Brick by brick

The Holy Father continues to make exceptional appointments in the Curia. On December 9th Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera (in Spain, sometimes called the "Little Ratzinger") took the helm as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In an interview this last Sunday granted to Spanish daily La Razón, Cardinal Llovera had this to say:

[La Razón:] Nevertheless, Benedict XVI has reiterated in some instances the propriety of receiving communion kneeling and in the mouth. Is it something important, or is it a mere matter of form?



[Cañizares:] - No, it is not just a matter of form. What does it mean to receive communion in the mouth? What does it mean to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament? What dies it mean to kneel during the consecration at Mass? It means adoration, it means recognizing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; it means respect and an attitude of faith of a man who prostrates before God because he knows that everything comes from Him, and we feel speechless, dumbfounded, before the wondrousness, his goodness, and his mercy. That is why it is not the same to place the hand, and to receive communion in any fashion, than doing it in a respectful way; it is not the same to receive communion kneeling or standing up, because all these signs indicate a profound meaning. What we have to grasp is that profound attitude of the man who prostrates himself before God, and that is what the Pope wants.

Awesome.

Papal Mass

..In other news, we managed to put together an embarassing and downright shameful liturgy at our nation's capital for our Holy Father today. If you had the good fortune to miss it, let me bring you up to speed.

With music a la Marty Haugen's 'Mass of Creation,' worship and conscious participation in the Sacred Mysteries was made that much more difficult. There was a misplaced and awkward sort of bounce to the organ music(I suppose we should be grateful an organ was used at all), and of course everything was sung in minor keys.

Then there was the first reading. In Spanish, naturally. After all, this is the United States of Mexico.

The Spanish reading was done by a lay woman, and she was followed by another woman who cantored a particularly painful rendition of the Responsorial Psalm. And it was a third lay woman who read for us the second reading.

Pure happenstance, you see. Three for three; what were the odds?

I half expected to see a nun in plain clothes come up to read the Gospel.

I'm sure whoever orchestrated this shindig is quite pleased and felt they did a marvelous job. But it really is time we do us all a favor and let them go, so we can recover a true Spirit of the Liturgy.

Permission for Latin Mass is a thing of the past

Today is September 14th.

That means the long-awaited Motu Proprio issued in July by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has taken effect.

CWNews.com fills us in:

Cardinal Dario Castrillon-Hoyos-- the president of the Ecclesia Dei commission, which supervises Vatican outreach to traditionalist Catholics-- says that "from this point, priests can decide to celebrate the Mass using the old rite, without permission from the Holy See or the bishop."

In an interview with Vatican Radio on September 13, broadcast just before the motu proprio officially took effect, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos explained that Pope Benedict's motu proprio affirms the right of any priest to use the "extraordinary form" of the Latin liturgy. "It is, therefore, unnecessary to ask for any other permission," he said.

Music to this Catholic's ears.

To my knowledge, Holy Family Parish in Seattle is the only church offering a TLM in this diocese starting today. Does anyone know of any others?

Summorum Pontificum Contact Search

Through Jimmy Akin I found this website which is putting together a global list of Catholics interested in the Traditional Latin Mass. What's great about it is you can see interest in a particlar region, or state.

For instance, there are currently 45 Catholics in the State of Washington who have expressed a desire for the 1962 Mass through this website.

Check it out...and add your own name to the list! (Then spread the word.)

Summorum Pontificum Contact Search

**UPDATE**

So I just figured out another neat feature of the website. If you look at the list of anonymous contacts for a given area (say, Washington State), you can email any one of them by clicking on their contact ID number. For example, there are currently four people listed in the City of Tacoma. If I lived in Tacoma I could email each of them (the LumenGentleman website emails them directly; it does not give out their email address) and find out who my Trad-Friends are. :)

Pretty cool. (Now if only there were more than just myself and my wife listed in Port Orchard...)

St. James Cathedral

Somehow, in passing conversation with a non-Catholic friend, the architecture of our local Bremerton parish (Our Lady Star of the Sea, pictured below) came up. My friend had attended a wedding there once upon a time some ten years ago. But he never forgot what he described as, "One of the most beautiful churches in this area."



To be sure, Our Lady Star of the Sea, is a nice parish. But on the whole, there is nothing particularly remarkable about its elegant, yet simple, structure. So I asked my non-Catholic friend if he had ever been to the St. James Cathedral in downtown Seattle. He said no, and I told him he really should, if he was impressed with Star.

But all of this got me to wondering: What did our cathedral look like prior to its "renovation?"

I have no recollection of there ever being a renovation; but I'd be willing to wager my right leg the altar now sitting in the center of the nave is not to be found in the original blueprints.

Curious, I poked around on the Internet.

Here is a photo taken in 1907:



Notice the beautiful baldacchino, altar rail, and statues of Mary and Joseph (presumably on left and right, respectively).

All of which is no more.

Below is another picture; this one from 1929, still long before Vatican II, the "spirit" of which Modernists would soon use as their carte blanche commission to usher in the jackhammers and usher out the high altar.



And no cathedral would be complete without a side altar...


...side-baldacchino and all.

Contrast these pictures of yester-year with the new look:



Where the high altar used to be, the choir now sits.

In the words of architect Stephen Lee,

"The 1994 renovation and renewal began with an awareness that older church interiors were typically ill-suited to the reformed rites of Vatican II, which call for a change in the focus of liturgical action, to the gathered assembly."

I guess it never occurred to Lee that when a religion focuses liturgical action (i.e. worship) on the people, little room is left for God. Then again, maybe that's giving Lee (& friends) too much credit. Perhaps they were not so naive at all.

Contrast the thoughts of the cathedral's re-designer with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy:

"The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is locked into itself...As one of the fathers of Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy, J.A. Jungmann, put it, it was much more a question of priest and people facing in the same direction, knowing that together they were in a procession toward the Lord. They did not lock themselves into a circle, they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim People of God they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us...."

Yeah...

I'll take the design of 1907 over that of 2007 any day.

Coincidence? I think not.

Having just posted and commented on Sister Joan Chittister's reaction to Pope Benedict's broadening of the Traditional Latin Mass, I happened to visit Western Washington University Senior, Corina Jones' blog.

Imagine my surprise in reading her latest entry:

I was fortunate enough today to attend a Tridentine Mass in Canada with a couple of my friends. What a beautiful celebration of the most blessed sacrament of the altar!

I have always been told that the Latin Mass was difficult to follow and that it is hard to feel connected to the Mass when the priest has his back to the congregation. Now that I have experienced this Mass for myself I can say that I felt neither lost nor disconnected. In fact, I felt more connected the Mass than I have in a long time.

I realized what Mass should be about, the Blessed Sacrament. It is not supposed to make one focus on how the choir sounds, what songs are sung, who's wearing what, how are the Lectors, and does the priest 'speak to me'. It is not about how I feel, it is about the most holy Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, the sacrifice of the altar.

Because it was a High Mass, the congregation participated in the responses, all sung in Latin. I sometimes found myself struggling to keep up in the Latin/English guide, but that made me actually pay attention to what was happening in the Liturgy. There was also a communion rail which I thought was awesome! It allowed us to kneel in front of the most blessed Eucharist and to not feel out of place receiving on the tongue. I was a little bit nervous that I was the only woman without a veil, but then I saw a few others who weren't wearing one. The veils were beautiful, and I am almost tempted to start wearing one myself. The Gregorian Chant choir made the Mass even more beautiful.

I am so happy that I was able to have this experience and I hope to attend many more Tridentine masses in the future. If you ever get a chance to go, I would highly reccommend it!

God Bless!

This would be the difference between many Catholic women born in 1936, and those born in 1986.

Oh Sister Joan...

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, would be your run-of-the-mill gray-haired, 60-something, Call to Action, We Are Church, militant feminist "religious" whose efforts to destroy the Church from within have run their course. Scratch that -- Chittister is 71 years old.

And like those who have made the attempt before her, Sister Joan has failed. All there is left to do now is stand by and witness the wailing and writhing of her activism death throws. For death, while imminent and weighing upon us all, is all the more so upon failed activist septuagenarians.

Her July 10 article in the leftist National Catholic Reporter provides for a good case in point. Here she bemoans the July 7, 2007 Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI granting wider access to the Traditional Latin Mass.

But why the concerns? If some people prefer a Latin mass to an English mass, why not have it?

The answer depends on what you think the Mass has to do with articulating the essence of the Christian faith.

These lines could have been penned by the Holy Father himself. Not so the following:

The Latin Mass, for instance, in which the priest celebrates the Eucharist with his back to the people, in a foreign language -- much of it said silently or at best whispered -- makes the congregation, the laity, observers of the rite rather than participants in it.

"Foreign language" has the desired negative connotation. Latin is the sacred language of the Church; not the "foreign" language of the Church. (I wonder if Sister Joan would employ such terminology in a debate about the use of Español in America?)

Chittister's misrepresentation of Latin I can stomach. Her misrepresentation of those attending a Traditional Latin Mass, I can not. (This is not a self-defense argument; I have attended a grand total of two Latin Masses in my lifetime.)

It is true that participation at the Novus Ordo Mass appears different from the TLM. But the misjudgment based on appearance, while entirely understandable for non-Catholics or even lax-Catholics to make, is a gross error and in all likelihood a purposeful act of deception for someone as versed in Catholicism as Chittister.

In the Traditional Rite, most everything is indeed done by the priest. But we do not measure participation in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass by how much we, the laity, are doing...or swaying...or pounding on drums.

Full and active participation can be had by simply uniting our own hearts to that of Christ on the Cross; Christ whose death on Calvary Hill is made present for us at every Mass -- Old Rite, or New.

Back to Sister Joan:

The celebrant becomes the focal point of the process, the special human being, the one for whom God is a kind of private preserve.

The symbology of a lone celebrant, removed from and independent of the congregation, is clear: ordinary people have no access to God. They are entirely dependent on a special caste of males to contact God for them. They are "not worthy," to receive the host, or as the liturgy says now, even to have Jesus "come under my roof."

That's exactly right.

The celebrant becomes the focal point of the process (as opposed to the congregation) because the priest is acting in persona-Christi. He acts in the person of Christ. We see with our eyes a man, 5'10", dark hair, no beard, mounting the steps of the altar. We should see with our eyes of faith Jesus Christ, mounting the hill of Calvary. And seeing Christ with our eyes of faith is made much easier when the celebrant is not "on stage," facing us as an actor who entertains; but at the altar, as a priest offering sacrifice on our behalf.

The symbology of a lone celebrant -- who is both Priest and Victim -- is precisely the way God has ordained it: unus enim Deus unus et mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim 2:5

Until Christ, the ordinary man had remote, distant access to God. Heaven itself was shut to all of mankind, ordinary and extraordinary alike.

With Christ, ordinary men have regained intimate union with Our Lord; in some ways, beyond that which even Adam and Eve had before The Fall. But the union comes to us through the Sacraments, and therefore through those ordained members of Christ's priesthood.

Oh, and we will always remain unworthy to receive the King of Kings. For we are sinful creatures. And he -- he is God.

H/T: Lord That I May See

Tradition

I thought this was kinda cool.

Pope Leo X (b. 1475, d. 1521)
500 years ago:



Pope Benedict XVI (b. 1927)
Today:

07/07/07 (II)

In with "Dominus Vobiscum;" out with the Barney Blessing.

(Sorry - embedded was disabled.)

07/07/07

For a little more perspective on the Motu Proprio -- consider that it means in with the Traditional Latin Mass; out with the Clown Mass.




(If you can stomache watching, you'll learn the deep symbolism of clown-ology when the timer reads about 8 minutes, and get a spark of excitement at about 4 minutes. Please stand for the Creed.)

Summorum Pontificum

Pope Benedict's release of the motu proprio entitled, "Summorum Pontificum" has generated headlines across the globe. But of all the articles one might read, I recommend this one from Catholic World News.

In it you will find a refreshing, orthodox perspective and analysis. Below I have posted excerpts (and my own commentary) for those who would rather pass up the wonderful opportunity to read it in full. ;)

The long-awaited motu proprio, which had been the subject of intensive speculation within the Church for more than a year, gives every priest the right to celebrate the Mass using the 1962 Missal, and instructs pastors to "willingly accept" requests from the faithful for access to the older liturgical form.

The 1962 Missal is more commonly referred to as the "Tridentine Mass" or the "Traditional Latin Mass." Some of the major differences (from the current Roman Missal, or "Novus Ordo" celebration at your typical Catholic parish) being a Mass almost entirely said in Latin, and the priest facing with the people -- not at them.

The new canonical norms established by Pope Benedict will take effect on September 14.

Pope Benedict emphasizes that there are not two different rites, but two different forms of the Roman rite: the ordinary form, according to the current Roman Missal, and the extraordinary form, which uses the Missal that was in universal use prior to the liturgical changes that followed the Second Vatican Council.

You can find and read the motu proprio issued on Saturday by the Holy Father here. And you can find the text of the Pope's accompanying letter, explaining the move here.

[In his letter, t]he Pope also acknowledges that some Catholics find a greater sense of reverence in the older liturgy--

Yup.

in what will now be known as the extraordinary form of the Roman rite.

With his motu proprio the Holy Father hopes to restore reverence through a wider use of the "extraordinary form" of the liturgy-- the Mass of the 1962 Missal. At the same time, it is clear, he hopes that the wider use of the old form, with its scrupulous attention to rubrics, will encourage a more faithful and reverent approach to the ordinary form in the Novus Ordo Mass.

What is new?

Summorum Pontificum states flatly that the old form of the Mass, the 1962 Missal, was never abrogated. Implicitly the Pope is recognizing that many faithful Catholics have suffered a grave injustice, since they were told that the old form of the liturgy was now forbidden.

Yup.

At present-- until the new norms established in the motu proprio take effect on September 14-- Catholics who seek access to the old Mass must petition their diocesan bishop, who may grant permission of the use of the 1962 Missal, under the terms of Pope John Paul's Ecclesia Dei-- or he may choose not to allow it.

With his new norms Pope Benedict recognizes that many bishops have not allowed the "wide and generous" access to the old form that his predecessor had encouraged.

(including the Archbishop of Seattle...and, unless you happen to live in Nebraska, most likely your bishop as well.)

Citing St. Paul's words to the Corinthians (2 Cor 6), the Pope now exhorts all bishops: "Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows."

Sadly, as the Holy Father is well aware, most bishops need more than a simple exhortation from Rome to...listen to Rome.

Here's to the stripping of some red hats, and perhaps vigorous implementation of Canon Law 401§2 which reads, "A diocesan Bishop who, because of illness or some other grave reason, has become unsuited for the fulfillment of his office, is earnestly requested to offer his resignation from office."

But I digress.

But Pope Benedict goes beyond exhortation, and establishes the rights of the faithful in terms of canon law. Every priest has the right to use the "extraordinary form," and needs no further permission. Wherever a "stable group" of parishioners asks for the old Mass, their pastor should "willingly accept" their request, the Pope adds.

Long live Pope Benedict!

In ordinary parishes he envisions the use of the "extraordinary form" for one Sunday Mass. He stipulates that the 1962 Missal should not be used for the Easter Triduum in parishes, since during the Triduum the entire parish is drawn together for the celebration in the ordinary form.

What the motu proprio is not

Because much coverage of the motu proprio has been misleading-- especially in the secular media-- it is important to be clear about several things that Summorum Pontificum does not do, and several effects that the Holy Father obviously does not intend:

1. The motu proprio does not restore the use of Latin to the liturgy. Priests have always had the right to use Latin in celebrating the Novus Ordo liturgy-- the "ordinary" form of the Roman rite. Indeed the use of Latin has always been strongly encouraged by the Vatican, even if few pastors have responded.

2. The motu proprio does not require priests to use the older liturgy. Pope Benedict is not imposing any new liturgical forms; he is allowing the faithful to make use of an old form-- which, as he carefully points out, was never banned. Those lay Catholics who prefer the post-conciliar liturgy have no cause for concern; the new liturgy will remain the commonplace experience in most parishes.

[chop]

In America, the liturgy committee of the US bishops' conference has already released a special newsletter dedicated to Summorum Pontificum, including both the papal documents themselves and a series of questions and answers about the new norms and the extraordinary form of the liturgy. Particularly in light of the hostility that the US bishops' committee has sometimes exhibited toward liturgical norms from Rome, the newsletter offers a remarkably even-handed and sympathetic perspective on the motu proprio.

In particular it is gratifying to read that the US bishops' liturgy committee recognizes the many Catholics have been troubled by the Novus Ordo liturgy because of "the false sense of creativity unfortunately practiced by some in the celebration of the post-conciliar liturgical rites." Citing the words of Pope Benedict, the newsletter notes that this "creative" approach has led to "deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear." Insofar as the US bishops are now officially recognizing that experimentation has deformed the liturgy, Summorum Pontificum is already yielding rich fruit.

Countdown

From Catholic World News:

Vatican, Jul. 6, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican press office has confirmed that Summorum Pontificum, the motu proprio regarding the broader use of the 1962 Roman Missal, will be released on Saturday, July 7.

Although some copies of the document-- which was sent to the world's bishops in advance-- are already in circulation, the contexts are under embargo until noon (Rome time) on July 7. CWN will respect that embargo.

Motu Propio "within a few days"

Like I said...let the countdown begin. ;-)

Vatican, Jun. 28, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican press office has confirmed that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news) yesterday briefed a group of bishops on the forthcoming motu proprio expanding the use of the 1962 Roman Missal.

The Vatican Secretary of State spoke to "representatives from various episcopal conferences" about "the content and spirit" of the motu proprio, the Vatican announcement indicated. Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) joined the meeting to speak with the bishops for about an hour.

The publication of the document, along with "an extensive personal letter from the Holy Father," will take place "within a few days," the Vatican said. The statement did not confirm the July 7 publication date reported yesterday by the Kath.net news service.

The Vatican statement did indicate that the text of the motu proprio and the Pope's explanatory letter will now be sent to all of the world's bishops before the document is formally released. That mailing will also indicate when the Pope's new policies will take effect.

Among the prelates who took part in the June 27 meeting at the apostolic palace were Cardinal Camillo Ruini (bio - news)of Rome; Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, the president of the Italian bishops' conference; Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz, the president of the German bishops' conference; Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England; Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, the president of the French bishops' conference; Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel, Switzerland; Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston; and Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis.

Motu Propio

I first heard the rumor in the Spring of 2006.

I've been waiting on pins and needles ever since -- although, at the same time, growing weary of the various 'insiders' who cry wolf every five weeks or so.

Still, the rumors of Pope Benedict XVI granting universal permission for priests to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass has been ramping-up of late.

In particular, this post from Father Z. seems to suggest we are only days away from getting the official word.

Let the count-down begin.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam

"Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Matthew 25:34-36

Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'















The Vicar of Christ receives a Japanese man afflicted with leprosy.