which object he set out for Perugia, where the said brother then lived. He arrived at the convent-gate as if he had been a poor unknown pilgrim, and asked with great importunity for Brother Giles, without telling the porter who it was who wished to see him; and the porter went to Brother Giles, and told him there was a pilgrim at the gate who asked for him. But the Lord having revealed to Brother Giles that the pilgrim was the King of France, he left his cell in haste, and ran to the gate without asking any questions. They both knelt down and embraced each other with great reverence and many outward signs of love and charity, as if a long friendship had existed between them, though they had never met before in their lives. Neither of them spoke a word; and after remaining clasped in each other’s arms for some time, they separated in silence, Saint Louis to continue his journey, and Brother Giles to return to his cell.As the king departed, a certain friar inquired of one of those who accompanied him who it was that had embraced Brother Giles, and he answered that it was Louis, King of France; and when the other brothers heard this, they were all sorrowful because Brother Giles had not spoken to him; and giving vent to their grief, they said: “O Brother Giles, why hast thou been so uncivil as not to say a word to so holy a king, who has come from France to see thee, and hear from thee some good words?” Brother Giles answered: “Beloved brothers, be not surprised at this, that neither could I say a word to him nor he to me; for no sooner had we embraced each other than the light of divine wisdom revealed his heart to me, and mine to him; and by a divine operation we saw into each other’s hearts, and knew far better what we had to say than if we had explained in words that which we felt in our hearts. For so imperfectly the tongue of man reveals the secret mysteries of God, that words would have been to us rather a hindrance than a consolation. Know, then, that the king went away from me well satisfied, and greatly comforted in mind.”
From the Catholic Heritage Association:
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The 2nd Latin Mass Society Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, 2011
You are invited to the second Latin Mass Society walking pilgrimage for the conversion of England. We will be walking from Ely to Walsingham from 26th to 28th August 2011. This is a bank-holiday weekend.
Pilgrims will meet in the evening of Thursday 25th August at St Ethelreda’s Catholic Church, 19 Egremont Street, Ely. The pilgrimage will begin with the Traditional Mass in St Ethelreda’s Catholic Church on Friday morning.
There will be a sung Traditional Latin Mass each day and Confession will be available throughout the pilgrimage.
Mass on the second day will be in the Catholic chapel at Oxburgh Hall. The pilgrimage will conclude with Mass at Walsingham on Sunday afternoon.
This pilgrimage is open to all ages and to families.
Camping is compulsory for men, and optional for women and children. Women and children will be able to sleep indoors on the Thursday and Saturday nights. We are still looking for an indoor option for the Friday.
Prices are as follows:
Adult non-LMS members: £60 (see note below)
Adult LMS members: £50
Under 18s and students: £30
send a cheque payable to ‘The Latin Mass Society’ for the appropriate amount to the address below.
The Latin Mass Society
11 – 13 Macklin Street
London
WC2B 5NH
If you would like more detail on the route or the Mass times then please email:
Paul Smeaton – paulfsmeaton@gmail.com
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Regular Traditional Masses to be offered in Bognor Regis “for experimental period of six-months”
10 NOVEMBER 2010
The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Clarence Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex PO21 1JX, will see monthly celebrations of Mass in the Extraordinary Form, starting on Sunday, 28 November, at 12.30pm. The first Mass will be celebrated by Parish Priest Fr Tony Churchill. The Parish Newsletter draws parishioners’ attention to Pope Benedict’s call for a generous response to the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, and this parish initiative is very much in that spirit.
Subsequent Masses will be celebrated on the following dates:Sunday, 26 December 2010, 12.30pmSaturday, 1 January 2011, 12.30pmSaturday, 12 February 2011, 12.30pmSunday, 13 March 2011, 12.30pmSunday, 24 April 2011, 12.30pm
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Vatican City, Jan 18, 2010 / 02:40 pm (CNA).- The Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, confirmed over the telephone to CNA today that a “presumed miracle” attributed to Pope Pius XII is under investigation. The case involves a patient cured of cancer in southern Italy.
Cardinal Saraiva was quick to caution, however, that there is a big difference between a “presumed” miracle and a “confirmed” miracle.
The case comes to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes from the town of Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, Italy. “Some months ago,” the local Sorrento & Dintorni online publication reported on Sunday, a person was discovered to be cured of a form of cancer previously declared incurable after praying for the intercession of Pope Pius XII.
The doctors of the person, of whom no details are public, were unable to give a scientific explanation for the occurrence, according to the article.
According to the same news source, the story was confirmed by Fr. Carmine Giudici, Vicar General of the Diocese of Sorrento, who said, “It’s all true.” Fr. Carmine said that the Holy See was in contact with the diocese after having been contacted by a local church-goer who says that he or she received a miracle “by the intercession of Pius XII.”
“The archbishop then decided to institute within days the appropriate diocesan tribunal.”
The existence of the possible miracle was confirmed to CNA by Cardinal Saraiva Martins on Monday afternoon.
The prefect emeritus also said that it is impossible to estimate the amount of time it might take for the process of confirmation to be carried out.
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His Eminence, Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will offer a Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Chiesa dell’ Ascensione a Chiaje in Naples in the Traditional Roman Rite on January 16th, 2010, at 11:00 A.M.
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(Washington, DC) WALKING into church 40 years ago on this first Sunday of Advent, many Roman Catholics might have wondered where they were. The priest not only spoke English rather than Latin, but he faced the congregation instead of the tabernacle; laymen took on duties previously reserved for priests; folk music filled the air. The great changes of Vatican II had hit home.
All this was a radical break from the traditional Latin Mass, codified in the 16th century at the Council of Trent. For centuries, that Mass served as a structured sacrifice with directives, called “rubrics,” that were not optional. This is how it is done, said the book. As recently as 1947, Pope Pius XII had issued an encyclical on liturgy that scoffed at modernization; he said that the idea of changes to the traditional Latin Mass “pained” him “grievously.”
Paradoxically, however, it was Pius himself who was largely responsible for the momentous changes of 1969. It was he who appointed the chief architect of the new Mass, Annibale Bugnini, to the Vatican’s liturgical commission in 1948.
Bugnini was born in 1912 and ordained a Vincentian priest in 1936. Though Bugnini had barely a decade of parish work, Pius XII made him secretary to the Commission for Liturgical Reform. In the 1950s, Bugnini led a major revision of the liturgies of Holy Week. As a result, on Good Friday of 1955, congregations for the first time joined the priest in reciting the Pater Noster, and the priest faced the congregation for some of the liturgy.
The next pope, John XXIII, named Bugnini secretary to the Preparatory Commission for the Liturgy of Vatican II, in which position he worked with Catholic clergymen and, surprisingly, some Protestant ministers on liturgical reforms. In 1962 he wrote what would eventually become the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the document that gave the form of the new Mass.
Many of Bugnini’s reforms were aimed at appeasing non-Catholics, and changes emulating Protestant services were made, including placing altars to face the people instead of a sacrifice toward the liturgical east. As he put it, “We must strip from our … Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren, that is, for the Protestants.” (Paradoxically, the Anglicans who will join the Catholic Church as a result of the current pope’s outreach will use a liturgy that often features the priest facing in the same direction as the congregation. )
How was Bugnini able to make such sweeping changes? In part because none of the popes he served were liturgists. Bugnini changed so many things that John’s successor, Paul VI, sometimes did not know the latest directives. The pope once questioned the vestments set out for him by his staff, saying they were the wrong color, only to be told he had eliminated the week-long celebration of Pentecost and could not wear the corresponding red garments for Mass. The pope’s master of ceremonies then witnessed Paul VI break down in tears.
Bugnini fell from grace in the 1970s. Rumors spread in the Italian press that he was a Freemason, which if true would have merited excommunication. The Vatican never denied the claims, and in 1976 Bugnini, by then an archbishop, was exiled to a ceremonial post in Iran. He died, largely forgotten, in 1982.
But his legacy lived on. Pope John Paul II continued the liberalizations of Mass, allowing females to serve in place of altar boys and to permit unordained men and women to distribute communion in the hands of standing recipients. Even conservative organizations like Opus Dei adopted the liberal liturgical reforms.
But Bugnini may have finally met his match in Benedict XVI, a noted liturgist himself who is no fan of the past 40 years of change. Chanting Latin, wearing antique vestments and distributing communion only on the tongues (rather than into the hands) of kneeling Catholics, Benedict has slowly reversed the innovations of his predecessors. And the Latin Mass is back, at least on a limited basis, in places like Arlington, Va., where one in five parishes offer the old liturgy.
Benedict understands that his younger priests and seminarians — most born after Vatican II — are helping lead a counterrevolution. They value the beauty of the solemn high Mass and its accompanying chant, incense and ceremony. Priests in cassocks and sisters in habits are again common; traditionalist societies like the Institute of Christ the King are expanding.
At the beginning of this decade, Benedict (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) wrote: “The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself.” He was right: 40 years of the new Mass have brought chaos and banality into the most visible and outward sign of the church. Benedict XVI wants a return to order and meaning. So, it seems, does the next generation of Catholics.
Kenneth J. Wolfe writes frequently for traditionalist Roman Catholic publications.
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Una Voce Carmel 