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The Psychology of Difficulty: Time for a New Youth Strategy, by Peter Kwasniewski

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

We post this wonderful article from The New Liturgical Movement

At the Fota XI conference in Ireland in July 2018, which had the Divine Office as its theme, many participants made remarks about the way in which the recitation of the postconciliar Liturgy of the Hours has severely fallen off in practice. Many clergy, apparently not seeing it as a serious obligation, either don’t pray it at all, or skip it all too readily. This is perhaps less a problem among younger clergy than among older generations, who, in the confusion following the Council, threw off many obligations (clerical clothing, daily Mass, daily Office, etc.) as so many out-of-date constraints by which their “work in the world” was being hampered—or so they thought. In reality, what finally killed their work in the world was the death of the spiritual life, the loss of the primacy of the cult of God over the “needs,” real or imaginary, of Man. This inversion and perversion is what is killing the Church in the West, wherever it is dying.

It is true that, as Matthew Hazell showed in his talk at Fota, there were a fair number of vota from bishops and superiors prior to the Council asking that the “burden” of the Divine Office be mitigated — sometimes considerably, as by the suppression of certain canonical hours, or by the rendering optional of the little hours. As we know, in the end the ancient office of Prime was suppressed without further ado, and the entire breviary stripped down and reorganized into what some critics have called (not unreasonably) “the Liturgy of the Minutes.”

I found most interesting an observation someone at the conference made, who said: If you make a certain obligation too easy, it becomes all the more easy to hold it in contempt. One feels that it is hardly worth the trouble. (A good example of a light burden readily shirked off is the current one-hour Eucharistic fast.) A heavier burden, because it feels heavy, feels serious, and the absence of it is, oddly, uncomfortable. If you are used to bearing a yoke, and suddenly the yoke is lifted, one can feel off-balance, deprived of a companion, naked and exposed, at a loss.

The old office had weight or gravity to it, and the duty to pray it was emphasized strongly in canon law and priestly formation. (It makes little difference, for our present ascetical theme, whether we are speaking about the pre-Pius X or the Pius X breviary; for both placed considerable demands on the clergy.) The sight of a Catholic priest praying his breviary in the sanctuary before Mass, in the pews after Mass, in the bus, on the train, in practically any spare moment, was a familiar sight. One of the participants in Fota told a story about how, before the Council, an elderly priest would stop his car at night, get out, and finish his breviary by the car headlights, in order not to fail in his responsibility.

Now, I have noticed that, as a general rule, there are two and only two ways of making an appeal to young men to discern the priesthood, and something similar can be said for appeals about religious life. The first way is to say (through words, images, music…): “This is going to be incredibly hard. It will demand everything you’ve got. Many won’t be able to hack it. But with God’s help, you just might. We’re not desperate for you, though, so don’t bother to come if you’re not serious.” The second way is to say: “The life of a Catholic priest is wonderful! You get to be so helpful to people every day. It’s bright and cheerful, even fun at times. We need you. We’ll make it work out for you and nothing will be too hard.”

I was thinking about this in connection with a vocations video my son showed me, made by the Russian Orthodox:

This “trailer” for the longer version (also worth watching) obviously and beautifully illustrates the first type of message. And even though it makes use of the nowadays almost obligatory “Gandalf slaying the Balrog” type of soundtrack, it is impressive in its earnestness.

Contrast this virile message with the flaccid tone of all too many Roman Catholic vocational videos, where it is all smiles, handshakes, coffee hours, and the like. For example, this one, from the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., starts off with a soundtrack that can’t quite decide whether it’s jazz, classical, easy listening, or a movie soundtrack, then features a slick cardinal doing his shtick, followed by jolly junior students — regular guys just like you and me!

This one, from the same diocese, is even worse — especially for the wild west liturgical life it gives us a sneak peak of. It would be hard to imagine most serious young Catholic men finding this appealing.

Another awful vocation video would be this one from the Legionaries of Christ. But in reality, the entire genre is choked with examples of this kind.

Why don’t we contrast the Archdiocese of Washington with the SSPX’s vocational video? It’s enough to watch a minute to see that this is going to be very different.

Now, I will be the first to admit that the script could have been more interesting. It follows the somewhat hackneyed “day in the life of…” model. Nevertheless, what do we find here? The soundtrack is Renaissance polyphony. The narrator tells us about the symbolism of a liturgical vestment and shows the seminarians filing in for the office of Prime (believed by some beatniks to have been abolished — don’t break it to them that it survived the purge!). Beautiful images of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are followed by a panning shot that features the Angelic Doctor, who is repeatedly referred to. Cassocked teachers lead seminarians in prayer on their knees before class begins. Athletics make a required but thankfully brief appearance. A man is shown repairing a chasuble, which I consider very forward-thinking. All in all, the SSPX video is far closer to the Eastern Orthodox one, and would be similarly appealing to a man in search of a great cause to which to dedicate his life.

All this fits in well with the oft-observed phenomenon that the prospect of challenge or difficulty is what attracts intrepid spirits to make huge commitments. The U.S. Marines have capitalized on this strategy for years. They seek to attract not just warm bodies but talented candidates looking for the best, prepared to endure hardship to win glory. In other words, an elite. In fact, the strategy is as old as Our Lord, who says “take this teaching — if you can” (cf. Mt 19:12), and St. Paul, who compares Christians to olympians in training (cf. 1 Cor 9:24–27). Why, then, are we so afraid of this idea of an elite?

The apostles are often presented nowadays as a ragtag and bobtail crew, but let us consider for a moment how false this picture is. Several were strong and dedicated fishermen who knew how to labor day and night. They were not lily-livered wimps. Another was a Jewish zealot, the desperate sort who would have been ready to ambush Roman soldiers and strangle them. Another was a tax collector, which meant someone who could dominate and intimidate people, and keep a close eye on money in and money out. Two were nicknamed “sons of thunder,” presumably because of their temperaments.

The psychology at work — if you want to recruit good men, set them a towering challenge and then push them hard in its pursuit — seems obviously true in the realm of the military, athletics, and extreme outdoor activities; but it proves no less true in the realm of priestly and religious vocations. If a young man or a young woman is going to commit his or her entire life to the Lord, should it not look and feel quite serious, all-encompassing, demanding everything, but also promising everything? It will take all your mind, heart, soul, and strength, every waking minute, your voice, your lips, your senses, your imagination, your memory — “take it all, O Lord, I give it all to Thee,” as St. Ignatius prayed — but it promises to give you deification, eternal life, a hundredfold now and forever.

For this admirable exchange to be believable — that is, to be able to believe that the Church believes in the reality of this exchange — the way of life it entails must be radical and all-consuming; from the vantage of fallen human nature, it will be burdensome. But this is a necessary step along the path to that “freedom of the children of God” for which we long.

The traditional Latin liturgy is this way, too: it demands more and delivers more. It requires a fuller participation of the whole man, soul and body. We are given more to do spiritually and physically. It makes nothing easy for us — except praying, the one thing we need to do most of all. All of the difficulty is for the sake of breaking open our minds and hearts for communion with God, which will not be won cheaply, lest it be held cheap.

There are a lot of people out there in media, public relations, and, dare I say it, the Church hierarchy, who need to figure out this lesson. The Synod could use a serious injection of the same realism and nobility. (It won’t help, since the whole thing has been rigged from the start, but it never hurts to say what the Synod might have been, had it been run by sane people in touch with youth.)

The most obvious way we can recover the toughness, challenge, and lofty purpose we have lost is to take up again the old breviary and the old Mass, and move on from there to a future full of promise.

October 22, 2018   No Comments

DISAPPOINTING NEWS FOR THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS IN THE PHILADELPHIA ARCHDIOCESE

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

The Archdiocese has confirmed that for the first time there will be no Traditional Latin Masses at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul for the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls Days. This is an unfortunate event for many reasons: 1) The Cathedral Basilica is the liturgical center of the Archdiocese and the most beautiful and appropriate venue for the Ancient Liturgy of the Church; 2) The Cathedral Basilica is centrally located, has ample parking space, is most easily accessible by public transportation, and is most convenient for the many Catholics in Center City who walk to Mass; and, 3) It denies the opportunity to attend the Traditional Latin Mass for those who have no feasible alternative.

Traditional Latin Masses on these Feast Days, will only be available in a few local neighborhood parishes, some outside of the city. We are now in the process of gathering the names of the local neighborhood parishes which will be having Traditional Latin Masses on November 1st and 2nd, and will post their locations and times when we have a complete list. Please check back soon for Mass locations and times.

 

 

October 19, 2018   No Comments

An Opinion Piece: De Mattei: True and False Saints in the Church

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

From Rorate Caeli Blogspot

DISCLAIMER: When we post an Opinion Piece, it must be stated that said Opinion Piece does not necessarily reflect the views of Philadelphia Local Chapter of the Latin Liturgy Association, Inc. It is merely presented to provide information to readers and for each reader to form its own opinion regarding the content.

By Roberto de Mattei, Corrispondenza Romana, October 17, 2018

Risultati immagini per images of paul VI

 

Among the anniversaries of 2018 there is one that has gone unnoticed: the sixty years since the death of Venerable Pius XII, after a 19-year reign, at Castelgandolfo on October 9th 1958. Yet today his memory still lives on, especially, as Cristina Siccardi notes, as an icon of holiness, worthy of the Vicar of Christ, and for the vastness of his Magisterium, in the context of tragic events, like the Second World War, which erupted six months after his election to the Papacy on March 20th 1939. The death of Pius XII closed an era, which today is referred contemptuously as “pre-conciliar” or “Constantinian”.  With the election of John XXIII (October 28th 1958) and the calling of the Second Vatican Council, a new era in the history of the Church opened: that which had its moment of triumph, on October 14th, with the canonization of Paul VI, after that of Pope Roncalli.

 

Blessed Pius IX  is still awaiting canonization and Pius XII has still not been beatified, but all the Council and Post-Council Popes have been canonized, with the exception of John Paul I. It seems that what they want to canonize, through its main actors, is an age, which however, is perhaps the darkest the Church has ever experienced in Her history.

 

Immortality spreads through the entire body of the Church, starting from the highest levels.  Pope Francis has refused to admit the reality of the tragic scenario brought to light by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Doctrinal confusion is total, to the point that Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, has publically stated that: “the bishops and especially the Successor of Peter are falling short in faithfully and in unity, maintaining and transmitting the Deposit of the Faith.” *

This drama has its roots in the Second Vatican Council and the Post–Council, and those primarily responsible were the Popes who have governed the Church over the last sixty years. Their canonization proclaims heroic virtues in the governing of the Church. The Council and Post-Council have denied doctrine for the sake of ‘the pastoral’ and for the sake of this ‘pastoralism’ they have refused to define truth and condemn error.  The only truth which is proclaimed solemnly today is the impeccability of the conciliar Popes  – and them alone. The intent seems to be that of suggesting as infallible their political and pastoral choices rather than the canonizing of men.

But what credit must we give to these canonizations?  Even if most theologians retain that canonizations are infallible acts of the Church, we are not dealing with a dogma of faith.  The last great exponent of the “Roman Theological School”, Monsignor Brunero Gherardini (1925-2017), voiced all his doubts about the infallibility of canonizations in the publication Divinitas. For the Roman theologian the decree of canonization is not infallible as the conditions of infallibility are lacking, starting with the fact that the canonization does not have as direct or explicit object, a truth of the faith or morals contained in Revelation, but only a fact indirectly linked to dogma, without strictly being a “dogmatic fact”.  Indeed, neither the Codes of Canon Law of 1917 and 1983, nor the old or new Catechisms of the Catholic Church, make clear the doctrine of the Church on canonizations.

Another valid contemporary theologian, Father Jan-Michel Gleize, of the Fraternity of Pius X, admits the infallibility of canonizations, but not those after the Second Vatican Council, for the following reasons: the reforms after the Council entailed certain insufficiencies in the procedure and introduced a new collegial intention, two consequences which are incompatible with the certainty of the beatifications and the infallibility of the canonizations. Thirdly, the judgment that is expressed in the process allows for an ambiguous conception at least, and thus doubt about the sanctity and heroic virtue.  Infallibility is based on a rigorous complex of investigations and verifications. There is no doubt that after the reform of the procedure wanted by John Paul II in 1983, this process in the verification of the truth has become more fragile and there has been a change in the concept of sanctity itself.

Other important contributions have recently been published along the same line. Peter Kwasniewski notes on Onepeterfive** that the worst change in the canonical process is in the number of miracles required: “In the old system, two miracles were required for both beatification and canonization – that is, a total of four investigated and certified miracles. The point of this requirement is to give the Church sufficient moral certainty of God’s “approval” of the proposed blessed or saint by the evidence of His exercise of power at the intercession of this individual. Moreover, the miracles traditionally had to be outstanding in their clarity – that is, admitting of no possible natural or scientific explanation. The new system cuts the number of miracles in half, which, one might say, also cuts the moral certainty in half – and, as many have observed, the miracles put forward often seem to be lightweight, leaving one scratching one’s head: was that really a miracle, or was it just an extremely improbable event?”

Christopher Ferrara, for his part, in an accurate article in The Remnant*** , after stressing the decisive role that the testimony of miracles plays in the canonizations, noted none of the miracles attributed to Paul VI and Monsignor Romero satisfy the traditional criteria for the verification of  the divine in a miracle: “Those criteria are (1) acure that is (2) instantaneous, (3) complete, (4) lasting, and (5) scientifically inexplicable, meaning not the result of treatment or natural processes of healing but rather an event originating outside the natural order.”

John Lamont, who dedicated a wide and convincing study on the theme of the authority of canonizations on Rorate Caeli ****, concludes his investigations with these words: “We need not hold that the canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II were infallible, because the conditions needed for such infallibility were not present. Their canonizations are not connected to any doctrine of the faith, they were not the result of a devotion that is central to the life of the Church, and they were not the product of careful and rigorous examination. But we need not exclude all canonizations whatsoever from the charism of infallibility; we can still argue that those canonizations that followed the rigorous procedure of former centuries benefited from this charism.”

Thus, canonization not being a dogma of faith, there is no positive obligation for Catholics to lend assent to it.  The exercise of reason demonstrates plainly that the Conciliar papacies have been of no advantage to the Church. Faith transcends reason and elevates it, but doesn’t contradict it, since God, Truth in essence, is not contradictory. Hence we may in [good] conscience maintain our reservations about these canonizations.

The most devastating act of Paul VI’s pontificate was the destruction of the Old  Roman Rite. Historians know that the Novus Ordo Missae was not Monsignor’s Bugnini’s, but that prepared, wanted and carried into effect by Pope Montini, causing, as Peter Kwasniewski writes, an explosive internal rupture: “This was the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on the People of God, which either wiped out their faith or caused cancers by its radiation”.

The most commendable act of Pius XII’s pontificate was the beatification (1951) and subsequently the canonization of St. Pope Pius X (1954), after a long and rigorous canonical process and four inconfutable miracles.  It is thanks to Pius XII that the name of Pius X shines in the firmament of the Church and represents a sure guide in the midst of the confusion of our times.

*http://www.lanuovabq.it/it/il-papa-non-puo-ammettere-lintercomunione

**https://onepeterfive.com/paul-vi-not-saint/

***https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4137-the-canonization-crisis-part-ii)

****https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-authority-of-canonisations-do-all.html

Translation. Contributor Francesca Romana

October 19, 2018   No Comments

“This Evening I saw the Future of the Church: The Future is the Traditional Mass”

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

by Father Richard G. Cipolla, from Rorate Caeli Blog

 

 

This evening I saw the future, the real Future of the Church, not the one being imagined by the crowd in Rome who mistake the future because of the mindless bureaucracy that thinks it has the Spirit imprisoned in the 1960s under the title of the “spirit of Vatican II.” When the present Pontiff was elected, I wrote an essay called “Back to the Future”, which predicted that the Church would have to relive the sixties but this time with a vengeance. All those prelates and their briefcase carrying followers who went underground during the pontificate of John Paul II would meet and talk with great nostalgia during those dark (for them) years under John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They talked about the “unfinished work” of the Council, that work that had little to do with Council documents but much more to do with their image of the New Church that would be updated to fit the needs and desires of Modern Man.

Poor things. They did not realize that Modern Man died in the sixties and that Post-Modern Man was emerging and was slouching towards Bethlehem. When you live in a sealed container that is the Vatican and its bureaucracy, there is little chance you will be conversant with what is really happening in the world and in the mind and hearts of people. But the 60s crowd are back and with a vengeance. The only 60s program that kept on going during their exile was the program of the moral corruption of the clergy. That continued to grow and flourish. The destruction of the liturgical life of the Church was for a time halted, and it seemed that there might be a possibility of questioning the basis of liturgical reform following the Council and of at least thinking that there was in fact a discontinuity in the liturgical life of the Church that resulted in the emptying out of our churches.

But a bureaucrat cannot possibly conceive of a discontinuity in the life of the Church, for the bureaucrat must believe that whatever happens is by definition the work of the Holy Spirit, and so the only thing that he must do is to rethink and change course according to what he hears and what he is told is the latest manifestation of the Spirit, be it in a synod, or a sermon, or an encyclical, or a press conference, or what is whispered in the hallways and the loggia.

It is the bureaucrats at all levels of the clergy who kept the apparatus alive for fifty years, so that when a Pope resigned, they only had to change the direction in which they faced when they woke up in the morning: from the East to the West. One need not wonder how the double coup of a resignation of a Pope and an election of a 60s bishop to the papacy did not result in confusion and chaos. For when those formerly in power and then underground for fifty years came into their own once again, back to the future, the supporting bureaucracy in all levels of the Church were ready and able to support them in their project of remaking the Church in their own 60s image. And part of the glue holding this together and making it possible was the damnable success of the moral corruption of the clergy at all levels, a corruption that enabled the bureaucracy to control by intimidation based on incriminating knowledge and to advance their agenda unimpeded, except for a few gadfly cardinals and bishops.

So it is precisely while the Synod for Youth is meeting in Rome in quasi-secrecy that I saw the Future this evening. I was invited to sit in choir during a Traditional Solemn Mass in a parish church of my diocese. The celebrant, the pastor of the parish, the deacon and the sub-deacon were each young priests of the diocese. The Mass was celebrated with no frills, no excesses, no sign of aestheticism. The Feast was the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, instituted by Pius XI to celebrate the anniversary of the Council of Ephesus, at which Mary was proclaimed as Theotokos, the bearer of God, affirming the full divinity of the person of Christ. The music of the Mass was all Gregorian chant, Mass IX. The servers were all young men, some new to this, some quite practiced in serving this Mass. It was the worship of God in its purest form, in its traditional form, a form whose liturgical modesty and reticence invites prayer and therefore worship. The sacred ministers gave themselves over to their roles in the Mass in a naturally self-effacing way. They knew the proper tones for the various chants and sang them well. The sermon was intelligent and truly Catholic. These three men made worship possible by getting themselves out of the way and letting the rite speak for itself.

Many of the young priests in my diocese have learnt the Traditional Roman Mass, aka the Extraordinary Form. They love this Mass in a sober way without any hint of “high church” prancing or panting. They love Christ and his Church. They are loyal to the teaching of the Magisterium. They are priests who are at home in any situation and who enjoy each other’s company. They enjoy the company of both men and women in their parishes. The bureaucrats who run the Church do not know that these priests exist. And that is good. For while the bureaucrats are running around at synods and conferences and trying to put out noxious fires without the water of moral purity and therefore failing every time: these young priests, not only in my diocese, but in most dioceses through the Catholic world, are just learning once again how to worship and are discovering the beauty of worship, and they are teaching this to their flock. And they, and the Traditional Mass they love,— they are the Future of the Church.

October 18, 2018   No Comments

“From Fr. Harold McKale – Regarding the Satanic Masses scheduled for October 12th in Philadelphia”

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

BLACK MASS IN PHILADELPHIA, PA

 
On Friday, October 12, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. what is being billed as a live Black Mass ritual is being held at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Arts in Philadelphia. The “event” is sold out, so they are doing it again at 10:30 p.m. While there are a variety of rituals which are generally described as a Black Mass ritual, a Black Mass is essentially an evil parody of the Catholic Mass for the purpose of mocking God and worshipping the devil. An intrinsic element of the Black Mass is usually the desecration of a consecrated host stolen from a Catholic Church. This is a blasphemy and a sacrilege of the highest order that requires a response equal to the offense.

 

For my part, a Traditional Latin Mass will be offered on Friday, October 12th in reparation for the offense against the Majesty of God at Immaculate Conception Church, 604 West Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046 at 7:00 p.m., preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m. For those who can remain, we will pray a 15 decade Rosary after the Mass.

 

It is my understanding that St. Mary in Conshohocken is having a Holy Hour of reparation followed by Holy Mass. Hopefully, other parishes seek to counter this evil through reparation, atonement and an affirmation of the One True Faith, that is the Catholic Faith.

 

We must pray that Our Lord will divinely intervene so that this event on October 12th will be cancelled or, if it be God’s will to permit this blasphemy, we must pray in reparation (especially the Prayer to St. Michael).  A group has organized an online petition to the Mausoleum to cancel this blasphemy. Consider signing it at:
Also, I ask you to consider doing something in reparation for this offense against God on October 12th, such as attending Holy Mass, praying a Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet or some other devotion. All are invited to pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer everyday for Divine protection through the intercession of him who defeated Lucifer in his rebellion against God. – Fr. McKale

 

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(A partial indulgence is granted to those who recite this prayer. A plenary indulgence is granted if it is publicly recited on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This prayer was prescribed to be recited on this feast by Pope Pius XI).

 

MOST sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.

 

Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.

 

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.

 

We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.

 

Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past.

 

Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.

 

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen.

October 12, 2018   No Comments

Second Sunday of the month schedule of the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

We will resume the second Sunday of the month schedule of the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, this Sunday, October 14, 2018,  11:15am.
Please open the link below to see a photo of the beautiful Altar. We were unable to underline the link, so you will have to copy and paste it. It’s worth the effort!
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=f819ab62b4&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1614144990812365225&th=166698512958e1a9&view=att&disp=safe&realattid=f_jn6cbbrz0

October 12, 2018   No Comments

Exclusive NLM [New Liturgical Movement] Interview with Archbishop Sample: Why Young People Are Attracted to Traditional Liturgy, by Peter Kwasniewski

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

Archbishop Sample offering the Holy Sacrifice at the National Shrine

 

NLM is pleased to present the following transcription of an interview conducted by Julian Kwasniewski with the Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample, Archbishop of Portland, in connection with the Sacred Liturgy Conference in Salem, Oregon, June 27–30, 2018. Much of what his Excellency says is highly pertinent to the Youth Synod taking place at the Vatican this month. This interview is published here for the first time.

Julian Kwasniewski: First off, I just have to say thank you for agreeing to this interview.

Archbishop Sample: I want to encourage you young people, and especially young people who are serious about their faith and about the sacred liturgy. I want to do everything I can to encourage you.

JK: The first question I want to start with is very simple. What is a priest?

AS: It is a simple question and it might strike someone as kind of an odd question — we all “know” what a priest is because we see them. But do we really understand who the priest is?

I think over time, perhaps particularly since the Council, there has been a reduction, if you will, in people’s understanding of the nature of the priesthood and its place within the Church. A lot of people have come to see the priest as what he does. The focus is what the priest does. Even that has changed a lot, but I think the average person might say the priest celebrates Mass, he hears confessions, he supervises the parish, he administers things. They see his functions; they don’t see his identity. That is key: his priestly identity. Who is he? It’s not so much what he does; it’s who he is, because everything he does flows from who he is.

So who is he? He is a man chosen by God, called to this order and through the sacrament of Holy Orders, through the laying on of hands and the prayer of the church; he is sacramentally configured to Christ the High Priest. There is that an ontological change that takes place in him, change on the very level of his being. He becomes something new, since his soul is forever marked with the character of the priesthood, so that he can minister in the Church in the person of Christ the head, in persona Christi capitis. So there is a close identification between the ordained priest and the High Priest, Jesus Christ; he is called to be an alter Christus, another Christ. All Christians are by our baptism called to be other Christs, but the priest in a particular way represents Christ in the Catholic Church.

He participates in the tria munera, the threefold office of Jesus Christ, as Priest, Prophet, and King. The priest is ordained to teach, to sanctify, and to rule or govern God’s people in the name and person of Christ. He is to teach the doctrine of the Church, always according to the mind of the Church and in harmony with the magisterium. He is a sanctifier; he is the one who sanctifies God’s people, especially through the sacraments, and most especially through the celebration of Holy Mass and the hearing of Confession. He is a shepherd, the guide of the community, he points the way to eternal life.

If we understand who the priest is in this sense — the sense in which the Church understands who the priest is — then we see that all the functions that he does and all the things he does flow from this essential identity.

Celebrating a pontifical Mass in Rolduc


JK: I wonder if you could tie that in with the recent Corpus Christi procession that you did, since it seems to manifest the three gifts you were talking about: it is a witness to the Church’s teaching; it publicly witnesses to the ruling position of the Faith in society; and it is a practice that can sanctify us who participate in it.

AS: Right. As I was processing with Our Blessed Lord in the Holy Eucharist through the streets of Portland — and we went through a part that is a very secular area — all I kept thinking to myself was, “Lord Jesus, take possession of these streets, these streets belong to you. Reclaim them, Lord Jesus.” And when we were in the park for the Rosary and Benediction before we turned around, and headed back to the Cathedral, that was my prayer. People were walking by and amazed at this group of people marching and praying. I’m sure many of them were thinking “what is this thing you have on the altar there,” and of course, it was Our Blessed Lord. But I kept thinking to myself, “Lord, these streets belong to you. Reclaim and sanctify them.”

 JK: How would you relate this experience of Eucharistic adoration to your episcopal motto: Vultum Christi Contemplari. What does your motto tell us about what you just said?

AS: I took my motto from the writings of St. John Paul II, who I consider my patron saint, quite honestly. I have no connection to him by name, but I really do consider him my patron saint now. He has been a great inspiration to me; I’m not sure I would be a priest today if it was not for him.

This idea of contemplating Christ’s face was something that John Paul II wrote a lot about. In Novo Millenio Ineunte, he recalls the scene in the Gospels where the Greeks come to Philip and they say, “We want to see Jesus.” The Holy Father picks up on that idea and says that this question, “we want to see Jesus,” is a question that is really in the heart of every person in the world today. Even if they don’t know it, they want to see the face of Jesus. He said they don’t want Christians just to talk about Christ — the world wants us to show them Christ. That’s our job: to let the light of Christ’s face shine before the generations of the new millennium. But, he goes on to say, our task would be hopelessly inadequate had we not first contemplated His face.

So he said we must contemplate the face of Christ. We must know Him intimately and deeply, we must cultivate that close personal relationship with the Lord, in order for us to show Him to the world. It’s very close to my own spirituality of prayer and being in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and just contemplating Christ’s presence in His Face. This is where my motto came from.

Later, in his last encyclical, Ecclesia Dei Eucharistia, John Paul II put it very bluntly: This is the task that I have set before the Church at the beginning of the new millennium, Vultum Christi contemplatri, to contemplate the face of Christ. And then he also speaks of the Marian dimension which he develops in his pastoral letter on the Rosary, that we contemplate the Face of Christ through Mary in the praying of the Rosary.

JK: Do you think the pope’s emphasis on contemplation is related to the problem of activism in our times?

AS: Yes. John Paul II is saying, “Church: This is your task. To first contemplate the face of Christ ourselves so that we may then let it shine before the nations.” Since we cannot give to the world what we do not have, we must first know Christ before we bring Him to others. For a Catholic in the world (not a contemplative religious), there must be a balance between contemplation and work, knowing Christ deeply and intimately, adoring him in prayer, in order for one to effectively carry on the apostolic works of the Church.

JK: It seems that many young people these days are rediscovering contemplation and an ability to give themselves joyfully to Christ through loving the Latin Mass and the old liturgical prayer of the Church.

AS: That’s a very good point, and it’s a point I made in the homily I gave at the Solemn Pontifical Mass at the National Shrine in Washington D.C. You know, the Church was filled with young people!

A lot of times, priests expect that if you go to a Traditional Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal, the church will be filled with grey hair, old people filled with nostalgia for days gone by, and that they have a sort of emotional attachment to the liturgy they grew up with.

But more and more, the majority of the people in the church at these masses are people who never lived during the time when this was the ordinary liturgy, that is, before the Council. If you are under a certain age (and that age is getting higher and higher), you never experienced this liturgy growing up. And yet young people — which is something Pope Benedict XVI said in his letter to the world’s bishops when he issued Summorum Pontificum — have discovered this [form] too, and have found it very spiritually nourishing and satisfying. They have come to love and appreciate it.

That is amazing to me: young people who have never experienced this growing up in the postconciliar Church, with the Ordinary Form (sometimes celebrated well, sometimes very poorly with all kinds of aberrations and abuses), have still discovered the Latin Mass and are attracted to it.

JK: What, in your view, accounts for that attraction?

AS: I would say its beauty, its solemnity, the sense of transcendence, of mystery. Not mystery in the sense of “Oh, we don’t know what’s going on,” but rather, that there is a mysterium tremendum celebrated here, a tremendous mystery. The liturgy in the old rite really conveys the essential nature and meaning of the Mass, which is to represent the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ which he offered on the Cross and now sacramentally, in an unbloody manner, in the Holy Mass.

I think young people are drawn to it because it feeds a spiritual need that they have. There is something to this form of the liturgy, in and of itself, that speaks to the heart of youth. Young people will continue to discover this, and they will be the ones who carry forward the Extraordinary Form when the older generation goes to their reward. Certainly this will be young people of your generation, but … I’m 57. I was baptized in the old rite, but by the time I was aware and cognizant of Mass, we had already come to the new liturgy. So everybody younger than me has no experience really of this liturgy. Anyone under my age could be considered “young” in discovering this beautiful liturgy!


 JK: Your Excellency, what would you say is the most important element of tradition for the Catholic youth to hold and cherish at this time?

AS: I think what young people need to do first is to discover — and many have — the Church’s tradition. Many young people have been deprived, in a certain way, of our Catholic heritage, of the great tradition which is ours in the Catholic Church. I know for myself I feel I was … I don’t want to say cheated because that sounds like someone did it intentionally out of ill will for me … but I feel like I was deprived of real teaching and appreciation and contact with my Catholic culture and my Catholic tradition and where we come from. I lived in and grew up in an age when there was this attitude that the Church had, in some way, hit a reset button at Vatican II, and that we could let go of all the past, as if the Church needed a new beginning and a fresh start.

You are far too young to have lived through that experience, and you are very blessed to live in the time that you do, because there was nothing like this for me when I was growing up. I grew up in a time when all of those things in the past had to be cast aside. Even something as simple as the Rosary, it was kind of discouraged — or if not discouraged, it was certainly not encouraged. I never saw Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction until I was a college student. I never knew such a thing existed. I grew up when there was a lot of experimentation with the Mass, always trying to make it “fresh and new.” There was a period of time growing up when you came to Mass on Sunday, and you just didn’t know what was going to happen next! The changes were coming so fast, and not just changes but experimentation and aberrations. So I was deprived of any contact with my tradition; I discovered it, on my own, as a college student.

JK: Was the liturgy the only area in which you felt deprived of contact with tradition, or are you speaking more broadly?

AS: In ‘tradition’ I would certainly also include the teachings of the Church that I never learned. I never understood what the Mass was — and I went to 12 years of Catholic school. If you has asked me what the Mass meant, I would probably have told you that it was a reenactment of the Last Supper, the last meal which Jesus shared with His disciples and in which He gave them His Body and Blood … which is part of the truth. But the idea that the Mass was in any way a sacramental re-presentation of the paschal mystery, that Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary was made truly, sacramentally present at the altar — and that it is an altar, and not just a table! — that would have been a foreign idea to me.

So certainly part of the tradition is that young people need to be deeply in touch with the Faith, what we believe, what the Catechism teaches. Young people must not take it for granted that what they have received in education (whether in a Catholic school or a religious education program) is an adequate formation in the Faith. They need to really delve into the teachings of the Church, the Catechism, they need to read good, solid books and articles, and other media forms, whether internet or movies. So that is part of it.

But of course, a big part of our tradition is our liturgical tradition. It’s in our DNA — and that’s why many are attracted to the traditional forms of the liturgy — because it’s in our Catholic DNA. Young people need to acquaint themselves with the richer, deeper tradition. Vatican II did not hit a reset button. Although, perhaps, the tradition needed to be renewed and refreshed, it never was meant to be destroyed or cast aside.

Pontifical Mass at Rolduc

JK: Would you put sacred music into this category, too?

AS: The rich liturgical tradition of the Church includes her sacred music. We don’t have to have pop music at Mass. The first time I heard Gregorian chant was when I was a college student. I’d never heard of chant before. When I heard it in a music appreciation class at a secular university, I hadn’t a clue what it meant, but it instantly spoke to my heart—instantly. The first time I heard it I was moved, really moved. So there is this rich liturgical, sacred music tradition that we need to recapture, recover, that young people need to learn about.

Moreover, we should all have devotions in our life. Devotions extend what the liturgy begins. Things like the Rosary, the chaplet of Divine Mercy, Eucharistic Adoration, other devotions to the Blessed Virgin, having favorite saints, patron saints that you pray to, Stations of the Cross…All these rich parts of our Catholic devotional tradition feed the life of faith and extend what we experience in the sacred liturgy, but also lead us back to it.

 JK: Do you have any additional advice for young traditional Catholics trying to recover their tradition? 

AS: I’d say there is a tendency sometimes to see these things — doctrine, liturgy, devotions — in opposition to things like works of charity, works of mercy. I would emphasize that we must not get to a place where all we are concerned about is being of right doctrine (orthodoxy), having right liturgy (orthopraxy), good sacred music, that we are doing all the right devotions. If we are not doing works of mercy, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, if we are not taking care of the poor and disadvantaged, then we are not living fully our Catholic faith. That’s part of our tradition too!

I think traditional-minded Catholics should not let, perhaps, the more liberal elements in the church co-opt the works of justice and mercy as being “something of the new Church.” Catholics have always been steeped in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Church of the ages is the one that built hospitals and took care of the sick and the poor and the dying, built schools to educate poor children without opportunities.

The works of justice and mercy are also very much a part of our tradition, and I would caution young people not to get so focused on the other elements we spoke of that they forget that Jesus teaches us to love, to serve those who are in need. Remember the parable He gives us on the Last Judgment, when he separates the sheep from the goats. He does not separate them based on whether they are praying the traditional prayers or not. He separates them based on “when I was hungry did you feed me, when I was thirsty did you give me to drink, when I was homeless, did you shelter me, when I was sick and in prison did you visit me?” This is the basis of the judgment… it’s not an either/or!

This is a tendency I see: if you are a “progressive Catholic,” you are all about the social justice issues, taking care of the poor, working for justice and everything, but your liturgical worship tends to be a bit off and maybe you reject other moral teachings of the Church, while sometimes traditionally-minded Catholics are characterized as being all about the Mass, and right worship, right music, right devotions, the right vestments, orthodox teaching, and don’t care so much about the poor and works of mercy.

We’ve got to pull this together: it is not an either/or, it is a both/and in the Church. The works of mercy go back to the apostolic times, go back to the Acts of the Apostles; as St. Paul says, we must always take care of the poor. This is deeply traditional in our Church.

Archbishop Sample with prison inmates

 

October 9, 2018   No Comments

First Friday and First Saturday TLM’s for October, 2018

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

The Traditional Latin Mass will be offered on Friday, October 5th, Saturday, October 6th, Friday October 12th, and Saturday, October 13th at:

Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
602 West Avenue
Jenkintown, PA 19046

(215) 884-4022

Confession and Mass will be upstairs, both Saturday and Friday.  Due to continuing construction, please enter the church through the doors on West Avenue.

First Friday, October 5th:
Priest: Rev. Harold B. Mc Kale (Parish Vicar, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church)
Location:  Church of the Immaculate Conception, Main Church
Time: 7:00 p.m., preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m.
This Traditional Latin Mass will be the Mass of The Sacred Heart of Jesus with Commemoration of St. Placid & Companions, offered in Reparation to The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
First Saturday, October 6th:
Priest: Rev. Harold B. Mc Kale (Parish Vicar, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church)
Location:   Church of the Immaculate Conception, Main Church
Time: 9:00 a.m., preceded by Confessions at 8:30 a.m.
This Traditional Latin Mass will be the Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with Commemoration of St. Bruno, Confessor, offered in Reparation to The Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Friday, October 12th:
Priest: Rev. Harold B. Mc Kale (Parish Vicar, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church)
Location:  Church of the Immaculate Conception, Main Church
Time: 7:00 p.m., preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m.
This Traditional Latin Mass will be the Votive Mass for the Propagation of the Faith, offered in Reparation for the offense against the Majesty of God of the satanic rituals being conducted at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Modern Art on the same evening.  In further reparation, Father McKale will be leading 15 decades of the Rosary after Mass.
Saturday, October 13th:
Priest: Rev. Jason V. Kulczynski (Pastor, Holy Martyrs Catholic Church)
Location:   Church of the Immaculate Conception, Main Church
Time: 9:00 a.m., preceded by Confessions at 8:30 a.m.
This Traditional Latin Mass will be the Votive Mass of Our Lady (Salve, sancta Parens) with Commemoration of St. Edward, King, Confessor.  This Mass is being offered in Honor of Our Lady of Fatima, on the 101st anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, Portugal.  There will be a public recitation of 15 decades of the Rosary following Mass.
For further information, please contact Mark Matthews or Pamela Maran at (215) 947-6555.

 

October 5, 2018   No Comments

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY ROSARY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, SUNDAY OCTOBER 7th, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

by William A. Torchia, Esq.

Image result for photos of our lady of the rosary

Information provided by Steven Valle

SOLEMN HIGH TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS

• 5:30 p.m. Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
• 6:00 p.m. Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass
• Traditional Blessing of Rosaries after Mass with free Rosaries and devotionals for distribution.

All those who propagate the Holy Rosary will be aided by me in their necessities. – Promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary

To be offered to the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary for increased devotion and propagation of the Rosary.

When you say your Rosary, the angels rejoice, the Blessed Trinity delights in it, my Son finds joy in it too, and I myself am happier than you can possibly guess. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there is nothing in the Church that I love as much as the Rosary.
– Our Lady to Blessed Alan de la Roche
—-
“It would hardly be possible for me to put into words how much Our Lady thinks of the Holy Rosary and of how she vastly prefers it to all other devotions. Neither can I sufficiently express how highly she rewards those who work to preach the devotion, to establish it and spread it, nor on the other hand how firmly she punishes those who work against it.”
– St. Louis De Montfort
—-
“The Rosary is the weapon for these times”
– St. Padre Pio

Our Lady of Consolation Church
7056 Tulip Street,
Philadelphia, Pa. 19135
Take the Cottman Avenue Exit from I-95. Parking in rear of Church.
Celebrant -Fr. Harold McKale
Deacon – Fr. James Bartoloma
Subdeacon – Fr. Gerald Carey


					

					
October 2, 2018   No Comments

			
								
					
From Fr. Harold McKale – Regarding the Satanic Masses scheduled for October 12th in Philadelphia

					
by William A. Torchia, Esq.

					








BLACK MASS IN PHILADELPHIA, PA


 


On Friday, October 12, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. what is being billed as a live Black Mass ritual is being held at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Arts in Philadelphia. The “event” is sold out, so they are doing it again at 10:30 p.m. While there are a variety of rituals which are generally described as a Black Mass ritual, a Black Mass is essentially an evil parody of the Catholic Mass for the purpose of mocking God and worshipping the devil. An intrinsic element of the Black Mass is usually the desecration of a consecrated host stolen from a Catholic Church. This is a blasphemy and a sacrilege of the highest order that requires a response equal to the offense. 


 


For my part, a Traditional Latin Mass will be offered on Friday, October 12th in reparation for the offense against the Majesty of God at Immaculate Conception Church, 604 West Avenue, Jenkintown, PA 19046 at 7:00 p.m., preceded by Confessions at 6:30 p.m. For those who can remain, we will pray a 15 decade Rosary after the Mass. 


 


It is my understanding that St. Mary in Conshohocken is having a Holy Hour of reparation followed by Holy Mass. Hopefully, other parishes seek to counter this evil through reparation, atonement and an affirmation of the One True Faith, that is the Catholic Faith.


 


We must pray that Our Lord will divinely intervene so that this event on October 12th will be cancelled or, if it be God’s will to permit this blasphemy, we must pray in reparation (especially the Prayer to St. Michael).  A group has organized an online petition to the Mausoleum to cancel this blasphemy. Consider signing it at:



 


Also, I ask you to consider doing something in reparation for this offense against God on October 12th, such as attending Holy Mass, praying a Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet or some other devotion. All are invited to pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer everyday for Divine protection through the intercession of him who defeated Lucifer in his rebellion against God. – Fr. McKale


 


Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus


(A partial indulgence is granted to those who recite this prayer. A plenary indulgence is granted if it is publicly recited on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This prayer was prescribed to be recited on this feast by Pope Pius XI).


 


MOST sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.


 


Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.


 


We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints.


 


We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.


 


Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past.


 


Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.


 


O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen.









					

					
October 2, 2018   1 Comment

			
								
				

			
				


	
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