Tag: Liturgy

A Providential Good News story

Published on by Kathy Clubb2 Comments

this morning, without an article ready to publish, i was overwhelmed with discouragement at having to present yet another post containing an Apostate pope in a funny hat or a freemason prelate expelling a faithful priest or any similarly dismal theme.

Lo and behold, this sweet testimony, full of hope and gratitude, arrived in my inbox. It originated here.

NOTES in square brackets [ ] added by yours truly.

Cara Veronica,

On June 19, 2024, a sad day to remember, the last Latin Mass was celebrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Melbourne). More than 850 faithful were present.

On Wednesdays of every week of the year, an ancient mass was celebrated in that church, attended by hundreds of young people.

The document to suppress it was sent by the Vatican and signed by Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola. In it they apologized, saying that since there is an anti-traditional climate in Rome, it is not appropriate for the Cathedral to continue with the usual Mass. Words that really make no sense…

Now, that one has been suppressed, only two parishes remain that celebrate the traditional mass. Among these is mine, which has the authorization for another 2 years. Then we will have to ask for permission again, which we fear will not be granted. Let us pray intensely that the Lord will come to free us soon, Veronica! It was too much pain for us! What a disappointment! What an outrage!

We are all infinitely sorry, also because that Holy Mass was attended by many young people: students, seminarians and young workers. For them it was the only ancient, midweek Mass they could attend. 

Already in 2021, after receiving the first order from Rome, the archbishop had forbidden all parishes to celebrate in Latin. Then we do not know what happened: suddenly he gave permission to the Cathedral to celebrate it and on Wednesdays it was very popular. At least 500 [NOTE: a slight exaggeration – by a factor of 10] faithful attended each time. Its suppression was a real scandal! Let us entrust ourselves to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, Veronica, and pray that Her Immaculate Heart will soon triumph.

In my parish, as I was saying, one of the two still authorized to celebrate the ancient rite of the Saturday mass,*  by Grace, the Sunday mass is reformed, but in Latin** and is solemn.  [NOTE: Most Masses in this parish are Novus Ordo, offered ad Orientem; there is a weekly TLM as permitted by the local Ordinary.] Between incense, blessings and Gregorian chants, many are the young people and large families, with many children, who attend it, even coming from very far away. There are those who travel hundreds of kilometers by car to be there, on holidays.

The solemn Mass lasts about an hour and a half. Many women, like me, wear the veil and 90% of the faithful and more, receive Communion on the tongue. 

Our parish priest is an exemplary priest. Very young, but with a traditionalist background.

Upon his arrival, a new air was breathed. Softer, more sacred. He made a radical counter-revolution, abolishing all modernist customs and practices and restoring a certain material and spiritual discipline.

First he removed the altar girls and placed the Tabernacle back in the center, from a lateral position where it had previously been placed. He removed an ugly table, placed in place of the Altar, installing another, worthy of the name. He put back the kneelers to receive Holy Communion on the tongue and began to use the plate under the chin again, during His distribution. With him the sign of peace immediately became a distant memory and he began to distribute Holy Communion personally, completely excluding extraordinary ministers.

Needless to say, the priest wears a cassock and I noticed that the toes of his shoes are bent upwards, so much time is spent kneeling. God bless him and confirm. He has already bought the balustrades [altar rails] that will be installed soon.

During the lockdown he never abandoned or neglected the faithful. He heard confessions for more than 3 hours on Saturdays, when other churches were closed. He even installed an automatic dispenser for holy water, instead of taking it away. So great is his zeal, that he always found a solution for every problem that arose.

The Church in Australia has changed in recent years, but it has not reached the negative extremes of Italy: for example, no priest has ever thought of refusing Communion to the faithful, because they want to receive it on the tongue and kneeling . [NOTE: this does, in fact, sometimes happen in Australia, unfortunately.] The Our Father has not changed either and normally everyone kneels during the Consecration.

We know well that in particular everything depends on the priest and in general we notice a certain awakening among them.

The young consecrated people are very devoted and lovers of the two-thousand-year-old tradition of the Catholic Church.

Let’s hope so, Veronica.

A big hug to you. Thank you

Silvia, da Melbourne (Australia)

While there are some who say that the reverent Novus Ordo is “part of the problem”, I say, along with St. Pio of Pietrelcina, that in times like these, we must take the good wherever we find it. Thank God for this woman and for her blessed little parish which is evidence that God never abandons His Church.

The Amazon continues to haunt the Church

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Ever since the Pacha-scandal, Catholics haven’t been able to think of the Amazon region without an interior spiritual shudder. That day marked the sickening beginning of a nightmare that still continues, for Scripture tells us that pestilence is a punishment for idolatry. Worse than even a “plandemic” is the thought of God’s remaining punishments for idolatry: famine and war. And these have not been closer to our shores than at any time during the past seventy years.

So it is with grave misgivings that I see the Amazonian Rite is still being fabricated in ‘full steam ahead’ mode. One can only ask, why that is? Pope Francis is all for reducing the number of Rites, is he not? Yet, here we see a gaggle of Commissions working away to create – out of thin air – a Rite which will allow the “Local Churches to live and celebrate their faith, according to their native expressions”. Because, as is only too evident whenever the Modernist Church casts its net to the peripheries, it believes that the indigenous people caught in its snare of opportunism lack the intelligence to comprehend the Mass as it has always been offered.

Why else must every prayer, hymn and symbol be dumbed-down for the locals? Surely not, say, to enable paganism to sit side-by-side with true worship? Surely not to see demons usurp the place reserved for Christ alone? Because that is precisely what will happen if the Church continues its headlong path towards syncretism and idolatry.

If we hadn’t had enough of redundant terms, such as a absurd-sounding Synod on Synodality, the South American bishops, (Liberation theologians almost to a man) have given us a new one: inculturation in interculturality. Our shepherds are sounding more like Dr Seuss every day.

Anyone concerned about this new Rite being completely orthodox, decorous and edifying can rest easy. Cardinal Roche has it in hand. As a sworn enemy of the Latin Mass, he will no doubt ensure that the Amazon Rite displays the least possible resemblance to the usus antiquior.

Don’t forget that at the time of the Synod on the Amazon, it was suggested that women deacons be ordained in that region and that married men be allowed to become priests.

Move over Troy, the Amazonian horse is on its way. When it comes to the creation of this new Mass, we can be sure that Tradition will be tossed into a pot with some herbs and a baby llama or two, then burned as an offering to Pachamama.

We are all priests now.

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Francis serves up another heresy sandwich with Desiderio Desideravi.

The documents of Vatican II are often likened to a cake to which a teaspoon of poison has been added, rendering the whole thing unfit to eat. Our present Pope has taken that to a new level with his regular offerings of heresy sandwich: two wholesome slices of brown bread (sound doctrine) with a thick layer of heresy sandwiched between them.

His Apostolic letter, Desiderio Desideravi, is a prime example of this. With its calls for more reverent celebration of the Mass, and for congregants to be better educated about the nature of the Mass, most of its content is as solid as the homemade loaves baked by grandma on her woodstove.

Then we hear from Giovanni Zaccaria, professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce who really knows how to draw attention to that soul-snatching poison found lurking in the sandwich. (“Wait!” I hear you say. “The Pope didn’t say this.” To which my response is: this is how he operates; this is “his style”, as he is so fond of saying. Bergoglio’s “style” is to get a mouthpiece to explain what is really going on in his mind.) Back to Zaccaria:

“The first need is to understand the priestly dimension of the baptized. That all the baptized are priests, they participate in the priesthood, through the common priesthood of the faithful, they participate in the priesthood of Christ. Therefore, in that celebration, they are also protagonists”.

Well, not really.

In the Mass, there is ONE priest, a ordained man who gave up the promise of comfort and family life for the sake of Jesus Christ. But even HE is not the “protagonist” of the Mass: the protagonist in the Mass is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, offering His Sacrifice of Himself to the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father, through the action of the Third Person, the Holy Ghost. A priest simply acts in persona Christi.

There is no human protagonist in the Mass.

Of course, the Modernists always make a fuss of this ‘Royal Priesthood” thing, and of course, they have Scripture to back them. up. 1 Peter 2:9 is a favourite reference; a look at the second part of that verse gives a clue as to why this verse is so beloved of the modern Church: “But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.“

It’s a handy little verse that can easily be co-opted by lodge-attending Modernists. They just LOVE Masonic-sounding Bible references.

Now, some might think that Fr Zaccaria is applying St Peter’s exhortation to the faithful in order to make them more appreciative of their baptismal graces and ultimately more attentive at Mass. However, reading more of his comments makes it quite clear, that this man’s intention – if not that of the original document – is to encourage the “clericalisation of the laity and the laicisation of clerics.”

The laity don’t kneel in Mass because they are a lesser form of priest, the laity (and priest) kneel as a sign of humility before the awe-inspiring sacrifice of Jesus Christ, before the grandeur of the Trinity, before the miracle of Transubstantiation.

We kneel because we deserve hell but also have a chance of avoiding it.

We kneel out of love and reverence – not because we want to be – or are, in some mysterious way – priests.

By the way, this final phrase could be taken to suggest that traditionalists, who are known for doing a lot of kneeling during a Latin Mass, simply do so because that it their personal preference – their “party.”

“When you kneel it is also a sign of the priestly dimension of everything you are doing. The gestures already exist, but they need to be understood, explained better, because if not, they become our party and the Mass is not our party”.

So what at first seems like grandma’s good and wholesome bread may in fact leave the recipient with a rather nasty taste in his mouth – if not a case of indigestion.

If only the reality was as insignificant as the analogy, since a heresy sandwich is something that harms not the body, but the soul.

This book proves Bugnini was a Freemason!

Published on by Kathy ClubbLeave a comment

And Baggio, too, for that matter.

And a couple of others who have not been identified. What a treasure this is: finally we know that evidence of Bugnini’s Masonic membership exists, albeit lying in a dusty vault somewhere under the Vatican.

A priest by the name of Fr Charles Murr has just released a book (click here to purchase it) which documents an investigation into ecclesiastical Freemasonry begun under Pope Paul VI. That’s right, Paul who was by no means a model Pope, had the fortitude to at least start the investigation. But unfortunately, as the books relates, he did not have the stomach to carry through the report’s findings.

Pope John Paul I also read the report but mysteriously died before he could take any action. The report then passed to John Paul II, who simply ignored it. Not very saintly of him, was it?

One wonders about the implications of the hierarchy confronting the fact that the Novus Ordo was created by a Mason. What does that say about the new Mass? What does it say about Traditiones Custodes? (Not what we say – which barely passes muster in polite conversation – but could we one day see a ceremonious tossing of an official Church document into an elegant Italian garbage bin?)

Would we see a very hasty evaporation of the ghastly Spirit of Vatican II as prelate after prelate tries to distance himself from the novelties imposed upon the Church by a Freemason?

No wonder the report has never been released. It would simply create a huge headache for the Church the intensity of which would make the abuse scandals pale into insignificance.

So until the report is opened by some unfortunate prelate, it will gather dust along with the so-called Red Dossier, Benedict XVI’s report into the sexual, moral and financial scandals in the Vatican. Both documents are no doubt mouldering in the archives somewhere near the real Third Secret of Fatima and the first drafts of the McCarrick Report.

But do read Fr Murr’s book, if you have the chance. If nothing else, it is a reminder that there has always been and will always be good men in Rome.

Playing Fast & Loose with the Liturgy

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From THE CATHOLIC THING

by Fr. Gerald E. Murray – TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022

On March 12, Pope Francis went to the Jesuit Church of the Gesú in Rome for a Mass on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the canonizations of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. The pope preached at the Mass and concelebrated. He had earlier been scheduled to be the principal celebrant, but Fr. Arturo Sosa, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, for some reason, was the principal celebrant instead.

Liturgical theology and law do not countenance that a bishop, let alone the diocesan bishop in his own diocese, concelebrate Mass with a priest as the principal celebrant (apart from a grave necessity, such as infirmity). This flows from the nature of the episcopal office: the bishop is the high priest in his diocese. He offers the sacrifice of the Mass for his people, while his priests, co-workers who serve the local Church under his authority, concelebrate with him.

The Mass began with the usual entrance procession. Pope Francis was already seated in a chair near the altar. He wore no liturgical vestments, and thus gave no indication that he was either concelebrating or presiding. He preached without wearing the liturgical garments (mozetta, rochet, and stole) that are prescribed to be worn when the preacher is not the one celebrating the Mass.

He concelebrated, extending his hand and saying the words of consecration, without wearing Mass vestments (alb, stole, and chasuble). This practice is strictly forbidden. In its 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, the Congregation for Divine Worship stated: “The abuse is reprobated whereby the sacred ministers celebrate Holy Mass or other rites without sacred vestments.”

Is the pope subject to liturgical law? Yes. Can he dispense himself from liturgical laws? Yes, but canon 90 states that there must be “a just and reasonable cause” for a dispensation. Did Pope Francis canonically dispense himself from the requirement to wear liturgical vestments when preaching at and concelebrating Mass? He may have, but the Holy See has given no indication that he in fact did so.

Was there a just and reasonable cause for the pope not to wear the prescribed liturgical vestments? It is very difficult, if not impossible, to assert that such a cause existed in this case.

We are confronted here with a reality that Catholics are all too familiar with in the life of the Church during the past half-century and more – the flagrant flouting of liturgical laws for no apparent reason beyond the preference of the priest celebrant.

Is this an important matter? For some, undoubtedly, such liturgical abuses are insignificant and do not merit any comment. Some will say that the pope can do whatever he wants, and we should not be upset over this or that choice of his: “He must have a good reason, and it is impertinent to question his judgment, because, after all, he is the pope.”

But it is precisely because he is the pope that we should be concerned about his decision to disregard the rules governing the celebration of Mass. The pope is the supreme authority in the Church and as such is called upon to uphold the Church’s laws, lest he scandalize the faithful by giving a bad example. The scandal would consist in giving the impression that, following the example of the pope, any priest is perfectly free to do whatever he wants when it comes to following liturgical law.

It’s no secret that many Catholics have flocked to the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass because they are tired of the widespread liturgical abuses they encounter in the celebration of the New Mass. Pope Francis himself is aware of this.

He brought up this problem in his July 16, 2021 letter to the bishops of the world accompanying Traditionis Custodes, his motu proprio restricting the celebration of the Old Mass: “I am saddened by abuses in the celebration of the liturgy on all sides. In common with Benedict XVI, I deplore the fact that ‘in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not observed in celebration, but indeed come to be interpreted as an authorization for or even a requirement of creativity, which leads to almost unbearable distortions.’”

He counseled the bishops: “I ask you to be vigilant in ensuring that every liturgy be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses.”

Pope Francis’ own words serve as a rebuke of his decision to concelebrate Mass without liturgical vestments. The sacred character of our acts of worship is fostered and protected when priests and bishops willingly and carefully follow the requirements of liturgical law. The Christian faithful have the right to participate in liturgical prayer without being compelled to experience “unbearable distortions” of good liturgical order. That right depends upon the willingness of priests and bishops to obey what is set down in liturgical law.

There is no clerical privilege that allows priests and bishops to rewrite the rules to suit their own tastes. Yet that is precisely what some priests and bishops will sadly take away from this regrettable instance of papal liturgical abuse.

The worship of God is the sacred duty of the Church’s pastors. The form of that worship is given to them by the Church. It is their responsibility to see to it that every act of liturgical worship is carried out in loving fidelity to what is set forth by the Church in her liturgical laws. Disobedience teaches the wrongful lesson that Church law is unimportant.

This is a recipe for more chaos in the life of the Church. It needs to stop.