More tears shed in St. Louis.

Posted on 23 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From The Federalist:

St. Louis Archdiocese Closes Thriving Traditional Latin Mass Parish

[…]

As a result of all those meetings and focus groups, St. Barnabas, a growing Traditional Latin Mass parish with children consisting of 35 percent of the congregation, zero debt, and a pastor who is not a part of the archdiocese, and therefore not taking away priestly resources from any other parish, was ordered by the archbishop to shutter its doors.

St. Barnabas has been subsumed by a parish less than two miles down the road called Assumption. This means that the Assumption parish will take control of St. Barnabas’ building, territory, and finances, including the nearly $600,000 in St. Barnabas’ bank account, in accordance with Canon law. Right now, the Assumption parish is running a deficit of more than $500,000 due to renovation expenses, which can be paid down once it gains control of St. Barnabas’ funds.

Now with St. Barnabas closed, anyone looking to attend a Latin Mass will have to drive more than 30 miles into the city to the Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine’s or St. Francis de Sales — a trek that parishioner Susan Cooke said her 89-year-old mother couldn’t make.

“It’s sad to lose St. Barnabas itself,” Cooke said. “You know the property, it’s terrible that we’re going to be losing that, but it’s even more terrible that we won’t have a Latin Mass in St. Charles County anymore.”

In his decree letter, Rozanski cited St. Barnabas’ celebration of the Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 as being in violation of orders from the Vatican.

“The faithful who prefer such celebrations of the Holy Eucharist have become the greater part of the worshiping assembly at Saint Barnabas Parish, and Pope Francis by motu proprio Traditionis Custodes art. 3 has instructed that territorial parochial churches are not suitable for such celebrations,” the decree stated.

[…]

With their new Benedictine monk Fr. Dolce, St. Barnabas introduced two more weekend Mass times and a daily Mass. This year, the average attendance at its Latin Masses is 283 at both Sunday services — filling the church to 80 percent capacity. Since Oct. 1, 2022, St. Barnabas’ church attendance has gone up by 34 percent, according to Murphy.

[…]

What does the Archbishop want for that place? That it be a center for Hispanic ministry.

[…]

Some question if this Spanish language-only parish will stay afloat. According to U.S. Census data, only 4 percent of the population in St. Charles County is Hispanic. And the archdiocese already has four parishes that serve the Hispanic community with Spanish-language Masses as well as English-language Masses

[…]

Friends, brace yourselves.    This will get worse before it gets better.

You must stay strong in your Catholic Faith no matter how badly your bishops treat you.

We are not exempt from the Passion.

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ASK FATHER: Michael Voris

Posted on 22 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There are enough emails in my box asking me my take on the resignation of Michael Voris from Church Militant to merit a post.

CM issued a statement that Michael was asked to resign for breaching their “morality clause”.

Michael Voris posted his own explanation on Twitter/X.

Michael’s video statement contained some pretty dark implications, about which we can guess, but which haven’t been disclosed.  Some radical healing is in order.

I’ve had concerns about the whole of Church Militant for a while. I made a choice not to watch most of what pops up in my various feeds.

That’s now apart from this new development with Michael, whom I’ve known and had been personally cordial with over the years.

To use a cliche, the Church isn’t a museum of the perfect, but a “field hospital” for sinners. The analogy limps a bit because while field hospitals are mostly concerned with wounds inflicted by external forces, while the Church also treats sheer victims, she treats mostly the self-inflicted wounds from sin.  It’s still a useful image.

Field hospitals, set up for disasters and battles, are temporary places. The Church Militant is temporary. This isn’t the end of the battle, it is the midst of the battle.  In battle we struggle against human frailty and the fog of war.

At a field hospital, after the icy process of triage, there is screaming and stench. People are patched up so that they can be moved elsewhere. There follows continued care, rehab, counseling.

Another fact of a field hospital is that some people don’t make it out alive.

Not everyone in the Church is going to be saved.

How about you?  Are you presuming upon God’s friendship?

From battlefield medic, to field hospital, to trauma center, to rehab, to counseling there are various stages of brutal horror along with heroic wonder.   In its gruesome challenge there is also beauty, mystery.

We should be humble when we are witnesses to this process.

Not a one of us hasn’t needed and doesn’t need mercy.

We are going get justice from God whether we want it or not.  Mercy, however, is ours but we have to ask for it.

People are so swift to desire for others what they imagine as “justice”. Our Lord wants us to be contrite of heart and merciful.

My take on Michael’s video? It’s not just an admission of faults and wounds, but also a request for mercy, at least in the form of prayers and some understanding about human fragility.

In my view, in this march upcountry in the present Church Militant we have “man down”… a “man overboard”.  This requires an immediate response of that which is salvific rather than betrayal.  You don’t keep sailing, you throw a rope and heave to.  You don’t leave your brother in the ditch, you grab his arm and pull him to safety.

Already I’ve seen the ugly starting on Twitter, etc., lots of people piling on, railing at and about him, etc. It seems to me pretty vile to kick a man when he is at a spiritual low point and struggling to rise. Some of what I’ve seen written so far from the trad side…

I’ll just remind you of what Our Lord explained about forgiveness, the only thing in the Our Father He went back to explain. If you do not forgive, you will not be forgiven. PERIOD.

Examine your own consciences.

If you have some real problem with Voris, then your best bet is to pray for him and offer willing mortifications for his benefit.

I ask Our Blessed Mother to cover him with her protective mantle.  I ask St. Michael to protect him from spiritual and temporal harm.  I ask St. Joseph to banish demons from his struggles.  I ask Christ the High Priest to cover him with His Precious Blood and to bring him healing and peace.

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Daily Rome Shot 860

Posted on 22 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Photo from The World’s Best Sacristan™

Many thanks to my donors today.  I did get an email bounced back from my thank you notes.  If you regularly donate and haven’t heard from me, it’s not because I haven’t tried.

Try this one…

White to move.   White’s in serious trouble, so think fast!

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Meanwhile, in St. Louis the Sinquefield Cup is underway, the last of the Grand Chess Tour.  This is classical: 90 for 40 moves, then 30 plus 30 sec increment.  1st place $100K.  2nd $65K.  Over the whole tour Fabiano Caruana is leading.  Yesterday, however, all games were drawn. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Anish Giri were a move short of checkmating each other.

Hanging out before the day’s action are Nepo (2771), Anish (2752) and my guy Wesley So (2752). These guys have been playing against each other for years and they know each other well.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2734) and Levon Aronian (2727). They both usually appear to have just rolled out of bed having slept in their clothes, though Levon mostly sports flashy shirts. This is definitely no longer the days of suits and ties… which they should reclaim!

Photos from chess.com

Action continues today with Round 2.

The St. Louis Chess Club was founded by entrepreneur Rex Sinquefield, 79, who has had quite a life.  He is a devout Catholic and serves on the Cathedral’s board. Part of his childhood was spent in a Catholic orphanage. He was in seminary for a while in St. Louis, served in the Army, and majored in business at St. Louis University and University of Chicago.  As a philanthropist he funded the School of Music at U of Missouri and has been a director of the St. Vincent Home for Children along with many other local cultural concerns.  The Chess Campus is spectacular.  He was a strong player who thinks that chess can help transform young people.   I’ve actually thought about uprooting and moving to the Central West End of St. Louis.  Maybe in better times.

Speaking of moving…

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YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS

Posted on 21 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

PLEASE use the sharing buttons! Thanks!

In your charity would you please take a moment look at the requests and to pray for the people about whom you read?

Continued from THESE.

Let’s remember all who are ill, who will die soon, who have died recently, who have lost their jobs, who are afraid.

I get many requests by email asking for prayers. Some are heart-achingly grave and urgent.

As long as my blog reaches so many readers in so many places, let’s give each other a hand. We should support each other in works of mercy.

If you have some prayer requests, feel free to post them below.

You have to be registered here to be able to post.

In your kindness continue prayers for my mother, who has been diagnosed with something grave and incurable.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
17 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 859

Posted on 21 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by The Great Roman™

Welcome Registrant:

TradSAHDad

Black to move and name in 3.


1… Rh5+ 2. gxh5 g5+ 3. fxg5 hxg5#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

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Fr. McTeigue responds to the response about the “Eucharistic Revival” without sufficient emphasis also on the Sacrament of Penance

Posted on 20 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A couple weeks ago, I brought to your attention a 4 November piece at Catholic World Report by Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ, which commented on the “Eucharistic Revival” which is underway under the impulse of the bench of bishops.   Fr. McTeigue pointed out a serious difficulty in advancing a “Eucharistic Revival” without also striving to revive the Sacrament of Penance, confession.  It makes sense, no?  What sort of revival would it be were the number of sacrilegious Communions to increase even beyond what the horrifying numbers are now?

Right after, on 7 November, the CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, Inc. (I’m not making that up), Tim Glemkowski, responded to Fr. McTeigue with an emotional defense. I debated getting into that piece here, with some “zisking”, but … the efforts for “Eucharistic Revival”, though perhaps a bit narrow, are nevertheless worthy and I didn’t think embarrassing this fellow was up to the mark. Besides, I knew in my bones that Fr. McTeigue would respond to the response.

Today at Crisis, Fr. McTeigue does indeed respond to Mr. Glemkowski.

Thus he begins…

[…]

Briefly, regarding form: I taught my rhetoric students that when an interlocutor begins his response expressing concerns about “tone,” keep your eye on his substance—because that’s where the weaknesses are most likely to be found. If he had the stronger argument, he wouldn’t focus on “tone.” I note that your first principal concern was about “tone.”

[…]

Fr McT defends his having actually read the relevant site and materials and having done a word search for “confession”, which one might rather naturally do, but for which he was criticized.

The Crisis piece is polite but vigorous.  It may not be easy for Mr. Glemkowski to find his way back to his corner.

One chunk worthy of immediate attention…

[…]

I had already looked at the video you referred to (second introductory video for the Parish Year). Notice the conditional language in the video. A parish “could” offer extra opportunities for confession. A whole list of “coulds” were listed as options—confession was not referred to as a necessity. It was listed as one option among many. In other words, in terms of the evaluation of your argument, your reference to this video undermines rather than supports your cause.

It’s true that the Leader’s Playbook calls for “fidelity to the texts and rubrics of the Church.” Tim, what’s your basis for thinking that even “Parish Leaders” could name what those texts and rubrics are? What’s your basis for thinking that parishes on “liturgical autopilot” for decades will conform to liturgical law just because the Leader’s Playbook suggests it?

Will the Philadelphia parish that sang the Eagles fight song at Mass on Super Bowl Sunday readily conform? Will the parishes that use Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion even when such aren’t needed, readily conform? The parishes singing the heretical “Mary Did You Know?” at Christmas every year “because people really like it”—will they readily conform? Do you believe that they will do so because of the small print regarding liturgical fidelity that can be found in the Leader’s Playbook?

A small digression from your text: Tim, this points to a larger problem that I’ve not found in the materials for the Revival/Congress—Why did a revival become necessary? Something needs to be revived only when it’s been killed or allowed to die. How did Eucharistic devotion wither to such a degree that a national Revival and Congress are called for? Are we being asked to refill the leaky bucket without inquiring about the locations and causes of the leaks?

[…]

Eucharistic Revival.  NO ONE will deny, I think, that it is needed.  However, simply continuing to do more of what has been done for the last decades – which caused the problems a “revival” seeks to address – seems unlikely to produce long-term benefits.

Also, during the recent bishops meeting there was, if I recall correctly, some talk about a congress at a convention center of some sort and confessors were available.  It seems that the number of people seeking the Sacrament of Penance was so great that a general call for more priests to help hear confessions was put out.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Save The Liturgy - Save The World | Tagged ,
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News of the Church 01

Posted on 20 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

An audio “gazette” of Catholic things.

00:00 Introduction
05:50 Livy on the Sacred Geese
09:33 The Wanderer
13:35 Crux
24:00 Catholic News Agency
31:34 Silverstream Priory
34:34 Latin Liturgy Association
40:00 Exit
41:10 Memorare in Latin

You will hear sung a version of the Memorare in Latin by Neums and Tunes

Experiment for RSS feed.

Podcast (pocast): Play in new window | Download

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5 Comments

Daily Rome Shot 858

Posted on 20 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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GO TO CONFESSION.

Welcome new registrants:

JPForte
ValPal727

Thanks Venmo donors CB and EA (one of the faithful “200!” donors dear to my heart).

Meanwhile, white to move.  Mate in 3.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

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.  US HERE – UK HERE

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 6th Sunday after Epiphany (N.O.: 33rd) 2023

Posted on 19 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s the 6th Sunday Remaining after Epiphany in the Vetus Ordo and the 33rd Sunday of the Novus Ordo.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Share the good stuff.  Quite a few people are forced to sit through really bad preaching.  Even though you can usually find – if you are willing to try – at least one good point in a really bad sermon, that can be a trial.  So… SHARE THE GOOD STUFF which you were fortunate enough to receive!

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?  We really need good news.

I have some thoughts about the Sunday Epistle reading posted at One Peter Five.

A taste:

We are both intellective and affective. They come together in the tension of fides quae and fides qua, our willed choice to know and to love. After all, God made us His images, to act like He acts, to know, to will, to love. Catholics who truly love their Faith shouldn’t need weird stuff and controversies to spur them into their catechisms and the constant study of and review of the Faith. We should burn with a desire to know more more more anyway and all the time.

On the other hand, was it Winston Churchill who said “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste”?

We shouldn’t need a crisis to drive us to learn our faith better. BUT! We’ve got one! There’s a faith to learn and love. There’s a Person, to learn and love and give.

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Daily Rome Shot 857

Posted on 19 November 2023 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Photo by The Great Roman™

Welcome registrant:

wmessex

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Remember COVID and all the churches being shut down?  I live streamed Holy Mass everyday to quite a large viewership.  At that time, a tech savvy fellow set up a page called LatinMass.live, where you can STILL find live streams of TLMs.  I was on that list until I was driven “underground” as it were.  Anyway, he has a YouTube channel and needs some subscriptions so he can live stream.  They require at least 1000, I think.  You might help him out.  HERE.  I am not sure where he is going with this, but during COVID he performed a service for which we all should be very grateful.  I sure am.  Give him a boost.

And another thing… as I was leaving Rome, someone sent me a donation designated for flowers.  I didn’t get flowers there, since I was leaving, but I bought some yesterday for the Two Trinities Chapel, which should take me up to Advent and their removal.

In situ…

I do like alstroemeria. They are a type of lily, if I understand rightly.  They last a long time.   I think that that is why my flower guy at the Campo de’ Fiori doesn’t like them!  It’s a running thing between us.  He doesn’t often have them and I usually have to ask ahead.

They look nice with the colors of the Murillo and the beautiful green vestments, the gift of a long-time reader and live-streamer follower back in the day.

I think I mentioned while in Rome that I found a copy of this Murillo in San Crisogono.  The original is in Room 30 of the National Gallery in London.  It is magnificent, a late work and perhaps one of his last before his death.  I once got to London fairly often and this painting was a frequent visit, since I greedily haunted the Gallery, usually finishing my museum crawls at a pub at Seven Dials.  I digress.  The copy in San Crisogono.

Meanwhile, white to move.  Mate in FOUR.


1. Rxe6+ Nxe6 2. Qh8+ Nf8 3. Qxf8+ Kxf8 4. Rd8#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

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.  US HERE – UK HERE

The monks at Norcia have completed their guest house. Benedictines have a strong dimension of hospitality, so guest houses are important. You can help them with this and other projects. And the beer is GREAT.

In St. Louis, Fabiano Caruana won the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz after winner-take-all game with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. MVL finished second. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Le Quang Liem tied for third.  Next, the Sinquefield Cup, the final leg of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour, begins Tuesday 21 November.  Last year there was the huge blow up between Magnus and Niemann.  That’s settled now.  Sort of.

Have a great Sunday!  Pray for me, please.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
6 Comments