Well that didn’t take long.
Like an imprudent Imperial officer questioning Darth Vader’s confidence in the Force, Cardinal Robert Sarah dared to address a central tenet of the erroneous Spirit of Vatican 2, and for his “lack of faith” in a post-conciliar liturgical innovation, he has been promptly given the Vader treatment…and in the Year of Mercy no less!
What was the great offense committed by this humble and soft spoken prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments? What was said to actually prompt a clarification from the Vatican?…yes, you read that correctly…an actual, honest to goodness, clarification from Rome!
Cardinal Sarah had the audacity, the absolute temerity, to suggest that his brother bishops consider returning to ad orientem Masses beginning this Advent. At their discretion. Only following proper catechesis. And in continuity with the liturgical tradition of the Catholic Church, east and west, for 1,900 years.
It wasn’t as if the Cardinal advocated giving holy communion to those living in adulterous relationships, where a valid sacramental marriage ended in divorce (no annulment) and yet a second, civil, marriage has been entered into.
It’s not like Cardinal Sarah authored an intentionally ambiguous exhortation which has resulted in entire bishops conferences offering conflicting interpretations of a magisterial document…when charity and justice would seem to demand an immediate clarification from Holy Mother Church.
No, all Cardinal Sarah did was suggest that all of us, priest and faithful together, turn toward the Lord, ad orientem, in those appropriate moments of the liturgy.
So, in the spirit of another Catholic blogger, here are ten things to know and share about Cardinal Sarah having his liturgical legs cut out from underneath him:
1. He gave his address a week ago at Sacra Liturgia UK.
2. The Catholic internet blew up over his suggestion for masses to be offered ad orientem beginning the First Sunday of Advent.
3. Aging hippies, Jesuits, and modernists (often one and the same) and readers of sites such as Pray Tell flipped out at the very thought that the Mass isn’t about them after all.
4. Cardinal Sarah met with Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, who proceeded to pull a Brutus to Sarah’s Caesar. Nichols promptly had a letter out to his priests advising them that they would most certainly not be turning eastward this Advent, as he apparently believes that worship of God cannot be sustained unless priest and faithful stare at each other unceasingly at Mass.
5. Cardinal Sarah returned to Rome on Saturday and, reportedly, was summoned to meet with the pope. One can only guess how this went. We can hope it was an opportunity for accompaniment…as opposed to some kind of sensitivity training…mandated (no doubt) for those still clinging to that whole “reform of the reform” business Benedict was so fond of.
6. By Monday, July 11, two more Jesuits had their crack at Sarah. First, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, papal adviser and editor of the influential Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, tweeted a series of excerpts from the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), apparently seeking to discredit Cardinal Sarah. It didn’t. Then, outgoing Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. also misinterpreted the GIRM in a communique released on Monday, arguing incorrectly (like Cardinal Nichols) that a recommendation for a free standing altar in #299 means that versus populum is the liturgical norm for the Ordinary Form. This tired and erroneous reading has been refuted before.
7. By Monday afternoon America Magazine, Rocco Palma, and their readers were celebrating the public “schooling” given to a celebrated voice for orthodoxy.
I don’t really have an 8, 9, or 10. Besides, why does a “ten things to know and share” list actually need to have ten things? That just strikes me as rigid legalism.
What happens next? Who knows. Will Cardinal Sarah end up on a metaphorical Malta; banished to the Trad gulag for failure to embrace liturgical rupture over continuity? We pray that is not the case.
What has been made very clear (again) for anyone still in denial about it is this: the Spirit of Vatican 2 is alive and well. The reform of the reform, so much a part of the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, is simply as optional as the Ordinary Form of the Mass is itself option filled.
Go back and read the top 5 Quotes from Cardinal Sarah’s address. There is nothing in his talk that is earth shattering, revolutionary, or inconsistent with the tradition of the Roman Rite. That he and his suggestion caused such a reaction only speaks to how severe the rupture truly is.
Lord have mercy.
Originally published at Liturgyguy.com
Cardinal Sarah is a blessing. May God protect the good priests, cardinals and bishops from the pack of wolves.
And the hirelings of the wolves and their hungry lion.
Bishop vs Bishop
Cardinal va Cardinal
10 things to know and share about fire raining down from heaven! (oh those silly doom and gloom prophets…)
Coming soon to an earth near you…
To finish your Ten Things to Know and Share…
8. Cardinal Sarah was right.
9. Cardinal Sarah was right.
10. Cardinal Sarah was right.
If nothing else, this episode should prove that we can put the whole notion of a “reform of the reform” to rest, as well as the argument that “Vatican II has yet to implemented properly”. Lombardi’s public rebuke—and it is a rebuke; there is no way any sort of “public clarification” would have been issued (from my cynical point of view) unless the powers that be in the Vatican wanted it—of Cardinal Sarah has served its purpose of humiliating Sarah and confirming that, no matter what anyone may actually say through official channels, the agenda in Rome is to resuscitate the Zeitgeist of the 1970s.
I think we can safely dispense of Benedict’s notion of a “hermeneutic of continuity” at this juncture as well. Clearly, the narrative that is being put forth by those in power (and remember: those in power write history) is that Vatican II marked a complete rupture of the Church from her past, and anyone within the hierarchy who refuses to go along with the New Church paradigm will be punished accordingly.
The battle lines have been drawn yet again, it would seem. We cannot hope for support from Rome, let alone from sympathetic bishops or priests, as targets have now been painted on their backs. The modernists have made it clear that what they are most terrified of is the exposition of traditional liturgical praxis to the Church at-large, as it would slowly but surely reveal to the lukewarm within the pews that the postconciliar paradigm has gone completely off the rails. As of yesterday, the likelihood of such an eventuality just became slimmer than ever.
Spot on Mr. Williams!
“3. Aging hippies, Jesuits, and modernists (often one and the same) and readers of sites such as Pray Tell flipped out at the very thought that the Mass isn’t about them after all.”
ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT
SMELL OF THE CROWD
You can do the hokey-pokey,
You can turn yourself around,
You can say, “All’s okie-dokey
I was lost but now am found.”
You can Tango at the Masses
With your LGBT group,
You can even bring your doggies
And your scooper for their poop.
You know they’re doing wrong
And they’re preaching what’s not true,
But you’re their captured audience
Just sitting in their pew.
Yes, you are an audience,
A group, not separate souls,
The crowd who roars for these men
In narcissistic roles.
While down-a-road there are young men,
Real Roman Catholic Priests,
They have no ticket box office
Like smelly greasepaint beasts.
The Producer sent a Director,
Who rehearsed them dusk to dawn…
Say Mass without strife, daily lay down their life,
For they know that “The show must go on!!”
Nice!
A little off the subject but to get a piece of history about bergoglio, check out e michael jones May 2016 Culture Wars magazine, the WJC comes to Argentina. Interesting to see what actually got liberated in Argentina. I was shocked when begoglio was elected pope given that he was a Jesuit and Liberation Theology guy.
Also I just recently found this site one peter five through the latest culture wars magazine just at about the same time I was wondering what the heck was going on with ChurchMilitant. Jones does an article on CM that was quite surprising. Food for thought. Not to say that there is not a lot of good on CM given all the videos on catholic dogma, church history, apologetics , interviews with some amazing people, and raising young men in the faith etc. There was also a letter to the editor in this same magazine (JUly/August 2016) with some more info about Pope Francis and which south american communist prelates he thinks should be canonized and which holy prelates he ignores. So will we now have communists canonized? The history is worth looking into. The church is attacked on many fronts and canonizing the unworthy is just one more concern.
Thanks to all of you for your watchfulness and efforts to restore authentic catholic faith. My prayers are with you.
Thank you for your comment and thank you for your prayers. God bless you and yours and his work at your hands.
*
More on the man who became pope: RORATE CÆLI: The Horror! A Buenos Aires journalist describes Bergoglio [http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-horror-buenos-aires-journalist.html].
The Cardinal electors should have done their homework instead of relying on the “spirit”. What ought to be done goinf forward.
*
Jus because CM features E Michael Jones [who to me hasn’t fully grasped the conspiracy (cf. My post: The Apocalyptic Beasts – https://thewarourtime.com/2016/01/29/the-apocalyptic-beasts/)] doesn’t mean his apostolate is alright. He has featured the likes of Mother Miriam [cf. here: https://thewarourtime.com/2015/09/27/mother-miriams-heart-for-the-family-and-church-the-catholic-world-report/ and here: https://thewarourtime.com/2014/02/17/from-a-letter-to-diognetus-the-christian-in-the-world/%5D and Bp. Schneider, etc. but I do believe he/CM are doing more harm than good.
“You don’t need to listen to that Cardinal …”
“These aren’t the reforms you’re looking for …”
“You should go about your self-worship.”
“Move along …”
It’s been a sad but predictable affair – yet it represents progress of a real sort. The fact that the conversation is being had at all now is telling. A decade ago, notwithstanding who the Pope was, it was more or less verbotten to speak of, or try, save for a few eccentric or intensely courageous priests. The bishops who don’t like it (like Cdl. Nichols) will keep discouraging it. The bishops who are open to it, like Dominique Rey, James Conley, Robert Morlino, Charles Johnston, will encourage their priests to try it. Predictable.
But there’s more good news: In places like France, on current trends most Masses will be ad orientem whether the Spirit of Vatican II likes it or not, because the Spirit is literally running out of priests (and laity). As is, over 20% of all new priests in France are traditionalists, meaning they’ll be celebrating the Form of the Roman Rite that is *always* ad orientem – the Extraordinary Form. A recent letter to Pais Liturgique captures the flavor of where things are headed:
It may take a while, but it seems the future will be seen facing the liturgical east.
This idea of France returning to its dominant position in defending Christendom is so odd to me – but I hear it again and again, like whispers in unexpected corners.
“like whispers in unexpected corners”…
The Holy Spirit perhaps?
I’m never sure about that. People much holier than I get fooled all the time.
The sheep’s clothing is really slipping off the wolves now. You can see the fangs.
These men fight ideas with ideas. This battle is taking place in the heavenlies, but not a remote distant heavenlies. The battle is taking place in the “air” where the “prince of the power of the air” lives and breaths, right here, in your mind. These men didn’t go beat up Cdl. Sarah, they just contradicted his idea in the public arena where the exchanges of power take place. The battle is one of ideas from which all physical reality flows and corresponds. The one with the most powerful idea wins. We need to fight ideas with ideas.
But if we catch on to something, perhaps we can turn the tides, us little people.
The battle is won and fought in the “air” and 1P5 is fighting the battle right there, right here, which is why they got so much attention especially over the Fatima issue a few weeks back.
The battle is not magic. Look at the reaction! We are on to something! An opening!
People, if we press the right buttons, we can hasten a conclusion to the VII fiasco. We, the laity, can speed this mess up, and bring it to a conclusion.
I’m convinced the power is with the people more than we have ever realized. Not in a “let’s go protest” kind of physical way. I mean, in the realm of ideas. What does the VII crowd fear the most? It’s very simple to reverse engineer: they fear people who understand their faith and who talk about it openly. Their worst nightmare is fighting the laity in the realm of ideas.
Imagine what a laity-led movement (I hesitate to call it that) of the laity requesting ad orientem Novus Ordor masses, together with requests for the EF? Think of how that would empower faithful prelates? Cdl. Sarah is an example for us to imitate.
If we start to do that, to get in the “air” and ask for simple things like this, the entire NO VII liberal tradition hating superstructure would collapse after a short but intense fight. We are in it now. But this doesn’t have to drag on for decades more than it already has.
The one thing ALL of these men are afraid of is this: people getting the idea we can get our Mass back. That we can get our faith back. The faith of 1950 years, not this non-Catholic Catholicism they have stealth-peddled for decades (with the roots going back to the French Revolution).
The EF Mass (and to a much, much lesser extent NO ad orientem) is the rebuttal to their one-world religion no-morals relativity-based religion. The two can’t coexist. To simply speak of it too much causes them to panic. Because the IDEA, the vision of the world, that is contained in the EF is a direct antidote to their vision of the world.
What we have not woken up to quite yet, is how powerful a simple idea is. It’s so powerful that they have to squelch all mention of it. Because if the THOUGHT of it gets out just a bit too much, they know their game is over. Therefore they scheme, maneuver, obfuscate and equivocate.
This is an opening, an awakening, that they are worried. This quick reaction today is becoming more familiar. As Sherlock was fond of saying, “the game is afoot”.
People, by prayer and certain actions, the laity can play a huge roll in taking it down once and for all. But by prayer, I don’t mean “3 Hail Mary’s” or even 3000. I mean “if you say to this mountain be removed” kind of prayer – prayer that is the faithful envisioning of a scenic vista without a particular mountain.
If it’s true, as some think, that the entire super-structure of Catholicism is sick to the core, beyond remedy, then why not hasten the start-over? Fr. Malachi Martin was convinced it was dead already, and that it simply hadn’t collapsed. He thought it would collapse by the year 2000, but he under estimated the clinging-on of the old guard. I’m sure he’d be quite surprised at old Cdl. Kasper going about as he’s done the last couple years.
Support 1P5. Support other causes. BUT THEY ARE SCARED, so if we all decide to start doing something to challenge the power of the air, only good things for the Kingdom can happen.
Envision, strongly, a future where there are exactly ZERO liberals in the church, and a new clergy from Peter’s barque on down. Let us by faith complete the withering of the fig tree that the Lord himself has started. By faith. Imagine it! Imagine it like you’ve never imagined it before and then pray and act. Nothing can stop us, and we might be able to prevent or shorten the devastation predicted in Fatima. Resist the devil and he will flee.
Oh well, I wrote to much. But I couldn’t say nothing in light of the attack on Cdl. Sarah. Time go get a plan in motion!
I agree with you, but in order to win a battle of ideas, both sides need to be starting from the same base premise – that being objective reality. It seems these guys just make up their own reality where logic and the law of non contradiction are of no concern. Although this should make it easier to discredit their position, I don’t know if there will be a lot of people who even care enough to pay attention. I think Divine intervention is the only way now. Much prayer and fasting. (Not that I’m going to give up on the battle of ideas though.)
I hear you, but “objective reality” is simply what humans make from their ideas, good or bad. The USSR was a bad idea, but it was real until it was collapsed by its own inner contradictions once people got the IDEA that Communism was, in fact, a bad idea. The idea that Communism was a bad idea was stronger than the idea that it was a good one, and it won the day.
The Spirit of Vatican II is a bad idea. Vatican II was a bad idea. It will be superseded by a better idea. This is what these clergy-thugs are afraid of and why they so vehemently and vocally opposed Cdl. Sarah. It’s so obvious. They hate ideas that are stronger and better than their ideas, and thus their reaction. This is a SIGN.
They make their own reality – yes – that is what the Freemasons have been working on for 200 years. It’s real. It’s bad. It’s in part here, like a Frankenstein who’s heartbeat has not quite caught yet. “Just a little more electricity”, they keep saying (like all good liberals do).
That said, it doesn’t take many cardinals to spread lies and visions of false realities. Conversely, out of the billion Catholics on earth, I’m sure there are 1000 good, visionary, faithful men that now more than ever have a chance to do something. How many men did it take to create the Novus Ordo? A handful. A handful or less could fix that. They will, and soon!
The goal isn’t to discredit their position or attack their logic. That is simply playing their game and anyone who plays them at it will lose. Attacking logic is attacking “flesh and blood” as St. Paul put it. All we have to do is attack the vision itself. They can’t stop people from praying and talking about their eradication, i.e., the resurgence of Tradition and the final burial of all things “Spirit of VII”. You can’t stop an idea, an image, a vision, a picture.
Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words. The spirit of VII sect will crumble once a better idea sees just a little more light. We need to hold that idea aloft and victory is sure.
Man, I’m excited! (could you tell?)
What brand of coffee do you drink and how many cups have you had?:) Just kidding! I appreciate your enthusiasm and I’m with you. As our Blessed Mother said “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.
I have had too many cups today, but that is incidental 😛
How will Her Heart Triumph??? Do you have the prayer to cause this victory
The Rosary!
More often than not God uses human agency to perform (nearly all) his Divine intervention. (Even the agency sent as punishment.) Yet, of them all, the man with (righteous) ideas is the most powerful agent of intervention.
Saint Pope Leo, with his Tome, cleared the deck.
As we are in a battle try adding this prayer to your usual one:
“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the instruments of His Holy Passion, that Thou mayest put division in the camp of Thy enemies, for as Thy Beloved Son hath said, ‘a kingdom divided against itself shall fall. @fatima.org
Now there is a powerful idea 🙂
Try adding it to your evening prayers.
Add that between each Rosary decade.
I already offer the daily Rosary to the Blessed Mother for Her guidance and protection of my two sons. Adding another prayer request always seems to be asking too much?
To the woman whose womb held the whole creation there is nothing that is too much. Ask Blessed Mary, whom I call my love anything that is for the good of mankind and She will answer. After each decade I say this prayer as I have been instructed.
I love you my Jesus, You are my love above all things; I repent with my whole heart for ever having rejected Thee; grant that I might love Thee always and then do with me as Thou wilt.
also after each decade of the Divine Mercy I pray.
I give You Glory and praise Lord Jesus of Nazareth Son of the Living God and Son of Mary and thank You for the precious gift of Your Life’s blood poured out upon the world to bring us to a life of everlasting grace
Thanks, Mike. After thinking carefully, I guess, not asking is setting limits on God. As the Ark of the New Covenant, Our Mother continues Her Salvific Mission by taking our pleas to Her Divine Son.
The chaplet of the Holy Face is designed to be used against the Church’s enemies, communists in particular.
Oh so beautiful! Thank you!!
Douglas – isn’t a lay-led counterattack exactly what occured during the Arian heresy? I remember Fr Malachi Martin quoting Cardinal Newman saying that it was the laity that kept the faith and outlasted the heretics. Not only can we fight with prayers and sacrifices but we can punish the liberal establishment by starving them of funds by not giving to dodgy parishes and dioceses.
Yes, Cdl. Newman said that and we are at the same place. What is a heresy but a really bad idea? We don’t need to attack the money. That is very, very secondary, if not tertiary. We need to attack the very thing that empowers them: their ideas. They have a vision for the world that would scandalize even left-leaning Catholics. They don’t believe, and whey they say they do, they are not saying what you think they are saying. When you say you believe in Jesus, and when they say it, they are not saying anything remotely related to what you are saying.
Liberals don’t need to be starved of funds. They need to be threatened by ideas.
Money is a medium of exchange of perceived or actual value. The value comes from the idea: the product or service.
If the value of an idea is ruined, the exchange for money will not take place.
Therefore, attack the idea, not the pocketbook. The funds dry up immediately if the idea is damaged as a consequence.
Our battle is in the realm of ideas, of powers and principalities. To go for the jugular is to go for the idea. This what Cdl. Sarah touched on, and boy, are they touchy when it comes to it.
A new, worldwide Christendom where secularism is extinguished. What do you think the Lord is going to establish on earth after the antichrist? There is no other vision for reality in Revelation after all this age comes to a head.
Don’t stop. Keep this up. I very seriously doubt only I see the value of what you write. I suspect that Steve and 1p5 would agree.
Agree that the idea is much more dangerous to salvation. Just saying that there are too many aiding and abetting these poisonous ideas through blind obedience to their local parish.
When the few faithful laity finally convince the mostly cowardly prelates to speak out and act in their role as spiritual father, then the tipping point will be reached and we will get the great schism, where each side will be very clear as to their belief system. Those with itching ears will be the majority of course, but we who will be on God’s side win. As has been shown by experience, something like 10% is needed. Pray for the virtues of fortitude and perseverance particularly these days.
I like it. Today, while defending him, I called out a bishop for his inaction that resulted in the shameful catechesis that he permitted and permits (with the entire usccb) that I was trying to rectify.
That may not be what you’re talking about, but I at least “floated” two ideas.
Wonderful thoughts/ideas but can we stop referring to the TLM as the “EF”? That was lame terminology. It’s the Mass of Ages, the other one is just a silly impostor.
Very good post, Douglas, but the tool already in our arsenal is that even V2 did not call for the Mass ad orientem to change. It was pointed out to me that the instruction in the Sacramentary remained “at this point the priest turns and faces the people”. Those who claim that it is a departure from V2 for the Mass to be ad orientem are either misinformed or simply lying. So, as you say, it is up to us laity to set the record straight, to proclaim the TRUE Faith right in the face of modern heretics and, most, most of all, to pray FERVENTLY to the Church’s One Foundation: Our Lord Jesus Christ, to cleanse and purify His Church and lead us all to His eternal Kingdom.
This is what I’m talking about. It’s the IDEA, this very idea. Look at how the idea spread that the priest should face the people spread. It’s written nowhere, not in the missal, no motu proprio mandating it, etc. It’s an idea with feet of clay. If we beat the drum of requesting ad orientem, and of having the TLM everywhere, the feet of clay will simply collapse.
At times it feels like we’ve dug a well 24.5 feet deep, where the water is at 25 feet. It’s time to redouble our efforts. Again, this reaction by liberal prelates is an opening. We need to find ways to step into it and spread it.
If we are into lists, we now have a list of two speedy clarifications issued by “the Vatican” in a matter of weeks:
1) Pope Benedict does not believe that there is more to the 3rd secret of Fatima than has already been revealed.
2) Cardinal Sarah’s attempt to interpret the GIRM in accordance with perennial Catholic Tradition is all wrong.
The significant thing that links both of these “clarifications” is that nobody in their right minds believes either of them. This Pope and his shysters in Rome have as much credibility as David Cameron did when he claimed Brexit would cause World War III.
Or as the FBI director did when he said Hillary Clinton’s email crimes should be given a pass.
It’s strange how quickly the liturgical progressives become sticklers for rules and “Doctors of the Law” in their zeal for misinterpreting GIRM #299. Can we expect them to argue the instruction that no priest may, on his own authority change or add anything to the Mass or any other rubric be upheld?
I knew from the moment Cardinal Sarah made these suggestions that he would cop it. Even though he posed it as an option for priests, an option which they always had (never abrogated as Benedict would put it), the modernist prelates wanted to remind him that in the mass of options, ironically, that (ad orientem) wasn’t an option. In all honesty, I think that trying to traditionalise the Novus Ordo (in vain) is pointless. Why clean up the Novus Ordo when we have a perfect Traditional Latin Mass ready, available and most pleasing to God. The point of the Novus Ordo was to go forward, not backward (as liberals put it). Trying to peel back the NO by suggesting ad orientem, altar rails, communion on the tongue, Gregorian chant, etc. may seem good and all but it will always fall short of the mark because the rite itself is the problem. I could understand the conservative cheer if the TLM was in fact banned (as it unofficially was for a while), which would make the cleaned up Novus Ordo more pious and reverend, but that’s not the case.
The magisterium of Christ’s Church must now be interpreted in light of Francis we are told.
What you write made me realize that he is as likely as anyone to stop the regular (normal, traditional) sacrifice (mass.)
The TLM is still banned to majority of Spanish and I agree that the Latin Rite is what needs restoring in full. Messing around with the NO Mass is futile
“We can hope it was an opportunity for accompaniment …” This pontificate is an endless source of irony.
Irony is not the word.
Choose between shame and disgust.
Cardinal Sarah is a big boy and can hold his own. I don’t worry about a man like him.
Even ‘big boys’ need our prayers. I used to think Benedict XVI, as pope did not need my prayers. Big mistake.
The spirit of Vatican II now has one weighty name in which all problems can be included: Francis.
“betrayed” by his own “pope”..
Beheaded.?
Cardinal Sarah has elicited a prompt and clear response – very unique! The nature of the response from Bergoglio and “Soho” Nichols is not a surprise. Cardinal Sarah should now resign from the CDF. Let’s show them up for what they are.
I think that Cardinal Sarah ought to give JB the opportunity to show himself, once again, a hypocrite.
When JB said that he hates beheading people, he fooled only his own worshippers.
He heads CDW.
I can just imagine what the meeting was about between holy cardinal Sarah and pope Francis. I believe he will be silenced, banished to some unknown place, or perhaps demoted.
Probably, but like Cardinal Burke he will be free to travel & write his professional judgement on the direction Modernists have & are taking the CC since VII.
Presently, the Vatican’s woodshed is as large as St. Peter’s Basilica. Or, perhaps more aptly, the current doghouse slips neatly & nicely over the same.
Such a well written article. Such a disgraceful reception of the blessed Cardinal’s perfectly orthodox suggestion. Lord have mercy indeed!
Incredible how clergy forget the most basic concepts. You are facing God. Not turning “your backs to the people”. Shows you what their focus is. Not on the Real Presence of Jesus thats for sure.
The tabernacle in almost every CC now is hidden so upon entering one cannot see it. That alone prevents people from realising that the Real Presence is actually present to them so irreverent gossiping & children running around is the order of the day.
Ana, that irreverent behavior goes on even in the presence of the tabernacle. The pretense being that God is just one of the guys.
That’s shocking. I recently had to contact our local priest about this & also a prayer for First Communicants which referred to the Sacred Host as a meal. I’m glad to say that he put things right the next week & people are now going to where the tabernacle is located to sit awhile before Holy Mass begins & children are better behaved.
You’re blessed in that your local priest seems, at least by what you’ve stated, to support Catholic doctrine. And common sense.
This is more often not the case in the United States. Disrespect before, during, and after mass inside the sanctuary was commonplace in my experience even back in the ’70’s when I attended “Catholic” school. Something which cost quite a pretty penny, but did little more than deprive students of the actual Faith in lieu of Social Justice politics.
Often, there is a picnic type atmosphere that is chalked off as being “welcoming”. Not wholly irreverent and dismissing of the dignity of God’s house. Think wearing pajamas to work and you’ll be about there.
Modern “catholic” churches are a joke now. There is no real worship going on. The whole idea of the new mass was to encourage people participation. Never have I ever felt like I was an actual participant of the Holy Mass than at the Latin Mass.
Catholic churches were always a joke. Filled with Pedophiles.
I think you should hold your tongue until the confessional
Truth hurts, eh b–h?
Not it is not. You dont know what you are talking about. We promote a return to Traditional Catholism. I think you are confused with the homosexual lobby within the church bureaucracy that has caused all of the scandal.
Otherwise, Flag/block this user OnePeterFive please.
Are you actually denying that the Catholic church has not been rife with pedophilia? You really are delusional.
I’ll deny that there is a disproportionately higher number of pedophiles in the Church than in society at large; I’ll defy you to provide statistical data to the contrary.
I’ll also posit that homosexuality in the clergy is the main problem, since most cases of abuse involved post-pubescent boys.
This past Christmas, I sent Cardinal Sarah a Christmas card, writing that I was praying for him. I received a hand written answer from him, warmly thanking me for my prayers. I misplaced his response, but I do believe that he asked me to continue to pray for him.
May I suggest that all readers of 1P5 include him in our daily prayers? He certainly needs them.
Also, if you can, write to him, to assure him of your prayers.
Very good idea. Where can we contact him?
Here it is:
Robert Cardinal Sarah,
Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments,
Mailing Address: Palazzo delle Congregazioni, 00193 Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 10 , Italy
Many thanks.
Excellent piece, Brian; couldn’t have said it better myself. 🙂
Yes, Lord have mercy indeed!
But, we as faithful Catholics must do our “little part”, and He will do the rest.
That is His Divine Justice. I think that is what this pope forgets. He forgets that our Lord must and deserves to see His people desiring Him, desiring Truth and bearing the cross to LIVE IT!
Let us thank God, that He has given us the graces to know Him and Love Him and His Church.
What is my little part in His plan? What is yours? For each of us, it will be different. God will give us what we need and may we seek His will to put aside our pride, our ego and preserve His Church as He has given to His people so long ago.
Pray, take courage, and seek His will. He will take care of the rest, be assured.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in his biography ‘Aus meinem Leben’ that during the Ii Vatican Council, some of the Counselors (Liturgiker, die als Berater wirkten), had further intentions, which would have never been accepted by the Council Fathers… but were later found between lines in the general clauses (Generalklauseln).
He continues that the II Vatican Council was not treated as part of the living tradition of the Church, but the end of tradition as if everything was started from nought. The Council had not defined a dogma but was intentionally put at a lower level as a purely pastoral council. Nevertheless, it was interpreted by many as if it was the ‘superdogma’, which took the meaning of everything else, especially in daily life. In other words, what was considered ‘the Holiest’ -the traditional liturgy- was at once the most forbidden and the only thing which had to be rejected by any means.
Finally he said that he is convinced that today’s church crisis was greatly caused by the destruction of the liturgy.
My personal comment: Are we surprised? What we see today is the continuation of a destruction process. But it will not succeed because our Blessed Lady promised us that in the end the victory is in Her Immaculate Heart. Therefore, lets be faithful to the Lord in the Traditional liturgy, lets hold firmly to the Immaculate Conception and follow her petitions from Fatima, which are now more important than ever.
The Church continues to live in the Traditional Liturgy.
In order to ensure a successful revolution, all opposition must be suppressed and eliminated – by either persuasion, orchestrated propaganda attacks, threats, punishment, or……the Communist model, if we are to believe the claims of Bella Dodd, is very much at work in the Vatican, and has been since the “French Revolution in the Church” began at VII.
I wonder how closely tied this Vatican response is the Pope’s commemoration of the anniversary of Luther’s revolt? If Catholics were to worship as Catholics it would throw a wrench in our Protestant ecumenical dialog.
The “Men at the Top” are a nasty breed. They are like the Pharisees – jealous and power hungry and afraid of and willing to destroy those who are vocally true to the faith. I am going to pray that Sarah will become the next pope and in the meantime look for ways to actively support him. I’m also going to add this to the mix, with hesitation: It does not look good that all the white men are going after a black man.
Please actively support him by prayer and also writing him to let him know you are praying for him. I think he will appreciate that. (See address in one of my comments below)
Hilary White is correct: this is a purge. When an unofficial recommendation at an obscure conference leads to an institutional freak-out – complete with being called before the pope and simply because it amounts to a gentle nudge back toward Tradition – you can be certain these modernist prelates won’t be satisfied until the One True Faith has been subsumed into the one world religion of man.
The fear and hatred these people have for Catholic liturgical Tradition is transparently diabolical.
Yes, but I think they are beginning to see the writing on the wall. They are seeing they did not quite stamp out ‘Old Narnia’ and they have a fight on their hands. They rightly fear what will defeat them.
Just like Akita says. Then fire falls from the sky…
Yes, may the Lord have mercy on us all. (And Brian Williams has given us a brilliantly written commentary. Much, MUCH kudos to him!)
Cardinal Sarah has to publicly respond to Cardinal Nichols. He has to address the letter and speak to priests, through some type of open letter.
Would any one know if there is in circulation an open letter that can be addressed to one’s Parish Priest, that clearly and simply spells out all the erroneous ideas coming to us from Clergy inc Pope Francis and asks the Priest the question of where he stands on each subject i.e. Communion for: the divorced, those living in irregular relationships, Lutherans, sexually active homosexuals and his stance on gay marriage etc? I think it is time to call for a reckoning, to ask all our clergy the world over, to nail their colours to the mast. We can then seek out, attend and support parishes that comply with a traditional teaching of the faith and also know who we need to offer extra prays for. Let us fill the pews of Churches of tradition and empty the post modernist liberal ones heading toward herasy.
God bless
Pete
Sounds like you volunteered to lead such an effort.
Happy to give it a go, just don’t want re-invent the wheel
Even if there is only one who follows the true faith, one is enough. Read this whole story in a story in Myles Connolly’s Mr. Blue-free online. The story in story ends with the last Mass on earth:
The End of the World as told by Mr. J. Blue
By Myles Connolly
Dusk came as we sat there that afternoon, came with a light fog out of the east. Blue was telling me a story…It was a story for a motion picture, he explained. I shall reproduce it as best I can. I do not hope to catch the magnificence of it as he told it, there up on the roof with the fog settling aimlessly over us like a thin white smoke in the increasing dusk. I shall never, I know, have a story told me as vividly again.
The last known Christian had been put to death. (So Blue began.) He had been found living in a lower level of an abandoned mine in South Africa. He was ferreted out and brought to trial. He had professed Christ. There was no tumult or clamor. He had been locked in a lethal chamber. The gas was admitted. In a few minutes he was dead. He was found lying forward on his face where he had fallen from his knees.
The International Government of the World announced the capture and execution. “The work of a thousand years is now at an end,” it declared in its exultant bulletin. The day of the announcement was a day of great rejoicing all over the earth. The IGW—as the International Government of the World was known—declared a half holiday for all workers. Great effigies of Christ on the Cross were burned at all the sub-capitals of the world. While the crosses flamed, the multitudes paraded and sang. It was the first time in a century that singing had been allowed. The work of extermination was over.
It was a strange world that witnessed this day of jubilation. The peoples of the whole earth had become slaves of a few masters. They had been herded into vast industrial centers, great mountains of stone and steel, banding the round earth like mountain chains, rising like huge wens on the face of the globe. But these men and women were not ordinary slaves. They were creatures of the machinery of a mechanical life, inferiors of the machines they operated, subsidiary attachments to the monsters of a new age. The fantasy of the philosopher had come true: machines had become superior to men. Men were not mere automatons; they were minor automatons, servants of a mechanical state.
The masters of the IGW were the sons of the masters who had established the state. Their sires had done their work with brutal and consummate efficiency. All rebellious races had been exterminated. All people unsuited for slavery, primarily Latins and Celts, were segregated and slain. Only the stolid, unimaginative, automatic races, dominantly Nordic, were preserved.
The days of the ecstatic, passionate, beauty-loving, liberty-seeking peoples had, as was early predicted, come to a close. The sluggish, frigid races had survived.