I think that people who are physically capable of doing so, should always kneel and receive Communion directly on the tongue. I think the permission for Communion in the hand should be abolished. In advance of it being abolished, people should be urged, taught, persuaded to receive on the tongue while kneeling. So there.Huzzah!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Fr. Z: Abolish Communion in the hand
In conjunction with a lengthy treatment of the posture and manner of receiving Holy Communion in the Novus Ordo by H.E. Most Rev. Robert Morlino, Fr. Zuhlsdorf writes, with characteristic punctiliousness:
Monday, May 30, 2011
Martin Mosebach on Universae Ecclesiae and the Gregorian Rite
Stuart Chessman, "The Church Must Endure this Anger" (The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny, May 23, 2011). An important and illuminating interview by Die Welt. Excerpt:
[Hat tip to Rorate Caeli]
Die Welt: The Instruction speaks of “two usages of the one Roman rite.” Doesn’t this open the door to a creeping new schism?Read more >>
Martin Mosebach: There’s already a schism, not between supporters of the new and old rites, but between those Catholics who adhere to the old sacramental theology of the Church as was solemnly confirmed by Vatican II, and those who assert that Vatican II founded a new Church with a new theology and new sacraments. This latter doctrine has been diffused wholesale and against the better knowledge of its promoters, in the seminaries, universities and Catholic academies. This is what has fostered the danger of a schism.
[Hat tip to Rorate Caeli]
Are they Catholics?
Since my reception into the Catholic Church nearly 20 years ago, I have had several encounters with Catholic converts whose beliefs or practices have caused me to ask myself: "If this person is Catholic, what is it that makes a person Catholic?" The question may seem merely academic, but the circumstances that have provoked it are quite concrete. The following cases are all based on fact, although names and details have been changed to preserve anonymity. They are, if you will, not "fiction" but "faction" -- based on fact:
Don and Rita
Don and Rita were received into the Church five years ago in an affluent suburban parish, St. Norbert's. Neither had been a practicing Christian of any kind, although there was some nominal Protestant affiliation in their childhood homes. Both in their sixties, Don is in his fourth marriage, and Rita in her second, both with adult children from earlier marriages living in other parts of the country.
Don describes the "Catholic part" of his life journey as beginning with an experience he had of God's presence one afternoon when, inexplicably, he wandered into St. Norbert's for the first time and found himself kneeling and praying in the back of the church. "Whoo, boy!" he says, laughing and shaking his head. "Wow! I've never felt anything like that in my life!"
He and his wife were received into the Church at St. Norbert's the following Easter. I asked whether they went through the RCIA class there. "No," said Don, "we're not really what you would call 'joiners', so the priest met with us a few times and that's all it took."
Further conversation revealed that neither of them appeared to be schooled in the most rudimentary facts of Church teaching. Neither ever goes to confession. Rita never goes to church. Don usually goes on Sundays, but neither has any acquaintance with the notion of "holy days of obligation" as applying to Sundays and other special days throughout the year. Any notion of Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday or Good Friday serving as important spiritual markers in their calendar is completely missing. Neither seems to have any existential appreciation of the notion of sin, let alone mortal sin. When I asked whether they had received the Sacrament of Confession, they seemed perplexed. They had met with the priest individually, they said, who asked them if they had any sins they would like to confess, but neither could think of anything. The priest had raised no questions about their irregular marital status.
Joe
Joe, a recovering alcoholic, was received into the Church 14 years ago after finding himself at an AA meeting at St. Mary's Catholic Church, a large urban parish. Raised a Pentecostal, Joe dropped out of church as a youngster after his parents divorced. He speaks fondly of his memories of church services as a youngster where people really "got into praising God" with their "hearts and voices."
When asked why he became a Catholic, Joe says without hesitation, "No other church did for me what the Catholic Church has done." When asked to explain, he replies that it got him on the path of "healing" from his alcoholism.
The chief difficulty Joe has encountered after becoming a Catholic is finding Catholics who seem to have "any understanding of Scripture" or familiarity with "how to really worship the Lord." When asked what he means, Joe explains that most Catholics don't seem to really "know Jesus," they just stand or sit in the pews "looking bored and uninvolved." They don't display the "joy of salvation," he says.
For all his appreciation of St. Mary's, Joe now attends a charismatic Catholic Church where he feels he can "really worship." They have drums, electric guitars, and the priest walks the aisles greeting everyone. "He looks right into my eyes when he greets me, you know, really making me feel personally welcome, like more than just a number."
Joe thanks God for his discovery of charismatic Catholics. They provide an environment in which he feels free to raise his arms during Mass and shout "Amen!" and speak in tongues. On the other hand, Catholic prayers such as the Rosary or Angelus or Act of Faith form no part of Joe's awareness, any more than such ideas as "apostolic tradition," "Church authority," "intercession of the saints," "indulgences," or "Purgatory." When asked about these sorts of things, or Catholic practices like making visits to the Blessed Sacrament in the church, or praying to saints, or whether he had a patron saint, he replied that he considered such notions "clutter" and "distractions." With a smile, he said he prefers to go "straight to Jesus." He considers it his mission in life to teach Catholics how to worship.
Helen
Helen was received into the Church 25 years ago in a small Southern town after converting from a Missouri-Synod Lutheran background. After finishing her doctorate in literary criticism a decade later, she began her teaching career at a large Midwestern university. She says she has had trouble finding a Catholic parish where she feels completely comfortable, because "the preaching and music is generally so bad." But she currently attends Immaculate Conception, a large suburban parish near the university where she teaches.
I had the opportunity to catch up with Helen six years ago when our family was en route from North Carolina to Iowa on a family trip. We stopped on Sunday and went to Mass with her and out to dinner afterwards. The parish was clearly affluent. What struck me, however, was how very like a Protestant church it looked. There were virtually no visible signs or symbols of Catholicism -- no holy water fonts, no crucifix (the processional "crucifix" looked like the Greek letter Tau), no tabernacle, no kneelers. There was an artificial waterfall outside a large plate-glass window at the very front of the church. Nobody genuflected. Everyone cheerfully greeted one another, shaking hands across pews. The congregation was ethnically diverse -- about a quarter each African-American, Asian, Anglo and Hispanic. The music was robust, polished and professional -- a mix of Hispanic and Gospel, with robed choir members swaying in unison to synthesizer, saxophone, and other brass winds accompaniment. The bishop was present that Sunday, although I cannot remember the occasion. But what made it Catholic? I couldn't tell.
Over lunch, I asked Helen whether she didn't miss the beautiful liturgy and music of her Missouri-Synod background -- "You know, the old red book," I said. She said she did, at times, but she now preferred the music at Immaculate Conception for its "progressive, contemporary feel," as well as its polished professionalism. The one thing that seemed to leave her dissatisfied, she said, was the preaching. "The form is generally good," she said, "engaging and well-organized." The problem was that it was "doctrinally weak." She would have preferred more "Biblical exposition" with specific "applications" to the parishioners' lives. That's where "the rubber meets the road," she said, in their "existential situation."
A couple of years ago, after sending Helen some emails expressing my enthusiasm for the "Tridentine" Mass we discovered after moving to Detroit, I managed to provoke her into attending one for herself. The results were disappointing for both of us. She said that the whole panoply of pomp, processions, vestments, incense, and Latin left her cold. Not only was the whole thing "utterly unintelligible," but, she said, it struck her as "elitist" and "smacked of pride." The important thing in a church service, in her opinion, at least, was "to understand what's being said." She asked: "Where's the Gospel if it can't be understood?" She quoted St. Paul, "I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a [foreign] tongue" (I Corinthians 14:19). "Correct me if I'm wrong," said Helen, "but I can't help wondering whether Pope Benedict's decision to grant greater liberty to the old Latin Mass isn't a step backward, really. What's important is to make the Gospel accessible, to transmit it in a medium that's transparent, that communicates to people where they are today, not to obscure it by wrapping it up in unintelligible archaic forms."
Don and Rita
Don and Rita were received into the Church five years ago in an affluent suburban parish, St. Norbert's. Neither had been a practicing Christian of any kind, although there was some nominal Protestant affiliation in their childhood homes. Both in their sixties, Don is in his fourth marriage, and Rita in her second, both with adult children from earlier marriages living in other parts of the country.
Don describes the "Catholic part" of his life journey as beginning with an experience he had of God's presence one afternoon when, inexplicably, he wandered into St. Norbert's for the first time and found himself kneeling and praying in the back of the church. "Whoo, boy!" he says, laughing and shaking his head. "Wow! I've never felt anything like that in my life!"
He and his wife were received into the Church at St. Norbert's the following Easter. I asked whether they went through the RCIA class there. "No," said Don, "we're not really what you would call 'joiners', so the priest met with us a few times and that's all it took."
Further conversation revealed that neither of them appeared to be schooled in the most rudimentary facts of Church teaching. Neither ever goes to confession. Rita never goes to church. Don usually goes on Sundays, but neither has any acquaintance with the notion of "holy days of obligation" as applying to Sundays and other special days throughout the year. Any notion of Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday or Good Friday serving as important spiritual markers in their calendar is completely missing. Neither seems to have any existential appreciation of the notion of sin, let alone mortal sin. When I asked whether they had received the Sacrament of Confession, they seemed perplexed. They had met with the priest individually, they said, who asked them if they had any sins they would like to confess, but neither could think of anything. The priest had raised no questions about their irregular marital status.
Joe
Joe, a recovering alcoholic, was received into the Church 14 years ago after finding himself at an AA meeting at St. Mary's Catholic Church, a large urban parish. Raised a Pentecostal, Joe dropped out of church as a youngster after his parents divorced. He speaks fondly of his memories of church services as a youngster where people really "got into praising God" with their "hearts and voices."
When asked why he became a Catholic, Joe says without hesitation, "No other church did for me what the Catholic Church has done." When asked to explain, he replies that it got him on the path of "healing" from his alcoholism.
The chief difficulty Joe has encountered after becoming a Catholic is finding Catholics who seem to have "any understanding of Scripture" or familiarity with "how to really worship the Lord." When asked what he means, Joe explains that most Catholics don't seem to really "know Jesus," they just stand or sit in the pews "looking bored and uninvolved." They don't display the "joy of salvation," he says.
For all his appreciation of St. Mary's, Joe now attends a charismatic Catholic Church where he feels he can "really worship." They have drums, electric guitars, and the priest walks the aisles greeting everyone. "He looks right into my eyes when he greets me, you know, really making me feel personally welcome, like more than just a number."
Joe thanks God for his discovery of charismatic Catholics. They provide an environment in which he feels free to raise his arms during Mass and shout "Amen!" and speak in tongues. On the other hand, Catholic prayers such as the Rosary or Angelus or Act of Faith form no part of Joe's awareness, any more than such ideas as "apostolic tradition," "Church authority," "intercession of the saints," "indulgences," or "Purgatory." When asked about these sorts of things, or Catholic practices like making visits to the Blessed Sacrament in the church, or praying to saints, or whether he had a patron saint, he replied that he considered such notions "clutter" and "distractions." With a smile, he said he prefers to go "straight to Jesus." He considers it his mission in life to teach Catholics how to worship.
Helen
Helen was received into the Church 25 years ago in a small Southern town after converting from a Missouri-Synod Lutheran background. After finishing her doctorate in literary criticism a decade later, she began her teaching career at a large Midwestern university. She says she has had trouble finding a Catholic parish where she feels completely comfortable, because "the preaching and music is generally so bad." But she currently attends Immaculate Conception, a large suburban parish near the university where she teaches.
I had the opportunity to catch up with Helen six years ago when our family was en route from North Carolina to Iowa on a family trip. We stopped on Sunday and went to Mass with her and out to dinner afterwards. The parish was clearly affluent. What struck me, however, was how very like a Protestant church it looked. There were virtually no visible signs or symbols of Catholicism -- no holy water fonts, no crucifix (the processional "crucifix" looked like the Greek letter Tau), no tabernacle, no kneelers. There was an artificial waterfall outside a large plate-glass window at the very front of the church. Nobody genuflected. Everyone cheerfully greeted one another, shaking hands across pews. The congregation was ethnically diverse -- about a quarter each African-American, Asian, Anglo and Hispanic. The music was robust, polished and professional -- a mix of Hispanic and Gospel, with robed choir members swaying in unison to synthesizer, saxophone, and other brass winds accompaniment. The bishop was present that Sunday, although I cannot remember the occasion. But what made it Catholic? I couldn't tell.
Over lunch, I asked Helen whether she didn't miss the beautiful liturgy and music of her Missouri-Synod background -- "You know, the old red book," I said. She said she did, at times, but she now preferred the music at Immaculate Conception for its "progressive, contemporary feel," as well as its polished professionalism. The one thing that seemed to leave her dissatisfied, she said, was the preaching. "The form is generally good," she said, "engaging and well-organized." The problem was that it was "doctrinally weak." She would have preferred more "Biblical exposition" with specific "applications" to the parishioners' lives. That's where "the rubber meets the road," she said, in their "existential situation."
A couple of years ago, after sending Helen some emails expressing my enthusiasm for the "Tridentine" Mass we discovered after moving to Detroit, I managed to provoke her into attending one for herself. The results were disappointing for both of us. She said that the whole panoply of pomp, processions, vestments, incense, and Latin left her cold. Not only was the whole thing "utterly unintelligible," but, she said, it struck her as "elitist" and "smacked of pride." The important thing in a church service, in her opinion, at least, was "to understand what's being said." She asked: "Where's the Gospel if it can't be understood?" She quoted St. Paul, "I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a [foreign] tongue" (I Corinthians 14:19). "Correct me if I'm wrong," said Helen, "but I can't help wondering whether Pope Benedict's decision to grant greater liberty to the old Latin Mass isn't a step backward, really. What's important is to make the Gospel accessible, to transmit it in a medium that's transparent, that communicates to people where they are today, not to obscure it by wrapping it up in unintelligible archaic forms."
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Book Excerpt: How To Avoid Purgatory
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for May 29, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]As a follow-up to our recent column about the Sabbatine Privilege, we would like to recommend a booklet by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan and published by Saint Benedict Press, “How To Avoid Purgatory”. Chapter 13 of this book has been widely republished on a number of web sites, and we reprint it below both for its own value and as an example of the contents of the rest of the booklet. Rarely has so much spiritually beneficial information been condensed into so few words.
To Avoid Purgatory, Do As Follows
1. In every prayer you say, every Mass you hear, every Communion you receive, every good work you perform, have the express intention of imploring God to grant you a holy and happy death and no Purgatory. Surely God will hear a prayer said with such confidence and perseverance.
2. Always wish to do God's will. It is in every sense the best for you. When you do or seek anything that is not God's will, you are sure to suffer. Say fervently, therefore, each time you recite the Our Father: “Thy will be done.”
3. Accept all the sufferings, sorrows, pains and disappointments of life, be they great or small: ill health, loss of goods, the death of your dear ones, heat or cold, rain or sunshine, as coming from God. Bear them calmly and patiently for love of Him and in penance for your sins. Of course, one may use all his efforts to ward off trouble and pain, but when one cannot avoid them let him bear them manfully.
Impatience and revolt make sufferings vastly greater and more difficult to bear.
4. Christ’s life and actions are so many lessons for us to imitate.
The greatest act in His life was His Passion. As He had a Passion, so each one of us has a passion. Our passion consists in the sufferings and labors of every day. The penance God imposed on man for sin was to gain his bread in the sweat of his brow. Therefore, let us do our work, accept its disappointments and hardships, and bear our pains in union with the Passion of Christ. We gain more merit by a little pain than by years of pleasure.
5. Forgive all injuries and offences, for in proportion as we forgive others, God forgives us. Go to Confession. This sacrament does more than “just” rid us of our sins; it gives us a tremendous increase in sanctifying grace. It wins for us a higher place in Heaven, with increased union with God. Each time we go to Confession, we are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which might otherwise have befallen us. A devout Confession helps us to hear the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and to hear and follow the advice of our guardian angels.
6. Avoid mortal sins and deliberate venial sins and break off all bad habits. Then it will be relatively easy to satisfy God’s justice for sins of frailty. Above all, avoid sins against charity and against chastity, whether in thought, word, or deed, for these sins (and the expiation for them) are the reason why many souls are detained in Purgatory for long years.
7. If afraid of doing much, do many little things, acts of kindness and charity, give the alms you can, cultivate regularity of life, method in work, and punctuality in the performance of duty; don’t grumble or complain when things are not as you please, don’t censure and complain of others; never refuse to do a favor to others when it is possible. These and suchlike acts are a splendid penance.
8. Do all in your power for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Pray for them constantly, get others to do so, join the Association of the Holy Souls and ask all those you know to do likewise. The Holy Souls will repay you most generously.
9. There is no more powerful way of obtaining from God a most holy and happy death than by weekly Confession, daily Mass and daily Communion. Masses may be arranged after or before someone’s death to expedite their time in Purgatory.
10. A daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament – it need only be three or four minutes – is an easy way of obtaining the same grace. Kneeling in the presence of Jesus with eyes fixed on the Tabernacle or Monstrance, sure that He is looking at us, let us for a few minutes repeat some little prayer like these: “My Jesus, mercy.” “My Jesus, have pity on me, a sinner.” “My Jesus, I love You.” “My Jesus, give me a happy death.”
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
Mon. 05/30 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria of Eastertide)
Tue. 05/31 7:00 PM: High Mass at both St. Josaphat and Assumption-Windsor (Queenship of Mary)
Thu. 06/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Ascension Thursday)
Thu. 06/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Paul, Thamesville, Ontario (Ascension Thursday)
Related:
Books such as the above presuppose a great deal. Please: how many Catholics do you know outside a small circle of TAN Books patrons who seriously worry about Purgatory anymore?
Anyone with contacts among secularized Catholics, Protestants and sundry agnostics will be familiar with the seemingly innumerable hurdles that prevent many readers from giving a book like this a half-second's mental space. Certainly the majority in this class may be beyond help here and now,but perhaps a few Protestants and post-Vatican II Catholics may find helpful a straightforward Biblically-referenced apologetic such as John Salza's Biblical Basis for Purgatory
There are numerous other commendable, and even better and more thorough books on Purgatory, but most have also this same "disadvantage" of presupposing what such readers consider proper to the conclusion of an argument rather than an assumed premise. If this is your own situation, then by all means take up and read: Tolle, Lege! Blog readers are invited to suggest literature they have found helpful on this topic as well.
Friday, May 27, 2011
'Augustinian Thomists' and 'Whig Thomists': Tracey Rowland and her critics
Christopher Blosser, in "Critical Responses to Tracey Rowland's 'Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II" (Against the Grain, May 22, 2011), offers an overview of the debate between Catholic "neoconservatives" and some of their critics (here, particularly, Rowland). Freely admitting that his "outlook as a new Catholic convert [going on two decades ago] was largely shaped by Richard Neuhaus, Michael Novak and George Weigel -- appreciators of John Courtney Murray, SJ -- and as such, participants in an ongoing debate with Dr. Rowland, David Schindler, Alisdair MacIntyre that has been characterized by Dr. Rowland herself a conflict between "Whig Thomists and Augustinian Thomists."
Helpfully, he encourages readers unfamiliar with Rowland to read her two-part interview with Zenit:
- Part I: Benedict XVI, Vatican II and Modernity: Tracey Rowland on the Pope's Interpretation of the Council (July 24, 2005).
- Part II: Benedict XVI, Thomism and Liberal Culture: Tracey Rowland on the Church's Response to Modernity (July 25, 2005).
(Routledge, 2003).Blosser writes:
According to Rowland, the Whig Thomists maintain that the Thomist tradition can be reconciled with the culture of modernity and that "liberalism is the logical outgrowth of the classical-theistic synthesis", while Augustinian Thomists contend that "the liberal tradition represents its mutation and heretical reconstruction, and they tend to agree with Samuel Johnson that the devil -- not Thomas Aquinas -- was the first Whig." (For a more substantial examination of the precise sense in which Thomas was heralded as the harbinger of "Catholic Whiggery", see: Aquinas:"First Whig?" Religion and Liberty September 21, 2005).Read more >
So, as you can see, possessing this bias I was not predisposed to like Rowland. Nonetheless, I did find it to be stimulating reading and a text I'll return to time and again in future explorations of this debate.
Related:
- R.J. Neuhaus, "The Liberalism of John Paul II" (First Things, May 1997).
- Jason Paul Bourgeois, review of Tracey Rowland's Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II
Thursday, May 26, 2011
How to fight, and not fight, the Good Fight
An analogy employing the elements of a football game and team coach. What are the winning and losing strategies?One could easily write an entire book on the sort of thing discussed in this video -- how those whose business it is to shepherd the sheep to the safety of the fold, along with many of the sheep, often prefer to distract themselves with banalities and irrelevancies rather than talk about the real threat of hell and what one must do to be saved.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
An inconvenient truth ...
"Transcript: Al Gore Got ‘D’ in ‘Natural Sciences’ at Harvard" (CNS News, May 24, 2011).
Update: Hey, but he won the NOBEL PRIZE! (What does that tell you about our times?)
Update: Hey, but he won the NOBEL PRIZE! (What does that tell you about our times?)
What's a good priest to do?
The erosion of faith has advanced so far in some quarters of the Church, that even some priests have begun scratching their heads and asking - 'What are we supposed to do?' Michael Voris comments on a letter from one such priest in "Priests in Pain" (RealCatholicTV.com, May 24, 2011).
The elusive truth about those sex scandals
Have you seen "Weigel about the huge ( ____ ) in the John Jay Report" (WDTPRS, May 24, 2011), where Fr. Z asks: "Did you see the analysis by George Weigel about the John Jay Study? I am just getting to it. Weigel makes good points for National Review Online."
Here are the opening two paragraphs with enumerations inserted:
Here are the opening two paragraphs with enumerations inserted:
The American narrative of the Catholic Church’s struggles with the clerical sexual abuse of the young has been dominated by several tropes firmly set in journalistic concrete:Read more >But according to an independent, $1.8 million study conducted by New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and released on May 18, every one of these tropes is false.
- that this was and is a “pedophilia” crisis;
- that the sexual abuse of the young is an ongoing danger in the Church;
- that the Catholic Church was and remains a uniquely dangerous environment for young people;
- that a high percentage of priests were abusers;
- that abusive behavior is more likely from celibates, such that a change in the Church’s discipline of priestly celibacy would be important in protecting the young;
- that the Church’s bishops were, as a rule, willfully negligent in handling reports of abuse;
- that the Church really hasn’t learned any lessons from the revelations that began in the Long Lent of 2002.
About your comments
I noticed Fr. Z's problems with this item too: "The software that scans for spam has become more restrictive. Sometimes it will pull completely innocent comments into the queue. Sorry."
Recently I visited the "SPAM" tab under the "Comments" heading in my blog editor, and I was dismayed to find that nearly two-thirds of the comment pulled off into that queue were not spam but perfectly legitimate. I have not idea why they were flagged as spam.
In any case, I've tried to restore as many of these as I could find, if belatedly. My apologies to anyone who might have thought I simply filed his comments unceremoniously in the trash bin. I didn't. I will keep closer tabs on that proverbial round file.
Recently I visited the "SPAM" tab under the "Comments" heading in my blog editor, and I was dismayed to find that nearly two-thirds of the comment pulled off into that queue were not spam but perfectly legitimate. I have not idea why they were flagged as spam.
In any case, I've tried to restore as many of these as I could find, if belatedly. My apologies to anyone who might have thought I simply filed his comments unceremoniously in the trash bin. I didn't. I will keep closer tabs on that proverbial round file.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Dutch Salesian priest on board of pro-pedophilia group till 2010
Superior says man-child "relationships" are not necessarily damaging
- Toby Sterling, "Shock after Dutch priest endorses pedophilia" (MyWay. May 21, 2011).
- See also Rorate Caeli's acerbic reading of this news.
Jansenist echoes in the Bugninian reform?
I was looking through some archival material and stumbled upon this little history of liturgical errors by Father Laurent Demets, FSSP, based on the seminal work of Dom Gueranger. It is the first of an undisclosed number of lectures given five years ago by Fr. Demets to an Una Voce in Naples, Florida, and posted online under the title, "The Liturgical Stake" (Rorate Caeli, March 25, 2006).
I have extracted two passages in following. The first claims that, according to Dom Gueranger, some earlier pontifically authorized attempts at liturgical reform proved "disastrous" (Dom Gueranger's word). The second argues that Jansenist influences on 17th and 18th-century French liturgical deviations adumbrate key elements of the Bugninian reform following Vatican II.
I have extracted two passages in following. The first claims that, according to Dom Gueranger, some earlier pontifically authorized attempts at liturgical reform proved "disastrous" (Dom Gueranger's word). The second argues that Jansenist influences on 17th and 18th-century French liturgical deviations adumbrate key elements of the Bugninian reform following Vatican II.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Fr. Edmond Bourque, RIP
Tridentine Community News (May 22, 2011):We are saddened to report the passing on May 5 of a priest friend of the Extraordinary Form in this region. Fr. Ed Bourque was the principal substitute celebrant of the Windsor Tridentine Mass for many years. Many of our readers remember him from this region’s first High Funeral Mass, for Windsor Tridentine Mass Association leader Murray Harris in 2006. Fr. Bourque had a masterful grasp of the rubrics of the Tridentine Mass, and some might wonder why. Below we reprint a portion of his obituary, in which it is revealed that he taught Latin, though during his years of service to us he never mentioned this. He was also conversant in French, leading to his involvement in various French Catholic ministries.[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for May 22, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]“After his ordination on April 25, 1959, at Fall River MA, for the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, Father studied Moral Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. Upon his return to Canada, Father was a teacher of Moral Theology, Latin and Religion at both the Major and Minor Seminaries of the Missionaries of La Salette. From 1966 - 1969 he was Novice Master for the La Salette's. From 1969 - 1974 he returned to teach at the Minor Seminary in Enfield. In 1974 - 1985 Father was the Hospital Chaplain at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor. From 1985 - 1992 he was elected Vicar Provincial for the La Salette Community. From 1992 - 2001 he was appointed Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, River Canard. From 2001 - 2004 upon his retirement he served as Hospital Chaplain at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor. During his past seven years of retirement, Father has graciously assisted in many local parishes most especially at La Paroisse St. Jerome in Windsor and in our local French Schools.”Réquiem ætérnam dona ei, Dómine, et lux perpétua lúceat ei. Requiéscat in pace. Amen.
Special Ascension Thursday Tridentine Mass
at St. Paul Church, Thamesville, Ontario
For the first time in over 40 years, St. Paul Church in Thamesville will host a Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, June 2 at 7:00 PM. Built in 1903, St. Paul is located at 9 Alice Street, northeast of Chatham, and is now part of the merged North American Martyrs Parish. Celebrant for the Mass will be North American Martyrs pastor Fr. John Johnson, and music will be directed by Wassim Sarweh.Eastertide Propers Variations for Weekday Masses
Those who attend our weekday Masses may have noticed some variation in the structure of the Propers during this Easter season. Today we will examine how the Propers differ in the three principal liturgical seasons of the year: Septuagesima-Lent, Eastertide, and the remainder of the year.
Many Saints’ Feast Days do not have complete Propers of their own. Instead, they might specify custom Collect(s) to be used with one of the Masses from the “Commons” Propers. For example, there are Commons for a Confessor (who is a) Bishop, a Confessor not a Bishop, of a Holy Woman not a Martyr, etc. In the altar missal, there is frequently a Collect (Opening Prayer) unique to the Saint, and sometimes a Secret and Postcommunion that are also unique. Each Collect is designated with a “P” if it is proper to (custom for) the Saint, or “C” if it is drawn from the Commons. One confusing point: Often Postcommunions are marked “C” even if they incorporate the name of the Saint of the day if the rest of the prayer is from the Commons. Celebrants are best off flipping the book to the Collects for the day, even if they are marked “C”, and not relying on the Commons’ Collects.
In addition to the Collects, occasionally the Epistle or Gospel may be unique to the Feast and not from the Commons. Thus the Commons may be overridden with Propers to a varying extent.
In Septuagesima and Lent, the usual Alleluia is replaced by a Tract. In Eastertide (Easter Sunday through Ember Friday in Pentecost week), the Gradual and Alleluia are replaced by the Lesser and Greater Alleluias, double Alleluias with two verses from Scripture. An Alleluia is also added to all of the Antiphons, that is, the Introit, Offertory, and Communion.
During the Octaves of Easter and Pentecost, the Sequence of Easter Sunday or Pentecost Sunday, respectively, is repeated at the weekday Masses. During certain seasons, the usual Common Preface employed with most Saints’ Feasts is replaced by the seasonal one. During Eastertide, for example, the Preface of Easter is used instead.
All of the above needs to be taken into account when certain Saints’ Feast days occur in a period that might be within Lent or Eastertide one year, and outside it in another. Similarly, the rules apply if a certain Saint’s Mass is celebrated as a Votive Mass on another day of the year, such as a November Saint being celebrated during Eastertide.
By tying the Propers, including the Readings, to a particular Saint’s (or Commons) Feast, the Extraordinary Form creates and preserves a theme for that Feast. The Ordinary Form follows a similar structure for its Propers, including the use of Commons, although certain Feasts have varying Readings depending on which Readings Cycle the current year is.
“Propers Awareness” will help you follow the Mass, and the thinking of the Church, better. This is a key reason why we expend the effort to produce Propers Handouts; it makes living the Church calendar a core part of your participation at Mass.
Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
Mon. 05/23 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria [Celebrant may choose a Votive Mass])
Tue. 05/24 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption-Windsor (Daily Mass for the Dead with Absolution at the Catafalque)
Friday, May 20, 2011
A liturgical reformer's memoirs (1940's - 1970)
Msgr. Nicola Giampietro's The Development of the Liturgical Reform: As Seen by Cardinal Derdinando Antonelli from 1948 to 1970, (Roman Catholic Books, 2010), relates the Fernando Cardinal Antonelli's involvement in and contribution to the liturgical form from the 1940's until 1970s. He was an influential member of the Commission for Liturgical Reform established by Pope Pius XII in 1948. He later served as the Secretary for the Liturgical Commission of the Second Vatican Council. He was a member of the post-conciliar Consilium and was appointed Archbishop Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Rites in 1965. As Alcuin Reid points out in his review of the book at the Amazon site linked above, the Concilium wages a political battle for control of the liturgical reform against the Congregation for Rites.
The publication of Msgr. Giampietro's book allows us to listen in to yet another voice and perspective in the conversations unfolding during those critical years during and after the Council.
At the end of the Concilium's first meeting, Antonelli observed:
"I am not enthusiastic about this work. I am unhappy about how much the Commission has changed. It is merely an assembly of people, many of them incompetent, and others of them well advanced on the road to novelty. The discussions are extremely hurried. Discussions are based on impressions and the voting is chaotic. What is most displeasing is that the expositive Promemorias and the relative questions are drawn up in advanced terms and often in a very suggestive form. The direction is weak."As the Consilium's work proceeded, Reid notes, Antonelli's concerns about its competence, its predilection for innovation and its consuming haste, grew. After several years with Consilium he wrote that the liturgical reform was becoming "more chaotic and deviant":
"That which is sad...however, is a fundamental datum, a mutual attitude, a pre-established position, namely, many of those who have influenced the reform...and others, have no love, and no veneration of that which has been handed down to us. They begin by despising everything that is actually there. This negative mentality is unjust and pernicious, and unfortunately, Paul VI tends a little to this side. They have all the best intentions, but with this mentality they have only been able to demolish and not to restore."Antoneilli observes that Bugnini "always had the backing of Paul VI," but that "his greatest lacuna was his lack of any theological training or sensibility."
What we get in Msgr. Giampietro's book, says Reid, is not a revisionist history of Vatican II, but rather part of the history of the liturgical reform and of the Council itself.
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