Tridentine Community News - The Mystical Body of Christ; Archbishop Cordileone to Celebrate Traditional Mass at DC’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; Visiting the “Scavi” at the Vatican; St. Mary, Williamston Debuts Monthly Traditional Mass; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (October 6, 2019):

October 6, 2019 – External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Mystical Body of Christ


Via Juventútem London comes the above diagram of the Mystical Body of Christ, depicting the relationship between the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in Heaven. We must never forget the assistance that the branches are able to provide one another, in particular the obligation we have to assist the Suffering Souls in Purgatory.

Archbishop Cordileone to Celebrate Traditional Mass at DC’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception


On Saturday, November 16 at 10:00 AM, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will celebrate a Pontifical Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form at Washington, DC’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This will only be the third or possibly fourth time that the Traditional Mass will have been celebrated in the main upper church of the National Shrine over the past 50 years. The Mass will be broadcast live on EWTN. The occasion is the debut of composer Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas. First performed for the Ordinary Form in 2018, La Rocca specifically adapted this Mass setting for the Extraordinary Form, and colleagues from San Francisco’s Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship will comprise the choir at the Basilica. Visiting the “Scavi” at the Vatican


The “Scavi” are the excavations of the necropolis beneath St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. St. Peter’s tomb is located there. It is not well-known that tours of the Scavi are available. The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has published a web page explaining how to arrange such a visit. For details, see: https://va.usembassy.gov/embassy/vatican-visit/the-scavi/

St. Mary, Williamston Debuts Monthly Traditional Mass

Via Juventútem Michigan comes word that St. Mary Church in Williamston, Michigan is introducing monthly Tridentine Masses on Sundays at 5:00 PM. The celebrant will be pastor Fr. Mark Rutherford. Consult the parish’s Facebook page for the specific dates on which Masses will be held.

Williamston is located southeast of Lansing, Michigan.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 10/08 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Bridget of Sweden, Widow)
• Sat. 10/12 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Saturday of Our Lady)

[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 October 6, 2019. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tridentine Community News - Christmas week bus tour of historic churches in Chicago; Devotional books for the souls in Purgatory; TLM Mass schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (November 13, 2016):

November 13, 2016 – Resumed Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

Christmas Week Bus Tour of Historic Churches in Chicago

One of the highlights of the year for church architecture buffs is Prayer Pilgrimages’ annual bus tour of historic churches in Chicago. This year’s expedition will be three days instead of the usual two, to allow for more time to explore the architectural riches of that city. The tour takes place Wednesday-Friday, December 28-30. Pilgrims will stay in downtown Chicago and will have time to explore the secular sights of the city as well.

High Masses in the Extraordinary Form will be offered at three of Chicago’s most beautiful houses of worship, Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, St. Mary of the Angels Church, and St. John Cantius Church.


After a false start in 2013, when plans had to be changed at the last minute, history will be made on this trip: The Tridentine Mass to be offered at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica will be the first to be celebrated there in at least 46 years. Known for its arcade of twelve Side Altars and massive, barrel-vaulted nave, the basilica has two principal Side Altars which are larger than most churches’ High Altars. Our Lady of Sorrows was the site of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s famous black-and-white video, “The Immemorial Tridentine Mass”. Filmed in 1941 and viewable on YouTube, this video features Archbishop Sheen narrating an Easter Sunday Solemn High Mass. [Above photo © 2009, Jeremy Atherton]


Mentioned many times before in this column, St. Mary of the Angels is arguably the most impeccably restored church in North America, reflecting an investment of approximately $20 million in the building over the past two decades. Every detail of the church is perfect, as can be seen in the above photo of the left Side Altars. St. John Cantius Church needs little introduction, as it is one of North America’s premier sites for traditional liturgy.

Fr. Louis Madey will be the celebrant of the Tridentine Masses on this tour. For further information or to register, visit www.prayerpilgrimages.com or call (248) 250-6005.

Devotional Books for the Souls in Purgatory


In this month of November which is devoted to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, it is worth mentioning a few resources which can assist your devotion to relieving the Poor Souls of their suffering. One of the most comprehensive prayer books on the subject is the Purgatorian Manual, originally published in 1946 and reprinted by the Daughters of Mary Press. (http://www.daughtersofmarypress.com/store/item_view.php?id=1000151&item=purgatorian-manual-~~~1softcover). While the prayers in it are lovely, the indulgences described as being associated with them are no longer in force.

The classic explanatory work on Purgatory is Fr. F.X. Schouppe’s Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints, first published in 1893 and reprinted by TAN Books: https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/purgatory-explained-explained-by-the-lives-and-legends-of-the-saints-2362.html

Susan Tassone is our modern era’s most prolific author and speaker on the subject of Purgatory, having written more books than can be listed here. Go to amazon.com and search for Tassone Purgatory to see her numerous titles, which offer a more contemporary though still orthodox treatment of the topic.

The Manual of Indulgences and its Latin edition, the Enchirídion Indulgentiárum, are the definitive sources of the currently-in-force prayers and acts by which one can gain Partial and Plenary Indulgences on behalf of the Suffering Souls.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 11/14 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Josaphat, Bishop & Martyr)
• Tue. 11/15 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Albert the Great, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor)
• Sat. 11/19 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow)

[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 November 13, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tridentine Community News - Books: How to Avoid Purgatory; All About the Angels; 1st Communions at OCLMA; TLM Masses this week,

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (April 17, 2016):

April 17, 2016 – Third Sunday After Easter

Book Review: How to Avoid Purgatory

Altar server about town James Murphy brought to our attention two books written by the same author, Fr. Paul Sullivan, OP, and republished by TAN Books.


The first, How to Avoid Purgatory, is a small and brief book (39 pages), which first explains the reasons why souls are sent to Purgatory, then provides several means to escape being sent there. In addition to the usual methods one hears, namely regular Confession, Holy Communion, seeking to gain Indulgences, and offering up penances and suffering, Fr. Sullivan recommends explicitly asking God for the grace to avoid Purgatory. Being a Dominican, he also suggests joining the Third Order of St. Dominic, today commonly called the Lay Dominicans, because of the order’s history of devotion to the Holy Souls. He also argues that those who have a devotion to helping the Souls in Purgatory during their lifetime are likely to be shown mercy by God with regards to their own obligations after death.

This reviewer struggles with one aspect of the book: How many of us can honestly say that we don’t deserve at least some time in Purgatory? It’s fine to say that we want to avoid it, but are our souls truly pure enough to merit immediate admission to heaven? The Church gives us the means to do so, even via some exceptional privileges, such as the Apostolic Pardon which can be given by a priest to a person near death, so perhaps it’s not so presumptuous a grace to desire after all.

Book Review: All About the Angels


The second book, All About the Angels, is a lengthier work at 131 pages. It is a fascinating introduction to the work of the Angels among mankind. Fr. Sullivan’s stated objective in writing the book was to foster Catholics’ love for and devotion to their “best friends”, the Angels who defend and support us. Though the book was originally published in 1945, even then the author felt the Church was not doing a satisfactory job of informing the faithful about the presence and actions of the Angels.

He expounds upon the ubiquity and supreme intelligence of the Angels:

Millions and millions of angels fill the Heavens, ministering unto God, but millions and millions of angels are also here on earth, ministering unto us. They are in our midst, around us, about us, everywhere….Were it not for their ever-vigilant protection, the history of the world would be far different, far more calamitous than it has been.

Much of the book is taken up with documenting apparitions of Angels to Saints, kings, and others, in the Bible and throughout history. The author makes the point that Angels are enormously grateful for any appreciation we show them in return, presumably because they are accustomed to being ignored. They welcome prayers and petitions for help, especially our Guardian Angels. Fr. Sullivan proposes the following brief prayer as a sign of gratitude:

Dearest Angels here present, I honor and love you and give thanks to God for all the glory He has given you.

The author recommends that we periodically offer Masses, Rosaries, and Communions to thank and console the Angels. God permitted St. Gertrude to see how grateful the Angels were after she once offered her Holy Communion in honor of the nine choirs of Angels. Fr. Sullivan cautions the reader, however, that Angels cannot help people who are in a state of mortal sin.

Fr. Sullivan maintains that Angels are the ones responsible for the seemingly miraculously saves we occasionally experience from disasters large and small. Angels are also the ones who help Martyrs suffer torture with acceptance, even joy. The Angels provide the supernatural strength the Martyrs require to resist the extreme pain they might otherwise experience.

The fascinating anecdotes and logically deduced advice given in this book make it a highly recommended read. One wonders why the Angels, who are such key intercessors for us, are not mentioned more frequently in homilies, articles, and other educational materials.

First Communions at OCLMA

First Holy Communions will be held for the Oakland County Latin Mass Association at the 9:45 AM Mass on Sunday, May 1 at the Academy of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The faithful may gain a Plenary Indulgence by being present for a First Communion ceremony, 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. A reception will follow the Mass.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 04/18 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria)
• Tue. 04/19 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary (Votive Mass for the Unity of the Church)

[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 April 17, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Tridentine Community News - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Purgatory; TLM Mass times

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

November 15, 2015 – Sixth Resumed Sunday After Epiphany

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Purgatory

Fr. Dennis Brown, OMV, Spiritual Director for the Permanent Diaconate program at Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, recently posted the following excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi. He intriguingly called it “Perhaps the most beautiful thing ever written on purgatory. It makes purgatory something to look forward to.”

45. This early Jewish idea of an intermediate state includes the view that these souls are not simply in a sort of temporary custody but, as the parable of the rich man illustrates, are already being punished or are experiencing a provisional form of bliss. There is also the idea that this state can involve purification and healing which mature the soul for communion with God. The early Church took up these concepts, and in the Western Church they gradually developed into the doctrine of Purgatory. We do not need to examine here the complex historical paths of this development; it is enough to ask what it actually means. With death, our life-choice becomes definitive—our life stands before the judge. Our choice, which in the course of an entire life takes on a certain shape, can have a variety of forms. There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell[37]. On the other hand there can be people who are utterly pure, completely permeated by God, and thus fully open to their neighbours—people for whom communion with God even now gives direction to their entire being and whose journey towards God only brings to fulfilment what they already are[38].

46. Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God. In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil—much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur? Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God’s judgement according to each person’s particular circumstances. He does this using images which in some way try to express the invisible, without it being possible for us to conceptualize these images—simply because we can neither see into the world beyond death nor do we have any experience of it. Paul begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death. Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.

47. Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. In this way the inter-relation between justice and grace also becomes clear: the way we live our lives is not immaterial, but our defilement does not stain us for ever if we have at least continued to reach out towards Christ, towards truth and towards love. Indeed, it has already been burned away through Christ’s Passion. At the moment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy. It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart’s time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ[39]. The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 11/16 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Gertrude the Great, Virgin)
• Tue. 11/17 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary (St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop & Confessor)

[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 November 15, 2015. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Overwhelmed by over 100,000 souls enrolled in its Purgatorial Society, Rorate changes its policy

Adfero, "Purgatorial Society: Policy change" (Rorate Caeli, January 13, 2015).

Interesting. When Rorate first started the Society, they were so desparate for help that they even offered to pay priests for Masses and planned to go through family records just to enroll Souls. "Who would have known that four short years later we would have over 50 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses (for free) for the Souls and roughly 100,000 Souls enrolled? God knew -- but we surely didn't."

Essentially, the website will no longer be posting lists of all the names of individuals and families enrolled in the society any longer, because the staff is simply overwhelmed. Nevertheless, the procedure for enrolling the souls of your departed loved ones remains the same: email athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country". Please follow this formatting strictly. Although individual names are preferred, if you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA."

The society also solicits the membership of additional priests willing to offer their services. "There's nothing labor intensive involved: all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly traditional Latin Mass (and it does not need to be a Requiem Mass) with the intention: "For the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society."

For any Catholics who don't understand the significance, let alone the importance, of this Catholic tradition of praying for the souls of the faithful departed in Purgatory, it may be that you have been deprived, through no fault of your own, of a vitally important spiritual resource which is your birthright as a Catholic. Please read a good traditional Catholic book on Purgatory, such as Rev. Fr. F. X. Schouppe, S.J., Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints(TAN Books reprint, 2006), which was recommended to me by a good friend. There are amazing graces to be found in keeping faith with our ancestors by means of such Catholic traditions and practices.

Memorial Day: the souls of the departed

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, May 25, 2014):

Have you ever noticed that civil holidays have a remarkable resemblance to Church holy days? I think it not accidental. There may even be something subversive about it. This was surely true at the time the French Revolution when the tyrannical government invented new days of celebration to replace, and perhaps also to mock, Church feast days that had been so dear to Catholic people. Even without the conspiratorial connotation it is certain that Memorial Day bears a resemblance, however secular, to our All Souls Day. The emphasis in each is quite different and the method of ‘remembrance’ of the dead in them is entirely different. Here we take Memorial Day for its advantage of being a potential help to the souls of servicemen who may be detained in purgatory, whereas the civil holiday is only a time to be respectful to the memory of the dead and to offer, perhaps, a moment of silence to honor them. Such secular acts, not objectionable in themselves, do put into relief the great difference of our Catholic faith in our way of being American citizens, a difference which does not detract from the secular but gives it deeper meaning.

Memorial Day celebrated with all due civic observance may be the best of what most have to offer today. At worst, we are not even much concerned to render any honor to our dead. To render that honor to them is a virtue, but we are running rather thin on virtue nowadays. Instinctive impulses are what get our attention: how we feel at the moment, responding to whim and wish of the moment. Being dutiful however often means doing what we might rather not do at a given moment. Virtue is that strength of soul which overcomes the inclination to be self-serving. We are being brought up now in the School of Selfish Interest where virtue is a forgotten and unwanted thing. The dead are gone and out of sight; they matter nothing. It’s the here and now that matters. This holds poor prospects for the future of Memorial Day USA.

Our Catholic faith and our disciplined upbringing (presuming we had such) lead us to recognize the duty we have towards the dead since we have an ability to help them through our connectedness with them in the wider Church. Death is a separation certainly, but not a severing of spiritual communication. This realization ought to make our way of keeping this holiday uniquely prayerful. Eating hotdogs and grilled hamburgers on a day off from work and school may be great fun but it profits the dead nothing. Maybe many of you will come to Mass this Monday at 7:30 or 9:00 a.m. and pray for those who either in fact died in the service of our country or potentially put their lives on the line by their service. The 9:00 Mass will be preceded by the flag raising ceremony at 9:00 outdoors on Gratiot Avenue.

As the weather heats up the liturgical season beings to cool down. This Thursday, at the morning Mass we will have the Ascension of Christ into heaven. This feast will be celebrated at all Masses, English and Latin, next Sunday as well: for the Latin Mass it will be the Ascension’s ‘external’ observance, meaning ‘outside’ its accustomed liturgical time.

What things await us for rounding out the year before summer is Pentecost Sunday (June 8), Trinity Sunday (June 15), and Corpus Christi (Thursday the 19th for the 7:30 a.m. Mass and again for all Masses Sunday, June 22). The grand finale of the season is the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday June 27.

The entire month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and we will have more to say on the subject next week, perhaps. This is a particular way of being devoted to Christ that you will find only in the Catholic Church. We look forward to this special time of the year.

Fr. Perrone

Extraordinary Community News

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (April 27, 2014):

Plenary Indulgence for Divine Mercy Sunday

Holy Mother Church has designated Low Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, as Divine Mercy Sunday. It is one of a handful of days in the liturgical year which are enriched with a Plenary Indulgence. The faithful who take part in public devotions in honor of Divine Mercy in a church on this Sunday are granted a Plenary Indulgence, under the usual conditions of reception of Holy Communion, Confession within 20 days, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin.

Book Review: A Modern Guide to Indulgences

This is therefore an appropriate day to mention an informative book written by Dr. Edward Peters [pictured right], Professor of Latin and Canon Law at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary: A Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering This Often Misinterpreted Teaching provides a comprehensive overview of the theology and current norms for gaining these graces bestowed from the treasury of the Church.

Published in 2008, the book has two main parts, the first being an explanation of the history and doctrine of Indulgences, and the second being a listing of the prayers and acts that gain Indulgences. The book resolves many but not all of the questions raised by the official books on the subject: The Vatican’s Enchirídion Indulgentiárum, available in English as The Manual of Indulgences. Those original, invaluable books provide not only the letter of the law, but also the texts of the currently indulgenced prayers and works. Yet the official books raise many questions and seem incomplete.

In a relatively brief 107 pages, Dr. Peters strives to answer some of the questions the faithful may have after reading the official publications. For example, he clarifies that if a particular Plenary Indulgence requires prayer of the Our Father, the Our Father must be prayed a second time to count as a prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions. Not all FAQs are answered clearly, however: For example, Peters does not make it clear whether one can gain an Indulgence for a specific soul in Purgatory, or if it must be directed to the Poor Souls in general, letting God decide which soul will benefit.

It is important to stress that A Modern Guide to Indulgences is not a substitute for the official books. It does not contain the texts of the Indulgenced prayers, for example. Rather, it is a companion work, meant to enhance the understanding of the faithful. In this role it has no peer and is thus recommended to those wishing to learn more about this great gift of the Church.

Crisis Magazine Article: Saving Catholic Culture from Destruction

An article dated April 3, 2014 on the web site of Crisis Magazine, www.crisismagazine.com, begins with the tantalizing opening line, “What kind of mindset built all the immigrant Catholic parishes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the Americas?”

The article, entitled “Saving Catholic Culture from Destruction”, makes a cogent argument for the preservation of historic Catholic churches. Focusing on a group of the faithful intent on saving the now-closed St. Ann Church in Buffalo, New York, the writer cautions against “the replacement of a spiritual battle mentality with a corporate management mentality”. Perhaps it’s more efficient and cost-saving to build less ornate churches in a modern idiom, but such edifices fail to express the fullness of the Catholic faith as clearly as the traditional designs. Grand Gothic and Romanesque churches engage the senses and communicate the Faith in a way that mere words cannot. Indeed, such a timeless “multimedia” expression of Catholicism should certainly qualify as part of the New Evangelization.

Of course, the preservation of inspiring historic churches is not simply a matter of will. It’s also a matter of money and willingness to work. Locally, we have the vivid example of St. Albertus Church, sold in 1990 by the Archdiocese of Detroit to a group of the faithful who labor with amazing zeal to maintain this awe-inspiring but gargantuan structure. The volunteer effort involved is staggering, rivaled only by similar efforts at the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Alphonsus Church in New Orleans, Louisiana.

One commenter suggests as a commendable example the still-unexecuted plan put forth by Mary Our Queen Parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta: The pastor is trying to raise funds to purchase, disassemble, and move the shuttered, Roman basilica-style St. Gerard Church from Buffalo, New York, down to Georgia to serve as the new parish church. Impressive thinking, perhaps, but one out-of-the-box idea cannot compare to the dedication of our ancestors, who scrimped and saved from their meager incomes to contribute toward the building of so many magnificent Catholic churches from approximately 1870-1955.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 04/28 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (St. Paul of the Cross, Confessor)
• Tue. 04/29 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor (St. Peter of Verona, Martyr)
• Fri. 05/02 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (Sacred Heart of Jesus) – First Friday
• Sun. 05/04 9:45 AM: High Mass at Academy of the Sacred Heart Chapel, Bloomfield Hills (Second Sunday After Easter) – Debut of new weekly Sunday Mass site. Confessions will be heard before Mass, beginning around 9:00 AM. Reception after Mass.

[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) and Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for April 27, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]

Book Excerpt: How To Avoid Purgatory

Tridentine Community News (May 29, 2011):

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)

[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.]

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 (Saint Benedict's Press, 2009).

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.

Two from Roiter-Doister

I have two posts for you, my friends, from our good friend and longstanding contributor, Ralph Roiter-Doister. Since they are, though not unrelated, quite different in tone and content, I have taken the liberty of posting them in two different places.

No. 1: "The gnostic temptation: Theology as literary criticism" (Philosophia Perennis, March 22, 2007). This piece is vintage Roiter-Doister, packed with the signature attitude du plume as well as all the serious substance we've all come to expect from Ralph. Here's the first paragraph:

I love the idea of theology as literary criticism. Much of literary criticism can be reduced to the explication of metaphorical language, or of the language of symbolism (which, with the flash and filigree removed, is only a more complex and challenging permutation of metaphor). The common denominator of both metaphor and symbol is the illusion that two separate things are actually one. With a simple metaphor, such deliberate confusion may amount to nothing more than a conceit, designed to highlight the cleverness of the author. With a symbol, however, a more complex statement is being made, the template of which is typically (1) A is not B, but (2) in a different and more profound way, A is B. The "more profound" way has to do with the cleverness of the author, of course, but also with his relationship with the reader: the author has set out in his text a deeper, more profound and elusive subtext, a hidden level of meaning which only the best prepared, most intelligent, most sensitive, most attuned, can fathom. It is a game of perspicacity, and also of exclusivity.

As you can see, this is serious stuff, which may also help you see why I posted it where I did. But this is only the beginning. At this point Ralph notes "a certain gnostic tincture to literary criticism," and launches into a tour-de-force rant cum critique of theology as deconstruction qua fabrication, pitching us analogies from Melville's great white whale and drawing us to the inexorable conclusion that it would make no difference to many contemporary theologians had the Nag Hammadi parchments been blank. A must read.

No. 2: "Does Anyone Believe in Purgatory Anymore?" (Scripture and Catholic Tradition, March 22, 2007). This is a Lenten reflection on the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, based on a reading of Fr. F.X. Shouppe's book, Purgatory Explained By the Lives and Legends of the Saints. The relation it bears to the first essay can be seen from the following sentences excerpted from his closing paragraph, where he writes:

Fr. Shouppe has no problem with clarity, and no need for relativistic accomodation of various "readings" of purgatorial metaphors. He is just a simpleminded priest of the old school, using the mind God gave him to illuminate His truth in the clearest way possible.

In other words, in the face of gnostic-minded theologians tempted to reduce Purgatory to metaphor and symbol, Fr. Shouppe articulates with simple irreducible clarity the universal and traditional teaching of the Church on Purgatory, and says -- as in the Billy Crystal-Robert De Niro movie -- "Analyze (or metaphor-ize) this!" Read this essay. Then, as Ralph says, "Find a place for [Fr. Shouppe's] book in your busy schedule of lenten reading, along with the Enchiridion of Indulgences, or perhaps the Raccolta."