Archbishop Dwyer of Portland, Oregon on the liturgical reform...

Archbishop Robert J. Dwyer in July 1971 the Catholic Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, had this to say about the New Mass in his Archdiocesan weekly back in 1971. We quote the late Archbishop Robert J. Dwyer (who attended every session of Vatican II) with a longing in our hearts for a return to the days when Catholic bishops were still men of faith.

"We are in a veritable landslide of vulgarization. What was intended by Vatican Council II as a means of making the liturgy more easily understood by the average Christian, has turned out to be something more like an orgy of stripping it of all sense of holiness and reverence, bringing it down to the level of commonness where the very people for whom the changes were made now only yawn out of sheer boredom with the banality of the result. What was the great poetic style of the Bible has been transmogrified and cheapened into some of the most graceless, flat, plodding prose ever inflicted upon undeserving dullards. Matters are bad enough now, but wait until the new Order of the Mass is released as compulsory for a revelation of what crimes can be committed by men in committee! It might have been thought, in the interest of ecumenism, that consideration could have been given to strengthening the old Douai-Challoner text with the great style, the ‘organ roll’ of the King James version. But no! In the minds of those commissioned by hierarchy to do the work, the great object or target, manifestly, was to denude the liturgy of its last claim to literary dignity…With polite pious acquiescence, the Bishops received the results with no more than an occasional feeble, almost only grunted protest. Thusly, do we lose a priceless cultural inheritance....... "


http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/archive-2006-0131-bishopdwyer.htm

PRAY FOR WYD PARTICIPANTS.......

WE CAN HOPE AND PRAY IN EARNEST THAT THE 

MODESTY, DECORUM, PIETY, REVERENCE AND 

DEVOTION WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE AT THIS 

WYD.....THE PHOTOS AT THIS LINK ARE NOT FOR THE 

FAINT OF HEART.



"The contemporary Church prefers to practice an electoral 

Catholicism. It prefers the enthusiasm of great crowds to 

individual conversions." 


Nicolás Gómez Dávila (18 May 1913 in Bogotá – 17 May 1994

 in Bogotá) was a Colombian writer and thinker who is 

considered one of the most intransigent 

political theoreticians of the twentieth century. 

Feast of St Mary Magdalene

I have always been drawn to and fascinated with the figure of St Mary Magdalene who St Gregory the great associates with Mary of Bethany as the repentant sinner. Tertullian in the 200's says that they (the penitent woman and Mary Magdalene) are one and the same. St Augustine and St Jerome do so as well. St. Luke tells about a “sinner” who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, anoints them with ointment, and dries them with her hair. Christ says that her sins are forgiven and that her faith has saved her. However, in the Christian East, there is no identification of St Mary Magdalen, St Mary of Bethany, and the Sinful Woman as one and the same. Liturgically and hagiographically, they are three quite distinct ladies. 

 Most of us when we have fallen into sin are too taken by pride to draw near to Jesus. St Mary Magdalene did not allow human respect,  fear of reproach or being publicly shamed to keep her from her Lord. She had sought love "in all the wrong places" and been thrown to the wayside like refuse perhaps by some of the very people who denounced her presence and condemned her. She could say:

 "I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not. 

The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth? When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him and I will not let him go."  Song 3,2-5.8,6-7 

She stood by Jesus side seemingly fearlessly through thick and thin even to at the foot of the cross. She represented at the foot of the cross those of us who have had much to be forgiven. She is the first to see the resurrected Lord in fact a Dominican Father this morning on television said, "if it were not for her faith and announcing to the disciples the resurrection, I too would not have this faith today.". 

According to French tradition when the faithful were scattered by persecution the family of Bethany found refuge in Provence. The cave in which St. Mary lived for thirty years is still seen, and the chapel on the mountaintop, in which she was caught up daily, like St. Paul, to "visions and revelations of the Lord." When her end drew near she was borne to a spot still marked by a "sacred pillar," where the holy Bishop Maximin awaited her; and when she had received her Lord, she peacefully fell asleep in death.

I remember first reading about the tradition of Sts Mary, Martha and Lazarus coming to Provence in National Geographic as a boy. It was fascinating to me that almost 80 generations of people in the south of France passed this tradition from one generation to the next.  I watched a documentary on EWTN this morning on this very theme. I saw a parallel between St Mary Magdalene and St Mary of Egypt in both seeking after lives of grevious sin to live lives of compuction in communion with their great love Jesus. There exists a tradition that both of them were clothed only in their hair since their clothing had long since disintegrated. Also the comparison of the last communions of both of them. St Mary Magdalene going to St Maximin close to her death and collapsing in his arms before being given viaticum. St Mary of Egypt met St Zosima asking him to bring her holy communion. 

St Mary Magdalene give us a true spirit of repentence and metanoia. Grant us through thy intercession to live our lives in deep compunction and conversion of heart.

The shrine cave grotto of Sainte Baume where St Mary Magdalene is said to have lived the last 30 years of her life in Provence.

LATIN FOR CATHOLICS OF VIETNAM

From the Blog 'Eponymous Flower':




LATIN MASS IN HANOI: TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

It would appear that even in Communist Vietnam that Catholics are unified "Una Voce" as Catholics of all languages, cultures and ethnicities have always been with Latin. Until there is a restoration of an authentic romanità, a Roman character or essence Catholics shall continue in vain to restore their idenitity. 

I had my first holy communion in 1973.  As a boy, I had no recollection of the pre-1970 liturgy. The Mass in 1973 was completely in the vernacular. However, it was clear to me that the demolition of the high altar and communion rail and the placing of a cheap, table-like structure in the sanctuary somehow didn't make sense. I knew from the beautiful vestments in the sacristy (which we never used), from old missals and hymn books etc that something had gone terribly wrong. When I questioned it all, I was told that we were returning to the simplicity of primitive, early Church practices. Everything from table altars, Mass facing the congregation, Mass only in the vernacular, communion in the hand etc was introduced as an "early, primitive Christian practice".  We were "returning to our roots" we were told.... It was then at that early age that I began to read Sacrosanctum Concilium for myself. It seemed obvious to me at the time that the Fathers of the Council could never have envisioned what came to be known as the Novus Ordo (at least not from reading Sacrosanctum Concilium).  It wasn't until adulthood after reading works by Mgr Klaus Gamber that I learned this "return to early Christian practice" was indeed not completely true and according to Pius XII's "Mediator Dei" was not in thinking with the Church. 

AN INTERVIEW WITH DOM ALCUIN REID FROM CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT

CWR: Speaking about older rites, what about the worship of the early Church?  There was much talk of going back to its “purer” forms after the Council. Where do we stand with that today?

Dom Reid: Cardinal Ranjith spoke of this issue in his keynote address, decrying “a kind of false archaeologism which echoed the slogan: ‘let us go back to the liturgy of the early Church.’” His Eminence continued: “In this theme was a hidden understanding that only what happened in liturgy in the first millennium of the Church was valid. This was supposed to be part of the process of aggiornamento. Mediator Dei indicates that this view is in error when it states: ‘the liturgy of the early ages is most certainly worthy of all veneration. But ancient usage must not be esteemed more suitable and proper, either in its own right or in its significance for later times and new situations, on the simple ground that it carries the savor and aroma of antiquity’ [MD 61]. Moreover, since information on the liturgical practice of the early centuries is not so clearly attested to in the written sources available to us from that era, the danger of a simplistic arbitrariness in defining these practices is greater and runs the risk of being pure conjecture. Besides, it is not respectful of the natural process of growth of the traditions of the Church over the subsequent centuries. Neither is it in consonance with the belief in the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church down the centuries. It is also highly pedantic and unrealistic.”

Of course, today we know that what scholars 50 years ago thought was the liturgy of the early Church is not necessarily what scholars hold now. The clearest example of this is the so-called Eucharistic prayer of Hippolytus, which was assumed to be the earliest example of a Roman anaphora and was accordingly used as the basis for the creation of Eucharistic Prayer II promulgated by Paul VI. Today scholars recognize that these assumptions were inaccurate, which is embarrassing to say the least. So too the assumption that the early Church celebrated the Eucharist “facing the people” in the manner that became popular in the 20th century has been shown to be false. These are the dangers and limitations of archaeologism—as opposed to respecting the organic development in the liturgy in history.

From the excellent 'GLORIA.TV' a foreshadow of what is to come for all Catholic priests in the western world who speak out against such things. Father Karl Tropper is right about many things of course:

Carl Tropper: "Austria's bishops are failures"

Carl Tropper, pastor of St. Veit / Vogau, reiterated his statements about homosexuality and Islam.


Photo © Barbić
reverend Father, as the Amen uttered in every prayer you rant every year in the spring against Islam or against homosexuals. Recently, you wrote in the parish bulletin about homosexual perverts. Why?

KARL TROPPER: They're perverts. If you are no longer allowed to say that, you have to go into retirement as pastor.

Is it the right way to express such outlandish opinions about homosexuality and Islam, especially in the Church?

KARL TROPPER: Who will say otherwise, if I do not? All priests should do that. The bishops in Austria and Germany are failures, and do not see what is brewing. In 50 years, Vienna will be a Muslim city, the Votive Church a large mosque.

Back to current case: Why does the Catholic Church have such a hard time with homosexuality?

KARL TROPPER: It is tremendously wrong. And it is perverse.

The diocese announced in previous years regarding consequences toward you. The diocesan bishop had given a written warning in the previous year. Did he also rebuke you in this particular case?

KARL TROPPER: He said I must not write such things. But in this particular case I was even received notice from the Prosecutor (Note: There were two reports of incitement, both cases were dismissed by the prosecutor).

You will no longer go out with your opinions to the public?

TROPPER KARL: I only go outside accompanied with a lawyer.

With the attorney for the sermon in the church? ...

KARL TROPPER: One can also write something.

You have no fear of legal consequences for the church?

KARL TROPPER: What have I done wrong?
They insult minorities, fulminate against other religions. and Do not apologize?

KARL TROPPER: No, why?
Because you incite?

KARL TROPPER: no.
Do not you think that with such statements many churchgoers are afraid?

KARL TROPPER: All right, nobody needs to come to church.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider - "Vatican II Must be Clarified"

Radical changes

From the blog 'CORDIALITER'

SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2013

Radical changes

A reader asked me some questions about the radical changes which have 

affected the Roman rite. Here's my answer:

Dear brother in Christ,

  for  those of us who love the traditional liturgy it

 is not a problem to actively participate in a rite in Latin and with 

long moments of apparent silence. Unfortunately, there are 

many people who would fail during the Canon of the Mass 

to be "silent" to make mental prayer and offer an oblation 

with the victim who is sacrificed in the unbloody renewal

 of the Holy Sacrifice. To spread the ancient rite there is a need

 to "educate" souls, to understand its mysterious beauty.

 In this regard, we must all work harder.

About the changes, it must be said that the Constitution 

"Sacrosanctum Concilium" on the Sacred Liturgy was 

asked to perform only the minor changes, minor touch ups.

 However, nothing happens by chance, everything happens

 by the will of God, or at least by his permissive will What has happened 

in the field of liturgy, God has not prevented in the hope of obtaining

 a greater good that we now cannot see, but that one day will fully understand .

As for the liturgical abuses that are rampant in many churches, 

I think they are a divine punishment. In the Holy Scriptures there

 are stories of serious desecration in the Temple of Jerusalem

 or other such matters. God did not want them to be committed, but not

 prevent them because he wanted to punish the Jewish people

 for their sins, and so lead them to conversion.

Sooner or later the new Maccabees arise that will release the Church 

from the plagues that afflict today. It is only a matter of time.

In Corde Regis,

Cordialiter

Feast Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Procession Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Chile 

Flos Carmeli

This is the prayer of St. Simon Stock, to whom the Scapular devotion with its promise
was given. It has for seven centuries been called a prayer to the Blessed Mother
which has never been known to fail in obtaining her powerful help.

O beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful Vine,
Splendor of Heaven, holy and singular, who
brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining
a Pure Virgin, assist me in this necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help and protect me!
Show me that thou art my Mother.

O Mary, Conceived without sin,
Pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Mother and Ornament of Carmel, Pray for us!
Virgin, Flower of Carmel, Pray for us!
Patroness of all who wear the Scapular, Pray for us!
Hope of all who die wearing the Scapular, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Friend of the Sacred Heart, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Chaste Spouse of Mary, Pray for us!
St. Joseph, Our Patron, Pray for us!
O sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!
 

Pray for the Underground Catacomb Catholic Church in China

From 1992 to 1998, Lu Nan, a Chinese documentary photographer, undertook an unauthorized project where he traveled throughout China photographing the "Underground Church". Lu Nan faced arrest and prosecution for taking these photos. The project is entitled "On the Road. Chinese Catholic Church 1992-1998".

May these deeply moving photos become a meditation for each one of us....My faith has been strengthened and I've been deeply edified by these photographs. These people bear a invaluable witness to the Catholic faith under circumstances none of us can imagine. My God grant us all the grace to be able to bear such witness for Christ and our Catholic faith if need be.  I have always heard that the faith blossoms and flourishes under persecution. The blood of untold martyrs in China is the seedbed of the Church there.  Part of my own heritage on my mother's side were made up of Chinese Catholics who went to Hawaii in the 19th Century. It is to these ancestors really that I owe my Catholic faith I received through my mother. We must pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer greatly at the hands of an atheistic government. I pray that the "underground catacomb Church" shall grow as a leaven within Chinese society. I pray that those who attend the schismatic "official Patriotic Church" will be given the grace and strength to reject the false notion that one can be truly Catholic in so doing. 

Our Lady of Sheshan pray for China and for the persecuted Catholics there!

The Cardinal Kung Foundation is an excellent resource regarding the underground catacomb Catholics of China.

The complete set of photographs can be viewed here with a description