Nat Hentoff on Obama's defiance of the US Constitution

Nat Hentoff, "Obama win is Constitution's loss" (WND Commentary, November 13, 2012):

On Sept. 12, 2001, President George W. Bush assured us: “We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.”

The enemy has certainly tried, but it was President Bush, following the advice of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who began the extensive attack on our individual liberties through the Patriot Act, which passed on Oct. 26, 2001.

Then, President Barack Obama went far beyond his predecessor’s administration to become the most destructive uprooter of our Constitution in our nation’s history.

Growing up as a student at Boston Latin School, one of whose alumni was Samuel Adams, a firebrand of our American Revolution, I read American history with excitement. I learned how we always overcame grimly looming threats to our self-governing republic to become a beacon to the world.

But never did I even imagine that an American president, without insuring due process in a court of law, would – as Obama does – use a kill list to target suspected terrorists for assassination. So far this list has also included three American citizens.

Read more >>

5 ways to protect yourself against Obamacare

Paul Hsieh (Forbes, November 13, 2012), offers some helpful suggestions you should consider.

[Hat tip to E. Echeverria]

Obama, Wall Street corporate puppet

And you thought that Romney was in bed with Wall Street and foreign regime change, but that Obama wasn't? You don't have to buy into the conspiracy theories of those like Alex Jones or Aaron Russo to connect the dots between Wall Street, the Federal Reserve (a private corporation), international banks and military adventurism, on the one hand, and whatever Democrat or Republican happens to occupy the White House, on the other. It was Christopher Ferrara's account of the 2007-2008 meltdown that first brought these connections belatedly to my attention.

Obama, with his African-American background and messianic charisma among liberals has proved remarkably useful as a corporately-backed puppet in giving a badly-needed face lift for Wall Street and international banking interests. Why is the appointment calendar of this wildly popular and charismatic black messianic president filled with Wall Street and banking moguls, while he ignores his constituency of blacks, women and minorities (while throwing them the sops of food stamps, free phones, contraceptives and abortions); and why has he not opposed but actually expanded Bush's policies of serving Wall Street and banking interests as well as foreign nation building, over the interests of our body politic?

Extraordinary community news

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (November 11, 2012):

The Te Deum: The Church’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

One of the most important prayers in the Church’s treasury is the Ambrosian Hymn of thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity: The Te Deum. “Hymn” in this sense does not mean that the piece must be sung, but rather refers to its principal role in the Divine Office, where it would be sung in solemn settings. It is prayed in the Extraordinary Form Breviary at the end of Matins on all days on which the Glória is specified at Mass. Numerous composers have written polyphonic settings of the Te Deum, however the Gregorian Chant setting is the best known. A reader of this column rightfully believes that Catholics should be as familiar with the text and Gregorian melody of the Te Deum as with other prayers that are often sung, such as the Salve Regína, since every prayer of thanksgiving should look to the Te Deum for inspiration.

The public recitation or singing of the Te Deum on the last day of the calendar year is enriched with a Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions of Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin. The Te Deum is also enriched with a Partial Indulgence if it is privately prayed at the beginning and end of the day, in starting and completing work, or before and after meals.

Space limitations prevent us from printing the original Latin. Instead, we provide for your edification and comparison two approved English versions. The first is taken from The Blessed Sacrament Prayerbook, published in 1913 with an Imprimátur. The second is taken from the [now out of date] 1991 Handbook of Indulgences. The currently-in-force 2006 Manual of Indulgences no longer provides an English translation of the Te Deum.

The Te Deum is sung at Windsor’s Assumption Church on major occasions of thanksgiving, such as at Anniversary Masses, and on December 31 or the closest Sunday prior. In liturgical settings it is often followed by an optional set of responses and a prayer; these are, strictly speaking, not a formal part of the Te Deum and not required to be prayed.

Te Deum [1913 Blessed Sacrament Prayerbook translation]

We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be our Lord.
All the earth worships Thee, the Father everlasting.
To Thee all the angels cry aloud; the heavens, and all the heavenly powers.
To Thee the cherubim and seraphim continually do cry:
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth.
Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory.
The glorious choir of the apostles praises Thee.
The admirable company of the prophets praises Thee.
The noble army of the martyrs praises Thee.
The holy Church throughout the world acknowledges Thee.
The Father of infinite majesty;
Thy adorable, true, and only Son;
Also, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Thou, O Christ, art the King of glory.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou didst take upon Thee to deliver man,
Thou didst not disdain the Virgin’s womb.
Having overcome the sting of death,
Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee to help Thy servants,
whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting.
Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thy inheritance.
Govern them and raise them up forever.
Every day we bless Thee.
And we praise Thy name forever; yea, forever and ever.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day, to keep us from sin.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.
Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in Thee.
In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded.

Te Deum [1991 Handbook of Indulgences translation]

You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death,
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come, and be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

V. Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
R. Govern and uphold them now and always.
V. Day by day we bless you.
R. We praise your name for ever.
V. Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
R. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
V. Lord, show us your love and mercy;
R. for we put our trust in you.
V. In you, Lord, is our hope:
R. and we shall never hope in vain.


Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 11/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Martin I, Pope & Martyr)
• Tue. 11/13 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (St. Didacus, Confessor)
• Sun. 11/18 Noon: High Mass at St. Albertus (Sixth Resumed Sunday After Epiphany)

Related: The Te Deum sung to a Gregorian Chant setting by Giovanni Vianini, organist and director of the Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis in Milan, Italy

[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, St. Hyacinth (Detroit) and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for November 11, 2012. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

American taxes soar to 100% Entire country on food stamps. China footing the bill.

You have to laugh sometimes.

The hazards of electronic voting

After the lost culture war . . .

America Half Dead: Obama Elected to Finish Job

Red states to blue: "Remember these words: 'Don't blame us," and "We told you so."

Terence P. Jeffrey, "Generational Debt: U.S. Debt Per American Under 18 = $218,676" (CNSNEWS.com, November 4, 2012)

• 4 Yrs at Private College = $130,468
• Median-Priced Existing Home = $173,100
• U.S. Debt Per American Under 18 = $218,676

Michael Voris, in "Some final thoughts on this election" (Musings, November 6, 2012)

People supporting Obama are not supporting him because of his sterling economic policies. They're supporting him because of his ideological stances, as was made abundantly evident during the Democratic National Convention, when one child-murdering supporter and sodomy supporter after another walked up to the podium and hailed this man.

We do not know how this will turn out, but we do know this: if Obama wins, and the pace of social and cultural destruction quickens, which it certainly will, none of it will be happening without God in heaven allowing it. Obama winning may in fact be God's judgement on a wicked and perverse generation -- not our judgement on who is the best man to occupy the White House.

Some final thoughts on this election

Especially watch the closing comments where the larger, spiritual dimension of God's judgement is addressed. Among other things, after considering the polling (which seems pretty evenly split) and the traditional historical data (which seems to point to Romney), there's this:

For us it seems foolhardy to dismiss all the traditional historical data that all points and leans heavily to Romney. So, like much of the available data, we're split. Our brains tell us Romney; but our gut says that there is so much decay and moral rot in our nation that Obama will somehow hang on and win.

The very fact that Obama is still in the game, given his wildly unpopular healthcare law, horrible economy and nearly nonexistent recovery, not to mention sixteen trillion dollars and counting national debt. This is all a very big red flag to us. He has deftly avoided any repercussions for anything he has done -- the Libyan embassy murders, the driving of the economy into the dirt, and so forth. It's almost like he's somehow protected. Romney should win by every measure there is. But we have to consider that as St. Paul says, we're not fighting a temporal war but a spiritual one against principalities and powers.

People supporting Obama are not supporting him because of his sterling economic policies. They're supporting him because of his ideological stances, as was made abundantly evident during the Democratic National Convention, when one child-murdering supporter and sodomy supporter after another walked up to the podium and hailed this man.

We do not know how this will turn out, but we do know this: if Obama wins, and the pace of social and cultural destruction quickens, which it certainly will, none of it will be happening without God in heaven allowing it. Obama winning may in fact be God's judgement on a wicked and perverse generation -- not our judgement on who is the best man to occupy the White House.

Tradition and the New Evangelization

Party loyalty and loyalty to Christ

Bishop Daniel Jenky: "For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Gospel of Life."

Weigel commemorates the socio-political dethronement of Christ the King

Do not for a moment mistake what I say here as a brief supporting the regnant imperious administration of Black Messiah. It is but a caveat concerning elements in the Neoconservative Catholic support of the classical liberalism of Republicanism that I find inimical to the traditional Catholic Faith.

There are good reasons why Catholic bishops and Neoconservatives have been re-thinking their traditional alignment with the Democratic Party as the party of the working man and traditional Catholic family values -- namely, because the Party has long-abandoned those values in a history littered with Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), Roe v. Wade (1973), the mainstreaming and celebration of homosexualist values, same-sex "marriage," and opposition to Catholic moral teaching.

By the same token, there are many good reasons why Catholic Neoconservatives have been shifting their support to the Republican Party over the last several decades. Republican opposition to the egregiously overstepping provisions of Obamacare and the HHS Mandate are, certainly, understandable reasons for supporting its candidates. And this is but the most recent history of Catholic support for classic liberal opposition, in the spirit of Ludwig von Mises, to big government. Witness Michael Novak, the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and William Buckley, Tom Woods, Lew Rockwell, and the ever-loquacious and prolific George Weigel.

At the same time, however, resident within the classical liberalism of the Republican tradition are elements that should give pause to any Catholic who knows and values traditional Catholic social teaching. Without going into detail, let us just say here that that teaching refuses to compartmentalize the reign of Christ, suggesting that He is King and Lord only of our private spiritual lives, but not over our collective social life as confessing Catholics in the public square.

This, however, is precisely what Neoconservative Catholics like George Weigel espouse. Take, for example, his recent essay, "Constantine and Campaign 2012" (National Review Online, November 3, 2012). Here he describes Vatican II as signaling the liberation from a long Constantinian captivity of the Church, which, in his view, was mistaken to get involved in presuming to extend the Kingship of Christ over the secular realm.

Here, again, is a YouTube interview in which Weigel describes Vatican II's document, Dignitatis Humanae, as liberating the Catholic Church from a 1700-year "Babylonian Captivity" since Constantine's Edict of Milan (AD 313). The problem with his view lies not in his criticism of political and spiritual corruption of various political and religious leaders during that nearly two-millennium period, but rather in his dismissal of the very acceptability of the socio-political Lordship of Christ, which popes have consistently emphasized in their official teaching up until Vatican II.

What this amounts to, in practical terms, is the Neoconservative embrace of the classic liberal political tradition of Protestant America, with its particular interpretation of the separation of Church and state and disestablishment cause as a normative and positive development for American Catholics. In our present climate, I'm sorry to say that this is ridiculous. It might have been plausible in the 1940s and 1950s, back when thinkers like Jacques Maritain and Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J., were cutting their teeth in political philosophy, to have assumed that the American experiment, with it's "naked public square" and privitization of religious values, was a good and viable project. No more so. The spiritual antithesis has been drawn in the sand, and his imperial highness, the Black Messiah, has thrown down the gauntlet. There is no neutral ground. You are either for Christ as King, or against Him.

And, if you are truly FOR Christ as King, you cannot expect Him to restrict His jurisdiction to just the private spiritual domain our our prayer and liturgical life. Rather, as Abraham Kuyper once declared in one of his more prescient moments, "There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, 'This is mine! This belongs to me!'"

Very good last-minute election analysis

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/free/?vidID=elec-2012-11-02&ssnID=

Wassim Sarweh to speak at 2013 Sacred Music Colloquium

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (November 4, 2012):

Church Music Association of America Program Director Arlene Oost-Zimmer this week released the preliminary list of speakers for the 2013 Sacred Music Colloquium, to be held June 17-23, 2013. For the second year in a row, the conference will be based at Salt Lake City, Utah’s Cathedral of the Madeleine. The Colloquium is the largest conference of its type, offering a week’s worth of seminars in traditional sacred music. Classes cover performance and conducting of Sacred Polyphony and Latin Gregorian Chant for both the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms, plus English Chant for the Ordinary Form. Attendance has grown every year; in 2012 approximately 300 people devoted an entire week to this immersion in sacred music.

Readers of this column will be pleased to note that Assumption Church Tridentine Mass Music Director Wassim Sarweh will present one of the talks, on the subject of accompanying Gregorian Chant on the organ. Wassim’s predecessor and former Windsor resident Matthew Meloche is also one of the speakers, along with some of the biggest names in Catholic liturgical music.

Among the Faculty:

• Adam Bartlett, Saints Simon and Jude Cathedral, Phoenix, AZ
  
• Mary Jane Ballou, Cantorae St. Augustine
  
• Wilko Brouwers, Monterverdi Choir, the Netherlands
  
• Dr. Horst Buchholz, St. Louis Cathedral
  
• Richard Chonak, Webmaster, CMAA
  
• Charles Cole, Westminster Cathedral; Brompton Oratory
  
• Gregory Glenn, Cathedral of the Madeleine
  
• David J. Hughes, St. Mary, Norwalk, CT
  
• Dr. Ann Labounsky, Duquesne University
  
• Melanie Malinka, Madeleine Choir School
  
• Dr. Mee Ae Nam, Eastern Michigan University
  
• Dr. William Mahrt, CMAA President, Stanford University
  
• Matthew J. Meloche; St. Joan of Arc Parish, Powell, Ohio
  
• Jeffrey Morse, St Stephen, the First Martyr Church; Sacramento, California
  
• Arlene Oost-Zinner; CMAA Programs Director; St. Cecilia Schola
  
• Daniel Bennett Page, Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore; University of Baltimore
  
• Rev. Robert Pasley, CMAA Chaplain; Pastor, Mater Eccelsiae, Berlin, NJ
  
• Kathleen Pluth, STL, Hymn Writer
  
• William Riccio, Jr.
  
• Jonathan Ryan, Organist; Jordan Prize Winner
  
• Wassim Sarweh, Church of the Assumption, Windsor, Ontario
  
• Dr. Edward Schaefer, University of Florida
  
• Dr. Susan Treacy, Ave Maria University
  
• Jeffrey Tucker, Chant Cafe, CMAA Director of Publications
  
• Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director, ICEL

Further information about the conference and an impressive video documentary of a previous Colloquium by Corpus Christi Watershed, showing the sorts of material covered, are available at: www.musicasacra.com/colloquium.

Private Masses

As an increasing number of Holy Masses in the Extraordinary Form are held across the world, we are hearing more frequently about so-called Private Masses. This is a term which can cause some confusion. Before we can clearly explain what a Private Mass is, we should first define its alternative, the Public Mass.

A Public Mass is one which is announced on a church’s schedule. It is open for all to attend. Regular parish Sunday, Holy Day, and weekday Masses fall under the classification of Public Masses.

Private Masses can take several forms, ranging from truly private to quasi-public:

- A Mass literally celebrated privately, such as by a priest in his own room.

- A Mass celebrated in a facility designed for priests to celebrate Masses without a congregation, such as the private chapels in the sacristy of the main chapel at Orchard Lake Seminary. The vast array of side altars in the main chapel of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Seminary is also intended for this purpose.

- A Mass celebrated for a special-purpose congregation, large or small, such as if a priest offered a Mass for family and friends on the occasion of a special event in someone’s life.

- A Mass offered in a public venue, perhaps even on a regular basis, though not regular enough to be listed on a parish’s schedule. London’s Brompton Oratory, for example, offers a 5:30 PM Private Tridentine Mass at a side altar Monday-Friday. The celebrant travels a good deal, so there are days when the Mass is not held. The parish elects not to publicize the Mass because they cannot guarantee the availability of a substitute celebrant when the main one is away. Despite this irregularity, this “Private” Mass attracts a sizable congregation every day, larger than those attending many parishes’ weekday Public Masses.

Next St. Albertus Mass

The next Tridentine Mass at St. Albertus Church will be held in two weeks, on Sunday, November 18 at noon. A reception will follow the Mass in the rectory.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 11/03 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (The Holy Relics)
• Tue. 11/04 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (Daily Mass for the Dead)
• Fri. 11/09 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Savior [St. John Lateran]) NOTE: The Mass schedule at St. Josaphat is subject to change. Please call the parish office before going to a weekday Mass at St. Josaphat.

[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. Josaphat (Detroit) and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for November 4, 2012. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

Get out and vote

Okay. So I'm a Catholic monarchist. But I don't see a Catholic monarchy on the horizon in this US Presidential election. Do you? Politics is the art of the possible. So don't be a miserable purist who thinks he can't vote for anyone but a Catholic candidate calling for an amendment of the Constitution to make the United States of America a confessional Catholic state. We'll be lucky if we even have a state left with any hope of financial solvency, let alone rights of conscience for religiously-affiliated institutions and their employees in this country. I know all the counter-arguments. And it's true that the bishops' come-lately appeal to the "rights" of religious freedom is a bit of a limping "fall-back" position from what it should be: the abominating of contraception, sexual sin and abortion that has led to this present pass.

But in considering what is possible today, we're faced with intermediate options between the direct theocratic governance by Christ our King and the tyrannical rule of Moloch-worshipping baby-killers and perverts like Herod and Nero. I would rather have lived under good King St. Louis of France than under the Dhimmitude of Sayyed Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini in Iran, certainly. But those are not the alternatives before us today. St. Thomas Aquinas counsels his readers what their duties are under different types of regimes, and he is under no illusion that Catholics will always be living under the benign rule of Catholic monarchs. In his Summa Theologiae, he explicitly addresses circumstances in which Catholics live under non-Christian regimes. Some of these regimes are obviously more just than others, and it is our job this coming Tuesday to discern which politically viable parties and their platforms (the "cards we've been dealt") are the most inimical to Catholic faith and morals, and to vote against the candidates of that party. Not a few of our bishops, unlike the appallingly-lame official USCCB voter guides, have spoken out clearly and forcefully on the issue.

Of course, my mother used to send chills up my spine when we were growing up in Asia by praying that America would someday, like ancient Israel, experience the blessing of defeat and persecution at the hands of a foreign enemy. And that, my friends, is surely what we deserve far more than another generation of personal peace and prosperity, given the record of our last half-century. But pray like Abraham, if you will, that God would stay His hand of judgement and not yet destroy Sodom if there is but even a small remnant of righteous inhabitants remaining in her, so that the flickering embers of faith may again be rekindled into a fire that would yet bring repentance and healing to this wayward land.