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

Brought to you by the Holy Catholic Church as faithfully express at Assumption Grotto in Detroit:

From the Cafeteria  with a frowning biretta tip  o{]>:¬(

Worst Mass ever ?

Via CathCon, who never fails to find such atrocities. From the cathedral of Auch in France come these screenshots of a televised Mass. What the hell this is supposed to be, who knows. It makes matters worse that they dragged children into this stupidity. Remember, it was the French bishops who had the biggest aversion against the Motu proprio.

Just how utterly DERANGED does one have to be to come up with such an idea ? Televised, to make matters even worse. What was the idea – "Two-for-one ! Get the gym class and Mass combo!" Nothing says Christ is Lord like gigantic inflated balls in church, I guess.






Comment by a priest responsible for this:

Many told me of their wonder: a cathedral enlightened as never before! Young people of Pop Circus moving about with a lot of grace and solemnity (for which we even earned the praise of the producer of the broadcast of the "Day of the Lord" Brother Arnaud de Coral, who was somewhat stressed at the outset by the idea of integrating "circus" into the liturgy). We all have preconceived notions and the circus is actually just not clowning around… And then with André de Lavenère and Damien Supiot as presiders, there were no worries… The movements of the students from Pop Circus melted naturally into the action of grace celebrated in the magnificent jewellery box which is our cathedral.

In the comments (below) Andrew added: "Shouldn’t the bishop issue some guidelines and procedures to make sure that all jugglers are properly qualified?"

With a biretta tip to Rorate    o{]:¬)   I pass this along.  Very interesting!

The German language site Die Kreuz has a story about the rapid increase in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the celebrations of Mass with the 1962 Missale Romanum follow Summorum Pontificum.

I wonder if stats like this are being kep in other countries. 

This is rather interesting!

The entire Philippine Somaschan community has decided to learn how to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Missal of 1962!

Fr. Abraham Arganiosa CRS, who started this move, reports the development in his blog.

Good news doesn’t stop coming in for us in the Philippines.

Last Saturday morning, A Missa Cantata was sung at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Diocese of Cubao; despite the early hour (4:00 AM), more than a hundred people attended. (You can see pictures of TLM in the cathedral—one of the most beautiful in the Philippines—here).

Finally, this morning, we just had Metro Manila’s first Pontifical Tridentine Mass since 1970! For nearly an hour afterwards, the faithful mobbed the celebrant, Bishop Camilo Gregorio, kissing his ring, asking for his blessing, bringing forward their babies (yup, lots of young couples attended the Mass) and asking him to autograph their Missals. The faithful were extremely grateful to have a Bishop do this after nearly 4 decades.

Reports of Masses being scheduled or planned here and there are also coming in.

UPDATE

I got an e-mail from Geoffrey A. Coleman, the Business Manager of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska about the article on what is going on at Franciscan University at Steubenville concerning the TLM.

My emphases and comments.

Dear Fr. Zuhlsdorf;

    It came to my attention on Friday that an article you ran on your website entitled "Students Turn Out for Local Latin Mass", apparently from Steubenville University, contains a quotation attributed to me that is erroneous.

    The apparent author, one "Kristi Moore, Assistant Editor" states, in part " The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, which is responsible for thousands of latin mass training sessions across the country (sic)."

    In red letters, you took issue with the word "thousands".  You are correct in having done so.  It is untrue.

    Firstly, I have never made such an outrageous statement.

    Secondly, I was interviewed by one Kristi Moore of the Washington Times newspaper BY TELEPHONE last Fall.  [Curiouser and curiouser!] Subsequently, she wrote and published an article on October 28, 2007 entitled "Mass appeal to Latin tradition".  That article is still available in the archives of the website.  After it was published, I found the comments attributed to me were accurate and nearly word-for-word.

    The brief paragraph, as it was originally published, reads as follows: "The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has collaborated with Una Voce America to host workshops for clergy in Denton, Neb.  Una Voce America, which promotes the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, usually teaches the rite to 12 students a session.  But in September, it increased that number to 22 to meet the increased demand for training."

    It is possible that whoever published the article in Steubenville edited my statement to help make an argument for the increased availability of the Traditional Latin Mass at the University.  However, in doing so, I believe severe harm has resulted in the obvious irrationality of the statement, as well as the possible perception that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is resorting to bravado and exaggeration in order to further its image or purposes.

    I humbly request you consider withdrawing this inaccurate article from your website, in order to prevent further damage to the reputation of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and to prevent further dissemination of a patently false statement.  [I think this is the better route: publish this e-mail!]

    I intend to pursue this matter more directly with the source of the information, and to insist on a retraction or clarification by its perpetrators.

    In the meantime, I will no longer field any inquiries from the media.  [THAT is a mistake!] Our normal response to such inquiries is to direct them to our North American District Office, where the District Superior makes the decisions as to how and when to respond.  I failed to do this in the instant case, as I am very close to the actual day-to-day operation of the training classes at the Seminary. [Therefore you are in a position to know what is going on.]

    In truth, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, class sessions of five days in length began in June, 2007, and have run every few weeks, as our schedule permits.  Approximately 70 diocesan and religious priests have participated, from all parts of the USA.  The response has been gratifying and edifying for everyone involved.  May God bless and reward those priests who have, and who will, undertake this intensive study of the Mass of the Ages, for their own sanctity and the spiritual benefit of their parishioners.

    I humbly apologize to you for any negative thoughts you may have regarding the false statement attributed to me.  Please be assured that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has always been, and will continue to be fully forthcoming and truthful in all of its dealings.

Yours in Christ,

Geoffrey A. Coleman
Business Manager
Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
P. O. Box 147
Denton, Nebraska  68339

402-797-7700

To be clear,  I never thought that there were "thousands" involved.  That struck me as an flight of fancy on the part of the writer of the article, not the FSSP or anyone associated with it. 

The Archdiocese of Washington has issued a letter to priests about the implementation of Summorum Pontificum.  Someone sent it to me by e-mail but it is in the hated pdf format.

It contains a strange statement. 

After talking about a committee to be established "to assist pastors in evaluating and responding to requests for the regular and public celebration" of the older form of Mass, the letter goes on:

In the near future, Archbishop Wuerl will appoint a Coordinator of the Extraordinary Form to serve as chaiman of the special committee.  Because the archbishop has the responsibility to foster a common discipline in the celebration of the sacrament within the archdiocese (C. 392), his permission must be received prior to making any permanent commitments by a parish for the public celebration of the Extraordinary Form on a regular basis.  This also is in accord with Article 5 of Summorum Pontificum which state that public or regularly scheduled Masses be offered under the guidance of the bishop in accordance with canon 392, avoiding discord and favoring the unity of the whole Church.  To request this permission pastors first must seek the review and counsel of the Coordinator of the Extraordinary Form, who will then present a recommendation to the archbishop.

Excuse me… but does it seem to you that even though they acknowledge the existence of Summorum Pontificum out of one side of their mouths, they are actually ignoring its existence in what they say with the other side?  The way I read this, it sounds like they have simply forced all priests back to the status quo ante, as if the Motu Proprio didn’t exist at all and the diocesan bishop still had control over all public celebrations.   In other words, even though SP Art. 5, § 1 says that pastors make these decisions, the archbishop is claiming for himself that right and, at the same time, is imposing an additional layer of burocracy on the process.  Or am I getting this wrong?

The letter goes on:

Priests seeking to celebrate the rite for the very first time with or without the people [??] should ask for a review of their abilities by the Coordinator and the special committee.  Additionally, pastors are reminded that visiting priests who request to celebrate the Extraordinary Form with the archdiocese should present a letter of good-standing (C. 903) which attests to their abilities in this form.

For pity’s sake. 

Yes, I know that it could be argued that they are only trying to be sure that celebrations of Mass are reverent and properly carried out.  But… I think they are really trying to crush the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, making it a titanic pain in the rear to get involved with it.