Novena to the Sacred Heart for Fr. Walker

A 9 day Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the surrender and conversion of whoever is responsible for the murder of Fr. Kenneth Walker and beating of Fr. Joseph Terra.  Please pray this Novena, starting Wed, June 18 thru June 26 in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart June 27th.

Prayer:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, All of us, praying this novena, ask for the surrender and conversion of whoever killed FR. Kenneth Walker and wounded Fr. Joseph Terra.  We also ask for great good to come out of this terrible tragedy.  Your Sacred Heart, so full of love for saints and sinners alike, can accomplish anything we ask for with faith.  We do have total faith in Your divine power and love that emanates from Your Sacred Heart.  With this confidence, we place all our sorrows and concerns into Your Meek and Humble Heart.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, broken on the cross; Have mercy on the Soul of Fr. Walker.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced through by the soldiers lance; heal Fr. Terra

Sacred Heart of Jesus, out of which flowed blood and water, convert the murderer of Fr. Walker and all sinners, just as You converted the Centurion that pierced your heart on Calvary.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Your kingdom come.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, we trust in your love. 

FSSP Establishes New Apostolate in Minneapolis

 

On July 3, 2013 Fr. Bauknecht and Fr. Harkins assumed pastoral responsibilities of All Saints Catholic Church which is located 435 4th Street NE Minneapolis, MN 55413

Good news… we’re normal! But I’m sure you already knew that.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/chiesa-church-iglesia-19319/

10/30/2012

“…it is normal to use the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.”

Cardinal Cañizares with Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Cañizares explains why he agreed to preside over Saturday’s mass for faithful from the “Una cum Papa nostro” pilgrimage, in St. Peter’s Basilica

ANDREA TORNIELLI
vatican city

“I gladly accepted to celebrate next Saturday’s mass for pilgrims who came to thank the Pope for the gift of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum because it is a way to make others understand that it is normal to use the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite…” This was the answer Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, gave to Vatican Insider when asked about the meaning of next Saturday’s (3 November) mass which will be celebrated at 15:00 in St. Peter’s Basilica. This morning, the spokesman for the “Una cum Papa nostro” pilgrimage announced that Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, Vice President of Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will be present at the mass.

What is the point of the pilgrimage?

“To give thanks to God and thank the Pope for the motu proprio he issued five years ago, recognising the value of the liturgy celebrated according to the missal of the Blessed John XXIII and marking continuity with the tradition of the Roman Rite. By recognising the previous liturgy one understands that reform does not mean doing away with older traditional practices.”

Why did you agree to celebrate mass for pilgrims who follow the pre-conciliar Rite?

 

I agreed because it is a way to show people it is normal to use the 1962 missal: there are two forms of the same Rite but there is only one Rite, so it is normal to use it during mass celebrations. I have already celebrated a number of masses according to the missal introduced by the Blessed John XXIII and I will gladly do so again on this occasion. The Congregation in which the Pope has called me to act as Prefect does not oppose the use of the old liturgy, although the task of our dicastery is to enhance the meaning of liturgical renewal according to the directives of the Sacrosanctum Concilium constitution and follow in the footsteps of the Second Vatican Council. In relation to this it must be said that the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite must draw inspiration from the conciliar Constitution which in the first ten paragraphs focuses on the true spirit of the liturgy and so is relevant to all rites.”

What is your opinion regarding the implementation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, five years on?

 

“I do not know the details regarding the world situation, partly because it is the Ecclesia Dei Commission that deals with this but I think that people are gradually beginning to understand that the liturgy is core to the Church and we have to revive the sense of mystery and sacredness in our celebrations. Furthermore, I believe that five years on we are able to better understand that it is not just about some faithful feeling nostalgia for the Latin Rite but about adding to the meaning of the liturgy. We are all part of the Church, we are all in one communion. Pope Benedict XVI explained this very well and on the first anniversary of the motu proprio, he recalled that “no one is unwelcome in the Church.”

The Call of Beauty – Raymond Cardinal Burke on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass

Institute of Christ the King in Ireland

ICKSP Given Church in Ireland (http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/)

From the Catholic Heritage Association:

 

REJOICE! REJOICE! REJOICE!

 

We have just received the following GLORIOUS news from the Institute of Christ the King in Ireland:

 

“Sacred Heart Church purchased by the Institute of Christ the King in Limerick, Ireland

With the help of numerous friends from Ireland, the United States and Continental Europe, the Church of the Sacred Heart at the Crescent in Limerick, also known as the Jesuit Church after its first builders and long-term occupants, was recently purchased by a young priestly community called the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The church and adjacent building, sold to a developer some years ago, had stood vacant for six years and was in danger of falling into ruin. Therefore many people from Limerick and other parts of Ireland were happy to help this Institute bring the Church of the Sacred Heart and its residence back to life.

A young community of members of the Institute of Christ the King will very soon move into the attached residence in spite of its rather poor condition, and the church will serve for the time being as its chapel. With the permission of the Bishop of Limerick, the Institute of Christ the King has had a residence in the diocese since 2009 and offers Mass every Sunday in the Extraordinary Form at St. Patrick’s Church, whilst also working in a few neighbouring dioceses.

Founded in 1990, the Institute is a Roman-Catholic Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right in canonical form. The 64 priests of the Institute work all over the world to promote the spiritual Kingship of Christ. A special emphasis is laid on the harmony between faith and culture, and thus the young community has acquired a reputation for promoting the arts, especially sacred music and architecture. This experience will serve to restore the Church of the Sacred Heart to its classical beauty and make it available once more as a point of reference for the cultural life of Limerick.

Brandmüller: the Mass of Paul VI IS NOT the Mass of the Council
Sacrosanctum Concilium never really implemented

From an interview granted by Cardinal Walter Brandmüller to Vatican Insider and published today. The last answer, on the liturgical revolution that should never have happened and destroyed the organic evolution of sacred worship, is particularly relevant.

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]

Labels: Continuing Liturgical Revolution, Vatican II at 50

Posted by New Catholic at 8/28/2012 02:46:00 PM

6 comments

Here’s what we have to say

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? 

If you think your bishop, and the bishops of your region or country, are unseemly, then they are in great need of your prayers and sacrifices. If you think they are good and well-intentioned, then they need even moreprayers and sacrifices, so they may persevere in their own personal purification, and in that of their particular Church.(Image source: Holy card heaven)

Posted by New Catholic at 8/28/2012 10:25:00 AM

20 comments

Two cardinals at Nellie Gray’s Requiem Mass

Miss Nellie Jane Gray, founder and president of the March For Lifein the U.S., drew two American cardinals to her traditional Latin Requiem High Mass:  Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston and Donald Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, D.C.This writer was privileged to attend and sing Gregorian chant pieces with other men from the parish in the choir loft.  A quartet of professional singers sang Father Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Missa Pro Defunctis.  Men from the parish were servers and MC.  Other priests were in choir with the cardinals and distributed communion wearing black stoles.  All clergy (including guests) in the sanctuary wore birettas.

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!

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Posted by Kenneth J. Wolfe at 8/27/2012 02:30:00 PM

15 comments

Doctrine, Liturgy, Law: Little-known activities inside the Vatican in 2011

From the latest article on Chiesa: Vatican Diary / Everything we didn’t know before and do now. on the activities of the Holy See in 2011. Emphases by Rorate:

– 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.”

Posted by Augustinus at 8/27/2012 10:00:00 AM

3 comments

TLM returns to the world’s largest Catholic university campus

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.

University of Santo Tomas, Manila

Photo source

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. 

More pictures of the event can be found at the original blogpost.

Labels: TLM in the Philippines

Posted by Augustinus at 8/27/2012 08:00:00 AM

5 comments

Event: 5th Traditional one-day Pilgrimage in Tuscany (September 2012)

 

Fifth All Tuscany Pilgrimage promoted by the Coordinamento toscano ‘Benedetto XVI’

 

 

Saturday September 22, 2012

 

 

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montenero

 

Leghorn (Livorno, Italy)

 

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

 

 

Program

 

 

9:30 AM

 

Pilgrims gather in Piazza delle Carrozze (Montenero Basso)

 

 

10:00 AM

 

Procession to the Sanctuary while reciting the Holy Rosary

 

 

11:00 AM

 

Traditional Solemn Mass 

celebrated by His Eminence the Most Reverend Raymond Leo Card. Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, attending His Excellency the Most Reverend Mons. Simone Giusti, bishop of

Leghorn. Liturgical service is assured by the ‘Institute Christ the King Sovereign  Priest’.

 

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Labels: Cardinal Burke, Events, ICRSS

Posted by New Catholic at 8/25/2012 06:23:00 PM

8 comments

A Vatican II Moment: The Masonic Memorial Mass

[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

Gaudium et spes, 61

It may sometimes seem to a couple of readers that we enjoy reporting these things: we do not, we find no pleasure in it, it pains our hearts deeply. We actually saw this when it was first posted, and hesitated about mentioning it, but today our friends at Fratres in Unum asked us to make it known around the world, and we could not refuse their request.

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Labels: A Vatican II Moment

Posted by New Catholic at 8/25/2012 06:12:00 PM

33 comments

Cor ad cor loquitur

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.”

Fioretti of Saint Francis

Labels: Scheduled posts

Posted by New Catholic at 8/25/2012 10:00:00 AM

9 comments

ICKSP Given Church in Ireland

From the Catholic Heritage Association:

 

REJOICE! REJOICE! REJOICE!

 

We have just received the following GLORIOUS news from the Institute of Christ the King in Ireland:

 

“Sacred Heart Church purchased by the Institute of Christ the King in Limerick, Ireland

With the help of numerous friends from Ireland, the United States and Continental Europe, the Church of the Sacred Heart at the Crescent in Limerick, also known as the Jesuit Church after its first builders and long-term occupants, was recently purchased by a young priestly community called the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The church and adjacent building, sold to a developer some years ago, had stood vacant for six years and was in danger of falling into ruin. Therefore many people from Limerick and other parts of Ireland were happy to help this Institute bring the Church of the Sacred Heart and its residence back to life.

A young community of members of the Institute of Christ the King will very soon move into the attached residence in spite of its rather poor condition, and the church will serve for the time being as its chapel. With the permission of the Bishop of Limerick, the Institute of Christ the King has had a residence in the diocese since 2009 and offers Mass every Sunday in the Extraordinary Form at St. Patrick’s Church, whilst also working in a few neighbouring dioceses.

Founded in 1990, the Institute is a Roman-Catholic Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right in canonical form. The 64 priests of the Institute work all over the world to promote the spiritual Kingship of Christ. A special emphasis is laid on the harmony between faith and culture, and thus the young community has acquired a reputation for promoting the arts, especially sacred music and architecture. This experience will serve to restore the Church of the Sacred Heart to its classical beauty and make it available once more as a point of reference for the cultural life of Limerick.

Week of Ordinations in Florence & Gricigliano

On Monday, June 28, 2010, twelve first-year seminarians received their cassock from Monsignor Gilles Wach, Founder and Prior General, at the magnificent Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano in Florence. They were tonsured on June 29, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, by the Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider, ORC, Auxiliary Bishop in Kazakhstan, in the seminary chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Gricigliano. Bishop Schneider also conferred the Minor Orders of Porter, Lector, Exorcist, and Acolyte, the same day to over forty young men. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone, Bishop of Oakland, California, ordained a deacon and several subdeacons on Wednesday, June 30.

On Thursday, July 1, Feast of the Most Precious Blood, the Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, ordained three priests — Canon Aaron Huberfeld (Danbury, Connecticut), Canon Michael Stein (Washington DC area), and Canon Antoine Boucheron (Le Mans, France). That same evening, the Most Reverend Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence, offered Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with Te Deum in the seminary chapel of Gricigliano. Archbishop Burke, Bishop Cordileone, and Bishop Schneider assisted at this solemn Liturgy, which was followed by a festive dinner on the seminary terrace and a fireworks display sponsored by various benefactors. (www.institute-christ-king.org)

View Photos of the Week’s Ordinations and Events »

Michael Voris on the Latin Mass

NY TIMES on Latin Mass

 

---

November 29, 2009

Op-Ed Contributor

Latin Mass Appeal

By KENNETH J. WOLFE

(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.

New TLM Poll from Georgetown

I received the following from the courteous Sister Mary E. Bendyna, RSM.  Please comment on the results!  Follow the link below:

Dear Mr. Arbuckle,

As you may recall, you were in contact with CARA a couple of years ago about the possibility of including questions about the Traditional Latin Mass in one of our surveys.  I just wanted to let you know that we were able to include questions very similar to those you were interested in in a poll we conducted in 2008 and have just released the results.  The press release is posted on our website at http://cara.georgetown.edu/pr082409.pdf.  The findings suggest that fewer Catholics have an opinion about the Mass than was the case when the Gallup poll asked about it in 1985.  I suspect that this is largely a function of many fewer Catholics having any recollection or experience of the Traditional Latin Mass than was the case in 1985.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Sister Mary

— Sr. Mary E. Bendyna, RSM, Ph.D.
Executive Director
and Senior Research Associate
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057

Latin Mass to return to England and Wales

By Damian Thompson

The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today.

In addition, all seminaries will be required to teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes.

Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite.

Yesterday’s announcement by the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, will horrify Catholic liberals, including many bishops of England and Wales.

The Pope upset the liberals last year when he issued a decree removing their power to block the celebration of the old Mass. Yesterday’s move demonstrates that the Vatican intends to go much further in promoting the ancient liturgy.

Asked whether the Latin Mass would be celebrated in many ordinary parishes in future, Cardinal Castrillon said: “Not many parishes – all parishes. The Holy Father is offering this not only for the few groups who demand it, but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist.”

The Cardinal, who heads the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, made his comments as he was preparing to celebrate a traditional Latin Mass at Westminster Cathedral yesterday, the first time a cardinal has done so there for 40 years.

In the traditional rite, the priest faces in the same direction as the people and reads the main prayer of the Mass in Latin, in a voice so low as to be virtually silent. By contrast, in the new rite the priest faces the people and speaks audibly in the local language.

Cardinal Castrillon said that the reverent silence of the traditional rite was one of the “treasures” that Catholics would rediscover, and young worshippers would encounter for the first time.

Pope Benedict will reintroduce the old rite – which will be known as the “Gregorian Rite” – even where the congregation has not asked for it. “People don’t know about it, and therefore they don’t ask for it,” the Cardinal explained.

The revised Mass, adopted in 1970 after the Second Vatican Council, had given rise to “many, many, many abuses”, the Cardinal said. He added: “The experience of the last 40 years has not always been so good. Many people have lost their sense of adoration for God, and these abuses mean that many children do not know how to be in the presence of God.”

However, the new rite will not disappear; the Pope wishes to see the two forms of Mass existing side by side.

Such sweeping liturgical changes are certain to cause intense controversy. At a press conference, a journalist from the liberal Tablet magazine, which is close to the English bishops, told the Cardinal that the new liturgical changes amounted to “going backwards”.

Following last year’s papal decree, liberal bishops in England and America have attempted to limit the takeup of the old Mass by arguing that the rules say it should only be reintroduced when a “stable group” of the faithful request it. But Cardinal Castrillon said that a stable group could consist of as few as three people, and they need not come from the same parish.

The changes will take a few years to implement fully, he added, just as the Second Vatican Council had taken a long time to absorb. He insisted that the widespread reintroduction of the old Mass did not contradict the teachings of the Council.