Tridentine Community News - The Apostolic Blessing at the Hour of Death; when a Priest is Not Available; 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 (December 9, 2018):

December 9, 2018 – Second Sunday of Advent

The Apostolic Blessing at the Hour of Death

Holy Mother Church grants to her priests significant powers. The ability to forgive sins in persóna Christi in the Sacrament of Confession is one such faculty. The ability to consecrate bread and wine so that they become the Body and Blood of our Lord is another. A third such privilege – not so well known – is invoked only for gravely ill individuals: The Apostolic Blessing for the Dying, also known as the Apostolic Pardon.

The “Last Rites” for a person in danger of death should consist of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction; the Sacrament of Confession (which in the Extraordinary Form may be performed during the Sacrament of Anointing); Viáticum, or Holy Communion; the Apostolic Blessing; and if time allows, the Prayers in Aid of a Departing Soul.

In Confession, the person is forgiven of his sins. In charity, Holy Mother Church allows for one more spiritual gift to be given to the dying soul: the Apostolic Blessing, which remits all temporal punishment due for sin. This blessing permits the soul to go directly to heaven if he dies before committing any further sins.

The text follows:

Ordinary Form

Option 1: Ego facultáte mihi ab Apostólica Sede tribúta, indulgéntiam plenáriam et remissiónem ómnium peccatórum tibi concédo, in nómine Patris, et Fílii, + et Spíritus Sancti. ℟. Amen.

By the authority which the Apostolic See has given me, I grant you a full pardon and the remission of all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. ℟. Amen.

Option 2: Per sancrosáncta humánæ reparatiónis mystéria, remíttat tibi omnípotens Deus omnes præséntis et futúræ vitae pœnas paradísi portas apériat et ad gáudia te sempitérna perdúcat. ℟. Amen.

Through the holy mysteries of our redemption, may almighty God release you from all punishments in this life and in the life to come. May He open to you the gates of paradise and welcome you to everlasting joy. ℟. Amen.

Extraordinary Form (must be prayed in Latin)

Ego, facultáte mihi ab Apostólica Sede tribúta, indulgéntiam plenáriam et remissiónem ómnium peccatórum tibi concédo, et benedíco te. In nómine Patris, et Fílii, + et Spírtus Sancti. ℟. Amen.

By the Faculty which the Apostolic See has given me, I grant you a plenary indulgence and the remission of all your sins, and I bless you. In the Name of the Father and the Son + and the Holy Spirit. ℟. Amen.

We suggest that our readers have the text of this prayer handy, should a loved one be in danger of death. Do not assume that a visiting priest knows this prayer or has the text with him. Ideally, one should have a prayer book with the official words of the prayer to offer the priest. Books containing the Apostolic Blessing are, for the Extraordinary Form, Volume I of the Weller edition of the Rituále Románum (published by Preserving Christian Publications, www.pcbooks.com, (315) 942-66170; and for the Ordinary Form, the Handbook of Prayers (published by Midwest Theological Forum, www.theologicalforum.org, (630) 541-8519).

When a Priest Is Not Available

Lest anyone despair of the difficulty of finding a priest to impart the Apostolic Blessing to a loved one before death, we reprint below some pertinent text from the 2006 Manual of Indulgences. In case of unavailability of a priest, one who is aware of the privilege may gain a Plenary Indulgence on his own at the hour of death. Unlike the norm with other Plenary Indulgences, there are no other conditions. The person does not have to pray for the Holy Father, receive Holy Communion, or receive Confession. We pray that all of our readers commit the knowledge of this priceless gift of the Church to memory.

AT THE POINT OF DEATH

§1. A priest who administers the sacraments to someone in danger of death should not fail to impart the apostolic blessing to which a plenary indulgence is attached.

§2. If a priest is unavailable, Holy Mother Church benevolently grants to the Christian faithful, who are duly disposed, a plenary indulgence to be acquired at the point of death, provided they have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime; in such a case, the Church supplies for the three conditions ordinarily required for a plenary indulgence.

§3. In this latter case, the use of a crucifix or a cross in obtaining the plenary indulgence is commendable.

§4. The faithful can obtain this plenary indulgence at the hour of death, even if they have already acquired a plenary indulgence on the same day.

§5. The catechetical instruction of the faithful should ensure that they are duly made aware and frequently reminded of this salutary benefaction of the Church.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 12/11 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Rosary Chapel at Assumption Church, Windsor (St. Damasus I, Pope & Confessor) – Special location this week only
• Sat. 12/15 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Feria of Advent)

[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 December 9, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

After Vatican II [1975-2050]

Just discovered (from a reader) this website with an abundance of research and writing on it about the Church. I still haven't "vetted" it for content (though I already see some things with which I disagree), and I don't know much about the author, Fr. Tom Richstatter, O.F.M., beyond what is published in this short bio (though it looks like he teaches classes on this material), In any case, it looks interesting. There's doubtless a lot here worth reading and knowing.

The "Index Page" for the website alone shows the extent of research and writing the site offers. Below are a couple of charts and commentary displayed under a tab somewhere on his website entitled "Chapter d30 After Vatican II [1975-2050 CE]":

Cultural and Theological Context

James D. Davidson (in an article "Alienation in the Catholic Church Today" p 22 in Robert J. Kennedy'sReconciling Embrace [Liturgy Training Publications, 1998]) states that Catholics who experienced their formative years during the 1950's and 1960's witnessed the following changes:

Item	Pre-Vatican II	Post-Vatican II
Liturgical Language	Latin	English
Liturgical Music	Gregorian chant	Folk
Liturgical Instruments	Organ	Guitar
Morality	Emphasis on Sexual Purity	Emphasis on Peace and justice
Ethics	Natural Law Ethics	Consequentialism (An emphasis on the context and consequences of behavior)
Faith	Faith is obligation	Faith is personal choice
The World	Other-worldliness	This-worldliness
Catholic Identity	Particularism (the superiority of Catholicism)	Ecumenism (an emphasis on how much Catholicism has in common with Protestant denominations)

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Moving the Furniture

At a gathering of parish leaders on January 19, 2002 from St. Mary's Parish, Evansville (one of the parishes mentioned in Excellent Catholic Parishes by Paul Wilkes) we discussed the metaphor of "moving the furniture."  The theological concepts we hold are something like furniture in a room.  Sometimes when we introduce a new piece of furniture, the old ones need to be rearranged.  Applying this to the arrangement of our "theological furniture" before and after the Second Vatican Council we found several key items have been "moved."  These changes are summarized in the the following table:

Item	Pre-Vatican II	Post-Vatican II
Jesus	Divine	Divine and Human
God	Transcendent	Transcendent and Immanent
Grace	Thing / Quantitative	Personal Relationship, Process
Sacrament	Thing Administered Received Gives Grace	Celebration Act of Worship Reveals who God is Builds Church
Baptism	Takes away original sin	Makes one "Another Christ" Makes Church Makes Disciples/Ministers
Church	Institution Pope, Bishops, etc. Them	Body of Christ People of God Us
Bible	Protestant Book	Our story Faith witness
Eucharist	Sacrifice Good Friday	Meal Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday Meal : Sacrifice :: Sacrament : Union with God
Sin	Breaking the law Disobedience	Not loving God & neighbor Failure to grow
Confession	Telling sins to the priest	Reconciliation Public act Worship and Praise Celebration of God's Mercy Aid in human forgiveness and reconciliation
Priest	One set apart from	One in the midst of
Earth	Exile Boot camp	Incarnational Theology - The place of our salvation - God's dream for a harmonious, reconciled garden

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Sacraments Yesterday and Today

How is our thinking about sacrament and sacraments different than it was 50 years ago (pre Vatican II)?  What are the principal changes in sacramental theology during the past 50 years?  Once again I refer to the "tip of the pistol" metaphor.  What are those often unseen changes that have big implications.  Often the really important changes are not the most noticeable, not the things that the people in the pew would name as the "big changes."   I list what I have come to consider the 10 most important.  The following list is not in any particular "order of importance." 

1.  Anabatic / Katabatic   Before the Constitution on the Liturgy the anabatic dimension of the sacraments was not emphasized; the sacraments were primarily to "give grace" (the Katabatic movement) rather than considered primarily as acts of worship by the community.  The primary thing is not what we get, but what we give:  worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God.

2. Private to corporate and personal.  When the emphasis is on "what I get" from the sacraments, it's easy to think of sacraments as something administered to an individual. When we think of sacraments primarily as acts of corporate worship, liturgical worship is the act of the entire Body of Christ. This is why sacraments are always (ideally) celebrated by the worshiping community (at Sunday Eucharist).

Eucharist, at least the celebration of the Eucharist (1) when not separated from merely "receiving Holy Communion" is usually seen as a public act. The (2) Sacrament of Holy Orders and the(3) Sacrament of Confirmation are, with increasing frequency, celebrated in the midst of the Sunday worshiping community. The initiation of adults takes place at the Easter (Vigil) with the worshiping community. More and more, infant (4) Baptism and the (5) Anointing of the Sick are celebrated at Sunday Mass.  (6) Marriage is celebrated during the Eucharist, but is often not with the worshiping community but with the circle of friends who often are there not to worship God but only as friends, honoring the couple.   (7) Reconciliation seems to be the last sacrament to find its a public context.

3. Anamnesis   Anamnesis is another fundamental tip of the pistol change. Eucharist no longer "repeats"  or "re-presents" or "reminds" us of the passion death and resurrection of the Lord, but through anamnesis -- Liturgical Remembering we become mystically present to these events. This mystery of presence is one of the fundamental changes that is not been preached or taught sufficiently during the past 50 years.

4. Mysterion    The metaphor of the seven Shoeboxes. Another "invisible" but very important change has come in seeing sacraments not so much as seven distinct actions, but as the manifestation of God's loving plan for creation, beginning with Christ himself, the body of Christ, the Church, gathered to celebrate Eucharist, the other sacraments, the liturgical year and liturgy of the hours, indeed all of creation is sacrament of -- revelation of -- God's Trinitarian love. Key to this understanding is the Primacy of Christ.

5. Grace   I believe another major change comes in the understanding of grace: the movement from grace as a thing which can be quantified and classified, to the understanding of grace as God's love, God's Holy Spirit. This change is multiple implications which are important for our spiritual life and for our theological understanding.

6. The role of the community   Another fundamental tip of the pistol change is our understanding of who administers, or better, who celebrates the sacraments. Formerly the priest administered, performed, the sacramental act. Today, we understand that the worshiping community is the primary celebrant of the sacraments. The community is led, coached, by the presiding minister, who therefore always praise in the first person plural, "we", to which we give our consent, our Amen. I often think of this basic change as: Formerly I said Mass for the people, now I say Mass with the people. A tiny change, a preposition grammatically, but this tiny change represents an entirely new orientation on my part when I am leading the congregation. Until this change is more widely understood (which today it is not) people will still wonder why we are baptizing an infant during the Sunday Eucharist. "I don't even know that baby. What does the baptism have to do with me?" It has everything to do with you. The sacrament is not merely "for" the baby; it is for the entire community.

7. Mind/Body/Spirit   A new understanding of the human person. My former sacramental theology viewed the human person in more static, Aristotelian categories. The human being was composed of body and soul. The body came and went; the soul was immortal and consequently the soul was the important part. Ministry was about saving souls. And the soul was viewed in more static categories. You were either Catholic or you weren't. You were in the state of grace, or out of it. You were either married or you weren't. Today I view the person as an integral composite of mind body and spirit. Faith is a journey. Conversion is a process. These are very important tip of the pistol changes.

8. Minister of the Sacraments   Sacramental roles formerly sacraments were administered usually by the priest and received, by an individual. Now we see that the sacraments are celebrations of the community, the minister-celebrant is the parish, coached by the priest. In the recipient is also the parish.  I'm reminded of the description of sacrament by Soren Kierkegaard:  "Many Christians tend to view the minister/priest as the actor, God as the prompter, and the congregation as the audience. But actually, the congregation is the actor, the minister/priest merely the prompter, and God the audience." (Soren Kierkegaard. Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, New York: Harper & Row, 1956, pp 180-181. Quoted in Erickson, "Liturgical Participation" Worship 59 (1985) p 232.)

9. Sacred Scripture Another element which I believe is very important is the realization of the role played by sacred Scripture in our understanding of sacrament. Formerly Scripture and sacrament seemed unrelated. Sacrosanctum Concilium stress the importance that sacred Scripture plays in the liturgy. 

SC #24. Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning. Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.

SC 51 (Cp 2 Eucharist). The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that a richer share in God's word may be provided for the faithful.  [Flannery's translation:  "... so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word."]  In this way a more representative portion of holy Scripture will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years. 

Our current Lectionary for Mass contains 14% of the Old Testament and 71% of the New Testament (85% of the Bible); whereas the Missal of 1963 (the Missal in use before our current Lectionary) contained only 01% of the Old Testament and 17% of the New Testament (18% of the Bible).   Often when people speak of the Ordinary Form of Mass and the Extraordinary Form of Mass they say "The difference is that the one is Mass in English and the other is Mass in Latin" without realizing that there are deeper, but less noticeable, changes also.

10. Viewpoint   A very far reaching change has occurred "under the iceberg" regarding what the very word "sacrament" implies. Formerly it referred to "something we receive" now it refers to "something we are" (to use a phrase I learned from Prof. Ken Himes).  I am reminded of the article by the President-Rector in The Raven last week. Speaking of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament he remarked that we are each a monstrance.  "We are monstrances too. We share the task, like the vessel, of bringing the face of Christ to bear upon a world so in need of his visage."  We are visible signs of invisible grace, signs of God, Doors to the Sacred.

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To Think About

Do you think the spirit of the Second Vatican Council is being implemented today? Why or why not?   [A participant in this class once wrote:   "Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the Second Vatican Council.  But where is the next step, Spirit? Your gentle breeze isn't moving on to gale force winds. This freshness is rapidly becoming stagnant air.  Soon the smog will cover us all and we won't remember why we got into this boat to begin with. Some will hide in the bottom of the boat and construct a plan to build a more seaworthy vessel. Some will look to the sky and begin to cry. Some will curse you for meddling in a situation where you don't belong. Some will become paralyzed and do nothing. But the remainder will leap overboard, put their foot into the water and start walking toward the shore.  Please be ready with breakfast."  [R. Cavanaugh, summer 1993]

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Click here to go to return to the overview of this history   Click here to return to the previous chapter

Copyright: Tom Richstatter.  All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 11/11/10 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at  trichstatter@franciscan.org

Pardon and Peace: The Joy of Confession

Why Pay a Shrink for What the Catholic Church Does for Free?

By Oswald Sobrino, a review of Pardon and Peace: A Sinner's Guide to Confession, by Fr. Francis Randolph (Ignatius, 2001)

On Holy Thursday, 2001, Pope John Paul II wrote to all priests to encourage them to focus on the sacrament of Penance, or Confession. In doing so, the Holy Father referred to the recent “crisis” of this sacrament. Certainly, it is no surprise in Western countries to find that the loss of a sense of sin, and certainly of a sense of grave sin, has had a significant effect on whether Catholics avail themselves of this great sacrament. Yet, as noted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is the sacrament where continuing Christian conversion takes place. As described by John Paul II, Confession is a dramatic encounter between Christian and Christ, an encounter fraught with the majesty of man’s freedom and Christ’s eager offer of grace.

The following thoughts on Confession arise from considering two books with the same title Pardon and Peace, but published over 50 years apart. The first Pardon and Peace, written by Fr. Alfred Wilson, C.P., appeared in 1948 and has been reprinted by Roman Catholic Books. The current Pardon and Peace was published in 2001 and was written by Fr. Francis Randolph, an English priest. In spite of a half century of tumultuous change in the Catholic Church, the fundamental thrust of the books is the same: Take advantage of this astonishingly approachable but powerful sacrament and its richness. While the books understandably differ in their emphasis on certain issues, both authors end up in the same place: A buoyant and cheerful Catholic will find his sustenance in Confession.

Fr. Perrone:The treasury of merit, and a marital analogy

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, November 26, 2017)

Today I am constrained to compose in one week another pastor's column -- along with last week's -- to satisfy an early deadline for the church paper on account of Thanksgiving week, wherein the printers take their vacation time. Lacking another idea to write about, I offer the following, something that I have always been curious about.

Catholic theology recognizes that we can offer to God, over and against the sins we have committed, the merits of Christ and the saints. The Mass itself is the offering of Christ to God the Father, a renewal of the sacrifice Christ once made on the cross. But how is it that this can be done by us? My puzzlement has been to try to undersand how we can satisfy, or pay off, the debt our sins had incurred by drawing from the merits, or the credit, of someone else. Imagine, if you will, that you who are in debt of a sum of money to another person pay for it by drawing from the credit account of some other person! This would not be deemed lawful according to the terms of human justice. And yet, we assert that we can do a like thing with God by taking from the merits of Christ and the saints and applying them in compensation for the debt our sins had incurred. As an example of this, think of the prayer in the Divine Mercy Chaplet, "Eternal Father, I offer You the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus, in atonement for our sins...." There we have that idea expressed. We offer God what is in truth Christ's.

In trying to understand how this can be so, I realize that whenever I pray I am doing a "good work." That expression in quotation marks indicates the Catholic theological truth about the supernatural value that my prayers, willed desires, and deeds can have. Thus at Mass when you co-offer with the priest the sacrifice of Christ which He once made on Calvary, you and the priest are performing a new act of sacrificing that one-time sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday. We renew it. At Mas we are not, as a perceptive inquirer brought up the matter in my class last week, "going back in time" as if in a kind of sci-fi time-machine and thus somehow made 'present' the moment Christ died for us. Rather, we are making a new offering of that same and singular sacrificial act of Christ, but here at the altar in an "unbloody" manner, as the Church says.

In searching to understand this I thought of a possible analogy in marriage. As I remind my couples preparing for matrimony, the precise moment when the marriage "happens" is when the couple has exchanged their mutual consent. This is the "I do" formula they recite before the priest. What is said in the words is then consummated in the physical act of marital love which is to follow. Each subsequent act of the marital embrace of that couple is in a manner a renewal in act of the verbal marital consent that they expressed in their marriage vows. Thus there is each time a new instance of what was commenced in that initial "I do." I see a possible analogy in this for understanding how each Mass can be a new offering of the one and only sacrifice Christ offered on the cross. It is not an imaginary 'going back in time' but a real and present act of Christ made through the willed offering of the priest. (And the people join with him in this corporate willed act because they have been incorporated into Christ, in His body.) And so it is that you and I can claim as our own, something which is not ours -- namely, Christ's merits -- and offer them in compensation for our sins. His offering becomes ours because we have been enabled to lay claim to it by being baptized (members of Christ) and by being ordained (in the case of the priest).

I'm positively elated when I think that I am able to say to God: "I offer You, O God, all the merits of Christ, and those of the Blessed Mother and the saints, for all the sins I have committed." I want to say this often, frequently drawing out of Christ's (and Mary's and the saints') storehouse of spiritual treasure (merits) and apply it, in whatever measure I can claim it, against my own sins and those of all humanity.

Your pastor is not a theologian but merely a parish priest who is trying to grasp something that has always been perplexing to him about our faith. Perhaps these musings can easily be shot down by a theologian as wrong. In such case I would readily surrender to his just judgment and critique. But at least, for the moment, I think I have a glimpse of what I am able to do to make up for sin [...?] my being a member of the Church. It makes me glad to think that I can collaborate with Christ to help heal the wounds He suffers on account of our ongoing sins.

Fr. Perrone

A Pastor's Catechesis on Confession

While some of the material in the following article is specific to a local parish, it offers a rare opportunity to "listen in" on the counsel of a good Catholic pastor concerning the Sacrament of Confession -- which readers may find edifying whether they are Catholic or Protestant. My Protestant readers may wish to remember that one of their favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, went to confession weekly and defended the practice, although he never left the Anglican Church where confession is not a Sacrament. It may be worth asking what Professor Lewis may have missed by never becoming a Catholic, especially since so many converts, I included, find the Sacrament of Confession one of the most beautiful things this side of heaven, save, perhaps, for the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, September 24, 2017):

A pastor's page on the topic of Confession has been long overdue. In the main, this ought to be a corrective for some but also a refresher for everyone in some of the basics which may, over time, have gotten a little fuzzy in the mind. To conserve space, I will utilize an outline format ('bullet points').

1. At this parish Sunday Confessions are a concession for those who live at a good distance from the parish. You should show your appreciation for this by coming to the church early, that is, well ahead of Mass time. You should not be standing in line while trying to hear Mass; you should be in place before Mass begins. When I am in the confessional and the moment the flow of incoming penitents ceases, I leave the confessional and do not wait around for latecomers.
   
   
2. The confession of sin should be to the point, that is, the sin should be immediately identified with specifics only in what concerns essential information on the sin or its circumstances that may affect the gravity of the sin; mentioning the number of times a sin has been committed applies, strictly speaking, only to mortal sins. Unnecessary narration of this kind ought to be avoided: "When I got together with my friends at a birthday party recently we began to talk after dinner about our work environments and the people who work with us. I had the feeling that, sooner of later, we'd get into some negative talk about these people (they're goo people, really) and, sure enough, we did." (Note that the plural "we" is evasive.) What should have been said: "I committed a sin of distraction."
   
   
3. In the above, notice that the corrected statement is self-accusing. Confession must be that precisely and not something of this kind: "I know I need to work on closing my mouth when the subject of other people comes around." That is not material for absolution and therefore a priest cannot absolve it. Similarly 'conditional accusation' is not valid matter for absolution, e.g. "If I have committed any sins of impure thought, I am sorry."
   
   
4. Confessing sins should be straightforward, not hiding or misleading the priest in anything that is mortal sin. Otherwise the confession is invalid.
   
   
5. Sorrow for sins must be sincere and be directed towards God who is the One offended. What we call "guilty feelings" or self-regret are not sufficient for contrition. One must also be sorry for the sins that have been committed and not be selectively sorry for this or that one. Contrition must be heartfelt, but need not be emotional. This sorrow necessarily must include the intention never to do that sinful thing again. If the sin has involved other people, one must sincerely quit or avoid as much as possible that person's company or friendship, or "relationship." If that (the firm purpose of amendment) is lacking, the confession is invalid, no sins are forgiven by it, and another sin is incurred for the insincerity.
   
   
6. The Act of Contrition prayer has various forms that suffice, but not all of them are equally good. The "traditional" acts of contrition include these points: that the sorrow for the sins is directed towards God who was offended by them; that the penitent has hatred for the sins committed; that the motivation for being sorry is best when the contrition is perfect, that is, when its only intention is to make up to God our of love for Him rather than to be sorry merely to avoid God's punishments for the sins.
   
   
7. The "penance" the priest assigns the penitent to perform is a measure of compensation to God for the evils done to Him. Penances may not necessarily be enough reparation for sins but the priest's assigned prayers (or other deeds) are obligatory. One may not do some other penance, even a harder, more strict one, than what the priest has assigned. In addition to the penance the priest assigns, however, more good works can (and usually should) be done. The penance should also be done soon after one has been absolved so that one will not forget to do it or forget what it was. Even if one lapses into mortal sin before the penance has been fulfilled, performance of the penance is still obligatory (though in that case the compensation-value of the penance is lost).
   
   
8. Those without mortal sins should not come to a Grotto Sunday confession every Sunday as this is a burden to other needy parishioners. One should recall that an act of contrition cancels venial sins (though the sorrow there must be directed towards all the sins that were committed, even though one need not advert to them all specifically).
   
   
9. Those who do not confess for a year's time but who have held onto mortal sins in that time commit another mortal sin for neglecting the good of their souls.
   
   
10. Someone who has a mortal sin on his conscience may not receive Holy Communion after making a private act of contrition, eve an act of perfect contrition. Confession of mortal sin is necessary before receiving Holy Communion.
    
    
11. If one has committed no sins since the last confession, in order to be absolved the penitent must confess some specific sin already forgiven in a past confession for which is now sorry again.

Lastly, confession for some can be an ordeal of fear or embarrassment. This is not necessarily all bad since that very discomfort can be an added weight to diminish some of the punishment due to the sins confessed. In confession one should be humble, sorry to God, concise in confessing sin, and firmly resolved not to relapse into sin. -- End of catechesis for today.

Fr. Perrone

P.S. Classes for adults intending to convert to the Catholic faith witll be held Tuesday evenings beginning October 3 at the rectory from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Please call the rectory to reserve a place.

Fr. Perrone: with all the troubles in the Church and world, why is God in the Blessed Sacrament largely ignored?

From last week:

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, March 19, 2017):

Sometimes I think of all the troubles in the Church and in the world and wonder why they are and what is to be done about them. Then I recall that God is here among us, in the Blessed Sacrament, and that there He's largely ignored. I think then I have my answer.

Where to begin to speak of this? Priests who no longer believe as they once did in the Real Presence? The careless, cavalier manner in which Christ is distributed and received in the hand? Precious particles of the Holy Sacrament scattered on church floors, carpets, altar tops? (Every particle of the host, every drop of the Precious Blood, is Christ whole and entire.) The indiscriminate distribution of Communion to those ill-disposed through mortal sin, to non-Catholics, or to those who have no supernatural faith? Passing before the Divine Presence in the tabernacle without genuflection or even a head bow? Talking to others in church, rudely ignoring the Divine Presence? Catholics believing Communion a mere symbolic presence and symbolic reception of Christ? Communion received with the requisite dispositions but without adoration, reverence, or further prayers? And what can be said of someone approaching Communion while chewing gum? (is it unspeakable ignorance or is it malice?) Spillage of the Precious Blood on clothing, altars, or pouring out the consecrated excess into the sacrarium or sink after Mass? All these done not by Christ's enemies but by His members! I recall words fromt he Gospel "to His own He came, but His own received Him not"; and "they seized Jesus and bound Him" (Jn 1:11; 18:12). While much is said in our time of heightened sensitivity about the abuse of persons through insulting words or assault, little or nothing is said of the horrible and widespread abuse of the Person of the Son of God in the Blessed Sacrament who, in a manner of speaking, suffers the ill-treatment and contempt of willful neglect, sacrilege, or abuse of the Holy Eucharist.

Here you have it, in your Grotto News, the greatest reason why so much is wrong in the Church and in the world. The naivety of your foolish pastor leads him to such an embarrassingly simplistic account for so many problems we have. I anticipate the reaction: "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (Jn 6:60). I don't much care about dismissive and derisive reactions to my conjectures, but I do care a great deal that our Lord be rightly honored, adored, and treated with all due respect in the Holy Eucharist as holy Church prescribes and as the piety of God's people dictates.

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How's your Lent going? About now there's a temptation to fall from one's Lenten pledges, having become weary of self-denial and of crowding up one's time with those religious extras that need not be done by obligation. Next Sunday will be Laetare Sunday, the liturgical half-way marker of Lent. Have you already become weary of the holy season? Every morning of Lent the Church makes me say the psalm Miserere in the traditional Divine Office. She will not let me forget I am a sinner whose sin is "always before me," giving me ample reason to trudge through the day penitent and determined to keep Lent.

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March 19 ordinarily marks the feast day of Saint Joseph but on a Sunday in Lent this is transferred to the following day. Nevertheless we take the celebration into the gym today after the noon Mass for the traditional St. Joseph dinner. The great man may not get a lot of respect nowadays. Once he was highly honored, much invoked for a variety of benefits he was known to confer. We should not fail, in our alleged preference for a more Christ-centered piety, to invoke the saints who bestow and even greater honor to God through our patronage of them than we can give God by force of our own feeble prayers alone.

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Next Saturday, March 25, the feast of Annunciation will be observed on its assigned day. The event commemorated is in a sense greater even than Christmas day since it began the time God first came to live in the humanity of Jesus Christ, that humanity which came 'into the open' on His birthday.

Fr. Perrone

Is there a connection? Our attitude toward the fragile unresistance of the Host and toward the defenseless vulnerability of the unborn infant?

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, February 5, 2017):

Without veering into the arena of political commentary, allow me to say that Catholics ought to rejoice mightily that President Trump has made explicit and significant advances in the direction of the pro-life movement, to the extent that I feel real shame for those politicians who identify themselves as Catholics (though that may be a ploy, especially since they may in fact be excommunicated from the Church due to their pro-abortion voting) and who have been thus complicit in the abortion industry. Now here comes a non-Catholic man, who has no magisterium of the Church to direct him, and is the first president ot be unequivocally pro-life, and is actually doing something effective to prove his convictions.

As is often and rightly said, there will be no change in the crimes of abortion in the USA until there is a change of people's minds and a conversion of souls. The Church exists for this purpose. Faithful Catholics, however, have often been criticized for an over-emphasis on this "one issue." How any rational person can assume that the abortion problem is too important in political life is bewildering. Of all other social concerns which clamor for attention and remedy, can there be anything more urgent than to stop the willful killing of the innocent human lives of babies? Select any infant of choice and ask yourself the question whether it is a right to kill this human being. It is either madness or else demonic obsession that would admit the concession of such an evil. This "one issue" is of far, far greater importance than anything else, sins of sacrilege apart. Why are Catholics not united and vociferous in their opposition to these crimes against God and humanity? That needs to be probed.

Mother -- and now Saint -- Teresa of Calcutta is once reported to have said that abortion will not cease in our country until there's an end to the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion -- i.e., until Catholics reform in respect to the Holy of Holies. If that assessment be correct, Catholics who commit sacrilege are the reason why abortion is still legal, or at least is widely practiced in our country! That may seem an absurd assertion, but there is some logic to it. If God Incarnate, truly present in the Holy Sacrament, is mishandled, received in a state of mortal sin, neglected, ignored, and profaned; if particles of the Blessed Sacrament (each of which carries the divine presence) are strewn on altar tops, flaked off the palm of the hands, and trampled upon the carpets of the churches (note that I speak here of the mistreatment of the very Son of God!), should we expect respect for mere human life? The easy fragility and unresistance of the Host has an analogous relation to the defenselessness and vulnerability of the pre-natal, infant life. If one can with impunity defile the one, why can one not slaughter the other?

While the reception of Holy Communion and the sacred liturgy are distinct topics they are related. Unless the people of the Church recover the true faith in its fullness, rediscover a rightful fear of the Lord, and conduct themselves reverently at Mass, there can be little hope for ending sacrilege and, by extension, there can be meager prospect for ending the abortion holocaust.

This is the Fatima centenary. The principal seer of the Blessed Virgin, Sister Lucia, was told to make prayers of reparation -- penitential compensation -- for "outrages, sacrileges, and indifference" which gravely offend God. This was told in 1917. We've made a long moral plunge since that time. Should we not make it our business to make such acts of 'apology' (for lack of a better synonym) to our Lord in the Holy Sacrament for all the mistreatment He has been receiving?

If you should ever lack intentions for your participation in Holy Mass or your reception of Holy Communions, know that making prayers of reparation to the offended God is a most noble objective. And, needless to add, making the most reverent, loving, and worthy reception of your Communion is an excellent way to advance your own spiritual life, to give honor to our affronted Lord, and ... here it is ... to contribute no small part to ending the horror of Abortion USA.

Tridentine Community News - New York's St. Patrick Cathedral to hold Tridentine Mass; The Angel's Prayer from Fatima; Food for thought on the Triditional Mass; 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 6, 2016):

November 6, 2016 – Resumed Fifth Sunday After Epiphany

New York’s St. Patrick Cathedral to Hold Tridentine Mass


Twenty years ago, in 1996, one of the best attended Tridentine Masses in modern times was held at New York’s St. Patrick Cathedral. The late Alfons Cardinal Stickler, the prefect emeritus of the Vatican Library and a vocal proponent of the Traditional Mass, was the celebrant. The enormous church was overflowing with over 4,000 worshippers. New York’s Archbishop at the time was John Cardinal O’Connor, who had given his blessing to reprint what is now the de facto standard altar missal for the Extraordinary Form in North America, Roman Catholic Books’ Missále Románum 1962. Not long thereafter, a second, more modestly attended Mass was celebrated at St. Patrick’s by Fr. John Perricone. One would think that with such success, additional Tridentine Masses would be held in short order. Unfortunately, such was not the case. Vocal objectors to the Traditional Mass got the Cardinal’s ear, and since that time, despite many efforts, no one has been able to obtain permission to hold another Tridentine Mass there. Until now.


On Monday, November 14 at 7:00 PM, two councils of the Knights of Columbus have arranged the first Traditional Latin Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral in twenty years. It is being promoted as a closing event for the Year of Mercy.

The recent multi-million dollar refurbishment of the cathedral leaves it in pristine shape to host such a Mass. The freestanding altar has been removed, leaving only the High Altar under the baldacchino. The Communion Rail is intact. What a glorious sight it will be to have the Old Rite return there, hopefully on a more regular basis going forward.

The Angel’s Prayer from Fatima


When making a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or indeed when arriving at a church before Mass, a good way to begin is to pray the Angel’s Prayer from Fatima. It is to be prayed three times, with one’s head profoundly bowed:

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love Thee! I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, and do not love Thee. O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles throughout the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He is Himself offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and by the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

Food for Thought on the Traditional Mass

Around fifty years ago, Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand posed the following questions: “Does the new Mass, more than the old, bestir the human spirit – does it evoke a sense of eternity? Does it help raise our hearts from the concerns of everyday life – from the purely material aspects of the world – to Christ? Does it increase reverence, an appreciation of the sacred?”

The texts and rituals of the Tridentine Mass do just that. The Traditional Latin Mass formed Saints over the centuries and continues to inspire commitment to the Holy Catholic Faith today.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 11/07 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria)
• Tue. 11/08 7:00 PM: High Requiem Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Daily Mass for the Dead)
• Sat. 11/12 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Martin I, Pope & Martyr)

[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 6, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Fr. Perrone: how to deal with seemingly ineradicable, habitual sins

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, June 26, 2016):

This past week the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Aloysius, that paragon of virtue and high sanctity. He was known to have so trained his will and so disciplined his mind that, after his death, his priest confessor could testify that the saint had probably never committed a mortal sin all his (rather brief) life.

Reading his biography in the breviary each year I feel a holy envy for this most remarkable young man who managed to preserve his innocence -- not in a social vacuum but surrounded by the many enticing evils proposed to him by the noble class into which he was born. With his eyes ever downcast (he never looked into a woman's eyes), with long hours of prayer and many bodily penances, Aloysius always carefully guarded and conserved the treasure of sanctifying grace in his soul. Yet these impressive means, assiduously practiced, could not of themselves account entirely for his unsullied life. There's no possible way for anyone to merit (in the literal sense) the grace of sinlessness. As a grace properly so called, it is a God-given gift which our Lord freely (and rarely, it seems) grants. That said, however, one may surmise that God grants this special preservative grace only to certain souls in view of the fact that they pursue with unrelenting persistence the path of sanctity. I mention this being both a sinner myself and a confessor who knows the great desire to cease committing sin and to be perpetually pleasing to God in every aspect of life. And yet, sin appears to have a kind of inevitability about it. Try as one may, sin happens as sure as metal tarnishes, weeds sprout, and dust settles. Yet this dim view of the inevitability of moral failings -- a form of determinism -- is false. Man always retains internal moral freedom such that no one ever must succumb to sin. This is the point of doctrine. And yet, there is the near universally experienced feeling that sin cannot be entirely avoided, which is true only in the cas of venial sin unless God were to confer that special preventive grace mentioned above.

No one then can "buy" the grace of perseverance. There is no "insurance policy" such that one can pray hard or pledge many good deeds so as to ward off the possibility of succumbing to future sin. All one can do is to pray regularly and undertake appropriate penitential disciplines in the hope that by these means one would have the strength always to resist sin -- with the help of divine grace. If there is a relapse into sin, the sincere Christian understandably become distraught. Recidivism is a cause of anguish for many penitents. How, one asks himself, is it possible to have failed God yet once again? Despondancy, despair, however is never the right response to the feeling of helplessness that can grip the sinner who relapses into sin. As an attempt at offering consolation to the recurring sinner, I offer a few thoughts.

The first is that God has a reason for permitting all things that happen, sin included. That may sound slightly blasphemous since God abhors sin, yet there's a distinction between His willing sin (an impossibility) and His permitting it to happen. In this latter sense God may allow acquiescence to sin as a means of humbling the proud sinner, of making him pray more fervently, of moving him to admit his sins to the priest, of leading him to acquire a deep contrition, of learning compassion for the failings of others, or of demonstrating and proving His mercy and compassion. Another thing to consider is that sin easily becomes accustomed, ingrained behavior, embedded into the emotional system as a kind of reflexive response. Hence sincere attempts to eradicate sin must contend with a powerful, compelling force.

These attempted rationales for the ongoing commission of sin should not be taken as dismissive of its true malice and its consequences, nor should they slight the requirement for the repentant sinner to make a decisive, firm intention to sin no more. Sin truly is evil, and the result of unpardoned mortal sin is eternal hell after death. The reform of one's life must be the unrelenting duty of everyone, and no one may excuse himself from frequenting the confessional. God who permits sin has also provided its remedy in the sacrament of Confession. My purpose in writing you on this subject is to give you encouragement. You are not alone in being a sinner. Sin is one of the (unfortunate) unifying things about the human reace for nearly everybody (Our Lady and John the Baptist for sure, Saints Aloysius and Therese probably). Come then to confess your sins with childlike simplicity and with a straightforward honesty which recognizes that God's compassionating goodness and forgiveness is far greater than the regrettably wretched commission of your sins.

Fr. Perrone

Fr. Perrone: Primavera, springtime, children, the Blessed Virgin, irrepressible hope of faith, and grand feast days of spring

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, May 8, 2016):

Primavera - literally, 'the first green' -- is Springtime. Nature shows her loveliest, maidenly beauty at this very time. The famous, mysterious paintings by Botticelli comes to mind when I see the enticing, chaste blossoms of early spring. A tree just outside the rectory show herself at the most arresting just now. That tree -- which perhaps should be removed because its jumbled roots entangle the ground and stress the rectory's basement walls -- I can't get myself to take down simply because at this very time of year she dazzles me with her beauty. Ah! the season of love! Holy Church, seizing the opportunity, makes us look upon the loveliness of the Virgin Mary, She whose month this is. Both virginal and yet maternally fruitful, Holy Mary is the apogee of created beauty, of holiness and supernatural grace. Because this is the month of Mary we have the May Crowning today and the First Communion of our children. The comeliness of innocence is difficult to speak of in words but so readily recognized when seen. Children, springtime, Virgin Mary -- the three go naturally together, as various facets of this singular, perennially youthful manifestation of beauty.


It would be easy to fall prey to pessimism or cynicism over so many bad things happening in our world these days. It's a temptation to which we must not yield, not even an inch. Just as nature obstinately puts forth her glories in spring, just as the emergence of the sun causes life daily to spring up, just so God bestows the marvels of supernatural blessings upon His undeserving children day after day. We need to pull ourselves out of any self-indulgent tendencies towards moroseness about the many things we might (justly) find worthy of complaint and, with St. Paul, look above, upon the things of heaven, rather than down upon the base, sorroful things here below. I'm not suggesting we acquire the technique of "positive thinking" -- a vain, secularist, stupid exercise -- but that we recognize the truth of stubbornly insistent goodness in prevailing over evil, of beauty over vulgarity. In terms of our faith, it's the truth of Christ's victory over the devil, even though he, in the short run, is given his allotted time and influence to fulfil his providential role in making us struggle, fight, for the truth and for the kingdom of God so that by contending with him we might merit for ourselves a place in heaven.

Be ye then of good cheer, though you will surely have a share in the woes of this life. Spring is a reminder of the good things of God and an invitation to look above the many wicked beckonings of the evil one, and to persevere in hope. The Virgin Mary is the Mother of holy hope, Mater sanctae spei. We turn to Her with confident love, She who never abandons us "unaided" (as the Memorare reminds us).

Some great days just ahead of us. Next Sunday will be Pentecost, that once minor Jewish festival forever converted into a Christian feast of momentous significance through the coming of the Holy Spirit. We will celebrate the day with full solemnity at the 9:30 Solemn High Mass with the 'Credo' Mass by Mozart. The Men's League will gather to appear before the Eucharistic Lord this Saturday at 6:30 a.m. adoring and petitioning Him for things many and untold. The Sacrament of Confirmation will be conferred not this Tuesday but one week from then -- on the 17th. Our friend, Father Aiden Logan will return here to give a talk on patriotism (a much neglected topic) on May 22 in a fundraising event for the K of C. Then, of top-drawer significance, Corpus Christi Sunday will greet us on May 29th with its stirring, inspiring prayers and chants composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. This day concludes with the Eucharistic Procession and the four-fold blessing with the Blessed Sacrament. Concerning which I want to sent out a general call to our parishioners to see if any families (or individuals) would set up and adorn the outdoor altars for Corpus Christi Sunday, altars upon which the Lord will repose. We need four such altars by four families or persons. It's an honor for anyone to undertake this, a task which is -- I think -- not too onerous and immensely rewarding. If you think you'd like to do this for the Lord and for your parishioners, please call the rectory soon and let us know. You'll be given particulars about what's to be done and what the parish will supply for you.


In fine I should mention the feast of the Sacred Heart June 3 which we will observe with all due solemnity this year, accompanied by Schubert's Mass in G Minor at the 7:00 evening Mass; the special Mass at 9:30 a.m. June 5, the day of Canonization of Saint-elect Stanislaus Popcaynski, founder of the Marians, whereupon the Schubert Mass will again be performed and the image of the Saint will be blessed, and an open banquet will be offered to all in the gym following the Mass. (More about that day later.)

For the moment, however, delight in the pleasant expectation of these joyful celebrations in these most lovely days of Primavera.

Fr. Perrone

Fr. Perrone: "We are just about the last holdout for [the Forty Hours Devotion], mandatory in all parishes at one time."

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, November 8, 2015):

Our parish Forty Hours Devotion opens this coming Friday and will conclude next Sunday at the conclusion of the noon Mass. The schedule will be as follows: · FRIDAY November 13th, 7:30 a.m. Mass with procession of the Blessed Sacrament following; evening Benediction at 8:30 p.m. · SATURDAY November 14th, opening Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 6:30 a.m. at the high altar with a Mass for Peace at the side altar; evening Benediction at 8:30 p.m. · SUNDAY November 15th, exposition at 6:00 a.m. and then between the Masses; closing noon Mass with Procession and Litany following the Mass.

Times have changed. Our Catholic world, once so predictable and so stable, is moving through a dark period. While I do not intend to persist in that theme, it should be admitted openly, if only to try to redress the situation by encouraging a more firm faith and a greater personal fidelity. Our parish, along with the rest of the Church, is feeling the stress.

I bring this up in the context of our Forty Hours Devotion. We are just about the last holdout for this Eucharistic practice, mandatory in all parishes at one time. I wonder whether we should perhaps abandon the annual practice ourselves. True, we have an adoration chapel where our Lord is daily honored in the Holy Sacrament, though the number of adorers is not overly impressive. In fact, we have some hours when people are not fulfilling their pledged adoration time. Reasons for this can be substantial and, knowing that it is a sacrifice of your good time, I cannot blame anyone for an occasional slip up there. Assumption Grotto Church has held to Eucharistic adoration in the church, and then later also in the chapel, for many, many years. Our church remains open every day (again, one of the few to do this) for this very purpose and our convent chapel is open for any who desire to pray before the exposed Sacrament. The consequence of our readiness to adore the Lord has been in good part the reason for our parish’s ‘success’ in otherwise dying city environs (our Blessed Mother’s honoring is the other). I should not continue to offer adoration times, however, if our people do not participate. I know there may be very good reasons for the sliding. Many of our people once of vibrant age and health are no longer able to be as active as formerly. Young families have great tasks of family business of all kinds to do every day: I admire their commitments and want to encourage them to keep their families intact and healthy as best they can. There are indeed some good reasons why our people may not be coming to adoration or attending the annual Forty Hours Devotion (last year’s attendance was disappointing). You need not tell me in words whether you want these Eucharistic practices to continue. You will vote with your feet, as they say–or rather, ‘with your knees.’ This is not meant to be a collective scolding (a lickin’), nor a pressure tactic to induce participation. I only need to know your wish. I will make the Lord available to you, if you want that, or if you can come visit Him. If not, I will have to accommodate to the changing times mentioned above and find a more suitable way for us to proceed.

One thing’s for sure, for all of us: we are getting busier all the time, and seemingly getting less satisfaction from it. Our lives ought to be substantially peaceful, allowing us to be reflective of our spiritual lives before the face of God. We seem however to be moving headlong towards a destructive end, as if life had no direction or little value. For my part, I want to slow things down all the more in the face of this furious whirlwind of pointless activity so that I can better prepare myself for eternity. There is a speed and complexity about modern life we cannot escape, true enough, but there are some things we can do to refuse participation in the proverbial “rat race.” While I can’t offer practical specifics for your weekly schedules, I suggest that you force yourselves to make quiet prayer time each day–even very early in the morning, or very late at night. More than a luxury, this is becoming more and more a necessity for survival in this godless world. If I myself need this–I who have fewer worldly matters to preoccupy myself than you–then you most have need of this. I’ve written on this last subject before. I return to it from time to time because the need for communing with God is growing ever more in proportion to the ever increasing pace of this mad world. Perhaps the Eucharistic adoration is something you can afford to do as a reprieve?

Fr. Perrone

Is it just me, or do we seem to be entering a very weird period of Church history?

I don't really think it's just me. I think many of us feel it. Like Galadriel again. We feel that the world is noticeably changing. We "feel it in the earth." We "smell it in the air." The world seems to be slipping precipitously into a deep spiritual darkness as ominous clouds gather on horizon.

In some ways, it is the best of times, as well as the worst of times. We have far more solid resources at our fingertips than anyone has ever had in previous generations -- all sorts of biblical and theological resources, ecclesial and historical documents, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, publishers like Ignatius Press, networks like EWTN and Catholic radio stations for the morning commute.

On the other hand, there is a certain growing anxiety about the confusing voices emanating from the Vatican, chancery offices, local parishes, as well as from the debates in print and online about what is going on. And not a little ennui and general weariness from information overload and the taxing strain of following every unfolding story, scandal, or crisis.

Or, for example, this missive [slightly edited below], which popped into my email inbox just two days ago. The author is a self-identified former Methodist and Catholic convert, and he writes here, not with any evident regret about his conversion, but with palpable sorrow, perplexity, and frustration at the confusing state of affairs in the Church:

The princes of the Church don't seem to realize it, but their posturing before the world (most recently exemplified by their Synodical performance), places the whole Catholic project on a greasy plane that slides towards Alfred Loisy [an early Catholic modernist theologian]. Would everyone stop what they are doing and read Maisie Ward on Insurrection Versus Resurrection?And realize that she conducted the layman's definitive if now obviously premature autopsy on Modernism? Then we will realize that the 'resurrection' she sees is now being slowly undermined? Yes, "New Springtime," in a Church that encourages prayers to postconciliar popes? And who speaks for the Church today? Pope Francis? Cardinal Schönborn? Fr. Jim Martin? ... Forgive me Lord, but all I can muster right now is, "Wow..."

Pray without ceasing, my friends, and drink deeply of the Sacraments! These are our lifelines.

"Failed" marriages and the October Synod

Can we speak of sacraments "failing," "failed baptisms," "failed ordinations"? Why so much talk in Rome about "failed marriages" then?

Some good ideas here. Why don't we hear sermons like this anymore?

Michael Voris, "The Vortes -- 'Failed' Marriages" (Church Militant, October 6, 2015)

Pope Francis: Catholics may licitly receive sacrament of confession from SSPX priests during Year of Mercy

The official announcement comes from the Vatican Bullettino in the form of a "Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization at the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy," dated September 1, 2015. The relevant paragraph comes at the end.

The announcement appears also on the usual websites, such as Rorate Caeli today; although I first caught wind of it from the often-comic site of Amateur Brain Surgeon, who can be found conceding that he has "lost a fight" as a "among the most strident opponents" of the SSPX, to whom he now offers his congratulations.

How the future will unfold waits to be seen, although the fireworks between Church Militant's Michael Voris and SSPX-supporting traditionalists (like Michael Matt, Chris Ferrara, Louie Verrecchio, and John Vennari) will likely continue unabated.


Cartoon courtesy of Fr. Z's Blog

Cardinal Sarah: "Don't deceive ... with the word 'mercy'; God forgives sins only if we repent of them"

Matteo Matzuzzi, in Il timone (May 30, 2015), via Rorate Caeli HERE.

Sarah also sees a problem in the new rite of baptism in that it doesn't mention the word "faith." "There's a big problem right there," he says. Interesting.

"The Glory of Eucharistic Theology: A Post in Honor of St. Thomas Aquinas on his Feastday"

Peter Kwasniewski, "The Glory of Eucharistic Theology" (Rorate Caeli, March 7, 2015):

Saint Thomas has sometimes been portrayed, especially in the theological anarchy of the postconciliar period, as a hidebound medieval scholastic trapped in a rationalistic methodology, whose works lack a palpable spirituality that resonates in the hearts of modern people. As a lifelong student and teacher of Aquinas’s works, I have two reactions: first, this stance betrays a poor understanding of the enterprise of theology itself; and second, it is simply not true on the ground, if I may judge from countless experiences I have had over the past twenty-five years with students from many countries, whom I have the privilege to see coming alive in the joy of intellectual discovery and in a growing love for the Catholic faith, as they go more and more deeply into the wisdom found in Aquinas’s works.

With St. Thomas, we learn that the essential purpose of investigating a divinely revealed truth that is inaccessible to natural reason is to raise our minds to a more intense appreciation of the very mysteriousness of the mystery. In other words, we are helped to see it in all its “dark luminosity,” a mysterium tremendum et fascinans, opaque to our intellects but full of wonder and fascination. We see the mystery as mystery only when we apply our reason to the fullest extent to see the marvelousness of the miracle; more broadly, to see the supernatural, the super-rational, in its very beyondness.

For the record, Mullarkey on Extreme Unction and Saint-Making

For the record, both from Maureen Mullarkey at First Things: "Of Sausages and Saints" (FT, May 19, 2014) and "Who Killed Extreme Unction?" (FT, July 22, 2014).

[Hat tip to R.D.D.]

The terrible mercy & beautiful sadness of the Mass

This is not a new theme for me. It's something I've noted before, probably more than once. But once again, this time during today's celebration of the Feast of Christ the King (in the traditional liturgical calendar), I was forcibly struck by the paradoxical facets of the Mass. Perhaps the reason I noticed was because, instead of trying so hard to follow everything in my Missal, I decided to just watch the unfolding drama.


The theme of mercy was sounded right from the outset, in the Asperges: "Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord ... Thou shalt wash me, and I shall become whiter than snow."

This was followed immediately by the chanted Introit for today's Feast: "Dignus est Agnus, qui occisus est ..." The Lamb that was slain is worthy. Worthy to receive power and honor, and to receive our adoration and praise. Which Lamb? The One that was slain. No cheap grace here. Already that terrible theme of Sacrifice.


Meanwhile the priest and servers intone the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, which carry their own mixture of joy and sadness: "I will go in unto the altar of God, to God Who giveth joy to my youth." God's judgment is then invoked, in order to distinguish ourselves from those who are not holy -- those who are unjust and deceitful and from whom we ask for deliverance. But then, immediately: "For Thou, O God, art my strength: why has Thou cast me off, and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?" Then, finally: "Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him ..."


Such a mixture of conflicting emotions in rapid succession! Why is it that I go in unto the altar of God, after all? Because the altar is a place of killing and death. But why does it "give joy to my youth"? Because it gives me hope of life. Why do I go about "sorrowful and afflicted by the enemy," and why would I ever say that God has "cast me off"? Because that is my condition when I succumb to the deceits of the Devil and allow myself to be afflicted by my Accusor. That (all of these reasons) is why I go in unto the altar of God, to church, to the Mass.

No unmixed giddy gladness here. By the same token, no unmixed doom and gloom. The message of the Mass rings true. The notes of hope speak to our aspirations without being romantically naive about the aberrations of our fallen nature. The notes of realism speak to our aberrations without being dismal or despairing about God's capacity to graciously redeem us.

Next comes the Confiteor, as the servers and the priest, each in turn, confess their sinful unworthiness to almighty God and all the blessed in heaven, reminding us of our culpability before God. Ascending the altar, the priest continues this theme, beseeching God to take away our iniquities and forgive him his sins (and, perforce, our own).

The Gospel for the Feast of Christ the King is from John 18:33-37, where even the Kingship of our Lord is cloaked by His appearance before Pilate in the form of a prisoner. All earthly power in this context appears to belong to Pilate, the Roman governor of Palestine. Nothing must have looked more pathetic to Pilate than the response of Jesus to his question: "Art Thou a king then?" This poor "marginal Jew," standing humbly bound before him, replies that He is indeed a king, though his kingdom "is not of this world." No kidding. Yet as Jesus would later tell Pilate, he would have no power or authority over Him at all were it not given him "from above." Like the rest of the secular world, Pilate was oblivious to the source and locus of genuine power and authority in the very drama in which he took part.

From the incense rising above the altar at the beginning of the Mass to the moment of Consecration itself, every gesture of priest and server, every word in the Missal, points to the mystery of the Sacrifice. The largesse of God's mercy is there, certainly, overflowing in its amplitude. But it isn't an easy, happy-go-lucky sort of thing; and maybe that's why those who assist and participate in this liturgy aren't given to expressions of personal enthusiasm such as one finds in pentecostal-type services. There is something terrible about God's mercy. There is ample reason for joy, yes; and perhaps there is a sense in which that is even the primary note here; but it is no shallow happy-clappy thing, untempered by the sorrow of sacrifice.

For there could be no mercy or joy without sacrifice -- THE Sacrifice, His Sacrifice. And why was His Sacrifice necessary? Because of our own "grievous fault." Moreover, although the mercy and forgiveness and joy made possible by His Sacrifice is wholly unmerited, there is yet another sacrifice required here: our own. Christ the King does not ask only for our observance of Holy Days of obligation or our tithes and offerings. He asks for our very life: our whole self. Certainly there is joy in all of this, but also there is the sober realization that our passport to eternal life is our own death: our death to self. Discipleship means giving ourselves over to Christ, for Him to do with what He wants. It means slavery: becoming a slave to Christ.

A point of significant beauty in the liturgy is reached in the Offertory. In the English of the new rite, this is the part where the priest says: "Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation ..." (a prayer adapted from the Jewish Passover Seder). In the traditional Latin rite of the Church, unfortunately, the opening prayer of the Offertory is often eclipsed by the activity of ushers taking up the Sunday collection. This is unfortunate in the extreme, because the prayer is one of the most beautiful in the Mass (in fact, it can be instructive to compare it with the Novus Ordo Offertory). It is beautiful in its clarity and simplicity about what is happening in the ritual: what is being offered and why. It is the part where the priest says: "Suscipe, sancte Pater ..." In English, it reads thus: "Receive, O holy Father, almighty, eternal God, this spotless host [= sacrificial victim] which I, thine unworthy servant, offer unto Thee, my living and true God, for my own countless sins, offenses, and negligences, and for all here present; as also for all faithful Christians, living or dead; that it may avail for my own and for their salvation unto life eternal."

This is where it all happens: Jesus is the unblemished Lamb of God, "this spotless host," who takes away the sins of the world. This is our source of joy and gladness. It is beautiful. Again, however, the beauty is tempered by the deep sadness of what has to transpire in order to achieve our salvation and eternal life: Jesus, "this spotless host," this innocent and pure Lamb without blemish, has to be killed and die. The wonder of it is that He does so willingly. For us, who are anything but innocent.


I remember a criticism once made by a Protestant friend after visiting a Catholic Mass: "The people don't seem to have any joy," he said. When I asked what he meant, he replied, "They aren't smiling. They don't look happy." Now it could be indeed that Catholics sometimes look the way they do because they aren't happy. It also could be that they have been reduced to creatures of habit, simply walking forward to receive the Eucharist without sufficient attention to Whom they are receiving. But it could also be because they understand what they are doing and because Catholic worship has Sacrifice at the very heart of it: a terrible mercy and a beautiful sadness.

Extraordinary Community News: Fasting from Communion, Spiritual Communion, Month of Plenary Indulgences, Upcoming Masses

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News (October 26, 2014):

Fasting from Holy Communion: The Proposal and a Possible Alternative

On Sunday, October 19, Assumption Grotto Pastor Fr. Eduard Perrone published a thought-provoking column in his parish bulletin: He suggested that to help Catholics grow in devotion to the Holy Eucharist, they might consider abstaining from receiving Holy Communion from a while. Such an action would guard against complacency in receiving the Blessed Sacrament by fostering a greater hunger and yearning to be united with our Lord in this precious gift.

Many Catholics would agree that even when one is in the state of grace, reception of Holy Communion can become routine. If one deems oneself unworthy to receive Communion, whether because of a state of serious sin or because one simply does not feel properly disposed that day, it is only natural at that point to feel a certain longing to receive the Blessed Sacrament. That is why Holy Mother Church has long recommended making an Act of Spiritual Communion under such circumstances.

While Fr. Perrone certainly makes an interesting and laudable point, this column would like to suggest an alternative means to increase one’s resolve to receive Holy Communion worthily and without complacency: Try making a commitment to gain a Plenary Indulgence for the Poor Souls in Purgatory [one per day may be gained] for every Holy Communion you receive. Associating some extra effort with each Holy Communion will help develop a stronger devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and a greater appreciation for the gift of receiving the Real Presence. It will simultaneously provide important assistance to the Holy Souls who cannot help themselves, as well as help us recognize how significant each Holy Communion can be to ourselves and to other souls.

One of the easiest ways to gain this Plenary Indulgence is to pray the Rosary in a church. This can be done by oneself, or by praying it as part of a group, as our community strives to do before every Sunday Mass. Another easy way is to spend a half hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. All efforts to gain a Plenary Indulgence must, of course, be under the usual conditions: Confession within 20 days, reception of Holy Communion once per Plenary Indulgence sought, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to sin.

An Act of Spiritual Communion

While we are on the subject, it is worthwhile for all Catholics to know a formula for making a Spiritual Communion. We present below a prayer by St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori. This can be prayed either when one is abstaining from receiving Holy Communion at Mass, or during the day when one is simply trying to live more united with our Lord. Making an Act of Spiritual Communion is enriched with a Partial Indulgence.

My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire Thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee.

All Saints and All Souls Day Masses

A High Mass for All Saints Day – a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States – will be offered at Flint’s All Saints Church on Saturday, November 1 at 11:00 AM. The celebrant will be a visiting priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Gregory Pendergraft.

High Masses for All Souls Day – Monday, November 3 in the Tridentine Calendar – will be held at 7:00 PM at two area churches: Our Lady of the Scapular in Wyandotte, Michigan, and St. Joseph in Detroit.

Because of the pending relocation of the St. Benedict Tridentine Community that week, no All Souls Day Mass will be held in Windsor this year. Speaking of which, next week’s column will address the new sites for the Windsor Tridentine Mass; the pastors of our new host churches have requested that announcements be withheld until a few remaining details are finalized. Rest assured that Sunday and Tuesday Masses in the Extraordinary Form will continue.

Month of All Souls Plenary Indulgences

Each year the Church grants a Plenary Indulgence applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory to those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the dead, from November 1-8. The indulgence can be gained once per day on each day, under the usual conditions which are listed earlier in this column.

Special Requiem Mass at St. Hyacinth Church

On Saturday, November 8 at 12:00 Noon, there will be a special Requiem Mass at Detroit’s St. Hyacinth Church for the repose of the soul of Fr. Frank Skalski. Fr. Skalski was the long-time pastor of St. Hyacinth who was responsible for the church’s remarkable restoration. The celebrant will be Fr. Peter Hrytsyk.

St. Hyacinth is one of our area’s most stunningly beautiful churches and is well worth a visit. Secure, guarded parking is available in the lot behind the church.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 10/27 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Joseph (Feria [Mass of Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost] – Celebrant may also choose a Votive Mass)
• Tue. 10/28 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Benedict/Assumption-Windsor (Ss. Simon & Jude, Apostles)
• Fri. 10/31 7:00 PM: Solemn High Mass at Christ the King, Ann Arbor (Votive Mass of Christ the King) – Dinner for young adults age 18-35 follows Mass, organized by Juventútem Michigan
• Sat. 11/01 11:00 AM: High Mass at All Saints, Flint (All Saints)

[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 Assumption (Windsor) bulletin inserts for October 26, 2014. Hat tip to A.B., author of the column.]