St. John Henry Cardinal Newman! - canonized today, Oct. 13th, 2019

Fr. Rutler's Weekly Column
October 13, 2019
Over forty years ago, I told a wise Protestant theologian that I had been reading the Apologia pro Vita Sua of John Henry Newman (1801-1890). He warned me that it is “a dangerous book.” That was just the sort of advice that makes a young thinker all the more eager to read it. And so I did, and so did countless others whose lives were changed by this book, whose passages are some of the most beautiful in the English language, and whose author’s the thoughts considering the psychology of the soul are undying.

Newman wrote that book in four weeks, standing at his upright desk in Birmingham, England, in response to a personal attack on his integrity: “I have been in perfect peace and contentment; I never have had one doubt. I was not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any change, intellectual or moral, wrought in my mind . . . but it was like coming into port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to this day without interruption.”

Today Newman is to be canonized in Rome, a tribute to his unsurpassed gifts of grace as theologian, historian, writer, poet, preacher and, most of all, a pastor of souls. While preaching and writing immortal words, he also was meticulous in running the Oratory school he founded, even making costumes for school plays, paying coal bills, and playing his fiddle in the school orchestra.

In his honor and in thanksgiving for the Church’s recognition of his holiness, of which the angels never were in doubt, we shall dedicate today a shrine for him in our church. As with all that we try to do in our church, this sculpture is the work of one of our own parishioners. Newman foresaw with uncanny prescience the various challenges of our own day, and this monument should be a reminder to pray for his intercession on behalf of our local church and the Church Universal in a time of spiritual combat, which is a lot like what he faced in his own age.

To Newman’s great surprise, and even “shock,” the newly elected Pope Leo XIII in 1879 created him a cardinal. He had been so attacked and calumniated for his religious views over many years, that he was satisfied that the “cloud” had finally been lifted. In his acceptance speech he said that his entire life had been consecrated to refuting the doctrine of relativism which held that “Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy.”

Today we sing Cardinal Newman’s hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light,” which his own life embodied and faith made bold: “I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me.”

Faithfully yours in Christ,
Father George W. Rutler

Tridentine Community News - Oregon Sacred Liturgy Conference Report; Commemorations on Sundays; 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 (July 8, 2018):

July 8, 2018 – Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

Oregon Sacred Liturgy Conference Report

Last week the sixth annual Sacred Liturgy Conference took place in Oregon, this time in Salem, the state capital. What began as a small gathering focused on Gregorian Chant has grown to become one of the world’s largest conventions devoted to traditional liturgy, with around 400 in attendance. Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample, Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska Bishop James Conley, Norcia [Italy] monastery founder Fr. Cassian Folsom, and Fraternity of St. Peter North American Superior Fr. Gerard Saguto were among the heavy-hitters present. Talks were delivered at the Salem Conference Center and in classrooms at St. Joseph Church, located several blocks away.


At one point a speaker asked for a show of hands to see whether attendees’ primary experience of Holy Mass was in the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form. Approximately 60% were OF, however the bulk of the talks and liturgies were about or in the EF. The OF-going majority seemed to welcome the immersion in the Traditional Mass. One could draw the conclusion that when serious discussion of the Church’s liturgy and music is to be had, the EF brings more substance to the table, including centuries of history and promise for the future that the OF cannot claim.

One of the speakers was Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, the British priest who since 2009 has served as Executive Director of ICEL, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Msgr. Wadsworth was in charge of the new English translation of the Ordinary Form Mass and is now working on a new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours. A higher ranking Ordinary Form official would be hard to find outside of Rome. And yet…Msgr. Wadsworth is an occasional celebrant of the Extraordinary Form. He is also founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in formation in Washington, DC, which, like its fellow Oratories around the globe, periodically offers the Traditional Mass. A true liturgical scholar such as he cannot help but be engaged with the Traditional Mass; it informs the work he accomplishes with the OF.

This writer was invited to provide training to clergy in how to celebrate the Extraordinary Form, spread out over four 1.25 hour sessions. 2-3 priests were expected to attend, but much to our surprise, 17 priests, 4 permanent deacons, several seminarians, and around 25 laypeople showed up. Beautiful evidence of the ever-increasing interest in the Traditional Mass.


The 2019 Sacred Liturgy Conference will be held May 28-31 in Spokane, Washington.

Commemorations on Sundays

We have had two interesting examples over the last two weeks of how Commemorations are handled differently on Sundays, depending on the kind of Feast being celebrated.

A Commemoration is the addition of a second (or third) Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion prayer. On weekdays one sees Commemorations of secondary saints. The main saint of the day has the first Collect, and additional saints are commemorated with additional Collect(s). The two saints’ positions are reversed, however, in churches dedicated to the secondary saint. For example, on July 12 the main saint is St. John Gualbert and the secondary, commemorated saints are Ss. Nabor & Felix. However, in a church named after Ss. Nabor & Felix, they would become the primary saints, and St. John Gualbert would be commemorated. That is why missals provide a separate set of Mass Propers for the secondary saint; another reason is that a Mass of the secondary saint could be celebrated as a Votive Mass on a Fourth Class Feria or Feast Day.

Sundays are dedicated to our Lord, which changes the rules somewhat: If a special Feast displaces the usual Sunday, and that Feast is of our Lord, there is no Commemoration of the displaced Sunday. If the special Feast is not of our Lord, a Commemoration of the displaced Sunday is to be made, so as to ensure our Lord is always in focus on every Sunday. For example, on June 24, 2018, the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist was not of our Lord, so a Commemoration was added of the displaced Fifth Sunday After Pentecost. However, on July 1, 2018, the Feast of the Most Precious Blood was of our Lord, so no Commemoration of the displaced Sixth Sunday After Pentecost was made.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Tue. 07/10 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Seven Holy Brothers, Martyrs, and Ss. Rufina & Secunda, Virgins & Martyrs)
• Sat. 07/14 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor)

[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 July 8, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Detroit's Blessed Solanus Casey beatified!

Detroit's Capuchin friar, Fr. Solanus Casey (1870-1957), was beatified on Saturday, November 18th, at Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions. There were reportedly upwards of 70,000 people there. I'm sure some wondered whether a football game they hadn't heard about was in progress! What a fantastic event! Here's a picture of how it looked inside Ford Field 2 days ago where the beatification Mass was celebrated:

How the Catholic Faith went underground for centuries in Japan and was preserved by the lay faithful

Sandro Magister, "The 'Hidden Christians' of Japan ..." (Settimo Cielo, October 17, 2017):

Pope Francis has repeatedly expressed his admiration for the “hidden Christians” of Japan, who miraculously reappeared with their faith intact in the second half of the nineteenth century, after two and a half centuries of centuries of ferocious annihilation of Christianity in that country.

But few know the real story of this miracle on the brink of the incredible. It was reconstructed on Thursday, October 12 in a fascinating conference in the aula magna of the Pontifical Gregorian University, by the Japanese Jesuit Shinzo Kawamura, professor of Church history at Sophia University in Tokyo and an author of the most up-to-date studies on the issue.

The complete text of his conference, given at the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Holy See, is reproduced on this other page of Settimo Cielo:

>> Pope Pius IX and Japan. The History of an Oriental Miracle

An extensive extract from this is published below. From reading this - which is a must - it can be gathered that what allowed the intact transmission of the Catholic faith, from generation to generation, among those Christians devoid of priests and entirely cut off from the world was essentially an oral tradition made up of a few decisive truths concerning the sacraments and in the first place confession, according to what was taught by the Council of Trent.

It is “Tridentine” Catholicism, therefore, that nourished the miracle of those “hidden Christians.” With its doctrine of sin and of sacramental forgiveness, anticipated in them by repeated acts of perfect contrition, in the absence of a confessor but also in the prophetic vision that one day he would finally arrive.

These were acts of contrition that followed, at times, the sin of apostasy, which involved publicly trampling on the “Fumie,” the image of Jesus, as they were forced to do by their persecutors in order to prove that they abjured the Christian faith, on pain of death....

"HIDDEN CHRISTIANS" IN JAPAN. THE HISTORY OF AN ORIENTAL MIRACLE
by Shinzo Kawamura, S.J.

On January 8, 1867, His Holiness Pope Pius IX dispatched a special message to Fr. Bernard Petitjean of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, who at the time was involved in missionary work in the city of Nagasaki. The purpose of His Holiness was to personally bless an event, which he exuberantly described as a “Miracle of the Orient.”

What he referred to as a “Miracle of the Orient,” was the fact that three years before this message was dispatched, that is, on March 17, 1865, an incident had occurred within one of Japan’s oldest churches, namely the “Oura Tenshudo" of Nagasaki, which is also known as the Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan.

A group of approximately 15 people, descendants of the Hidden Christians of Nagasaki Urakami, visited the Oura Tenshudo that had just been built, and engaged in a dialogue with Fr. Petitjean.

They spoke to Fr. Petitjean saying: “We are of the same faith as you. Where can we find the image of Saint Mary?”.

No sooner had these Hidden Christians ascertained the fact that Catholic priests had entered Japan, more and more of them began to come out of hiding, and their numbers in course of time exceeded ten thousand.

After having duly confirmed the fact that the faith of these priests was the same as that which had been adhered to by their ancestors 400 years ago, these Hidden Christians returned to the Catholic Church.

Three keywords

These Hidden Christians had endured about 250 years of persecution, due to the prohibitions imposed upon them by the Tokugawa government. Even so, they faithfully continued to preserve their faith, and when they eventually felt that the time was appropriate to do so, they rejoined the Catholic Church. This was indeed a miracle, but my question is, what was it that made this miracle possible?

I now wish to present three keywords that I consider most vital, with regard to the possibility of this Oriental Miracle....

Kawamura goes on to discuss in detail the "three keywords" to understanding the survival of the underground faith in Japan. Essentially, they come down to (1) lay communities that had been organized for the governance of the Catholic faithful in diverse territorial regions of the country since the time of St. Francis Xavier's mission in Japan; (2) the prophecy of a martyred catechist that after seven generations, black ships would arrive and Catholic "confessors" with the authority to forgive sins would return to Japan; and (3) hope of forgiveness in the absence of sacramental Confession through the Tridentine provision that "reconciliation between the individual and God can be attained by true contrition."

In these far-from-ideal conditions, how these Japanese "hidden Christians" were able to preserve and sustain their faith at all is indeed an "Oriental Miracle."

[Hat tip to JM]

"A priest's face ..." Reflection on Fr. McGivney

Fr. Michael J. McGivney (1852-1890) was the founder of the Kights of Columbus. Here is a snippet about his personality from a contemporary who knew him, which I found in my copy of Columbia magazine, which arrived today. Fortunately, it's also online and thus linked below:

Fr. Joseph G. Daley, "The Personality of Father McGivney," Columbia (August 2017), pp. 21-22 (extract):

I remember meeting with Father McGivney in New Haven in 1883, the year after the first incorporation of the Knights. He was then in the prime of his vigor, entrusted by a good but delicate pastor, Father Lawlor, with the management of St. Mary’s, a parish lying close under the towers of Yale College and at that time the most aristocratic parish in Connecticut. Father McGivney himself was anything but aristocratic; he was a man of extreme grace of manner in any society, but without any airs, without any “lugs,” if you will pardon the expression. I saw him but once and yet I remember his pale, beautiful face as if I saw it only yesterday; it was “a priest’s face,” and that explains everything. It was a face of wonderful repose; there was nothing harsh in that countenance, although there was everything that was strong; there was nothing sordid, nothing mercenary, nothing of the politician, nothing of the axe-grinder. Guile and ambition were as far from him as from heaven. To meet him was at once to trust him; children actually loved him; and the very old people of the neighborhood, whom he hunted up and who got part of his time even on busiest days, called him a positive saint and meant it....

Slippery slope from non-Catholic to non-Christian 'saints'?

Peter Crenshaw, "Pope Francis Opens Door to Non-Catholic Saints" (Remnant, July 12, 2017).

Comment by Guy Noir - Private Eye: "Does anyone really think there will be a long gap between the emergence of protestant Saints and the emergence of non-Christian ones? There's the rub!"

"Pope Francis, pray for us"???

Commenting on Confitebor's observations about the shameless papalotry represented by this pewter cross in a Catholic religious store -- a cross bearing the image of the Holy Father and the words, "Pope Francis, pray for us" -- Guy Noir - Private Eye, now our mid-Atlantic Piedmont correspondent, declared:

If every recent pope ends up canonized, what should we expect?

The cult of the saints becomes "cult like," encouraging veneration of people that ought to go to God's Son.

I used to think canonizations were exercises in papal infallibility. That confidence has been completely eroded. The modern Church has pushed its credibility on this score past the breaking point, with John Paul II himself, sadly, leading the way via removing the Devil's Advocate. Another example of how the Church's leaders do not seem overly keen to protect its enduring credibility in an age of disbelief. I just don't get it. Sanctity should not need overly aggressive PR hacks.

Tridentine Community News - Blessing of Candles and Throats on the Feast of St. Blase; 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 (January 29, 2017):

January 29, 2017 – Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

February 2 and 3 are connected days of sorts in the Liturgical Calendar. February 2 is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day is also known as Candlemas Day, as the Mass Propers include a Blessing of Candles and – logistics permitting – a procession with candles during the Mass.

February 3 is the Feast of St. Blase, Bishop & Martyr. St. Blase was Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia and was martyred in 316 A.D. He is known for saving a child from choking on a fishbone. The Church has memorialized this in a formal way with another special blessing of candles, followed by blessing of throats of the faithful using those blessed candles. The blessing must be performed in Latin.

The Blessing of Candles and Throats on the Feast of St. Blase

The blessing of throats will be held after Mass at Old St. Mary’s this Friday, February 3, and next Sunday, February 5 at the OCLMA/Academy and at St. Benedict/Holy Name of Mary.

Blessing of Candles and Throats

℣. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
℟. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
℣. Dóminus vobíscum.
℟. Et cum spíritu tuo.
Orémus.
Omnípotens et mitíssime Deus, qui ómnium mundi rerum diversitátes solo Verbo creásti, et ad hóminum reformatiónem illud idem Verbum per quod facta sunt ómnia, incarnári voluísti: qui magnus es, et imménsus, terríbilis atque laudábilis, ac fáciens mirabília: pro cujus fídei confessióne gloriósus Martyr et Póntifex Blásius, diversórum tormentórum génera non pavéscens, martýrii palmam felíciter est adéptus: quique eídem, inter céteras grátias, hanc prærogatívam contulísti, ut quoscúmque gútturis morbos tua virtúte curáret; majestátem tuam supplíciter exorámus, ut non inspéctu reátus nostri, sed ejus placátus méritis et précibus, hanc ceræ creatúram bene+dícere ac sancti+ficáre tua venerábili pietáte dignéris, tuam grátiam infundéndo; ut omnes, quorum colla per eam ex bona fide tacta fúerint, a quocúmque gútturis morbo ipsíus passiónis méritis liberéntur, et in Ecclésia sancta tua sani et hílares tibi gratiárum réferant actiónes, laudéntque nomen tuum gloriósum, quod est benedíctum in saécula sæculórum. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia saécula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.
[He sprinkles the candles with Holy Water. Holding the candles in the form of a cross at the throat of each of the faithful, he says:]

Per intercessiónem sancti Blásii, Epíscopi et Mártyris, líberet te Deus a malo gútturis, et a quólibet álio malo. In nómine Patris, et Fílii, + et Spíritus Sancti.
℟. Amen.

English from fisheaters.com and the 1961 Colléctio Rítuum

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
℟. Who made heaven and earth.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.

Almighty and most gentle God, Who didst create the multiplicity of things through Thine only Word, and didst will that same Word through Whom all things were made to take flesh for the refashioning of man; Thou, Who art great and without measure, terrible and worthy of praise, a Worker of wonders: the glorious Martyr and Bishop Blase, not fearing to suffer all sorts of diverse tortures because of his profession of faith in Thee, was suited happily to bear the palm of martyrdom: and Thou didst grant to him, among other graces, the favor that he should by Thy power cure all kinds of illnesses of the throat: we humbly beg Thy Majesty not to look upon our sins, but to be pleased by his merits and prayers and to deign in Thy venerable kindness to bless + and sanctify + this creature of wax by the outpouring of Thy grace; that all whose necks in good faith are touched by it may be freed by the merits of his sufferings from any illness of the throat, and that healthy and strong they may offer thanks to Thee within Thy Holy Church, and praise Thy glorious Name, which is blessed forever and ever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

[He sprinkles the candles with Holy Water. Holding the candles in the form of a cross at the throat of each of the faithful, he says:]

Through the intercession of Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr, may God deliver you from all disease of the throat, and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost.
℟. Amen.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 01/30 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Martina, Virgin & Martyr)
• Tue. 01/31 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. John Bosco, Confessor)
• Thu. 02/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at Our Lady of the Scapular (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Thu. 02/02 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Joseph (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
• Fri. 02/03 7:00 PM: High Mass at Old St. Mary’s (St. Blase, Bishop & Martyr) – First Friday – Devotions precede Mass. Blessing of throats and reception after Mass.
• Fri. 02/03 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Joseph (St. Blase, Bishop & Martyr) – First Friday
• Sat. 02/04 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (St. Andrew Corsini, 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 January 29, 2017. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Mercy? Charity? Peter Claver, the Slave Lover!

Amy Wellborn, "7 Quick Takes" (Charlotte Was Both, September 9, 2016):

Feastdays!

Contemporary Churchy rhetoric might lead you to believe that before the last couple of years, Catholics didn’t know that charity and mercy were at the heart of the Gospel. Surprise! They did! Take a look at our saints for today:
St. Peter Claver

“No life, except the life of Christ, has so moved me as that of St. Peter Claver.”

–Pope Leo XIII

 

A statue of Peter Claver and a slave in Cartagena.  

This is a very good introduction, from a Cartagena page. 
From Crisis:

Claver’s heroism in dealing with the diseased and sick is astounding. Even so, it was an everyday occurrence. Claver would wipe the sweat from the faces of the slaves with his own handkerchief. Moreover, he would often clothe the sick and diseased in his own cloak. As some of his interpreters witnessed, the cloak had to be washed up to seven times a day from the stink and filth which it had accumulated. It was routine for Claver to console his fellow man by joyfully undertaking practices which were considered extremely repugnant to most. As one eye-witness notes, “Most admirable was that he not only cleansed these plague-ridden ulcers with the two handkerchiefs he kept for that, but did not hesitate to press his lips to them.” He plainly saw Christ “in the least of these brethren.”

The chief problem in the evangelization of the slaves lay in the numerous languages used by the many “races” of Africans. Although Claver himself never mastered the African languages, he did have some facility with Angolese, the most common of them. On account of these linguistic difficulties, he continually worked with a team of interpreters, black slaves who had a fine ear and tongue for languages. It is important to note that Claver empowered these slave interpreters to become true leaders, diligently training them in the Christian faith. Treating them as his equals, close friends, and true collaborators in the work of evangelization, he always carefully looked after their food, clothing, and medicines. If they were seriously sick, he gave up his bed to them, and slept on the floor.

As images are the books of the illiterate, Claver was liberal in his use of pictures in catechizing the new converts. In his instructions, he taught them the rudiments of the faith. He especially enjoyed teaching them about the life, passion, and death of Christ through illustrations and the crucifix. At times, he even used the monitory pictures of hell to inspire in them a true sense of contrition for their own sins. At the same time, he also gave them hope, teaching them about the glories of heaven. It was not an easy task. The slaves had to be patiently drilled in such simple matters as the sign of the cross. At all times, however, he reminded them of their own dignity and worth, teaching them that Christ had redeemed them at a great price with his blood.

Every spring, Claver would set out on rural missions to plantations surrounding Cartagena. Here he would check up on the lives of his charges as much as he was able. Refusing the hospitality of the plantation owners, he dwelt in the Negro slave quarters. On many occasions, he was ill-received by the plantation owners and their wives. They looked at his spiritual ministrations among their slaves as a waste of their time. Throughout his life, he was never a revolutionary, a “hater of the rich and embittered protector of the poor.” Although he had a special predilection for the poor black slaves, he did not ignore the rich; rather, he exhorted the wealthy to carry out their social duties and he promoted cooperation between the classes.

 Guy Noir comments:

I'll add that I  second her point. When I researched Sheed & Ward, it was evident that strongly orthodox Catholics were also very active in "social justice." The modern idea that there is a tension there is simply absurd. Arnold Lunn was a fairly staunch apologist. So much so her and Frank Sheed had disagreements over how much vigor to apply to arguments. Yet he also wrote a bio of St. Peter Claver (with the somewhat startling cover pictured. I can't imagine any publisher having the gumption to market such a great jacket today!) 

Fr. Perrone on the real prospect of serious persecution, and a petition to invoke Mother Teresa's intercession for the coming election

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, August 28, 2-16) [emphasis added]:

In the past several years a great deal has been written about the English martyrs during the time of the Protestant takeover in the sixteenth century. The reason for this abundant writing, I opine, is the ominous expectation of how things may well come about in the USA should a reign of terror descend upon the Church. We have been getting signals to help prepare us for such an eventuality for sometime now, in learning that our religious freedoms are in a threatened state. The upcoming presidential election will play a significant if not decisive role in the outcome of the social, moral and religious life of our citizens.

As many of you know, the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta is immanent. The soon-to-be-saint was often present in our country for various purposes. I will recall the reception of Mother when she founded the community of her sisters in Detroit. There was a lot of media hullabaloo at the time which, as the saying goes, rolled easily over Mother's back. She who could not help being made noticed for her humble service (the inherent irony of humility) would hardly have been impressed by the presence of the press and TV cameras. Her firm aim in establishing the community of her sisters here was thereby to mediate the presence of the compassionate Christ thirsting for the souls of the indigent and wretched underclass people in the city of Detroit.

The process of canonization is ordinarily a rather protracted one due to the complexity of gathering testimony about the proposed subject's life, the examination of all pertinent writings and correspondences, and the attendant ecclesiastical business of which I know not a single thing. Exceptions to the prolonged procedure are rare. The canonization of St. Pope John Paul II is the outstanding recent example of this, and one is soon to follow in the case of Mother Teresa. But my reason for writing about Mother's soon-to-be-realized sainthood has to do with an idea I have had.

I am inviting all of you to say a prayer to Mother Teresa every day from now until election time to beg her to intercede for the good outcome of the November election. So much is at stake for our country, for our Catholic Church, and indeed for the whole world, that it cannot be understated. Would not she who showed such compassion for the spiritual and physical welfare of so many not willingly respond to the prayers of some devout souls who beseech her on behalf of the people of the United States? A simple daily formula might take the form of three Hail Mary's (or three Memorares) with an invocation to Blessed Mother Teresa to intercede for the welfare of our country in the November elections. (Other formulas would be as good. It's not a matter of hitting upon a magical formula but of the sincerity and fervor of the one praying.)

Many of you are justly worried over the possible course of things to come. I have repeatedly asked you to stay after Mass for the daily rosary to pray "for God's mercy on our country." I know many of you pray the rosary elsewhere privately, but this communal rosary (for which a plenary indulgence may be gained) is a special uniited parish effort for Our Blessed Mother to plead our case. If you love your country, your freedoms, righteousness, and your Catholic faith, you ought not lightly to excuse yourself from the rosary and from the aforementioned prayer to Mother Teresa. As I said in a recent homily, should the dread things every come to pass it will then be too late to change course without untold sufferings (cf. the English martyrs at the time of the Reformation). In such case, what will you who have excused yourselves from these prayers say?

Yes, I'm putting moral pressure on you to pray. We have thus far lost the battle (to be unisex bathrooms and ... who can say what? I guess legal prostitution, the right to public nudity and coition, and the suppression of at least some part of Catholic faith and practice.) You may scoff at these speculations as being over-drawn, but I ask you to consider where we were only a few decades ago, how things stand now, and what's being proposed now, openly.

Kindly make for yourselves a little prayer sheet to remind you daily to offer prayer to Mother Teresa for the above-stated intention and to be faithful to the daily rosary, especially in church with your priests and your Catholic fellows.

"Saint Anthony, Hammer of Heretics, Help Us To Find Our Way Home To Heaven"

Christ or Chaos:

No Catholic who takes the salvation of his immortal soul seriously can ignore the intercessory power of Saint Anthony of Padua. Over and above all of the little things we ask Saint Anthony to find after we have lost them, Saint Anthony of Padua, an exemplary preacher of the truths of the Catholic Faith, must be invoked today in our times under one of his most important titles, "The Hammer of Heretics." We need Saint Anthony's help right now in the midst of the difficulties within Holy Mother Church so that each of us will be fortified by our hidden time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and our unabashed expressions of love for the Holy Name of Mary to proclaim the truths of the true Faith openly in the midst of the heretics in the counterfeit church of conciliarism who want to convince us that everything about the Catholic Church prior to the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958, must be rejected and vilified and apologized for. Although Saint Anthony is a saint for all days and for all ages, he is particularly apt to help Holy Mother Church in these our days, rife as they are with all of the synthesized heresies that have amalgamated themselves under the aegis of Modernism.

Read more >>

[Hat tip to L.S.]

Fr. Perrone on the Sacred Heart devotion, St. Stanislaus Popcaynski's canonization, Knights of Columbus news

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, June 5, 2016):

The month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This devotion to our Lord, in its familiar form, is a rather modern development in the Church. While the heart of God and the heart of Christ are known from scriptures, the deeper appreciation of the mercy, compassion, and love of the Saviour revealed to St. Margaret Mary tookits historical time to be realized. Thus you will not find the image of Christ with His exposed Heart anywhere but in the Catholic Church. This, like the revelation later made to Saint Faustina,was a development in the devotion to Christ. Unlike non-Catholic Christians who must, of their own choosing, halt at a certain point of historical time in their acceptance of the mysteries revealed in the bible and in the tradition of the early Church, Catholics are mindful that there is a continuing work of the Holy Spirit to reveal new depths of meaning in what was once given to the Church since apostolic times.

If I were to point to a single advantage of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ it would be that it has brought Catholics to a more intimate love for Christ. While we do not repeat the old saw of some Christian sects about cultivating a "personal relationship with Jesus as our Lord and Savior," yet the engagement of the devout Catholic with the Lord through this devotion has brought about a wonderful closeness of many religious, priests and lay people to Him. As I've said elsewhere, this devotion is a mystical thing that must be regarded with profound respect in order to uncover its many treasures. Those who see only an exposed heart with thorns and a flame -- an admittedly unusual manner of portrayal -- will not draw from that alone the depth of meaning and grace which so many have found in Christ through this devotion.

Today at the 9:30 Mass we will be celebrating the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. In addition we will commemorate the canonization of Stanislaus Papcaynski which will have already taken place in Rome only a few hours previous. A new saint added to the Church's register is always a thing to be glad about. In this case, the Saint will share with Mother Teresa the day when the Pope, in an authentic exercise of his papal authority, declares them certainly to be in heaven. For us at the Grotto, Saint Stanislaus may assume greater prominence as we see the growth of the Order which Brother Esteban has been overseeing in our parish convent.

One more bit of good Grotto news concerning our Knights of Columbus. We have, as you may know, a parish-based Council of the Knights, rather than an inter-parish council with an independent K of C hall. The business of our Grotto Knights does not coincide absolutely with parish business since they form an independent organization regulated by their own governing laws. All the same, the close association of the men of our parish with the Knights through this fraternity means much overlapping in various projects. On account of this distinction of the Council and the parish, I did not make mention hitherto of the fact that one of our parishioners, Christopher Kolomjec, was running for election to the Michigan State Board of the Knights. However, last Sunday at the annual convention of the Knights on Mackinac Island, Chris won the vacant seat in the election. This means that now one of our own holds a position of influence over the whole State of Michigan Knights in helping shape policies, coordinate programs, and create initiatives that involve all the Knights of the State. I'm confident that Chris will represent our Catholic faith there in the way that we are wont to express it: in loyalty to the authentic doctrines and traditions of the Church, and with a rightly motivated patriotism. Since his campaign theme also concerned the family -- that once sacrosanct institution so confusedly portrayed these days -- we can expect that his presence on the State Board is sure to assist in the ongoing defense of the family. We congratulate Chris, his wife Julie, and their children. Their lives will not be the same henceforth for this new turn in Chris's life. We hope that they will find it fulfilling and rewarding to know that Chris will be engaged in authentic witness to Catholic truth in the areas of faith and the family in these very challenging times.

Fr. Perrone

St. John Bosco on the diabolical impostiture of Mohammedanism

St. John Bosco, [the section on Islam from] "Il Cattolico, Istruito nella sua Religione, Trattenimenti di un Padre di Famiglia co' suoi Figliuoli, secondo I bisogni del tempo," Epilogati dal Sac. Bosco Giovanni (Torrino 1853), translated by Francesca Romana as "The Catholic educated in his religion. Conversations with the Father of a Family and his beloved sons, in relation to the needs of the present day. Summarized by Giovanni Bosco, priest (Turin, 1953). Via Adfero, "St. John Bosco on Mohammedanism" (Rorate Caeli, March 31, 2016): 

Conversation XIII [Pages 50 to 56] 

Father: Before talking to you about the religions separated at a certain point from the Roman Catholic Church, I want to draw your attention to the religions that do not have the characteristics of the divinity in them and which we call false religions. They range from Judaism to Idolatry, to Mohammedanism to the Christian sects professed by the Schismatic Greeks, Valdese, Anglicans and Protestants.

Regarding  Idolatry, I think there is no need to discuss this with you, since nowadays it does not exist, with the exception of  very few countries where the light of the Gospel has  still not penetrated.

Regarding Judaism, I think I have already spoken sufficiently in the first part of these conversations.

If you like, I’ll now tell you about the others, starting with Mohammedanism.

Son: Yes, yes, first of all, tell us what Mohammedanism means?

F. Mohammedanism is a collection of maxims extracted from various religions, which, if practiced, bring about the destruction of every moral principle.

S. In which countries is this Mohammedanism professed?

F. It is professed in a large part of Asia as well as part of  Africa.

S. Who started Mohammedanism?

F. Mohammedanism was started by Mohamed.

S. Oh! We’d really like to hear about this Mohamed. Tell us everything you know about him.

F. It would take too long to tell you all the stories about this famous impostor. But I’ll tell you who he was and how he came to establish his Religion.

In the year 570, Mohamed was born into a poor family, of a Jewish mother and gentile father, in Mecca an Arabian city not far from the Red Sea. In search of glory and desirous of bettering his conditions, he wandered around several countries and managed in Damascus to become the agent of a merchant’s widow who afterwards married him. He was cunning enough to take advantage of his infirmities as well as her ignorance, to establish a religion.  Suffering from epilepsy, male caduco, he claimed his frequent falls were ecstasies wherein he had conversations with the Angel Gabriel.

S. What an imposter to deceive people like that! Did he also try to work miracles to support his predication?

F. Mohamed couldn’t work any miracles to support his religion, as he was not sent by God.  God is the sole author of miracles.  However, as he claimed himself  greater than Jesus Christ, he was asked to work miracles in the same way [as Jesus]. He arrogantly replied that the miracles had [already] been worked by Jesus Christ and that he [himself] had been called by God to reestablish the religion by force.

"The Young Messiah," reviewed by a Evan Pham

Evan Pham, "The Young Messiah" (Holy Smack, March 14, 2016).

Mr. Pham begins thus:

Biblical films that surprise me and move me are the only ones I recommend, and that’s not an easy thing to do since I am a very critical viewer with a high aversion to cheesiness. But I am glad to say “The Young Messiah” was worth the admission cost and worth my two hours and months of waiting. Here’s why ... [spoiler alert]

Read his entire interview HERE. Perhaps you'll find it as compelling as I did. Now I've got to see the film.

Incidentally, Mr. Pham is a former philosophy student of mine at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, now taking graduate classes there in theology. While you're at it, visit his Holy Card Archive and see some of his great productions. He has a new one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that he just showed me today, which is amazing, but not yet posted online. The prayers on the back are consistently very well-thought-out. He will happily send them to you for any amount you wish to donate. They are beautiful.

One of my favorites is this Asian depiction of the Archangel St. Michael and his angels battling the dragon Satan in the Book Revelation, ch. 12:

Fr. Perrone to parents: why it's important you don't spoil your kids, and how you can avoid it

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, March 13, 2016):

Children are having a hard time growing up nowadays. I’m speaking of children from good families–not from the other kind. Disobedience and contention have become commonplace in the home. Whence do these arise? Saint James answers that they originate in “passions that are at war in your members” (presumably meaning, from the organs of propagation). The source of familial troubles thus lies within, from passions in individuals which were not tamed by patience, and by the quieting of unruly impulses. In adolescence, lust is a master tyrant, an internal rebel, whose young victims are true sufferers who feel pressures welling up within them to act irrationally in misbehaving and disobedience, in assuming sullen and sour moods, in giving vent to irritable tempers, in wanton experimentation with various kinds of bad behaviors–what’s commonly called “acting out.” This radical conduct is the result of explosive internal forces within a young person such that he feels nearly helpless in controlling them, especially if he had not been brought up early-on to acquire the restraining virtues which suppress egotistical wants and desires.

Plato in the Phaedrus writes about lust’s tendency to go about madly like a wild horse, against the controlling power of its driver, reason. The unruliness due to lust will erupt in the home and then in society–even unto the crimes of abortion, robbery and murder. All began in infancy when tots were not quiet, peaceful and well-disciplined.

I’m grieved that families are suffering from familial disharmony and disturbance. Homes are being beset with agitating music, with a host of electronic devices that vie for children’s attention, with video games, with immoderate snacking, with snotty back-talking, with sullen dispositions towards siblings and parents, and outbursts of anger. This is the domestic School of Rebellion which, in time, will make its unfortunate contribution to the insanity of this world.

Many factors contribute to this disordered condition of our homes: liberal parents who create an unhappy, troubled future for their children–and for themselves; school companions whose permissive parents affect your children; Internet abuse; pulsating music that stimulates lustful urges; school dances and stay-overs at peers’ homes; the unmoderated craving for fun and excitement, and for sports in a violent manner of play that’s well beyond the bounds of healthy competitiveness. (Of course, parents who have not well mastered their own disordered impulses will be so much less effective in detecting and controlling the same in their children.) The vade mecum of the modern child has become the Smart Phone which parents have willingly made available to their kids to keep in touch with them. (Editor: A vade mecum is a companion volume that one carries about, e.g. the New Testament or the Imitation of Christ.) But kids’ reasons for wanting these devices may not be the same as their parents.’ These phones have become tools for tuning-out reality and turning onto the fantasies of pornographic utopia.

Then there’s going away to college. Parents may entertain great hopes for their children’s future through higher education at some distant college or university. Children in turn might be glad to be out of parental control, to live in the ghetto of campus dorms where they can abandon themselves to hooking-up, drugs, drink, and the evasion of classes and studies. Small wonder that college kids become pregnant, alcoholics, drug addicts, depressed, despondent, and maybe even suicidal. These ruined lives began going ‘south’ a long time ago.

My ranting on this subject is motivated by a genuine concern for the eternal welfare of your children. Your prayers for them must be accompanied by effective action. Parents: don’t spoil your kids!

Today (Sunday) is our St. Joseph Dinner after the noon Mass. Come and honor the Saint while enjoying our parish celebration and the food made for you by the Romanos.

Altar boys will be on retreat during Holy Week (see schedule inserted in this Grotto News). Servers who intend on being part of next Sunday’s 9:30 Mass–Palm Sunday–need to be at a rehearsal this coming Saturday at 1:30 for instruction.

Fr. Perrone

Lenten lesson: the fist step is the hardest ... as it must have been for St. Denis to carry his decapitated head two miles

Fr. George W. Rutler, "From the Pastor" (Pastor's Corner, Church of St. Michael, March 13, 2016):

In 1943, just up the street from our church in the Hotel New Yorker, the pioneer of electrical inventions, including the alternating current, Nikola Tesla, died in room 3327. He wrote: “With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look - for dizzier heights.”

Saint Peter obeyed our Lord, to get out of his fishing boat and take a step on the water. That first step, which must have seemed dizzying, made all the difference in the course of world history. The apostle James was in that boat and watched what happened. Later he would write: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Taking the first step is an act of faith. Babies have faith enough in their thrilled parents to hold their hands as they bid them take the first step. From that step proceeds all the walks through life.

From time to time, one counsels a young person hesitant to take a first step: to accept a new job, or to propose marriage, or to seek the priesthood. The challenge can be intimidating in our culture whose chief seduction is to find comfort and security. Nothing great or noble has been achieved by seeking safety. Jesus promised: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). That means taking the first step toward Jesus, and then he will step toward you. The surest way to make it up the staircase without tripping is to focus on the top landing. But it all begins with the first step.

The poet Horace said in the first book of his Odes: “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”—roughly meaning: “Seize today and don’t worry about tomorrow.” That was about a generation before Jesus said in a Judean backwater: “Come, follow me.” Today. Take the first step. The Book of Numbers speaks of “journeying” nearly ninety times, and that journeying, which is a microcosm of the entire human experience, began with one first step.

In response to the credulous Cardinal de Polignac, who claimed that the martyr Saint Denis had carried his decapitated head two miles, the caustic wit Marie Anne Marquise du Deffand said, “Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte.” (The distance doesn't matter; it is only the first step that is the most difficult.) By an incontestable logic, it is the first step that counts. In Lent, if we can manage just one first step toward Jesus, he will walk with us all the way to Easter and Heaven itself.

[Hat tip to JM]

'International Women's Day' eclipses feast day of founder of Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (or they're trying to change our calendar)

And Google (signs of the times ...) is helping along the cause, like many, many others:


You may remember that during the French Revolution a new calendar was created by a commission under the direction of the politician Charles-Gilbert Romme seconded by Claude Joseph Ferry and Charles-François Dupuis. The unspoken object was to rid the new calendar of every vestige of the Christian calendar. They stopped counting the years from the year of our Lord's birth ('AD', or Anno Domini), replacing it quite literally with year Number One. They did away with the seven day week from the Book of Genesis, replacing it with a decimal (and so much more 'rational') ten-day week. And they divided each day in the Republical Calendar into ten hours, each hour into 100 decimal minutes, and each decimal minute into 100 decimal seconds. Thus an hour was 144 conventional minutes (more than twice as long as a conventional hour), a minute was 86.4 conventional seconds (44% longer than a conventional minute), and a second was 0.864 conventional seconds (13.6% shorter than a conventional second).

Well, we all know how well that worked. The irony is that even if the secular powers and principalities refer to our current year as 2016 C.E. (for "Common Era"), they're still keeping time from the approximate year of our Savior's birth. Soli Deo gloria!

Happy original Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas!

His original feast day was March 7, the day of his death, but because the date often falls within Lent, in 1969, the new revised version of the Roman Calendar changed his feast day to January 28, the date his relics were moved to Toulouse.

The most amazing Doctor of the Church ever, as they say!


Happy Lent!

Catholic and Enjoying It Struggling?

Many seem to be struggling these days. At least this seems evident when someone comes right out and says what many people seem to be thinking. Even if almost no one wants to come out and actually say it -- at least not George Weigel and Co. Here, for example, is what Steve Skojec wrote just a few days ago over at his 1 Peter 5 blog [Disclaimer: Rules 7-9]:

What matters is this: when you believe something is good, but it keeps producing bad fruit, it creates an irreconcilable problem. You’re always looking to square that circle, always trying to find a way to spin straw into gold.

A year before I went to World Youth Day, I fell to my knees in my little rural parish and asked God to help me to keep my faith in a Catholicism that “doesn’t act like it believes what it says it believes.” He answered that prayer, leading me not just to Denver to see how bad things were up close and personal, but through a labyrinthine maze of experiences that ultimately led me out from the tiny stream of Catholicism I had known, and into the ocean of Catholic Tradition.

... It is long past time that we abandon the idea of a need to “correctly implement” the council. Its documents, at times orthodox, at other times vague or even apparently contradictory to previous teachings, were designed with flaws capable of being exploited. Its genius is that it cannot be summarily condemned as a compendium of heretical ideas; it would be more true to say that it is a collection of half-formed or ill-stated ones — mixed with enough assertions of authentic Catholic teaching to give the whole enterprise credibility. Remember: a thing needn’t be completely corrupt to present a problem. A house built on sand is still a house – at least until it weakens enough to collapse.

The post-conciliar experiment is now rapidly approaching that point.

What I generally encourage such struggling individuals to do is to insulate themselves a bit from the "culture wars" being waged within the Church right now, to sequester themselves within the serene walls of Catholic tradition and immerse themselves in the writings of the saints or Church fathers. It can be a real tonic. One's personal spiritual life, or that of one's family, can be no less rich and satisfying than that of Catholics who lived at any other time in history. The foundation of the Church remains unmovable, because it is Jesus Christ Himself. But just as Cardinal Newman once said that "to go deep into history is to cease to be Protestant," so I would say that in times such as ours "to go deep into history is to escape our present turmoil." At least, it is to put everything in proper perspective. This is not a matter of simply escaping the present by delving into the past. Rather, it is like digging beneath the present confusion to find that the foundation of the Church still intact -- and the Church Triumphant very much alive, a "cloud of witnesses" watching on as the Church Militant runs its race (or fights its battles).

[Hat tip to JM]

Have you ever considered the words of Good King Wenceslas?

"How many archbishops of Paris have been saints? St. Bruno was a subdeacon who realized he was failing in his piety and took to seclusion. Was St. Anthony of Egypt even a priest or was he just a man overcome by the need for penance? My favorite post-Apostolic saint, Philip Neri of Rome, only became a priest after seventeen years praying at San Girolamo in Rome. The pope did not ordain him to be archpriest of St. Peter's; an auxiliary bishop ordained him to serve a small following of twenty of so people—the primitive Oratory—and hear their Confessions. As Christmas approaches we will be hearing about how "Good King Wenceslas looked down on the feast of Stephen." Wenceslas was a duke who had a simple piety and a strong sense of charity towards his subjects, which is epitomized in the song. The saint used to fashion the bread and wine for Mass himself and present them at the offertory, as was the custom. The saints were different yet still accessible to us who follow and simply "embrace the Cross."

"Where are these saints today? Philip Neri and several other Roman saints of repute would not even get a look from a modern bishop or religious order. If obedience is a virtue unto itself then there is no need for Catherine of Sienna or Teresa of Avila. These men and women still exist in our midst, invisible for bishops looking to cultivate profitable pilgrimages to pay homage at the tomb of "St. John Paul the Great." Canonizations now do what they have never done: they confirm the establishment.

"The saints are still among us, but we must pray that they be raised above us."

[Hat tip to L.S.; source; Disclaimer: Rules 7-9]