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

You might remember an entry we had on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum desired by His Excellency Most Rev. Robert Brom. 

His Excellency sent a letter in May in which he announced his will to impose a competency test on any priest thinking to exercise his rights as a priest of the Latin Rite to celebrate in Latin using the Novus Ordo or use the 1962 Missale Romanum under Summorum Pontificum.

In some respects, His Excellency’s letter sounded as if Summorum Pontificum didn’t exist.

Now there is another memo from the chancery, sent to me by a kind reader, actually several kind readers:

June 3, 2008

To:     Priests in the Diocese of San Diego
Fr:    Bishop Robert Brom
Re:    Latin in the Liturgy

This is to follow up on my May 16th communication to you regarding Latin in the Liturgy.

Re: Competency Evaluation to Celebrate Liturgies in Latin.

A subcommittee to evaluate linguistic and rubrical competence includes Msgr. John Dickie, Father Frank Penko and Father John Proctor.

Again, competency to celebrate in Latin either the Mass (whether in the extraordinary or ordinary form) or other sacraments (whether according to the older or present ritual) should not be presumed but verified by this subcommittee of the Latin in the Liturgy Committee.

Appointments for an evaluation should be made through Father John Proctor:
(c) 619-892-0050
(h) 619-692-8119
jgproc@sbcglobal.net

Re: Consultation before Scheduling Mass in the Extraordinary Form

Once again, before scheduling or continuing to schedule Mass in the extraordinary form or other sacraments according to the older ritual, pastors should consult with the Latin in the Liturgy Committee.

Appointments for a consultation should be made through Father Bruce Orsborn:

(c) 619-518-0567
(o) 619-582-5722
borsborn@blessedsacrament-sd.org

Evaluations and consultations will take place in the Liturgy Office at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.
Thank you for your cooperation in this important pastoral matter.

This raises questions. 

First, the Code of Canon Law since 1983 requires that seminarians be well-trained in Latin.

Second, if there are going to be tests for Latin, will there be tests for English?   Will all the priests of habitually using the Novus Ordo be tested for competency in the rubrics?

Also, what if there is going to be, say, a sung Sanctus or Agnus Dei in a Mass and… gasp …  Father sings along wihtout having been declared competent to do so!   And will there be a separate test for Greek so he can say Kyrie eleison?

And now from the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, we have this about our lost sheep… er um… shepherd… um… whatever, H.E. Emmanuel Milingo:

Milingo launches the 3rd Vatican

Ex-communicated Catholic Archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo says the Movement for Married Priests is in the process of establishing the third Vatican Council to shape the future of the renewed Catholic Church.

Archbishop Milingo said the third Vatican Council will be launched in South Korea before the end of this month.  [Do I detect a little full Moonie influence here?]

He told ZNBC news shortly before he and his wife Maria Sung left for South Korea that proposals for the foundation have already been made.

Archbishop Milingo also said the movement is preparing for the Universal Peace Federation meeting.

He indicated that faith based groups will soon hold a symposium on Catholicism.

Archbishop Milingo boasted that his organisation will provide air tickets for delegates from the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) if they are willing to attend the ceremony.

The Archbishop, 78, leads 150,000 married priests across the world.    [150K…. yah… riiiight….]

He was ex-communicated for holding divergent views from the Catholic Church and marrying priests.  [Not to mention his own deal….]

 

 As our good friend, the official WDTPRS parodist offered us some comic relief…

... to the tune of the famous song in The Sound of Music:

    How do you solve a problem like Milingo
    He sneaks around and can’t be found,
    Until he’s on TV…
    He takes a Moonie for a wife,
    Embracing heresy;
    And underneath his mitre,
    Seems his lost his sanity.
    I heard him once professing Docetism.

    He’s always breaking canons
    But his penitence is real
    He’s always late for everything
    Except for every meal
    I hate to have to say it
    But I very firmly feel
    Milingo’s even worse than Charlie Curran!

    I’d like to say a word in his behalf
    (then say it, Sr. Margaretta)
    Milingo makes me… laugh.

    How do you solve a problem like Milingo?
    How do you make a bishop keep in line?
    How do you find a word that means Milingo?
    A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!

    If bishops are dogs, Emmanuel is a dingo Which even a German Shepherd couldn’t tame.
    So how do you make him stay
    And shut up for just one day?
    How do you keep a crosier from his hand?

    Oh, how do you solve a problem like Milingo?
    How do you keep a Moonie’s feet on land?

    When I’m with him I’m distressed
    Things he blesses don’t seem blessed
    And you never know what stunt he’s pulling next He’s defiant as M. Luther Wacky as Rosemary Reuther He’s a bishop! He’s a nutcase! He’s a wreck!

    He’s a Gnostic without Gnoss
    Like a crosier sans a cross
    He could make a Trappist hermit scream out loud He is funny, he wild Pray his wife is not with child!
    He’s a headache, he’s amusing
    He’s a looooooon

    How do you solve a problem like Milingo?
    How do you make a bishop keep in line?
    How do you find a word that means Milingo?
    A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!

    Many a thing you know you’d like to tell him:
    Celibacy’s not just a papal whim
    So how do you make him stay
    And shut up for just one day?
    How do you keep a crosier from his hand?

    Oh, how do you solve a problem like Milingo?
    How do you keep a Moonie’s feet on land?

 

At Damian Thompson’s blog Holy Smoke, there is a report of a counter-attack on Pope Benedict’s Marshall Plan for the Church.

In so many places people are dropping the baggage imposed on the Church for decades by those who are know in the aging-hippie set.  They are reevaluating our Catholic worship in a healthier light of tradition, in continuity with our past.

Other, however, some priests for example still think that Mass is all about them, or somehow isn’t meaningful enough in its texts and its gestures as simply described in the books.  Mass must be made, "relevant"... "interesting"... "inviting", etc.

My emphases and comments.

Pandemonium at Ely Place
Posted by Damian Thompson on 05 Jun 2008  at 14:54

St Etheldreda’s, Ely Place, London’s only medieval Catholic church, is in a state of chaos after the new parish priest forced through trendy liturgical changes against the wishes of the congregation (and the Pope) at his first Mass there last Sunday.  [His first Sunday.  I don’t know how many times I have heard my conservative priests friends recount how they were warned not to make any changes for at least a year after being assigned.]

The deacon has been dismissed, the sacristan has resigned and the Master of Ceremonies is planning to leave following the appointment of Fr Tom Deidun, who has scrapped the tradition of celebrating Mass ad orientem, and insists on facing the people.  [I know another parish where a similar trend is occuring.  And I suspect that these sad developments happen not simply because of a difference of style, but because someone is being a jerk.]

The Rev Dr Laurence Hemming, the deacon and nationally recognised liturgical expert, has been told that his services are no longer required. “He has given us very generous unpaid support over several years, and now he has been told not to darken the door of the church,” says David Grant, a former trustee of the parish.  [Nice, huh?]

Linda Helm, the sacristan, has also quit in despair at the dismantling of the traditionalist heritage built up by the former rector, Fr Kit Cunningham. She received a two-line letter of thanks for her 14 years’ volunteer work.  [Ah the pastoral touch.]

A leading member of the parish – one of many who has contacted me – writes to say of Fr Deidun: “What a start – losing sacristan, deacon and MC all within his first week, and my suspicion is that we will also see the resignation of many of the servers, some of whom have been serving on the sanctuary for more than 30 years.”

I forecast trouble a few weeks ago, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. The Rosminian order, which owns the church, seems to have taken leave of its senses.

Pope Benedict has written extensively about the special dignity of celebrating Mass facing east, and wants the practice preserved wherever it is established and extended where possible. So what is the first thing Fr Deidun does? Turn west – to face the people, who have made it very clear that they wish him to continue facing east, towards God.

This would be regrettable in any parish, but it is especially painful to see such damage being done to the worship in a church dating back to 1290, one of only two surviving buildings in London from the reign of Edward I. I have no doubt at all that Pope Benedict would be horrified if he knew what was happening; perhaps someone should tell him.

Fr Deidun refuses to discuss the matter over the telephone, though we may meet later. But this matter strikes me as too urgent to leave until he finds room in his diary.

I hope Damian gets that meeting.

 

I received a nice note from a reader, PK, who reports about a baptism, with the older, traditional rite of baptism according to the Rituale Romanum.

Fr. Z.,
 
I read with great joy the account of the baptism in Rome at the Fraternity’s parish.
 
Recently we have had two "Tridentine" baptisms here in Lander, and while this news is much less interesting, I thought you might enjoy the attached photos.  The priest is the WCC chaplain.

 

I believe WWC is Wyoming Catholic College.

I always remember Lander, Wyoming.  I got a touch of vertigo near there one driving at night in a winter storm. ...  between Lander and Farson, I think.

 

But there is neither snow nor vertigo in these photos: