Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Contrasts
American Catholic bishops are pledging to "pull out all the stops" in support of Obama's "immigration reform", i.e. amnesty, open borders and the end of the United States as we know it. How odd it is to see these constitutionally weak, timid and lazy men suddenly turn into lions when it comes to pushing amnesty. It's amazing how the approval of the liberal media acts like a magic potion upon our bishops, infusing them with the courage and energy they lack when it comes to defending the Faith, evangelizing, standing up for marriage, or disciplining heretical priests and apostate politicians. Contrast this with how they responded to gay marriage. I didn't hear anything from the pulpit about that issue or hear anything about a nationwide push to fight for marriage in the legislatures. Recall how Cardinal Dolan, the leader of our local and national Church, limited his activism on the gay marriage issue to writing a blog post and phoning in to an Albany radio show when it was already too late. Contrasts, contrasts.
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On a brighter note, mass in the Extraordinary Form (TLM) will celebrated is this saturday 10/12/2013 at 7PM at Sacred Heart, Staten Island. Laus tibi Christi!
On a brighter note, mass in the Extraordinary Form (TLM) will celebrated is this saturday 10/12/2013 at 7PM at Sacred Heart, Staten Island. Laus tibi CHRISTE!
(vocative not genitive :))
That's awesome news. Will Father Jerome be the celebrant? How did you hear about it? The usual m.o., on those rare occasions when the Latin Mass is offered, is to "promote" it with a 1 sentence announcement tucked away on the fourth page of the bulletin. And since it's always said at some odd time (like 7PM on a Saturday or 3PM on a Sunday), as if the Mass or its devotees were something shameful or strange that needs to be hidden from public view, it will have few attendees- and those mostly elderly- and will thus be easier for the pastor to dismiss as something of little interest to his flock. Judging from the late hour to which this Mass is relegated, it seems to me like it is being treated as a "gimmick Mass", like those Gaelic or German Masses you read about sometimes in the back of Catholic New York. Still, I would like to attend.
I don't know who the celebrant will be - it's not my parish and I too discovered it by chance buried in the bulletin while search through all the island's bulletins to see if I could discover a single parish that does not use extraordinary ministers or altar girls. That particular search yielded no success but, to my delight, I found the TLM announcement. Sacred Heart is not my parish so I'm not sure who. I tweeted it on the traditional Catholic blog Rorate Caeli's twitter and several others retweeted it so hopefully we'll be surprised at the turnout. I'm also going to try to get my parents to come.
Whoever the celebrant is, I will try to encourage him to celebrate it regularly from this point forth (maybe even once a month).
And yet in spite of it's being buried in the corner of a weekly bulletin - and no ad even to be found on the parish Facebook page - this is a sign, nevertheless, that someone at the parish wants the mass celebrated, even if just the priest. I take it also that at least one or two of the altar boys have been instructed to learn the responses, unless a deacon or another priest will be assisting. I will pray to the Lord in my daily rosary intentions that He water this seed and cause it to grow into regular celebration of the usus antiquior.
Yours sounds like an interesting project. Was there an easy way to obtain all the bulletins on Staten Island or did you have to go physically from church to church? I know of one such parish on the North Shore that does not use altar girls or Extraordinary ministers. Hint: look for the parish that isn't as influenced by American ways.
As for the Latin Mass, it's been said at Sacred Heart several times over the past few years (always in the middle of Sunday afternoon, as I recall). Why? I don't know. That would be something Father Jerome or a parishioner in the know would have to answer. Holy Family used to have a regularly scheduled Latin Mass once a month on Sunday mornings and then that stopped. As Pope Benedict said in his motu proprio, a stable group of parishioners have to ask for it. So, stable groups, are you out there? Do you want it?
I was searching bulletins online - going to parish websites and looking at archived bulletins.
Thanks for the hint - I know which parish you mean and will try to attend a Sunday mass there (one of the English ones as I see the majority are in another language - not Latin..). I wonder if the pastor of that parish would be sympathetic to Summorum Pontificum. Given that a sizable portion of the parishioners are likely not native English speakers, it would be interesting to see if we could all converge around mass in the universal language of the Church - that would be truly Catholic.
I would definitely be part of any such stable group. (Do you think Sacred Heart is our best bet on the island?) I'm going to have to look at Summorum Pontificum again. Do you recall whether pope Benedict specified what "stable group" means numerically? Perhaps we could invoke the biblical "where two or more gather in My name" principle. I think time is of the essence, since, unfortunately, it seems that our current Holy Father is not extremely sympathetic to the TLM. I'm sure your aware of the prohibition he made against the FFI.
I plan on attending the traditional mass at Sacred Heart this Saturday. I'm also going to try to get some family members to come (it seems like my parents are on board; it will definitely bring back some memories for them). Maybe if Father Jerome is surprise at the turnout he'll regularize this.
If this doesn't work out, I may starting heading into NJ to attend an FSSP parish.
I see what you mean now: it has to be a stable group of Catholics from the same parish - that's the challenge. I didn't catch that before.
No, Pope Benedict didn't specify what number constitutes a "stable group", which is wise since the size of such a group would necessarily differ from parish to parish. That's a flaw as well however, since that leaves the judgement up to the individual pastor. I am aware of what Pope Francis did to that one religious order and I find it deeply deeply disturbing. I just can't see him reversing Pope Benedict's motu proprio. I think that would be just too radical a move. I think he just plans to keep making ambiguous statements and veiled insults about the Latin Mass and those who favor it.
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