The MEF is will return again soon (enough) to Our Lady of Grace, Greenboro, NC, where the pro-MEF pastor now has a parochial vicar. The MEF will remain at Sacred Heart, Salisbury, NC. A priest in the same diocese who knows how to offer the MEF has been made pastor in a parish, making the MEF possible at that parish, — if the priest so chooses, his choice likely based on how he sizes up the situation at that parish.
Bishop Jugis has assigned a 2nd priest to Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, something for which we have been praying for some time. This will (among other things) facilitate the resumption of weekly celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form later this year.
My son attends St. Charles Borromeo Seminary near Philadelphia. The school is old and they are considering selling off portions of it. Beautiful old St. Martin’s Chapel is not being used due to its continued drain on resources. They had removed the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel as well. However, the seminarians still love to go into the chapel for prayer. Thanks to some effort by my son and his friends, they have returned the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle there and have lit the sanctuary candle. Praise God!
My youngest son was seriously ill with kidney failure. It looks like he will make a full recovery. Many other blessings in my family and personal life, including the promise of a job after long unemployment.
The most joyful good news is the continued life of a friend’s unborn grandchild. Her daughter is in serious condition and hospitalized as they fight to gain at least two more weeks for the baby. She has been hospitalized almost three weeks, and so many prayers are being offered for mother and child.
Son #3 was a freshman at Fisher More last year. With that now belly up, he was able to transfer to Our Lady Seat of Wisdom in Barrys Bay, Ontario. School started yesterday, and all is thumbs up!
The last time prayer requests went up I asked for prayers regarding a job interview I was having. After over a year and a half out of work, I return to full time employment this coming Monday (Our Lady’s birthday!)
As I type this, our beautiful daughter-in-law is in labor!!! The baby is already 9 days past due. Please say a prayer for her and our son, and for a safe and healthy delivery of their baby. I’m looking forward to posting a birth announcement later today or tomorrow!
I just downloaded the DivineOffice app on my Android, and now I have full access to the complete official text of the Liturgy of the Hours (Ordinary Form), including downloadable audio for all the offices with sung hymns. $15 for the app vs. $125-$150 for the 4 volume set. A great option for those who cannot always have one of the volumes in hand, or for those intimidated by the price of the books. I hope this app gets widespread use and increases the practice of liturgical prayer in the Church.
I got to meet the vocation director for my diocese on Saturday, which went pretty well I think. We talked about possible futures (as a priest, as a layman, etc) as well as my past, he talked me through the process of applying for seminary and suggested a spiritual director.
Today I defended my doctoral dissertation. Thanks be to God, it went really well.
I started the day with morning Mass which reads 1 Cor 3:1-9. The verse “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” spoke to me reminding me that it is He who made all things well.
Chris Garton-Zavesky, Hi from a fellow TAC parent! I’m thankful for the college, plus the University of Dallas, where I also have a child. I’m very happy to report that my son’s friend DIDN’T die on a mission trip to Mexico, despite being extremely ill with a fever of 107 and being to sick to fly. Lastly, I’ve had a great grace in my personal life.
I’m happy to report that a new edition of my collection of Pope John Paul I’s writings, A Passionate Adventure: Living the Catholic Faith Today, will be coming out on September 28, the 36th anniversary of his death, and the great news is that it will have a preface by Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia – who knew the Pope personally in his time in the Vatican. I’m grateful to God and the Cardinal for him saying yes; I hope it will help get the book noticed. There is already a print edition at Amazon; just keep looking for the new one.
Being a former Marine myself, I had the same reaction. While one MEF being superior to the other, I find both to be a great support in a time of need as they both remain “semper fidelis.”
Yesterday I was headed to the parish’s RCIA class when I encountered a Jewish acquaintance who has been considering Catholicism, actually he showed up in the back of church after evening Mass looking for me and needing to talk, so I invited him along and he came and was really interested.
1. The priest, deacon, and altar servers did NOT hold hands during the “Our Father” last Sunday, thanks to the counseling of a well-formed deacon.
2. Our parish just added Wednesdays and Fridays (in addition to Saturdays) to its Confessions schedule. Pray that the faithful will take advantage of this, and it will remain thus!
My wife had her contract renewed for her medical residency. This is her second residency which she needs to complete in order to be licensed in the US. She completed her first residency in Brazil where she graduated from medical school 20 years ago.
That and our four month old daughter continues to grow healthy and happy. Who’d of thunk my wife would give birth at 47 !
Thorfinn, if you’re ever in Charlotte during your travels, visit St. Ann’s parish. Fr. Reid is the pastor. He put the kibosh on the church-in-the round which was on the drawing board when he was first assigned and built a traditional style church with an altar rail, numerous stautues of the saints and traditional stain glass windows. TLM celebrated Wed. evenings (with a Holy Hour preceeding Mass) and Sunday at 12:30.
I’m in the throes of planning a last-minute walking holiday in Portugal in early October and have found out that not only can the itinerary accommodate a whole day in Fatima, but it will actually be the First Saturday of that month.
I will be studying in Gaming, Austria next semester at the Kartause, the former Carthusian monastery (suppressed by Joseph II) now owned and operated by the Franciscan University of Steubenville for its study abroad program. We’ll travel around Austria, Poland, and Rome and Assisi with the school; the Rome and Assisi pilgrimage is 10 days long! I’ll have opportunities to travel most every weekend, with class only being 4 days a week, and I get to go to Rome for the Triduum. I’ll have another 10 day break thrown in as well (probably going to France and England for that!). And at some point my parents will come to visit.
My husband has been promoted and now has the title of “Technical Fellow” & at yesterday’s doctor’s appointment my children heard their baby sister hiccup between heartbeats.
Ditto on Fr. Reid. I also love the OF Mass at St. Ann. I continue to pray for an EF Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas as well. With Fr. Christian and Fr. Kauth assigned, the only thing we are missing is a choir loft (so Father and Deacons can be moved in choir) and some modifications to the main altar. I continue to pray fervently for expansion of the EF across the Charlotte Diocese.
My Latin professor generously encouraged that I move up a level into a class focusing on. Medieval Latin texts. I hear tell from other seminarians that the head of the office of worship for our diocese will join the class at some point to teach about the Mass in the Extraordinary form!
@ncstevem & other NC commentators, it is great to read about the crop of enthusiastic young(ish) priests in the Charlotte diocese and we are fortunate to have a bishop who supports and encourages them and who is willing to hold firm in the face of unfounded criticism. The St Ann’s rebuild is one in a series of attractive Catholic churches built in the diocese. Plenty of good news to go around!
I want to announce the birth of our beautiful grandson – William Matthew.
Mom, Dad and baby are all well. Thanks be to God!
Also, thank you everyone, for your prayers.
Thank you for your prayers 2 Urgent Prayers ago for a family member undergoing cancer surgery–so far, he is recovering and no sign of remaining cancer. I so appreciate your prayers, and thanks be to God.
Thanks to God’s provision of a good director, I am better able to live and proclaim my faith in the Eucharistic reality of Our Lord, and to focus (both inside and outside of Church) upon the re-creation of His Incarnation as the priest speaks the words of Consecration in Holy Mass. Concurrently, prolonged periods of spiritual and professional difficulty appear to be approaching resolution. Our Lady, Untier of Knots, continue to pray for us!
My elderly neighbor is receiving good nursing care and is steadily, if slowly, recovering from the stroke she suffered recently.
Three more parishes in my none-too-conservative diocese have begun offering the Traditional Latin Mass since August 1.
Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
ThePapalCount on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Fr Z I agree with MaternalView above. The world situation is shaky and a trip to Poland… next to Ukraine…”
adriennep on Faith practice declining far and wide…. except…: “Lori announced massive parish closings, along with the suppression of the Latin Mass in diocese. Sure suicide by cutting off…”
Kathleen10 on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “I think people have lost confidence in all manner of things, airplane manufacturers, airlines, FAA, government agencies who are supposed…”
maternalView on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “Perhaps world events are making some nervous international travelers. Personally, I would have loved to go to Poland on a…”
voxborealis on ROME 24/4– Day 28: bad news and good news: “The bit about Claudius thinking that a return to the republic was likely or even possible may take its inspiration…”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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Books which you must have.
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
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The MEF is will return again soon (enough) to Our Lady of Grace, Greenboro, NC, where the pro-MEF pastor now has a parochial vicar. The MEF will remain at Sacred Heart, Salisbury, NC. A priest in the same diocese who knows how to offer the MEF has been made pastor in a parish, making the MEF possible at that parish, — if the priest so chooses, his choice likely based on how he sizes up the situation at that parish.
Bishop Jugis has assigned a 2nd priest to Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, something for which we have been praying for some time. This will (among other things) facilitate the resumption of weekly celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form later this year.
Clearly there has been widespread rejoicing in the Triad with people bursting to share this news!
My son attends St. Charles Borromeo Seminary near Philadelphia. The school is old and they are considering selling off portions of it. Beautiful old St. Martin’s Chapel is not being used due to its continued drain on resources. They had removed the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel as well. However, the seminarians still love to go into the chapel for prayer. Thanks to some effort by my son and his friends, they have returned the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle there and have lit the sanctuary candle. Praise God!
My youngest son was seriously ill with kidney failure. It looks like he will make a full recovery. Many other blessings in my family and personal life, including the promise of a job after long unemployment.
The most joyful good news is the continued life of a friend’s unborn grandchild. Her daughter is in serious condition and hospitalized as they fight to gain at least two more weeks for the baby. She has been hospitalized almost three weeks, and so many prayers are being offered for mother and child.
My wife and I just learned that we’re expecting our fourth child. Deo gratias!
Sorry, Sid, but I need to ask, what MEF stands for. Being an old Marine, it means something different than what I’m guessing you mean.
Son #3 was a freshman at Fisher More last year. With that now belly up, he was able to transfer to Our Lady Seat of Wisdom in Barrys Bay, Ontario. School started yesterday, and all is thumbs up!
Sword40,
I think he means Mass, Extraordinary Form.
I am the founding Vice President of my HS’s rosary club, which is good.
The last time prayer requests went up I asked for prayers regarding a job interview I was having. After over a year and a half out of work, I return to full time employment this coming Monday (Our Lady’s birthday!)
I thank everyone for their prayers.
As I type this, our beautiful daughter-in-law is in labor!!! The baby is already 9 days past due. Please say a prayer for her and our son, and for a safe and healthy delivery of their baby. I’m looking forward to posting a birth announcement later today or tomorrow!
I just downloaded the DivineOffice app on my Android, and now I have full access to the complete official text of the Liturgy of the Hours (Ordinary Form), including downloadable audio for all the offices with sung hymns. $15 for the app vs. $125-$150 for the 4 volume set. A great option for those who cannot always have one of the volumes in hand, or for those intimidated by the price of the books. I hope this app gets widespread use and increases the practice of liturgical prayer in the Church.
Thank you all for your good news. It has lifted me up today.
My eldest son has just begun at Thomas Aquinas College.
New-ish tutoring business continuing to do well.
Prayers to the Infant of Prague continue to be answered with rich blessings.
I got to meet the vocation director for my diocese on Saturday, which went pretty well I think. We talked about possible futures (as a priest, as a layman, etc) as well as my past, he talked me through the process of applying for seminary and suggested a spiritual director.
Today I defended my doctoral dissertation. Thanks be to God, it went really well.
I started the day with morning Mass which reads 1 Cor 3:1-9. The verse “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” spoke to me reminding me that it is He who made all things well.
I am Ph(inally).D(one)!
Chris Garton-Zavesky, Hi from a fellow TAC parent! I’m thankful for the college, plus the University of Dallas, where I also have a child. I’m very happy to report that my son’s friend DIDN’T die on a mission trip to Mexico, despite being extremely ill with a fever of 107 and being to sick to fly. Lastly, I’ve had a great grace in my personal life.
I gave a talk to a large group on a scary topic. It went well!
I’m happy to report that a new edition of my collection of Pope John Paul I’s writings, A Passionate Adventure: Living the Catholic Faith Today, will be coming out on September 28, the 36th anniversary of his death, and the great news is that it will have a preface by Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia – who knew the Pope personally in his time in the Vatican. I’m grateful to God and the Cardinal for him saying yes; I hope it will help get the book noticed. There is already a print edition at Amazon; just keep looking for the new one.
Wife and I will be in Rome in October for the Populus Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. I hope to pay my respects to Father Z at St. Peter’s.
Sword40,
Being a former Marine myself, I had the same reaction. While one MEF being superior to the other, I find both to be a great support in a time of need as they both remain “semper fidelis.”
Yesterday I was headed to the parish’s RCIA class when I encountered a Jewish acquaintance who has been considering Catholicism, actually he showed up in the back of church after evening Mass looking for me and needing to talk, so I invited him along and he came and was really interested.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/latin-mass-altar-boy-camp-draws-strong-interest/
In about eight months, I will be asking Fr. Z to change my name to Fatherof8.
I just learned that Fr. Z. is speaking at Sacred Heart parish, just down the street from me, tomorrow night. Bon chance!
Two things!
1. The priest, deacon, and altar servers did NOT hold hands during the “Our Father” last Sunday, thanks to the counseling of a well-formed deacon.
2. Our parish just added Wednesdays and Fridays (in addition to Saturdays) to its Confessions schedule. Pray that the faithful will take advantage of this, and it will remain thus!
I just turned 18
My wife had her contract renewed for her medical residency. This is her second residency which she needs to complete in order to be licensed in the US. She completed her first residency in Brazil where she graduated from medical school 20 years ago.
That and our four month old daughter continues to grow healthy and happy. Who’d of thunk my wife would give birth at 47 !
Thorfinn, if you’re ever in Charlotte during your travels, visit St. Ann’s parish. Fr. Reid is the pastor. He put the kibosh on the church-in-the round which was on the drawing board when he was first assigned and built a traditional style church with an altar rail, numerous stautues of the saints and traditional stain glass windows. TLM celebrated Wed. evenings (with a Holy Hour preceeding Mass) and Sunday at 12:30.
Fr. Reid gives excellent sermons as well.
I’m in the throes of planning a last-minute walking holiday in Portugal in early October and have found out that not only can the itinerary accommodate a whole day in Fatima, but it will actually be the First Saturday of that month.
Just too, sicut dicitur, cool.
I will be studying in Gaming, Austria next semester at the Kartause, the former Carthusian monastery (suppressed by Joseph II) now owned and operated by the Franciscan University of Steubenville for its study abroad program. We’ll travel around Austria, Poland, and Rome and Assisi with the school; the Rome and Assisi pilgrimage is 10 days long! I’ll have opportunities to travel most every weekend, with class only being 4 days a week, and I get to go to Rome for the Triduum. I’ll have another 10 day break thrown in as well (probably going to France and England for that!). And at some point my parents will come to visit.
My husband has been promoted and now has the title of “Technical Fellow” & at yesterday’s doctor’s appointment my children heard their baby sister hiccup between heartbeats.
@ncstevem
Ditto on Fr. Reid. I also love the OF Mass at St. Ann. I continue to pray for an EF Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas as well. With Fr. Christian and Fr. Kauth assigned, the only thing we are missing is a choir loft (so Father and Deacons can be moved in choir) and some modifications to the main altar. I continue to pray fervently for expansion of the EF across the Charlotte Diocese.
New grandbaby arrived in good health. Next project is to get mom & dad back to church and baby baptized.
My Latin professor generously encouraged that I move up a level into a class focusing on. Medieval Latin texts. I hear tell from other seminarians that the head of the office of worship for our diocese will join the class at some point to teach about the Mass in the Extraordinary form!
@ncstevem & other NC commentators, it is great to read about the crop of enthusiastic young(ish) priests in the Charlotte diocese and we are fortunate to have a bishop who supports and encourages them and who is willing to hold firm in the face of unfounded criticism. The St Ann’s rebuild is one in a series of attractive Catholic churches built in the diocese. Plenty of good news to go around!
I want to announce the birth of our beautiful grandson – William Matthew.
Mom, Dad and baby are all well. Thanks be to God!
Also, thank you everyone, for your prayers.
I’ve been accepted into our Diocese’s Diaconate formation program.
Thank you for your prayers 2 Urgent Prayers ago for a family member undergoing cancer surgery–so far, he is recovering and no sign of remaining cancer. I so appreciate your prayers, and thanks be to God.
Thanks to God’s provision of a good director, I am better able to live and proclaim my faith in the Eucharistic reality of Our Lord, and to focus (both inside and outside of Church) upon the re-creation of His Incarnation as the priest speaks the words of Consecration in Holy Mass. Concurrently, prolonged periods of spiritual and professional difficulty appear to be approaching resolution. Our Lady, Untier of Knots, continue to pray for us!
My elderly neighbor is receiving good nursing care and is steadily, if slowly, recovering from the stroke she suffered recently.
Three more parishes in my none-too-conservative diocese have begun offering the Traditional Latin Mass since August 1.
Deo gratias!
Excuse my indulging in taking this opportunity to note some generally interesting news:
http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2014-09-07/reinterment-of-king-richard-iii-services-announced/