Ash Wednesday

Revealing Dietrich von Hildebrand letter takes issue with previous Wanderer editor over new Mass

F.Y.I. [Disclaimer: See Rules 7-9]: "The Remnant Scrapbook History ~ In The Beginning" (Remnant, February 18, 2015) offers a meaty history of a couple of traditionalist brothers involved in the beginnings of two newspapers, The Wanderer and The Remnant, the second founded by Walter Matt as a result of a falling out over the new Mass with his brother, Alphonse Matt, who was then left as editor of The Wanderer. Walter Matt opposed the liturgical changes and Alphonse supported them.

Walter Matt’s strong stand against the new Mass was not shared by everyone, but Dietrich von Hildebrand quickly allied himself with Walter Matt and his fledgling Remnant in trying to mount a "Catholic counterrevolution." In a letter dated April 27, 1970, von Hildebrand wrote a letter to Walter Matt’s brother, the new editor of The Wanderer, summing up, in effect, the substance of the issue that had separated the two Matt brothers. Von Hildebrand wrote:

Dear Mr. Alphonse Matt:

I thank you very much for your kind letter. But I believe that there is some misunderstanding. You assume that the new ordo missae and especially the rubrics constitute for me merely a personally painful change by replacing something very beautiful and perfect with something less beautiful and less perfect. But unfortunately it is my conviction that the new ordo missae is the greatest pastoral mistake and that its consequences for the Church may be disastrous.

I agree however completely with you that it is a grave problem, whether one should criticize it publicly or only intra muros. Concerning this problem every one must follow his conscience. But I frankly cannot understand that you do not only abstain from a public criticism of the new ordo missae but make the “Wanderer” an instrument for propagating and praising the new ordo. You even suggest in your letter, dear Mr. Matt, that I should join this propaganda. As you say that you agreed with my article in “Triumph” in which I stress that obedience to practical decisions of the Pope does not imply approval of them – it is difficult for me to understand why you expect me to utter a univocal approval of something which seems to be, from the purely religious point of view, a “suicidal” practical decision. I do not believe that a mere loyalty to the present Pope who does not act against those who destroy the Catholic faith daily more and more – like Kueng, Schillebecks, Padovano, Greeley and many others – and who does not use the means by which the Church survived through 2000 years: anathema and excommunication – can preserve Catholic faith untarnished.

Dear Mr. Matt, it is painful for me to disagree with you because of my sincere admiration for the “Wanderer” throughout the past years and our warm personal union in Christ. This disagreement, however should in no way affect our friendly relations.

Faithfully yours in Christ
Dietrich von Hildebrand

A Pastor's Descant: St. Valentine, Lent prep, Ash Wednesday

In his "A Pastor's Descant" [link inactive] this week (Assumption Grotto News, February 15, 2015), Fr. Eduard Perrone writes, in part:

Observers of the traditional liturgical calendar could still celebrate in all truth Saint Valentine's Day on the 14th of this month. His feast day, however, had been excised from the revised ordo and so he lay languishing in liturgical obscurity (aside from the Tridentine liturgy) only to become celebrated by the world as a kind of religious Cupid, more an occasion of sin and scandal than of spiritual edification.

Lent is coming this week. Be prepared. Don't wait until Wednesday to figure out what you mean to do this Lent. It does take some planning to have a fruitful season of penitence. In whatever way you approach it, there ought to be prudence. Pledging heroic deeds that you can't sustain the forty days is foolish; doing little or nothing for Lent is dangerous and selfish. The self-imposed discipline is for personal gain and for readjusting the imbalance caused by your sinful deeds. Viewed in this light, you ought to welcome the approach of Lent and set about it doing something profitable. I wish to remind you here of the main points.

Every Catholic from age 14 must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent (the Fridays throughout the year are also days of abstention from meat). There are only two obligatory days of fasting which permit one full meatless meal, and one -- or even two -- smaller meal(s) taken according to need: these days are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This law of fasting binds everyone (unless one is dispensed for good cause by a priest) from ages 18 through 59. Marsh 19 (feast of St. Joseph) and March 25 (the Annunciation) are solemnitities (in the new rite calendar) wherein one may relax imposed penances. The entire forty days is a time for penance, however, and practices may vary according to prudence, personal preference and generosity. A Catholic home should undergo some noticeable change for this period and what is superfluous or boisterous ought to be omitted. Moreover, Lent is not a time for parties, movies and entertainments; rather it's the time to quit otherwise lawful enjoyments for the sake of Christ and in recognition of His suffering for our redemption....

For those of you in the area, the Assumption Grotto Gift Shop & Bookstore has an abundance of good reading material for Lent (as well as one of the best Catholic bookstores anywhere around). I found a promising book of Lenten sermons by St. Francis de Sales, which looks to make some good reading for the season; and there's much, much more.

WASP infestations

Our own Guy Noir - Private Eye, referring to Mark Tooley's "Triumph and Decline of America’s Protestant Ascendancy" (American Spectator, February 3, 2015), writes:

He talks here about WASPs (and Catholic-WASP hybrids like the Kennedys), but I believe there is a Catholic parallel. I think immediately of Robert Hughes, Gary Wills, and Wilfrid Sheed... Raises a whole set of thoughts and questions about Modernity, Education, and Affluence. Especially this:

In a 1984 C-SPAN interview with Brian Lamb, Alsop good-naturedly smokes through half a pack of cigarettes while admitting the WASP ascendancy is over, perhaps for the best. In his final days before dying in 1989 he repeatedly asked listeners if God exists. His funeral at a historic Episcopal D.C. church concluded with a hymn that had always concluded his family reunions in his youth, “God Be with You till We Meet Again.”

Alsop’s religious doubts were evidently common among the Georgetown Set. Phil Graham, during his ongoing collapse, had sought spiritual solace from New York Times columnist James Reston, mistakenly believing him to be devout. Reston could not help. The Set, along with the larger WASP elite, lost their confidence and prominence partly because they had lost their own faith, only periodically celebrating rites at tasteful Protestant sanctuaries. Alsop’s stepson, after his own spiritual crisis, became a Unitarian Universalist minister.

Back to the Prayer Breakfast dustup over "high horses" and Christians criticizing Islam

Mark Tooley, "Obama, Lincoln, and Niebuhr" (First Things, February 13, 2015). Solid.

The Seminary of Montreal: powerhouse seminary of the 19th century

My friend, A.S., writes from California:

I think you would enjoy the first 8 to 10 pages of In Its Corporate Capacity by Brian Young (history, McGill U.). He studies the Sulpician Seminary in Montreal as a business. The first pages are devoted to the founder, Fr. Jean Jacques Olier. I have always wondered why the Sulpicians had such an enviable reputation. Professor Young explains why. Fr. Olier was a genius. From one seminary in Paris, soon he had 20 all over France. The relevant text is online at Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=lEF2PSj_S-QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

This makes for an inspiring and eye-opening story that helps to fill in some significant gaps, certainly in my own intellectual history of the Church in the New World.

Why Francis is not a fan of Benedict's Anglican Ordinariate

Sandro Magister, "Ecumenism Behind Closed Doors" (www.chiesa, February 2, 2015): "While Benedict XVI made it easier for Anglicans in disagreement with the “liberal” direction of their Church to enter into the Catholic Church, Francis is not, he prefers that they remain where they are. The revelations of two Anglican friends of the pope." An interesting and revealing study.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

"Lord Jesus, receive the souls of these Thy martyrs"

The words are those of our friend, canon lawyer and seminarian Tim Ferguson, about the twenty-one Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS radical Muslims. Our President, still in his fantasy world where all religious differences can be settled by reasonable men on a golf course, evidently could not bring himself even to refer to the victims as "Christians" or their killers as "radical Muslims." He called the Coptic Christians "Egyptian Citizens." Indeed. It's a wonder he didn't summarily dismiss the acts as "workplace violence."

If you have a heart, pray for the souls of these Christian martyrs. As one commentator wrote: "Even under the blade, some were making their last prayers and as the blade came to their neck they all cried in unison 'Ya Rabbi Yasou’ (O My Lord Jesus) the caption by ISIS stated 'these insisted to remain in unbelief.'” You should force yourself to watch the video of the beheadings even thought it is brutal. Hollywood movies can be as brutal. But this is real.


Then check out the Christian commentary by Walid Shoebat HERE. Wretched times.
[Hat tip to T.F.]

Cardinal Kasper's earlier denials of the miracles and prophecies of Jesus gain new airing

Joe Sparks, "The Gospel According to Cardinal Kasper: Did the Miracles and Prophesies of Jesus Really Happen?" (The Catholic Household, February 4, 2015), reveals some disturbing realities about the Cardinal's perspective. Quoting from Walter Cardinal Kasper's Jesus the Christ (Paulist Press, 1976), Sparks offers a number of passages strikingly at odds with Church teaching. For example, about our Lord's miracles, he writes:

"The probability is that we need not take the so-called ‘nature miracles’ as historical.” (Jesus the Christ, p. 90-91)

Again,

"We must assume therefore that we are faced not with historical details but with stylistic devices intended to attract the attention and raise excitement in the minds of those listening….” (Jesus the Christ, p. 127)

All of which, of course, is brazenly at odds with Catholic teaching. For example, in the documents of Vatican II we find this:

“Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held, and continues to hold, that the four Gospels just named, whose historical character the Church unhesitatingly asserts, faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven.” (Dei Verbum, 19)

Which means that Kasper is more beholden to the currently ascendant and fashionable Biblical hermeneutics of the self-congratulatory post-Enlightenment establishment emanating from the erstwhile fevered swamplands of liberal Protestant "higher criticism" than he is with the teaching authority of his own Church. Should anyone be surprised?

Read Sparks' article. It's a good, solid exposé that deserves reading; and it goes far beyond the two bits I've quoted above.

Court: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Commisioner Volpi guilty of defamation and lies, must pay 20K Euros, make public apology

If this report is true, this is utterly deplorable. For English account see Adfero's post (RR, February 17, 2015). The Franciscans of the Immaculate have been eviscerated as a result.

There is no easy way to express the magnitude of the destruction of this religious order. There is, however, the following video we posted back on February 2nd of this year, a video claimed to have been obtained exclusively by Rorate, in which the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate filmed an entire day, documenting the way of life in their seminary for posterity. That day was December 8, 2013, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the very day the Theological Seminary of the Immaculate Mediatrix (STIM) was closed by their Apostolic Commissioner, Fr. Fidenzio Volpi.



Update (2/27/2015): Confirmed: court record confirming Volpi must pay by March 3rd, etc.
[Hat tip to K.M. Tierney]

Bishop Athanasius Schneider visits USA SSPX seminary, continues doctrinal discussions per CDF decision of Sept. 23, 2014

As reported by DICI HERE via Rorate Caeli HERE:

"These meetings are a way of continuing the doctrinal discussions between the Society of St. Pius X and the Roman authorities « in a larger and less formal context than that of the preceding meetings », according to the decision made during the meeting of Bishop Fellay with Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on September 23, 2014.

"The [February 11, 2015] visit in Winona coincided with the annual meeting of priests, during which 80 priests of the United States District met at the seminary for a week of studies."

John Allen: the "real Pope Francis," the global village College of Cardinals, and Vatican money

John L. Allen, Jr., "Will the real Pope Francis please stand up?" - "PLUS: The College of Cardinals becomes a global village, and Vatican money in context" (Crux, February 14, 2015).

[Hat tip to E. Echeverria]

Is the "Reform of the Reform" dead?

As a friendly commenter noted recently, the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society in England and Wales, Joseph Shaw [pictured right], has an excellent series of articles on why trying to find a "compromise" between the traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo is so difficult. He quotes Shaw as follows:

"I have in the past pointed out the practical, pastoral problem of the RotR [Reform of the Reform]: far from it being, as its proponents ceaselessly claim, easier to foist on a parish than the Traditional Mass, it is harder. The argument is simple: if a priest gets rid of the Altar girls, moves the Altar round to celebrate facing East, and introduces some Latin, in the typical parish Novus Ordo, he will create a civil war in the parish which he will almost certainly lose. If he introduces a Traditional Mass in a new time-slot, he may blot his copy-book with a hostile Dean and Bishop, but he will very probably get away with it in the short and medium term. (In the long term, of course, he may be moved.) This has been confirmed over and over again. Many of the commentators over on the NLM need to free themselves from their illusions on this. RotR is not the easy option.

"But I want to introduce another idea. While I am in favour of Latin, worship ad orientem and pretty well everything the RotR promotes, it is clear to me that the difficulty of imposing them on the Novus Ordo is not just a matter of parochial habits. The problem with the texts and ceremonies, in terms of bringing them closer to the Traditional Mass, is not just a matter of how many changes you would need to make. The problem is that the Novus Ordo has its own ethos, rationale and spirituality. It encapsulates its own distinct understanding of what liturgical participation is. It is to promote this kind of participation that its various texts and ceremonies have been done as they are. If you put it in Latin, ad orientem, and especially if you start having things not currently allowed, like the silent Canon, then you undermine the kind of participation for which the Novus Ordo was designed.

"This means that there is a danger, in promoting something which amounts to a compromise between the two Missals, of falling between two stools."

Here are the links to the series of articles by Joseph Shaw, all from LMS Chairman - The Chairman's Blog:

1. "The Death of the Reform of the Reform? Part 1" (February 23, 2014)
2. "The Death of the Reform of the Reform? Part 2: The Liturgical Movement" (February 24, 2014)
3. "The Death of the Reform of the Reform Part 3: Falling between two stools" (February 25, 2014)
4. "The Death of the Reform of the Reform, 4: Novus Ordo in Latin?" (February 26, 2014)
5. "The Death of the Reform of the Reform, 5: 1965?" (February 27, 2014)

Michael Voris interviews John Allen, Edward Pentin, others on various defects in Catholic media coverage

[Advisory & Disclaimer: See Rules 7-9] "On this episode of Mic'd Up, Michael Voris breaks down the players in the UN-Catholic Media: various media outlets that present themselves as Catholic but undermine the Faith.

"Guests include Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register and John Allen of Boston Globe's Crux, along with CMTV's own Matthew Pearson, Christine Niles, and Peter O'Dwyer."

1. [0.14] Voris' introduction to this episode of Mic'd Up
2. [4.15] Interview with Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register
3. [10:05] Conversation with Matthew Pearson about anti-Catholic dissenting "Catholic" media outlets
4. [34:33] Discussion with Chistine Niles and Peter O'Dwyer about the "Reactionary Catholic Media"
5. [48:10] Interview with John Allen about secular media coverage of the Catholic Church [very interesting]

In the fourth section, Christine Niles summarizes how CMTV intends to position itself between two extremes it wants to avoid: (1) what she calls the "Church of Nice" Catholics, who provide the wrong diagnosis and the wrong cure for the current crisis, because they think everything is rosy, don't see the crisis, and regard everything coming from this pontificate as perfectly fine, and therefore see nothing to worry about; and (2) "Reactionary" Catholics, who provide the right diagnosis, recognize there are real problems that sometimes go all the way up to the top, but they provide the wrong cure, because their modus operandi is to mock, denigrate, bash and trash the Holy Father in ways that are absolutely unacceptable, and they drive people to independent Catholic communities that may be materially, if not formally, schismatic.

[I'm paraphrasing here, in the foregoing as well as in what follows.]

What, then, is the right diagnosis and right cure? Whatever the problems, says Voris, you can't depart from Peter ... even if Peter is wrong (and he won't be wrong on official teaching because that is protected by the Holy Spirit), and he can be wrong in the way he says something, even the way in which he understands things on the natural level. The doctrine of papal infallibility, stresses Niles, has very narrowly defined parameters. The Holy Father can say things that are vague, confusing, even wrong. But one must never depart from Peter. At one point, Voris refers to renegade bishops and stresses that even if they are notorious dissidents who are on the wrong side of major moral issues, one must respect the authority of their office and remain under their authority so long as they require of you only what is in keeping with Church teaching.

Related responses:

• Louie Verrecchio, "Trandwriter 25: Michael Voris almost gets the SSPX ..."
• John Venari, "CFN Media 4 - Response to yet another Voris Assault"
• John Venari, "CFN Media 5 - Response to Voris Pt 2: 'Reactionaries' and Blunder"
• Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara, "INFLAMMATORY MEDIA: On Michael Voris & Mrs. Niles" (TheRemnantvideo, Feb.17, 2015)
• "The SSPX responds to false accusations" (District of the USA)

Extraordinary Community News - Shorter visits to the Blessed Sacrament; Paul Schultz to speak on "Juventútem: Young Adults That Love the Latin Mass"; Mass schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (February 15, 2015):

Shorter Visits to the Blessed Sacrament

Last week’s column mentioned the benefits to be gained from making a Holy Hour. Holy Mother Church does not require us to spend that much time in Eucharistic Adoration, however. Even short visits to the Blessed Sacrament have always been encouraged. Consider stopping by a nearby church or adoration chapel on your way to or from work, on your lunch hour, or during your errands.

A Partial Indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration for any amount of time; no particular prayer or action is required. Even the briefest of visits qualifies. If you have 15-20 minutes, you can gain a Plenary Indulgence by praying the Holy Rosary in a church, privately or with a group, under the usual conditions of Confession with 20 days, reception of Holy Communion [within a small number of days], prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin. Praying the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament is a beautiful form of devotion.

If you’re looking for shorter prayers to offer, a Partial Indulgence is granted to those who “offer any duly approved prayer to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament (e.g., the Adóro Te Devóte, the prayer O Sacrum Convívum, or the Tantum Ergo)”. The above quote and the approved texts below for the latter two are from the Enchrídion Indulgentiárum / Manual of Indulgences:

O Sacrum Convívium
O sacrum convívium, in quo Christus súmitur; recólitur memória passiónis ejus, mens implétur grátia, et futúræ glóriæ nobis pignus datur.

O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.

Tantum Ergo
Tantum ergo sacraméntum
venerémur cérnui:
et antíquum documéntum
novo cedat rítui:
præstet fides suppleméntum
sénsuum deféctui.
Genitóri Genitóque
laus et jubilátio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedíctio:
procedénti ab utróque
compar sit laudátio. Amen.

℣. Panem de cælo praéstitisti eis,
℟. Omne delectaméntum in se habéntem.

Orémus. Deus, qui nobis sub sacraménto mirábili Passiónis tuæ memóriam reliquísti: tríbue, quaésumus, ita nos Córporis et Sánguinis tui sacra mystéria venerári, ut redemptiónis tuæ fructum in nobis júgiter sentiámus: Qui vivis et regnas in saécula sæculórum. Amen.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing,
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high,
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty. Amen.

℣. You have given them bread from heaven,
℟. Having all delight within it.

Let us pray. O God, Who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of Your Passion: grant, we implore You, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of Your Redemption. You Who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Monthly Talk at OCLMA Reception Next Sunday

All are invited to attend the talk being given at the monthly reception after the 9:45 AM Mass at the Academy of the Sacred Heart next Sunday, February 15. Paul Schultz, co-founder of Juventútem Michigan, will speak on “Juventútem: Young Adults That Love the Latin Mass”. Come and learn about this international phenomenon; our local chapter is one of the most active on the globe. The Oakland County Latin Mass Association is endeavoring to invite additional speakers to future receptions in 2015.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 02/16 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria)
• Tue. 02/17 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Votive Mass of the Angels)
• Wed. 02/18 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Ash Wednesday)
• Wed. 02/18 7:00 PM: High Mass at Assumption Grotto (Ash Wednesday)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for February 15, 2015. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]