What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Thanks to Sacramentum vitae (the blog, not the Eucharist) I have this to share from Professor Tony Esolen at Mere Comments posts the following satire from a reader.

How many times have some of us heard from the spittle-flecked lips of an aging-hippie "You… you… you just want the fifties back!"

Think about it in regard to a public school.

SCHOOL - 1957 vs. 2007

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 – School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 – Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 – Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 – Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 – Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 – Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school .
1957 – Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 – Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 – Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 – Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 – Ants die.
2007 – BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 – In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 – Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

As Tony says, "It’s a witty exaggeration of our current madness, but not much of an exaggeration, either." Indeed, what’s common to all those scenarios is "the loss of trust." See Matthew 24: 12.

 Think of this now in terms of the Church.

Here is some spectacular news from the Arkansas Catholic.

My emphases and comments.

Arkansas priests get overview on Latin Mass

Seminary professor leads three-day program on ‘motu proprio’

Published: October 27, 2007
Malea Hargett

By Malea Hargett
Editor

Fifty-seven priests and two deacons attended clergy continuing education Oct. 16-18 at St. John Center in Little Rock to learn more about the expanded use of the Latin Mass. [I think we know that they mean the "extraordinary use" of the Roman Rite… right?]

Father Joseph Portzer, a former chaplain for the St. John Latin Mass Community in North Little Rock, returned to Arkansas to lead the program on Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter "Summorum Pontificum," which went into effect Sept. 14. The expansion of the extraordinary form of the Mass is often referred to as "motu proprio," [I think the reporter might not be overly familiar with things Catholic… but let’s read on.] meaning the decree is the pope’s personal initiative in the matter.

Near the conclusion of the program, about 35 priests and two deacons attended a High Mass celebrated by Father Terrence Gordon, the current assistant chaplain for the Latin Mass community in North Little Rock, Cherokee Village and Mountain Home.

The same chapel in Morris Hall at St. John Center where the Oct. 18 Mass was celebrated was also the place where students from St. John Seminary attended Latin Mass from 1951 until the seminary closed in 1967. Latin Mass [like a broken record… Latin Mass… Latin Mass… Latin Mass…] also was offered in the chapel for a couple of years in the 1990s.

Parishioners from North Little Rock and Cherokee Village formed a choir and sang Gregorian chant during the Mass. A booklet was provided to the priests, deacons and diocesan employees to use in order to follow the readings and prayers in Latin. The homily was the only portion of the Mass that was in English.

"It’s very commendable to receive such enthusiasm for the will of the Holy Father in this matter," Father Portzer said.

The society of apostolic life provides priests to 26 dioceses in the United States to celebrate Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal.

The Diocese of Little Rock was the first diocese in the country to ask the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter to provide an overview of the "motu propio" to its priests and deacons. [Really?  I wonder.] During the clergy program, Father Portzer, a professor of Gregorian chant, liturgy and spirituality at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Neb., also reviewed the basics of celebrating a Tridentine Mass.

Father Portzer, who served in Arkansas from 2000 to 2002, said extensive training would be required if a priest in Arkansas wanted to celebrate Latin Mass. [I sure hope that is not because they are from Arkansas!  {inset rimshot here}] The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s seminary in Nebraska is offering five-day workshops to interested priests who are too young to have studied the Latin Mass or to older priests who forgot much of the language and rubrics.

"We have already educated 50 priests in the Old Mass," he said.

Father Portzer admitted even after five days of training a priest would unlikely be ready to celebrate Mass on his own.  [That may be true, if a priest has virtually none of the requisite tools or experience.]

"It is an involved rite," he said. "When we are in the seminary, we are asked to practice the Mass for six months every day."  [Well… you don’t need that long, but it wouldn’t hurt!   And it’s worth it!]

Only priests who are trained are allowed to publicly [split infinitives and] celebrate the extraordinary form of the Mass.

 Not a stellar piece of writing, but this article conveyes some very good news.  Steps are being taken in Arkansas to help people understand what the issues are.  I find that very positive.

I believe in a kind of reverse Gresham’s Law when it comes to information: eventually good information drives bad information out of circulation.  Therefore this workshop with Fr. Portzer was a great step in the right direction.

A widespread implementation of Summorum Pontificum is going to take a while.  We need patience and lots of positive experiences.

Welcome to another installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

In this audio project I will simply read, and this week sing, the Latin prayers for the upcoming Sunday or feast from the 1962 Missale Romanum.

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern.  However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

Today we will hear the prayers and readings for the Feast of Christ the King (22nd Sunday after Pentecost) which in the traditional calendar falls on the last Sunday of October.  I speak all the prayers, sing the Collect and Postcommunion in the Festal Tone, and speak and sing the proper Preface in the Solemn Tone.

In the recording I deliver these prayers more slowly than I would ordinarily during Holy Mass.  But hopefully the slower pace will help you hear the words a little more clearly.

If this was useful to you, let your priest friends know this resource is available.  And kindly make a little donation using the donation button on the left side bar of the blog or or by clicking here.  This is a labor of love, but those donations really help.

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

 

 07-10-24 Feast of Christ the King [19:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Damien Thompson of Telegraph.co.uk has a very interesting piece about how the older form of Mass is getting traction in the Diocese of Clifton, in England.  A good point is made: "By allowing the Pope’s wishes to be implemented naturally, without interfering, he is showing that he is liberal in the best sense of the word."

I never thought I’d say this, but three cheers for Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, two of whose parishes have begun celebrating the ancient Latin Mass five times a week, including on Sundays.

The Latin Mass has returned to Clifton

St Augustine’s Downend in Bristol and St George’s Warminster now offer the Extraordinary Form of Mass (formerly the Tridentine Mass) as a direct response to Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio this summer. The bishop sees no problem with this – and good for him. Will other bishops follow his lead?

Fr Alexander Redman, the parish priest of St Augustine’s, told me the news via Facebook yesterday. And here is the evidence on his parish website. The 1962 Missal is used for the early Mass on Sundays.

It’s interesting that the Bishop of Clifton has a reputation as one of the Church’s more liberal (not to say Left-wing) bishops. By allowing the Pope’s wishes to be implemented naturally, without interfering, he is showing that he is liberal in the best sense of the word.

Now we need to know whether other dioceses are following the Clifton example. As I reported the other day, the Bishop of Leeds, Arthur Roche, has written an ill-advised letter implying that he wants to restrict the use of the traditional Missal – something he does not actually have the power to do.

The point is this: if two parishes in a diocese as small as Clifton have spontaneously adopted the Extraordinary Form, then there must be many more parishes in dioceses the size of Birmingham or Southwark that would like to do the same.

Please keep me informed, either by posting here or sending an email to editorial@catholicherald.co.uk. We need to find out exactly what is happening on the ground.

UPDATE:

I am bumping this back to the top.

I was just watching some news coverage of the fires burning in California.

A woman interviewed, said they were given 5 minutes warning before being evacuated.

She said: "I have no more pictures of my son as a baby any more.  They’re just memories now."

Several people who live… or lived… in that area have written to say that this entry was actually somewhat useful to them.

Lord, what a horrible and wonderful thought.

Back to the original entry.

_____________________________________

I am looking around at my things.

I have literally thousands of books. 

I have various amazing ecclesiastical objet. 

 Photographs.

Small souveniers.  

CDs.  DVDs.  

Lots of electronic stuff. 

Art. 

If you had to leave where you are in, say, 12 hours, what would you take?  [Make it a few minutes…]

Realistically,

What would you take? 

12 hours… [Make it a few minutes…]

You  can take only what you can carry.

They are coming for you. 

Block by block. 

I.D. checks. 

Are you Catholic?

Think about weather… transport… distances…  ... ... .... hostility.

What would you take?

You might be very pious in this moment.  But…

On your way out the gaping door… do you grab something?  A photo?  A nicknak?

Your … baseball bat? 

Your… volume of Shakespeare’s Sonnets?

You have seen films of carts with lamps, and chairs.

Clarify your thinking.