Brian Murphy for 08!

Well it looks like the election has taken a turn for the worst... At least now the unborn babies will have a chance to live.

FSSP Vocations Blog

I know I haven't updated this blog for a while. I may someday resume postings on a more frequent basis, however now is not the time my plate is too full. However, I do want to make this post to spread the word about a great blog that is promoting vocations to the Fraternal Society of St. Peter. I am a registered parishioner at Mater Misericordiae a parish in the Diocese of Phoenix that is run by FSSP priests. I have met many FSSP priests/seminarians during my time at Mater Misericordiae and I am always impressed by how well formed these priests/seminarians are. Truly they exhibit what it means to be a priest. Therefore I want to plug the FSSP Vocations Blog to do whatever I can to spread the good news about this wonderful priestly society.

If you are considering the priesthood (if you are a single male and you haven't considered it, please take it to prayer), please include the FSSP in your discernment process.

How to start your own Garage Schola...

How to Start Your Own Garage Schola...

How to Start Your Own Garage ScholaBy Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker

At an international conference on liturgical music sponsored by the Vatican on December 5, 2005, Monsignor Valentino Miserachs Grau dropped a bomb. Being the head of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, and the leading voice for the Catholic Faith in all matters of music, his topic was not merely of academic interest, nor was it clouded in qualifications or hazy rhetoric. Instead, he used the occasion to make a passionate case for a change that will affect every cathedral, seminary, and parish in the Roman-rite world. His words were unmistakable, almost shocking, a clarion call for a radical change in the way we experience the liturgy.

Monsignor Grau began by demonstrating that the Church wants the faithful to sing Gregorian chant, citing a century of documents, most of them issued after Vatican II and one of them released in 2005 at the last Synod of Bishops. He quickly contrasted this with the current reality: “The almost outright ban on Latin and Gregorian chant seen over the past 40 years is incomprehensible, especially in the Latin countries. It is incomprehensible, and deplorable.”
“We have undervalued the Christian people's ability to learn,” he continued. “We have almost forced them to forget the Gregorian melodies that they knew, instead of expanding and deepening their knowledge, including through proper instruction on the meaning of the texts. And instead, we have stuffed them full of banalities.”

“Without Gregorian chant,” he said, “the Church is mutilated.... There cannot be Church music without Gregorian chant.... Gregorian chant must not remain in the preserve of academia, or the concert hall, or recordings; it must not be mummified like a museum exhibit, but must return as living song.”

“It's time to break through the inertia, and the shining example must come from the cathedral churches, the major churches, the monasteries, the convents, the seminaries, and the houses of religious formation. And so the humble parishes, too, will end up being ‘contaminated' by the supreme beauty of the chant of the Church. And the persuasive power of Gregorian chant will reverberate, and will consolidate the people in the true sense of Catholicism.”

No, You're Not Dreaming

In many ways, it was the speech that millions of Catholics the world over have prayed for since those strange days of the late 1960s and early 1970s when liturgy stopped sounding Catholic.
In effect, Monsignor Grau declared that the time for debate is over, and the time for action has arrived. A major rescue operation must begin immediately if we are to recover a most profound treasure of the Church: its musical heritage.

Before the age of electronic communication, such a speech might have been buried by anyone who didn't welcome the message. But today, thanks to the Internet, the speech immediately created a firestorm of controversy; blogs and forums filled up with every kind of response—from joyous elation from those longing for change, to bitter resentment from people with a heavy investment in the status quo.

Many comments dealt with the reality that few people are prepared to lead in this new direction. Generations have been raised in the parish setting with no musical training, and so competence appears all but vanished. Hardly anyone knows the basic melodies. The Latin is forbidding; fewer still know how to read “square notes.” And there is no money to hire professionals.

There is also the pastoral concern that any change could be destabilizing. One Web writer noted: “Changing the music in a church is always an emotional issue for the whole congregation…. In the church I was in previously that had chant, I knew people who left partly over frustration with the music.”

Fair enough. It's risky to change the music to which people have become accustomed in liturgy. It calls for hard work, courage, and heavy involvement by laypeople and by every parish. As wonderful as a Vatican commission would be—one that would assist every diocese and work to remind bishops and pastors of the need to support chant and truly sacred music—there is only so much an administrative office can do.

Professionals can help, but far too few are properly trained in this tradition. Ultimately, and in most parishes, the chant is going to be sung by enthusiastic non-professionals, which—if you've read this far in the article—probably means you.

One suggestion from a commenter on the Web was made with humor, but speaks to a certain truth. He called for the founding of “garage scholas” that sing chant, adding: “ Viva la revolución .”

He is precisely right. The first step is not to march up to your pastor and demand that he do something to bring the sounds of Solesmes to your parish. A pastor cannot make it come into being as if by magic: The singers in the parish are not likely to have any experience with the chant—the language confuses them and they're likely afraid that they'll mispronounce the words—and accompanists don't even know where to begin.

Under the best (and least likely) conditions, the pastor will seek out singers to make the change in the music. More likely, the pastor has gotten used to the music as it is and feels no passion for changing it. But even in the latter case, the pastor isn't preventing the chant from being sung. If the conditions were right, he might well approve of a change. But in most parishes, the conditions are not there. Neither the singers nor the people are prepared for an overnight change by fiat.

If you really want chant in your parish—and you should—you have to take an active role, not in lobbying for it but in taking the initiative to bring it to life . The plan we map out below cannot be put into place in a month, or even a year. Your parish will not sound like the Bells of St. Mary's in one season. This is for the long term. Think in terms of two to five years, which is a tiny slice of time in the history of chant.

Step 1: Prepare Ye the Way

The first step is not directly related to music; it's a social and spiritual point. People who find themselves disgruntled with the status quo in any parish often feel a sense of alienation from parish life, particularly in its liturgy. This is understandable. But to make a difference requires more than merely bemoaning the current state and sneering at parish programs. You need to leave the protest mode and think in terms of the contribution you can make.

The music sector of parish life, in particular, is often fraught with division and acrimony. People become very protective of their liturgical turf and suspicious of those whom they believe are trying to encroach upon it. For this reason, and for the sake of your own peace of mind, anyone who wants to see a change in music must proceed in charity and love.

Agitating against the current music establishment will do nothing to help your cause. You cannot force the existing choirs to stop the musical banalities. Only a positive agenda is capable of creating a long-term change. Make peace, adopt a bright outlook, and make amends for past wrongs: They're not only the right things to do, but they also prepare the way for a successful renewal in your liturgical music.

Step 2: Private Study

You need to be able to sing chant yourself before you can teach it to others, much less sing in public liturgical settings. The second step is to learn about chant on your own, using the vast resources available on the Web and through most any Catholic publisher and/or distributor.
Start by looking at Jubilate Deo , the chant booklet issued by Paul VI in 1974 (you can download it from the Web at www.ceciliaschola.org). It came with the following instruction: “This minimum repertoire of Gregorian chant has been prepared with [this] purpose in mind: to make it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony with their brothers and with the living traditions of the past. Hence it is that those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse to Gregorian chant the place which is due to it.”

The entire Jubilate Deo has been recorded by the Solesmes monks on two CDs. It is called Gregorian Melodies , available from Ignatius.com or Amazon.com. Following along in the music and listening to the monks sing—and learning to sing along with them—is the best beginning. The CD begins with the sprinkling rites, continues with the Mass parts, and moves to popular chants.

The medieval neumes of the Jubilate Deo serve a purpose, and being able to read them is essential for long-term success. (“An Idiot's Guide to Square Notes” in the May 2006 issue of crisis provides a primer for doing so.) But if you just can't see your way around these, you can buy a nice collection of chants in modern notation from the Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) titled Laus Tibi, Christe . It alone contains enough chant to transform the musical life of a parish.
The Gregorian Missal , produced by the Solesmes Abbey (and available from OCP), includes the complete propers (the changing parts of the Mass such as the introits, graduals, offertories, communions, etc.) for Sundays and major feast days, and a full range of the ordinary settings (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Angus Dei), with the readings for the day in English.

It might look intimidating at first, and it'll probably take some time before you can sing it. But the magnificent effect of this book is to serve as a reminder that the liturgy is not just a text; it's text and song, the latter of which is prescribed in every detail. In these times when music is considered a matter of taste, the Gregorian Missal illustrates the desperate need to remove music from its discretionary status and integrate it into our understanding of what the Church is asking musicians to do.

The goal of this stage should be to memorize at least six primary chants, such as the Ave Maria, the Adoro Te, or the Regina Caeli. This way you can sing them while driving, walking, sitting at your desk, before meals, first thing in the morning—anytime. Chant is meant to be part of life, just as life is meant to be penetrated by liturgical sensibilities.

To be more blunt: If you cannot sing the first lines of the Gregorian melody for Ave Maria and Regina Caeli—right now, right where you are—you are in no position to complain about the music in your parish. You are not yet part of the solution. Sing the chant in private, ask for the intercession of St. Cecilia, and miracles can begin to happen.

Step 3: Find Others to Sing

But even once you are armed with study materials, you're still not quite ready to sing at Mass. You must first find others in your parish or in the area to sing with you. While it's good to have the pastor's blessing, it might not be best to put him in the position of having to say yes or no. Just form your group, your schola, the way you would form a private prayer group.

Nor is this the time for the church-bulletin announcement. Just ask others in the parish who might be interested. They don't have to be musicians as such. They need only to have the ability to stay on pitch and have the desire to learn. In fact, people who have never sung before can be excellent singers for liturgy because they lack pretension and sing with humility.

The schola can be one more person or it can be 20. And there's no need to commit to a future performance. The only benefit promised should be a private one. Make it exciting and fulfilling, and they will come.

Work on the simple songs and Mass settings, week after week. Set a schedule for practice—say, once a week for one hour. Don't start late or go overtime. The discipline of starting and stopping on time reflects the discipline that monks since the earliest years of Christianity have practiced in saying their prayers and singing the Psalms. Work on one or two chants each week.

Pronounce them first; sing them after. Work on listening to other singers and achieving a calm and smooth sound. As soon as you can, put down your music and attempt to sing by memory.
This step should be taken even if there is no pianist or organist. Learning to sing without the aid of anything but a pitch pipe is the best kind of training. It is also the surest means of achieving what the Church calls for with regard to the primacy of the human voice, the very instrument that God granted us as part of our physical makeup.

You can, of course, practice in your home. But at some point, you may want to move your practices to the parish social hall or some classroom at the church. Do it every week and at some point, the staff will begin to notice. Other parishioners will talk. The buzz will start slowly and without alarming anyone. People will enjoy hearing the group.

This stage—quite possibly the most important one—can last as long as six months to a year. It will train the minds and hearts of those people who will form the schola in the importance of submitting to the music in humility, purging the desire to “perform,” improving the art of chant, and giving time for the idea of a new approach to begin to work its way into parish life.

Some other resources are essential at this stage. You will need the General Instruction on the Roman Missal , which you can download from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Web site (www.usccb.org/liturgy). It should be read carefully. You will also need Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year and Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite , both by Peter J. Elliott, and both available through Ignatius Press. These books are essential for making sure that what the schola does is precise and correct as regards the demands of tradition and Catholic practice. Knowing the ins and outs of these matters will further establish the schola as something of a standard bearer for what should and should not take place during celebrations of particular feasts and throughout the year.

You might also sing some English hymns and polyphony at this stage, since those too will be essential in any modern parish setting. All the polyphonic music you might ever need is available for free download at the Choral Music Public Domain Library (www.CPDL.org). It is also a good time to consider workshops on sacred music. You can find out about these through the Web site of the Church Music Association of America (www.musicasacra.com).

Step 4: Build Support

Once group cohesion takes hold and you have learned the basics of chant well enough, the schola can begin to take part in some broader activities of parish life. Let's say an older parishioner is in the hospital. The schola can go to his or her room and sing some chant. What a glorious ministry it would be. Think of the benefit for the patient, or for those dying, and imagine the benefit you will gain from such service. The schola can also sing in retirement homes, or in the homes of those who cannot come to Mass. All of this establishes the schola as a burgeoning, if informal, ministry of the parish—and it can all be done without having to seek any kind of official sanction or funding.

With all this activity, the idea that the schola is there to serve the parish—not just demand its rights—begins to take hold. It costs nothing but your time and energy. There are very few pastors of Catholic parishes, even among those who have no chant sympathies, who would not be impressed with this level of dedication.

Step 5: Sing at Liturgy

If all the above steps have been taken, the group can integrate itself into the public liturgical life of the parish. It could be just a special occasion—say, Good Friday. It could be at a daily Mass or at evening Benediction or Vespers. It could be just the summer when everyone else is on vacation and music for Mass is needed. Any opportunities that present themselves should be accepted.

Of course, the schola should be well-prepared before accepting a Sunday Mass. When it finally does happen, the schola needs to be experienced enough to sustain momentum. The goal should be to sing every week, and not just once per month or season. This is more important than it first seems. Parishioners need to be able to expect sacred music on a regular basis in a certain time period and without exception. Consistency and repetition are the paths to winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Schola members will find themselves taken aback at the pace of demands. The liturgy moves surprisingly quickly from Easter to Pentecost to Advent to Christmas and Lent—with all special solemnities along the way—and each poses unique challenges to the singers.

In order not to be caught off guard, and to set the highest standard of liturgical practice, the schola must be familiar with the music of each of these seasons. The schola will also need to eschew conventional planning resources in favor of CanticaNOVA's wonderful online liturgical planning guide (www.CanticaNOVA.com), a publisher that also offers excellent sacred-music resources of every sort.

The schola should make it clear that an integrated liturgy is necessary (good hymns, along with dignified Mass parts), not a mixed program of “traditional” and “contemporary.” Every effort should be made to keep “popular” hymns and settings out of Masses assisted by the schola, if only so that the people can observe the difference between the solemnity of the schola-assisted Masses and the others. This demonstration project, carried out over time, will secure the schola in the life of the parish.

There is little room for error, because the burden of proof falls so heavily on those who want to do something different. The schola should not be front and center but in the balcony or the back of the church, if at all possible. In the end, it's not the music that will carry the day so much as the silence and space that this repertoire provides. People will pray and experience a sensibility far different from that provided by a contemporary choir. Once the congregation gets a taste of participating in the liturgy through prayer and preparation, and comes to understand that music can point to God and not just to the community, the rest will take care of itself.

How long will this process take? It depends on the local situation. It could be a month, or it could be two years. But no matter how long, it's worth the effort. Introducing this music can bring new people to the Faith, reinforce the faith of those already there, introduce a new generation to real Catholic music and tradition, and lift the hearts and rekindle the fire in the souls of older Catholics who remember it all from their childhood.

One must never lose sight of the goal, which is not to achieve a personal victory or to score debating points against others, but to glorify God in the audible celebration of sacred space.
So many of the struggles in smaller parishes turn on questions of ego, personality, and control over liturgy—a consequence of the mistaken but too-often-encouraged view that liturgy should be structured or organized like a political democracy. The attempt to bring chant to a parish cannot and should not be approached as a matter of control. The point of our musical heritage is not power and authority but humility and deference to the sacrament.

Facing Barriers

New scholas often find widespread support in the parish, provided that they have prepared the way. But not everyone in the parish will celebrate what you are doing. Some people might resent this attempt to “turn back the clock.” One way around this problem is to avoid using hot-button words. Who cares if Gregorian chant is described as conservative, liberal, traditionalist, or progressive? The music itself knows no bounds of time and should be neither pushed nor thwarted based on political concerns. Its fate should not be tied to any other political or doctrinal cause.

Some people are truly happy with the existing music. That's because music reaches the mind and soul and spirit like no other medium. The music we know from childhood becomes part of our living memory and integral to our aesthetic understanding for the whole of our life. For good or ill, it's nearly impossible to dislodge musical memories once they are instilled in us. Even trite music has an impact on us if it's associated with a happy memory.

The movement for chant in parishes, then, cannot only seek to make a case against the music that people love and associate with the Faith. To tell someone that his love for “Be Not Afraid” reflects an insipid spirituality is to do nothing but provoke a fight.

What we need is to begin the process of making new associations, carving out a new and special place in the soul's aesthetic understanding. To do this requires total dedication and repetition over years. The good news, however, is that as difficult as it is to dislodge people's attachment to popular songs, once the chant has made its way back into the spiritual memories of the faithful, it will begin to become a durable part of Catholic life again. The support for chant will grow and change the whole character of what we experience at Mass, from the inside out.

How Hard Is Chant?

The question always comes up: Is chant simple or difficult? The answer is that it can be both. Chant is like Christian theology in that it can be understood on many different levels. Just as theological understanding can take the most simple expression—the sign of the cross or the name of Our Lord—a few chanted notes can reveal the highest truth; its simplicity in no way distracts from the fullness of the entire Gregorian repertoire. The important thing is to take that first step.

To bring back basic settings of the Mass is, in one sense, easier than people imagine. A Kyrie can be sung by any choir in any parish starting next week. Just taking this single step can make a big difference in the sound and feel of the liturgy, and establish a basis for future development. A plainchant English Gloria can follow, then a Latin Sanctus and Agnus Dei, and over a period of months, you have a liturgy that is hospitable to the sounds of the sacred.

The chant schola should make the extra effort to print programs week to week for parishioners with pictures of the chant or translations. This helps remove a familiar objection that no one can understand the Latin (actually, the soul understands the Latin, which is one reason some people object to it!). Making translations available is not that difficult, and it can be a great help.

Pastoral support is, strictly speaking, not necessary, but it can be a great advantage. It helps to have a homilist make reference to the chant as a way of “legitimizing” the changes taking place. Workshops can be held at the parish, or special guest directors can be brought in. Finally, the pastor and people will have to be reaccustomed to the liturgy. More is required of the faithful; parishioners will be called upon to participate in a genuine and full sense.

As for those who love sacred music but do not believe they have musical talent, there's a role for them, too. They can encourage the new groups that are forming. They can tell the singers how they appreciate their contribution to the liturgy. They can tell the pastor how much they approve of the new trends in parish life. They can make contributions to the cause. Above all, they can pray to St. Cecilia or other saints to help those who are attempting to make the music fitting, suitable, and holy to the occasion.

A Revolution Is Coming

The groundwork for the revival of chant and sacred music with which it is associated has been in the works for a very long time. Many scholars believed that Vatican II—with its explicit statement that chant and polyphony should have pride of place in the liturgy—would be the event to finally push popular hymnody out of the Mass and bring back genuine liturgical music. Of course, the opposite happened.

All these years, scholars and musicians have been working to prepare for the moment that is now arriving. Colloquia and workshops on chant are filling up. New publications appear monthly. Publishers that once only pushed contemporary music are now offering publications by the Solesmes monks. Catholic institutions are sending out chant CDs with their fundraising appeals.
The movement has support at the highest levels of the Church. Pope John Paul II issued many statements emphasizing Latin and chant; the Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome produced an Instrumentum Laboris that stated: “The faithful need to know the standard Gregorian chants, which have been composed to meet the needs of people of all times and places, in virtue of their simplicity, refinement and agility in form and rhythm. As a result, the songs and hymns presently in use need to be reconsidered.”

In addition, the Vatican conference on sacred music in November 2005 featured numerous speakers who echoed the themes of Monsignor Grau. The current pope's writings and interviews emphasize the importance of truly sacred music and the incompatibility of liturgical expression with popular styles.

There is no need to wait for directives and commissions to come to your parish. Every Catholic with musical intuition should involve himself in this grand project. And now is the time, before the music is lost forever. We have a mission, and the means, and the will. Let us participate in the creation of music of eternal value. This is the new direction we are being asked to take, and the only direction that can properly be called progressive.

Arlene Oost-Zinner is president of the St. Cecilia Schola in Auburn, Alabama. Jeffrey Tucker is managing editor of Sacred Music magazine. They can be reached at mailto:contact@ceciliaschola.org.

Into Great Silence coming to the Valley

I previously posted about the awesome looking movie Into Great Silence a few months ago, and said that I would post any updates of when it will be coming to the Valley, well, great news, it is coming to Tempe in early May!

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/playdates.php?directoryname=intogreatsilence
ARIZONA
Valley Art
Tempe
AZ
Starts May 4

Make sure to mark your calendars and go and see this movie!

The State of Catholic Education.

I found this excellent blog tonight on the state of Catholic Education in America, and I was saying Amen throughout the article.

Please read it at Athanasius Contra Mundum

EWTN to broadcast Mass from SS. Simon & Jude Cathedral in Phoenix.

Reported by the Musica Sacra blog

On March 26th at 11:30am Eastern time, the Holy Mass will be shown from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in the Diocese of Phoenix on EWTN. The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted will be Celebrant. The Cathedral Schola, which sings the Solemn Mass every Sunday at 11:00am, will sing the Introit, Communio and the Ordinary of the Mass, along with some solid Catholic hymns. The Schola is made up of professional musicians.

Why do I focus on Liturgy?

People who know me, and people who regularly read this blog know that I deeply care about the Liturgy. Some people have asked me "Why focus on such a superfluous issue?" Well the reason is simple, I do not believe it to be a superfluous issue, I believe the Liturgy to be a central aspect of our faith. I think our Holy Father believes the same, here is a quote of his out of the recently issued Apostolic Exhortation - Sacramentum Caritatis.

6. "The mystery of faith!" With these words, spoken immediately after the words of consecration, the priest proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding. The Eucharist is a "mystery of faith" par excellence: "the sum and summary of our faith." (13) The Church's faith is essentially a eucharistic faith, and it is especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist. Faith and the sacraments are two complementary aspects of ecclesial life. Awakened by the preaching of God's word, faith is nourished and grows in the grace-filled encounter with the Risen Lord which takes place in the sacraments: "faith is expressed in the rite, while the rite reinforces and strengthens faith." (14) For this reason, the Sacrament of the Altar is always at the heart of the Church's life: "thanks to the Eucharist, the Church is reborn ever anew!" (15) The more lively the eucharistic faith of the People of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples. The Church's very history bears witness to this. Every great reform has in some way been linked to the rediscovery of belief in the Lord's eucharistic presence among his people.

Now with that said, over the last 40 years the amount of Catholics who believe in the Real Presence has drastically declined. How do we reawaken in people the belief in the Eucharistic Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ?

Well the Pope has some great answers to that in Sacramentum Caritatis which I strongly urge you to read.

In addition to this, I think we need to significantly analyze our Liturgy, does our Liturgy in some way reflect what is truly taken place on that Altar? Does it reflect that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has humbled Himself taking upon Himself the appearace of bread and wine, so that we may be intimately united with Him through the reception of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity?

Personally, the only Liturgy that I have been to where this reality is properly reflected has been the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Catholics and the Traditional Latin Mass which I am so blessed to be able to assist at every Sunday!

There it seems that truly the rite reflects the reality, the sacred, the mystery,the reverence.

Now of course, I do believe that the Novus Ordo could also reflect the reality of the Real Presence, but sadly that is a rare occurence in my experience.

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf made a post recently which he drives at the same point, he titled it Save the Liturgy, Save the World.

And Gerald Augustinus of Closed Cafeteria is creating merchandise with this Motto of Save the Liturgy, Save the World.

Muslim Clerics Convert to Christianity !

Check out this awesome interview with Father Zakaria an Eyptian Coptic priest who has been successful at converting Muslim clerics to christianity.

Transformation in Christ: On the Christian Attitude, The Readiness to Change

Transformation in Christ:

On the Christian Attitude

The Readiness to Change

Excerpt by Dietrich Von Hildebrand,

(1940 A.D.) (Ignatius Press reprint)

Put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. (Eph. 4:22-24)

These words of St. Paul are inscribed above the gate through which all must pass who want to reach the goal set us by God. They implicitly contain the quintessence of the process which baptized man must undergo before he attains the unfolding of the new supernatural life received in Baptism.

All true Christian life, therefore must begin with a deep yearning to become a new man in Christ, and an inner readiness to “put off the old man” – a readiness to become something fundamentally different.

All good men desire to change
Even though he should lack religion, the will to change is not unknown to man. He longs to develop and to perfect himself. He believes he can overcome all vices and deficiencies of his nature by human force alone. All morally aspiring men are conscious of the necessity of a purposeful self-education which should cause them to change and to develop . . . Yet, when man is touched by the light of Revelation, something entirely new has come to pass. . . . He knows that no human force can heal that wound; that he is in need of redemption. He grasps the truth that repentance is powerless to remove the guilt of sin which separates him from God, that good will and natural moral endeavor will fail to restore him to the beauty of the paradisiac state. Within him lives a deep yearning for the Redeemer, who by divine force will take the guilt of sin and bridge the gulf that separates the human race from God.

Throughout the Old Testament that yearning resounds: “Convert us, O God: and show us Thy face, and we shall be saved” (Ps. 79:4). We perceive the desire for purification which enables us to appear before God and to endure the presence of the unspeakably Holy One: “Thou shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow” (Ps. 50:9).

God calls us to change
The New Testament, however, reveals to us a call which far transcends that yearning. Thus Christ speaks to Nicodemus “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). Christ the Messiah, is not merely the Redeemer who breaks apart the bond and cleanses us from sin. He is also the Dispenser of a new divine life which shall wholly transform us and turn us into new men . . . A strong desire must fill us to become different beings, to mortify our old selves and rearise as new men in Christ. This desire, this readiness to decrease so that “He may grow in us,” is the first elementary precondition for the transformation in Christ. It is the primal gesture by which man reacts to the light of Christ that has reached his eyes: the original gesture directed to God. It is in other words, the adequate consequences of our consciousness of being in need of redemption on the one hand, and our comprehension of being called by Christ on the other. Our surrender to Christ implies a readiness to let Him fully transform us, without setting any limit to the modification of our nature under His influence.

Not all possess the radical readiness to change
Now this radical readiness to change, the necessary condition for a transformation in Christ, is not actually possessed by all Catholic believers. It is, rather, a distinctive trait of those who have grasped the full import of the Call, and without reserve have decided upon an imitation of Christ. There are many religious Catholics whose readiness to change is merely a conditional one. They exert themselves to keep the commandments and to get rid of such qualities as they have recognized to be sinful. But they lack the will and the readiness to become new men all in all, to break with all purely natural standards to view all things in a supernatural light. They prefer to evade . . . the true conversion of the heart . . .

Transformation in Christ requires unqualified readiness to change
. . . Readiness to change . . . is the first prerequisite for the transformation in Christ. But, in addition thereto, more is needed: a glowing desire to become a new man in Christ; a passionate will to give oneself to Christ. And this again, presupposes a state of fluidity, as it were, that we should be like soft wax, ready to receive the imprint of the features of Christ. We must be determined not to entrench ourselves in our nature, not to maintain or assert ourselves, and above all, not to set up beforehand – however unconsciously – a framework of limiting or qualifying factors for the pervasive and re-creative light of Christ. Rather we must be filled with an unquenchable thirst for regeneration in all things. We must fully experience the bliss of flying into “Christ’s arms, who will transform us by his Light beyond any measure we might ourselves intend . . .

Moral progress requires unqualified readiness to change
That unlimited readiness to change is not only necessary for the transformation in Christ: even as such it represents the basic and relevant response to God. . . It finds its highest expression in these words of the Blessed Virgin: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to they word” (Luke 1:38).

Man is called to the unchangeableness of God
It does not behoove us to cherish variability as such; for, as Christians we give our worship not to change but to the Unchangeable God, Who in all eternity remains Himself: “They shall perish but Thou remainest” (Ps. 101:26-28). Thus, as Christians we direct our lives towards that moment in which there will be change no longer, and rejoice in the hope of sharing in the unchangeableness of God . . . It is part of the blissful message of the Gospel that we are called to participate in the eternal unchangeableness of God. Yet our life will acquire immutability in the degree in which we are transformed in Christ. . . . In the measure only in which we yield like soft wax to the formative action of Christ, shall we attain genuine firmness, and grow into a likeness of divine immutability. In that measure, too, shall we rise above the terror which . . . the rhythm of death and life’s law of transiency portend for us.

Readiness to change is the core of our response to God

On the measure of our readiness to change depends the measure of our transformation in Christ . . . Whenever on the contrary, some baser impulse gets the upper hand in a man’s soul, he will shut himself up . . . He will harden and attempt to maintain himself . . The readiness to change is an essential aspect of the Christian’s basic relation with God; it forms the core of our response to the merciful love of God which bends down upon us: “With eternal charity that God loves us; so He hath drawn us, lifted from the earth to His merciful heart” (Antiphon of Praise, Feast of the Sacred Heart). To us all has the inexorable yet beatifying call of Christ been addressed . . . (“Follow me”). Nor do we follow it unless, relinquishing everything, we say with St. Paul: “Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

A beautiful Medieval Chasuble.

http://www.krakow-info.com/ornat.htm

The Wonder of Medieval Needlework, 'Kmita's Chasuble' in Krakow's Cathedral Museum.
Wawel Cathedral’s 500-year-old chasuble ranks with the world’s top masterpieces of Gothic needlework. Its relief-like three-dimensional scenes from the life of St. Stanislav, Krakow’s 11th-century bishop-martyr and Poland’s patron saint, embroidered with unbelievable precision and realism, match the best sculpture of the late 15th c. Naturalistic features of tiny heads and detailed faithfulness of depiction (complete with open wound on the saint’s skull where sword struck) are truly stunning. And masterly, dramatic composition arrests attention. The chasuble was donated in 1503 by one Piotr Kmita, then governor of the Krakow province, to commemorate the 250 anniversary of St. Stanislav’s canonization (the donor’s coat of arms takes up the bottom one of eight pictures arranged in a cross). Now the amazing robe, known as "ornat Kmity" ("Kmita's chasuble") is the pride of the Cathedral Museum on the Wawel Hill, displayed permanently alongside its other treasures of church art.

The Holy Father Speaks - Sacramentum Caritatis

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html

Joint Effort between UVA and FSSP to Train Priests to Celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass

http://www.unavoce.org/news/2007/priest_training.html

UVA Launches Priest Training Workshops

Joint Effort with FSSP to Train Priests to Celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Distribution - March 11, 2007

Publicity flyer (PDF)

Una Voce America is pleased to announce a collaborative program with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) designed to provide training for any priest interested in learning how to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass.

"This program may be the most important effort we've undertaken," said UVA director Jason King recently. "We're grateful to the Fraternity for its generous support of this project."

Training will take place in June 2007 at Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in Denton, Nebraska, which is located in the diocese of Lincoln. The workshop will last for one week and will be repeated three times (the first, second and fourth weeks of June). Each session will begin on a Monday at noon and end Friday at noon of that week. A priest need only attend one of the three sessions, as the same material will be covered in each one.

The FSSP will be responsible for curriculum and instruction, while UVA will assume primary responsibility for funding and promoting the program.

Over a year in the making

UVA's board of directors began actively discussing the concept of priest training in early 2006, King said. Preparations accelerated last fall amid speculation that Pope Benedict XVI was planning to grant greater freedom for celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal.

"We felt this presented a historic opportunity for the nation's largest lay organization supporting the traditional Latin Mass -- Una Voce America -- to collaborate with a clerical religious institute whose priests actually use the 1962 Missal -- the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter," King stated.

He explained that most if not all American seminarians study only the modern liturgy that became normative following the Second Vatican Council. This has left a gap in knowledge of preconciliar liturgy that the priest training program will begin to address.

According to King, both Una Voce and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter view the faithful's devotion to the Latin liturgical tradition as a "unique charism in support of the new evangelization championed by Pope John Paul II -- a charism that is ever ancient, yet ever new."

Week-long intensive training at Nebraska seminary

The Rev. Calvin Goodwin, FSSP, will be the Fraternity's contact point for interested clergy. He explained that the seminary has prepared a detailed curriculum (with books and an instructional DVD/CD) and has designated priests and deacons to teach and assist.
According to Fr. Goodwin, the workshops will cover not only the rubrics but also the liturgical principles underlying the rubrics.

"Priests will learn not only how far to raise their hands and how to pronounce the Latin, for example, but how the various gestures and prayers fit into the liturgical prayer of the Church, and reflect the Faith itself," Fr. Goodwin said.

"No prior experience with the traditional Mass is needed, and the course is open to all priests regardless of their level of Latin proficiency," he emphasized. "In fact, our instructors are eager to work even with those priests who have no previous Latin training at all."

Fr. Goodwin added that the curriculum, although very intensive, was designed specifically to accommodate today's busy clergy.

"It's often difficult for priests to learn these things from a video or book in their spare time -- they're pulled in a thousand different directions in their parishes," Fr. Goodwin explained. "Here at the seminary, without distractions, they will be able to ask questions and get the answers and encouragement they need," he added.

UVA to make financial aid available

Cost for the program will depend on the number of participants, but is estimated at $300 per priest. This sum will cover all course materials, which the priest may keep, as well as room and board for the week of the priest's stay. Una Voce America has offered to help any priest who needs financial assistance.

"Una Voce America is committed to raising sufficient funds to enable every interested priest to receive instruction on the proper celebration of the traditional Latin Mass," King said.

Una Voce America and the Priestly Fraternity expect to offer the PTP sessions on a periodic basis in the future. They also will establish a waiting list for priests who are unable to attend one of the June 2007 sessions or who cannot be accommodated by the limited space available in the initial sessions.

UVA is calling on its chapters, affiliates, and individual members to support this effort with prayers and financial contributions. Those who wish to support this program financially can send donations to Una Voce-Syracuse, PO Box 993, Oswego NY 13126. Checks should be designated for "priest training."

Program will support Vatican initiative

Although the priest training program was inspired in part by numerous reports that Pope Benedict XVI intends to free the traditional Latin Mass from the restrictions that now prevent its widespread celebration, UVA doesn't want to "presume too much on his decision," commented R. Michael Dunnigan, chairman of the organization.

Nonetheless, he added, "The Holy Father has been a courageous and eloquent defender of the traditional Mass, and if his will is to grant wider access to it, then we certainly want to do our part to promote the conditions that will help to achieve this goal."

Some bishops and other critics have opposed freedom for the traditional Mass, expressing concern that priests lacking adequate training may celebrate the Mass improperly. Dunnigan believes that these fears are misplaced.

"In addition to being sacramental ministers, priests are skilled professionals who take pride in their work," he said. "As a result, very few would be inclined to celebrate this Mass in public before they are fully prepared to do so."

In any event, Dunnigan pointed out that the priest training program sponsored by UVA and the FSSP is a cause that both proponents and critics of the traditional Mass can support.

"To the extent that the critics argue in favor of proper training, the traditionalist community fully supports this goal," Dunnigan said. "In fact, the very mission of the priest training program is to ensure that every priest who wishes to celebrate this Mass will receive the instruction that he needs to do so properly and reverently."

To receive more information or to make a reservation, interested priests should contact Fr. Goodwin at (402) 797-7700 or email: seminary@fsspolgs.org or write to: Attn: Mass Workshops, O.L.G. Seminary, P.O. Box 147, Denton, NE. 68339.

Priests in need of aid may inquire in confidence to UVA, c/o Mr. Jason King, PO Box 1146, Bellevue, WA 98009-1146.

YouTube of the Institute of Christ the King Mass in St. Louis' Cathedral

Via Shawn at the New Liturgical Movement

Someone has made available some video of the Solemn Mass at St. Louis' Cathedral, celebrated by the Institute of Christ the King. Here are the links:
Part I
Part II: Procession and Introit
Part III: Kyrie
Part IV: Gloria, Collect, Commemoration
Part V: Epistle
Part VI: Tract
Part VII: Gospel

An Introduction to The Confraternity of St Peter by Rev. Fr. J. Fryar FSSP

More information and enrollment form at:
http://www.fssp.org/en/confraternite.htm

Our blessed Lord has bestowed the Catholic Church with a treasury of all the graces and all the means necessary for salvation. She is rich in spirituality that fills every page of Scripture and is transcribed in the annals of Tradition. Having all the means necessary to Salvation, there is no limit to the aspects of spirituality that are within the Church. Devotion to the Eucharist, poverty, devotion to our Blessed Mother, either in honor of Her sorrows, or in honor of Her purity, and so on. We can go on forever enumerating all of the holy devotions that can be found in the bosom of the Church.

And that is why, within the Church, there are so many Congregations, Religious Orders, Associations – both lay and of clerics, etc., each taking either a virtue, or an exhortation from the Gospels, or some other aspect of spirituality to fulfill in a special way and thus work out their salvation.

And so we find the Franciscans, who work out their salvation by the practice of Holy Poverty. Or the Benedictines with their faithful observance of ora et labora (work and prayer). There are those who dedicate their lives to contemplation, others to acts of charity, for instance working in hospitals, or teaching the youth, or aiding the poor. And the list goes on.

When St Francis began his Order, he had no intention of founding the Franciscans. He wanted to live a life of poverty, and save his soul by renouncing the things of this world. But soon he had several men come to him and desire to unite themselves to his observance in order to save their souls by living the holy life that he was living. Thus was born the Friars Minor. Soon St Claire approached St Francis desiring to share in this holy way of life, and after ironing out the details an order of nuns was born, the Poor Claires. The Friars Minor came to be known as the First Order, and the sisters were then known as the Second Order. Finally, families and other lay people desired to unite themselves to the spirituality of the Franciscans while still remaining in their lay vocations, and for them St Francis instituted the Third Order. Not only did the Franciscans have a third order, but almost all religious congregations have lay people of all
walks of life who desire to bond themselves to the spirituality of the congregation and sanctify themselves by that unity. Some orders have oblates, others have third orders, others have associations, whereby the faithful can attach themselves to the order and sanctify themselves by that spirituality and the graces flowing from that unity.

For some time now, laity from all over the world have expressed their desire to unite themselves to the Fraternity of St Peter and to share the Fraternity's spirituality in order to facilitate their sanctification. In each of our parishes there are those who dedicate many hours of their time to cleaning the church, or keeping the grounds, or training servers, or playing the organ, or cleaning the linens, or buying the flowers, or cleaning the rectory, or maintenance, and so many other ways to aid the priests of the Fraternity and make the Traditional Mass possible and readily available.

Besides those who donate their manual labor for the love of Our Blessed Lord, there are so many that donate their hard earned money, often times depriving themselves of small luxuries, in order to help fund the work that the Fraternity does. Then there are others who are the Fraternity's most faithful benefactors: those who make the work of the Fraternity possible by their prayers. For all of these good people and for all those who desire to unite themselves
to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter while continuing their many walks of life, the Fraternity has instituted a sodality whereby lay people may unite themselves to the Fraternity by the holy bonds of prayer. This sodality is called the Confraternity of St Peter.

The Confraternity is for any person of any walk of life over the age of 14 who desires to unite his or herself to the Fraternity by the bonds of prayer. The duties of the Confraternity consists of reciting a decade of the Rosary for the three main intentions of the Confraternity each day, together with the prayer of the Confraternity, and of having a holy Mass offered once each year for the same intentions.

If you pray the Holy Rosary as a family, one of the decades of that Rosary will suffice to fulfill the first part of the Confraternity's obligations, and you may desire to include the prayer of the Confraternity among the prayers that you may already pray after the Hail Holy Queen. But one Rosary does not fulfill the obligation of one decade for five days. A decade should be said each individual day. To fulfill the requirement of having Holy Mass offered for the intentions of the Confraternity each year, you are free to request any priest to celebrate it at any time during the year. Preferably it should be offered by a Fraternity priest or at least be a Traditional Mass. In order not to forget whether or not you have had the Mass offered any particular year, you may wish to choose a date each year that will mark as a reminder, for instance your birthday, or the date of your first Holy Communion. When you request the Mass, simply ask for it to be celebrated on that day, or on the closest available day. The intention of the Mass would be simply the intentions of the Confraternity of St Peter.

The three intentions of the Confraternity are:
1. The sanctification of the members of the Fraternity
2. For vocations to the Fraternity
3. For the fruitfulness of the Fraternity's apostolic labors.

The duties of the Confraternity do not bind under sin. They are voluntary acts of charity that bind you to the Confraternity and the Fraternity by the bonds of prayer. Nevertheless, you should make the effort not to become negligent in the recitation of the decade of the Rosary and the prayer of the Confraternity on a daily basis. Each year, on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter (February 22nd) the membership and commitment of the members of the Confraternity is renewed tacitly. It would be a good practice for you (although not necessary) to assist at Holy Mass on that day and at some moment of the Holy Mass, to offer a prayer uniting yourself to the other members of the Confraternity and the Confraternity's intentions.

The benefits that you receive from being a member of the Confraternity stem from the spiritual bond that the Confraternity has to the Fraternity. You will be among the particular recipients of the Fraternity's priests' and seminarians' daily prayers. Also the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered once a month for all the members of the Confraternity by the Chaplain of each area.

It is furthermore foreseen that in the future there will be recollections, retreats, instructions and similar spiritual benefits for the members of the Confraternity. To join the Confraternity you must first know its duties and be willing to commit yourself to fulfilling them. Fill out the enrollment form that you may find at the back of a FSSP church or chapel, or request a form from any FSSP apostolate. After you have completed the form, send it in the address provided, and you will receive a certificate in the mail, formally admitting you into the ranks of the Confraternity. Each region of the Confraternity will have a enrollment book listing all of the Confraternity's members. There is no stipend attached to membership. Simply fill out and send in the enrollment form. The Fraternity does not seek money from you by your membership in the Confraternity, but rather the much more valuable donation of your prayers. Nevertheless, there will be expenses attached to the Confraternity, and if you are interested in helping fund this holy cause it would be greatly appreciated. These beginnings of the Confraternity of St Peter are small, and while the benefits are great, the obligations are few. Only time will tell what God wills the Confraternity to grow into, and what may blossom forth from this holy Work.

Shawn at the New Liturgical Movement also has a post about this new Confraternity.

Tradition

"The law of our forefathers should still be held sacred: let there be no innovation: keep to what has been handed down."~ Benedict XV

Two new Bishops.

The Holy Father has appointed Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Farrell of Washington to be the next Bishop of Dallas. He also appointed a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana - Msgr. Glen Provost to be the next Bishop of Lake Charles.

I don't know much about Bishop Farrell.

In regards to Msgr. Glen Provost, it seems that it is very likely that he may be another Bishop in a growing list that is friendly to tradition. I found this on his parish's website under a Sacred Music tab.

Choir and Schola Membership Information
Parish Choir, 2006/2007 Schedule and Music List
Gregorian Chant at Our Lady of Fatima Church
Lenten and Holy Week Tracts in Latin and English
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, narrated by Fulton Sheen
Cantors
Listen to the Fatima Church Organ
Annual Report 2005/2006
Musician’s Prayer
The Mass in Latin
Office Hours
Contact the Director
Bulletin Series: Commentary on the General Instruction

Catholic Music Links:
Church Music Association of America
CanticaNova
Adoremus Bulletin:

In any case, let us pray for these two new Bishops, that they may be faithful sheperds protecting their faithful from the wolves.

Apostolic Exhortation (Sacramentum Caritatis) to be released one week from today

Via Amy Welborn and The New Liturgical Movement

Vatican News Bulletin (in Italian)A news conference is being held on Tuesday, the 13th of March at 11:30am, where there will be a press conference on the presentation of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Benedict, Sacramentum Caritatis -- on the Eucharist as the apex and source of the life and mission of the Church.

It sounds as though the actual document, Sacramentum Caritatis will be released at noon (Roman time -- 6:00am EST), one week from today, Tues. March 13th. It will be immediately available in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portugese.

Oremus.

From Amy Welborn

My friend from Phoenix writes with this, inviting your prayers:

A Planned Parenthood Clinic caught on fire shortly after our blessed Bishop’s Christmas Eve Rosary at the site. The fire was not arson. The clinic staff shared the facts of the fire with investigators as is standard when this type of thing occurs. The fire began in the office of the director, destroying all his degrees and memorabilia from his career. Within the last month or so, the same director was told he is suffering from advanced, incurable cancer. He could die any day. He has a blog, which his son is typing for him now, as he is too weak. Unfortunately, it is not
appropriate for general viewing, or I would list it.

Everyone in Phoenix who knows about the situation is praying and making sacrifices for this man. He is not a Christian. Knowing his soul is precious to God, we fear he may despair as the end approaches. I am just wondering if this is something you think your readers might want to pray for during this Lent. His name is Joseph. For 25 years, he ran a clinic where the death toll is 300 dead babies a month. On Christmas Eve, we counted 17 women entering the clinic, just during the hour we were there. We are praying he comes to know the Mercy of God. The Divine Mercy Chaplet, (http://www.thedivinemercy.org/ ) is a great way to pray for the dying when you cannot be with the person.

I previously wrote about this abortion clinic fire here.

Let us pray for the conversion of this man!

St. Augustine, St. Gianna Molla ora pro nobis!

Dietrich von Hildebrand - The Case for the Latin Mass

The Case for the Latin Mass

Dietrich von Hildebrand, was one of the world's most eminent Christian philosophers. A professor at Fordham University, Pope Pius XII called him "the 20th Century Doctor of the Church." He is the author of many books, including Transformation in Christ and Liturgy and Personality.

Reprinted from the October 1966 issue of TRIUMPH

THE ARGUMENTS for the New Liturgy have been neatly packaged, and may now be learned by rote. The new form of the Mass is designed to engage the celebrant and the faithful in a communal activity. In the past the faithful attended mass in personal isolation, each worshipper making his private devotions, or at best following the proceedings in his missal. Today the faithful can grasp the social character of the celebration; they are learning to appreciate it as a community meal. Formerly, the priest mumbled in a dead language, which created a barrier between priest and people. Now everyone speaks in English, which tends to unite priest and people with one another. In the past the priest said mass with his back to the people, which created the mood of an esoteric rite. Today, because the priest faces the people, the mass is a more fraternal occasion. In the past the priest intoned strange medieval chants. Today the entire assembly sings songs with easy tunes and familiar lyrics, and is even experimenting with folk music. The case for the new mass, then, comes down to this: it is making the faithful more at home in the house of God.

Moreover, these innovations are said to have the sanction of Authority: they are represented as an obedient response to the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. This is said notwithstanding that the Council's Constitution on the Liturgy goes no further than to permit the vernacular mass in cases where the local bishop believes it desirable; the Constitution plainly insists on the retention of the Latin mass, and emphatically approves the Gregorian chant. But the liturgical "progressives" are not impressed by the difference between permitting and commanding. Nor do they hesitate to authorize changes, such as standing to receive Holy Communion, which the Constitution does not mention at all. The progressives argue that these liberties may be taken because the Constitution is, after all, only the first step in an evolutionary process. And they seem to be having their way. It is difficult to find a Latin mass anywhere today, and in the United States they are practically non-existent. Even the conventual mass in monasteries is said in the vernacular, and the glorious Gregorian is replaced by insignificant melodies.

MY CONCERN is not with the legal status of the changes. And I emphatically do not wish to be understood as regretting that the Constitution has permitted the vernacular to complement the Latin. What I deplore is that the new mass is replacing the Latin Mass, that the old liturgy is being recklessly scrapped, and denied to most of the People of God.

I should like to put to those who are fostering this development several questions: Does the new mass, more than the old, bestir the human spirit -- does it evoke a sense of eternity? Does it help raise our hearts from the concerns of everyday life -- from the purely natural aspects of the world- to Christ? Does it increase reverence, an appreciation of the sacred?

Of course these questions are rhetorical, and self-answering. I raise them because I think that all thoughtful Christians will want to weigh their importance before coming to a conclusion about the merits of the new liturgy. What is the role of reverence in a truly Christian life, and above all in a truly Christian worship of God?

Reverence gives being the opportunity to speak to us: The ultimate grandeur of man is to be capax Dei. Reverence is of capital importance to all the fundamental domains of man's life. It can be rightly called "the mother of all virtues," for it is the basic attitude that all virtues presuppose. The most elementary gesture of reverence is a response to being itself. It distinguishes the autonomous majesty of being from mere illusion or fiction; it is a recognition of the inner consistency and positiveness of being-of its independence of our arbitrary moods. Reverence gives being the opportunity to unfold itself, to, as it were, speak to us; to fecundate our minds. Therefore reverence is indispensable to any adequate knowledge of being. The depth and plenitude of being, and above all its mysteries, will never be revealed to any but the reverent mind. Remember that reverence is a constitutive element of the capacity to "wonder," which Plato and Aristotle claimed to be the indispensable condition for philosophy. Indeed, irreverence is a chief source of philosophical error. But if reverence is the necessary basis for all reliable knowledge of being, it is, beyond that, indispensable for grasping and assessing the values grounded in being. Only the reverent man who is ready to admit the existence of something greater than himself, who is willing to be silent and let the object speak to him- who opens himself-is capable of entering the sublime world of values. Moreover, once a gradation of values has been recognized, a new kind of reverence is in order-a reverence that responds not only to the majesty of being as such, but to the specific value of a specific being and to its rank in the hierarchy of values. And this new reverence permits the discovery of still other values.

Man reflects his essentially receptive character as a created person solely in the reverent attitude; the ultimate grandeur of man is to be capax Dei. Man has the capacity, in other words, to grasp something greater than himself, to be affected and fecundated by it, to abandon himself to it for its own sake - in a pure response to its value. This ability to transcend himself distinguishes man from a plant or an animal; these latter strive only to unfold their own entelechy. Now: it is only the reverent man who can consciously transcend himself and thus conform to his fundamental human condition and to his metaphysical situation.

Do we better meet Christ by soaring up to Him, or by dragging Him down into our workaday world?

The irreverent man by contrast, approaches being either in an attitude of arrogant superiority or of tactless, smug familiarity. In either case he is crippled; he is the man who comes so near a tree or building he can no longer see it. Instead of remaining at the proper spiritual distance, and maintaining a reverent silence so that being may speak its word, he obtrudes himself and thereby, in effect, silences being. In no domain is reverence more important than religion. As we have seen, it profoundly affects the relation of man to God. But beyond that it pervades the entire religion, especially the worship of God. There is an intimate link between reverence and sacredness: reverence permits us to experience the sacred, to rise above the profane; irreverence blinds us to the entire world of the sacred. Reverence, including awe-indeed, fear and trembling-is the specific response to the sacred.

Rudolf Otto has clearly elaborated the point in his famous study, The Idea of the Holy. Kierkegaard also calls attention to the essential role of reverence in the religious act, in the encounter with God. And did not the Jews tremble in deep awe when the priest brought the sacrifice into the sanctum sanctorum? Was Isaiah not struck with godly fear when he saw Yahweh in the temple and exclaimed, "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips . . . yet my eyes have seen the King?" Do not the words of St. Peter after the miraculous catch of fish, "Depart from me, 0 Lord, because I am a sinner," testify that when the reality of God breaks in upon us we are struck with fear and reverence? Cardinal Newman has shown in a stunning sermon that the man who does not fear and revere has not known the reality of God.

When St. Bonaventure writes in Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum that only a man of desire (such as Daniel) can understand God, he means that a certain attitude of soul must be achieved in order to understand the world of God, into which He wants to lead us.

This counsel is especially applicable to the Church's liturgy. The sursum corda-the lifting up of our hearts-is the first requirement for real participation in the mass. Nothing could better obstruct the confrontation of man with God than the notion that we "go unto the altar of God" as we would go to a pleasant, relaxing social gathering. This is why the Latin mass with Gregorian chant, which raises us up to a sacred atmosphere, is vastly superior to a vernacular mass with popular songs, which leaves us in a profane, merely natural atmosphere.

The basic error of most of the innovations is to imagine that the new liturgy brings the holy sacrifice of the mass nearer to the faithful, that shorn of its old rituals the mass now enters into the substance of our lives. For the question is whether we better meet Christ in the mass by soaring up to Him, or by dragging Him down into our own pedestrian, workaday world. The innovators would replace holy intimacy with Christ by an unbecoming familiarity. The new liturgy actually threatens to frustrate the confrontation with Christ, for it discourages reverence in the face of mystery, precludes awe, and all but extinguishes a sense of sacredness. What really matters, surely, is not whether the faithful feel at home at mass, but whether they are drawn out of their ordinary lives into the world of Christ-whether their attitude is the response of ultimate reverence: whether they are imbued with the reality of Christ.

THOSE WHO RHAPSODIZE on the new liturgy make much of the point that over the years the mass had lost its communal character and had become an occasion for individualistic worship. The new vernacular mass, they insist, restores the sense of community by replacing private devotions with community participation. Yet they forget that there are different levels and kinds of communion with other persons. The level and nature of a community experience is determined by the theme of the communion, the name or cause in which men are gathered. The higher the good which the theme represents, and which binds men together, the more sublime and deeper is the communion. The ethos and nature of a community experience in the case of a great national emergency is obviously radically different from the community experience of a cocktail party. And of course the most striking differences in communities will be found between the community whose theme is supernatural and the one whose theme is merely natural. The actualization of men's souls who are truly touched by Christ is the basis of a unique community, a sacred communion, one whose quality is incomparably more sublime than that of any natural community. The authentic we communion of the faithful, which the liturgy of Holy Thursday expresses so well in the words congregavit nos in unum Christi amor, is only possible as a fruit of the I-Thou communion with Christ Himself. Only a direct relation to the God-Man can actualize this sacred union among the faithful.

The depersonalizing "we experience" is a perverse theory of community.

The communion in Christ has nothing of the self-assertion found in natural communities. It breathes of the Redemption. It liberates men from all self- centeredness. Yet such a communion emphatically does not depersonalize the individual; far from dissolving the person into the cosmic, pantheistic swoon so often commended to us these days, it actualizes the person's true self in a unique way. In the community of Christ the conflict between person and community that is present in all natural communities cannot exist. So this sacred community experience is really at war with the depersonalizing 'we-experience" found in mass assemblies and popular gatherings which tend to absorb and evaporate the individual. This communion in Christ that was so fully alive in the early Christian centuries, that all the saints entered into, that found a matchless expression in the liturgy now under attack-this communion has never regarded the individual person as a mere segment of the community, or as an instrument to serve it. In this connection it is worth noting that totalitarian ideology is not alone in sacrificing the individual to the collective; some of Teilhard de Chardin's cosmic ideas, for instance, imply the same collectivistic sacrifice. Teilhard subordinates the individual and his sanctification to the supposed development of humanity. At a time when this perverse theory of community is embraced even by many Catholics, there are plainly urgent reasons for vigorously insisting on the sacred character of the true communion in Christ. I submit that the new liturgy must be judged by this test: Does it contribute to the authentic sacred community? Granted that it strives for a community character; but is this the character desired? Is it a communion grounded in recollection, contemplation and reverence? Which of the two -- the new mass, or the Latin mass with the Gregorian chant evokes these attitudes of soul more effectively, and thus permits the deeper and truer communion? Is it not plain that frequently the community character of the new mass is purely profane, that, as with other social gatherings, its blend of casual relaxation and bustling activity precludes a reverent, contemplative confrontation with Christ and with the ineffable mystery of the Eucharist?

OF COURSE OUR EPOCH is pervaded by a spirit of irreverence. It is seen in a distorted notion of freedom that demands rights while refusing obligations, that exalts self-indulgence, that counsels "let yourself go." The habitare secum of St. Gregory's Dialogues-the dwelling in the presence of God-which presupposes reverence, is considered today to be unnatural, pompous, or servile. But is not the new liturgy a compromise with this modern spirit? Whence comes the disparagement of kneeling? Why should the Eucharist be received standing? Is not kneeling, in our culture, the classic expression of adoring reverence? The argument that at a meal we should stand rather than kneel is hardly convincing. For one thing, this is not the natural posture for eating: we sit, and in Christ's time one lay down. But more important, it is a specifically irreverent conception of the Eucharist to stress its character as a meal at the cost of its unique character as a holy mystery. Stressing the meal at the expense of the sacrament surely betrays a tendency to obscure the sacredness of the sacrifice. This tendency is apparently traceable to the unfortunate belief that religious life will become more vivid, more existential, if it is immersed in our everyday life. But this is to run the danger of absorbing the religious in the mundane, of effacing the difference between the supernatural and the natural. I fear that it represents an unconscious intrusion of the naturalistic spirit, of the spirit more fully expressed in Teilhard de Chardin's immanentism.

Again, why has the genuflection at the words et incarnatus est in the Credo been abolished? Was this not a noble and beautiful expression of adoring reverence while professing the searing mystery of the Incarnation? Whatever the intention of the innovators, they have certainly created the danger, if only psychological, of diminishing the faithful's awareness and awe of the mystery. There is yet another reason for hesitating to make changes in the liturgy that are not strictly necessary. Frivolous or arbitrary changes are apt to erode a special type of reverence: pietas. The Latin word, like the German Pietaet, has no English equivalent, but may be understood as comprising respect for tradition; honoring what has been handed down to us by former generations; fidelity to our ancestors and their works. Note that pietas is a derivative type of reverence, and so should not be confused with primary reverence, which we have described as a response to the very mystery of being, and ultimately a response to God. It follows that if the content of a given tradition does not correspond to the object of the primary reverence, it does not deserve the derivative reverence. Thus if a tradition embodies evil elements, such as the sacrifice of human beings in the cult of the Aztecs, then those elements should not be regarded with pietas. But that is not the Christian case. Those who idolize our epoch, who thrill at what is modern simply because it is modern, who believe that in our day man has finally "come of age," lack pietas. The pride of these "temporal nationalists" is not only irreverent, it is incompatible with real faith. A Catholic should regard his liturgy. with pietas. He should revere, and therefore fear to abandon the prayers and postures and music that have been approved by so many saints throughout the Christian era and delivered to us as a precious heritage. To go no further: the illusion that we can replace the Gregorian chant, with its inspired hymns and rhythms, by equally fine, if not better, music betrays a ridiculous self-assurance and lack of self-knowledge. Let us not forget that throughout Christianity's history. silence and solitude, contemplation and recollection, have been considered necessary to achieve a real confrontation with God. This is not only the counsel of the Christian tradition, which should be respected out of pietas; it is rooted in human nature. Recollection is the necessary basis for true communion in much the same way as contemplation provides the necessary basis for true action in the vineyard of the Lord. A superficial type of communion -the jovial comradeship of a social affair -- draws us out onto the periphery. A truly Christian communion draws us into the spiritual deeps.

The path to a true Christian communion: Reverence . . Recollection . . Contemplation

Of course we should deplore excessively individualistic and sentimental devotionalism, and acknowledge that many Catholics have practiced it. But the antidote is not a community experience as such-any more than the cure for pseudo-contemplation is activity as such. The antidote is to encourage true reverence, an attitude of authentic recollection and contemplative devotion to Christ. Out of this attitude alone can a true communion in Christ take place. The fundamental laws of the religious life that govern the imitation of Christ, the transformation in Christ, do not change according to the moods and habits of the historical moment. The difference between a superficial community experience and a profound community experience is always the same. Recollection and contemplative adoration of Christ-which only reverence makes possible-will be the necessary basis for a true communion with others in Christ in every era of human history.

Where are the Gregorian Scholas?

The New Liturgical Movement blog has a post in which they are asking people to add their Gregorian Chant Schola to a National Registry.

I have added the schola at my parish, Mater Misericordiae, to the registry.

If you are a member of a schola or if you know of a schola please add a photo, location and contact info on the registry.

We need to spread the word and network with the resources that we have so that we can continue to give the Sacred Music and Liturgical movement some fuel.

My business.

I apologize for my lack of posts recently. I have been quite busy, and therefore have not had much opportunity to update my blog. I promise to return to regular postings.

A large part of my time recently has been used starting up my Real Estate career. I am now a Realtor, licensed in Arizona, working for Diamond GMAC Real Estate. It is an exciting but also an overwhelming experience to start a new career, and I am very much enjoying it. I enjoy providing service to people, especially providing the service of helping people and families find a home that is right for them.

Please consider using my services and referring me to your friends and family in the Phoenix metro area. I will donate 15% of my commissions to the Catholic Church. My website is http://www.diamondgmacrealestate.com/bmurphy.

The website is in the beginning stages of being built, so please check back often for updates.

A little offtopic, but I want to thank whoever voted for me in the Catholic blog awards. I received one vote in both the "New blog" and "blog by priest, religious" categories. It is funny that I received a vote in the latter category, being that I am neither a Religious or a Priest, although the Diaconate may be in my future.

Thank you to all of those who regularly read my blog. I promise that regular blogging will resume.

"IT IS THE HOLY FATHER WHO WILL DECIDE"

IT IS THE HOLY FATHER WHO WILL DECIDE"

A very interesting interview with Archbishop Ranjith as he speaks of the Liturgy and the rumored documents (Motu Proprio and Apostolic Exhortation)

Fr. Chad Ripperger FSSP, PhD excellent MP3s.

http://www.uvcr.catholicam.org/fr_rmp3.html

Fr. Chad Ripperger, FSSP, PhD is a member of The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) a society of apostolic life of pontifical right founded with the approval of His Holiness John Paul II. Fr. Ripperger is professor of Dogmatic and Moral Theology and Philosophy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska.

He gives 4 excellent talks which you can download as a MP3 for free.

Catholic Tradition and the Liturgy

True Devotion to Mary

The Passion of Christ

Modern Psychology and the Catholic Faith

San Francisco Priest writes a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

A priest writes to Nancy Pelosi
“If you can kill a baby in the womb, Nancy, why not outside of it?”

http://www.stspeterpaul.san-francisco.ca.us/church/919120070114.pdf

Fr. John Malloy, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, penned this “Open letter to Nancy Pelosi,” which was recently published in the parish bulletin.

Nancy, you are fooling yourself and I fear fooling many good Catholics. You are simply not in sync with the Catholic Church. Until you change your non-Catholic positions, you should stop calling yourself Catholic. Your record shows that you support embryonic stem cell research, Planned Parenthood, contraception, family planning funding, allowing minors to have an abortion without parental consent, and are against making it a crime to harm a fetus, etc. etc.

The fact that you favor married priests and women priests certainly would not classify you as conservative, but your answer to the question are you a conservative Catholic was:

“I think so. I was raised in a very strict upbringing in a Catholic home where we respected people, were observant, were practicing Catholics, and that the fundamental belief was that God gave us all a free will, and we were accountable for that, each of us. Each person had that accountability, so it wasn’t for us to make judgments about how people saw their responsibility and that it wasn’t for politicians to make decisions about how people led their personal lives; certainly, to a high moral standards, but when it got into decisions about privacy and all the rest, then that was something that individuals had to answer to God for, and not to politicians.”

That sounds fair and tolerant, but your record belies high moral standards.

The NARL rates you 100% pro-abortion. Your statement: “To me it isn’t even a question. God has given us a free will. We’re all responsible for our actions. If you don’t want an abortion, you don’t believe in it, [then] don’t have one. But don’t tell somebody else what they can do in terms of honoring their responsibilities. My family is very pro-life. They’re not fanatics and they’re not activists. I think they’d like it if I were not so vocally pro-choice.”

Do we not elect politicians to make laws that help people honor their responsibilities, such as protecting life itself? Can politicians not tell someone else not to kill? If you can kill a baby in the womb, Nancy, why not outside of it? Oh wait, you are in favor of partial birth abortion, so-called because the baby sticks out of the “mother” about halfway, while the “doctor” sucks out the baby's brain. That seems comparable to the choice the Nazis made killing six million Jews.

Yes, Nancy, we (together with your pro-life family) would all like it if you were not so vocally pro-choice, i.e. pro-death. Until your choice is in line with Catholic doctrine, please, Nancy, do not receive the Eucharist when you attend Mass.

Rev. John Malloy, SDB
San Francisco, CA

Valley of the Shadow of Death - Million Geezer March

Found this interesting post today about the Million Geezer March, a movement to promote right to die legislation. The post talks about legislation created and promoted by Arizona State Representative Linda Lopez which would legalize physician assisted suicide. It is an excellent post which talks about the evil of this movement and legislation and it counteracts that evil with some of the good teaching by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter SALVIFICI DOLORIS.

Read Valley of the Shadow of Death here.

It is good to know some of the things that are happening under our noses so that we can fight against it.

Bible Quiz

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Wait I thought that Catholics don't know their Bible? And I'm a cradle Catholic...

Actually the quiz was quite simple, I encourage you to take it.

Liturgical Envy.

Via Wolftracker at Kansas City Catholic blog.

A correspondent from Saint Louis, who attends Holy Mass at St. Francis de Sales Oratory, the Latin Mass community in that city, sends, in part, this news:

On the (traditional) feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, March 7, 2007, there will be a solemn High Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis at 7pm, celebrated by our friends of the ICKSP [ed. Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Prince].

I just saw it in the bulletin this weekend, and am geeked up. I suppose it is, in addition to being the Mass, a sort of dry run for the ICKSP ordinations this summer. So, this, I guess will be the first traditional Mass at the Cathedral in at least 40 years or so.

I am glad to get this email for a number of reasons. But it really is an amazing thing that the Tridentine Mass will be celebrated again in this august cathedral. And now it will happen at least twice this year in Saint Louis. Archbishop Burke is to be commended, truly.

Wolftracker has some questions that he would like answers to so please go to his blog and comment if you have an answer

Also I got the above picture of the Cathedral from Rome of the West blog, to see more of the amazing pictures at this beautiful Cathedral Basilica, please do yourself a favor and pay a vist to this fantastic picture blog.

When I read things like this, my desire to see the beauty of our traditions spread increases substantially, the splendor of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of Mass in the most beautiful temple in the US, just gives me goosebumps.

A novena for life in Portugal

From the Rorate Coeli blog

On February 11, millions of Portuguese voters will cast their ballots in the second referendum called for the legalization of abortion in the country. Does this seem like old news to you? Yes, there was a recent referendum on abortion in Portugal in 1998, but the answer from the limited number of voters who cast their ballots at the time was the "wrong" one: NO.

As is well known, there is only one acceptable result in European referenda: that which is determined beforehand by the European political elites. When the people's choice is unexpected, just ask the people again!

Naturally, irrespective of the answer provided by the Portuguese voters who choose to vote in February, the Truth of the matter can never be darkened.* A "yes" vote in favor of the death of babies in the Portuguese Republic will not make it right; yet, why not pray for the best result?

We invite all our readers and their families and friends to pray a novena for life to Our Lady, beginning on Our Lady's Saturday following Candlemas (Feb. 3) and ending on Feb. 11, the day of the referendum and Feast of the Apparition of Our Lady (at Lourdes), so that the right to life shall remain protected in one of its last bastions in Europe. Use the prayer of your choice (though the Most Holy Rosary seems certainly to be the most appropriate). If you are able to ask a community of religious men or women of your acquaintance to pray for life in Portugal, please do. And, if you are a priest and are able to include this intention among those for which you offer the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, please take it into consideration.

I will be spreading the word about this and I ask you to do the same. I also sent this as a prayer request to the Poor Clare Nuns of Our Lady of Solitude Monastery, if you know a religious community please seek their powerhouse of prayer on this intention and also ask priests to offer Mass for this intention.

Save the Liturgy, Save the World!

Just wanted to bring to your attention an excellent post made by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf which captures my thoughts over the past 2 years, please read the post and the excellent comments section.

Save the Liturgy, Save the World...

Two priests killed in car accident yesterday.

Abbott Patrick Shelton, O.S.B., and Fr. David Draim, O.S.B. have been added to Grant Them Rest.

The Reverend Abbott Patrick Shelton, O.S.B., and the Reverend David Draim, O.S.B. were killed at 3:55 p.m. yesterday in a car accident.

Please pray for the repose of their souls!

Here is the press release from the Diocese of Charlotte.

Local media reporting along with a video clip.

New Sacred Music Major at Franciscan University

Musica Sacra reports that Franciscan University is creating a new Sacred Music Major.

Franciscan University of Steubenville is pleased to announce the creation of a Bachelor of Arts in Sacred Music to begin in the fall of 2007. The degree may be pursued in either the program in voice or the program in organ. Pianists may audition for the program in organ on the piano. Courses will include private instruction on the major instrument, music theory, music history, conducting and a year-long course in Gregorian Chant. In addition, students will participate in the Schola Cantorum Franciscana, which concentrates on polyphony and chant and sings for occasional services on and off campus.

Interested students may apply for admission to the university at:

Franciscan University of Steubenville
Admissions
1235 University Blvd.
Steubenville, OH 43953

Students interested in auditioning may contact Prof. Paul Weber at the above address or by telephone at 740.284.5884.

This is excellent news as Franciscan Univ. (known more for their "contemporary charismatic focus" although as a former student I know that there is a large traditional group there) joins the choir so to speak of Ave Maria Univ. and Catholic Univ. of America in offering a Sacred Music program.

FSSP Coat of Arms

As you may notice, I have added to the sidebar the FSSP's Coat of Arms. Here is the description of these Coat of Arms.



The two crossed keys principally evoke Saint Peter, Patron of our Fraternity. They also refer to the Holy See, to which we have been united with indefectible fidelity since our foundation. The absence of a tiara and the color of the background, however, clearly distinguish our arms from those of the Apostolic See. The blue background, a Marian color, reminds us that the FSSP is under the protection of the Mother of God (Constitutions #4). Lastly, the tears commemorate the difficult historical circumstances of our inception: “Qui seminant in lacrimis, in exsultatione metent” (Ps 125, 5), as well as Saint Peter’s triple assertion of love for the Lord (Jn 21, 15-17). This number may also evoke the three central aspects of our charism – hierarchical fidelity, doctrinal rectitude and the Gregorian liturgy.

To find out more about the FSSP, check out their website:

PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF SAINT PETER

As I have said before, my pastor is a FSSP priest. The formation that the FSSP go through is excellent and it shows in the quality of the priests.

Please support them in any way possible.

Pro-Choice Violence: Big Pharmaceutical

Pro Choice Violence and Big Pharmaceutical

Author's Note: This is the second of three articles highlighting the reality of violence committed—and defended— in the name of "choice." Last week we examined "Pro Choice Violence, Big Media and Big Abortion," and next week we will take a look at "Pro Choice Violence and American Culture."

WARNING: SOME OF THE MATERIAL IN THIS POST IS OF A GRAPHIC NATURE.

In politically-correct circles nowadays, it is not kosher to suggest that grand conspiracies are causing our world’s ills. However, the supreme authority of our Church in the person of Pope John Paul II and his encyclical letter, “The Gospel of Life” (1995), looked at the dreadful corruption of modern culture, aided and abetted by the “research” interests of the pharmaceutical industry, and labeled this disaster an international “conspiracy against life.” Maybe our comfortable populace is not willing to face that, but pro-lifers and all men of good will should be worried about such powerful interests teaming up against life.

For example, in 1997 when Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics exposed the atrocious selling of baby parts from American abortion clinics, some of us were shocked, but the vested interests of politics and business conspired to make the issue go away from the public view, and according to Life Dynamics, the grisly business keeps on functioning in our country as we speak.

From an international perspective, the situation in Eastern Europe paints a vivid picture of a depraved new world. Eastern Europe is generally poor and the governments and police are easily corrupted by the hundreds of millions of dollars wielded by the “high-tech cannibals”—i.e., the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and organ transplant industries. These enterprises require huge and increasing amounts of human tissue and eggs for their research, their surgical procedures, and their cosmetics. Since there is a vast amount of quick money to be made, conscienceless individuals tend to flock to these industries to take advantage of the situation.

Last year, my colleague, Dr. Brian Clowes, wrote about the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Barbados where rich American and English women travel to spend $25,000 for a “treatment” consisting of having liquified unborn babies’ tissues injected into their bodies so that they can feel “refreshed” and have their libidos enhanced. [See Sidebar.] The report noted that the director of the institute was a Ukrainian “doctor” with some nebulous credentials emblazoned in bizarre diplomas hanging on the wall. Now we’ve found that the situation is even worse than we thought. Last month, the BBC revealed that maternity hospitals in Ukraine are taking newborn babies from their impoverished mothers and murdering them for their organs. A team of Council of Europe investigators found that the babies had been completely dismembered and mutilated—their internal organs had been ransacked, their brains had been removed, and even their arms and legs had been cut off and sucked dry of their marrow. And all of this was done without the benefit of anesthesia! Believe me, it’s true, I’ve seen the footage of the poor victims of this evil.

But this is not all. Eastern and Southern Europe have become a biological circus of horrors. Romanian women are enticed into donating their eggs in exchange for a sum of money equal to a month's salary. They are then virtually enslaved, fed powerful drugs, and harvested repeatedly until they are paralyzed. In Athens too, police recently shut down an operation where blond-haired, blue-eyed women were paid to be inseminated by equally Aryan-type men. The women then gave their babies to rich Westerners, and received their reward—they were either forced into prostitution or murdered. Surely these atrocities come as no surprise to those of us who have been fighting the culture of death at close quarters. Our societies have been slipping down the moral slope one small step at a time until now, it seems, we have reached the bottom, and the evil seems to be spreading.

Conspiracy theorists are sometimes right, but in the face of this massive coordinated assault on life let’s not lose hope! Our response to this or any evil is always the same: together with principled action, we pray and fast. The Lord said that these are the only things that drive out such deeply-rooted demons, and so we must call all men of good will to unite in offering our prayers and sacrifices for the protection of life from the evils that threaten it from all sides.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International

Pro-Choice Violence: Big Media and Big Abortion

Pro-Choice Violence: Big Media and Big Abortion
Author’s Note: This is the first of three articles highlighting the reality of violence committed—and defended—in the name of “Choice.” Next week we will examine “Pro-Choice Violence and Big Pharmaceutical” and then “Pro-Choice Violence and American Culture.”

M. Scott Peck coined the term “the people of the lie” in his 1983 book of the same name, and if there was ever an inveterate lie that was concocted entirely to deceive, manipulate and kill, it is the term “choice.” It’s not that the English word is in itself deceptive. It’s just a word. Rather, it’s the use of the word, and its evil cognate “pro-choice,” as abortion misinformation that makes it the destructive force that words sometimes can be. “Pro-choice” may be the modern world’s most deceitful hypocrisy, but more distressing than the term and its usage are the hypocritical interests that propagate the lie: Big Media and Big Abortion.

The media has a certain pathological denial of basic truths when it comes to abortion. Newspaper editorial policies systematically refuse to mention “pro-life” unless it can be used in the most derogatory way to undermine our cause. I was once interviewed by a newspaper in front of an abortion mill while praying, and when the story came out, I, a Catholic priest, was referred to as an “anti-abortion volunteer” of all things! Needless to say, “pro-choice advocates” are heroic; everyone else is “anti-choice”—you know the rest as well as I.

The worst offender against the truth, The New York Times, is presently embroiled in a scandal of immense proportions which shows a detestable collaboration between the two money-making industries of media and abortion. In April of last year The New York Times Magazine published a story on the nation of El Salvador called “Pro-Life Nation” in which I was interviewed and HLI’s affiliate director in that country, Julia Regina de Cardenal, was featured. The piece was written by a guy named Jack Hitt, and his surname was not far off the mark of his intentions: he clearly intended to slander the situation of a completely abortion-free nation by skewing evidence to make this tiny pro-life nation look as if it were throwing women into jail for what we in American consider to be a natural “choice.”

Specifically, Mr. Hitt presented the case of a woman who had been incarcerated for thirty years because she had exercised her freedom of choice in abortion. “She’d had a clandestine abortion at 18 weeks…something defined as absolutely legal in the United States. It’s just that she’d had an abortion in El Salvador,” Hitt wrote. The only problem was that, after Julia Regina checked the facts, that so-called “clandestine abortion” turned out to be a despicable lie. The woman did not have an abortion. The court determined that she had given birth to a full-term baby and then strangled him!

The nastier side of the story is that Mr. Hitt had used a translator in El Salvador who worked for Ipas (International Projects Assistance Services), an American organization that makes abortion suction machines and exports them to the Third World. This killing conglomerate in Chapel Hill, NC then turned around and used Mr. Hitt’s article to raise funds to promote abortion in Latin America, a huge conflict of interest because Ipas stands to make loads of cash selling extermination machines anytime countries legalize abortion. This was a perfect one-two punch for “choice” if I ever saw one.

When Big Media and Big Abortion collaborate to promote the “choice” of abortion, the world’s cultures are degraded beyond belief. I do not need to tell you that the cozy conspiracy of media and abortion in our own country has drummed so deeply into our national consciousness the “pro-choice” dogma that this type of violence is now considered the norm. I for one am glad that, at least this time, the “people of the lie” got caught.

LifeSite News, the Canadian pro-life news site that exposed the lie, is asking us to write to The Times to express our outrage. (See side bar.) It’s the least we can do to make our pro-life voices heard.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer

President, Human Life International

The growth and building of Traditional communities.

I am filled with hope and joy as traditional Catholic monastic communities are growing and are building large monasteries to house their growing orders.

I have previously blogged about both the Our Lady of the Annunciation Benedictine Monastery in Clear Creek and the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery in Wyoming.

Well a few weeks ago Wolftracker at the Kansas City Catholic blog posted about Traditional Nuns who were invited to the Diocese of Kansas City by Bishop Finn. They have plans to expand and to build a beautiful priory, read about it here.

Also, the St. Michael Norbertine Abbey in Orange County, CA which has had substantial growth over the past 5 years is looking to build and expand and they've hired an excellent French architect to build the expansion. See the proposal and the story here. I think Norbertines offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass using both the 1970 and 1962 missal.

Tucson Latin Mass Community First 40 Hours Devotions.

Fr. Richard Rego, STL posts on his blog that Saint Gianna Latin Mass Community (a relatively new Latin Mass Community) will be having their first annual 40 hours devotions. The community has invited Fr. Carl Lenhardt of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest to preach during the devotions.

Go to Fr. Rego's blog and read about the description of the Devotions and their importance.

Fr. James Fryar FSSP and boys at St. Gregory Academy refurbish 67 Mustang to raise money.

Toward the end of the last school year the boys of St Gregory's Academy helped Fr J Fryar restore a 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe as an extra-curricular activity. You can find details about the restoration in the links below, and now that the car is restored it will be raffled for the benefit of the school.Support St Gregory's Academy and the Traditional formation of young boys and buy a ticket or two!

To buy tickets

To read the story and see pictures of refurbishment

To find out more about St. Gregory's Academy

Fr. James Fryar FSSP, pictured above in his cassock, is the brother of Fr. Ken Fryar FSSP, the pastor of Mater Misericordiae.

Bulletin Catechesis: The Body and the Liturgy

The Catechesis for today comes from this bulletin.

The Body and the Liturgy

Excerpt from The Spirit of the Liturgy

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI

I would like to at this point to mention bowing . . . Here again the bodily gesture and the spiritual process are inseparable and flow into one another. This is the gesture of the tax collector, who knows that he cannot endure the gaze of God and so bows low before it. And yet this prayer asks that our sacrifice may come before the face of God, into his sight, and be for us a blessing. Out of the depths of our insufficiency we call upon God, that he may set us upright, enables us to gaze upon him, and make us such that he may gaze upon us. The supplices – our being "bowed low" - is the bodily expression, so to speak, of what the Bible calls humility (cf. "he humbled himself", Phil. 2:8). For the Greeks humility was the attitude of a slave, and so they rejected it. The transformation of values brought about by Christianity sees in it something different. Humility is the ontologically appropriate attitude, the state that corresponds to the Truth about man, and as such it becomes a fundamental attitude of Christian existence. St. Augustine constructed his whole Christology, indeed, I would say his entire apologetics for Christianity, upon the concept of humilitas. He took up the teaching of the ancients, of the Greek and Roman world, that hybris – self-glorifying pride – is the real sin of all sins, as we see in exemplary form in the fall of Adam. Arrogance, the ontological lie by which man makes himself God is overcome by the humility of God, who makes himself the slave, who bows down before us. The man who wants to come close to God must be able to look upon him – that is essential. But he must likewise learn to bend for God has bent himself down. In the gesture of humble love, in the washing of feet, in which he kneels at our feet – that is where we find him. Thus the supplices is a gesture of great profundity. It is a physical reminder of the spiritual attitude essential to faith. Astonishingly, several modern translations of the Roman Canon have simply omitted the supplices. Perhaps, they regarded the physical expression, which as a matter of fact has disappeared as unimportant. Perhaps, too, they thought it was an unsuitable thing for a modern man to do. To bow low before a human being, to win his favor, is indeed unfitting. But to bow low before God can never be unmodern, because it corresponds to the truth of our being. And if modern man has forgotten this truth, then it is all the more incumbent on Christians in the modern world to rediscover it and teach it to our fellow men.

Another gesture came in Christianity from the narrative already mentioned of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (cf. Lk 18:9-14) striking the breast. Apparently, in the North Africa of St. Augustine, it was very popular and practiced in a somewhat exaggerated and superficial manner, so much so, in fact, that the Bishop of Hippo had to remind his flock, with gentle irony to moderate their "sin-bashing". However, this gesture, by which we point not at someone else but at ourselves as the guilty party, remains a meaningful gesture of prayer. This is exactly what we need, time and again, to do: to see and acknowledge our guilt and so also to beg for forgiveness. When we say mea culpa (through my fault), we turn, so to speak, to ourselves, to our own front door, and thus we are able rightly to ask forgiveness of God, the saints, and the people gathered around us, whom we have wronged. During the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), we look upon him who is the Shepherd and for us became Lamb and as Lamb, bore our iniquities. At this moment it is only right and proper that we should strike our breasts and remind ourselves, even physically, that our iniquities lay on his shoulders, that "with his stripes we are healed" (Is 5:3-5).

Bulletin Catechesis: The Mystical Significance of the Healing of the Leper

The Mystical Significance of the Healing of the Leper

St. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria and Doctor (d. 444 A.D.)

Reprinted in The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers

Behold a leper came. The faith of this man who came to Jesus is indeed worthy of all our praise. He testified that Emmanuel can do all things perfectly, and He pleads with Him that by His divine command He might be delivered of his leprosy, although it was an incurable disease. For leprosy is not wont to yield to the remedies of the physicians. For he says, have I not seen unclean spirits driven forth by divine power, and other mend freed from other disease. I know that this has been done by some divine and invisible hand. I see also that Thou art both good and most kind and that You show compassion to all that come to Thee. Why then should I not also seek Thy mercy?

What did Christ say to this? He confirmed him in his faith, and by this miracle showed that He approved it. He receives his prayer and reveals that He can do this saying to him: I will: be thou made clean. He also bestows on him the touch of His holy and omnipotent hand, and immediately the leprosy leaves him, and his sickness departs.

Let you join with me in awe, beholding Christ at work as both God and man. For it belongs to His divinity so to will that all things are as He wills; it is a human act to stretch forth the hand. In both the one and the other Christ is perceived, since the Word became flesh. And Jesus saith to him: see thou tell no man. The character of the wonder that was performed, even though the leper remained silent was enough to reveal to all who had known the leper the power of the One Who had healed him. Nevertheless He bids him tell no man. Why? That they who have received from God the gift of healing may learn that they are not to look for applause from those they heal, nor accept praise from others, lest they fall into pride, which is the wickedest of all sins. But, Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer . . . Prudently therefore He counsels the leper to offer a gift to the priests, according the law of Moses. For though without any doubt He intended to take away the shadows, and to change the figures of the law into the pure spiritual worship, yet, because the Jews did not believe in Him, but still clung to the precepts of Moses, as though the old law still endured, He permits the leper to do this for a testimony unto them.

Why did He do this? The Jews at all times were proclaiming their zeal for the law, and declaring that the great prophet Moses was the minister of the will of heaven, and they strove to belittle Christ the Saviour of all men. And so they said openly: We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not whence he is (Jn. Ix. 29). It was therefore necessary to convince them by these signs that the dignity of Moses was below the glory of Christ. Moses was but a faithful servant in the house of God: Christ was the Son in the house of His father. And so from the healing of the leper it was clearly evident that Christ, in an incomparable manner, far transcended the law of Moses. For Mary the sister of Moses, because she had murmured against him was stricken with leprosy. And Moses at this affliction of his sister was profoundly grieved; but since he was unable to banish the disease from the woman, falling down before God he besought Him saying: O God, I beseech thee heal her (Num. xii, 13).

Now observe carefully. In the one case there is entreaty: with prayer he sought to obtain the divine clemency: but the Saviour of mankind, with authority that was truly divine, says I will: be thou made clean. This healing of the leper served therefore as a warning to the priests, that from it they should learn that those who gave precedence to Moses were wandering from the truth. Without doubt they should reverence Moses as the minister of the Law, a helper of grace made known by angels (Gal. iii. 19), but much more is Emmanuel to be praised and glorified as the true Son of God and the Father.

It may be that someone would like to see here the great and profound mystery concerning Christ, which is related to us in Leviticus. The Law of Moses declared that a leper shall be condemned of uncleanness, and ordered to be driven forth from camp as unclean. Afterwards, should the sickness leave him, it prescribed that he be received back in to the camp. It lays down in what manner he shall be regarded as clean, saying. This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed: he shall be brought to the priest: who going out of the camp when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters; but the other that is alive he shall dip in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated, wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed seven times, that he be rightly purified. And he shall let go the living sparrow in the field (Lev. xiv). There were accordingly two sound, that is clean birds, free according to the Law of every defect; of which one is slain over living waters; the other, exempt from slaughter, being sprinkled with the blood of the one that was slain is then set free.

This figure truly designates the great and ever to be adored mystery of our Saviour; for He, is the Word was from above, that is from the Father and from heave: and so is appropriately compared with the bird. By His Incarnation, He came down in the likeness of our nature and took upon Himself the form of a slave. But even in this He was from above. For which reason speaking with the Jews, He said openly to them: You are from beneath: I am from above (Jn. viii. 23) And again: And no man ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man (Jn. Iii. 13).

For as I have just now said, being made flesh, that is truly man, He yet was not of the earth, nor of clay like us, but heavenly and supramundane, as God is understood to be. Nevertheless it is truly lawful to see Christ in the figure of the birds having suffered in the flesh, as the Scripture says (I Pet. iv), yet remaining beyond the reach of suffering; human dead, divinely living: for the Word is life. Wherefore it is that the most wise Disciple says of Him, that being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit (I Pet. iii. 18). But though the Word could not suffer in His own divine nature, nevertheless He truly made His own the passion of His Body. For the living bird was sprinkled with the blood of the one that was slain: and so dyed with its blood, and becoming almost a sharer of its suffering, was sent forth in the desert. For the Only-Begotten Word of the Father has returned to heaven, and with Him the flesh of our lowliness and there was a strange spectacle in heaven. For the family of heaven were astonished at seeing the Kind of the earth, the Lord of all powers appearing as one of us. And they exclaimed: Who is this that cometh from Edom, that is, from the earth? With dyed garments from Bosra, which is interpreted as meaning, flesh, or straitness or affliction. Then shall they say to Him: What are these wounds in the midst of they hands? And he shall say: with these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me (Zach. Xiii. 6)

. . . The Law therefore was a picture, a type, of the things which brought forth truth; so that even though there were two birds, yet by them but one Christ was prefigured, both as suffering and as not suffering; dying, yet above all dying; finally also ascending to heaven, as a second beginning of humanity, reborn to immortality. He in truth has prepared for us a new way to heaven, and we in due time shall follow Him. That one of the birds was slain, and that the other was sprinkled with the blood of the one that was slain, and being free it escaped slaughter, must all be considered as a figure of the things that now are true. For Christ died for us, and we are baptized in His death and He by His blood redeemed us, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.

Bulletin Catechesis: Striking the Breast

Striking of the breast as a liturgical act is prescribed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass during the Confiteor at the phrase "Through my fault" (three times), at the Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus (once), at the Agnus Dei (three times), and at the Domine, Non Sum Dignus (three times). With bowed head, except at the Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus, moderately and without noise, the celebrant strikes his breast with the right hand, the fingers being held closely together and curved or fully extended, as the rubrics are silent on this point; after the consecration, however, with the last three fingers only, since the thumb and index finger, which are joined, must not come in contact with the chasuble. At the Agnus Dei in requiem Masses the striking of the breast is omitted, to show that the celebrant is thinking of the departed more than of himself. The faithful are accustomed to this practice as well as the priest.

The early Christians were familiar with the practice, as St. Augustine and St. Jerome testify. "No sooner have you heard the word 'Confiteor'", says the former, "than you strike your breast. What does this mean except that you wish to bring to light what is concealed in the breast, and by this act to cleanse your hidden sins?" (Sermo de verbis Domini, 13). We strike our breast", declares St. Jerome, "because the breast is the seat of evil thoughts: we wish to dispel these thoughts, we wish to purify our hearts" (In Ezechiel, c. xviii). A warrant for these statements is found in the Psalmist: A contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise (Psalm 1:19). The petitioner at the Throne of Mercy would chasten his heart and offer it as a sacrifice to God who healeth the broken of heart and bindeth up their wounds (Ps. cxlvi, 3). The ancient Christians were accustomed to strike the breast when they heard mention made or sensual sins; at the "Forgive us our trespasses" of the Pater Noster; and in detestation of the crime of the Jews, at the words of the Gospel, "Thou hast a devil", applied to Christ. www.newadvent.org/cathen/02751a.htm

New weekly series: Bulletin Catechesis

I will be starting a new weekly series on this blog. My parish Mater Misericordiae has started a weekly bulletin. In the bulletin every week is a couple of articles of Catechesis, I will on a weekly basis be posting these articles on here with a link to the bulletin. I have found the articles to be excellent, and I hope you find them edifying as well.

Brownback Officially announces his campaign for Presidency.

Ball For Life - Senator Sam Brownback

Senator Brownback on the issues of marriage and abortion.

Bishop, I have the Pope on Line One.

http://www.americanprowler.com/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10884

'Bishop, I Have the Pope on Line One'

By Thomas J. Craughwell

Published 1/17/2007 12:07:27 AM

The other week Pope Benedict XVI phoned a few French bishops, and it wasn't to find out what they got for Christmas. According to Britain's Catholic Herald, the pope was doing a bit of old-fashioned arm-twisting in response to these bishops' very public opposition to Benedict's intention to grant Catholics more access to the pre-Vatican II rite of the Mass.

On October 30, 2006, ten French bishops, including the archbishop of Strasbourg, released a letter expressing their fear that "the extension of the use of the Roman Missal of 1962 makes the direction of the Second Vatican Council relative... [and] would also risk harming unity among priests as well as among the faithful." One of the signers of the statement, Bishop Andre Lacrampe of Besancon, has been quoted as saying, "One cannot erase Vatican II with a stroke of the pen."

Is Pope Benedict about to abolish Vatican II? Not quite. What he is doing, in fact, is implementing one of the council's guarantees, spelled out in its document on the Mass, Sacrosanctum Consilium, "In faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." Of course, it didn't pan out that way. In 1969 Pope Paul VI virtually banned the traditional Mass and imposed on the Church the Novus Ordo Missae, the New Order of the Mass that has been the norm in Catholic parishes around the globe ever since.

Paul VI's Mass was no simple vernacular translation of the traditional text; this was a major edit-and-rewrite job that recast the role of the priest, the people, and even God's place in the liturgical life of the Catholic Church. It was, in short, a revolution. And as Robespierre could tell you, once a revolution gets rolling, it's hard to tell exactly where it will end up.

Once the new Mass was put in place, the progressives went on a rampage the likes of which the Church had not seen since the Reformation. On Sunday mornings, while the parish clergy hung out in the rectory, members of the laity distributed Communion to congregations who were instructed to stand, not kneel, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and urged to take the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread, in their hands rather than receive it on their tongue. Then came the church "wreckovations" -- altars were smashed, communion rails ripped out, statues hauled away to the dumpster or banished to obscure corners of the church, and elaborately decorated interiors whitewashed. The documents of Vatican II did not call for any of these soul-and-gut wrenching innovations, but when confronted the progressives claimed that their actions were in keeping with "the spirit of Vatican II."

The-not-too-subtle message of this revolution was, if the Mass, the thing the Church held most sacred, could be monkeyed with, then it was open season on doctrine, discipline, religious authority, religious vows, church music, education, sexuality, marriage, and life itself. As the Catholic Church sank into chaos, many Catholics jumped ship. A 1958 Gallup poll found that in the United States 75 percent of Catholics went to Mass every Sunday; today the number has dropped to 25 percent. By the way, on any given Sunday in France, the bishops can count on seeing about five percent of the population.

MASS ATTENDANCE WAS NOT the only thing that suffered in the upheavals that followed Vatican II. Today 53 percent of American Catholics believe that one can have an abortion and still be a good Catholic. And 70 percent of American Catholics in the 18-44 age group say they do not believe that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, that it is only a symbol of Jesus.

As for religious vocations, the statistics are dire. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States; in 2002 there were 450 ordinations. In 1965 there were 600 seminaries in the United States; today there are about 200. In 1965 there 180,000 nuns in the United States, 104,000 of whom were teaching sisters; in 2002 there were 75,000 sisters, only 8,200 of whom were in the classroom. As for the famous Christian Brothers who staffed so many Catholic schools, in 1965 there were 912 young men preparing to take their vows; in 2000 there were only seven. (All these numbers come from Kenneth Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators).

In the aftermath of Vatican II, the Catholic Church has split into roughly two camps. First, there are the liberals/progressives, bishops, clergy, and laity who see Vatican II as a complete break with the Church's past, its doctrines as well as its traditions. On the other side are the conservatives/traditionalists, those bishops, priests, and laity who insist that Vatican II must be read in light of the Church's doctrine and traditions. Until now the progressives have had the conservatives on the run. But since his election, Benedict XVI has said openly that Vatican II is just one in a long series of church councils, and to argue that it swept away everything that came before it is to mangle the council documents beyond recognition.

Naturally the two factions have aligned themselves with two opposing schools of theology. The conservatives defend the Church's traditional God-centered view of the universe. Nothing conveys their perspective better than the traditional Mass in which the priest, the altar boys, and the people all face the altar, with the tabernacle that contains the Host and the crucifix above the altar as the focal points of their prayers. This God-centered perspective also dominates the conservative ideas about themselves and how they interact with their neighbors. It can be summed up in a basic question, "How is one saved?" And the basic answer is, "By keeping God's commandments.

"THE THEOLOGY OF THE PROGRESSIVES is decidedly man-centered (oops! make that person-centered). Again, it starts with the Mass, where the priest stands at a table facing the congregation (by the way, the Vatican Council didn't call for that either). The focus then has become the interplay between the priest and the people, and in all too many instances priests have found it hard to resist the temptation to be an entertainer, urged on by his congregation's appreciative laughs and rounds of applause that are common these days in forward-thinking parishes. God is an afterthought in such places. The tabernacle is off in a side room, usually out of sight, and the crucifix is portable, carried in at the start of Mass and carried out when it is over -- and for good reasons: the presence of the Real Presence, the image of Christ dying on the cross make the "worship space" too churchy, which could put a damper on the folksy "I'm okay-you're okay-God's okay" spirit of the congregation. In terms of theology the progressives tend to be utilitarian: the issues of a celibate clergy, same-sex marriage, abortion, and euthanasia are difficult and make many people uncomfortable, so the easiest solution to such thorny issues is to sanction them all.

Then in 1988 Pope John Paul II threw the conservatives a lifeline, granting permission (the ecclesiastical term is indult) for priests to say the traditional Latin rite of the Mass. In a document entitled Ecclesia Dei (The Church of God), the pope declared, "Respect must everywhere by shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued some time ago by the Apostolic See for the use of the Roman Missal according to the typical edition of 1962." But there was a hitch: priests who wished to say the old Mass, and Catholics who wished to attend it, had to apply to their local bishop for permission. In response to such requests, few bishops could be described as "generous."

Conservatives cheered when Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI because he had written and preached in support of the old Mass and often celebrated it publicly himself. Ever since the election conservatives and liberals have been waiting to see what Benedict will do. Now he is ready to act.

Unlike the implementation of Paul VI's Mass in 1969, Benedict XVI's decision to take the handcuffs off the old Mass is not a revolution but a challenge. He is not going to abolish the new Mass. Instead he is setting up the traditional Mass with its traditional theology as an alternative to what is available in the typical Catholic parish.

At this writing the document has not been released, and no one at the Vatican who has read it has leaked its full contents. One thing is certain, however: With this document the pope is undermining the monopoly the progressives have had on parish life. For the first time in a long time Catholics who have clung to the traditional teachings of the Church and cherished the traditional liturgy will have a place they can call home.

Thomas J. Craughwell is an author and commentator on Catholic issues. He lives in Bethel, Connecticut.

DIOCESE OF PHOENIX TO CONDUCT PRO-LIFE EVENTS TO MARK THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROE V. WADE DECISION

If you live in the Phoenix area, please show your solidarity with the unborn, the marginalized and the teachings of the Church by supporting these events this weekend.

PHOENIX (January 16, 2007) The Diocese of Phoenix is conducting several public pro-life events to sadly mark the 34th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade U. S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Catholic Youth and Young Adults will gather the Encountering Truth Youth Pro Life Rally 2007 at 7 p.m. on Friday, January 19, at All Saints Newman Center, 230 East University Drive, on the Arizona State University Campus, Tempe. The evening will begin with praise and worship featuring internationally acclaimed musician Matt Maher and his band. This will be followed by witness and Keynote Pro-Life speaker Melanie Welsch. The Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix, will then address the audience about the importance of being a courageous people of life. Afterward, he will lead a Eucharistic procession up A-Mountain in Tempe.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, January 21, Bishop Olmsted will celebrate a Mass for the unborn at St. Francis Xavier Church, 4715 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. This annual pro-life commemoration and rally against Roe v. Wade is sponsored by Arizona Right to Life and Life Education Corporation. The Rally for Life March will leave at 1:30 p.m. from Xavier High School parking lot at 4710 N. 7th St., Phoenix, and proceed to Indian Steele Park, 300 E. Indian School Rd. There will be music and talks with keynote speakers Congressman Trent Franks, Colleen Clark, and Ronnajean Murphy. Mothers from Maggie’s Place, a house of hospitality for expectant women who wish to achieve their goals in a dignified atmosphere, will share their stories. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted will give remarks and closing prayer. Attendees are asked to bring diapers to donate to the pregnancy centers.

There also will be a Pro-Life Candlelight Procession, Rosary and Benediction at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, January 22, in Maguire Hall of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 7655 E. Main St., Scottsdale. People will gather to pray for the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. As people process, they will be asking Our Blessed Mother’s protection for all her children.

“The generations born after 1973 are learning that nearly a third of their potential friends, teammates, and, in some cases, family members are missing due to the legalized murder propagated by the Supreme Court decision,” said Michael Phelan, director of the Office of Marriage and Respect Life for the Diocese of Phoenix. “Women from these generations should learn that they deserve better than abortion as an answer to a crisis pregnancy.”

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life supports Senator Brownback for President 2008.

I fully support Senator Brownback for the Presidential Nomination in 2008 as well, please join me and Fr. Frank Pavone with your support.

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/9178

January 11, 2007

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is a man you want to know if you care about human rights. Whether you're talking about the poor in Africa or the unborn child scheduled to be killed by abortion, you will find an advocate for them in Senator Sam Brownback.

For us in the pro-life movement, Senator Brownback is a key ally. There are many in Congress who will vote the right way on pro-life bills. Fewer are they who will take initiatives to advance the cause — and not for purposes of political gain, but rather because the cause is right, and they believe the cause can, must, and will prevail. Sam Brownback is that kind of Senator.

In the Summer of 2004, the Human Life Review published an article by Senator Brownback titled, "'Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,' Revisited." As you may recall, President Ronald Reagan, one of the most pro-life presidents in our history, wrote an essay called "Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation" in 1983.

As Senator Brownback writes, "Twenty-one years later, and 31 years after Roe v. Wade, we need to revisit 'Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation.' We need to reflect on whether we are closer to — or further away from — having a culture of life. We need to contemplate what personal and legislative steps we must take to draw out the best in the freedom-loving, life-loving American spirit."

Senator Brownback goes on to examine why the American conscience cannot continue to tolerate abortion any more than it tolerated slavery. He discusses how Mother Teresa of Calcutta influenced his life and thinking. He examines how Roe v. Wade has damaged our society. And he expresses the firm hope that we will win: "I believe that I will live to see the end of the abortion industry, and the sanctity and dignity of every human life affirmed.... Great labors remain before us, but the rights and lives of unborn children are absolutely worth our efforts."

The Senator makes those efforts, not only by sponsoring legislation like the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, but also by taking the initiative to hold hearings in the Senate on various aspects of abortion. For example, on June 23, 2005, Senator Brownback convened a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee on the topic, "The Consequences of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton." He had Norma McCorvey (former "Jane Roe") and Sandra Cano (former "Mary Doe") there to testify, along with various legal experts. The Senator declared, "To put it simply, Roe was a mistake. A very, very costly one."

On March 3, 2004, Senator Brownback held hearings called "Examining the Impact of Abortion on Women," and he is a strong supporter of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. On May 25, 2006, he held hearings on "The Consequences of Legalized Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia."

To see an example of encouraging leadership in the cause of life, read the Senator's remarks and essays.

(This update courtesy of the Priests for Life newsletter. You may contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; call 1-888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400; fax 718-980-6515; mail@priestsforlife.org; http://www.priestsforlife.org/.)

Spirit of the Liturgy

The book that began my search for Catholic tradition and my study of liturgy was Cardinal Ratzinger's (now the Holy Father) "Spirit of the Liturgy" which is pictured above. If you have not read this great book, please do so, you will learn alot about liturgy and the traditions of the Catholic Church. I know one young Bishop who sent all the priests in his Diocese this book as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago. I also know another priest who quoted this book at length in a homily, and was later chased out of that parish due largely to that homily, which was unfortunate.

Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) was a student of Fr. Romano Guardini who wrote a book earlier in the 20th Century with the same title. This book, I recently found online for free and would like to share this book with the masses. So for your edification and for free here is Fr. Romano Guardini's excellent book "Spirit of the Liturgy"

http://www.fdlc.org/Liturgy_Resources/Guardini/Chapter1.htm

Support the Prolife cause - use prolifesearch.com

I have been using ProLifeSearch for a while now as my search engine. It is great, everytime you search the website makes money which they can donate to pro-life and Catholic causes. Use http://www.prolifesearch.com every time you do a websearch and spread the word to family and friends to do the same. Here is what the site says, so that you get a better idea of how it works:

How Does ProLifeSearch.com Support Life?

ProLifeSearch.com is the "Web's First Pro-Life Search Engine." Search the Web just like you would with any major search engine.

We donate revenues to Pro-Life charities. These revenues come from our own ads that we run on our home page and from the sale of products.

To make sure this is crystal clear: We DO NOT generate revenue for donations from "Pay-Per-Click" ads (e.g., "Ads by Google," etc.) Therefore there is no financial incentive to click on any ads. Please visit our sponsors if what they offer truly appeals to you.

Here's how it works.

It's really very simple. Use ProLifeSearch.com for all your Internet search needs. Unlike other search engines we donate a minimum of 50% of all net profits to pro-life charities around the world.

What's the catch?

None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. You use ProLifeSearch.com whenever you search the Internet and we make donations to pro-life charities. It's really that simple. Together we can make a real difference in defense of life.

Do I have to provide my personal information to use ProLifeSearch.com?

No. You do not have to register to use ProLifeSearch.com, but if you choose to register you will become a member of the PLS community. This will allow you special benefits and information that we only make available to our members.

Who are you guys?

We're a privately-held company in Chicago, Illinois, founded and managed by two guys who both try hard everyday to be the good Catholic boys their mothers always hoped they'd be

I have added ProLifeSearch engine to my blog, so you can also search using this engine from my blog as well. If you have a webpage, I urge you to do the same.

Twins bonding in the womb - life is precious in all stages.

A little boy in the womb kisses his twin sister.

I came upon this spectacular article this morning which uses 4D ultrasound images to show the bonding that takes place between twins in their womb. Read the article and see the pictures here

Fulfilling Vatican II with the Traditional Latin Mass.

H/T to the NLM and Dr. Blosser

Michael P. Foley wrote an excellent article for Latin Mass Magazine (btw, I highly recommend subscribing to this excellent periodical). This article details how many TLM communities have fulfilled much of what Vatican II has called for (especially in regards to participation actuosa) while the Novus Ordo parishes have largely failed in this regard. Dr. Blosser has made this fabulous article available on his blog and I highly recommend that it be read.

Fulfilling the Council: Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Traditionalist Movement